Your TR Source
President Roosevelt responds to allegations that diminished his role in the Battle of San Juan Hill. For clarification, Roosevelt offers Fleming a copy of The Rough Riders and cites accounts written by other officers on the scene.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1904-08-18
President Roosevelt informs Major Ayres that General Henry V. Boynton says no one in the Adjutant General’s Office spoke to him about the Medal of Honor.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1902-06-10
Theodore Roosevelt expresses his confidence and high regard for Crosby Stuart Noyes and Henry B. F. Macfarland based on his professional experience working with them.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1902-01-02
President Roosevelt has had several people look into the charges regarding the “school case” in Washington, D.C., and they all found the charges to be completely unsubstantiated. General Henry V. Boynton and Henry B. F. Macfarland believe the charges to be only a product of Superintendent W. B. Powell’s malice. George Herbert Harries says he will not resign.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1901-12-27
Assistant Secretary of the Navy Roosevelt informs James Harrison Wilson that he told Henry V. Boynton the rumor he heard as a possible explanation for the delay in Wilson’s case only so he would be aware of it. He explains that one of William Woodville Rockhill’s friends, Halleck Phillips, said Foster spoke to a cabinet member about Rockhill.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1897-05-05
Assistant Secretary of the Navy Roosevelt informs James Harrison Wilson that John B. O’Brien is in the Treasury Department and, therefore, he cannot help him. Roosevelt awaits hearing how he can cooperate with Wilson following his telegram. He told Henry V. Boynton to arrange the committee and notify him of anything he can do.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1897-05-04
General Lee read Archibald Gracie’s letter about the Battle of Chickamauga with great interest. He compliments Gracie’s research and writing abilities. Gracie’s manuscript summarizes the battle well and Lee believes it will be the true history. He realizes much that is not true history will be recorded as such. Only historians and men like Gracie will arrive at the truth when all participants are dead.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1907-11-12
There is a vacancy in the Chickamauga Park Commission. Civil Service Commissioner Cooley recommends General John Charles Black, who is currently serving on the Civil Service Commission, for the position.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1905-06-03
Henry B. F. Macfarland returns the letter of General Boynton.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1904-08-03
Biography dominates the “Reviews” section of this issue: five biographies are considered, including those of four Roosevelts and one of Gifford Pinchot. Charles W. Snyder finds H. Paul Jeffers’s examination of Brigadier General Theodore Roosevelt’s life to be less than complete, and he notes that the work focuses on Roosevelt’s military career, especially his service during World War II. John A. Gable revisits the work of husband and wife biographers Edmund Morris and Sylvia Jukes Morris in his essays on their biographies of Theodore Roosevelt and Edith Kermit Carow Roosevelt. Gable compares The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt with Theodore Rex, and he asserts that the endnotes in both works are worth reading. He notes that paperback editions of both of the Morris biographies have been issued to coincide with the release of Theodore Rex.
Gable reviews Char Miller’s Gifford Pinchot and the Making of Modern Environmentalism, and he describes the split in the environmental movement between the followers of Pinchot and John Muir. Gable highlights Pinchot’s career after his service in the Roosevelt administration, and he notes that Miller’s work has won two book awards for biography. “In Medal of Honor Revisited,” Gregory A. Wynn examines the arguments of two acclaimed military historians who take opposing views on Theodore Roosevelt’s Medal of Honor award. Wynn summarizes the arguments of Edward M. Coffman and Allan Reed Millett, and he finds more merit in Coffman’s assertions based on eyewitness accounts of Roosevelt’s actions in battle.
At the opening session of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Firemen convention, President Roosevelt praises railroad workers as possessing the necessary qualities of soldiers, including obedience, initiative, and the rugged, manly virtues that Roosevelt feels are threatened by modern luxuries. He argues that organized labor is wonderful, but only if it encourages individual improvement while working for the group, and he feels that the Brotherhood of Locomotive Firemen have historically exemplified this virtue. Roosevelt warns that the prosperity of modern progress also gives rise to new challenges. He insists that, just as certain soldierly qualities remain constant despite changes in arms or military tactics, laws and constitutions may change but the need for good citizens of honesty, courage, and common sense will always be necessary. Having just visited the Chickamauga and Chattanooga battlefields, Roosevelt also praises the unified American spirit shared by men and women across the country, including immigrants.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1902-09-08
President Roosevelt reminds the crowd in Asheville, North Carolina, of the state’s connection to American history. He mentions his recent visits to the battlegrounds at Chickamauga and Chattanooga and says no citizen can visit them without becoming a better American. He discusses his multi-state journey, saying it is a good thing for a president to travel so he can see that sectional and class differences are trivial. He notes how military arms and tactics may change but the necessary spirit of the good soldier remains the same; so too may laws and constitutions change, but Americans must always possess the qualities of good citizens: honesty, courage, and common sense. He concludes by reminding the crowd that all Americans are part of the government.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1902-09-09