officers knew that unless the troops were taken to some healthier
climate to recover, there would be nothing left of them. Over four
thousand men were sick, and not ten per cent, of the Army was fit
for active work. But the War Department would not listen to the
suggestion that the army be sent for a while to a cooler climate.

What none of the regular Army officers could afford to do,
Roosevelt did. He wrote a letter to General Shafter, the commander
of the expedition, explaining the state of things, and setting out
how important it was, if any of the army was to be kept alive,
that they should be sent away from Cuba, until the sickly season
was over. General Shafter really wished such a letter to be
written, and he allowed the Associated Press reporter to have it
as soon as it was handed to him.

Then, all the Generals joined with Roosevelt in a "Round Robin" to
General Shafter, saying the same things. The Government at
Washington began to take notice, and in a short time ordered the
army home.

Roosevelt had taken a leading part in an act which caused him to
be severely blamed by many, to be denounced by all who worship
military etiquette, and charged with "insubordination" by men who
would rather make a mess of things and do it according to the
rules of the book, than succeed in something useful and do it by
commonsense rules made up at the time. He had shocked the folks
who like red tape, and he had helped save the lives of perhaps
four thousand men.