Teddy Roosevelt and the 'Rough Riders' in Cuba

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[BenRollinsActor]

Teddy Roosevelt did, eventually, receive the Medal of Honor - in 2001. He also won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1906, for negotiating an end to the Russo-Japanese War.

[johnlansing]

It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat .
Teddy Roosevelt

[cdfdesantis]

"Remember the Maine!". So glad to see this often overlooked chapter in the USA's history addressed. Sandwiched between the Civil War & WW1, the bravery of the Rough Riders & their fellow soldiers is sometimes forgotten. Teddy Roosevelt was certainly the ideal leader for such a group. He was 1 of those rare people who are supremely self-confident, & able to transfer that self-confidence into those around him. I honor the memory of the servicemen of the Spanish-American War. May God grant them the peace they so valiantly earned.

[DiniAdd]

My grandfather and his brother went to Cuba with the Roughriders. They lived in Florida and left from Tampa. They were teamsters, not soldiers. My grandfather never forgot Cuba and Teddy Roosevelt.

[tcoker]

A wee bit of Texas History. Teddy Roosevelt did some of his recruiting at the Bar (Pub for the kind folks in Great Britain) located at the “Menger Hotel” across the street from the Alamo in San Antonio, Texas. The original bar is still there and open to the public. Great place! Great atmosphere! If you ever get to San Antonio the first drink is on me.

[ignitionfrn]

1:00 - Chapter 1 - The call for volunteers
2:40 - Chapter 2 - Training & equipment
4:05 - Chapter 3 - Departure from the US
4:55 - Chapter 4 - Battle of las guasimas
7:25 - Chapter 5 - Battle of san juan hill
10:15 - Chapter 6 - Siege of santiago
12:10 - Chapter 7 - Return home

[MrTexasDan]

There was an incident described in Stephen Ambrose's book where Roosevelt led a charge from one peak on San Juan Hill to another fortified peak. Under withering Mauser fire, Roosevelt's men sought cover while their leader charged on. Roosevelt soon found himself alone in the open, with 7mm bullets whizzing by. It took several seconds for him to sensibly decide to retreat and find cover with his men.

Ole Teddy was a special kind of batshit crazy.

[rocketamadeus]

Simon pointing to his head next to "Rough Raiders" lol. Big brain time.

[plushman]

The mast of the USS Maine is at Arlington National Cemetery; Teddy’s Rough Rider uniform is in a display shelf inside of his childhood home in Manhattan

[chrisvickers]

The first flag raised on the top of Kettle Hill was that of the 10th (Colored) Cavalry. They received little to no credit at the time for their participation.

[Big_Tex]

Honestly Simon needs a channel dedicated solely to Teddy Roosevelt. It’d be huge.

[datasailor]

The friendship between Leonard Wood and Theodore Roosevelt arose when Leonard was made the President’s personal physician. After graduating from Harvard Medical School, he tried regular medicine in one or more Boston Hospitals, but the environment was much too restrictive for him. He signed on with the Army as a contract Surgeon. He was awarded the MoH for his heroics in escaping into the desert and going for help with a message from the commanders thus relieving the besieged soldiers. He met TR and his future wife btw at social events in DC while stationed there. After the yellow press had stirred up things with the Maine incident, Roosevelt went to Leonard Wood and asked to borrow his cachet as a regular army officer in organizing and being the official commander the 1st. Volunteers. Leonard Wood was not present at San Juan Hill. He had recently been promoted to the command of the entire expeditionary force when the Civil War retreads were sent to pasture.
After the conflict TR returned to fame and glory and Leonard Wood remained in Cuba. About that time a young medical officer came to him and asked for permission to perform a little research on the diseases they encountered there such as Malaria and Yellow Fever. That young doctor was Walter Reed. Wood was eventually sent to the Philippines to put down the Moro rebellion. He was later Chief of the Army Medical Corps and chief of staff of the Army. There he fought a bureaucratic battle with a General Root who was Chief of officer corps personnel. If you wanted a choice assignment, you needed to lick Root’s boots. The choices weren’t made in the best interests of the corps. Wood was put out to pasture with the ascension of Woodrow Wilson to the presidency. The Wilson administration felt that Wood would not be a “Company Man” in that organization. Remember Wilson’s reelection slogan was: “ He kept us out of war.” General Pershing was made head of the Expeditionary Force; Leonard Wood was in charge of the newly formed ROTC. Along with training young soldiers to be officers he also became interested in “camp fever” which was a tag name for any disease a soldier could succumb while not on the lines.
It was not until Vietnam that we lost more soldiers to direct enemy than we did to disease and accidents.

Joseph Leonard Wood, III
I am not a direct descendant but we have had family tradition of a link to him.

[ericknutson]

This war led to the development of the Springfield 1903 rifle, an American Mauser

[kcollier]

A nice, informative episode of American history. Well done Simon and Crew....

[SteveO]

It was Las Vegas New Mexico where the reunions where held which is a small town. Probably not the one Simon was thinking of.

[PatriceRacine]

Simon thinking about where to put a video on Teddy Roosevelt, the rough riders and the Spanish-American war:
Biographic? No.
Highlight History? No.
Warographics? No.
Today I Found Out? Maybe.
Sideprojects? Perfect!

[goodchessactor]

Hey, Leonard Wood. I took basic in his fort in Missouri, 1968.

[pyromania]

You misspelled "Riders" in the image, Simon.

[sarahcoleman]

Did anybody else catch that the thumbnail said Rough Raiders? I mean, considering the current attitude on the USA's foreign "intervention" policies... appropriate, but I'm pretty sure it was a typo. 😆

[patriciafeehan]

TR sick as a child, recovered by his teens, and spent a part of his life living off the land out West. He was an excellent horseman.