USA > New York > Historic homes and institutions and genealogical and family history of New York, Volume III > Part 2
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There was no nse going with the remaining three men, and I bade them stay where they were while I went back and brought up the rest of the brigade. This was a decidedly cool request, for there was really no possible point in letting them stay there while I went back; but at the moment it seemed perfectly natural to me, and apparently so to them, for they cheerfully nodded and sat down on the grass, firing back at the line of trenches from which the Spaniards were shooting at them. Meanwhile I ran back, jumped over the wire fence, and went over the crest of the hill, filled with anger against the troopers, and especially those of my own regiment, for not having accompanied me. They, of course, were quite innocent of wrong doing; and even while I taunted them bitterly for not having followed me, it was all I could do not to smile at the look of injury and surprise that came over their faces, while they cried out, 'We didn't hear you; we didn't see you go, colonel; lead on now, we'll sure follow you.' I wanted the other regiments to come too, so I ran down to where General Sumner was and asked him if I might make the charge, and he told me to go and that he would see that the men followed. By this time everybody had his attention attracted, and when I leaped over the fence again, with Major Jenkins beside me, the men of the varions regiments which were already on the hill came with a rush, and we started across the wide valley which lay between us and the Spanish intrenchments. * Long before we got near them the Spaniards ran, save a few here and there, who either sur- rendered or were shot down. ** *
* Lieutenant Davis' first sergeant, Clarence Gould, killed a Spanish soldier with his re- volver just as the Spaniard was aiming at one of my Rough Riders. At about the same time I also shot one. I was with Henry Bardshar, running up at the double, and two Spaniards leaped from the trenches and fired at us, not ten yards away. As they turned to run I closed in and fired twice, missing the first and killing the second. My revolver was from the sunken battleship Maine, and had been given me by my brother-in-law, ('aptain W. S. Cowles, of the navy. At the time I did not know of Gould's exploit, and supposed my feat to be unique ; and al-
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though Gould had killed his Spaniard in the trenches not very far from me, I never learned of it until weeks after.
"There was a very great confusion at the time, the different regiments being completely intermingled- white regulars, col- ored regulars and Rough Riders. General Sumner had kept a considerable force in reserve on Kettle Hill, under Major Jack- son of the Third Cavalry. We were still under a heavy fire, and I got together a mixed lot of men and pushed on from the trenches and ranch houses which we had just taken, driving the Spaniards through a line of palm-trees and over the crest of a chain of hills. When we reached these crests we found our- selves overlooking Santiago.
"While I was re-forming the troops on the chain of hills, one of General Sherman's aides, Captain Robert Howze-as dashing and gallant an officer as there was in the whole gallant cavalry division, by the way-came up with orders to me to halt where I was, not advancing further, but to hold the hill at all hazards.
"I now had under me all the fragments of the six cavalry regiments which were at the extreme front, being the highest officer left there, and I was in immediate command of them for the remainder of the afternoon and that night. *
The * Spaniards who had been holding the trenches and the line of hills had fallen back upon their supports, and we were under a very heavy fire both from rifles and great guns. Our artillery made one or two efforts to come into action on the firing line of the infantry, but the black powder rendered each attempt fruitless. The Spanish guns used smokeless powder, so that it was difficult to place them. As night came on the firing grad- ually died away. Before this happened, however, Captains Mor- ton and Boughton, of the Third Cavalry, came over to tell me that a rumor had reached them to the effect that there had been some talk of retiring, and that they wished to protest in the strongest manner. I had been watching them both, as they handled their troops with the cool confidence of the veteran regular officer, and had been congratulating myself that they were off toward the right flank; for as long as they were there I knew I was perfectly safe in that direction. I had heard no rumor about retiring, and I cordially agreed with them that it would be far worse than a blunder to abandon our position.
"Soon after dark General Wheeler, who in the afternoon had resumed command of the cavalry division, came to the front. A very few words with General Wheeler reassured us
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about retiring. He had been through too much heavy fighting in the Civil war to regard the present fight as very serious, and he told us not to be under any apprehension, for he had sent word that there was no need whatever of retiring, and was sure we would stay where we were until the chance came to advance. He was second in command, and to him more than to any other one man was due the prompt abandonment of the proposal to fall back-a proposal which, if adopted, would have meant shame and disaster. Shortly afterward General Wheeler sent us or- ders to intrench. * We finished digging the trench soon after midnight, and then the worn-ont men lay down in rows on their rifles and dropped heavily to sleep. * *
* Before any one had time to awake from the cold, however, we were all awakened by the Spaniards, whose skirmishers suddenly opened fire upon ns. * * At the alarm everybody jumped to his feet, and the stiff, shivering, haggard men, their eyes only half opened, all elntched their rifles and ran forward to the treneh on the crest of the hill.
"The sputtering shots died away and we went to sleep again. But in another hour dawn broke and the Spaniards opened fire in good earnest. * In this fight our regiment had numbered four hundred and ninety men, as, in addition to the killed and wounded of the first fight, some had to go to the hospital for sickness and some had been left behind with the baggage or were detailed on other duty. Eighty-nine were killed and wounded. the heaviest loss suffered by any regiment in the eavalry division. The Spaniards made a stiff fight, standing firm until we charged home. They fought much more stubbornly than at Las Guasimas. We ought to have expected this, for they have always done well in holding intrenehments. On this day they showed themselves to be brave foes, worthy of honor for their gallantry.
"In the attack on the San Juan hills our forees numbered about 6,600. There were about 4,500 Spaniards against us. Our total loss in killed and wounded was 1,071. Of the cavalry division there were, all told, some 2,300 offieers and men. of whom 375 were killed and wounded. In the division over a fourth of the officers were killed or wounded, their loss being relatively half as great again as that of the enlisted men-which was as it should be. I think we suffered more heavily than the Spaniards did in killed and wounded, though we also captured some scores of prisoners. It would have been very extraordi- nary if the reverse was the ease, for we did the charging ; and to
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carry earthworks on foot with dismounted cavalry, when the earthworks are held by unbroken infantry, armed with the best modern rifles, is a serions task."
The city surrendered on the 17th of July, and soon after this the men, being relieved from the constant strain and excite- ment. began to feel the effects of the climate. Colonel Roose- velt says :
"Every officer other than myself, except one, was down with sickness at one time or another. Very few of the men, indeed, retained their strength and energy, and though the percentage actually on the sick list never got over twenty, there were less than fifty per cent who were fit for any kind of work. Yellow fever also broke out in the rear, chiefly among the Cubans. It never became epidemie, but it caused a perfect panie among some of our own doctors and especially in the minds of one or two generals and of the home anthorities. * * The Washington anthorities seemed determined that we should stay in Cuba. They unfortunately knew nothing of the country, nor the circumstances of the army. Several suggestions were made, and among others it was proposed that we should go up the mountains and make our camps there. *
* The soil along the sides of the mountains was deep and soft, while the rains were heavy. We could, with much difficulty, have got our regiments up the mountains ; but not half the men would have got up there with their belongings; and once there it would have been an impossibility to feed them. About the last of July General Shafter called a conference in the palace of all the
division and brigade commanders. ** It was deemed best to make some record of our opinion in the shape of a letter or report which would show that to keep the army in Santiago meant its absolute and objectless ruin, and that it should at once he recalled. At first there was naturally some hesitation on the part of the regular officers to take the initiative, for their entire future career might be sacrificed; so I wrote a letter to General Shafter, reading over the rough draft to the various generals and adopting their corrections. Before I had finished making these corrections it was determined that we should send a circular letter on behalf of all of us to General Shafter, and when I returned from presenting him mine I found this circular letter already prepared and we all of us signed it. Both letters
Vol. 111-2
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were made public. The result was immediate. Within three days the army was ordered to be ready to sail for home. This letter was known as the famous 'Round Robin.' "
Colonel Roosevelt with his Rough Riders was encamped at Montauk Point, Long Island, and in the following autumn, peace having been formally declared, he bade farewell to his men, every one of whom was devoted to him, and returned to his home at Oyster Bay.
On September 27, 1898, Colonel Roosevelt was nominated for governor of New York state. He conducted his own cam- paign, visiting every important town in the state. His brilliant military record gave him great prestige, and he was enthusi- astically received wherever he went. He carried the state by a plurality of 18,079. As governor he encouraged honest legisla- tion and carried through every reform measure to which he had pledged himself. He carefully scrutinized every bill and with- held his signature from all that had the least taint of irregu- larity, regardless of party obligations. No man ever had a more difficult task to carry forward the work of reform which he had planned than did Governor Roosevelt at this time. The political pressure brought to hear upon him by the leading men in his own party was very great, but he remained firm and true to his own convictions, even at the risk of losing the influence of those on whom he relied for support. Above all, he put in office as high-minded and able a set of public officials as the state has ever had since its foundation. It was his wish to be elected for a second term that he might complete the work he had begun, but circumstances beyond his control and that of his friends changed all his future plans.
Governor Roosevelt was a delegate to the Republican con- vention held at Philadelphia in the summer of 1900. The re- nomination of President MeKinley was a foregone conclusion.
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Two or three candidates were brought forward for the vice- presidency, but from the very beginning a pressure was brought to bear by those who sought to defeat his aspirations for a second term as governor to force on him the nomination for viee- president. They failed, however, to accomplish their object, and Governor Roosevelt compelled the New York delegation to definitely abandon its efforts to put him forward, and at the same time he introduced the name of Lieutenant-Governor Woodruff, hoping thereby to secure his nomination, but the delegates simply refused to consider any other candidate and insisted on the governor's nomination in order to save the electoral vote of half a dozen western states and thereby assure a majority in Congress. Under these circumstances Governor Roosevelt felt that he was in duty bound to accept, and he was nominated for vice-president, amid the greatest excitement and enthusiasm, the East and the West, the North and the South rallying around him and pledging him their earnest support.
The presidential campaign of 1900 was the most remarkable of ali ever held in this country, and from the beginning to the end Governor Roosevelt fought the battle almost single-handed and alone. He represented honest money, honest principles and a defense of President MeKinley's administration; while his opponent, William J. Bryan, clung to his "16 to 1" silver poliey, on which he had been defeated four years previously, and ex- posed the "expansion" policy of the administration. Colonel Roosevelt traveled from one end of the country to the other, even invading the home territory of his opponent, speaking sev- eral times a day from the train platform, in the open air on improvised platforms and in public halls, and wherever the people could gather to hear him. With one or two exceptions he met with a hearty reception wherever he went-even in "the enemy's country." The result was one of the grandest vietories
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ever achieved by the Republican party and Governor Roosevelt was duly inaugurated vice-president of the United States on the 4th of March, 1901. In his inaugural address he said :
"The history of free government is in a large part the history of those representing legislative bodies in which, from the earliest times, free government has found its loftiest ex- pression. They must ever hold a peculiar and exalted position in the record which tells how the great nations of the world have endeavored to achieve and preserve orderly freedom. No man can render to his fellows greater service than is rendered by him who with fearlessness and honesty, with sanity and dis- interestedness, does his life work as a member of such a body. Especially is this the case when the legislature in which the service is rendered is a vital part in the governmental machinery of one of those world powers to whose hands, in the course of the ages, is entrusted a leading part in shaping the destinies of mankind. For weal or for woe, for good or for evil, this is true of our own mightly nation. Great privileges and great powers are ours, and heavy are the responsibilities that go with these privileges and these powers. Accordingly, as we do well or ill, so shall mankind in the future be raised or cast down.
"We belong to a young nation, already of giant strength, vet whose present strength is but a forecast of the power that is to come. We stand supreme in a continent, in a hemisphere. East and west we look across the two great oceans toward the larger world life in which. whether we will or not, we must take an ever increasing share; and as, keen-eyed, we gaze into the coming years duties new and old rise thick and fast to confront us from within and from without. There is every reason why we should face these duties with a sober appreciation alike of their importance and of their difficulty. But there is also every reason for facing them with high-hearted resolution and with eager and confident faith in our capacity to do them aright.
"A great work lies ready to the hand of this generation; it should count itself happy indeed that to it is given the privi- lege of doing such a work. A leading part therein must be taken by this, the august and powerful legislative body over which I have been called to preside. Most deeply I appreciate the privilege of my position, for high indeed is the honor of
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presiding over the American senate at the outset of the twen- tieth century."
On Friday, September 6, 1901, the startling news was flashed over the wire that President MeKinley, while visiting the Pan-American Exposition, had been shot by a Polish an- archist named Czolgosz. Vice-President Roosevelt hastened to Buffalo as quickly as possible, reaching there the following day. He was completely overwhelmed by the news, but on arriving at the house of Dr. Milburn, where the President had been taken and where he had been stopping with his family for some days previously, he was overjoyed to learn from the attending sur- geons that the wound was not necessarily fatal and that there were hopes of his recovery. He remained in Buffalo for a few days, until the danger point seemed past. He then went on a hunting trip in the Adirondacks. Soon after this a change for the worse took place in the President's condition, and as soon as it was found that death was inevitable, messengers were sent to the vice-president, who traveled day and night, reaching Buf- falo some hours after the President's death. He was driven at once to the house of his friend, Mr. Ansley Wilcox. As soon as he entered Mr. Roosevelt was told that it had been planned for him to take the oath of office at once. This agreement had been reached at a meeting of the cabinet held during the fore- noon at the Milburn residence. The new President refused to recognize it as an agreement, and he declared he was not ready to take the oath yet. He was here more for the purpose of pay- ing his respects to William McKinley than of qualifying as William McKinley's successor.
"But, Mr. President," he was expostulated with, "every- thing is in readiness. Don't you think it would be far better to do as the cabinet has decided?"
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"No," retorted the President; "it would be far worse. I intend to pay my respects at William McKinley's bier as a private citizen and offer my condolence to the members of the family as such. Then I will return and take the oath."
In the face of such an emphatic stand by the new chief executive all arguments availed nothing and President Roose- velt had his own way. He left the Milburn house about half past two o'clock and entered his carriage alone. When he found that he was being escorted by a squad of mounted police- men he stood up and shouted: "Get back! I want no escort. I will have no escort. I am now on a mission as a private cit- izen." He then drove swiftly to the Milburn house and after paying his respects to the dead President returned to the Wil- cox house to take the oath, reaching there shortly after three o'clock. All the members of the cabinet and a number of others were assembled there. Among these was Judge Hazel, who was to administer the oath.
"President Roosevelt," said Mr. Root, "I have been re- quested by all the members of the cabinet of the late President who are here in the city of Buffalo, being all except two, to re- quest that for reasons of weight affecting the administration of government, you should proceed without delay to take the constitutional oath of office."
A silence fell upon the group. It lasted but a minute and then Mr. Roosevelt spoke: "Mr. Secretary, I shall take the oath at once, agreeable to the request of the members of the cabinet, and in this hour of trouble and national bereavement I wish to state that it shall be my aim to continue absolutely un- broken the policy of President Mckinley, for the peace and prosperity and honor of our beloved country." He then took the oath and Vice-President Theodore Roosevelt became the twenty-sixth President of the United States. His course is so
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clearly marked that all recognize his policy, and although the youngest who ever occupied the presidential chair, he has the confidence and support of leading men throughout the nation.
It is difficult to conceive how any one so thoroughly absorbed in public affairs could find time to devote to literary work, and yet Colonel Roosevelt has achieved a world-wide reputation as an author, and his works have become standard on the subjects
Theodore Roosevelt Library.
he has treated. Among the best known are: "History of the Naval War of 1812" (1882) and "Hunting Trips of a Ranch- man" (1883). As a biographer he has won fame as the author of the "Life of Thomas Benton" (1886) ; and "Life of Gouver- neur Morris" (1888). He has also published "History of the City of New York" (1890) ; "Essays on Practical Politics" (1898); and has collaborated with Captain A. S. Mahan in writing the "Imperial History of the British Navy"; he is also
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joint anthor with Henry Cabot Lodge of "Hero Tales from American History." The most important of his works, how- ever, are the volumes bearing the collective title ""The Win- ning of the West." These have for their subject the acquisition by the United States of the territory west of the Alleghanies, and in their intrinsic merit and their importance as contribu- tions to history they rank with the works of Parkman. His books have been characterized as "marked by felicity, vigor and clearness of expression, with descriptive power."
As a man of letters it may be said as more completely true of Mr. Roosevelt than any other writer, whose books are as numerons and widely read as his are, that he has merely adopted literary expression with the aim of placing before the public facts and ideas which he sincerely believes to be worthy of consideration and preservation. His presentation of facts, how- ever, is useful and stimulating rather than merely entertain- ing, while his ideas represent an eloquent appeal for a general and wholesome examination of the truths which he so fervently believes and so ardently advocates. In other words, Mr. Roose- velt is in no sense a professional author. The books he has written simply represent one phase of a very active career. On the title page of "Ranch Life and Hunting Trail" we find cited that passage from Browning ending with the words-
How good is man's life, the mere living.
which speaks more eloquently and is more characteristic of Mr. Roosevelt as a man, and, therefore, necessarily as an author, than all that litterateurs have written and all that poets have snng about the beauties of rhetoric and the philosophy of style.
Mr. Roosevelt's first published work was his history of "The Naval War of 1812," which bears the date of 1882, and it is a singular coincidence that his most recent prodnetion,
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written just as his term as vice-president of the United States was to be brought to a fateful close, should be a contribution to an English work on the same subject, "The Royal Navy," Vol VI, by Laird Clowes. A comparison of these works offers an excellent opportunity to observe the mental development of the man in a most important field of historical study and observation. One was written at the.age of twenty-three; the other at forty-two. It is not from the fact that we find the patriotism less intense, or the presence of any taint of Anglo- mania in the later work, but because the man has learned to think for himself, has freed himself entirely from the anti- British prejudices which for years have inspired the makers of many American school books; and he has from a fuller knowl- edge been able to appreciate the merits of the enemy and to point out the reasons for his misfortunes in a clear, almost scientific manner and without undne landation of American enterprise and courage. Moreover, it is not singular that his historical works, particularly "The Winning of the West," should have a vitality which few histories possess. It is because he has lived with and knows intimately the trapper, the hunter, the frontiersman of today, that he has been enabled to repro- duce the distant predecessors of these men and their surround. ings with marvelous intimacy.
In the last nineteen years Mr. Roosevelt has written over a dozen books, which are included in many departments-his- tory, biography, travel, observation and politico-ethical disens- sion. At the same time he has occupied successively various positions in public life upon which he has left the stamp of his individuality and the results of his tireless energy. What these offices were and what he did in them have taken their place in our state, municipal and national history, and are now more or less familiar to every one. But the more one becomes familiar
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with Mr. Roosevelt's public achievements the more must one marvel that he could have produced the books that he did, which, from the point of view of mere mechanical and mental labor, would have been considered more than adequate to estab- lish the literary reputation of a professional writer.
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