n order to supplement the depleted U.S. Army, the call went out for volunteers to fight the Spanish in Cuba. It had been over thirty years since the end of the American Civil War and many young men, weary from hearing the tales of glory and honor from their fathers and grandfathers, sought to accomplish their own heroic deeds in the war with Spain. When President McKinley asked for 125,000 volunteers, over a million men answered the call. The zealous Theodore Roosevelt was commissioned to lead a unique regiment of the volunteer cavalry -- a diverse group of rugged men from the Southwest Territories. Though officially known as the First US Volunteer Cavalry, the regiment was more appropriately dubbed the "Rough Riders."