11. The First United States Volunteer Cavalry Regiment
One of Roosevelt’s last acts as Assistant Secretary of the Navy was to ensure the 1st United States Volunteer Cavalry was properly equipped with the most advanced weapons available to the US Army. He also ensured that their uniforms were distinctive. He later wrote in his book The Rough Riders, “They looked exactly as a body of cowboy cavalry should look”. Roosevelt ignored the pleadings of his wife Edith (and political allies in Washington) to remain at his post with the Navy and joined the regiment as it was training in San Antonio, Texas, determined to see action in the War with Spain, which he expected to be short.
Roosevelt called the newly formed unit the Cowboy Regiment, but it was a diverse group which included adventure-minded individualists from across the country. Professional and amateur athletes, prospectors and miners, wealthy men of business, cowboys and lawmen from the west, and men from other walks of life comprised its ranks. They trained in the operations of cavalry, learned to maneuver and deploy into battle on horseback, with Leonard Wood in command of the regiment – comprised of 12 companies – with Roosevelt second. They became known as the Rough Riders, a name borrowed from Buffalo Bill’s popular Wild West Show.
