CHAPTER FOUR
THE UNITED STATES ARMY PACIFIES CUBA
W:
'HEN political events in Havana suggested the
resignation of the Estrada Palma government,
the United States Army prepared its expedition to Cuba.
Warned by the War Department on September 25 that inter
vention was imminent, the General Staff, using its Cuban war
plans as a basis, began to organize the expeditionary force.
The Ordnance and Quartermaster Departments had an
nounced the readiness of supplies in mid-September; now
they prepared to purchase additional munitions and horses
and charter transports.
The basic task organization, in line with the General Staff's
earlier estimates, was modified only slightly and orders were
dispatched to the units tabbed for Cuban service on Septem
ber 29, after the intervention became official. The expedition
ary force consisted of five two-battalion infantry regiments
(Fifth, Eleventh, Seventeenth, Twenty-seventh, Twenty-
eighth), two two-squadron cavalry regiments (Eleventh and
Fifteenth), one light artillery battery (Fourteenth Field Artil
lery), two mountain batteries (Seventeenth and Eighteenth
Field Artillery), the Second Battalion of Engineers, the Sig
nal Corps' Company I, and the Hospital Corps' Companies A
and B. The War Department prescribed a division level staff
for the expedition, including seven members of the General
Staff Corps. The port-of-embarkation was Newport News,
Virginia. Thirty days' supplies would be loaded out with the
troops, and units were to embark with full equipment for
field service.^1
From posts as far distant as Fort Russell (Wyoming), Fort
Snelling (Minnesota), Fort Des Moines (Iowa), and the