Rough Riders , the popular name of the First Regiment of United States Volunteer Cavalry in the Spanish-American War (1898). Leonard Wood was colonel and Theodore Roosevelt, who was chiefly responsible for organizing the unit, was lieutenant colonel. The regiment numbered 1,000 men, many of them from the ranches of the West. They distinguished themselves in the battles of Las Guasimas and San Juan, taking an active part in the whole Santiago campaign.
The correspondent Richard Harding Davis accompanied the Rough Riders, and the publicity they received helped Roosevelt's political career.
