"High, Wide and Handsome"

“High, Wide and

From the thinning ranks of the Rough Riders of the Spanish American War, who numbered 1203 men at the time of their organization and whose survivors are counted at 107, will come a half hundred gallant old warriors to Prescott for a 50th anniversary celebration. June 24 and 25 of this year.

It will be, according to H. H. Wynkoop, secretarytreasurer of the celebration, probably the last reunion of this small band of fighting men who covered themselves with glory at the battle of San Juan Hill and other engagements in Cuba.

Those who will come to Prescott for the celebration are among the more hardy survivors of men between the ages of 72 and 93. Some of the others are too infirm to make the trip.

It was Richard Harding Davis, famous novelist and dashing war correspondent, who gave the First U. S Volunteer Cavalry the name of Rough Riders.

Davis, impressed by the ruggedness of the men of the cavalry, turned to Teddy Roosevelt and said, “They Sure are rough riders!” In his subsequent news dispatches he referred to them as “rough riders” and the name stuck.

While some came from the east, most of them were hand-picked from among the hardy men of the wide-open spaces of the West, and while nearly all were great horsemen, they went into action dismounted.

The horses were left behind because of lack of ship ping facilities. Six weeks after the Rough Riders left their homes, they engaged in their first batttle. One week later, they took San Juan Hill. Within four and a half months after entering the service they had returned to civilian life.

The fiftieth reunion of the Rough Riders recalls how its organization was inspired. After the blowing up of the Maine Feb. 15, 1898, Teddy Roosevelt, who was assistant Secretary of the Navy during the McKinley administration, and Col. Leonard Wood, later general, a surgeon of the regular army, met and talked of the possi bilities of the United States going to war with Spain.

Col. Wood had served with the regular army in the

Handsome

Apache campaign in the Southwest. During that campaign he came to have a great appreciation of the ranchers. the cowboys, the miners and the prospectors of Arizona and New Mexico. Teddy Roosevelt had spent some time in Oklahoma and had become acquainted with the same type of men, so they asked permission of the war department to raise a regiment of these men from the territories of Arizona and New Mexico and Oklahoma, immediately upon the declaration of war with Spain. They sent word to governors of the three territories asking for volunteers who were “used to rough living, rough country and rough riding.” Arizona was asked to furnish a quota of 360 men, New Mexico, 510, and Oklahoma 180. As the word was passed around, men began arriving in Prescott, Santa Fe and Oklahoma City to join the volunteer cavalry.

Nearly 1,400 men arrived in Prescott to enlist; 1,700 in Santa Fe, New Mexico; and about 1,200 in Oklahoma City. The governors of the territories telegraphed Washington that they could furnish men for another regiment or a full division if it were desired. Washington, however, rejected the idea of a larger unit and hundreds of men were returned to civilian life.

The Arizona men left May 6, 1898, for San Antonio, Texas, their place of mobilization. Two days later the men from New Mexico left Santa Fe, the same day the contingent departed from Oklahoma City.

After a short training period in San Antonio, the Rough Riders entrained for Tampa Beach, Florida, and sailed for Cuba on June 19, 1898. Service in Cuba was rugged under a tropical sun. The Rough Riders were clad in long woolen underwear, woolen shirts, heavy woolen socks and Army brogans. They carried a full kit, Colt revolvers, with 100 rounds of ammunition, and also carried a carbine rifle with another 100 rounds of ammunition. Many men dropped from the line, exhausted. But early on the morning of June 24 they went into action and decisively defeated the Spanish army, six weeks after they had left the territories. They had had little opportunity to acquire military discipline or technique but they proved their fighting ability and one week later, on July 1, they took San Juan Hill. In that battle, Capt. William O. "Bucky" O'Neill was killed.

proved their fighting ability and one week later, on July 1, they took San Juan Hill. In that battle, Capt. William O. "Bucky" O'Neill was killed.

Some of the Rough Riders at the Prescott Reunion will be accompanied by their wives and some of those who have passed on will be represented by their widows.

Among the latter will be Mrs. Pauline O'Neill, of Hollywood, California, widow of the immortal Bucky, who resigned as mayor of Prescott three days before entering the service.

Rough Riders will be in Prescott from as far as Boston. Massachusetts. Charles Heitman, chairman of the board of directors of the Christian Science Monitor, has notified the committee that he will attend. Heitman, enlisting in Phoenix, was a corporal in Troop B serving under Captain J. H. McClintock, former Phoenix postmaster and Arizona historian. Wynkoop and Robert Patterson, chairman of the celebration committee, are two of the remaining Rough Riders. Patterson, who is postmaster in the mining camp of Crown King in Yavapai county and also operates a boarding house there, was a first lieutenant in Troop C, serving under Capt. J. L. B. Alexander, a prominent Arizonan. Mrs. Alexander of Phoenix will be here for the celebration. Wynkoop, a retired printer, served in Troop E from Santa Fe under Capt. Fritz Mueller. Wynkoop, incidentally, after the close of the Spanish American War, spent some time at Oyster Bay, N. Y. clearing up the records of the Rough Riders with Teddy Roosevelt. He and Teddy were close friends.

Teddy's widow and her daughter, Alice Longworth, have been extended special invitations to attend the reunion. It is also expected that Mrs. H. O. King will be in Prescott for the reunion. A former Arizona congresswoman, her late husband, John C. Greenway, was a distinguished Rough Rider. Jack Greenway, as he was affectionately known by his friends, was active in Arizona mining development. Miss Adelaide Green, San Diego. is among those who will attend. Her father, John W. Green, from Gallup. New Mexico, was a lieutenant of G Troop, and later the 24th Infantry. which took part in the capture of Aguinaldo.

the Filipino revolutionary leader. David M. Goodrich, New York City, president of the Rough Riders Association, will attend. Also from New York will come Arthur S. Cosby, who served as a colonel in World War I. One of the unique characters at the reunion will be Stephen Easton who through the years has worn his hair long and is never without his campaign hat on which there is a picture of his idol, Teddy Roosevelt. John Oscar Mullen, superintendent of schools at Jerome, Arizona, will be at the celebration, and so will Garfield A. Tod of Santa Cruz, California. Tod enlisted under the name of Frederick Smith because he was so young his parents objected to him going to war. He had difficulty in straightening out matters when he was mustered out of service but Teddy Roosevelt came to his rescue. Another Rough Rider who will attend the reunion is Colonel Roger S. Fitch of Monterey, California, who served as a colonel in both World War I and World War II and who was in charge of the construction of huge Fort Ord, California in World War II. Then there is Arthur P. Spencer of Albuquerque, New Mexico, who enlisted in the navy after the Spanish American War and advanced to the rank of commander. One of the picturesque characters attending the reunion will be William McGinty, of Oklahoma, known as the "bowlegged" cowboy of the Rough Riders. McGinty, after being mustered out of service, joined up with Buffalo Bill's circus with nine other Rough Riders and performed in this country and in Europe for a number of years.