The Rough Riders.

ROOSEVELT, Theodore.

Item Number: 140533

New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1899.

First edition of Roosevelt’s best-selling work. Octavo, original publisher’s cloth, top edge gilt,  illustrated, tissue-guarded frontispiece portrait of Roosevelt. With a typed letter signed by Roosevelt tipped in. On Roosevelt’s State of New York Executive Chamber, Albany letterhead, the letter reads in full, “March 8th, 1899. Mr. C.E. Stoddard, 632 E. St., N.E., Washington, D.C. My dear sir: I have yours of the 5th inst. You are very kind. Yes, my articles are to appear in the book form very soon, published by Charles Scribner’s Sons. Very sincerely yours, “T Roosevelt.” In very good condition.

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.