Who Were Teddy Roosevelt’s Rough Riders?

You’ve probably heard about Teddy Roosevelt’s Rough Riders.

They were the 1st United States Volunteer Cavalry, one of the three regiments raised in 1898. They were also the only ones of the three that saw action.

When Roosevelt formed his famous cavalry regiment to fight in the Spanish- American War, he selected 1,000 of the finest men he could find. They were given the best horses money could buy, and they all trained together in Texas.

When they became expert soldiers, they were ordered to take a boat to Cuba to fight the Spanish. But when they tried to get on the boat, they found it was much too small. It was so small that it couldn’t take any horses aboard at all. It couldn’t even take all 1,000 men. It could carry only 560.

The Rough Riders became famous for fighting in many battles in Cuba. The most famous battle of all was their great victory at San Juan Hill.

But they didn’t charge up that hill on Horseback, as many people think. They had to go up the hill on foot because they had no horses.