The Worcester spy. [volume] (Worcester, Mass.) 1898-1904, 1898-12-25
CROUCH RIDERS 9
Some Interesting Facts
From Col. Roosevelt's Pen.

From Col. Roosevelt's Pen.
Col. Theodore Roosevelt begins in
the January number of scribner's, a
series of articles on the Rough Rid
ers." The first chapter is entitled
Raising the regiment" and concern
ing the latter, the following clippings
may be of interest.
mere was one friend who was
steadily in Washington This was
an army surgeon, DR. Leonard Wood.
only met him after l entered the
| navy department, but we soon found
that we had kindred tastes and kim
/ 1red principles. He had served in
! General Miles inconceivably harass-
ing campaigns against the Apaches,
4 where he had displayed such courage
tnat ne won that most coveted of
alstinctions-the medal of honor; such
/ extraordinary physical strength and
| endurance that he grew to be recog-
nlzed as one of the two or three white
men who could stand fatigue and
nardshlp as well as an Apache; and
4 such Judgment that toward the close
! OF the campaigns he was given though
/ q surgeon, the actual command of more
than one expedition against the bands
I " ieltSaue Indians.
/ Like so many of the gallant fight
ers with whom it was later my good
/ fortune to serve, ne combined. in a
/ very high degree, the qualities of en-
4 TIRE manl1ness with entIe uprightness
ana cleanliness of character 1t was a
/ pleasure to deal with d man of high
I Ideals, who scorned everything mean
( ana base, and who also possessed those
4 robust and hardy qualities of body and
/ mlnd, for the lack of which no merely
4 negative virtue can ever atone
He was by nature a soldier of the
4 highest type, and, like most natural
solalers, he was, Of course, born with
4 a Keen longing fol adventures: and
+ though an excellent doctor, what he
really desired was the chance to lead
men in some kind of hazard. To every
possibility of such adventure he paid
/ quick attention.
Then | went to San Antonio myself,
where j found the men from New Mex
leo, Arizona and Oklahoma already
4 gathered, while those from Indian Ter
/ rltory came i'm soon after my arri-
I val
These were the men who made up
/ the bulk of the regiment, and gave it
It's peculiar character They came
! from the four territories which yet re-
main within the boundaries of the
/ United States; that is, from the lands
that have been most recently won over
/ to white civilization, and in which the
conditions of life are nearest those OBJ
tanned on the frontier when there still
was a frontier They We're a splendid
1 set of men, these southwesterners- tall
and sinewy, with resolute, weatherbeat-
en- faces, and eyes that looked a man
straight in the face without finching.
I They included in their ranks men of
4 every occupation; but the three types
1 were those of the cowboy, the hunter
and the mining prospector-the man
who wandered hither and thither, kill
ing game for living, and spending his
life in the quest for metal wealth.
In all the world there could be no
better material for soldiers than that
afforded by these grim hunters of the
mountains, these wild rough riders of
the plains. They were accustomed to
handling wild and savage horses;
] they were accustomed to following the
chase with the rifle both for sport and
as a means of livelihood. Varied though
4 their occupations had been, almost all
had, at one time or another, herded
cattle and hunted big game. They were
hardened to life in the open, and to
shifting for themselves. under adverse
circumstances. They were used, for all
4 their lawless- freedom, to the rough
discipline of the roundup and the
3 mining company. SOIle VI lneIl CAME
from the small frontier towns, but
4 most We're from the wilderness, having
4 left their lonely hunters cabins and
4 shifting cow-camDs to seek new and
i more stirring adventures beyond the
sea.
II had been quite prepared for trouble
1 when it came to enforcing discipline,
but 1 was agreeably disappointed.
4 Thera were plenty of hard characters
e xr,l,, ,ier,t r. Nv oil
4 trouble, and with one or two of whom
! we did have to take rough measures;
i but the bulk of the men thoroughly
/ understood that without discipline they
4 would be merely a valueless mob, and
/ they set themselves hard at work to
I learn the new duties.
"Of course. such a regiment, in spite
of, or indeed 4 might almost say be-
cause of, the characteristics which
made the individual men so exception
ally formidable as soldiers, could very
j readily have been spoiled. Any weak
! ness in the commander would have
4 ruined it. On the other hand, to treat
it from the standpoint of the martinez
and military pedant would have been
4 almost equally fatal. From the begin
4 ming we started out to secure the es-
sentials of discipline, while laying just
as little stress as possible on the nom
/ essentials The men were singularly
/ Quick to respond to any appeal to their
| intelligence and patriotism. The faults
they committed were those of ignor-
/ ance merely. When Holderman, in an
nouncing dinner to the colonel and the
| three majors genially remarked, If
you fellars don't come soon every
4 thing'n get cold he had no thought of
other than a kindly and respectful re-
gard for their welfare, and was glad to
modify his form of address on being
told that it was not what could be de-
scribed as conventionally military.
1 When one of our sentinels, who had
with much labor learned the manual of
4 passed and added. with a friendly nod,
4 Good evening, Colonel this Variation
in the accepted formula on such oc-
4 casion was meant, and was accepted, as
mere friendly interest. In both cases
\ the needed instruction was given and
received in the same kindly spirit
II felt many qualms at first in all
lowing men Of this stamp to come in,
4 for could not be certain that they
4 had counted the cost, and was afraid
4 they would find ii very hard TO serve
mot for a few days, but for months
4 in the ranks, while I, their former
i intimate associate, was q field officer;
4 but they insisted chat they knew
4 their minds. and the events showed
4 that they did. We enlisted about fifty
Of them from Virginia, Maryland. and
the northeastern states, at Washing
; ton.
Before allowing them to be sworn
in, | gathered them together and eX-
4 blamed that If they went in they must
4 be prepared not merely to fight, but
4 to perform the weary, monotonous la
4 Dor incident to the ordinary routine of
4 a soldiers life; that they must be
4 ready to face fever exactly as they
4 were to face bullets: that they were
j to ohev unnuestioningly. and to do