The Erskine family hosted several eminent visitors, including William Bollaert FRGS (1840), Ferdinand von Roemer (1845–1847), and Frederick Law Olmstead (1857). After the Erskine family sold the ranch in the 1870s, part of the land was deeded to Edith Kermit Carow, the second wife of Theodore Roosevelt. During the Spanish–American War, Roosevelt rode an El Capote horse, "Seguin", at the Battle of San Juan Hill (1898). Several other horses from El Capote were used by the 1st United States Volunteer Cavalry ("Roosevelt's Rough Riders") as well.