They were outgunned by Spanish and their wondrous smokeless powder .45-caliber rifles. Could this rag-tag team of American Cavalry men survive–and win?
“The Mauser bullets drove in sheets through the trees and the tall jungle grass, making a peculiar whirring or rustling sound; some of the bullets seemed to pop in the air, so that we thought they were explosive; and, indeed, many of those which were coated with brass did explode, in the sense that the brass coat was ripped off, making a thin plate of hard metal with a jagged edge, which inflicted a ghastly wound. These bullets were shot from a .45-caliber rifle, carrying smokeless powder … .”—Theodore Roosevelt, The Rough Riders, in the chapter “The Cavalry at Santiago.”
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