THE ROUGH RIDERS

BY

THEODORE ROOSEVELT

1899


ON BEHALF OF THE ROUGH RIDERS
I DEDICATE THIS BOOK
TO THE OFFICERS AND MEN OF THE FIVE REGULAR REGIMENTS
WHICH TOGETHER WITH MINE MADE UP THE CAVALRY DIVISION AT SANTIAGO



I

RAISING THE REGIMENT

During the year preceding the outbreak of the Spanish War I was
Assistant Secretary of the Navy. While my party was in opposition, I
had preached, with all the fervor and zeal I possessed, our duty to
intervene in Cuba, and to take this opportunity of driving the
Spaniard from the Western World. Now that my party had come to power,
I felt it incumbent on me, by word and deed, to do all I could to
secure the carrying out of the policy in which I so heartily believed;
and from the beginning I had determined that, if a war came, somehow
or other, I was going to the front.