Weeks Before the Outbreak of the Spanish American War, Theodore Roosevelt Welcomes a “Patriotic” Citizen’s Desire to, Like Him, Volunteer For the Fight

The Rough Riders are one of the most famous fighting units in American history, and his leadership of them made Theodore Roosevelt’s career. In April of 1897 Roosevelt had been appointed Assistant Secretary of the Navy as a reward for his tireless campaigning for the newly elected President, William McKinley. He foresaw that war could develop with Spain, as Spain’s holdings in the Caribbean and its simmering war with Cuban nationalists just 90 miles off U.S. shores became ever more thorns in the side of American goals for the hemisphere. Then, on February 15, 1898, the U.S.S. Maine blew up in Havana harbor, the Spanish were blamed, and an outcry for war arose. Roosevelt had believed even before the Maine that war with Spain was coming, and after the explosion he advocated the conflict within the administration and thought war inevitable. He acted accordingly and sprang into action, moving ammunition, readying ships for action, and seeking to have Congress allow for enlisting unlimited numbers of sailors. On February 25, he even cabled Admiral Dewey to be ready if war were to break out, and gave him his order in that event: attack the Philippines.

During an 1897 speech, TR noted that “Diplomacy is utterly useless where there is no force behind it; the diplomat is the servant, no the master, of the soldier…No triumph of peace is quite so great as the supreme triumphs of war.” As early as January 1898, he made it known to the President and others that if war came, he wanted to leave his post behind a desk in Washington and head for the front.

Typed Letter Signed, on his Navy Department letterhead, Washington, April 7, 1898 to Robert Pearson, commending the recipient for his zeal to get into the action, the same zeal TR himself felt. “Dear Sir:  Many thanks for your patriotic letter.  It has been placed on file, and if hostilities occur and it becomes necessary to call for volunteers, your offer of services will receive consideration.  Very truly yours, T. Roosevelt.”

On April 20, 1898, President McKinley gave an ultimatum requiring that the Spanish government free Cuba in three days. On April 23, that ultimatum expired and the machinery was set in motion for an official declaration of war. Also on the 23rd, Secretary of War Russell Alger told Roosevelt of a proposed special regiment to be formed for the war; it would he known as the Rough Riders. When the war was commenced, he said, TR would be given the opportunity to command that regiment. Roosevelt expressed great interest. Congress declared war on the 25th, and that same day Roosevelt was officially offered the command of the Rough Riders, which he accepted. He immediately set about assembling the regiment, sorting through 23,000 applications and accepting just a fraction. The unit was made up of an effective assemblage of Western cowboys, hunters and frontiersmen, Native Americans, and Eastern athletes and sons of prominent citizens. This composition reflected TR’s own interests. Fate decided the rest, with the fame he gained as leader of the Rough Riders leading to his assumption of the presidency just three years later.