The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1898-05-04
Where OkIahoma VIII Fight.

| Men who expect to be members Of
'Roosevelt's Rought Riders must shoot
straight and ride we'll. 'Roosevelt's
Rough Riders is not the official title Of
the command. in which Oklahoma Will
have company although 1t catches the
popular fancy and will stick TO II for all
time TO come. On the war records ii will
be designated as the First Regiment OF
Mounted Rife Rangers"
Those who are acquainted with Lieuten-
ant Colonel Theodore Roosevelt know him
10 be an honest. straightforward. sincere
and thoroughly courageous man. His
puolic career and his private intercourse
nave stamped him as a thorough Ameri-
can. and he values that title far above
any civil or military distinction that
could beconferred upon him.
II would be difficult 10 state what
prompted Lieutenant Colonel Roosevelt 10
select this method CT serving his coun-
Try His early training on the frontier
and his neutrality-suspicious. in the var
ious positions he has so ably filed prob
ably Influenced him to take this avenue to
| demonstrate his patriotism and his de-
votion 10 the Stars and Stripes.
The thought of entering the army had
not dawned on him when he entered the
navy department as assistant secretary
under Secretary Long. When 1t became
evident that a conflict between Spain and
the United States was inevitable Mr..
Roosevelt promptly assumed an agrees
sive attitude. and he has never wavered
in his determination to take a hand IN the
fight.
His policy has ever been one Of aggres-
| siVenesS. In his administration of the Of
fee of assistant secretary of thenayy and
the chairman of the naval war board he
has advocatedan offensive. rather than a
defensive. course in dealing with the
Spaniards,
In organizing the Mounted Rife Rang
ers he desired to be in a position todem-
onstrate TO his countrymen that he IS
as ready TO fight as he Is to talk. Tho
men WIZ will rally around his standard
must be sound IN body. able and willing
to fight, and obey orders. No man will
be enlisted IN this command unless he is
prepared to endure hardships and sub
ject himself to the severest discipline nee
essary to 8 perfect military organization
Including officers and men. the compile
| ment of the regiment will be 750
Already recruiting sergeants are enroll
ing the names of volunteers. and the list
will be carefully revised with a view of
selecting only such as are capable Of
| forming the finest body of light cavalry
In the world.
At the present writing moro than 1850
applications for assignment 10 this regi-
ment have been received. Brave and
courageous spirits from Massachusetts,.
New York. Virginia Kentucky, MISSISSIPPI
pi. Colorado. Illinois. North Dakota and
wyoming have volunteered for service in
this regiment Many OF these will Of ne
cessity have to be passed over. as 1t is
/ ~ 90 ~
mand to draw upon the great northwest
for the rank and file Of the regiment.
All talk of forming the command of col
lege graduates, New York policemen.
cowboys. or desperadoes is absurd. The
command will be assembled and organized
in accordance with this order. promulgat-
ed by the commanding general of the
army
by direction of the secretary Of war.
Captain Leonard Wood, United States Ar
my, is relieved from duty in this city, and
will proceed to the following named
places, in the order designated. for duty
in connection with the recruitment of
regiment of mounted rif1emen. to be or
ganized under section of the act of con-
gress approved April % 1898: Guthrie. o.
T.; Santa Fe, N. M; Phoenix, A. T; Car
son City. New; Salt Lake City. Utah.
| Cheyenne. Wyo.; Boise City. IDAHO
| 1t is proposed to have this command or
ganized, equipped and ready for action
within the next ten days. The rendezvous
will be in San Antonio. Texas. The off,
GERS and men will wear the regulation
cavalry uniform. adaptable to the climate
of Cuba Good horses, good constitutions,
good habits and perfect discipline will be
required. This regiment is organized for
business. and mo bad men are wanted"
The command will bearmed with the best
modern rifles, revolvers and macheteS.
The man who Is to command the Rough
Riders was known through the west in
the eighties as the lighting doctor" For
gallantry in the Geronimo compaign he
was given a congressional medal. for 1t
as repworted of him that hehad saved the
command at time whenall Of the officers
except himself and one other had broken
down as a result OF the hard campaign.
He was a surgeon then. stationed in Ari-
| iona. but his career was more OF active
soldering than of surgery.
Colonel Leonard Wood went into the
army in 1885. His home was Boston. He
reached the fort in Arizona which was
to be his headquarters at seven o'clock one
evening in Jne, 1886. The next morning at
4 o'clock he was in the field That was
From then until March. 1887. the troops
were in the field. and during that time
Colonel Wood was with them. making
three long trips into Mexico two of them
more than two thousand miles long. The
first two years of his duty in Arizona he
was under Crook, and was in the field
pretty much ell the time.
In the Geronimo campaign under Miles
he was in command of infantry for con-
siderable part OF the time, and also of
scouts.
1t was during a portion of this cam
paign, when the heat in the southwest
was so terrific, that the men Travelled in
their underclothes, and all the officers ex-
cept Wood and one other broke down,
that he found himself at the head OF a
portion of the army. During this time he
and his men covered fifteen hundred miles
on foot and about one thousand on horse
back.
About three weeks after this trip had
been completed five Of the Indians who
had been captured, escaped. Wood took
eight picked men and started after them.
He and his little command were gone four
months before they returned with their
Indians. The search carried them into
the heart OF Mexico. They went as far as
the Ysqui Valley, down in the state OF
Sinaloa, into the heart OF a mountainous
region. which was as unsettled and unin-
habited as wers the mountainous regions
OF the west before the geld discoveries.
Wood had an active part in the Kidd
outbreak in 1913 He remained IN Arizona