Theodore Roosevelt's Autobiography of the Rough Riders
After organizing and training in San Antonio, the 1,000+ men and 1,200 horses and mules, took the train to Tampa, Florida. From there the Rough Riders sailed to the southeast tip of Cuba, and landed fourteen miles east of Santiago, at/near the small village of Daquiri (sic), the birthplace of the Daiquiri.
Incredibly interesting book.
Reads like The Iliad.
Chapter 1: Raising the Regiment
p. 15
Theodore Roosevelt and Leonard Wood (medical/surgeon): commissioned as Colonel and Lieutenant-Colonel of the First United States Volunteer Cavalry. The public quickly christened them the "Rough Riders."
Mustering places: New Mexico, Arizona, Oklahoma, and Indian Territory (Oklahoma). Athletes, elites from Ivy League colleges in the northeast.
Page 40, mentions one of many of the best: John McIlhenny. Turns out he has a wiki page.
John Avery McIlhenny. Heir to the Tabasco operations. Born, 1867. Good education but did not complete studies at Tulane, Harvard. Joined the Rough Riders in 1898. In 1898 McIlhenny resigned from the Tabasco company to serve in the Spanish–American War, joining Theodore Roosevelt's Rough Riders volunteer cavalry regiment. "[B]y his high qualities and zealous attention to duty," wrote Roosevelt in his memoir of the campaign, McIlhenny "speedily rose to a sergeantcy, and finally won his lieutenancy for gallantry in action." -- page 40 in my copy. McIlhenny participated in the Battle of Las Guasimas and the Battle of San Juan Hill and continued to serve despite suffering from measles and malaria. Went on to serve in government at various levels. Died, age 74 - 75.
Trained in San Antonio.
Rail to Tampa, FL. Four days by rail.
Then sailed to southeastern tip of Cuba.
Chapter II: To Cuba
Dr Robb Church, a Princeton football player.
Appointed the Assistant Surgeon but acted throughout almost all the Cuban campaign as the Regimental Surgeon.
Identified Bucky O'Neill's versatility.
Four days by rail from San Antonio to Tampa, FL.
Evening of June 13, 1898 -- advised they would set sail -- p. 55.
Chapter III: General Young's Fight At Las Guasimas
Landed on Cuba, p. 64. Landed at beach called Sibony; near very, very small village not seen on most maps, Daiquiri or Daquiri, about 14 miles east of Santiago de Cuba, I believe.
Marched a quarter of a mile or so inland.
Brigade Commander, General Young -- p. 64.
General Lawton, p. 65.
General Wheeler, p. 65.
Our regiment: the First and Tenth Cavalry, p. 67.
Roosevelt led his squadron, p. 67.
Major Brodie followed with his squadron.
Started marching inland.
Spaniards about four miles distant.
Order of battle, p. 69, starting at the bottom.
Fight began about 8:00 a.m. (?).
Reached the top of the hill, p. 72.
Jungle fighting; very dense jungle.
Hotchkiss guns.
Casualties, p. 83:
Rough Riders lost eight men killed and 34 wounded aside from two or three who were merely scratech and whose wounds were not reported.
The First Cavalry, white, lost seven men; eight wounded.
The Tenth Cavalry, colored, one man killed; ten wounded.
So out. of 964 men engaged on our side, 16 were killed and 52 wounded.
Was this the first time in the book TR mentioned white / colored?
Spaniards had about 1200 men total in that first skirmish.
Wounded taken back to Siboey -- p. 89,
Now the 25th, p. 90.
tarn: small mountain lake
On their way to San Juan hill, p. 92.
Chapter IV: The Cavalry at Santiago
The Rough Riders were separate from the First and Tenth cavalries. On the march toward Santiago, the Rough Riders followed behind the First and Tenth.
San Juan River, fighting begins in earnest.
Chapter V: In The Trenches
Speaks of the Bad Lands of the Little Missouri, p. 141.
Spaniards surrender on/about the 17th, p. 155.
Chapter VI: The Return Home
Was this during the months of August / September? Earlier.
Battle of San Juan Hill, July 1, 1898. Wiki.
Appendix A: Muster-Out Roll
Troop A - M (thirteen troops)
Autobiography: Theodore Roosevelt
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Division, Regiment, Troop
Division: multiple regiments; flexible; 10,000 to 35,000 men
Brigade: major tactical unit; multiple battalions or regiments (brigade -- brigadier general)
Regiment: permanent unit; 3,000 to 5,000 men (colonel)
Troop: a subunit of a regiment; 62 - 190 men;
Page 229, at end of Spanish surrender in Cuba:
J. Ford Kent -- Major-General Volunteers Commanding -- First Division, Fifth Corps
J. C. Bates -- Major-General Volunteers Commanding -- Provisional Division
Adna R. Chaffee -- Major-General Commanding -- Third Brigade, Second Division
Samuel S. Sumner -- Brigadier-General Volunteers Commanding -- First Brigade, Cavalry
Will Ludlow -- Brigadier-General Volunteers Commanding -- First Brigade, Second Division
Adelbert Ames -- Brigadier-General Volunteers Commanding -- Third Brigade, First Division
Leonard Wood -- Brigadier-General Volunteers Commading the City of Santiago:
Colonel Commading Second Cavalry Brigade: Colonel Theodore Roosevelt;
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Battle of San Juan Hill
From wiki:
The Americans, after already landing troops in the Battle of Guantánamo Bay, moved inland to seek a decisive encounter with the Spanish forces. Both sides drew blood at the Battle of Las Guasimas, with the Spanish moving to defend the strategically valuable San Juan Heights from the Americans.
A week later, a significantly larger American force, including the famed "Rough Riders", moved to clear the heights of the Spanish. After enduring artillery fire which inflicted heavy casualties, the Americans charged up the hill and dispersed the Spanish, suffering even more heavily in the process.
The fight for the heights proved to be the bloodiest and most famous battle of the war. The battle also proved to be the location of the "greatest victory" for the Rough Riders, as stated by the press and its new commander, Theodore Roosevelt. Roosevelt returned to New York and was promptly elected governor.
He was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor in 2001 for his actions in Cuba and became the only U.S. president to receive the award.
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