The Rough Riders card art from Lost Chapters (Emerald, Character) — Card art: The Rough Riders

The Rough Riders: Emerald Character

The Rough Riders were the First U.S. Volunteer Cavalry, a regiment raised in 1898 for the Spanish-American War and commanded by Colonel Leonard Wood with Theodore Roosevelt as his second in command. Its ranks mixed cowboys and Native American soldiers from the Southwest with college athletes from the East, and it became famous for the charge up Kettle Hill in Cuba on July 1, 1898.

Cost: 9 crystals
Type: Character · Soldier
Power / Health: 7 / 7
Color: Emerald (Frontier & Explorers)
Rarity: Uncommon
Set: Liberty & Lightning (Set 1)
Keywords: Swift

Swift

On play: your other characters get Swift and +1/+0 this turn.

Volunteer cavalry unit combining aristocrats, cowboys, and Ivy Leaguers into America's most improbable military success story.

Real history

The real history

When the United States went to war with Spain in 1898, Theodore Roosevelt resigned as Assistant Secretary of the Navy in May so he could fight. With Colonel Leonard Wood he organized a volunteer cavalry regiment whose official name was the First U.S. Volunteer Cavalry. The public soon called it the Rough Riders.

The plan was to recruit from the Southwest, including New Mexico, Arizona, Oklahoma and Indian Territory. After Roosevelt joined, the regiment became a mix of cowboys, hunters and polo players, Cherokee, Chickasaw, Choctaw and Creek soldiers, and athletes from colleges such as Harvard, Yale and Princeton. Wood and Roosevelt trained and equipped the men at a camp in San Antonio, Texas, and that preparation helped the regiment win a place in the fighting.

The regiment went to Tampa at the end of May and sailed for Santiago de Cuba on June 13. Its first fight came on June 24 at Las Guasimas, where 7 Rough Riders were killed and 34 wounded. On July 1, 1898, in the battle for the San Juan Heights, Roosevelt led charges up Kettle Hill, fighting beside regular army troops. The regiment's part in the battle became legendary, helped along by Roosevelt's own accounts and by later films.

The war lasted about ten weeks. Roosevelt came home a national celebrity, and in 1998 he was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor for his actions on July 1.

Sources

T. R. the Rough Rider: Hero of the Spanish American War, Theodore Roosevelt Birthplace National Historic Site, National Park Service
Rough Riders (World of 1898), Library of Congress

Checked against these sources on October 3, 2026. Spot a mistake? Report an error. How we check facts.

How the card plays

The Rough Riders costs 9 crystals and is a 7/7 Emerald Soldier. It has Swift, and when you play it, your other characters get Swift and +1/+0 this turn. That makes it a finisher more than an opener: nine crystals buy one huge turn of attacks.

Fill your field with cheap characters first, because every one of them can charge the turn it arrives and hit one point harder. Leave room, since your field holds 5 characters. Teddy Roosevelt, Rough Rider gets +2/+0 while you control The Rough Riders and has Swift of his own, so he can attack right away as a big hitter. Lexington & Concord gives your Soldiers and Rebels +1/+0 on top of that bonus. Crossing the Delaware refreshes your characters after they attack, so the whole team can swing a second time.

Playable in decks led by Amelia Earhart, and by any Traveler Leader whose colors include Emerald.
In the Earhart starter deck (1 copy). Deck code: LC2-Ax8CIAEhASIBIwIkAiUBJgEnASgCKQEqAisBLAEtAS4BLwEwATEBMgEzATQBNQE2ATcBOAE5AToBOwE8AT0BZQJ0Anuc
Works with Teddy Roosevelt, Rough Rider.
A deck holds up to 3 copies of this card.

Questions about The Rough Riders

Did the Rough Riders charge up San Juan Hill?

Their famous charge was up Kettle Hill, which was part of the larger battle for the San Juan Heights on July 1, 1898. Roosevelt led the men up Kettle Hill, and the regiment's role in the whole battle grew into legend.

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