Books with title Rough Riders

Think of Teddy Roosevelt and what's he doing? Leading the charge up San Juan Hill, that's what! Roosevelt was Assistant Secretary of the Navy in 1898 when war broke out in Cuba. He was fervent in urging that we "drive the Spaniard from the Western World." Never a man to spectate, Roosevelt resigned his post and took a commission with the expeditionary force. As Colonel Roosevelt he formed the Rough Riders and rode into history.

This is a reproduction of the original artefact. Generally these books are created from careful scans of the original. This allows us to preserve the book accurately and present it in the way the author intended. Since the original versions are generally quite old, there may occasionally be certain imperfections within these reproductions. We're happy to make these classics available again for future generations to enjoy!

This scarce antiquarian book is a facsimile reprint of the original. Due to its age, it may contain imperfections such as marks, notations, marginalia and flawed pages. Because we believe this work is culturally important, we have made it available as part of our commitment for protecting, preserving, and promoting the world's literature in affordable, high quality, modern editions that are true to the original work.

This is a pre-1923 historical reproduction that was curated for quality. Quality assurance was conducted on each of these books in an attempt to remove books with imperfections introduced by the digitization process. Though we have made best efforts - the books may have occasional errors that do not impede the reading experience. We believe this work is culturally important and have elected to bring the book back into print as part of our continuing commitment to the preservation of printed works worldwide.

The Rough Riders was a nickname given to the 1st United States Volunteer Cavalry, one of three such regiments raised in 1898 for the Spanish–American War and the only one to see action. The United States Army was small, understaffed, and disorganized in comparison to its status during the American Civil War roughly thirty years prior. Following the sinking of the U.S.S Maine President William McKinley needed to muster a strong ground force military group swiftly, which was done so by calling upon 125,000 volunteers to assist in the war efforts. The U.S. was fighting against Spain over Spain's colonial policies with Cuba. [1] The regiment was also called "Wood's Weary Walkers" in honor of its first commander, Colonel Leonard Wood. This nickname served to acknowledge that despite being a cavalry unit they ended up fighting on foot as infantry.Wood's second in command was former Assistant Secretary of the Navy, Theodore Roosevelt, a man who was a strong advocate in support of the Cuban War of Independence. When Colonel Wood became commander of the 2nd Cavalry Brigade, the Rough Riders then became "Roosevelt's Rough Riders." That term was familiar in 1898, from Buffalo Bill who called his famous western show "Buffalo Bill's Wild West and Congress of Rough Riders of the World."The original plan for this unit called for filling it with men from the Indian Territory, New Mexico, Arizona, and Oklahoma. However, once Roosevelt joined the group, it quickly became the place for a mix of troops ranging from Ivy League athletes, to glee club singers, to Texas Rangers, and Native Americans. Although the group was diverse, they were very skilled horsemen and fighters. The Rough Riders are best remembered for their charge up San Juan Hill on July 1, 1898. Roosevelt and his Rough Riders were a colorful group of characters. During the war, they received the most publicity of any unit in the army. A few days after the Rough Riders' charge up San Juan Hill, the Spanish fleet fled Cuba. It was just a matter of weeks before the war had ended and the U.S. was victorious. They also made headlines for their role in the battle back in the states, which became stuff of legend thanks to Roosevelt's writing ability and reenactments filmed long after.

Rough Riders is a fascinating Roosevelt memoir which provides Teddy Roosevelt’s personal account of his experiences commanding the Rough Riders in the Spanish-American War. The Rough Riders was a nickname given to the 1st United States Volunteer Cavalry, one of three such regiments raised in 1898 for the Spanish–American War and the only one of the three to see action. The United States Army was small and understaffed in comparison to its status during the American Civil War roughly thirty years prior. As a measure towards rectifying this situation President William McKinley called upon 125,000 volunteers to assist in the war efforts. The regiment was also called "Wood's Weary Walkers" in honor of its first commander, Colonel Leonard Wood. This nickname served to acknowledge that despite being a cavalry unit they ended up fighting on foot as infantry. Wood's second in command was former Assistant Secretary of the Navy, Theodore Roosevelt, a man who had pushed for American involvement in the Cuban War of Independence. When Colonel Wood became commander of the 2nd Cavalry Brigade, the Rough Riders then became "Roosevelt's Rough Riders." That term was familiar in 1898, from Buffalo Bill who called his famous western show "Buffalo Bill's Wild West and Congress of Rough Riders of the World." The Rough Riders were mostly made of college athletes, cowboys, ranchers, miners, and other outdoorsmen. With these men being from southwestern ranch country, they were quite skilled in horsemanship. The volunteers were gathered in four areas: Arizona, New Mexico, Oklahoma and Texas. They were gathered mainly from the southwest because the hot climate region that the men were used to was similar to that of Cuba where they would be fighting. "The difficulty in organizing was not in selecting, but in rejecting men."[2]:5 The allowed limit set for the volunteer cavalry men was promptly met. They gathered a diverse bunch of men consisting of cowboys, gold or mining prospectors, hunters, gamblers, Native Americans and college boys—all of whom were able-bodied and capable on horseback and in shooting. Among these men were also police officers and military veterans who wished to see action again, most of whom had already retired. Men who had served in the regular army during campaigns against Native Americans or during the Civil War would serve as higher ranking officers since they already had the knowledge and experience to lead and train the men. The unit thus would not be without experience. Leonard Wood, an Army doctor who served as the medical adviser for both the President and Secretary of War, was appointed colonel of The Rough Riders, with Roosevelt serving as lieutenant colonel. One particularly famous spot where volunteers were gathered was in San Antonio, Texas, at the Menger Hotel Bar. The bar is still open and serves as a tribute to the Rough Riders, containing much of their, and Theodore Roosevelt's, uniforms and memorabilia.

“On behalf of the Rough Riders, I dedicate this book to the officers and men of the five regular regiments, which together with mine made up the cavalry division at Santiago.” —Theodore Roosevelt, The Rough RidersThe Rough Riders (1899) is a diary kept by Theodore Roosevelt of his adventures in the Spanish-American War. In 1898, former Assistant Secretary of the Navy and Lieutenant Colonel Roosevelt joined the 1st United States Volunteer Cavalry, also known as the Rough Riders, and assembled an odd crew of Ivy League athletes, cowboys, Texas Rangers, and Native Americans to fight the Spanish in Cuba. During several months in the summer of 1898, Roosevelt's Rough Riders fought a number of battles, suffered quite a few casualties, but became legendary thanks to Roosevelt’s presence and his detailed writing of this history.