Marshall McClung
Theodore “Teddy” Roosevelt – who was the 26th president of the United States – may be better known for his fierce group of fighters made up of Native Americans, miners, cowboys and former law enforcement officers.
Known as “Teddy’s Rough Riders,” the group captured Kettle Hill and San Juan Hill during the Spanish-American War.
Though perhaps not as well-known as Teddy’s group, Graham County also had a group known as the Robbinsville Rough Riders at one time.
They may not have been as rough as Roosevelt’s group, but they sure traveled some rough mountainous terrain.
A source who wishes to remain anonymous – in spite of not being wanted by the law – gathered much information about this group from talking to Jack Millsaps, Kenneth McKeldrey, Sue Lewis and others.
The Robbinsville Rough Riders was formed in the early 1970s. Several members of the group were also members of the Graham County Rescue Squad.
They met on Sunday mornings in Robbinsville at Glen Roger’s Jeep dealership on North Main Street. They would have dinner (lunch for non-natives) somewhere up in the rough high country.
On one trip, the group met with another Jeep group from Cherokee County at Cold Springs Gap on Little Snowbird Creek. The groups went through Mitchell Lick, which was some very rough traveling on the mountain road.
There were around 50 Jeeps in the combined groups. Some became damaged to the point that several did not complete the trip. This meant another trip back over this terrain, with parts to repair their vehicles before they could get back off the mountain. No family members joined the men on this trip.
The group grew so much that people would gather to watch the convoy of jeeps leave, much akin to people seeing off wagon trains headed out west in the old days.
Not all the trips were made just for the fun of it: some of the trips were rescue missions.
One mission that stands out involved the rescue of Hayward Crawford, Johnny Ray McClincy and “Dude” Farley, who were stranded by a snowstorm at “Claude’s Camp” near Hooper Bald. The Rough Riders headed out to rescue the men.
They had to stop and put on tire chains at the Hunter’s Camp on Big Santeetlah Road.
When they reached the stranded men, they were traveling through snow as high as the Jeep hoods.
At one point, the group stopped meeting for a Sunday trip when some of them felt that they should be in church on Sunday mornings.
Those persons contacted for this story were able to recall some of the members of the Robbinsville Rough Riders. We know we are missing some names of the group and we regret that.
The ones that were recalled were: Kenneth McKeldrey, Jack Millsaps, Leonard Davis, Harry Ford, Glen Rogers, Booth Crisp, James Lewis, Kenneth Orr, Kenneth Carver, Rube Rogers, Albert Jones, Donald Williams and Alan Gibbs.
Marshall McClung is the historical columnist for The Graham Star. He can be reached via email, mcclungs@email.com.