MEDAL OF HONOR
AWARDED POSTHUMOUSLY TO COLONEL THEODORE ROOSEVELT
JANUARY 16, 2001
by President Clinton
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Medal of Honor Citation
“For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty.
Lieutenant Colonel Theodore Roosevelt distinguishing himself by acts of bravery on 1 July 1898, near Santiago de Cuba, Republic of Cuba, while leading a daring charge up San Juan Hill….encouraging his troops to continue the assault through withering enemy fire over open countryside….His leadership and valor turned the tide in the Battle of San Juan Hill.
Lieutenant Colonel Roosevelt’s extraordinary heroism and devotion to duty are in keeping with the highest traditions of military service and reflect great credit upon himself, his unit, and the United States Army.“
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—- July 1, 1898 —-
Dashing Bravery of the Rough Riders
Their Splendid Charge Inspired the Army
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ROOSEVELT’S GALLANT CHARGE
….Roosevelt rode up ahead of his men toward the blockhouse on the hill….
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….
— Richard Harding Davis, who witnessed the Charge | New York Herald / July 4th, 1898 / pages 520 – 521
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Account of the Charge at San Juan Hill
by Lieut. John J. ‘Black Jack’ Pershing, of the Tenth Cavalry / ‘Buffalo Soldiers’
The fire from the Spanish position had doubled in intensity–the cracking of their rifles was a continuous roar. There was a moment’s lull and line moved forward to the charge across the valley….Once begun it continued dauntless and unchecked in its steady, dogged, persistent advance until, like a mighty resistless torrent, it dashed triumphant over the crest of the hill and, firing a parting volley at the vanishing foe, planted the silken standards on the enemy’s breastworks and the Stars and Stripes over the blockhouse on San Juan Hill to stay….
….Only American valor could have done it.
— from Under Fire with the Tenth U.S. Cavalry, 1899
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—– July 31, 1898 —–
Medal of Honor
Roosevelt’s Letter to Senator Henry Cabot Lodge, Santiago de Cuba.
Dear Cabot,
…. I do wish you would get that medal of honor for me…as I should awfully like the children to have it, and I think I earned it…
Faithfully yours,
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— Note: Gen. William Shafter had received an order from Sec. of War Alger and Surgeon-General Sternberg — the ‘theorists’ at the capital — to “move the camp two miles every day. Each day the old camp was to be destroyed by fire, and the new camp ground was to be fired before the camp was made. The sick on each day were to be isolated and left behind…Burning and isolating, burning and isolating, until the time should come when there should be no more sick.”
Gen. Shafter’s Fifth Army Corps numbered 22,000 troops, half of which suffered from malaria, typhoid, yellow fever, dysentery and malnutrition (starvation) — “few of the men were able to walk a mile, much less carry a gun, and still less to move their baggage….”[see ‘Army Beef Scandal, pages 526 – 529].
Just as the meeting was held, down came another order from Alger. The scheme for breaking camp each day, burning and isolating, had been abandoned.
The new order was to transfer the entire army to “San Luis, twenty-five or thirty miles away on the line of the railroad.” And the officers knew that “the railroad, if in repair, would have enabled [the army] to move 400 or 500 men a day….on that little, narrow-gauge railroad, with its cars ten or twelve feet long….” [pages 196 – 200]
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—– August 4, 1898 —–
“ARMY WILL DIE LIKE ROTTEN SHEEP”
Major-General Shafter:
Sir — In a meeting of the general and medical officers called by you at the Palace this morning, we were all, as you know, unanimous in view of what should be done with the army. To keep us here, in the opinion of every officer commanding a division or a brigade, will simply involve the destruction of thousands. There is no possible reason for not shipping practically the entire command North at once….
….the whole command is so weakened and shattered as to be ripe for dying like rotten sheep when a real yellow fever epidemic…strikes us, as it is bound to if we stay here at the height of the sickness season, August and the beginning of September….
All of us are certain, as soon as the authorities at Washington fully appreciate the conditions of the army, to be sent home….
I write only because I cannot see our men, who have fought so bravely, and who have endured extreme hardship and danger so uncomplainingly, go to destruction without striving, so far as lies in me, to avert a doom as fearful as it is unnecessary and undeserved.
Yours respectfully
Colonel Commanding
Second Cavalry Brigade
— Note: Published on the Front Page of William Randolph Hearst’s New York Evening Journal. Roosevelt’s letter accompanied the “Petition to Gen. Shafter,” which became known as the “Round Robin.”
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Signatures on the Round Robin document:
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— Note: The Round Robin, with Roosevelt’s letter, was published nationally before being received in Washington, inciting the ire of Secretary of War Russell B. Alger, who blamed Roosevelt for situation. It should be noted, however, that it was Hearst’s decision to publish Roosevelt’s Letter on the Front Page, as well as the Petition in following pages.
How the documents got into the hands of the Associated Press, however, is not clear. One report stated that Gen. Shafter had them in hand when meeting with staff and an AP reporter and that his armed was “pushed’ toward the AP reporter, who took the documents, sending them, via telegraph, to Hearst’s New York Journal in New York City.
It should also be noted, according to a report (pages 196 – 200) about the meeting of officers that morning, that Gen. Bates had said,
“If I were you, General Shafter, I would absolutely ignore those orders from Washington,” declared General Bates, emphatically. “I would put those men on transports and send them back to the United States. Then I’d let those men at Washington deal with us afterward.”
Roosevelt added, “I hope you’ll telegraph those men at Washington that any one who keeps our troops here is guilty of murder.”
Then Roosevelt asked General Shafter if he would not like to have the opinions of his officers in writing, and this resulted in the so-called Round Robin.
— Note: Roosevelt’s appeal was a separate document.
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Note: Roosevelt’s letter, as well as the Round Robin, about the physical conditions of Gen. Shafter’s Fifth Army Corps outside of Santiago de Cuba, came as a shock to a country celebrating the swift and decisive military victory over Spain, which had ended an empire of 400 years.
The general public blamed Sec. of War Alger for the situation, and Alger blamed Roosevelt — a court-marshal was considered (pages 20 -21). Alger also released a personal letter from Roosevelt (page 18) — written to him on July 23rd, stating that “the Rough Riders…are as good as any regulars and three times as good as any State troops” in an apparent effort to derail Roosevelt’s political career. Artist Frederic Remington, among others, came to Roosevelt’s defense (pages 27 – 28).
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— January 7, 1899 —
Col. Roosevelt’s Reward
Reported that Alger Will Deprive Him of a Medal of Honor
Albany — Gov. Roosevelt declined this morning to discuss the report from Washington that the Schwan Board, which is engaged in making recommendations for the distribution of Medals of Honor for heroism in the war with Spain will refuse to award a medal to him…The Governor is convinced that influences hostile to him are at work in Washington to prevent him from receiving the recognition that would otherwise come to him, and that the failure to award him a medal of honor will be Secretary Alger’s revenge for his part in the “Round Robin” at Santiago.
— New York Times / page 524
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— Note: Theodore Roosevelt’s eldest son, Theodore, was posthumously awarded a Medal of Honor on September 28th, 1944. So, neither father nor son were aware of the honors bestowed in recognition of their actions during the Spanish-American War and World War II, respectively.
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Illustrations
— TOP / Boston Globe, June 6, 1898
— MIDDLE / The Traveler (Southold, NY) opposite page one / BULLY!
— BOTTOM / Masthead, Chicago Tribune
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An Exclusive Portfolio
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Visit: Camp Wikoff, National Military Park Proposal / 2008 … link
And, the AAQ website for multiple portfolios on Col. Roosevelt, the Rough Riders and Camp Wikoff.
www.aaqeastend.com
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“A gold mine of information”
Dr. John Gable, Executive Director of the Theodore Roosevelt Association, 1998.
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Second Edition published by Montauk Historical Society & East End Press
with a Grant from the Gardiner Foundation, 2023.
Available on Amazon and at Barnes & Noble.
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