Military uniforms

Bust portrait of James Andrew Drain, wearing a military uniform.

Collection

America

Creation Date

1903

Secretary of War Taft writes to President Roosevelt about a controversy involving the Schuykill Arsenal, under contract to provide uniforms. It has been charged that the seamstresses are overpaid because they are veterans’ widows and children. Taft dismisses this charge. The arsenal won the contract by bidding lowest. However, as enlisted men must purchase their uniforms, Taft is concerned about the ethics involved in the current pricing contract supporting one group’s profits. Taft is concerned about the cost of the uniforms, which are paid for by the enlisted men.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1904-11-17

President Roosevelt requests that Ambassador Reid explain to Robert Offley Ashburton Crewe-Milnes that his African trip is a scientific expedition to collect specimens for the National Museum, not “a game butchering trip.” However, if given the opportunity, Roosevelt may collect some trophies. The invitation from the chancellor of Oxford, George Nathaniel Curzon, to present the Romanes lecture gives Roosevelt a genuine reason to visit England on his return from Africa. He details his travel itinerary, plans for appropriate formal attire, and people to call upon. Roosevelt is interested in what the Japanese minister for foreign affairs Jutarō Komura says and includes his letter to Japanese ambassador Kogoro Takahira and the reply. Reid’s full statement on the incidents of the Olympics pleases Roosevelt, who believes intense international matches inevitably result in misunderstandings.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1908-08-20

President Roosevelt recommends changes to the military service uniform. The uniform should provide “absolute ease and freedom.” The collar of the blouse should be turn-down and open, with a handkerchief knotted around the neck. Instead of dark blue, the shirt should be a more neutral color such as gray or brown.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1901-10-08

On behalf of President Roosevelt, George B. Cortelyou thanks James Edward Kelly for the letter, and asks that when he is done with the saddle and uniform he ship them to Roosevelt’s home at Sagamore Hill.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1901-09-25

Uncle Sam stands with a man from each branch of the armed forces wearing uniforms designed after the style of the British armed forces. Caption: G. V. Winter, the English military tailor, under contract with our War Department, says: “The Washington officials have given me a free hand. I hope to design something smart for the United States service.”

Comments and Context

In the middle of a season of the most consequential package of legislation in a generation — addressing ills in the railroad business, the Beef Trust, food and drugs — many public scandals including major insurance malfeasance; continuing Muckraking articles in the press; important decisions about the Panama Canal; etc., during the dogs days of summer, 1906, Puck could be granted a cover cartoon of simple nonsense and fantasy.

How would American military uniforms look if designed by a British tailor? The answer never went beyond Frank A. Nankivell’s cartoon.

Daniel Moore is dressed in military uniform as a young man. Moore was a cousin of Edith Kermit Carow, Theodore Roosevelt’s second wife.

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

Unknown

A Union soldier from the year 1861 sits on the ground, exhausted from carrying a rifle, his bedroll, and the weight of so much additional equipment. Standing next to him is a soldier from the year 1902 holding a rifle and carrying only what he needs in battle. Caption: Old soldier–So that’s your new uniform. Well, I hope you’ll make as good a record in it as I did in mine.

Comments and Context

Pughe’s cartoon is an obvious reference to the United States Army’s newer uniforms issued at this time. The Spanish-American War revealed many challenges inherent in many standard-issue uniforms, armaments, and gear, some as old as the Civil War itself, as indicated by the cartoon. Heavy old woolen uniforms were impractical, to say the least, in Cuba’s hot and humid tropical summer. There were more reforms than this cartoon suggests. Because of the “embalmed beef” scandal, provisions were subject to stricter regulations. Spanish troops used German Mausers with smokeless gunpowder, putting American troops with “traditional” weapons and powder at a distinct and deadly disadvantage. Such sweeping reforms were ordered by the Army Department at this time.

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

President Theodore Roosevelt, wearing his Rough Rider uniform, stands with arms folded across his chest, looking at a hill labeled “David Hill.”

Comments and Context

For decades David Bennett Hill was the bete noir of New York State politics. A loyal and tireless Democrat, he served in many offices and capacities, variously allied with or in opposition to Tammany Hall and, later on the national stage, William Jennings Bryan. Hill was a governor and senator. As Grover Cleveland rose in prominence as reform mayor of Buffalo and governor and the state’s favorite son as three-time Democrat presidential nominee, he basically thwarted Hill’s own ambitions for the presidency. From the 1870s through the ‘teens, New York was the home of a disproportionate number of presidents, vice presidents, presidential nominees and aspirants, and power brokers. President Roosevelt, himself a New Yorker, is pictured by cartoonist Keppler contemplating the hill labelled Hill, in the discussion for the 1904 race, with scant anxiety.

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Theodore Roosevelt found the book striking. As requested, he sends Ralph Emerson Twitchell a signed photograph of himself in uniform taken during the Spanish-American War. Roosevelt cannot make the Outlook review Twitchell’s book but will bring it to their attention as a “noteworthy and scholarly piece.”

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1911-11-10

Theodore Roosevelt has fought hard to make it unlawful to discriminate against men wearing military uniforms. He considers uniforms “to be a badge of honor” and believes the law Leo A. Ketterer describes should be enacted in every state.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1911-03-07

President Roosevelt approves of Theodore Francis Green’s bill to forbid men who are not in the service from wearing military uniforms, and preventing men in the service to wear the uniform in “places of public amusement.”

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1908-04-12

President Roosevelt sends Rear Admiral Thomas $100 for the legal suit concerning the exclusion of men from public places for wearing a uniform of the United States’ military. He feels strongly that the uniform is “a badge of honor,” whether worn by an enlisted man or an officer. First page includes handwritten note over the top, “Pages to 2 removed before commencement of this book.”

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1906-09-21

President Roosevelt asks Secretary of the Navy Bonaparte if Secretary of War William H. Taft has spoken to him about a shoe contractor from Philadelphia. Roosevelt understands that he should not be allowed to bid in any Army or Navy competition because of his “scoundrelly conduct in the past.”

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1906-04-03

President Roosevelt is glad to see that Lieutenant Roy I. Taylor was demoted twelve numbers for his behavior towards a Sergeant at the theater. He tells Secretary of War Taft that the honor of the military and those serving in it should be protected by those both serving in the military and those who are not.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1906-02-03

President Roosevelt tells Secretary of War Taft that it is nonsense for the army officers to complain about hot weather. He also thinks Taft is right about Ernest Stecker going out at once if he has accepted the Philippine Scouts commission, and Secretary Taft should handle the Philippines bulletin as he sees fit. In a postscript, Roosevelt asks Taft to look up the application of Jacob Gould Schurman and to see if he can put Arthur Harrison Wilson in the cavalry.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1904-08-25

President Roosevelt will discuss why he does not believe in a stand-up collar for service work when he is able to meet with General Wood.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1902-07-14

President Roosevelt has been informed that the Board on Uniforms has recommended a turn down collar for field blouses but the War Department changed this recommendation to a standing collar. Roosevelt would like to discuss the matter and hopes to see the turn down collar prevail.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1902-07-12

Catherine M. MacLennan thanks Theodore Roosevelt for the signed photograph. She encloses a clipping that may be of interest. Her husband, Russell M. MacLennan, is a New York Evening Telegram correspondent and will help her in her campaign to pass military uniform legislation.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1911-11-12

Catherine M. MacLennan will be in New York City until tomorrow and wants to meet with Theodore Roosevelt to discuss the military uniform protection work. She gave Frank Harper a photograph for Roosevelt to sign.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1911-11-02