A man who would be as intimidating and admirable this day as in his rode to victory in the Spanish-American war, one hundred and six years ago:
Teddy Roosevelt and Rough Riders charged up Cuba's San Juan Hill and captured it this day, July 1, 1898. After eight hours of heavy fighting over fifteen hundred Americans lay dead or wounded. Just four months prior the U.S. ship Maine was blown up in Havana's Harbor. Roosevelt resigned as Assistant Secretary of the Navy and organized the first volunteer cavalry, made up of polo riders, cowboys and even Indians. After the battle, President McKinley wrote in July of 1898: "At a time...of the...glorious achievements of the naval and military arms of our beloved country at Santiago de Cuba, it is fitting that we should pause and...reverently bow before the throne of divine grace and give devout praise to God, who holdeth the nations in the hollow of His Hands."
Teddy Roosevelt: followed by many imitators, matched by none.
