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CHAPTER VIII
The Rough Rider of 1898
I
N the opening sentences of his volume, " The Rough Riders," Mr. Roosevelt says that, while his party was still out of power, he had preached with all the fervor and zeal he possessed " our duty to intervene in Cuba and to take this opportunity of driving the Spaniard from the Western world."    And he goes on as follows:
" Now that my party had come to power, I felt it incumbent on me, by word and deed, to do all I could to secure the carrying out of the policy in which I so heartily belieyed; and from the beginning I had determined that, if a war came, somehow or other, I was going to the front. Meanwhile, there was any amount of work at hand in getting ready the navy, and to this 1 devoted myself."
War was declared in April, 1898. The navy was as nearly ready as it could be made. Armies can be somehow improvised, but navies require planning in advance. When wan> break out, naval direction must pass over practically to the strategists and to the high naval officers. Thus Mr. Roosevelt felt that his period of especial usefulness at the naval office would have an end.

THE   ROUGH   RIDERS   BRINGING   THEIR   DYNAMITE   GUN   INTO   ACTION
The army of the United States consisted of scattered companies and fragments of regiments, located at posts and garrisons extending across a continent and comprising altogether only about 25,000 men. It is within bounds to say that for a great many years previous to the Spanish war, no officer had commanded,—even for the drills, maneuvers and marching of peaceful days,—as many United States troops as would be comprised in three full regiments. The Spaniards in their struggle against the Cuban insurrection had massed in that island about 100,000 troops, transported from Spain. It was evident that

40

A Cartoon History of Roosevelt's Career

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THE   ROUGH   RIDERS   ON   A   PRACTICE   CHARGE
we should have to do something more than gather together the scattered fragments of our regular army. It was necessary to issue a call for volunteer troops, and this President McKinley did very promptly.
At first, Mr. Roosevelt thought of going to the front as a member of the staff of one of the generals; but some obstacle intervened, and when it was proposed to form a volunteer cavalry regiment or two from the cowboys and horsemen of the Western plains, Mr. Roosevelt had an opportunity to form such an organization and to become its colonel. He had, however, been much in company with an army surgeon, Dr. Leonard Wood, then residing in Washington, and he and Dr. Wood had found themselves in entire harmony regarding the Cuban question and the military situation. Dr. Wood had served in campaigns against the Apache Indians, where he had won credit and honor. It was arranged that Dr. Wood should be colonel and Mr. Roosevelt lieutenant-colonel of the First United States Volunteer Cavalry, Dr. Wood was slated for early promotion to a brigadier-generalship, and the regiment from the beginning was known as " Colonel Roosevelt's Rough Riders."
It was a very picturesque organization, and remarkable in the individual efficiency of its members. It was made up of cowboys from Montana to New Mexico and Arizona, Texas rangers, young Southern horsemen and young college men of the East who were accustomed to riding and shooting and fond of adventure. The regiment arrived in Cuba in time to participate in the brief but very real campaign near Sanitago, and Mr. Roosevelt

The Rough-Rider of 1898

41

Copyright by Underwood A Underwood
COL.   THEODORE   ROOSEVELT,    OF   THE   ROUGH   RIDERS
acquitted himself in/ a soldierly way that was quite in keeping with qualities that had been developed by the accumulated experiences of his life. In his earlier New York experience he had been a member of a militia company, and he had been accustomed to horses and firearms from school boy days.
The expansion of the  army was sudden, and we were quite unprepared at Washing-

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A Cartoon History of Roosevelt's Career

J

ROUGH RIDERS OF THE FALL OF 1898 From Judge  (New York)
ton to manage it well on the business side. Many volunteers died in unsanitary camps who had no chance to go near the seat of war. Commissary supplies were mismanaged, our soldiers in Cuba were badly fed and supplied, and we were obliged to face serious scandals. Mr. Roosevelt's experience in Cuba gave him intimate knowledge of these conditions, and his protests helped to bring about some drastic reforms.
Copyright by Puc£, 1898.    By Permission
THE   ROUGH   EIDERS
Soon after the war was over Mr. Elihu Root became Secretary of War, and there followed a thoroughgoing reform in army administration. Meanwhile it was a remarkable coincidence that a man who was destined so soon to become President of the United States, and therefore commander-in-chief of the army and navy, should have served at a critical time in the Navy Department and should have taken part conspicuously as a soldier at the front in the
,        , ,,	m,	i-    ,       -„	They are rough on the Spaniards, whether they ride
work of the army.    1 he story of the Rough	or walk.
Riders is a fascinating book, and Roosevelt's name, more than that of any other participant, will remain associated with the war for the liberation of Cuba.

"WE   HAVE   DISCOVERED   IN   MR.   ROOSEVELT   THE   MISSING   LINK"
(Acceptable to Platt and the machine on one hand and to   Choate, Low, and the reform wing on the other.)
From the World   (New York)