Theodore Roosevelt & NYS Politics / 1898
———— July thru August 31, 1898 ————
Roosevelt began 1898 as Assistant Secretary of the Navy, appointed by President McKinley on April 16, 1897. He resigned on May 10, 1898 to raise, organize, and train the First Volunteer Cavalry — a regiment offered to him by Secretary of War Alger — to be commanded, at Roosevelt’s suggestion, by his friend, physician & Medal of Honor winner, Leonard Wood.
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Frontispiece, BULLY! Colonel Theodore Roosevelt, The Rough Riders, Montauk, New York — 1898 / A Newspaper Chronicle
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——— July 4, 1898 ———
DASHING BRAVERY OF THE ROUGH RIDERS
With the American Army, San Juan, Cuba….
…. 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 the range of the rifle pits, then only two hundred yards ahead.
It looked like foolhardiness, but, as a matter of fact, he set the pace with his horse and inspired the men to follow….
…. This regiment, when it was first organized was criticized and ridiculed. It was compared to the regiments of Bowery boys and volunteer firemen who ran away at Bull Run. But the difference lay in the fact that the personnel of the men in this regiment is somewhat higher than that of the men who rob drunken sailors and administer knockout drops to the countrymen who go sightseeing in the Bowery….
— Front Page / New York Herald / July 4, 1898 / pages 520 – 521
— War Correspondent Richard Harding Davis, who was at San Juan Hill on July 1st and witnessed the charge led by Lt-Col. Roosevelt up San Juan Hill, driving the Spanish from their fortified blockhouse, winning a major battle in Gen. Shafter’s Fifth Army Corps’ ground campaign in Cuba.
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——— July 24, 1898 ———
No Governorship for Col. Roosevelt
“This talk that has been started about Roosevelt makes excellent midsummer reading, when the political situation is dull….but this idea of nominating Roosevelt being taken in a serious way is amusing. The delegates to the state convention have been elected. They … are pledged to the support of Governor Black….I know that Senator Platt is not opposed to the renomination of Black….But even though he should change his mind, I know he would not favor the nomination of Roosevelt….
Why, the chief objection of Platt to Black has been his independence …. Now, 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 suggestion. He has showed this in evey position he has held….You may be quite certain that Roosevelt will not be named….
— NYC Republican leader who “stands close to Senator Platt” / Brooklyn Daily Eagle / Opposite page 1.
Editor’s Note: Senator Thomas C. Platt was a U.S. Senator from New York, elected in 1881. A machine politician known as the “Easy Boss, he used political patronage to control Republican politics
in New York State.
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——— July 31, 1898 ———
Santiago de Cuba / Letter to Senator Henry Cabot Lodge of Massachusetts
Dear Cabot …. The good people of New York at present seem to be crazy over me; it is not very long since on the whole they felt I compared unfavorably with Caligula….in any event I don’t know how to get on with New York politicians ….
Faithfully yours,
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ROUND ROBIN
——— August 4, 1898 ———
ARMY WILL DIE LIKE SHEEP
Major-General Shafter:
…. 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
— Front Page / New York Evening Journal / pages 13 – 14
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Editor: Roosevelt’s letter accompanied the “Petition to Gen. Shafter,” signed by eight officers, which became known as the “Round Robin.”
For an account of the camp meeting that resulted in the Petition, see pages 196 – 200 / Hearst’s New York Journal.
Note that Gen. Bates was reported to have said, “If I were you, General Shafter, I would absolutely ignore those orders from Washington. I would put those men on transports and send them back to the United States. Than I’d let those people at Washington deal with us afterward.”
— Hearst’s New York Journal / page 198
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——— August 5, 1898 ———
INDIGNATION OVER OFFICER’S PROTEST
Washington, D.C., August 5 — There was marked indignation to-day in administration circles over the protest from Colonel Roosevelt and the officers at Santiago …. The round robin was earnestly discussed…and a cable of censure was sent to General Shafter.
General Shafter replied, and as a result Secretary Alger stated to-night that he was now satisfied that General Shafter did not authorize the publication of the statement. The prevailing sentiment of the administration is to put the blame for the most part upon Colonel Roosevelt ….
It is realized that such publication could bring nothing but harm to the interests of the army, which is thus published to its enemies as being physically unfit for the field. The incident formed the basis of the Cabinet meeting to-day, during which both court martial and reprimand were discussed….
— New York Herald / pages 20 – 21
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Roosevelt’s letter was a separate document from the Petition — both documents were ‘given’ to the Associated Press and published before being received by Secretary of War Alger. The public was celebrating the quick & decisive victory over Spain at Santiago de Cuba, unaware of the tropical diseases devastating the troops. Publication of the Round Robin and Roosevelt’s letter created an uproar, with anger directed at Sec. of War Alger for not having ordered the troops home sooner.
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Secretary of War Alger’s Rebuke of Colonel Roosevelt
In response to Roosevelt’s unprecedented protest, Sec. of War rebuked Roosevelt by publishing a letter he had received on July 23rd from Roosevelt, in which Roosevelt claimed that “the Rough Riders are as good as any regulars and three times as good as any State troops.” Release of a private letter by Alger was regarded as “a breach of confidence [with] no precedent for such a thing in the whole history of the Department” (editorial, Commercial Advertiser).
— Portrait of Secretary of War Russell A. Alger / Boston Globe / page 17
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——— August 5, 1898 ———
ROOSEVELT’S CHANCE KILLED
….. When one of Platt’s lieutenants was asked, “What do you think the effect of Roosevelt’s letter will be upon his possible candidacy for the gubernatorial nomination,” replied, “Why, it kills him off sure. Did you ever see greater luck than Platt plays in? Why, he encouraged this Roosevelt talk a little and, before he knew it, it was far beyond his control….But now the situation is different….If Roosevelt were [nominated], the militia would be against him because his reflection upon their ability in comparison with that of the Rough Riders would be resented.
“Mind, I like him well. He is a frank, open, courageous man who has opinions of his own on subjects and is as fearless in his utterances as he is running down a Spanish army. But in politics indiscreet speech is bad. A man builds up a life record and does it at much toil and perseverance. Then with a single word he destroys it all. So it seems to be with Roosevelt….”
— Brooklyn Daily Eagle / pages 23 – 24
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——— August 6, 1898 ———
No Occasion For Alarm
Col. Roosevelt has rendered such gallant and efficient service in Cuba, and is now so conspicuously in the public eye that any mistake of his assumes unusual and perhaps extravagant importance. He is so earnest, so virile, and, withal, so potent, he attracts to himself far more attention than would be bestowed upon another man …..
Had any one save Col. Roosevelt written that letter to the Secretary of War … he would have been dismissed with contemptuous amiability as a harmless crank…. But with Col. Roosevelt in the equation one could hardly have expected a halcyon result. One needed only to consult the lessons of the past in order to prepare himself for the Roosevelt recrudescence which has occurred. He has hitherto missed very few opportunities of mischief and embarrassment.
Secretary Alger has replied to Col. Roosevelt’s purely personal letter with conclusive dignity, and the so-called “round robin” will hardly be remembered three days hence. The people have confidence that the government is acting with all possible energy and wisdom… There is not the slightest occasion for alarm over the situation at Santiago….The country will be wise to contemplate Col. Roosevelt only in his character as a gallant and impetuous soldier.
— Washington Post / pages 28 – 29
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——— August 6, 1898 ———
Alger And Roosevelt
Editorial — To Colonel Roosevelt of the “Rough Riders” belongs the credit of the movement which the War Department has finally undertaken of transporting the soldiers…to points in the United States where they may regain their strength…The extraordinary character of Colonel Roosevelt’s letter … was simply an evidence of the unusual cause which prompted it….His complaint to the Secretary of War was impelled by conditions of distress among the soldiers which he knew were unnecessary and which he was determined, as a patriotic American, that the Government should remedy. He wrote under peculiar stress, and his letter has had the effect of amending the awful evil which it pointed out.
The invidious comparison which Col. Roosevelt is accused of making between the “Rough Riders” and the National Guard narrows itself down to a contrast between the effective arms provided by Col. Roosevelt for his men and the “black powder Springfields and other archaic weapons” with which the War Department furnished the other volunteers….The facts in the case support the attitude of the gallant and humane colonel of the “Rough Riders,” and in a tilt with the pen Theodore Roosevelt will demonstrate as great a degree of superiority over Secretary of War Alger as he has in his talent for war and military management.
— Kansas City Star / pages 29 – 30
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——— August 11, 1898 ———
The Man for the Hour
Editorial — The reported announcement in the daily papers of Col. Theodore Roosevelt’s determination not to leave his regiment under any consideration is another evidence of the true worth of the man. With the almost certain chance of securing a nomination and election to the governorship of New York State dangling before his eyes, this conscientious soldier says, I will not leave my regiment or forgo my duty to my country for any purpose whatever. It is this same spirit which caused him to rush his regimen into the thickest of the battle…It was this same spirit which caused him to fearlessly do his duty when Police Commissioner of New York City….His fearlessness in exercising his duties as Civil Service Commissioner, exposing official corruption and …. his refusal to hush the matter up in spite of the fact that very high officials were involved and that strong pressure was brought to bear to induce him to give up his attacks, won for him great respect among the honest men of the country.
It is a widespread belief in the sincerity and honesty of the man, in his firm devotion to duty, that causes such a general demand to go up from all parts of the state for his nomination….
— Charles E. Shepard, Editor, The Long-Islander / page 45
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——— August 16, 1898 ———
ROOSEVELT AND WHEELER ASHORE
Camp Wikoff, August 15 …. As Colonel Roosevelt made his way through the throng behind the line of pickets, hands were thrust forward to greet him, and men fairly fought for the honor of grasping his hand….
“Will you be our next Governor?” shouted half a dozen men in a breath, at which the Colonel threw up his hands with a gesture of vehement deprecation and exclaimed, “None of that. I won’t say a word about myself. All I’ll talk abut is the regiment. It’s the finest regiment that ever was, and I’m proud to command it.”
—- New York Herald / page 63
Editor’s note: General Joseph Wheeler, major general of the volunteers, graduated from West Point in 1859. He fought for the Confederacy in the Civil War. At the time of his appointment, he was United States Representative from Alabama, having served fourteen years in that office. He rose to the rank of General in the United States Army and came to personify the re-unification of the country following the Civil War.
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——— August 16, 1898 ———
The Rough Riders
Editorial …. The Rough Riders have acquired fame in a shorter period than any similar regiment ever acquired it. No doubt at no very distant date the regiment will be mustered out, and the Rough Riders will be citizens again. Their term of service will not be forgotten. They will have left an example behind them that will make many heroes in future emergencies. As for their colonel, whatever civic honor and usefulness may be in store for him, his heroic and gallant service under his country’s flag in war is one thing that will never be forgotten…
— Commercial Advertiser / pages 75 – 76
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——— August 17, 1898 ———
Gen. Wheeler Praises Col. Roosevelt
…. Everywhere he talked of Roosevelt–his courage, his unselfishness, his devotion to his men and his unswerving loyalty to the American cause….
“I had a good chance of observing Roosevelt during the week we were at sea from another point of view than that offered by the camp. He is a charming fellow. The thing that impressed me most about him is absolute integrity. Some men have integrity about money, others about their personal conduct. Roosevelt has both; and, more than either, the official integrity that makes him the rare man he is.
“The people of New York want him for their Governor. That is entirely creditable to them. The people of the United States will want him to govern them next, and they will have him for their President. I told him so on the ship and he laughed a good deal….”
— Pulitzer’s The World / pages 79 – 80
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——— August 17, 1898 ———
Ten thousand Roosevelt buttons … will be placed in circulation by the Colonel’s friends to-morrow. These sure evidences of a gubernatorial candidacy, I was told by the “button man” last night, were ordered yesterday by one of Colonel Roosevelt’s closest personal friends.
— New York Herald / page 82
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— page 85
Note: Lemuel Ely Quigg, a friend of Roosevelt, was a U.S. Representative from New York and Chairman of the New York County Republican Committee.
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——— August 19, 1898 ———
Third House, Montauk Point
Col. Roosevelt and his wife, Edith, stayed at Third House on August 18th & 19th,
leaving for Sagamore Hill, Oyster Bay, on August 20th.
— New York Harold / August 16, 1898 / page 91
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——— August 19, 1898 ———
Typical Rough Riders
Colonel Roosevelt
…. Col. Roosevelt is a typical Rough Rider in lingo and looks. He is the concentrated essence of local color….His cheeks are as brown as Egyptian parchment and his eye has the wildness of the Wyoming plains. There is a loose swagger in Col. Roosevelt’s gait, a reckless dash in his mount, a strange indifference to fate which seems to tell that he has imbibed all the picturesque elements of the cowboy spirit as well as the fatalistic theory of the grim-visaged warrior ….
“Colonel Roosevelt,” said Private de Zychlinski, “is fairly worshipped by the boys. It’s funny to hear some of them talk about his race for Governor. All of them want him to go ahead and run. Some of the boys say that if he isn’t nominated they’ll ride into New York and wipe it off the map.The have an idea that it’s like Butte or some of the ranch towns which they can do up in a single night….”
— Brooklyn Daily Eagle / pages 92 – 94
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——— August 20, 1898 ———
Platt’s Emissary Visits Roosevelt
What amounted to a formal tender of Senator Platt’s support took place yesterday when Lemuel E. Quigg…Senator Platt’s personal representative, went to Montauk Point to confer with Colonel Roosevelt about the nomination ….
Colonel Roosevelt’s friends make no secret of the fact that he long has cherished the ambition to become Governor of New York. Despite his severe breaks with the organization of which Senator Platt is the acknowledged head, Colonel Roosevelt always has retained his membership in the organization, and, in most instances, has given the party leaders his support.
Republican Governor Frank S. Black Seeks Renomination
Many party leaders from various sections of the State came to the city last night, and a formidable delegation of Black’s adherents, marshalled by Louis F. Payn, was on hand….The statement was made that Governor Black had not only decided to seek renomination, but that his friends would make a fight at the Convention in Saratoga, September 27th, if his desire for a renomination should be opposed by party leaders.
— New York Herald, August 20, 1898 / page 99
— Illustration, New York Press / page 406
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——— August 20, 1898 ———
Col. Roosevelt lifts his daughter Ethel, age 7, as his daughter, Alice, age 14, with brothers Theodore, age 11, and Kermit, age 9, and the family dogs celebrate his return home.
— Illustration / The World / page 100
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Sagamore Hill, Oyster Bay
— “Roosevelt’s Summer Home” / Report & Illustration, Brooklyn Daily Eagle / pages 331 – 334
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——— August 21, 1898 ———
Platt and Roosevelt
Editorial / Evening Post …. Why should not the boss take Roosevelt? As Platt asks himself in his letter to the Sun:
“Has not his varied experience in public affairs developed in him equipoise and deliberate judgment necessary to properly fulfill the duties of governorship? Is it not plain that the public mind is greatly interested in this man? Is it not plain that he holds the respect of Republicans of all shade of opinions? Is it not likely that his brilliant work in recent days has attracted to him the interest and sympathy of thousands of patriotic Democrats throughout the length and breadth of this land; this state in particular?”
— Evening Post / August 21, 1898 / page 104
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——— August 21, 1898 ———
To The Editor of The New York Times:
…. Truly the career of Theodore Roosevelt is an object lesson to our young men. It should teach them that there is a higher and nobler ideal than the acquisition of fortune, and that service to one’s country is the first duty of patriotic citizenship….
—- T. St. John Gaffney
— New York Times / pages 106 – 108
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——— August 23, 1898 ———
Mr. Platt Is Thinking Hard Of A Candidate To Fill This Coat.
— New York Evening Journal / page 110
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——— August 23, 1898 ———
“Calculated Imprudence”
Roosevelt Letter to Charles William Eliot, President of Harvard
My Dear President Eliot,
Just a line about the Alger incident. My letter to him was written in what I might call a spirit of calculated imprudence….I have several times written to him on similar subjects, knowing I was taking risks, but, knowing also that they had to be taken and that I was the only man who would take them….
Very truly yours,
Roosevelt Letter to Charles William Eliot, President of Harvard / page 111
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——— August 25, 1898 ———
Roosevelt Frightens Democrats
…. Democrats representing thirty-eight of the sixty counties gathered at the Hoffman House to report to the Democratic Campaign Committee…
The principal topic of conversation among these representatives … was the Roosevelt boom….. Men from all parts of the State expressed fear of the probability that the Santiago hero would head the Republican ticket.
Even such a thorough Tammany man as Assemblyman James Oliver said the Democrats feared Col. Roosevelt more than any other man the Republicans could put in the field.
“Theodore Roosevelt,” he said, “is a grand, glorious and lovable man. No one ever had the interests of the Police Department of this city at heart more than he did. He would be the hardest man for us to beat.”
Then, after a pause, Mr. Oliver concluded, “but we could beat him.”
— New York Times / page 122
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——— August 26, 1898 ———
A Mass Meeting of the Republican Party Discussing
The Advisability of Nominating “Teddy” Roosevelt For Governor
— The World / page 131
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——— August 27, 1898 ———
Roosevelt, the Logical Candidate
Editorial …. The man is being measured now by his civil record and to his manifest advantage. His career as a fearless and just member of the national Civil Service Commission, his efficiency and integrity as President of the New York Police Board and his every ability as Assistant Secretary of the Navy all show him to be a man well fitted for civil as well as military affairs and to be just the man needed for us at this time ….
The need of an honest, unselfish, strong, firm and independent man at the head of the affairs of this state is so fully recognized by the men of both parties that thousands of Democrats have declared that they will vote for Roosevelt should he be nominated….
— Charles E. Shepard, Editor, The Long-Islander / pages 140 – 141
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——— August 30, 1898 ———
Letter to Congressman Lemuel Ely Quigg of New York.
“No Uneasiness”
Dear Mr. Quigg:
…. You need. have no uneasiness about my being frightened. If the organization wants me to go before the convention, I will do it, without any regard as to whether or not Gov. Black puts up a fight….
Letter sent from Montauk / page 178
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——— September 1, 1898 ———
Amusing Dog-Day Politics
Editorial — New Yorkers are indebted to Gov. Black and Senator Platt for a most welcome mitigation of the discomfort incident to the dog-days. At the very period of the year when the weather makes life a burden and the preservation of an equable temper an apparently hopeless task, the boss of the Republican machine and the would-be boss of a new machine are engaged in a struggle, which is so full of humorous features that the daily reports of its progress divert the reader’s mind from heat and humidity and restore his good nature….
Gov. Black is the creation of machine politics. He owed his nomination and consequent election to Congress in 1894 to Lou Payn, who represented the machine in his district; he owed promotion to the governorship in 1896 to the same forces. He has always been not only a defender but a champion of machine methods in politics….
The Platt machine wanted to get rid of Black….Notice was accordingly served, but to the equal dismay and disgust of the machine, the Governor refused to get out. He announced that he was entitled to a renomination, and proposed to have it ….
The situation would be amusing enough if no other personality entered into it than Platt and Black. But there is a third, and one far more interesting than either of them. The irrepressible Roosevelt is back from the wars, covered with glory, and ready for a new job, as his “Rough Riders” are to be mustered out of service….Roosevelt is not the sort of man whom the machine picks out as its first choice; what Platt always wants is an official whom he can “do business with”….
The Roosevelt boom was worth encouraging with a view to killing off Black. If it could be arrested soon enough to slip in a “compromise candidate” between the two, so much the better. The policy for the adherents of the machine, therefore, is to encourage the Roosevelt movement, but, if possible, not let it get beyond control ….
— Evening Post / pages 202 – 203
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——— September 1, 1898 ———
“The Slightest Knack”
My Dear Mr. Secy.,
…. 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 will be there; but I think this winter will have to be spent at Sagamore Hill….
Very Faithfully Yours,
Letter to John Hay, Secretary of State / September 1, 1898, Montauk / page 207
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To be continued ….
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Visit: Roosevelt’s Rough Riders, June – August, 1898 / Excerpts from BULLY!
Visit: Roosevelt’s Rough Riders: September – November, 1898 / Excerpts from BULLY!
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Available on Amazon.
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