page_title: Rough Riders Memorial
section_title: The first Rough Rider memorials
hierarchical_section_title: Rough Riders Memorial / The Rough Riders / The first Rough Rider memorials
caption_attribution_description: English: Photograph of the Rough Riders Memorial erected on San Juan Hill in Santiago de Cuba, Cuba, beteween 1899 and 1905. The plaque on the inscription reads "In memory of the officers and men of the United States army, who were killed in the assault and capture of this ridge, July 1, 1898, and in the siege of Santiago, July 1 to July 16, 1898. War between Spain and the United States." The memorial was erected by Brigadier General Leonard Wood, out of general funds alloted to the American military government of Cuba. The memorial consists of a square concrete base. On the four corners of the base are artillery shells. The memorial shaft is made of concrete in the style of an obelisk, and stands on a square base with blank sunk panels on all four sides. The bronze plaque is sunk into the face of the memorial. A naval armor-piercing shell is placed atop the shaft's flat top.
context_page_description: The Rough Riders Memorial is a memorial in Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington County, Virginia, in the United States that commemorates those members of the "Rough Riders" who died in the Spanish–American War in 1898. The grey granite shaft was erected by surviving members of the Rough Riders and their friends and supporters. Although Arlington National Cemetery, a number of secondary sources, and even the bronze plaque on the memorial say the monument was dedicated in 1906 and one source says 1905, contemporary newspaper accounts show the memorial was dedicated on April 12, 1907.
context_section_description: Two memorials to the Rough Riders were erected in Cuba shortly after the Spanish–American War ended. One, erected by Brigadier General Wood out of general funds provided for Cuba's military occupation, was erected next to the Spanish Army blockhouse atop San Juan Hill. This memorial stood on a square concrete base, on the four corners of which were placed artillery shells. A square plinth with sunk, blank panels on all four sides stood on the base. On the plinth rose a tapered square column with a flat top. Sunk into the face of this column was a bronze plaque, which read: "In memory of the officers and men of the United States army, who were killed in the assault and capture of this ridge, July 1, 1898, and in the siege of Santiago, July 1 to July 16, 1898. War between Spain and the United States."
  A second memorial, specific to the Rough Riders, was erected at Las Guasimas. The provenance of this memorial is not clear. It was shaped much like the one at San Juan Hill although the building materials were much different. This monument was set on a flagstone base. Rough-hewn pieces of dark grey granite were cemented together to form a rectangular plinth (square in cross-section) atop the flagstones. A tapered square column, made of the same rough-hewn, cemented granite, rose to a flat top. An artillery shell was placed atop the column, and a bronze plaque affixed to its face.  The plaque read: "In Memory / Of the men of /The First and Tenth United States Cavalry, / Young's Brigade / Wheeler's Division, / Who Were Killed in the / Battle of Las Guásimas / June 24th 1898."
caption: The memorial to the Rough Riders at San Juan Hill near the old Spanish Army blockhouse in 1910.
exif: {"Image XResolution": "96", "Image YResolution": "96", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "Paint.NET v3.5.10"}