Jews and the Rough Riders

           The Spanish American War was the shortest war the U.S. had partaken in as it lasted just the three months between April and August 1898. There were two theaters of war. One of them was in the Pacific where the U.S. fought the Spanish to gain land mainly for imperialistic reasons. The other took place in the Caribbean where the U.S. wanted to help Cuba declare independence from Spain and in doing so the U.S. took control of Puerto Rico.

The founder of the most famous unit in the war was a future president who was a big supporter of Jewish causes. During Teddy Roosevelt’s tenure as leader of the Rough Riders there were many Jews under his command. When a rabbi from Philadelphia who was serving in Cuba approached him and asked him for permission to conduct services, Teddy came along with his soldiers. When he ran for president in 1904 (William McKinley had died in 1901 and as vice president Teddy took over so this technically was his reelection bid) posters sprang up all over the Lower East Side encouraging to vote for him- a person who championed for Jewish rights and freedoms.

            The U.S. was not happy with Spanish dominance in the Caribbean because their economic status was being hurt by the ongoing conflict between Spain and Cuban nationals. The U.S. demanded that Spain leave Cuba and was further infuriated when the battleship USS Maine mysteriously blew up in Havana Harbor killing over 250 Americans including five Jewish sailors. Naturally, the U.S. blamed Spain and declared war on them in April 1898.

President McKinley asked for troops and hundreds of volunteers signed up to join the army. Theodore “Teddy” Roosevelt, who was assistant secretary of the navy at the time, asked the Department of War for permission to raise a Calvary unit. Teddy had no battle experience and therefore asked Colonel Leonard Wood, an army doctor who had won the Medal of Honor during the American-Indian War in the 1880s, to lead the regiment. It was called the 1^st Volunteer Calvary and soon was given the nickname the Rough Riders.

Since they were needed for war shortly after the creation of the unit, Roosevelt wanted men who were “in shape” and could easily prepare for battle. The regiment had about 1,250 men coming from two very different backgrounds. Many were from the west and were cowboys, Indians, cattle ranchers and other rough and tumble types. The rest were athletes from Eastern schools, mainly Ivy League colleges. Both types of men blended together nicely as a fighting unit as they were physically capable of handling the stress of the training.

On June 14, the men shipped out from Tampa and arrived on Cuban soil eight days later- minus a third of the regiment and practically all of their horses. This put the men at a major disadvantage because they weren’t used to marching and fighting as foot soldiers. Two days later on June 24, the Rough Riders saw their first action during the battle of Las Guasimas- a Spanish outpost. Weary from the trek to the outpost many men fell out of position and more couldn’t make it up the steep hill. They went into the hour and half battle with less than 500 men but were able to root out the enemy from entrenched positions. The Americans lost only 8 dead and 31 wounded. The first Rough Rider to die in battle was Trooper Jacob Wilbusky- a Jewish cowboy from Texas.

Before the Battle of San Juan Heights, Roosevelt was promoted to full colonel and made commander of the Rough Riders. The battle took place on July 1 on San Juan Hill and Kettle Hill but at the beginning they were only to be a diversion for the main assault. Roosevelt noticed that his men were exposed and taking advantage of loose orders and that he was the highest ranking officer in the vicinity, charged up the hill with his men following. The unit had three Gatling guns (an early version of the machine gun) in support that took care of 600 advancing Spanish soldiers. The heights had been taken but the Americans suffered many losses including fifteen Jewish Rough Riders who had been wounded or killed.

Once the heights had been taken the Spanish were forced to fall back on the city of Santiago and after a few minor battles, they surrendered to the Americans on August 12. Teddy Roosevelt wanted to get his Rough Riders out of the disease ridden country and back to the states and within a week they were sent to Long Island. Twenty men had died of from illness, most were from malaria, and many more were sick in the hospital recovering from it and other tropical diseases. The unit wasn’t needed anymore and the First Volunteer Calvary was disbanded after less than five months of service. They played a huge part of the United States gaining international prestige as they defeated a world power.