Page:The Presidents of the United States, 1789-1914, v. IV.djvu/133

Rh year, and on May 6, Theodore Roosevelt resigned his position as assistant secretary of the navy. War had been declared against Spain, and for every reason he was moved to take a personal part in the contest. He felt that any man who had talked so much and written so much about the duty and the necessity of defending one's country should make good his words by deeds.

His apprenticeship in the New York militia now served him in good stead. With Leonard Wood as colonel and himself as lieutenant-colonel the first cavalry regiment of United States volunteers was organized. Owing partly to the unusual and picturesque personnel of the enlisted men, comprising young fellows from Newport and cowboys from the West, united in a brotherhood of patriotism and adventure, each discovering that one was as good as the other, and also partly owing to the personality and the capabilities of Roosevelt and Wood, this regiment became undoubtedly one of the popular heroes of the Spanish war. Even the name of Dewey will hardly live more upon the lips and in the hearts of the people than the name of the Rough Riders. Their part at San Juan was an unusually brilliant one for a volunteer regiment in its first campaign; and when the war was over Mr. Roosevelt found himself a national figure, and also the center of popular enthusiasm in his own state. It was not possible for his political enemies