TEDDY ROOSEVELT's ROUGH RIDERS { PART ONE of TWO }

Colonel Theodore Roosevelt and The Rough Riders ~ 1898

I  didn't  learn  about
Teddy  Roosevelt's  Rough  Riders
while impatiently tapping my toes under a cold metal desk
in a pea soup painted
NYC Junior High classroom.

Nope... I was  busy  practicing
 
IMAGINATION ,
driven  to  distraction  by 
the  droning  tempo  of
an  eternally  nasal  infected 
History  Teacher 
whose  only  passion  was  to
DRILL RUSTY  SPIKES 
of  DATA  into 
HARD  WOOD  HEADS. 

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Battleship Maine plot in Key West, Florida ~ Photo By Marc Averette 2008

The
Spanish American War
of 1898 

was  therefore  a
memorized ~ meaningless 
tidbit of tortured knowledge 
until I lived in an old Conch House  across  the  street  from
the  sepulchers  of  souls 
that  perished when 
The  Battleship Maine 
suddenly  and  mysteriously  

! ! !   EXPLODED   ! ! !
                                                                                                     
She QUICKLY  SANK ...  on a February nite ... taking  with  her  the  lives  of 
266 Naval Soldiers  ...   WITHOUT  WARNING !

In  the  quiet  of  the  tropical  nights,
when  the  palms  slowly  swayed  in  the  breeze
and  the  air  held  a  sweet  odor  of  frangipani,  jasmine  and  ions,
I  would  sit  on  my  porch steps  watching  the  dry  lightening;
feeling  the  solemnity  of  this  resting  place  as  if  it  had  only  recently happened.

IF  YOU'D  LIKE  TO  VIEW  AN  AUTHENTIC  TWO  MINUTE  VIDEO 
of  the  BURIAL  PROCESSION  of  1898,
PLEASE  CLICK  HERE  !

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Battleship USS Maine destroyed in Havana Harbor ~ 1898

The Maine  had been  peacefully  sitting
in Cuba's  Havana Harbor
as a symbol of American intervention in
The Cuban War of Independence
from Spain.

Despite investigations into the catastrophe,
it remained unclear exactly why or
how this tragedy occurred.

The Ship was an armored cruiser
powered by an archaic steam engine, considered outdated many years
                                                                                prior to going into service.

She very well could have succumbed
due to a fire in one of her coal bunkers.

Nevertheless, 
Newspaper Magnates
William  Randolph Hearst  and  Joseph Pulitzer
continuously  published
YELLOW  PRESS
with inflammatory  articles  that  blatantly  pointed  the  finger  at  SPAIN,
capitalizing  on  the  public's  anger  and  pain,
with  full  understanding  that  the  public  wanted  to  blame 
SOMEONE.

Because  of  these  articles,

REMEMBER  THE  MAINE !    TO  HELL  WITH  SPAIN  !
became  an  unfortunate  and  common  cry  amongst  the people.

So began a series of events that led to 
SPAIN  declaring  WAR  on  April 23 rd., 1898.

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Lieutenant Colonel Theodore Roosevelt in Full Rough Rider Uniform ~ 1898

President 
William  McKinley 
called  for  volunteers
which led to the creation of

Teddy  Roosevelt's 
Rough  Riders.

"RECRUITS  MUST  BE 
A  GOOD  SHOT...

ABLE  TO  RIDE  ANYTHING 
IN  THE  LINE  OF  HORSEFLESH...

A  ROUGH  AND  READY  FIGHTER,

AND  ABOVE  ALL

MUST  HAVE  ABSOLUTELY 
NO  UNDERSTANDING
OF  THE  WORD

FEAR."

Lieutenant Colonel Theodore Roosevelt

COME  BACK  NEXT  WEEK
FOR  PART  TWO

Please  know  that 
your  comments  are  welcome !!! 

You need  NOT  supply  your  e-mail  address  NOR  your  full  name when  doing  so  !

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