Your TR Source
Arnold Scheneckenberger requests Vice President Roosevelt’s help to enlist in the United States Army. Scheneckenberger has been unable to enlist due to poor eyesight in his right eye.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1901-08-30
Allan L. Briggs, a veteran who served in Cuba and the Philippines, requests Vice President Roosevelt’s help with being commissioned a first lieutenant when he enters the regular army.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1901-08-29
Copies of letters commending the work of William A. Allan and recommending his appointment as an army chaplain.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1901-08-27
Walter Howard Loving has heard that African Americans will not be commissioned to serve with Filipino troops in the Philippines. As such, he requests an appointment as a messenger in the United States Senate.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1901-08-25
William H. Altman sends Vice President Roosevelt some papers and “relics” he obtained from Roosevelt’s saddlebag and haversack while he was working at the Rock Island Arsenal, where equipment from Roosevelt’s troops were received for repairs after the troops returned from Cuba. Altman explains that he comes from “fighting stock,” gives a list of relatives who have served as soldiers, and asks for a remembrance from Roosevelt. Altman offers to send Roosevelt a copy of Rock Island Arsenal: In Peace and In War, if he does not already have one.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1901-02-27
General MacArthur sends Adjutant General Corbin a list of soldiers killed and wounded on April 28 and April 29 during the Philippine-American War.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1900-06-02
Elihu Root writes to Theodore Roosevelt and mentions a letter from Leonard Wood that Roosevelt has forwarded to him and expresses his hope that Roosevelt is “satisfied with the officers of the twelve new regiments.”
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1899-09-11
Elihu Root is responding to suggestions Theodore Roosevelt has previously provided regarding open army appointments. Root is still completing the decision process and will contact Roosevelt if he needs more names.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1899-09-11
Lowell A. Chamberlin tells Colonel Wood that he was disappointed to hear from Colonel Theodore Roosevelt that enlistment is full, and he hopes that Wood will give him a chance to call on him in the near future.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1898-05-09
A soldier named A. Martin from Troop K desires discharge from the army due to lung troubles. Colonel Roosevelt wants to know how Martin may be dismissed summarily by the commanding officer without a trial, “as for a fraudulent enlistment.” Notes and quotes from various sources on military discharge procedures are included.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1898-05-20
Luther S. Kelly has just returned from the Harriman Expedition to Alaska. The expedition went well. The expedition discovered a new inlet on Prince William Sound and killed one of the famous Kodiak bears. Kelly is also sorry to hear that in his absence all of the volunteer appointments to the Army have been filled leaving him unable to reenter the service.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1899-08-10
Senator Lodge tells Governor Roosevelt that Roosevelt overrates Lodge’s actions. If the positions were reversed, Lodge is certain that Roosevelt would do even more for him. He is also sure that when Roosevelt is president one day he will return the favor by helping Lodge. Lodge comments on aspects of New York politics, and addresses a recent change in the War Department to which Roosevelt contributed, with the previous Secretary of War R. A. Alger being replaced by Elihu Root. The situation in Cuba makes Lodge unhappy, and he wishes that President McKinley would replace General Brooke. Additionally, while McKinley may be correct about General Otis, the general impression is that he is a failure. Lodge wishes that General Wood was in charge in Cuba. He also predicts that Frederick Funston will be a good ally in the future.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1899-08-10
Dan T. Moore, a cousin of Edith Kermit Carow Roosevelt, appeals for Governor Roosevelt’s assistance in getting transferred from volunteer to regular military service, preferably the cavalry. Colonel J. L. Rodgers has approved such a transfer and done what he can to effect it, but it seems that “political pull does it all.”
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1899-08-16
Elihu Root explains why George A. Dodd was not made a colonel or lieutenant-colonel in one of the new regiments that are being formed.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1899-08-21
Thomas Collier Platt discusses the many recent requests for army commissions and, on behalf of Mr. Bidwell, invites Roosevelt to make a speech at the Columbia County Fair.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1899-08-25
Henry Ware Lawton writes from the Philippines to say that Roosevelt’s former military companions are pleased with his political success. In terms of the Philippines, he believes that the United States was proper and correct to take possession of the islands but views U.S. administration as not progressing well.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1899-08-28
Elihu Root thanks Theodore Roosevelt for his assistance in making New York appointments for the Army’s new volunteer regiments. He mentions difficulties with a former Rough Rider, Delaigne, and being “sorry about the Austin business.”
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1899-08-28
Thomas Collier Platt declines “making any amendments or suggestions as to the army appointments.”
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1899-08-29
Bellamy Storer writes in commendation of Lieutenant Floyd W. Harris of the 4th Calvary, who recently departed Brussels. Harris performed his duties in an admirable manner, the ministers and high officials of the Belgian government have a high regard for him, and “the King himself spoke very kindly of him” and hopes for his return.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1897-08-05
Essay by Kent Ellsworth Keller on the necessity and plan for a rational system to provide and maintain a standing army. He proposes inducting teenagers ranging from fifteen to eighteen to enter a three year academy to see if they have the qualities of a soldier. If they prove their aptitude, then they can join the Army Academy at West Point. The rest will be held on reserve. Handwritten notation: “This plan was conceived and written out at Heidelberg Germany in April 1892. After studying the German Army System.”
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1892-04