During the late 1860s and early 1870s he traveled with his family frequently to Europe and the Middle East, including trips to Austria, England, France, Holland, Hungary, Italy, Israel, Prussia (Germany), Switzerland, and modern-day Syria.

          Theodore Jr. was interest in zoology and biology, which serve him well later when he was a rancher and outdoorsman.

          At Harvard, Theodore Jr. competed in boxing, rowing, and wrestling. Academically, he studied German, natural history, forensics, and composition. He would later graduate near the top of his class. He would enjoy physical outdoor pursuits throughout his life, and often spent time hiking, riding horses, and swimming.

          While in collage Theodore Jr. fell in love with Alice Hathaway Lee, in October 1880 they married. On February 12th, 1884 Alice gave birth to a daughter, Alice Lee. Two days later, his mother died of typhoid fever and his wife died of kidney disease within a few hours of each other, and in the same house. For the next few months, a devastated Theodore Jr. threw himself into political work to escape his grief. He left his daughter in the care of his sister and fled to the Dakota Badlands.

           Out West, Theodore Jr. soaked in the frontier lifestyle. He bought two ranches and a thousand head of cattle. He flourished in the hardships of the western frontier, riding for days, hunting grizzly bears, herding cows as a rancher, and chasing outlaws as a frontier sheriff. Roosevelt headed back East in 1886 because he rediscovered a childhood sweetheart Edith Kermit Carow. The following year a devastating winter wiped out most of his cattle.

          Edith Kermit Carow & Theodor were married in England in 1886 and moved into a house known as Sagamore Hill, in Oyster Bay, New York, . In addition to raising Theodor s first child, Alice, he and Edith had five children: Theodore III, Kermit, Ethel, Archibald, and Quentin.

 

The Spanish-American War

          On April 25, 1898 the United States declared war on Spain following the sinking of the Battleship Maine in Havana harbor on February 15, 1898. The war ended with the signing of the Treaty of Paris on December 10, 1898. As a result Spain lost its control over the remains of its overseas empire -- Cuba, Puerto Rico, the Philippines Islands, Guam, and other islands.

          When the War began Theodore Jr. who was assistant secretary of the Navy at the time, resigned and volunteered for service as commander the 1st U.S. Volunteer Cavalry, a unit known as the Rough Riders — an elite company comprised of Ivy League gentlemen, western cowboys, sheriffs, prospectors, police officers, and Native Americans.

          U.S. troops attacked the San Juan heights on July 1, 1898. The African-American Ninth and Tenth cavalries and the Rough Riders commanded by Lt. Col. Theodore Roosevelt Jr., who lead a charge on foot up Kettle Hill on the outskirts of Santiago, while the forces led by Brigadier General Jacob Kent charged up San Juan Hill and pushed Spanish troops further inland while inflicting 1,700 casualties. A few days later the Spanish fleet fled Cuba. It was just a matter of weeks before the war had ended and the U.S. was victorious.

          The Rough Riders returned to the United States as war heroes. Their varied backgrounds, colorful leader, and bravery on the battlefield brought them considerable attention. Theodore Jr. personally reveled in his time in the military. He later wrote about his military exploits: "I would rather have led that charge and earned my colonelcy (an honorary title held by custom, rather than by law) than served three terms in the United States Senate.”