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Teddy Roosevelt at San Juan The Making of a President by Peggy Samuels and Harold Samuels |
The legend of Teddy Roosevelt leading the Rough Riders in their charge up San Juan Hill helped put him in the White House. As this fast-paced narrative shows, Roosevelt promoted himself as a hero to his media contacts, who obligingly reported his boasts as truth in their newspaper dispatches. In reality, Roosevelt's charge was foolhardy; it wasn't even up San Juan Hill.
Teddy Roosevelt at San Juan details what Roosevelt actually did and why. In alternating chapters, the authors flash back to his earlier life, when his father's avoidance of Civil War service was a source of shame, and forward to the Rough Riders' formation and charge into battle.
At one o'clock in the afternoon of July 1, 1898, thirty-nine-year-old Lt. Col. Teddy Roosevelt prepared to advance at the head of his Rough Riders during the Cuban phase of the Spanish-American War. A mixture of cowboys and socialites, the Rough Riders were the most colorful regiment in the American V Army Corps.
Their immediate target was the central sector of the fortified San Juan Heights. Capturing the blockhouse on San Juan Hill was key to breaching the Spanish defenses on the heights above the city of Santiago de Cuba. Roosevelt and his volunteer cavalry were positioned to the rear of two regular regiments on the right side of the arena. The Rough Riders faced the lower and thinly defended rise called Kettle Hill; the regulars, including the black soldiers in segregated units, faced the heavily defended San Juan Hill.
The only American cavalry officer to remain mounted in the battle, Roosevelt initiated an unauthorized charge up Kettle Hill. While racing up the slope, he was forced to dismount and climb to the crest on foot. As his young volunteers fell in behind, Roosevelt reveled in his triumph.
Afterward, in describing his self-perceived role to reporters, Roosevelt cast himself as the most promotable hero in the campaign and, thus, laid the foundation for his legend.
Military historians and general readers interested in the Spanish-American War and those wanting a further look into the life and career of one of history's most charismatic and persuasive politicians will find this story an important contribution to understanding the period.
PEGGY SAMUELS and HAROLD SAMUELS are writers living near Tucson, Arizona. Their books include Frederic Remington: A Biography and Remembering the Maine.
Number Fifty-four: Texas A&M University Military History Series
Teddy Roosevelt at San Juan
0-89096-771-7
$39.95
LC 97-9903. 6 1/8x9 1/4. 384 pp. 15 b&w photos.
2 line drawings. 4 maps. Bib. Index.
American History. Military History. Spanish-American War.
Publication Date: September 1997.
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