This episode was one of those early events that helped propel the energetic TR forward in his march to the presidency. was fighting against Spain over Spain's colonial policies with Cuba. He resigned in 1898 to organize the Rough Riders, the first voluntary cavalry in the Spanish-American War. Through persistence and energy, Roosevelt and his 1st United States Volunteer Cavalry managed to work their way to the point of the spear during the Spanish–American War in Cuba and engaged in the Battle of Las Guasimas, the Battle of San Juan Hill, and the seige of Siege of Santiago. Before becoming President of the United States, Theodore Roosevelt was the Assistant Secretary of the Navy.

The Rough Riders were a band of confederate volunteers made up primarily of cowboys, lawmen, miners, and native americans from the Western territories (New Mexico, Arizona, Oklahoma, and Texas) and sprinkled with athletes and adventurers from Harvard, Yale and Princeton. It is something to see a helicopter colonel stomping around with spurs on and not think a little of Theodore Roosevelt. My father-in-law was a calvary Colonel who commanded both tanks and helicopters. He reminds me a lot of my late father-in-law, who was probably born a century too late. Like everything he did, it was written with energy and machismo. 'We knew not whither we were bound, nor what we were to do but we believed that the nearing future held for us many chances of death and hardship, of honor and renown.' - Theodore Roosevelt, The Rough Riders I've been curious to read this memoir/history by TR.

The Rough Riders by Theodore Roosevelt