While Fanny Pursues Her Dream

As Fanny goes to school for eight years, her cowboy, Matt is pursuing his own adventuresome interests, one of which is to join up with Teddy Roosevelt’s “Rough Riders” in the Spanish-American War of 1898. Matt had already spent time as a drover escorting cattle from Texas along the Chisholm Trail and starred as a “Rough Rider” in the Buffalo Bill Show. It was not a giant leap for him to go to war as one of Teddy’s cowboy recruits.

In fact he met up with Teddy previously at the Buffalo Bill show. Matt was eager to join Teddy’s “Splendid Little War,” and when TR appointed him as a special dispatch rider, all was set for a great adventure.

One hot and dry afternoon I myself enjoyed a cool drink at the Menger Hotel in San Antonio, imagining Teddy Roosevelt and the officers of The First Volunteer United States Cavalry at their favorite watering hole. This famous place is only a stone’s throw from The Alamo.

Even the casual military historian knows that the Spanish American War was a study in how not to prepare for and fight an expeditionary war. Into the middle of all the madness rode Matt.

Here is my favorite anecdote from that war.

In order to promote unity in the Army, former Confederate officers were recruited and put in blue uniforms. Joseph “Fighting Joe” Wheeler, aged 61 fit the bill as a former Confederate general. Wounded three times, he lost 36 staff officers in combat and had a total of 16 horses shot out from under him in the Civil War. The army appointed him Major General of Volunteers and assigned him to command the cavalry division. At the first major battle he was said to have shouted as the enemy was fleeing—

 “Let’s go, boys! We’ve got the damn Yankees on the run again!”

 One of his staff officers reminded him—

“We are all Yankees now sir.”