THE SPANISH-AMERICAN WAR. 290 newly-enrolled than among the old members, and this habitual disregard of orders was the chiefexplanation of the unpleasant result. This is a point worth noting by those who are so ready to explain that,though they do not belong to any branch of the national forces, "they would,of course, volunteer at once if there was a war." Theman who has learnedevena little of the soldier's business and acquired something of the soldier spirit is worth a dozen of these recruits gatheredin a moment of emergency.

New York at once decreed the disbandment of the recalcitrant regiment, and took possession of theGovernment arms andequipmentsat itsheadquarters. In other battalions the opposition was less pronounced. The practical effect of the agitation, was that, while not openly admitting that there had been any change of plans, the Government decided that, as far as possible, the volunteers should preserve their existing organisation onbeingmustered into theregular army.

The placesof the menrejected by the doctors Even the first days of the war were enough THE MILITARY DIVISIONS OF THE UNITED STATES.

to show that, however men's opinions might have been divided during the anxious weeks that preceded the rupture with Spain, there wasbut one feeling in the whole country, from California to the Atlantic, once the die was cast. The war must be carried on vigorously, and all must take their share in its burdens. Fitzhugh Lee, the Consul-General at Havana, the son of the great leader of the Southern Confederacy in the Civil War, and himself a veteran of that great conflict, voiced the en thusiasm of the men of the Southern States. They hailed with delight the opportunity now afforded them of fighting side by side as comrades of the men against whom, thirty years ago, they and their fathers had stood in deadly in the regiments called out for service were filled up by re-enlisting former members and bringing in new material from the recruiting depots which were openedin everycity. It was generally agreed at a later period that the doctorshad been too exacting in their requirements, and many a battalion commander had reason to regret the loss of the partly-trained men whohadbeen dismissed from the ranks for very minor defects and replaced by men who hadnot evenelementary ideas of discipline, and who when active operations began showed themselves reckless about standing orders and sanitary regulations, and were the first to be stricken down by fever. Inalmost every regiment the mortality was greater among the