Primary Source: Roosevelt, Theodore, The Rough Riders. New York, Scribner, 1898.
Theodore Roosevelt was born on october 27, 1858 in New York. He graduated from Harvard, moved to Germany for almost a year and then entered into politics. He held the vice-presidency for less than a year, and when President McKinley was assinated on Sept. 14, 1901, he become the new President. In 1904 Roosevelt was elected to a full term as president. After leaving the Presidency, Roosevelt went on an African safari, then jumped back into politics. In 1912 he ran for President on a Progressive ticket. To reporters he once remarked that he felt as fit as a bull moose, the name of his new party. While campaigning in Milwaukee, he was shot in the chest by a fanatic. Roosevelt soon recovered, but his words at that time would have been applicable at the time of his death in 1919: "No man has had a happier life than I have led; a happier life in every way."
In 1898, Roosevelt sent word that he was going to raise a regiment, and, 23 hundred men came out in the first 24 hours, but only a small percentage were taken. The Rough Riders were formed from men from all kinds of backgrounds, such as western frontiers men, eastern high-class young men, native Americans, African Americans, cowboys, preachers and professors. There were men from each of the 45 states that were in existence, the four terriroties and from 14 countries. Roosevelt felt that the numerous backgrounds of these people would become a strong backbone for the regiment because of their different skills and talents. The uniquness of the regiment brought much publicity even before its worth was proven in battle.
In Cuba, the regiment fought at Las Guasimas, and then at San Juan and Kettle Hills. The regiment proved its worth and lived up to all of the publicity it had already received.
The Rough Riders had the highest casualty rate of all of the regiments involved in the actions in Cuba but they emerge victorious against...