The regiment went aboard the Government transport, No. 14—­Concho—­June 7, 1898.  On the same vessel were the 14th U.S.  Infantry, a battalion of the 2d Massachusetts Volunteers and Brigade Headquarters, aggregating about 1,300 soldiers, exclusive of the officers.  This was the beginning of real hardship.  The transport had either been a common freighter or a cattle ship.  Whatever had been its employment before being converted into a transport, I am sure of one thing, it was neither fit for man nor beast when soldiers were transported in it to Cuba.  The actual carrying capacity of the vessel as a transport was, in my opinion, about 900 soldiers, exclusive of the officers, who, as a rule, surround themselves with every possible comfort, even in actual warfare.  A good many times, as on this occasion, the desire and demand of the officers for comfort worked serious hardships for the enlisted men.  The lower decks had been filled with bunks.  Alas! the very thought of those things of torture makes me shudder even now.  They were arranged in rows, lengthwise the ship, of course, with aisles only two feet wide between each row.  The dimensions of a man’s bunk was 6 feet long, 2 feet wide and 2 feet high, and they were arranged in tiers of four, with a four inch board on either side to keep one from rolling out.  The Government had furnished no bedding at all.  Our bedding consisted of one blanket as mattress and haversack for pillow.  The 25th Infantry was assigned to the bottom deck, where there was no light, except the small port holes when the gang-plank was closed.  So dark was it that candles were burned all day.  There was no air except what came down the canvass air shafts when they were turned to the breeze.  The heat of that place was almost unendurable.  Still our Brigade Commander issued orders that no one would be allowed to sleep on the main deck.  That order was the only one to my knowledge during the whole campaign that was not obeyed by the colored soldiers.  It is an unreported fact that a portion of the deck upon which the 25th Infantry took passage to Cuba was flooded with water during the entire journey.

Before leaving Port Tampa the Chief Surgeon of the expedition came aboard and made an inspection, the result of which was the taking off of the ship the volunteer battalion, leaving still on board about a thousand men.  Another noteworthy fact is that for seven days the boat was tied to the wharf at Port Tampa, and we were not allowed to go ashore, unless an officer would take a whole company off to bathe and exercise.  This was done, too, in plain sight of other vessels, the commander of which gave their men the privilege of going ashore at will for any purpose whatever.  It is very easy to imagine the hardship that was imposed upon us by withholding the privilege of going ashore, when it is understood that there were no seats on the vessel for a poor soldier.  On the main deck there were a large number of seats, but they were all reserved for the officers.  A sentinel was posted on either side of the ship near the middle hatch-way, and no soldier was allowed to go abaft for any purpose, except to report to his superior officer or on some other official duty.