Teddy Roosevelt and His Rough Riders #1

Chapter II, "The Men of the West," depicts Theodore Roosevelt's role during the Spanish-American War, beginning with the explosion of the USS Maine in Havana Harbor in February 1898, which prompted calls for war against Spain. Roosevelt, then Assistant Secretary of the Navy, resigned his post to lead the First United States Volunteer Cavalry regiment—the Rough Riders—composed of rough riding men from the Western plains under Colonel Leonard Wood. Facing the challenge that his men were denied the use of their mounts and forced to fight on foot, Roosevelt and his Rough Riders engaged Spanish forces in Cuba, opening fire on the hillside in their first broadside action toward the liberation of Cuba from Spanish rule. The narrative then shifts to a subplot involving land swindler Mr. Carson, who has bilked settlers out of their property by claiming the land is "jinxed," only to be confronted by the victims at a farewell party where his scheme is exposed and he is forced to make partial restitution.