| |
 |
|
 |
| |
| |
DEPARTING FOR DESTINY
36" X 60" Oil Painting
Video
Theodore Roosevelt and the Rough Riders at Tampa, 1898.
It was June of the year 1898. America was on the brink of invading
the island nation of Cuba in order to liberate that country from
the rule of Spain and in the wake of the sinking of the U.S.
battleship Maine.
In the Florida town of Tampa, the population exploded as soldiers
and sailors from the entire country assembled at this coastal
outpost selected as the port of departure for the Spanish-American War.
On the outer edge of town, the Plant System Railroad delivered whole
regiments of horse soldiers and equipment. Among the teeming troops
were men of the First U.S. Volunteer Cavalry arriving from the West.
With their spirited mounts and new khaki uniforms, the former cowboys,
frontier lawmen, scouts, and college sportsmen, under the command of
Coloneel Leonard Wood and Lt. Colonel Theodore Roosevelt, had already
attained their heroic nickname of "Rough Riders". They spent uneasy
days enduring FloridaÕs subtropical summer heat in bivouacs and road
marches before embarkation.
In the painting, the Rough Riders are seen in mounted drill on
Lafayette Street, a dusty sand road that passed before the luxurious
Tampa Bay Hotel. The opulent resort, built by Henry B. Plant in the
late 1880s, was the gathering place for society swells as well as
headquarters for officers, adventurers, newsmen, and war correspondents.
Central in the painting is Lt. Colonel Roosevelt, second in command.
At the right is Colonel Wood, Commander of
the Regiment. To the left, behind Roosevelt, are Captains Allyn
Capron and Bucky O'Neill, two young officers who would distinguish
themselves bravely and would become casualties during the campaign in
Cuba. The figure at the left, in the hunting attire and holding a
sketchbook, is the famous Western artist Frederic Remington, sent to
Cuba by William Randolph Hearst as a war correspondent and illustrator
to document the action. Among the many scenes he captured is his
famous portrayal of Roosevelt and the Rough Riders at the Battle of
San Juan Hill.
|
|
|