Moments in Time: Stories of New Mexico’s History; New Mexico's Rough Riders

. . . There's hardly a more romantic moment in all of American military history than the story of the rough riders. . The president secretary of the Navy suggested to the War

Department that he raised a volunteer regiment of cowboy cavalry from all over the Southwest, Arizona, New Mexico, Texas. Roosevelt loved the story of the American West. He had been a cowboy up in North Dakota, had a ranch up there, and so he really wanted to recruit hard, tough men from the Southwest, the kind of men that could face up to anyone. . Teddy Roosevelt's rough rider story is very much a New Mexico story. 350 of the rough riders were from New Mexico. That's the largest contingent from any state or territory in the West. New Mexicans flocked to Governor Otero's call for recruits to fight for not only the United States of America, not only for the liberation of Cuba, but also to win a star in the American flag for New Mexico.

. The railroad is vital, of course, in recruitment of the rough riders, and the railroad provided the link between the communities where all the men would come together, and a wonderful event occurred on the Santa Fe Plaza as everyone took the oaths. . They then went from here, of course, via rail to San Antonio, where the training took place, and where they met the railroad. Roosevelt meets them. Roosevelt just goes crazy. These are exactly the kind of men he wants. One of the most prominent of the New Mexico rough riders was Captain Maximiliano Luna. Captain Luna came from one of the most prominent families in New Mexico. He had been the sheriff of Valencia County. His father had been

a long time legislator in the state legislature, and Luna also had served in the state legislature. He was only five foot five, but he was a tough guy, and he was one of the most beloved of all the captains of the rough riders. When the rough riders were sent to Cuba, several of the companies were going to be left behind. Luna went to Wood and Roosevelt, and pleaded his case that he had a particular reason to go to Cuba. Luna felt that he had to prove that New Mexico, Hispanic families were loyal to the United States, that their blood ties to Spain meant nothing to them, and that they could be counted on to form a state and to be loyal citizens of the United States. Teddy Roosevelt leads that cowboy regiment up

that hill, hoopin' and hauler, and those New Mexican rough riders plant their guide on up the top, the San Juan Heights. They're really planting an American flag that announces we are moving on to the world stage, and Teddy Roosevelt leads the old America of the Cowboys and the Indians in the Wild West. Right up that hill, out of an agrarian, Wild West passed into a steel and steam future that he is going to be instrumental in forming as President of the United States just two years later. With the war over, the New Mexico connection with the rough riders was so important for New Mexico's statehood, because Roosevelt, of course, is going to become President of the United States, so many of his rough rider officers and troopers are going to take prominent positions in the federal government and in territorial government, and it's going to set the stage to prove once and for all that New Mexicans can be trusted that they really are

good loyal Americans. And it's going to pave the way for New Mexico's statehood in 1912. It was right here in 1899 that a very famous photograph was taken, of then Governor of New York, Edo Roosevelt, at the very first rough rider reunion. And then for many years after that, they would come back to New Mexico to the Castanada Hotel, because it had such a strong connection to all those old boys, and that glorious moment that all of them recognized that they had been a part of, where they had changed not only the history of the United States, but the history of the world. You