Your TR Source
Dabney S. Royster thanks Theodore Roosevelt for taking an interest in his case. Royster encloses the letter he just received from Col. James A. Mattison and it doesn’t look good. Roysster hopes Roosevelt can get him moved to a different location because he can only stay at Adam’s Memorial Sanitorium another month.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1911-10-24
President Roosevelt was pleased by B. Lawton Wiggins’s letter. He feels that his response to the Brownsville incident is “one of those vital matters” where he can not consider his own political or personal needs.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1906-12-26
President Roosevelt asks Assistant Secretary of War Sanger if he could locate the discharge papers of John A. Peterson so that he may be admitted to the Soldier’s Home for treatment.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1901-09-20
Henry J. Pohl remembers seeing Theodore Roosevelt on Kettle Hill, Cuba, in the Spanish-American War. He has been discharged from the Army and wants to know if Roosevelt could employ him as a personal driver.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1911-09-20
Lewis Russ outlines his military career to Theodore Roosevelt and describes how he was dishonorably discharged after being accused of drinking liquor on duty. His citizenship is threatened and he hopes Theodore Roosevelt can help him fight the charges.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1911-09-19
Judge Speer provides historical justification for President Roosevelt’s actions in the Brownsville affair, involving the mass dishonorable discharge of African American soldiers, citing George Washington’s similar discharge of rowdy troops. Speer also mentions the Raid on Deerfield during Queen Anne’s War and the siege of Magdeburg during the Thirty Years’ War. Speer disagrees with Senator Tillman’s assessment that Roosevelt “lynched” the discharged soldiers, as did the editorial boards of several prominent Georgia newspapers.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1907-01-14
Sergeant Mingo Saunders, decorated with medals labeled “One of the Best,” “Faithful,” “Honest,” and “Brave,” and with stripes on his sleeve that read, “Nearly 30 Years a Soldier,” holds a paper: “Discharged Without Honor from the Army of the U.S.” Below is an article about Saunders’s discharge. The article encourages African Americans to vote for Senator Joseph Benson Foraker rather than William H. Taft, who advocates for disenfranchisement of African Americans. If Foraker is not an option, the paper suggests Vice President Charles W. Fairbanks because Senator James A. Hemenway, who works for Fairbanks’s campaign, has assisted Foraker in advocating for the discharged soldiers.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1908-04-11
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.
Frederick Herrig’s military record and discharge from the United States Army Volunteer Cavalry in 1898 in which he served under Colonel Roosevelt during the Spanish-American War. Roosevelt gives a glowing review of Herrig stating that there could be no better solider.
Sagamore Hill National Historic Site
1898-10-06
Theodore Roosevelt cannot help George W. Robertson, other than to suggest that Robertson send this letter to the Civil Service Board. Roosevelt knows Robertson served in his regiment in Cuba, but it does not appear that Robertson was discharged on disability.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1911-05-12
Theodore Roosevelt asks if Katherine Bement Davis could investigate the person’s situation in the enclosed letter.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1915-01-13
President Roosevelt instructs Senator Aldrich that the language of the bill must be clear that it is permissible but not mandatory that the board members may reinstate the members of the 25th Infantry Companies B, C, and D of the United States Army that are innocent of assault and have no criminal knowledge of the Brownsville Affair of 1906. Roosevelt would like Aldrich to show this letter to Senators Henry Cabot Lodge, Francis E. Warren, William Warner, and Joseph Benson Foraker.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1909-01-27
President Roosevelt agrees with Gilchrist Stewart that probably fewer than thirty soldiers were implicated in the actual shooting of the Brownsville Affair, and that the majority of soldiers are innocent of everything except for failing to tell all the facts that they know. The problem, Roosevelt feels, is that he cannot reinstate anyone until it becomes clear who the really guilty parties are.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1908-12-15
President Roosevelt has looked into the case of Lieutenant Dexter Sturges, and he has no choice but to approve the sentence removing him from service. Roosevelt is making his decision based on Sturges’s conduct.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1908-04-03
President Roosevelt tells Representative Wiley that James M. Haralson admitted to his language use and firmly states that he should not be readmitted into the Navy.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1909-01-15
President Roosevelt informs Congressman Raines that he reviewed Clements’ case with Secretary of the Navy Victor Howard Metcalf. They agree that Clements’ punishment was excessive, and while he should be punished, his infraction did not merit his discharge.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1907-04-19
President Roosevelt does not understand why Chancellor Day and Lieutenant George S. Richards’s father did not insist that Richards resign, when both did not trust him with money because of his mental condition. Roosevelt thinks that Richards should not have been allowed to resume duty, and refuses now to restore him to the service.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1905-09-09
President Roosevelt explains to James Roscoe Day that he had made the decision to give Lieutenant George S. Richards the opportunity to resign after consultation with Secretary of War William H. Taft. As Richards has not taken advantage of that mercy, he is to be treated as any other lieutenant. Roosevelt will not consider restoring him to the army or pardoning him, although if an appeal is filed he will discuss the matter with Taft.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1905-08-31
President Roosevelt encloses a document related to the case of a boy that had a promised discharge if his parents requested it. Roosevelt would like Secretary Moody’s opinion on the matter.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1902-10-23
President Roosevelt requests a report on the case of Henry W. Bunn, and believes that Bunn should be discharged if his disabilities will prevent a promotion.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1902-05-16