Book Description

Among the thousands who answered President McKinley's call for volunteers to fight in the Spanish-American War, there were three patriotic men who conceived, almost simultaneously, the idea of creating cowboy volunteer cavalry regiments to lead the United States forces against the enemy. Who Rush to Glory recounts the story of these three men--Theodore Roosevelt, Jay L. Torrey, and Melvin Grigsby, leaders, respectively, of the First, Second, and Third United States Volunteer Cavalry Regiments--and of the three reputedly cowboy regiments. New concerning the regiments immediately captured the fancy of the press. In the ensuing months of this short war--only 115 days--journalists followed in detail the recruiting, training, travels, trials, successes, tragedies, and even the mustering out of these three army units, and it is upon their newspaper reports that Mr. Westermeier relies for material for his account of the Cowboy Volunteers of 1898 and their leaders. Clifford P. Westermeier has translated the newspaper dispatches into a lively yet homey and human account of the day-by-day events surrounding the leaders, the regiments, and the cowboy volunteers who served their country in the Spanish-American War. The carefree, unsuspecting attitude and the boyish naïveté of the volunteers is contrasted sharply with the serious but unimaginative efforts and, sometimes, the pomposity of their leaders. Of the three regiments, only Roosevelt's Rough Riders actually met the enemy, but the other two faced foes almost as real. Grigsby's Cowboys fought their sickening battle in foul-smelling encampments against disease and boredom; tragedy and death plagued Torrey's Terrors, and their hopes and tenacity shattered amid scenes of disappointment and inactivity. Who Rush to Glory presents the dramatic story of the staunch horsemen from mountain and plain who served their country well--a cavalcade that marched briefly across the horizon but left and indelible imprint.--Jacket flap