Published in Truth magazine on July 27, 1898, a striking chromolithograph by Stoopendaal captured the public’s intense fascination with Theodore Roosevelt and his “Rough Riders”. Officially known as the 1st United States Volunteer Cavalry, this eclectic mix of Ivy League athletes, cowboys, and Native Americans had just achieved fame weeks earlier.
Their dramatic, bloody charge up Kettle and San Juan Hills in Cuba became the defining image of the Spanish-American War. The media blitz surrounding their exploits catapulted the charismatic “Teddy” Roosevelt into the national spotlight, launching the political trajectory that would soon carry him to the presidency.
