General Wheeler, hearing and seeing the troopers advance of the Spanish positions, shouted as he did a little jump, 'Come on, come on Boys. We've got the d - - - - d Yankees on the run!'"
- RHD ===
Lou laughed out loud when she read Davis' quote of the general. "That old bantam is the child of the young bantam," she said to herself. "I'll be, I'll be. . . ." Recovering from Davis' report of the general's antics, Lou turned the folded paper over to read the lower half, below the fold, fearful of any casualties report with Joe's name. Her eyes went instantly to a boxed story on the right side. The headlines read, "Tennessee Trooper Stevenson Saves Horses and Mules". Startled, Lou knocked her root beer off the table onto the store's dark brown, oil-soaked oak floor. The heavy mug bounced on the floor but didn't break. Half of her drink spread over the worn grooved floor. A stock boy, working on a low shelf of men's toiletries, jumped up from his stool.
"No bother, Miss Lou. I'll take care of that. Let me get you a clean mug and more root beer."
"Son, that's fine, don't bother," Lou said, disoriented and flustered.
"No bother, no bother at all," the thirteen-year-old chubby teenager said as he went about his responsibilities with a full-faced smile.
Lou returned to the paper.
"Tennessee Trooper Saves Horses and Mules. 10 Foot Waves Terrify US Cavalry Mounts. Daiquiri Landing Accomplished with Difficulty.
Special to The Observer by Charles Berryhill, special correspondent in Cuba for The Nashville American.
Daiquiri, Cuba - June 24, 1898.
A chaotic landing characterized the landing of 17,000 American soldiers of liberation twenty miles east of Santiago Bay. The most troublesome feature was the heavy swells, 10 foot waves. Two troopers drown in the operation. Scores of mules and horses were thrown overboard as getting the boats alongside the short pier was impossible. Disoriented, some of these noble martial animals swam in circles until exhausted and drowning. More swam away from shore out into the sea.
Corporal J. W. Stevenson of Dellrose, Tennessee, bugler and aide to Major General Wheeler, had the clarity of thought to use the time honored method for directing cavalry mounts - he blew a clear call, 'To Horse'. The noble steeds turned and swam back to the landing confusion."
Lou hurriedly found a dime in her change purse and put it on the glass-topped table. She folded the paper and put it under her arm. Grabbing her bonnet, she was up and out the store's door. In the hot sunny, heavy air, she went to the horse and buggy and was off to the Western Union at the depot across Dellrose Creek.