Original Theodore Roosevelt and the Rough Riders Photograph.

ROOSEVELT, Theodore.

Item Number: 96599

New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1899.

Rare original sepia-toned photograph of Theodore Roosevelt and Commander Leonard Wood leading a regimental drill with the 1st United States Volunteer Cavalry in San Antonio, Texas. The photograph was featured as a double page engraved illustration in Roosevelt’s best-selling work, The Rough Riders. San Antonio was a pivotal location in the cavalry’s history as it was from the Menger Hotel that Roosevelt conceived of and formed the group. In 1905, a Rough Riders reunion convened in San Antonio at the end of the campaign season and before the commencement of Roosevelt’s second term as president. Matted and framed with fragments from historic army San Antonio photographer, D.P. Barr’s original presentation mat in a sleeve to the verso. The entire piece measures 19.5 inches by by 11.5 inches. Accompanied by a first edition of The Rough Riders in the original cloth with the frontispiece of Theodore Roosevelt with tissue guard, illustrations, top edge gilt. In near fine condition with period ownership inscription to the front free endpaper. Rare and desirable, an attractive pairing.

Colonel Leonard Wood and Theodore Roosevelt founded of the 1st United States Volunteer Cavalry in 1898 at the onset of the Spanish-American War. Hostilities between the United States and Spain began in the aftermath of the internal explosion of the USS Maine in Havana harbor in Cuba, prompting intervention by the United States in the Cuban War of Independence fought against Spain. President William McKinley appointed Wood to organize the volunteer brigade, who in turn appointed Roosevelt as his second in command. Nicknamed the “Rough Riders” by journalists, the cavalry engaged in several battles and was made of mostly college athletes, cowboys, ranchers, and outdoorsmen from the southwest portion of the U.S. The term 'Rough Riders' was familiar at the time from Buffalo Bill whose famous western show "Buffalo Bill's Wild West and Congress of Rough Riders of the World" gained popularity throughout the late 19th century. The Rough Riders remains Roosevelt’s best-selling work, and provides incredible insight into one of the most fascinating regiments in American military history.