Generals

Field Marshal Oyama Iwao, Commander-in-Chief of the Japanese forces, stands at the top of a hill, holding binoculars, while troops move artillery up the hill behind him. A battle rages in the background.

comments and context

Comments and Context

Field Marshal Oyama Iwao was appointed Commander-in-Chief of the Imperial Japanese Army in Manchuria during the Russo-Japanese War. His troops’ overrunning of cities (like Port Arthur) and lands were viewed as massacres, but he swept vast lands and rapidly routed Russian and native forces. Puck characterized the decisive warmaking gifts of General Oyama Iwao as providing the most decisive form of peacemaking.

German Emperor Wilhelm II holds the strings to a wooden jumping toy identified as “V. Waldersee,” field marshal in China; the latter wears a military uniform, decorated with many medals, and saluting with his left hand.

comments and context

Comments and Context

Field Marshall Alfred Ludwig Heinrich Karl Graf von Waldersee, Chief of the Imperial German General Staff, was appointed to lead the eight-nation coordinated military effort against the Boxer Rebellion in China. Among other aspects of their revolt, the Boxers had besieged the colony of international embassies. In fact his arrival in China followed the relief of the embassy compounds, but von Waldersee did pursue elements of the Boxers and defeated those pockets of rebellion. The German Kaiser found much to brag about in the person of von Waldersee.

Frederick Funston, wearing the brown uniform of the volunteer forces, leap-frogs over an officer in the regular army at the end of a long line of officers wearing the blue uniform of the regular army, each hoping to be the one who reaches Uncle Sam first and receives the promotion to the rank of “Brigadier General.” Caption: The one who “gets there” – gets the promotion.

comments and context

Comments and Context

The controversy over Frederick Funston’s promotion was typical of such elevations of regular army personnel, or volunteers-to-service corps, for instance when President Theodore Roosevelt caused Leonard Wood and John J. Pershing to skip ranks with promotions. Funston lived a life of almost soldier-of-fortune military brilliance: a volunteer with Cuban rebels before the Spanish-American War, attached to scientific expeditions in the Dakota Bad Lands and the Yukon, personally capturing the Filipino Insurrection leader Emilio Aguinaldo (in a disguise), assuming martial-law duties during the immediate aftermath of the San Francisco earthquake, and leading chases of Pancho Villa in Mexico. He was slated to be Commander of the United States Expeditionary Force in World War I, but died suddenly of a heart attack at the age of 51. His subordinate John J. Pershing was tapped in his stead.

Illustration showing John Bull as Gulliver being tied to stakes with ribbons labeled with the names of battles from the Second Boer War. Some of the Lilliputians are identified as South African generals and presidents, such as “Botha,” “Joubert,” “Kruger,” “Cronje,” and “Steyn.” A broken sword, labeled “British Prestige” lies on the ground next to John Bull.

comments and context

Comments and Context

Pughe’s cartoon, with the numerous battles and leaders labeled, reveals with what great interest Americans followed the Boers’ insurrection and the difficult suppression undertaken by the British.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1918-01-24

Creator(s)

Roosevelt, Theodore, 1858-1919

Recipient

Wallace, Henry Cantwell, 1866-1924

President Roosevelt comments on General Hamilton’s two-volume publication, A Staff Officer’s Scrap-book during the Russo-Japanese War. Roosevelt wishes he could see Hamilton to discuss the book. He expresses particular interest in Hamilton’s description of a gruesome play performed by Japanese soldiers. He wonders how industrialization in Japan will impact “the qualities which give them such an extraordinary soldierly capacity.” He notes that Kuroki will be visiting and that he will speak to Kuroki Tamemoto about Hamilton’s book. Roosevelt comments that he is pleased that the ships are doing well at target practice and that the fleet is satisfactory.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1907-05-08

President Roosevelt informs Representative Hull that if the House can only appropriate $700,000 to army instruction and training, it should be given to training regulars in service marches. Roosevelt also discusses changes to the rank of Lieutenant General. He wants the chief of staff to hold that rank only so long as he serves in that position, but Secretary of War William H. Taft feels differently.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1906-02-16

President Roosevelt advises General Dodge on which generals will become senior upon the retirement of G. L. Gillespie and George Morton Randall. He adds that following its conduct during the “Missouri accident,” he will not give the Army and Navy Journal authoritative statements of his positions.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1905-03-28

President Roosevelt will ask Secretary of War William H. Taft to review Assistant Secretary of War Robert Shaw Oliver’s decision before having Governor Cummins come on. He remembers a similar case concerning General William Farrar Smith.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1905-02-11

President Roosevelt is having the Department of Commerce and Labor report to him on the proposed investigation into the child labor matter. He advises Massachusetts Lieutenant Governor Guild on how to respond if questioned again on the issue of Lieutenant General Nelson Appleton Miles.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1905-02-06

President Roosevelt writes to Librarian of Congress, Herbert Putnam, concerning employment for Kilbourn Gordon, grandchild of Mrs. Hallet Kilbourn.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1904-05-16

President Roosevelt informs General Wood that he was confirmed as Major General with a vote of 45 to 16. Roosevelt laments the bitter attacks made on Wood during the election and believes Senator Marcus Alonzo Hanna was the chief cause, as well as negative coverage from the press.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1904-03-19

President Roosevelt congratulates General Wood on being confirmed as Major General with a vote of 45 to 16.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1904-03-18

Francis G. Howard asks Theodore Roosevelt if he thinks it would be a good thing to have a portrait of General O. O. Howard hang in Washington, D.C.. Howard has a good portrait, currently on loan to the Union League Club, but would like for it to hang somewhere in Washington, D.C. He has not felt able to advocate for such a move, though, and wonders if Roosevelt might be wiling to raise the matter.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1911-07-05

W. P. McLean writes to Anne McLean Towler noting his receipt of her letters and a sketch of Thomas J. Rusk’s life. McLean thinks Towler’s biography of Rusk is well written and a “comprehensive view of the life of General Rusk.” McLean has been busy and had no opportunity to see about getting it published. McLean tells Towler he does not know enough about publishing to say if it will be published or not. He promises to further investigate publication and will write with further information. 

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1911-06-16

Secretary of War Taft says the command in Havana, Cuba, will be large enough for two generals. James Franklin Bell would rank Frederick Funston, and this would work out right.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1906-10-03

Secretary of War Taft writes to President Roosevelt that there are enough troops to warrant having two Generals in Cuba during the United States’ occupation there, although James Franklin Bell would outrank Frederick Funston.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1906-10-03

Cuban General Máximo Gómez sits on a horse, listening to an eagle perched on the U.S. Capitol building singing “the song of freedom.”

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1898-05-11

President McKinley rides an elephant driven by Marcus A. Hanna. The elephant is carrying Russell A. Alger, Nelson Dingley, William R. Day, and William T. Sampson. A second elephant follows, and a group of men that includes “Nelson A. Miles, Theodore Roosevelt, Joseph Wheeler, Fitzhugh Lee, Henry C. Lodge, William R. Shafter, Winfield S. Schley, John T. Morgan, Cushman K. Davis, George Dewey,” and others, march alongside under the standard “Imperialism for Ever.” A group of disgruntled men sit on the roadside, watching the procession.

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1899-01-18

General William R. Shafter holds up a diminutive newspaper reporter labeled “Yellow Journalism.” Shafter appears ready to drop the reporter in the ocean.

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1898-08-17