ArizonaRealCountry.com 43 July 2018 S VEHICLE WRAPS S TRAILERS S BANNERS S STORE FRONT GRAPHICS S T-SHIRTS S FLEET GRAPHICS S VEHICLE WRAPS S TRAILERS S BANNERS S STORE FRONT GRAPHICS S T-SHIRTS S FLEET GRAPHICS 2518 W MORNINGSIDE DR. PHOENIX, AZ, 85023 The Immortal Charge continued from page 39 Hawkins, a former Union Army officer, had stood on Cemetery Ridge at Gettysburg when Pickett's Confederates surged forward. He was reluctant to send his men out to be slaughtered in a similar charge but Lieutenant Jules Ord, himself the son of a Union General who had served under Grant turned to him and said, if you give the order, I will seize those heights. Hawkins gave his permission and Ord with the Infantry and Roosevelt and the cavalry charged forward taking San Juan Hill and those last fortifications overlooking Santiago, but at the cost of the life of Lieutenant Ord, shot down as he jumped across the Spanish line. By late afternoon the battle of San Juan Hill was over, a clear, though bloody American victory, and both the Eastern playboys and the Western Cowboys of the Rough Riders had acquitted themselves well. A photographer came forward and Roosevelt urged him to take a photo of him with his men, a photo that is regarded as one of the most famous and most moving photographs in American military history. Though there would be some fighting thereafter, even talk of a premature withdrawal off the heights which was quickly scotched by General Wheeler and Colonel Wood, and the dreaded Malaria - though thankfully not the even more dreaded Yellow Fever began to make it ugly presence known and felt, the Rough Riders had accomplished the almost impossible along with its comrades from the other cavalry regiments and infantry divisions - seized all of the major Spanish fortifications around Santiago and when the U.S Navy destroyed the Spanish fleet under Admiral Cervera as it attempted to break out of Santiago harbor two days later, the Spanish surrender was inevitable. Teddy Roosevelt and his Cowboy Regiment made American History and carved their name proudly in the annals of U.S military history for years to come. Roosevelt would soon be asked to become President McKinley's running mate, and when McKinley was re-elected would become his Vice President. He would assume the office of the Presidency when McKinley was tragically shot down, serve the rest of McKinley's term and be elected on his own in 1904. He would honor all of the men who served under him and Wood, (who himself would rise to become U.S. Army Chief of Staff) even those forced to stay behind in Tampa. And Roosevelt would stand proudly at his inaugural parade as the Rough Riders marched forward beneath the Presidential podium remarking that they were the boys who marched with him in Cuba. He would never forget them, occasionally helped out a Rough Rider who was down on his luck until the day he died - and when he did, it was surviving Rough Riders who formed an honor guard around his casket when he was laid to rest at his beloved Sagamore Hill. To understand how Roosevelt got to the Presidency and how his Rough Riders helped score an almost impossible yet decisive victory it is important to know a bit about Theodore Roosevelt the man - and also understanding the men whom he served with.