Title: History | Hispanics in the United States Army
Headings: 
History
Civil War
1861-1865
1850
Spanish-American War
1898
World War I
1914-1918
World War II
1939-1945
Korean War
1950-1953
Vietnam War
1959-1973
Operation Desert Shield/Desert Storm
1990-1991
1950
Profiles
War Against Terrorism/Contigency Operations
2003-Present
2000

Content: In 1898, the United States acquired Puerto Rico in the Treaty of Paris that ended the Spanish-American War. By the following year, Congress had authorized raising a unit of volunteer Soldiers in the newly acquired territory. Several thousand Hispanic volunteers, mostly from the southwestern United States, fought with distinction in the U.S. Army during the Spanish-American War. Capt. Maximiliano Luna and others who comprised a portion of the famous 1st U.S. Volunteer Cavalry with Col. Theodore Roosevelt -- better known as the "Rough Riders" -- fought in Cuba. George Armijo, another Rough Rider, later became a member of Congress. Pictured above: Soldiers of the 65th Infantry are shown after an all-day schedule of maneuvers at Salinas, Puerto Rico, August 1941. Photo courtesy of U.S. Army Center of Military History.