The Rough Riders

“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 Riders

The 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.