Tonight, we watched a movie about Theodore Roosevelt, Rough Riders which I highly recommend.
Although we’ve seen it several times in the past, this time the kids (and I) got more out of it due to our history and literature studies of the Gilded Age.
Despite a few mistakes I caught, the big picture represented the era and history well.
San Antonio History of the Rough Riders
The movie shows them training in San Antonio, which is true.
Roosevelt later wrote that the men liked the idea of training in San Antonio: in the city where the Alamo commemorates the death fight of Crockett, Bowie, and their famous band of frontier heroes.
Today, the area where they trained is named for their colonel, Roosevelt Park.
Because of their excellent training, the Rough Riders were the lone volunteer regiment allowed to fight.
A diverse group of men comprised the Rough Riders, from cowboys to a Fifth Avenue contingent, which makes for an interesting story of how they came together as a strong unit.
In fact, Roosevelt recruited some of the Rough Riders at the Menger Bar, next door to the old Alamo.
Stephen Crane and Red Badge of Courage
The kids had studied artists and newspaper reporters at the scene of battles during the Civil War, which were one of the story lines in this movie.
Also, Stephen Crane was in the movie and there was a lot of talk about his book, Red Badge of Courage.
Now that my son and I read the junior version of it a few years ago, we understood much more of the movie.
While the overarching story is true, a fictional character, Nash, haad a similar plot line to the main character of Crane’s book.
Both wanted to join the war, but for different reasons.
Both deserted their first battlefield experience yet were mistakenly deemed as heroes.
For both, the inner conflict that raged afterwards led to significant life changing decisions.
Stephen Crane, himself, goes through a transformation in the movie.
St. Crispin’s Day Speech from Henry V
Strong literary elements, including a running theme of the St. Crispin’s Day speech from Shakespeare’s Henry V.
Roosevelt’s personal motives for fighting
Not mentioned, were Roosevelt’s personal motives for fighting.
Roosevelt’s father did not fight in the Civil War, perhaps because Roosevelt’s mother was a Southerner.
(The fact that she was a Southerner did come out in the movie.)
Although Roosevelt was extremely close to his father, this one point of difference between them was difficult for Roosevelt to let that go.
When the opportunity to go to war came, Roosevelt was not about to let it pass him by.
Turning point in history
American patriotism soared when citizens across the country read in the newspapers about the tyranny the Cubans (a close American neighbor) faced from the Spanish.
As mentioned in the movie, this war was a turning point in American history.
As we studied in history this year, the Spanish American War was the beginning of Imperialism, with theoretical foundations in the Monroe Doctrine and Manifest Destiny.
