Assistant Secretary Roosevelt enjoyed Captain Cowles’s letters and will try to get an “automatic gun and small arms” from the ordnance department so Cowles can properly face “Baptist filibusters.” Roosevelt is enjoying his work and believes he is accomplishing a great deal at the Navy Department. He requests Cowles’s help in determining when an unnamed admiral will be at Hampton Roads. In a subsequent handwritten note, Cowles provides Anna Roosevelt Cowles with information on his travel schedule.

Collection

Harvard College Library

Creation Date

1897-08-18

Creator(s)

Roosevelt, Theodore, 1858-1919

Recipient

Cowles, Wm. S. (William Sheffield), 1846-1923

Language

English

Period

Assistant Secretary of the Navy (April 1897-April 1898)

Repository

Harvard College Library

Page Count

3

Production Method

Typed

Record Type

Multi-image

Resource Type

Letter

Rights

Electronic copy sponsored by the Theodore Roosevelt Center at Dickinson State University. For reproduction or publication permission, contact the Theodore Roosevelt Collection, Houghton Library. See the Theodore Roosevelt Digital Library Terms of Use for further copyright information.

Citation

Cite this Record

Chicago:

Letter from Theodore Roosevelt to William S. Cowles. [August 18, 1897]. Harvard College Library.
https://www.theodorerooseveltcenter.org/digital-library/o286158. Theodore Roosevelt Digital Library. Dickinson State University.

MLA:

Roosevelt, Theodore, 1858-1919. Letter from Theodore Roosevelt to William S. Cowles. [18 Aug. 1897]. Multi-image.
Harvard College Library. Theodore Roosevelt Digital Library. Dickinson State University. January 29, 2026. https://www.theodorerooseveltcenter.org/digital-library/o286158.

APA:

Roosevelt, Theodore, 1858-1919., [1897, August 18]. Letter from Theodore Roosevelt to William S. Cowles.
Harvard College Library. Theodore Roosevelt Digital Library. Dickinson State University.
Retrieved from https://www.theodorerooseveltcenter.org/digital-library/o286158.

Cite this Collection

Chicago:

Harvard College Library. https://www.theodorerooseveltcenter.org/collection/harvard-college-library. Theodore Roosevelt Digital Library. Dickinson State University.

MLA:

Harvard College Library. Theodore Roosevelt Digital Library. Dickinson State University. January 29, 2026. https://www.theodorerooseveltcenter.org/collection/harvard-college-library.

APA:

Harvard College Library. Theodore Roosevelt Digital Library. Dickinson State University. Retrieved from https://www.theodorerooseveltcenter.org/collection/harvard-college-library.