Rough Riders

After the Spanish sunk the USS Maine during the Cuban War of Independence and conjointly the Spanish-American War of 1898, President William McKinley put out an urgent call for an elite force of volunteers to chase the Spanish out of the Caribbean.

Because of the hot and humid conditions native to Cuba, an odd assortment of patriotic volunteers were selected from the hot climate states of Arizona, New Mexico, Oklahoma and Texas, consisting of cowboys, gold prospectors, hunters, gamblers, Native Americans and Ivy Leaguers from the East Coast.

Teddy Roosevelt’s Rough Riders

Army doctor Leonard Wood led what would become known as the Rough Riders, while Assistant Secretary of the Navy Theodore Roosevelt served as second in command.

After forming up at the now famous Menger Hotel Bar in San Antonio, Texas, on May 29th, 1898, 1060 Rough Riders and 1259 horses and mules set out by train for Tampa, Florida, where they would soon board the steamship Yucatan for the short ride to Cuba.

Due to intense political pressures from Washington to speed up the engagement, only eight of the twelve companies made the trip, leaving most of their horses and mules behind.

They arrived in Cuba virtually horseless, forcing cavalrymen to march long-distance through hot, humid and dense jungle conditions. By the time the expedition was over, however, nearly 1/4 of the Rough Riders would be lost to malaria and yellow fever, creating a double vacuum of lost fighting strength and deteriorating morale.

Of the three major engagements fought by the Rough Riders, the Battle of San Juan Hill was the crowning achievement of the war. Before the charge, Roosevelt taunted some reluctant non-Rough Rider soldiers not to leave him alone in a charge up the hill, drawing his sidearm and aiming it at the group, insisting that if they failed to charge with his Rough Riders, he would shoot them dead on the spot.

In response, the Rough Riders chanted in jest, “Oh he always does, he always does!” prompting the hesitant soldiers to fall in line for the assault up the hill. Astride his favorite horse named Texas, Roosevelt then led the charge up San Juan Hill, while his regiment of Rough Riders followed him up without hesitation. Despite heavy casualties inflicted by high-ground Spanish troops, San Juan Heights would be taken within the hour.