Theodore Roosevelt and Craig W. Wadsworth Rough Riders Collection.

ROOSEVELT, Theodore and Craig W. Wadsworth.

$50,000.00

Item Number: 123510

New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1899.

Craig Wharton Wadsworth’s personal collection of books, letters and photographs from his time as a Sergeant in Roosevelt’s Rough Riders cavalry.

The collection includes a first edition of Roosevelt’s best-selling work, The Rough Riders (New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1899) signed by Roosevelt, “Theodore Roosevelt” and Wadsworth, “Craig W. Wadsworth Sergeant-Troop K”; Wadsworth’s 14-leaf photograph album bound in full pebbled leather with gilt titles to the front panel which read: “First United States Volunteer Cavalry (Roosevelt Rough Riders) 1898” containing 24 original photographs of the cavalrymen on their expedition to Daiquiri with annotations in Wadsworth’s hand and a lengthy introduction on the final leaf which reads, “The Rough Riders or the 1st Regiment U. S. Volunteer Cavalry was organized at San Antonio, Texas, between May 9 + 19, 1898. Comprised of men most from Arizona – troops A. B. C. from Oklahoma territory D, from New Mexico E, F, G, H, + I; New York + Eastern States K; from Indian territory L + M. May 29. the Regiment proceeded by rail to Tampa. June 8. troops A, B, C, D, E, F, G, K, L boarded the troopship Yucatan in Port Tampa Bay, forming the first military expedition to Cuba. June 22. arrived at Daiquiri June 23. marched to Sibony. June 24 marched to Las Guasimas + defeated the Spanish, losing 40 men in killed + wounded. June 30. marched to El Posa. July 1, participated in the San Juan engagement + faced the Spanish to Santiago, losing 89 men in killed + wounded. July 2-17. Duty in trenches — Santiago until surrender. July 18. marched to regular Camp at El Caney. Aug. 7. marched to Santiago, boarded troopship Miami and returned to the United States. August 15. landed at Montauk Point, L. 9.2.4., and went into — camp. August 19. marched to regular camp, rejoined troops C, H, I, + M, which remained at Tampa until Aug. 7, and performed regular duties until Sept. 15, 1898, when the regiment was mustered out of service.” The photographs are captioned as follows: 1 recto. “Rough Rider” Encampment, San Antonio 1898; 1 verso. [photo of a ship, text removed]; 2r. Getting ready, June 8., 2v. Cooke, Wadsworth, Tiffany, H. Bull, Carroll. June 8; 3r. Going aboard the “—” Henry Cooke, Willie Tiffany, Henry Bull, Craig Wadsworth June 8; 3v. “the Yucatan” leaving Tampa with the Rough Riders. troops A, B, D, E, F, G, K, and half of 2nd Infantry June 8; 4r. June 13. nearer [photo of a ship]; 4v. June 13. And nearer. [photo of a ship]; 5r. June 13. And nearer the Yucatan just misses big —. [photo of a ship]; 5v. The Miami [photo of a ship]; 6r. Bombardment of Daiquiri by U. S. Navy. June 22; 6v. landing at Daiquiri. June 22; 7r. The Rough Riders’ Camp at Daiquiri, June 23; 7v. The Rough Riders’ Camp at Daiquiri, June 23; 8r. —, Marshall, Harrison, Benlough, Green, Eatton; 8v. Resting after Las Guasimas engagement. June 24. under the blankets are left the dead body of Hamilton Fish; 9r. Dick Davis, Gen. Lawton, Col. Wood, Caspar Whitney, Gen Lawton; 9v. Fighting Ground of the 1st + 10th U. S. Cavalry; 10r. the “Bloody —” [Ford?] after the San Juan engagement. July 1st; 10v. Grave of Capt. Capron of troop L, the “Rough Rider” killed during the engagement at Las Guasimas. June 22; 11r. Stream where Gen. Shafter left. June 30th; 11v. El Paso after the bursting of the first shell. July 1st; 12r. On the roads to El Caney July 18th; 12v. — Warden, Joe Stevens Jack Carroll, Beu. Ha.; Wadsworth’s first edition copy of Inaugural Souvenir 1901 (Washington DC: Press of W. F. Roberts, 1901) in the original publisher’s boards, illustrated with engraved portraits of each American president from Washington to McKinley including frontispiece of  McKinley and Roosevelt. With Warden’s ownership inscription, “Craig W. Wadsworth. Washington D. C. Sunday March 3 1901”; and a two-page typed letter signed by Roosevelt dated May 15, 1902 on White House letterhead addressed to Wadsworth at the Kinckerbocker Club in New York which reads: My dear Craig, You have now been made Secretary of the Legation at London. I am sure I need not tell you that because my representative, and I shall have a peculiar responsibility for you in England. You showed yourself in war worthy of your grandfather, a man who left his name as a heritage because of what he did in the Civil War. Now you must show yourself just as good an American in peace. You will be in a set of our countrymen over in London of whom there is not always cause to feel proud, and you must always keep before your mind that you are the representative of this country “as a whole” [Roosevelt has added this in his hand]; that every decent and self-respecting American, without the least reference to his social position, who comes from this side has a claim upon your courtesy and interest; and above all that no man of any other country will ever respect one of our men who is not himself genuinely and at heart a thorough-going American. I wish I could see you for a moment before you go abroad. Faithfully yours, “Theodore Roosevelt”.

A prominent member of New York Society, Craig Wharton Wadsworth served in Troop K of Theodore Roosevelt’s Rough Riders in 1898. After the war, he served on Governor Theodore Roosevelt’s military staff as a major in Albany, New York. In 1902, he joined the U.S. Diplomatic Service as third secretary to the American Embassy in London. In very good to near fine condition. Original photographs and documents from the Rough Rider era are rare, those signed by Roosevelt and from the personal collection of a Rough Rider exceptionally so.

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.