Rough Riders definition of Rough Riders in the Free Online Encyclopedia.

Rough Riders, popular name for the 1st Regiment of U.S. Cavalry Volunteers, organized largely by Theodore Roosevelt Roosevelt, Theodore, 1858–1919, 26th President of the United States (1901–9), b. New York City.

Early Life and Political Posts

Of a prosperous and distinguished family, Theodore Roosevelt was educated by private tutors and traveled widely.
..... Click the link for more information. in the Spanish-American War (1898). Its members were mostly ranchers and cowboys from the West, with a sprinkling of adventurous blue bloods from the Eastern universities. Roosevelt resigned his post as Assistant Secretary of the Navy to enter active fighting. The command of the regiment went, however, to a man of more military experience, Leonard Wood Wood, Leonard, 1860–1927, American general and administrator, b. Winchester, N.H. After practicing medicine briefly in Boston, he entered the army in 1885 and was made an assistant surgeon; in 1891 he was promoted to captain.
..... Click the link for more information. . Roosevelt was made lieutenant colonel. Transportation difficulties caused the regiment's horses to be abandoned in Florida, and it fought chiefly on foot in Cuba. It took part in the battles about Santiago; its exploits, especially at San Juan Hill, were highly publicized.

Bibliography

See T. Roosevelt, The Rough Riders (1899, repr. 1961); C. Herner, The Arizona Rough Riders (1970).