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This brief headline notes the deleterious effect fever is having on American troops stationed in Santiago, Cuba, and mentions the round robin letter sent by Theodore Roosevelt and several other officers demanding their men be brought north immediately.
Sagamore Hill National Historic Site
1898
Major General Bell issues orders making graduates from the Mounted Service School instructors in horsemanship and equitation in their units.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1908-11-23
Thomas Roberts Slicer would like to bring a report by Major Louis Livingston Seaman, a surgeon, to President Roosevelt’s attention, as it deals with observations Seaman made during the Russo-Japanese War concerning the efficiency and sanitation of battlefield hospitals. Slicer endorses Seaman’s character and knowledge, and would like for Roosevelt to meet with him to discuss the report and what can be done to improve sanitation in the United States Army. He also thanks Roosevelt for the actions he has taken in the case of Colonel Charles O. Shepard. Slicer plans to visit the White House soon, and would like to see Roosevelt for a few minutes, if possible.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1904-10-25
Leonard Wood presents his thoughts about military efficiency and readiness to President Roosevelt. Wood details procedures and considerations for retirement, disability, and promotions with an eye toward creating a more efficient organization of the Army and a more modern fighting force.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1908-08-06
President Roosevelt asks General Bell, Chief of Staff of the U.S. Army, to issue the order limiting the service of officers away from their units to four years. He also asks Bell to come and meet with him regarding the Jones case.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1908-04-10
President Roosevelt tells William H. Lewis that he has written to have the young African American man enlisted at once and has demanded to know if there has been an order stopping enlistments in the “colored regiments,” and if so, why he has not heard of it.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1908-08-14
Admiral Dewey writes to Secretary of the Navy Metcalf on behalf of the Joint Board in response to President Roosevelt’s direction that they present a plan regarding fortification in Hawaii. The Joint Board believes that both the Army and Navy have appropriately considered the factors involved with constructing and fortifying a naval station in Hawaii, and have come to the conclusion that the selection of Pearl Harbor as the site of construction is justified. Dewey recounts the factors that were considered both in affirming the need for a naval base in the Pacific Ocean, as well as in the selection of Pearl Harbor as the site. Dewey believes that Honolulu Harbor should be protected as well.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1908-03-05
This order directs that before any officer is detailed on the General Staff of the Army, they must have served on active duty for two years immediately preceding such a detail. Adoption of this order will ensure that officers must serve with troops, and will eliminate a great deal of graft that has existed in the service. All requests for exception to this order should be denied.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1908-01-13
Major General James Franklin Bell sends William Loeb an extract from the proceedings of the Joint Board in answer to a question about his opinion regarding the choice of Subic Bay as the site for a naval station. While Subic Bay is an attractive site from a purely naval perspective, it cannot be defended on land. Bell does not, however, object to making a thorough study of the question.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1908-02-24
President Roosevelt warns Lieutenant General Chaffee, Chief of Staff of the U.S. Army, that the Army should be wary of adopting too many methods of the Japanese army simply because of its recent success against the Russians. Roosevelt believes in particular its emphasis on bayonet practice would not fit the American military. Its arrangements in terms of quartermasters and commissaries, however, are admirable, and he encourages Chaffee to organize plans for embarking and provisioning an army.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1905-07-03
General Wood informs President Roosevelt of his plans after being relieved on February 1, 1908. He intends to take leave and travel as much as possible, attending the Manila Carnival Association in early February and military maneuvers in Europe. Wood believes the Philippines Division is the most important command in the army and is glad that General Tasker Howard Bliss plans to stay another year or two. He hopes that his wife, Louisa Adriana Wood, is able to visit him.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1907-12-13
A bill introduced by Senator Platt for the relief of Captain Samuel A. Russel.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1907-12-16
Captain M. B. Stewart responds to a letter to the editor of The Sun from Captain Johnson Hagood. Hagood wrote about negative publicity surrounding the service pay bill. Stewart points out that pay for enlisted men is an “imperative national issue,” and that both sides of the discussion have controversial extremes.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1907-10-29
Henry G. Sharpe explains the reasoning behind his earlier recommendations for modifying the Army’s supply and provision standards. Following his suggestions would help the United States prepare for war during a time of peace. Reorganizing the administration would assign clear responsibility for the work of various supply units onto one chief of the bureau, and his suggested changes for the field would help ensure the mobility and comfort of the troops.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1907-09-26
A business card for Commissary General of the United States Army Henry G. Sharpe.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1907-09
Secretary of War William H. Taft addresses the Philippine Assembly at their inaugural gathering. Taft gives an overview of the American administration of the Philippines as well as his assessment of the challenges facing the Assembly in the fulfillment of their political duties.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1907-10-16
At the direction of the Joint Army and Navy Board, William Sowden Sims compares the methods used by the Army and Navy to aim and shoot heavy artillery. The report examines the relative efficiency of the gunnery methods of the two services, and concludes that the Army method is expensive, complicated, and unreliable, while the Navy method is much more reliable.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1907-07
Major General Wood reports on the condition of the United States Army in the Philippines for the year ending June 30, 1907, and makes recommendations for its improvement.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1907-06-30
Theodore Roosevelt writes to Secretary of the Navy Meyer regarding a young man about whom they have exchanged letters earlier, who has since taken Roosevelt’s advice and turned himself in. Roosevelt feels strongly that the Army and Navy deal too harshly with desertion in times of peace and that the severity of punishment contributes to the number of desertions. Major-General Edward Hamilton of the British Army found that it was better to show leniency. Roosevelt invites Meyer and his wife to visit him when Meyer attends the Lincoln dinner.
Massachusetts Historical Society
1911-01-20
Amasa Pierce Thornton thinks it “practically settled” that Alton B. Parker will be the Democratic nominee for President and cites Parker’s favorable decisions to labor as the reason. With President Roosevelt and Parker both hailing from New York, Thornton notes that one of them will lose his home state and opines that there is presently “a good deal of dissatisfaction” over President Roosevelt there. Weighing the factors at play, though, Thornton predicts that New York will go to Roosevelt, and when he returns from Europe, Thornton will be “ready to take off my coat” to campaign for him. As for the gubernatorial election, he believes that Governor Benjamin B. Odell is right in stepping down and believes the Republican candidate should be Cornelius Newton Bliss because of his business standing, party loyalty, and great friendship with President William McKinley.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1904-04-25