Your TR Source
Theodore Roosevelt writes to his son Kermit about his visit to the military training camp at Yaphawk. He was impressed by the men but troubled by their lack of equipment and proper training. Roosevelt blamed the War Department and President Woodrow Wilson. He adds he gave a speech at Princeton on the matter.
1917-11-21
President Roosevelt asks Secretary of War Taft for his opinion on a series of five orders regarding practice marches which he is considering issuing meant to make them “as attractive as possible to the enlisted men.”
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1907-02-05
President Roosevelt updates his son, Archibald B. Roosevelt, about some of the goings-on within the Roosevelt family. He has gone on various excursions with the other Roosevelt children, including bringing Quentin Roosevelt to see him give a flag to the winners of high school competitive military drill, and bringing Ethel Roosevelt to hear him deliver the graduating address at the Cathedral School.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1906-06-07
President Roosevelt agrees with Herman Speck von Sternburg’s positions on mounted infantry. He believes cavalry forces should constitute a larger portion of standing armies and that modern cavalry troops must posses far greater skill than “the old-style cavalryman.”
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1901-11-09
As he prepares to leave Cuba, Herman Speck von Sternburg gives President Roosevelt detail about his visit there and his impressions of things he has seen. Overall, Sternburg says, conditions on the island were better than he expected, and he was very impressed by some of the military training and drills that he saw while he was there. He recommends leaving several departments of the Cuban military and government with strong advisers when the United States eventually ceases to have a provisional government in Cuba.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1908-03-11
As it is a matter of great consequence, Admiral Sims recommends President Roosevelt address the issues of the army’s gunnery methods “in a formal and official manner” and gives suggestions of how to do so.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1907-08-17
Leonard Wood realizes he has not written President Roosevelt in some time, and so updates him on various events in the Philippines. The major disturbances in Samar and Leyte are over, and aside from occasional police work, American troops are not needed to keep the peace. Wood describes the military training over the year, culminating in a Division Meet. Wood is pleased that Roosevelt has issued orders regarding the physical health of field officers, and emphasizes that if Roosevelt could see how officers who are near retirement perform, he would enthusiastically back Wood’s push to base promotions and retirement on the qualifications of individuals. Wood describes his belief that officers are responsible for leading by example, and had hoped that officers could devote more time to their troops and less to administrative work. Wood says more officer training is required in horsemanship.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1907-07-01
Young men undergo training at the Citizens’ Military Training Camp in Plattsburgh, New York. Theodore Roosevelt, Jr., overseeing the training, salutes the camera in a close-up shot.
Sherman Grinberg Film Collection
1926
President Roosevelt tells the crowd in Lexington, Kentucky, that the state has a special relationship to American history as a border state both between north and south, as well as east and west. Kentucky has also contributed more than one would expect to “the leadership of the country in peace and in war.” Roosevelt expounds on three necessary qualities of citizenship: honesty, courage, and common sense. He argues that, just as military tactics and arms change but the soldier’s spirit remains constant, so too must good citizenship continue even as laws or the Constitution must adapt.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1902-09-06
Hermann Speck von Sternburg reviews the uses, training, and equipment of mounted infantry.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1901-10-05