Your TR Source
President Roosevelt explains that the way he has been attacked for the dismissal of the soldiers in the Brownsville affair has nothing to do with the dismissal at all, but rather his policies towards corporations.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1906-12-26
Twelve officers of color are listed, including names, ranks, titles, and dates of appointment. The list includes individuals from the 9th Calvary, 10th Calvary, 24th Infantry, 25th Infantry, and Philippine Scouts.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1907-01-21
Kermit Roosevelt tells President Roosevelt what he is reading and how the weather has been recently. He asks whether the Ute braves finally came to Roosevelt and if Roosevelt has sent the “Tartar tribe” back to Utah. Roosevelt mentions that he requested papers regarding the “Brownsville discharge affair” from William Loeb, as Barclay is debating on it and he has been working hard with him, although he belongs to the opposite camp. He asks if President Roosevelt thinks he will get “those two big battleships of the dreadnought class” that he has asked for.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1907-01-20
A list of all men of color appointed to or continued in office by President Roosevelt, complete with the office and date.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1907-01
William H. Fleming believes that Senator Benjamin R. Tillman’s attack on President Roosevelt was only representative of Tillman’s own beliefs. The Brownsville matter should show Southern whites that Roosevelt is willing “to do justice to them,” while at the same time not having prejudice against African Americans. Senator Tillman predicts an impending race war, but Fleming does not believe this will happen, although it is good that there are not more senators as outspoken as Tillman.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1907-01-16
The Macon Telegraph describes Senator Benjamin R. Tillman’s inconsistent reactions to President Theodore Roosevelt’s views on race relations.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1907-01-14
This article describes an incident between an African American soldier and a white woman. The article expresses some surprise that more of these sorts of incidents have not happened and blames Senator Joseph Benson Foraker for denouncing President Roosevelt’s handling of the Brownsville incident, wherein African-American soldiers were rumored to have opened fire on citizens.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1906-12-31
President Roosevelt looks off into the distance as he ponders what is written on a piece of paper: “Discharge of Negro soldiers without honor.” Just above the cartoon are verses from the book of Daniel and the directive to “hold this page up to the light and look through the blank space.” Caption: The warning.
A Virginia newspaper reprinted this cartoon by Eugene Zimmerman (“Zim”) in Judge Magazine about President Roosevelt’s dilemma following his dismissal of black troops in the “Brownsville Affair.” Judge was a Republican weekly political-cartoon journal, the counterpart of Puck, and was established by former Puck cartoonists.
Senator Joseph Benson Foraker, depicted as Marc Antony, gestures to a group of African American men looking down at one man on a pole stretcher covered with a blanket labeled “Brownsville Battalion” with the number 23 on the side. Caption: Antony: “If you have votes, prepare to shed them now.”
The New Orleans Times-Democrat was one of the South’s newspapers that beat the editorial drum loudest against the cashiered soldiers in the Brownsville Affair. While the shooting death and wounding of two men outside a saloon near Black Army barracks was — and still is — an unsolved matter, cartoonists like Trist Wood were judges and juries all by themselves.
In this cartoon the blacks are portrayed stereotypically, even to a straight razor supposedly favored in internal squabbles, and the Republican (and longtime, preternatural anti-Roosevelt partisan) Senator Joseph Benson Foraker of Ohio haranguing them. Oddly — since black votes carried little weight at the time — his motives are cast as electoral pandering.
General Frederick Dent Grant and General Andrew Sheridan Burt (commander) returning from Mount Arayat, at the head of the famous 25th Infantry, colored. Filmed March 23, 1900, in the Philippine Islands, following the 25th Infantry’s participation at the battle of Mt. Arayat in January 1900.
Library of Congress Motion Picture, Broadcasting and Recorded Sound
1900
Theodore Roosevelt sympathizes with the concerns of Nancy Michie Wayland and answers that his regiment has not been raised and there is no immediate likelihood of it being raised. Wayland was likely asking for her son, James Patrick Wayland, who was a soldier.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1915-03-05
President Roosevelt has received Secretary of War Wright’s letter and Mr. Brown’s report on the Brownsville Affair. Roosevelt concurs with Wright that this report does not need to be sent to Congress. Roosevelt observes that the report uses the testimony of “the colored men themselves” to establish that it was “colored soldiers” who were responsible for the shootings. In particular, the report’s findings make it clear to Roosevelt that Mingo Sanders should not be reinstated. This material will be made available to the board making decisions about reinstatement if the Senate legislation on the matter passes, and to the president if the board approves any reinstatements.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1909-02-07
President Roosevelt has forwarded Senator Borah’s letter to Secretary of War Luke E. Wright. However, Roosevelt reminds Borah that his previous messages about the “Brownsville matter” have always advocated for giving the president the power to reenlist these soldiers. Roosevelt encloses a copy of his most recent letter to Senator Nelson W. Aldrich.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1909-02-03
The objection to the Brownsville Affair bill that President Roosevelt discussed with Senator Borah this morning is no longer a concern. Roosevelt consulted Secretary of War Luke E. Wright, who asserted that the bill will not compel the president to reinstate any soldiers.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1909-02-02
President Roosevelt has seen Secretary of War Luke E. Wright since he wrote to Senator Aldrich this morning. Wright is of the opinion that the Brownsville Affair bill would not require the president to allow the reenlistment of eligible men. Roosevelt is relieved, but wants this interpretation to be explicitly outlined in the bill for future reference. He is sure that future presidents will listen to the board, but he does not want his successors to be “compelled” to act on their recommendations.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1909-02-02
A notable lawyer’s interpretation of the current version of the Brownsville Affair bill compounds the dissatisfaction with the bill’s wording that President Roosevelt has already articulated to Senator Aldrich. Roosevelt worries that the bill will compel the reenlistment of any man found innocent by the board of officers, a measure that he strongly opposes.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1909-02-02
President Roosevelt sends Lyman Abbott letters he wrote to various Senators about the Brownsville incident and a matter concerning Colonel William F. Stewart. Roosevelt asserts his executive authority as President to make determinations about the dismissal and stationing of soldiers, citing past precedents. He also provides his rationale for dismissing the Brownsville soldiers and for refusing to grant Stewart a court of inquiry.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1908-05-10
President Roosevelt updates Ernest Hamlin Abbott on some of the government actions surrounding investigations into the Brownsville incident. Roosevelt will refuse to sign the Foraker bill, and says that he had already begun his own investigations to see if any of the Brownsville soldiers could be reinstated when Foraker began his investigations in the Senate, necessitating the cessation of Roosevelt’s investigation. From what he was able to find, Roosevelt thinks there are likely five or six men who he can reinstate, and will ask Congress to pass a bill allowing this.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1908-03-12
President Roosevelt outlines his thoughts regarding relations with “decent colored men” in the wake of the Brownsville Affair. Roosevelt asks Senator Hemenway for his views about different strategies to perhaps restore some of the men involved in the case, or use a new “battalion of negroes” to repair relations.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1907-06-17
President Roosevelt tells Caspar Whitney that he will read all of the articles Whitney has sent him, and that he “won’t be shaken” from his current views on the “Twenty-fifth infantry”–the African American soldiers blamed for the recent riot at Brownsville, Texas–unless new facts come to his attention. Roosevelt also appreciates Whitney’s thoughts on journalist Poultney Bigelow
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1906-12-05