This memorial monument honors President Theodore Roosevelt and members of the 1st U.S. Volunteer Cavalry Regiment, known as the "Rough Riders". The City of Tampa was selected as the assembly and embarkation site of the U.S. Military in the 1898 Spanish American War. The bronze plaque honors all the Spanish American War veterans. This memorial monument and the naming of this park honors the Tampa's "Rough Riders" organization, founded in 1978, formed for the purpose of creating and perpetuating a living memorial honoring the 1898 Spanish American War Rough Riders.

 This memorial monument unveiled March 1, 2003 (Tampa's Rough Riders 25th anniversary) contains a time capsule with historical events of that day's celebration and the past yesteryears dating back to 1898. Included are memoirs of individual members in the Tampa's organization Rough Riders of present-day March 1, 2003. The monument will be reopened in the year 2028 which commemorates Tampa's organization Rough Riders' 50th anniversary.