The Arizona rough riders

Arizonans in the First United States Volunteer Cavalry recorded a dramatic involvement in the Spanish-American War. Joined by men from New Mexico, Oklahoma, and Indian Territory, they were molded into a regiment of fighting men destined to become famous as the Rough Riders. Inflamed by the press in 1989 at the mysterious explosion of the USS Main in Havana harbor, a great many people in the United States favored an immediate declaration of war. Young men from all over the country began clamoring to enlist. None had more enthusiasm than an exuberant group of horsemen and riflemen from the Territory of Arizona. From the cattle ranges of the frontier West, from Arizona's mines and railroads, its towns and hamlets, they came: cowboys and miners, executives, laborers, and clerks - all answering a call to arms against the Spanish. Charles Herner has aptly and authentically set down the Rough Rider story. Against a political backdrop unfold the frenzied aspects of the crash training program in San Antonio, the emotional public reaction of the times to the situation in Cuba, and its effect on those who lived in the Territory. Memoirs, personal letters, official records, and interviews with the last survivors of the regiment provide an intimate story of those who charged into history on the heights of San Juan.