(The following article was printed in the Prescott Journal-Miner on July 4, 1907.) 

"Nine years ago, July 1, as the American soldiers, members of the Rough Riders, lay entrenched before San Juan Hill, awaiting the order from their superior to charge the foe, there walked back and forth, before his men, a captain of one of the troops of that famous fighting command, who, despite the repeated entreaties of his followers, would not seek shelter from the rain of Spanish bullets that swept down the hill.

Airily, he smoked his cigarette, and glanced, ever and anon, up the hill at the fortifications, with supreme contempt for the poor marksmanship displayed by the Spaniards. 

Not that he did not realize the danger to which he was exposed; no man there knew better the meaning of leaden bullet than he who so bravely faced the pitiless fire without flinching, or without a thought to personal danger. 

'Captain, please seek shelter; please lie down in the trenches,' begged one of his men, a sergeant. 

'Sergeant,' replied this brave soldier, who had but one thought in his mind at the time, his country and his flag, 'the Spanish bullet in not made that can kill me.' 

And again he resumed his walking, up and down, in front of his men. 

That was 'Buckey' O'Neill, Arizona's hero. Brave, chivalrous, adventurous Captain William Owen O'Neill, in command of Troop A, Rough Riders. 

Hardly had the reckless, slightly boasting words passed his lips, than Buckey O'Neill fell, struck by the bullet he had so shortly before derided. The leaden missile of death entered his mouth and passed out of the rear of his head, and before his stalwart frame sank trembling to the ground his gallant soul gone forth to its maker. 

Just nine years and three days after that event there was unveiled, yesterday, in the plaza of the beautiful little mountain city he called home, and over whose destinies he held sway, as its mayor, at the time he gave up his life for his country's flag, a beautiful equestrian statue, as a tribute to the memory of a man who, today is revered by every true Arizonan, and whose memory is kept green in the hearts of all those who knew him in life. 

A fitting tribute, and one well deserved. 

As the various speakers at yesterday's exercises extolled the virtues of Prescott's patriot, tears filled the eyes of many of those who had known him in days gone by, and who had been proud to call him friend, and a great pity welled up into the hearts of the rugged, honest, God-fearing Arizonans that he was not still with them in flesh. 

With impressive ceremonies the draperies were pulled aside from Borglum's beautiful statue, revealing the gallant captain, mounted on his charger. With distended nostrils the horse stands, slightly reared back on his haunches, as though abruptly pulled up, while his rider, with face turned towards the left, sits in an attitude of expectancy, as though awaiting orders. It is a beautiful piece of craftsmanship, one well worthy of its subject. 

Beneath the statue, forming its pedestal is a gigantic boulder, weighing twenty-eight tons, secured from one of the neighboring mountains, which Buckey loved so much. It remains in the rough, just as it was brought from the mountainside, carrying out the Rough Rider idea. 

Many weary days were spent by Contractor H. C. Walter and men, in transporting the boulder to its present resting place. It was tedious work, owing to the cumberousness of the granite rock, but no work was too tedious for those who knew to what purpose the stone was to be put. Finally it was embedded on a cement foundation in the city plaza, and all was in readiness for the mounting of the statue, which at that time had not yet arrived. 

As time wore on and the statue, which was somewhere on the road, enroute here from New York, did not arrive, grave fears were entertained that it would not arrive in time for the unveiling ceremonies to take place on the date arranged. Then it was demonstrated that railroads are not always the 'soulless corporations' the muck-rakers like to picture them, and that a thread of sentiment, even like that which runs through the beings of everyday mortals, is present also in the make-up of the directors of the railroad systems. 

W. A. Drake, vice president of the S.F., P&P Railway, was appealed to secure some trace of the statue and rush it through. He immediately set to work, and obtaining the co-operation of H. G. Wells of the coast lines of the Santa Fe, dispatched a special agent out on the road to look up the statue and rush it through at all hazard. This special agent was given the poser to spare neither time nor expense in securing trace of the statue and getting it there on time. He found it buried in the yards at Albuquerque, N. M., and ordered it out on the first train leaving, in accordance with the orders of his superior officers. He rode with the train. At Winslow, the car in which the statue was loaded got out of repair, and in the ordinary course of events the car would have been sidetracked and had to wait for the next train. This was no ordinary occasion, however, and the train was held several hours while all the mechanics obtained were set to work repairing the car. 

At Ash Fork a special engine was in waiting to bring the car here, and last Saturday it arrived, having made the trip from Albuquerque here in record time. 

The work of mounting it on the pedestal was accomplished in the next two days, and yesterday the heroic bronze statue was unveiled. 

Fitting it was that Maurice O'Neill, adopted son of the deceased hero, and Miss Kate Hickey, daughter of Buckey O'Neill's bosom friend in the days when the country was young, and history was warm in the making, should have been delegated as the persons to actually unveil the monument to the gaze of the populace. 

When the veilings were torn aside and the beautiful bronze statue stood revealed, a mighty cheer went up from the hundreds assembled, and with bared heads, while the band played 'America' those present did homage to the memory of brave Buckey O'Neill." 

The Arizona Rough Riders will host a centennial commemoration of the unveiling of the Buckey O'Neill statue on July 4, 2007, at the courthouse plaza from 11:30a.m. to 1:30p.m. 

Sharlot Hall Museum Photograph Call Number:(citn124pk)
Reuse only by permission.
The Rough Rider Monument was dedicated in front of the Yavapai County Courthouse on July 4, 1907. 

Sharlot Hall Museum Photograph Call Number:(citn124pa)
Reuse only by permission.
The 1907 crowd surrounding the Buckey O'Neill statue on dedication day. 

Sharlot Hall Museum Photograph Call Number:(citn124pf)
Reuse only by permission.
The Rough Rider Monument on July 4, 1907.