Details
ROOSEVELT, THEODORE, President. Autograph endorsement signed ("Theodore Roosevelt Col. 1st U. S. V[olunteer] Cavalry"), as Commander of the "Rough Riders," comprising 4 lines and signature on "Military Record" portion of a printed discharge certificate, Camp Wikoff, L.I., 2 September 1898. 2 pages, 4to, 278 x 206 mm. (11 x 8 1/2 in.), first page with large American Eagle emblem at top, accomplished in manuscript. Certifying that private Campbell E. Babcock of Galena, Illinois, has served two years and is discharged "by reason of his appointment as a 2nd Lieut. in 12th Infty."
A "ROUGH RIDER" DISCHARGE CERTIFICATE
Babcock's military record is detailed on page 2: he participated in the battles of "Las Guasimas, San Juan Hill...skirmishes before Santiago" during "the First expedition to Cuba"; during these campaigns he was attached to a "Rapid Fire Gun." At the bottom, Roosevelt, who commanded the "Rough Riders" (as the First Cavalry were known) from May to September 1898 adds the note that Babcock "behaved with marked gallantry in action on two or three occasions while under my personal observation...." In the Spanish-American War Colonel Roosevelt's First Cavalry fought off an enemy ambush at Las Guasimas, Cuba on 24 June 1898, then at San Juan Hill on 1 July, Roosevelt and the Rough Riders became instantly famous for a desparate charge he personally led directly into severe fire from an entrenched enemy. Documents relating to Roosevelt's military career are very uncommon. We have not traced another "Rough Rider" discharge at auction for at least 25 years.
A "ROUGH RIDER" DISCHARGE CERTIFICATE
Babcock's military record is detailed on page 2: he participated in the battles of "Las Guasimas, San Juan Hill...skirmishes before Santiago" during "the First expedition to Cuba"; during these campaigns he was attached to a "Rapid Fire Gun." At the bottom, Roosevelt, who commanded the "Rough Riders" (as the First Cavalry were known) from May to September 1898 adds the note that Babcock "behaved with marked gallantry in action on two or three occasions while under my personal observation...." In the Spanish-American War Colonel Roosevelt's First Cavalry fought off an enemy ambush at Las Guasimas, Cuba on 24 June 1898, then at San Juan Hill on 1 July, Roosevelt and the Rough Riders became instantly famous for a desparate charge he personally led directly into severe fire from an entrenched enemy. Documents relating to Roosevelt's military career are very uncommon. We have not traced another "Rough Rider" discharge at auction for at least 25 years.