Span-Amer War vintage photgravure \"DARING ROUGH RIDERS\" Howard C. Christy MINT For Sale

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Span-Amer War vintage photgravure \"DARING ROUGH RIDERS\" Howard C. Christy MINT:
$29.99

The Rough Riders was a nickname given to the 1st United States Volunteer Cavalry, one of three such regiments raised in 1898 for the Spanish-American War and the only one to see combat. The U.S. Army was small, understaffed, and disorganized in comparison to its status during the Civil War roughly thirty years prior. Following the sinking of USS Maine, President William McKinley needed to muster a strong ground force swiftly, which he did by calling for 125,000 volunteers to assist in the war. The U.S. had gone to war in opposition to Spanish colonial policies in Cuba, which was then torn by a rebellion. The regiment was also nicknamed \"Wood\'s Weary Walkers\" for its first commander, Colonel Leonard Wood. This reflected their dissatisfaction that despite being cavalry, they ended up fighting in Cuba as infantry, since their horses were not sent there with them.

Within another day of camp being established, men were sent forward into the jungle for reconnaissance purposes, and before too long they returned with news of a Spanish outpost, Las Guasimas. By afternoon, The Rough Riders were given the command to begin marching towards Las Guasimas, to eliminate opposition and secure the area which stood in the path of further military advance. Upon arrival at their relative destination, the men slept through the night in a crude encampment nearby the Spanish outpost they would attack early the next morning. The American side included the 1st U.S. Volunteer Cavalry, under Leonard Wood, the 1st U.S. Regular and the 10th Regular Cavalry (this consisted of Afro-American soldiers, then called Buffalo Soldiers). Supported by artillery, the American forces numbered 964 men, supported by 800 men from Castillo.

The Spanish held an advantage over the Americans by knowing their way through the complicated trails in the area of combat. They predicted where the Americans would be traveling on foot and exactly what positions to fire on. They also were able to utilize the land and cover in such a way that they were difficult to spot. Along with this, their guns used smokeless powder which did not give away their immediate position upon firing as other gunpowders would have. This increased the difficulty of finding the opposition for the U.S. soldiers. In some locations, the jungle was too thick to see very far. Rough Riders on both left and right sides of the trail moved forward and eventually forced the Spaniards back to their second line of trenches. Continuing to advance, the Rough Riders eventually forced the Spanish to withdraw completely from their final positions. Rough Riders from A Troop on the far-right linked up with their regular counterparts and helped them seize the Spanish positions on the long finger-like hill to the right of the right road, with both Rough Riders and Regulars meeting at the base of the hill. By this time it was approximately 9:30a.m. Reinforcements from the regular 9th Cavalry arrived 30 minutes after the fight.

General Young, who was in command of the regulars and cavalry, began the attack in the early morning. Using long-range, large-caliber Hotchkiss guns, he fired at the opposition, who were reportedly concealed along trenches, roads, bridges, and jungle cover. Colonel Wood\'s men, accompanied by Lieutenant-Colonel Roosevelt, were not yet in the same vicinity as the other men at the start of the battle. They had a more difficult path to travel around the time the battle began, and at first they had to make their way up a very steep hill. \"Many of the men, footsore and weary from their march of the preceding day, found the pace up this hill too hard, and either dropped their bundles or fell out of line, with the result that we went into action with less than five hundred men.\"  Lieutenant-Colonel Roosevelt became aware that there were countless opportunities for any man to fall out of formation and resign from battle without notice as the jungle was often too thick in places to see through. This was yet another event that left the group with fewer men than they had at the start.

Regardless, The Rough Riders pushed forward toward the outpost along with the regulars. Using careful observation, the officers were able to locate where the opposition was hidden in the brush and entrenchments and they were able to target their men properly to overcome them. Toward the end of the battle, Edward Marshall, a newspaper writer, was inspired by the men around him in the heat of battle to pick up a rifle and begin fighting alongside them. When he suffered a gunshot wound in the spine from one of the Spaniards, another soldier mistook him as Colonel Wood from afar and ran back from the front line to report his death. Due to this misconception, Roosevelt temporarily took command as colonel and gathered the troops together with his leadership charisma. The battle lasted an hour and a half from beginning to end with The Rough Riders suffering eight dead and 31 wounded, including Captain Allyn K. Capron, Jr., Roosevelt came across Colonel Wood in full health after the battle finished and stepped down from his position to lieutenant-colonel.

The United States had full control of this Spanish outpost on the road to Santiago by the end of the battle. General Shafter had the men hold position for six days while additional supplies were brought ashore. During this time, The Rough Riders ate, slept, cared for the wounded, and buried the dead from both sides. During the six-day encampment, some men died from fever. Among those stricken by illness was General Joseph Wheeler. Brigadier General Samuel Sumner assumed command of the cavalry and Wood took the second brigade as brigadier general. This left Roosevelt as colonel of The Rough Riders.

The Spanish-American War began in April, 1898. Most of the battles and engagements of this war were fought in Cuba, although the same war continued in other places such as the Philippines and Puerto Rico. Before the war, Cuba was under Spanish colonial rule but the Cuban people had rebelled against the Spanish and wanted to gain independence.

The USA initially remained neutral but then decided to support the Cubans while led to a war between American and Spanish forces. The Battle of Las Guasimas was the first land engagement fought between the American and Spanish armies on Cuban soil.

Once the American land forces started arriving in Cuba in 1898, their main objective was to advance towards the city of Santiago and take its control from the Spanish forces. The Spanish, on the other hand, prepared to defend the city against the attackers.

Located along the road to Santiago, Las Guasimas de Sevilla was a Spanish stronghold. However, at this time, the Spanish army at Las Guasimas was actually preparing to retreat and rejoin other forces in Santiago. The Americans mistakenly believed that the Spanish soldiers intended to defend their positions, so they launched an attack. This led to the Battle of Las Guasimas.

When and where did the battle take place?

The Battle of Las Guasimas took place on June 14, 1898. It was fought around Las Guasimas de Sevilla, near the city of Santiago in Cuba.

The American army was commanded by Major General Joseph Wheeler. He commanded around 1000 infantry soldiers and 3 field guns. The American army further included around 800 irregular soldiers. A group of Cuban soldiers under the command of Colonel Gonzales Clavel was also a part of the American army but he refused to take part in the battle.

The Spanish army was commanded by Brigadier General Antero Rubin. His army comprised of around 1500 infantry soldiers and 3 field guns.

The Spanish forces were already retreating towards the city of Santiago when the Americans attacked them. So they dug up defensive positions and fought back. The American army tried to encircle the Spanish army but the Spanish soldiers repulsed the attack successfully.

The American soldiers then led a number of frontal assaults but each of these were repulsed. Although the American army advanced, the Spanish stiffly resisted and the American army couldn’t make much headway. After inflicting some damage on the American side, the Spanish forces continued to withdraw towards Santiago in one piece.

Both sides claimed victory at the Battle of Las Guasimas. The Americans claimed that they had forced the Spanish army to retreat to Santiago and leave open the route to the city. The Spanish claimed that they were falling back to the Santiago anyway and that they had slowed down the American advance successfully. 27 American soldiers died in the battle and 52 were wounded. On the Spanish side, 7 soldiers were killed and 14 were wounded.

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NOTE: the name of the location of the battle, \"Las Guasimas\":

Guazuma ulmifolia, commonly known as West Indian elm or bay cedar, is a medium-sized tree normally found in pastures and disturbed forests. This flowering plant from the family Malvaceae grows up to 30m in height and 30–40cm in diameter

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from the Norman Rockwell Museum, \"Illustration History\"

HOWARD CHANDLER CHRISTY

Howard Chandler Christy (January 10, 1872 - March 3, 1952) is remembered for his contributions to the field of illustration in his documentarian role during the Spanish-American War, his creation of the \'Christy Girl,\'and most notably today, for his patriotic poster designs for World War I.

As an aspiring artist, Christy received formal training in art in New York City at the Art Students League and the National Academy of Design—two schools responsible for turning out some of the most prolific and celebrated illustrators of the century. He studied under the renowned impressionist artist, William Merritt Chase (1849-1916)at The ArtStudents League.

With the abrupt onset of the Spanish-American War in 1898, an impassioned Christy offered his services and traveled with United States troops to Cuba. He used his draftsman skills to document the events of battle with pen and ink illustrations that were published to accompany articles about the war’s progress. Scribner\'s, Harper\'s, Century, and Leslie\'s Weekly were the biggest names in the magazine industry, and all were vying for his drawings. With mass circulation, these works augmented Christy’s modest reputation into one that became highly regarded. By the time he returned to the United States, Christy washighly sought after by magazine syndicates.

Christy began working regularly for Scribner’s, and when his painting of The Soldier’s Dreamwas published, his famous \'Christy Girl\'was born. The ‘Christy Girl,\'like Charles Dana Gibson’s ‘Gibson Girl,’ evolved from a single character, into a type—one who was beloved for her embodiment of the ideal American woman for her elegant confidence, athleticism, and beauty. The success of his ‘Christy Girl’ brought the artist into the niche of contemporaneously recognized “women’s themes,” where he would remain for quite some time. In fact, Christy was so highly regarded as a trendsetter in fashion and decorum that he was chosen to serve as the singular judge in the inaugural year of the Miss America Pageant in 1921, and designed the original trophy.

In 1915, another war loomedand once again Christy offered his talents to support the war effort, this time designing government posters for the Red Cross and civilian involvement. His posters, Gee, I wish I were a Man! and I Want You for the Navy became iconic images that are heralded to this day.

Christy transitioned into becoming a portrait artist after World War I. Already holding a significant reputation in the field, he was able to paint many celebrities and political figures, including Presidents Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Herbert Hoover, James K. Polk, Martin Van Buren, James A. Garfield, and Calvin Coolidge and his wife, Grace, the Crown Prince Umberto of Italy, Amelia Earhart, General Douglas MacArthur, Charles Evans Hughes, Lawrence Tibbett, Mrs. William Randolph Hearst, and even Benito Mussolini.

The 1930s marked yet another transition in Christy’s career, when in the late 1920s, his interests shifted to mural painting. A neo-Gothic-style building known as The Hotel des Artistes in New York City houses Christy’s earliest mural success. Despite its name, the building was never a hotel, but rather a complex of 115 apartments, one of which Christy used for his studio. In the late 1920s he began designing a mural series for the caféentitled, Fantasy Scenes with Naked Beauties.It is comprised of nine oil paintings mounted on canvas, with images of allegorical nymphs, foliage, and wildlife animals. The project was finally completed in 1935. Another famous mural, The Signing of the Constitution, was completed in the 1940s for the rotunda of the Capitol building in Washington, DC.

Like many successful artists, Christy also taught art classes. He was hired for brief periods by Cooper Union, the Chase School, New York School of Art, and The Art Students League.

In recognition of his contributions to the field, Howard Chandler Christy was a member of the Society of Illustrators beginning in 1915, and inducted into their Hall of Fame in 1980. His papers can be found at the Lafayette College Special Collections & College Archives.

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