Page:American Boy's Life of William McKinley.djvu/277

Rh and elsewhere, many people of the Nation became impatient and wanted to know why our soldiers did not sail for Cuba at once, to fight the Dons, as the Spanish soldiers were commonly called. They did not realize that to send an army to Cuba would necessitate the use of a large number of ships, and that such a fleet of transports must be adequately protected by warships while making the trip, or the Spanish might swoop down upon them with disastrous results.

"We must make haste, but we must be sure of what we are doing," said President McKinley, and he pushed forward the purchasing of vessels and supplies with all possible speed.

The flotilla which finally set sail for Cuba was a formidable one, including thirty-two transports and fourteen warships. The transports were crowded with soldiers and officers to the number of nearly seventeen thousand. Of this body the greater part were from the regular army, the volunteers being the Seventy-first New York, the Second Massachusetts, and Roosevelt's Rough Riders. So crowded were the transports