They gathered a diverse bunch of men consisting of cowboys, gold or mining prospectors, hunters, gamblers, Native Americans and college boys all of whom were able-bodied and capable on horseback and in shooting. 'The difficulty in organizing was not in selecting, but in rejecting men.' The allowed limit set for the volunteer cavalry men was promptly met. They were gathered mainly from the southwest because the hot climate region that the men were used to was similar to that of Cuba where they would be fighting.

The volunteers were gathered in four areas: Arizona, New Mexico, Oklahoma and Texas. When Colonel Wood became commander of the 2nd Cavalry Brigade, the Rough Riders then became 'Roosevelt's Rough Riders.' That term was familiar in 1898, from Buffalo Bill who called his famous western show 'Buffalo Bill's Wild West and Congress of Rough Riders of the World.' The Rough Riders were mostly made of college athletes, cowboys, and ranchers. Wood's second in command was former assistant secretary of the United States Navy, Theodore Roosevelt, a man who had pushed for American involvement in Cuban independence. It was also called 'Wood's Weary Walkers' after its first commander, Colonel Leonard Wood, as an acknowledgment of the fact that despite being a cavalry unit they ended up fighting on foot as infantry. As a result, President William McKinley called upon 1,250 volunteers to assist in the war efforts. The United States Army was weakened and left with little manpower after the American Civil War roughly thirty years prior. Volunteer Cavalry Regiment, one of three such regiments raised in 1898 for the Spanish-American War and the only one of the three to see action. The Rough Riders is the name bestowed on the 1st U.S.

Winchester model 1892 those who remain