Did the British virtually charge into battle waving their swords and yelling,Bully?

  No, it was the Americans who did that.

  

  'Bully' was the favourite exclamation of President Theodore Roosevelt. It was an American slang term meaning 'very good, excellent'.

  In 1898, the United States declared war on Spain and invaded Cuba, which was then a Spanish colony. Because the US Army was very small in those days, the Federal government called for 125,000 volunteers to sign up and fight. The future President Roosevelt, who at the time was Assistant Secretary of the Navy, resigned his government post and helped to form a cavalry regiment.

  This was officially called the First U.S. Volunteer Cavalry Regiment, but the nickname everyone used was the 'Rough Riders'. Roosevelt designed a special uniform for them, with blue shirts, slouch hats, and handkerchieves knotted around their necks, deliberately designed to make them look more like cowboys than soldiers. The regiment was 1060 strong when it sailed from Florida towards Cuba.

  The US forces landed on the southern coast of Cuba and advanced overland towards Santiago, the main Spanish naval base in the region. After some initial skirmishes they found themselves facing the main Spanish defensive line along the San Juan Heights, between them and the city of Santiago.

  American sources usually speak of 'San Juan Hill' as a single location, but in Spanish the San Juan Heights  referred to the entire range of low hills. At the particular point where the battle was fought, there was a smaller outcropping, dubbed Kettle Hill by the Americans, to the east of the main range of hills and separated from them by a shallow valley containing a pond. Spanish troops were emplaced on both the smaller hill and the main range of hills to the west, with a prominent fortified blockhouse on the primary heights.

  The Spanish were entrenched along the hilltops and had modern bolt-action rifles and quick-firing artillery — more advanced than the majority of the weapons the US troops were equipped with, though the Americans did have one important technological advantage: a number of Gatling guns . However, the defenders were very badly outnumbered: 760 Spanish troops facing around 8,400 Americans.

  The American commander, Major-General Shafter, ordered one of his two infantry divisions and his cavalry to assault the San Juan Heights position directly, while his other division moved around their northern flank to capture the village of El Caney. Colonel Roosevelt's Rough Riders left their horses behind and operated on foot for this battle (though he himself kept his own horse). They were on the right flank of the American force, along with five other cavalry regiments.

  The Americans drew up in open ground at the base of the hills, and suffered significant casualties from the Spanish shooting down on them from their fortifications on the tops of the hills. In an area they named 'Hell's Pocket' the commander, second-in-command, and third-in-command of the US 3rd Brigade (Colonel Wikoff, Lieutenant-Colonel Worth, and Lieutenant-Colonel Liscom, respectively) were all killed or incapacitated in sequence in just ten minutes.

  Eventually, at about 13:00 the Americans moved forward to attack. They advanced in close-order columns; the infantry division to the south-west against the main San Juan heights and the Cavalry Division to the north-east against Kettle Hill.

  The Cavalry Division was slow to move, because its commander was still waiting for all his troops to get into position. Eventually the captain of D Company, 10th Cavalry Regiment (one of the 'Buffalo Soldiers' units of black troops) sent his second-in-command, Lieutenant Jules 'Gary' Ord, to the general to ask for permission to attack. General Hawkins was unwilling to give the order, even when Ord pleaded with him. Eventually, though, Ord asked if his commander was actually ordering him not to attack. Hawkins reply was, "I will not ask for volunteers, I will not give permission — and I will not refuse it."

  Ord took that as a green light to charge, and returned to his unit — but not before calling on the adjacent units and asking them to "Support the regulars".

  Lieutenant Ord then drew his sword (and a pistol in his other hand) and ordered the 10th Cavalry "Forward!" He then charged up the hill, sword in hand. Whether he shouted "Bully!" is not recorded.

  Lieutenant Ord, who charged up the San Juan heights waving a sword

  The 10th Cavalry moved up Kettle Hill, supported by the 3rd Cavalry and Roosevelt's Rough Riders to either side, and under covering fire from three Gatling guns. They ran the last 150 metres and Ord was the first to the Spanish parapet — only to be shot and killed as he reached it. Sergeant John Berry of the 10th Cavalry placed both his own regiment's flag and that of the 3rd Cavalry at the top of the hill.

  Colonel Roosevelt also participated in the charge: he was the only man in the supposed 'Cavalry' Division to be actually mounted on a horse (though he had to abandon it when he reached the Spanish barbed wire).

  Regrettably, Roosevelt was famous and numbered many journalists among his friends, while the 10th Cavalry was a predominantly black unit of the US Army (though with white officers) at a time of entrenched racism. Therefore, the newspaper accounts of the battle gave almost all credit to the Rough Riders for capturing "San Juan Hill", and the leading role of the 10th Cavalry was reduced to a footnote.

  "No one who saw Roosevelt take that ride expected he would finish it alive. It looked like foolhardiness, but as a matter of fact, set the pace with his horse and inspired his men. ... Watching Roosevelt made you feel that you would like to cheer.”

  — War correspondent Richard Harding Davis

  Roosevelt may or may not have shouted 'Bully! as he rode his horse up the hill: but he definitely said afterwards that "We had a bully fight".Colonel Roosevelt, posing for a photo after the battle with his Rough Riders

 After the capture of Kettle Hill, Roosevelt did try to lead a force of men down the other side of the hill and across the valley to the main heights; but before he got there the American infantry managed to capture them as well. He was angrily ordered by his commander to return to his position on Kettle Hill, since a Spanish counter-attack was expected. This did indeed transpire, and was defeated largely by means of the US Gatling guns.

 In total the Americans lost about twice as many casualties as the Spanish: 1240 killed, wounded and missing (inflicted by only 760 Spanish troops!). The Spanish lost 480 casualties plus 41 surrendered, more than half their force. The US troops did, however, achieve their objective and capture the hills. Two weeks later they captured the port city of Santiago as well.

 Three years later Roosevelt became President of the United States.