It seemed as if someone had made an awful and terrible mistake. I think the thing which impressed one the most, when our men started from cover, was that they were so few. These two officers were notably conspicuous in the charge, but no one can claim that any two men, or anyone man, was more brave or more daring, or showed greater courage in that slow, stubborn advance than did any of the others. Afterward, the men of his regiment who followed this flag, adopted a polka-dot handkerchief as the badge of the Rough Riders. He wore on his sombrero a blue polka-dot handkerchief, a la Havelock, which, as he advanced, floated out straight behind his head, like a guidon. General Hawkins, with hair as white as snow, and yet far in advance of men thirty years his junior, was so noble a sight that you felt inclined to pray for his safety on the other hand, Roosevelt, mounted high on horseback, and charging the rifle-pits at a gallop and quite alone, made you feel that you would like to cheer. I speak of Roosevelt first because, with General Hawkins, who led Kent's division, notably the Sixth and Sixteenth Regulars, he was, without doubt, the most conspicuous figure in the charge. 'Colonel Roosevelt, on horseback, broke from the woods behind the line of the Ninth, and finding its men lying in his way, shouted: 'If you don't wish to go forward, let my men pass, please.' The junior officers of the Ninth, with their Negroes, instantly sprang into line with the Rough Riders, and charged at the blue block-house on the right. Suddenly, Theodore Roosevelt emerges on horseback from the surrounding woods and rallies the men to charge: The Americans appear to be stymied - unwilling to move forward and unable to retreat. Behind the Americans, advancing troops have clogged the roads preventing an escape.

We join his account as American forces have massed at the bottom of the hill - the Spanish entrenched in a dominate position on its top. Richard Harding Davis was a reporter who observed the charge up San Juan Hill. 'Roosevelt.made you feel like you would like to cheer.' The 10th never received the glory for the charge that the Rough Riders did, but one of their commanders - Captain 'Black Jack' Pershing (who later commanded American troops in World War I) - was awarded the Silver Star. They were joined in the attack by the 10th (Negro) Cavalry. The volunteers made the charge up San Juan Hill on foot. In the confusion surrounding their departure from Tampa, half the members of the Rough Riders were left behind along with all their horses. With McKinley's assassination in September 1901, Roosevelt became President. The following year Roosevelt was selected to fill the Vice Presidential spot in President McKinley's successful run for a second term. As though in consolation, the notoriety from the charge up San Juan Hill was instrumental in propelling him to the governorship of New York in 1899. 'The charge itself was great fun' he declared, and 'Oh, but we had a bully fight.' His actions during the battle earned a recommendation for the Congressional Medal of Honor but politics intervened and the request was denied. His combat experience consisted of one week's campaign with one day of hard fighting. They arrived in Cuba in time to take part in the Battle of San Juan Hill.Īmerica's conflict with Spain was later described as a 'splendid little war' and for Theodore Roosevelt it certainly was. The 'Rough Riders' enlisted cowboys and college men led by Roosevelt under the command of Leonard Wood.

Immediately quit his position and helped form a regiment of volunteers. When war broke with Spain in April of that year, Roosevelt was serving as Assistant Secretary of the Navy.

The charge up an obscure Cuban hill on July, 1 1898 was a pivotal point in Theodore Roosevelt's political career. The Rough Riders Storm San Juan Hill, 1898 The United States Declares War on Spain, 1898 Leaving Home for the 'Promised Land', 1894 Livingstone Discovers Victoria Falls, 1855Īndrew Carnegie Becomes a Capitalist, 1856 Dolley Madison Flees the White House, 1814

Teddy roosevelt rough riders