The Boys of '98, Theodore Roosevelt and the Rough Riders

Documents the recruitment, training, fighting, and post-Spanish American War careers of the soldiers who comprised the volunteer cavalry regiment known as the Rough Riders

Officially known as the 1st U.S. Volunteer Cavalry, the Rough Riders are synonymous with the Spanish-American War. Their flamboyant colonel, Theodore Roosevelt, was larger than life and generated substantial publicity for his men. Walker (Legends and Lies: Great Mysteries of the American West) has written a lucid account of the history of this volunteer cavalry regiment. He sets the stage by chronicling the troubled history of Cuba and its Spanish rulers, and of U.S. involvement in the island's affairs. After the destruction of the U.S. battleship Maine in February 1898, war was inevitable, given America's outrage over the affair. Roosevelt left his post in the Navy Department and, with Leonard Wood, put together a unique assemblage of men to form the only volunteer cavalry to see action in the subsequent brief war. The regiment's soldiers came from all walks of life?cowboys, ranchers, men from Harvard and Yale, athletes, soldiers of fortune, policemen and many more. The regiment fought in the skirmish at Las Guasimas and took a much-publicized role in the successful assault on San Juan Heights. Battle casualties totaled over a hundred men. Using a combination of memoirs and secondary studies, Walker has produced a human-oriented picture of the regiment, its camp life, battles and struggle with disease in Cuba's tropical climate. Thumbnail biographical sketches provide useful information about the key players in the drama (which incorporates information that Walker garnered nearly 30 years ago while interviewing the then last three surviving Rough Riders). For those interested in the stirring events of a hundred years ago, his study is sure to please.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

The adventures of the famed volunteer cavalry regiment led by the ebullient, romantic, and charismatic Teddy Roosevelt in 1898. Walker (Legends and Lies: Great Mysteries of the American West, 1997) observes the 100th anniversary of the Spanish- American War by retelling the story of Roosevelts Rough Riders, an unlikely collection of tough cowboys, western sheriffs, ranchers, hunters, veterans of the Civil and Indian wars, foreign adventurers, Indians, Mexican rebels, retired West Point graduates, wealthy college athletes and playboys, New York policemen, and even a German band. They flocked to the flag looking for adventure and stirred by the war propaganda of American newspapers and the public jingoism of such figures as Teddy Roosevelt. The US was, as usual, woefully unprepared for war. The overwhelmed army issued woolen uniforms to men headed for a tropical climate and couldnt assemble enough ships to transport the troops. The Rough Riders, Roosevelt's brainchild and a unit meant to serve as calvary, embarked for Cuba without their horses because of lack of space. Some 500 Rough Riders took part in hot battles in very difficult jungle terrain (against better-armed Spanish troops), culminating in their remarkable charge up San Juan Hill, following an ebullient Roosevelt into and over enemy positions. More American troops, however, were felled by disease (mostly malaria or yellow fever) than by enemy bullets. The war was a short one and the life of the regiment, whose men did not take kindly to professional military discipline, lasted only four months. The campaign, and more particularly the charge up San Juan Hill, helped to eventually carry Roosevelt to the White House. This lively and carefully detailed narrative of one of the more unlikely military units and of a short, savage war, celebrates some gallant men and catches their nation at the moment it emerged as a world power. -- Copyright ©1998, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

On this centennial of the Spanish-American War, a number of publications are scheduled. This volume concentrates on the tumultuous creation and short, thrilling campaign of the volunteer regiment raised by then Assistant Secretary of the Navy Roosevelt. Walker sets the scene with some background but zeroes in on the regiment of "woolly" adventurers?cowboys, frontier lawmen, New York club loungers, Harvard graduates, journalists, and wanderers whose virtue, according to Roosevelt, was their ferocity, energy, courage, and manliness. The regiment was raised in April, trained in June, fought in July, and disbanded in September, having sustained 37 percent casualties. Roosevelt declined command in favor of his friend Capt. Leonard Wood, but the personality of the future president was so strong that in the popular eye it was his glory alone. Walker (Rough Rider: Buckey O'Neill of Arizona, Univ. of Nebraska, 1997) has assembled a thoroughly researched popular history that can be enjoyed by lay readers. Recommended for subject collections. (Maps and pictures not seen.)?Edwin B. Burgess, U.S. Army Combined Arms Research Lib., Fort Leavenworth, KS
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.