Welcome to 1898!
A Pivotal Year in American military history
and in the Career of Theodore Roosevelt.
[Page numbers reference BULLY! Colonel Theodore Roosevelt, The Rough Riders & Camp Wikoff,
Montauk, New York — 1898 / A Newspaper Chronicle*]
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Montauk Point had been a pastureland for cattle, horses, and sheep, since Deep Hollow Ranch was established in 1658, giving birth to the American cowboy. In the spring of 1898, Montauk was a treeless pastureland of hills and hollows, with distant views of the ocean, bay and sound. There were few houses and few residents, most of whom were fishermen who worked the waters of Fort Pond Bay, Montauk’s only harbor.
In 1898, daily newspapers were the main source of national news. In New York City alone, there were more than a dozen dailies, including William Randolph Hearst’s New York Journal and Joseph Pulitzer’s The World, which were locked in a circulation ‘war’, giving rise to ‘Yellow Journalism’.
The fishermen at Fort Pond Bay had, no doubt, heard reports that the USS Maine had exploded in Havana Harbor on February 15th, killing 266 American sailors and marines. It is certain that they were not consulted by President McKinley before he sent a message to Congress on April 11th, but would soon know that the United States had declared war on Spain.
[President William McKinley’s Message to Congress, April 11, 1898, pp 509 – 513]
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West Point Instructor Lieut. John J. Pershing.
Asst. Secretary of the Navy Theodore Roosevelt.
Shortly after war was declared, Assistant Secretary of the Navy Theodore Roosevelt, age 39, resigned his position, as did an Instructor in Military Strategy at West Point named John Joseph Pershing, age 38, both to join the war campaign.
Sec. of War Russell Alger offered Theodore Roosevelt command of the 1st Volunteer Cavalry Regiment, which was to be raised & organized in preparation for combat. Roosevelt, with little military experience, deferred command to his good friend, Leonard Wood, a Harvard-trained physician, with military experience, who had been awarded the coveted Medal of Honor.
On July 1st, 1898, the Rough Riders, led by their intrepid Lieut. Col. charged the fortified blockhouse on top of San Juan Hill in Santiago de Cuba. Lieut. Col. Roosevelt and the Rough Riders were supported in that charge by the 9th & 10th Cavalry, known as the Buffalo soldiers. Famed war correspondent Richard Harding Davis, wrote —
“No one who saw Roosevelt take that ride expected he would finish alive. As the only mounted man, he was the most conspicuous object in range of the rifle pits….It looked like foolhardiness, but, as a matter of fact, he set the pace with his horse and inspired the men to follow…..
John J. ‘Black Jack’ Pershing, in command of the Tenth Cavalry, would later write that it was against all modern military strategy to charge directly at a fortified enemy position, adding that only American valor had made it successful.
On July 17th, Gen. Jose Toral surrendered Santiago de Cuba to Gen. William Shafter. Sec. of War Russell Alger then ordered Shafter’s Fifth Army Corps to remain in Cuba in preparation for a fall campaign against Havana, but the troops soon began to fall victim to yellow fever, malaria, typhoid and dysentery.
[“Dashing Bravery of the Rough Riders,” eye-witness report by famed war correspondent Richard Harding Davis, pages 520 – 521. / Front Page, New York Herald, July 4, 1898.]
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Informed of the situation in Cuba, Alger ordered the 22,500 soldiers of the Fifth Army Corps to move to San Luis, twenty-five to thirty miles away, by rail. The men were in no condition to march there, and the rail line was narrow gauge, with cars ten to twelve feet in length. Moreover, San Luis was a far worse location than where they were. Commanding Officers called a meeting on August 3rd, to express their outrage at Sec. Alger’s order, given its impossibility to be carried out. They all agreed to send a signed petition in protest to Sec. of War Russell A. Alger. Ten officers — all those in attendance, including Colonel Roosevelt — signed the document addressed to General Shafter & intended for Sec. Alger, urging the immediate removal of all troops to some location on the East Coast as soon as it was possible to arrange. The petition became known as the Round Robin.
In addition, Col. Roosevelt wrote a separate letter of appeal. These documents were then delivered to General Shafter, but somehow got into the hands of the Associated Press, and then into the hands of William Randolph Hearst, who published the documents the next day in the New York Journal, placing Roosevelt’s signed letter on the front place under the headline: Army Will Die Like Sheep. As an AP dispatch, millions across the country read the documents before Sec. of War received the telegraphed documents. The public’s jubilation at the swift victory over Spain at Santiago de Cuba turned to shock, then anger, when they learned the condition of the troops.
Sec. Of War Alger, to whom the petition was intended, first learned of the Round Robin Petition in the newspapers, infuriating him. He blamed Roosevelt, even considered a court marshal of Roosevelt for disobeying an order.
The 4,000-acre military encampment being prepared in Montauk for the return of healthy troops, became a quarantine camp for all troops as soon as transports were available. A 500-bed General Hospital and a 250-bed Detention Hospital were built, both consisting of boardwalks and tents.
[Headline, New York Journal. Related — Brooklyn Daily Eagle: “Where A Great Army Rests From Its Toil” pp. 82 – 85.]
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On August 11, 1898, by direction of the President, the military encampment at Montauk was named Camp Wikoff, in honor of Col. Charles A. Wikoff, of the Twenty-second United States Infantry, who was killed at the head of his brigade on July 1 at Santiago.
The great encampment effectively closed with the departure of the Seventh Infantry on October 14th, 1898.
[Camp Wikoff medal rendering by George Bloem, 1997.]
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Gen. Shafter’s Fifth Army Corps, America’s first veterans of a war fought overseas, arrived home at Fort Pond Bay directly from Santiago de Cuba, over a six week period beginning, August 13th, with the arrival of the Transport Gate City.
[507 Heroes Home From Santiago / The World, pp 55 – 56 + ‘Home, Sweet Home” / The Sun, page 56.]
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Archival Map dated September, 1898/ Montauk Historical Society.
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On August 12th, a Peace Protocol was signed in Paris,
ending hostilities between the United States and Spain.
And, peace was celebrated across the country.
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[Illustration, The Boston Sunday Globe + ‘Peace’ Editorial, Brooklyn Daily Eagle, page 53.]
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On August 15th, the Transport Miami, with Gen. Wheeler, Col. Roosevelt and the Rough Riders arrived at Fort Pond Bay. They were welcomed home by thousands of soldiers & visitors to the great encampment, now known as Camp Wikoff.
An officer on shore called out to Roosevelt, who stood on the ship’s bridge. “How are you Col. Roosevelt?”
Back came the answer, in a voice that could be heard half a mile away, “I am feeling disgracefully well.” Then, after a pause, “I feel positively ashamed of my appearance when I see how badly off some of my brave fellows are.” Another brief pause, and then, in tones of intense conviction,
“Oh! But we had a Bully fight!”
The Rough Riders were the public’s favorite regiment as its soldiers hailed from all parts of the country: cowpunchers, miners, hunters and ranchers from the West along with college dudes, athletes and adventurers.
A newspaper display ad claimed that the Rough Riders
were now as popular as the 5 cent Cremo Cigar.
[New York Herald, The Sun, pages 61 – 68. Display ad, Chicago Tribune, page 86]
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Col. Roosevelt said, “The groundwork of the regiment is the cowpuncher … next to him comes the
Rocky Mountain miner, then the professional hunter, mining & civil engineers and the packer, and mixed with them the college athlete and the man who has always been fond of rough out-of-doors sport…”
[The Sun, ‘Roosevelt Lauds His Men’, August 15, pages 68 – 71]
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Song of the Rough Riders
Rough Riders were we from the West,
Gallant gentlemen the rest,
Of volunteers the best;
Rallied to the flag at Roosevelt’s behest
To carve our way to glory….
………………
Refrain / Sung to the tune of the “Irish Fusileers,” composed by Private Edwin Emerson, Jr., Troop K, Rough Riders.
[New York Times, pages 73 – 75.]
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“A Splendid Regiment”
“Nobody need make any mistake about that being a good regiment. The Western men were as good as soldiers
before they enlisted. ….The Eastern men were fellows whose nerve and pride carried them along neck-and-neck
with the cowboys. Yes, that’s a splendid regiment.”
— General William Shafter
[The Sun, September 3rd]
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Third House
On August 18th and 19th Col. Roosevelt stayed at Third House, Montauk, with his wife Edith. On Friday, he met with Lemuel Quigg, an emissary from Republican Party Boss Senator Thomas C. Platt to discuss the developing political situation, as the incumbent Republican Governor Frank Black was seeking re-election. Boss Platt was not in favor of Roosevelt’s nomination, but not enthusiastic about the re-election of Governor Frank Black, either.
[Illustration, New York Herald / New York Times report, page 91.]
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On August 19, the huge transport Mobile arrived at Fort Pond Bay, with 1,600 men on board. Hundreds were sick on board the Mobile. Nine had died on board and been buried at sea during the seven-day, 2,000-mile voyage from Santiago de Cuba. The Sun newspaper reported that the sick men only had army rations to eat, which, it stated, made the men sicker.
And, on August 31st, the transport Allegheny arrived — the Boston Globe headlined its arrival as “Floating Hell!”
The medical examiner said that the Allegheny was a“cattle ship’, and that it was “criminal to load sick men on her.”Twelve Massachusetts soldiers had died on board and had been buried at sea.
[Transport Mobile arrived August 19, 1898 — The World, Boston Globe, The Sun, pages 95 – 98, and
Transport Allegheny arrived August 31, 1898 — Boston Globe, The World, pages 191 – 195.]
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Camp Wikoff became known as a “pest camp,” with returning soldiers, suffering from malaria, yellow fever, dysentery, typhoid, and physical exhaustion. Yellow fever and malaria were thought contagious diseases, as it was not known at that time that they were transmitted by mosquitoes.
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WELCOME COLONEL
On August 20th, Theodore and Edith returned to Oyster Bay where he received a rousing reception. A red, white and blue banner, WELCOME COLONEL, was hung across Audrey Avenue. While at Sagamore Hill, Roosevelt had a private political meeting about the developing political situation in New York, with his good friend, Sen. Henry Cabot Lodge of Massachusetts.
‘….The dramatic instinct is one of the key notes of Mr. Roosevelt’s success. It is that which makes him always interesting, always surprising, always leading to climax or tableau….A man of Mr. Roosevelt’s make-up, with his fine chest, straight legs, honest blue eyes, sparkling teeth; a man of magnificent virility, with his extraordinary record of achievements…may be pardoned if he believes a good deal in himself….’
[Editorial quotation, Pulitzer’s The World, page 101.]
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STORM IN CAMP, THREE DEAD
Camp Wikoff, August 24 — “….Lightning, rain, hail and wind united to make up such a riot of the elements as few in the camp are likely to forget. It lasted about three hours, during which three distinct storms passed over, leaving as a memento a driving gale…”
[The Sun, pages 115 – 118]
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On August 25th, Rough Rider Lieut. William Tiffany, a Knickerbocker, died of starvation in Boston — the hospital ship he was on had been delayed at Camp Wikoff. His starvation was the result of prolonged malnutrition to the point at which the body can no longer absorb nutrients.
— Illustration, Pulitzer’s The World
[Right: Illustration, Pulitzer’s The World. | related — Lieut. Tiffany’s Real Starvation’ and Army Beef Scandal of 1898, pp 526 – 529]
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The Kansas City Star expressed the nation’s outrage: “Think of an American soldier dying of starvation after fighting and helping win a glorious battle for his country!”
The hospitals at Camp Wikoff were overwhelmed with fever-stricken soldiers arriving on transports daily. For the first time, the Government contracted with the American Red Cross to provide nurses, reversing a policy of male nurses only. More than 340 died at Camp Wikoff during its two month existence, more soldiers died there than at the Battle of San Juan Hill; and, more than sixty soldiers died on board the transports on their way to Fort Pond Bay and were buried at sea.
[Illustration, Cover of Collier’s Weekly, page 394.— Editorial, Kansas City Star, page 130. — Report, American Red Cross at Camp Wikoff by Field Agent Howard Townsend, pp 530 – 537.]
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Red Cross Heroine of Camp Wikoff
Nurse Annie Wheeler, daughter of Gen. Joseph Wheeler, had worked as a non-immune nurse for the Red Cross in Cuba, then at Camp Wikoff, earning her the nickname, “Camp Angel.”
A number of young women volunteered to work at Camp Wikoff as nurses, including the Women’s National War Relief Association President Ellen Walworth’s daughter, Reubena,
who worked in the Detention Hospital and died in NYC in October, 1898, of typhoid fever contracted at Camp Wikoff.
[Illustration, The World | The World, pages 120 – 122 | ‘Reubina Hyde Walworth, Heroic Nurse’, The World, pages 446 – 447]
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[ New York Herald, page 185.]
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UNCLE SAM’S SEASIDE PARK
Although thousands of the returning soldiers suffered the effects of tropical diseases, thousands of others were healthy. And, for those, Camp Wikoff was headlined as “Uncle Sam’s Seaside Park”, with horseback riding across the hills, hiking in Hither Woods, foraging for blackberries, playing quoits, frog hunting, fishing, swimming at the ocean beaches and taking tours of Montauk Point Lighthouse.Army bands played from the hilltops, the notes of the bugle could be heard throughout the day, a canteen opened near the station where draught beer was sold in buckets, and a casino — Montauk’s Monte Carlo — offered crap shooting and triple dice.
Montauk Station became a bustling village with troops, relatives, and the curious arriving and departing by the hour. Hungry Joe’s restaurant, general store, post office & express package building, Officer’s Club, and power plant with a Westinghouse generator (based on Nikola Tesla’s patents) were established near the railroad station, creating a ‘pop-up’ village.
Visitors, curious to see the great encampment — a mix of Wild West Show & the Klondike — arriving & departing daily, as well as volunteers who came to work in the hospitals or at the diet kitchens. And, soon soldiers began to leave for southern and western posts.
[Ad, Brooklyn Daily Eagle, page 226 | Illustration — First Illinois at Fort Pond Bay, Chicago Tribune, page 179.]
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Sunday afternoon at Camp Wikoff.
[Illustration, New York Herald, page 260.]
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Perhaps none enjoyed their time in Montauk more than the Rough Riders, who held bronco busting competitions, raced on horseback across the dunes to the beach for an afternoon swim, or gathered around a campfire in the evening to exchange war stories.
At one of those campfires, Rough Rider Mac said that the Colonel didn’t have it in him to be afraid. Rough Rider Spider said, “Well, he’s a beaut, then.”
An Arizona Rough Rider said, “An’ that’s the feller that we Western cowpunchers was sort of dubious about. I’d like to find the man now who would call him a college-bred dude.”
[Illustration, The World, page 152 & Report, pages 151 – 160.]
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A Rough Rider said of Bill Woods, “Nobody ain’t got any use for a horse that can unseat Bill Woods….And he’s pizen with a six-shooter.”
Often in the afternoons, Colonel Roosevelt would lead a charge on horseback of Rough Riders to Ditch Plains for a quick plunge into the ocean. Emerging from the surf, he was heard to say, “Phew! That makes a man feel alive!”
On another afternoon, a reporter observed Roosevelt raise his powerful outstretched arms, take a deep breath of the ocean air, and say, “I shall miss this place when it’s all over.”
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— Illustration, left, S.A. Kennedy with Rough Rider mascot, an eagle they named, Teddy. [Pulitzer’s The World, page 353.]
— Commemorative Medal, designed by Lieut. Frederick Wingte of Company I. [Rendered by George Bloem, 1997 — Page 338.]
— Illustration, right, Rough Rider Hughes with his mount, Jerry. [Pulitzer’s The World, page 380.]
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Military Order of the Rough Riders
On August 31st, the Military Order of the Rough Riders was formally organized, membership to be handed down from father to eldest son, with the hope that this would perpetuate the “name and fame” of the remarkable cavalry regiment. An annual dinner was to be held on June 24th. Lieut. Col. Alexander Brodie, a West Pointer, was elected President of the new society.
“I can say with you that to have been a Rough Rider is the pride of my life.”
— Col. Theodore Roosevelt.
[The World & New York Times, pages 199 – 200]
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“The Slightest Knack”
Personal letter of Theodore Roosevelt to John Hay, Secretary of State.
Dated: September 1, 1898 / Montauk
“…My regiment will be mustered out in a few days, and then I shall be foot-loose. Just at the moment there is a vociferous popular demand to have me nominated for Governor, but I very gravely question whether it materializes, and I haven’t the slightest knack at making it materialize. I wish I were going to be in Washington, all the more now that you are to be there; but I think this winter will have to be spent at Sagamore Hill….”
Very Faithfully Yours,
[ Letters of Theodore Roosevelt Collection, page 207.]
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PLATT ENDORSES ROOSEVELT
On September 3rd Boss Platt decided to“favor the nomination of Col. Roosevelt for Governor.”No doubt in reaction to the enduring appeal of Roosevelt. This was a radical change in his position in little over a month. A political associate had said on July 23rd that Platt would never endorse Roosevelt, adding that “Roosevelt, in his impetuous way and in his strong self-assertiveness, would not listen to any part suggestion. He would be absolutely master of the situation and would not brook any suggestions.”
[Brooklyn Daily Eagle, page 221 & Opposite page 1.]
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Saturday, September 3, 1898
The Sun newspaper headlined McKinley’s visit to Camp Wikoff on September 3rd, as ‘MONTAUK’S GREAT DAY”. From a hilltop, where the white tents of 18,000 soldiers could be seen, the President remarked, “This is beautiful. I think I have never seen a handsomer camp.”
Escorted by General Joseph Wheeler, President McKinley toured the Detention & General Hospitals, speaking to many of the debilitated soldiers individually.
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President McKinley then addressed more than 5,000 cheering soldiers on Montauk’s Great Plain:
“I bring you the gratitude of the nation, to whose history you have added by your valor a new and glorious page. You have come home after two months of severe campaigning, which has embraced assault, siege and battle — so brilliant in achievement, so far-reaching in results as to earn the unstinted praise of all your countrymen…..
“To the army and navy, to the marines, to the regulars, to the volunteers, and to that Providence which has watched over them all, the nation today is full of thanksgiving and praise. The brave officers and men who fell in battle and those who have died from exposure and sickness will live in immortal story, and their memories will be perpetuated in the hearts and the history of a generous people; and those who were dependent upon them will not be neglected by the Government for which they so freely sacrificed their lives.”
[Illustrations: Boston Globe, New York Herald, The World Reports: The Sun, New York Tribune, New York Times, New York Press, pages 230 – 248.]
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A Fist-Fighter’s Opinion
Like every other good American, John L. Sullivan is carefully studying the results of the war. He is a kind-hearted man….So, the sufferings and neglect of the soldiers who fought so bravely, strongly appeal to him–the greatest of fist-fighters.
“This country ought to go broke on the heroes. It ought to send home every man who returned from the war as fit as when he enlisted and with money in his pocket.”
[The World, page 249.]
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ROOSEVELT’S SERMON
Montauk’s Bully Pulpit
Sunday, September 4, 1898
Next day at the Sunday Church service on a camp hillside, Col. Roosevelt took the opportunity to deliver his first “Bully Pulpit” speech, telling the Rough Riders,
“What we have done only calls us to renewed exertion in the future…Life is a constant struggle, and no man can afford to remain idle…Carry that same sentiment and spirit into your life when you separate for your homes. Every man has felt that the honor of the regiment was in his keeping, and he would reflect honor or dishonor on all by his individual acts.”
Then in closing he told the Rough Riders, “I feel a love and attachment to each and every one of you and that we are bound together by ties that death alone can sever.”
[Brooklyn Daily Eagle, The Sun, New York Herald, Lovell H. Jerome for The World, pp 262 – 265]
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ROOSEVELT WILL RUN
On September 10th, Col. Roosevelt the following statement, read by Colonel Lovell H. Jerome: “that he had always been a Republican in the broadest sense of the word; and that he has not been seeking the nomination, but should it come to him he would gladly accept it as an honor…”
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On September 13th, Col. Roosevelt, in appreciation of his leadership, was given a Bronco Buster statuette in Bronze by the artist Frederic Remington, which is now at Sagamore Hill. Given the opportunity to thank his beloved Rough Riders, Col. Roosevelt addressed them, saying, “You cannot imagine how proud I am of your friendship and regard.”
In accepting the Bronco Buster statue, Roosevelt said, “To have such a gift from this peculiarly American regiment touches me more than I can say. This is something I shall hand down to my children and I shall value it more that I do the weapons I carried through the campaign.”
The Rough Riders gave him, “Three cheers for the next Governor of New York” in true cowboy style with an extra “tiger.”
That night the Rough Riders got together for a “grand jollification,” around a big campfire where there were Indian dances by Pollock, the Pawnee; Rattlesnake Pete, the Apache; Levi Jones and Sam Downing, the Cherokees, among others, performing the stamp dance, snake dance, and harvest dances.
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A number of Rough Riders went to New York City after leaving Camp Wikoff.
Pulitzer’s The World reported, “New York … found the Rough Riders soft-tongued, mild-mannered boys, civil to the last word and with a sturdy courtesy as winning as it was unhewed….Now they long for the free life of the plains again, being sated with the noise of the great, throbbing town. Three days was enough for them.”
“I ain’t got no use for a place like this, where everybody is touchin’ elbows, and the air is full of smoke,” said a great blue-eyed six-foot four cowpuncher, “Give me the range, with the grass waving in the wind, the great white mountains over yonder, and nothing in sight but a bunch of cattle here and there. That suits me.”
[Boston Globe, pp 365 – 367]
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Col. Roosevelt was mustered out of service on September 14th, and left for Sagamore Hill on the 15th, one month since his arrival at Fort Pond Bay.
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On Saturday, September 17th, Col. Roosevelt met with Senator Thomas C. Platt at the Fifth Avenue Hotel. Afterwards Roosevelt said that the meeting was “pleasant, interesting and satisfactory” with no conditions even suggested.
[– Illustration, Pulitzer’s The World | Report, New York Herald, pages, 360 – 364.]
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Wednesday, September 21st, Oyster Bay held a Peace Jubilee in honor of Col. Roosevelt, with some Rough Riders in attendance. During his acceptance speech, he said that the regiment had been “armed, equipped, mounted, then dismounted on the transport, in Cuba and through a victorious fight, inside of 50 days.”
Of the charge at San Juan Hill on July 1st, 1898, he spoke of his
“crowded hour” ……..
[New York Times, Boston Globe, New York Herald, pp 383 – 391.]
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Governor Black claimed that Roosevelt was not a New York State resident, therefore ineligible to run for governor. This created an uproar a few days before the Republican Convention in Saratoga to be held on September 27th.
Signed document:
“….In October last my family came on here from Oyster Bay, L.I., and since then I have been and now am a resident of Washington. (signed) Theodore Roosevelt. Sworn to before me, this 21st day of March, 1898. (signed Edwin P. Hanna, Notary Public)”
[Illustration, New York Press | Front Page / New York Herald, pages 395 – 396.]
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Newspapers & individuals took sides:
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Statement by Benjamin B. Odell, Chairman Republican State Committee / Main And Express, 9.24.98 / pages 396 – 397.
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Editorial / New York Press, 9.24.98 / Pages 397 – 398.
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…..
Editorial / Mail And Express, 9.24.98 / Pages 398 – 399.
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…..
Letter to the Editor — New York State constitutional lawyer, Edwin Countryman, dated 9.23, published New York Press, 9.25.98 / Page 400 – 401.
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“…. It is all poppycock for any one to say that I have lost my citizenship in New York.” — Colonel Theodore Roosevelt. | Statement — Chicago Tribune, 9.25,28 / Page 401.
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…..
“….(Roosevelt) organized a regiment for the notoriety he would get out of it, hoping that he would fall into just such a situation as exists here now. He led his men into an ambuscade in Cuba to further this ambition — to bring more notoriety to himself. He risked other men’s lives to gain his end. He drew up a round robin at Santiago in order the he might not be lost sight of for a moment. He is a notoriety seeker, pure and simple. He is not a Republican….,” said Edward Lauterbach.
Republican Party Boss Thomas Platt listened patiently, then replied: “Colonel Roosevelt will be nominated.”
— New York Herald, 9.26.98 / Page 402 | Quotation / Mail and Express / 9.24.98, page 396.
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…..
Editorial / William Randolph Hearst’s New York Evening Journal, 9.26.98, page 405.
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…..
They did not believe Black would come….But come he did……..Tall, angular, somber visaged, with his jaw set for a fight, the Governor walked into the Rensselaer headquarters took off his hat and said: “I would like to have a bottle of that spring water, and then we will get to work.”
He talked chiefly of the danger to the party of the nomination of a candidate of questionable eligibility. The delegates listened attentively. — Report in New York Herald, 9.27.98 / Pages 406 – 407.
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Editorial / Commercial Advertiser, 9.27.98 / Pages 407 – 408.
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Roosevelt is a name for all New Yorkers to be proud of, a name honorably and usefully associated with the history of the city and the State from the earliest Colonial days. It has never sought the cheap glare of social pretension and display. Yet, now political sophistry has sought to delude the people into the belief that Theodore Roosevelt, one of the brightest examples of public devotion in that family and in any family of America, is not now a New Yorker. The idea is absurd.
— Editorial / The Sun, Pages 409 – 410.
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Mr. Roosevelt is not cut out for the Governorship of this State….Whether his residence be technically in Oyster Bay or Washington, and regardless of the time his family has been rooted in our soil, he is not really a New Yorker. He has no understanding of or sympathy with the feelings of the people of this State. He cannot comprehend the spirit of individual independence that prevails in this commonwealth. He is always wanting to discipline somebody, to be a paternal despot, to enforce his ideas of virtue and propriety on the community with a club….One shudders at the thought of the situation if he had a hand in making the laws…
[Editorial — William Randolph Hearst, New York Evening Journal, 9.28.98 / Page 410.]
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On September 27th, Theodore Roosevelt’s name was put into nomination by famed orator Chauncey Depew, who said, “For this year, for this crisis, for the voters of the Empire State, for the young men of the country and the upward, onward and outward trend of the United States, the candidate of candidates is the hero of Santiago, the idol of the Rough Riders — Col. Theodore Roosevelt.”
Then came the man of the hour, the man for whom thousands have been waiting, Elihu Root. With papers to prove that Colonel Roosevelt has never been other than a citizen of New York, he took the platform….he was the lawyer, calm and terse, while handling the documents of evidence. But, before he finished, he became the impassioned orator ….and seconded the nomination of the the Rough Rider.
“The residence that a man has for the purpose of performing public duties in the service of the United States is the sort of residence which does not affect his domicile or legal residence….It is evident that it was not his intention to abandon his home, the state of his birth, home of his father and father’s father …. where he built a home, to which his took his young wife and where his children were born, the State of his nativity, of his ambition and his pride….”
…. The convention went wild; men howled and shouted, and threw up their hats and the women beamed. The motion was put and Colonel Roosevelt became the unanimous nominee of the convention.
[– New York Herald, Commercial Advertiser / Pages 411 – 419 | Illustration, New York Herald.]
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On October 5th, Republican Candidate Roosevelt gave his first campaign speech to an overflow crowd at Carnegie Hall. It was remarked, at the time, that the speech was more fitting for a presidential candidate, as he spoke of national issues, but he did turn the podium into a pulpit when he said,
“In dealing with our citizens, it is always best, where possible, not to treat any one group as a class apart. On most points the interests of the workingman, are simply those of all good American citizens. Yet he has special interests ….Wherever he can be helped, he most certainly should be helped….
Though material prosperity is indispensable yet it cannot, by itself, atone for the lack of that higher and finer moral and spiritual excellence which ultimately counts for more than all else in the true life of a great nation.”
He concluded by saying this about the Rough Riders:
“They were American soldiers, no more and no less. Living, each one strove incessantly to do even more than his duty, scorning to do less, and ashamed to falter or ask for aid; yet always glad to help a brother who, however willing, was weaker. Dying, each one faced with equal courage the fate which, in an instant of time, blots out all the differences that we rear with such infinite labor on this earth. Living and dying, they gave us a lesson in American citizenship, and this lesson which they taught in the war, let us profit by as we live in peace.”
[– Illustration by Carter, Pulitzer’s The World. Report, New York Press, pages 427 – 441.]
The New York Press reported that when he finished his speech, the Rough Riders on stage were in a “broad grin of delight.” Then, the Republican nominee for Governor was “given the heartiest and most vociferous applause ever given a speaker on a New York platform.”
Then Roosevelt began to campaign throughout New York State, with little time left before Election Day.
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The fishermen in Montauk gradually reclaimed Fort Pond Bay, no doubt discussing the changes the late war had brought to Montauk. The village at the station was now a ghost town, with buildings vacated and boarded up. The landscape was pock-marked by campfire pits and electrical poles stood like sentinels that had witnessed the commotion of the great encampment, and the Camp graveyard still had 50+ graves.
The East Hampton Star wrote that, “There is a weird gloominess about the place from which one cannot escape as he walks around and sees the buildings, which a month since were fairly alive with human beings, now boarded up and left as sad reminders of the scenes of pleasure, joy, delight, sadness, sorrow and misery, which were alternately presented there during the existence of Camp Wikoff.”
[— E.S. Boughton, Editor, East Hampton Star, page 448.]
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On November 8th, Theodore Roosevelt was elected governor,
defeating Democratic nominee Augustus Van Wyck.
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An editorial in the New York Tribune stated that “Theodore Roosevelt carries with him into the Executive Office the character which he has borne ever since his fellow citizens began to know him, and that is a character of absolute independence, absolute, fearlessness, and honesty as bright as the sunshine.”
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Sen. Thomas C. Platt expressed his gratitude for his victory in the Commercial Advertiser newspaper:
“Colonel Roosevelt deserves all honor and credit for the victory in the State … besides his strong personality, he possesses remarkable physical resources, which were no small factor in the campaign just ended.
Indeed, I know of no other man who would have been able to conduct the canvass he has made without breaking down before the schedule was completed….he has my heartiest congratulations and best wishes.”
[— New York Tribune, page 451 | Commercial Advertiser, page 453.]
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Treaty of Paris
December 10, 1898
On December 10, 1898, the Treaty of Paris was signed, formally ending the Spanish-American War. The United States gained Puerto Rico and Guam, and also purchased the Philippines for $ 20 million dollars in payment for the infrastructure Spain had built there.
In his memoir, Gen. Pershing questioned the acquisition of the Philippines, a country with a different culture and language and more than 7,000 miles from the United States. While the United States had kept its promise to liberate Cuba, the acquisition of the Philippines and Guam changed America from a nation state — not involved in European or Asian affairs — to an international power with interests on the other side of the globe.
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Asst. Sec. of the Navy > War Hero > Governor, 1898
Theodore Roosevelt’s ‘crowded hour’ was also a crowded year, as he began the year as Assistant Sec. of the Navy, raised and organized a Volunteer Cavalry Regiment, led the charge at San Juan Hill, returned home the National War Hero, been nominated Republican candidate for Governor and won the election. A crowded year, indeed.
And, 1898 was a crowded year for the United States, as well, as it transitioned from a nation state to a global presence.
On February 12th, 1899, the War Commission issued its report on the encampment, concluding that “on the whole, Montauk Point was an ideal place for the isolation of troops who had been exposed to or had yellow fever, and for the recuperation of those greatly debilitated by malarial attacks of marked severity.”
The great encampment was a relatively brief, yet multi-faceted event that, with America’s army returning there, became the focal point of the nation during its two-month existence.
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Camp Wikoff National Military Park Proposal
To honor U.S. troops returning home at Fort Pond Bay, Montauk, as the first veterans of a foreign war fought overseas, I have proposed Camp Wikoff National Military Park, which has the support of West Point.
CWNMP would be America’s tenth military park. It would be an overlay park, comprised of town, county & state parks, with the addition of a Camp Wikoff Memorial Walkway between Montauk Station & Fort Pond Bay, Museum, Monuments and Plaques, with an annual lecture series in April on a variety of topics, including Spanish American War, Roosevelt’s Rough Riders, Quarantine, Camp Wikoff, NYS Politics, Foreign Policy and Cuba.
CWNMP would honor the US Fifth Army Corps as America’s first veterans of a foreign war fought on foreign soil; as well as the American Red Cross and the volunteers who came to aid of the fever-stricken soldiers at Camp Wikoff.
The Veterans of Foreign Wars national organization traces its deepest roots to Camp Wikoff; in fact, was created as a response to conditions at Camp Wikoff.
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For a more detailed proposal, please visit Camp Wikoff, National Military Park Proposal …. link.
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The AAQ website also has the following portfolios on Camp Wikoff:
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*And, for more on BULLY! Colonel Theodore Roosevelt, The Rough Riders & Camp Wikoff,
Montauk Point, New York — 1898 …. link.
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This portfolio developed from a presentation at the Rough Rider Reunion weekend,
sponsored by The Friends of Sagamore Hill, May 31 / June 1st.
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Art & Architecture Quarterly / East End
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Mission: To provide an online, professional source of information devoted to art, architecture & preservation on the East End of Long Island in order to stimulate discussion, while providing a resource, current and archival, for residents and visitors.
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Publisher’s Note:
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© Art & Architecture Quarterly / East End, 2025