![teddy roosevelt rough riders teddy roosevelt rough riders](https://1b29734732e161d145aa-fd1d7d2940d92424afe9518580c7a85b.ssl.cf2.rackcdn.com/products/070508.jpg)
When you went to war you knew you would not have an easy time you expected to encounter hardships and you took them without a murmur.” Roosevelt’s speeches were grandiose: “I am proud of you because you never flinched. “Teddy and his terrors renew the bonds of Comradeship.” “A Hot Time in Las Vegas,” the papers reported. The highlight was a mile-long parade through town. There were speeches, brass bands and in the evening elaborate firework displays. Several displays and depictions recreated the battles including the infamous charge of San Juan Hill. The festivities were not without its circuses, however.
![teddy roosevelt rough riders teddy roosevelt rough riders](https://i1.wp.com/www.raptisrarebooks.com/images/86646/original-theodore-roosevelt-and-the-rough-riders-photograph.jpg)
“The elaborate medal featured the New Mexico ‘coat of arms,’ crossed sabers, and, raised in relief, a highly detailed eagle with outstretched wings.” Theodore Roosevelt at the Castaneda Hotel for Rough Rider Reunion, Las Vegas, New Mexico :: Palace of the Governors Photo Archives Collection According to author Mark Gardner Lee, “there were plenty of medals and medal ceremonies.”Īmong the most decorated was Roosevelt of course, who received what Lee describes as a lapel made of solid gold. They greeted the governor – who wore his old military uniform – with hearty cheers and sincere thanks. Roosevelt arrived in Las Vegas to find not only his men waving their hats in unison for him, but nearly ten-thousand adoring spectators too. Roosevelt had whipped this rag tag bunch into a fighting force and despite some discourse among the ranks, in part to an unexpected drought of imported smoking and chewing tobacco, the Rough Riders defeated the Mexican army and saved the border territories for the U.S. Now as Governor of New York and on a pathway to the White House, the corporal, Teddy Roosevelt, came to Las Vegas to accept the rewards and thanks from his soldiers a band of misfits ranging from good horse riders, lawyers and Ivy League men Roosevelt recruited. Many were there to to see old friends and honor their leader, a man whose reputation had been cemented by stories of a valiant charge up a hill. Some were returning, others came for the first time. Now in 1889, a handful of Rough Riders came to Las Vegas, New Mexico to celebrate. But the point being that before Las Vegas, Nevada, Las Vegas, New Mexico was the place to go for a rip-roaring party, good or bad. The article goes on claim in it’s title that Las Vegas was “as wicked as Dodge City.” One can argue that. “Murderers, robbers, thieves, gamblers, gunmen, swindlers, vagrants, and tramps poured in, transforming the eastern side of the settlement into a virtually lawless brawl,” was one article’s assessment.
![teddy roosevelt rough riders teddy roosevelt rough riders](https://i5.walmartimages.com/asr/3afb9efa-4e05-4555-b9b3-c2696073a9be.5e3f4563152a7abf476984b10cd5e8c3.jpeg)
Some of its more notable visitors are famously known, like Doc Holiday, Billy the Kid and Jesse James. Many of the recruited Rough Riders had boarded the train there to depart on to their destiny with war.Īs usual, for a town like Las Vegas, the accessibility of a railroad stop also brought it’s share of shady characters. Why this Las Vegas? Well, there wasn’t anything particularly glamorous or glitzy about New Mexico’s Las Vegas, but there was a train track and a depot built in 1880. Teddy Roosevelt riding in 1st Rough Riders reunion parade, Las Vegas, New Mexico:: Palace of the Governors Photo Archives Collection No, this was the City of Las Vegas in the New Mexico territory. That town’s reputation was still several decades away. Only this was not the Las Vegas built in the middle of the Nevada desert. But when it came time to organize such an event only one Old West town seemed appropriate: Las Vegas. Where they gathered wasn’t as important as why. On June 24, 1899, on the one year anniversary of the Battle of Las Gusaimas, about a hundred soldiers who called themselves the Rough Riders gathered together to celebrate victory in the Spanish-American War. Roosevelt’s Rough Riders, Cowboy Reunions and the Las Vegas of New Mexico