THE COWBOY PRESIDENT

by Michael F. Blake

  26. Longhorns vary in color, from a bluish-gray to assorted yellowish hues, to browns, black, and ruddy and white (bright or dirty-speckled).

  27. Hart and Feleger, eds., Theodore Roosevelt Cyclopedia, p. 121.

  28. After the Civil War, there was a boom in railroad construction. Between 1868 and 1873, the railroad industry laid nearly 33,000 miles of track and was the largest employer in the United States.

  29. Lamar, ed., The New Encyclopedia of the American West, p. 179.

  30. Although the Open Range Policy was started after the Civil War, its peak years were between 1880 and 1885.

  31. Even today it is still a problem where there is not a management plan. Overgrazing led to the 2010 famine in the Sahel region in Africa, while the Australian government ordered the culling of 1,455 kangaroos due to overgrazing in 2013.

  32. Skirmish line formation basically assigned a small number of soldiers (perhaps eight to twelve) who were deployed in a loose line of about ten to twenty feet, depending on what was needed. Use of skirmish lines had its beginnings with Napoleon battle tactics in the early nineteenth century.

  33. Built and completed by Christmas of 1879, the buildings were abandoned by the army in 1883. An 1887 fire destroyed many of the buildings, and the remaining structures were salvaged for other construction. Rolf Sletten, Medora: Boom, Bust, and Resurrection. Medora, ND: Theodore Roosevelt Medora Foundation, 2013, pp. 32–33.

  34. The Marquis was of French and Spanish heritage. His grandfather, Vincent Manca, was granted two villages on the island of Sardinia for service to the king of Spain. Failing to prevent a revolt within the palace against King Felix Albert of Spain, the Marquis’s grandfather was exiled to France in the 1820s. In 1831, he married Claire de Galard de Grassac de Béarn, an heiress related to King Henry IV of France. The Marquis’s father, Richard, took the title of Duc de Vallombrosa when he reached legal age. He eventually earned the rank of lieutenant general in the French Army, and was one of the top commanders in the conquest of Algiers. Donald Dresden, The Marquis de Morès: Emperor of the Bad Lands. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1970, pp. 16–17.

  35. The military academy was France’s equivalent to West Point. One of the Marquis’s classmates, Henri-Philippe Pétain, rose to the rank of general in the French Army during World War I. He later served as the head of the Vichy French government during World War II until the liberation of Paris in 1945. Ibid., p. 19.

  36. The Marquis’s debt was 500,000 francs, which roughly translated to $110,000 in US currency. Curt Eriksmoen, “How the Marquis de Morès Got Started in Medora,” Bismarck Tribune, December 8, 2013.

  37. Dresden, The Marquis de Morès: Emperor of the Bad Lands, p. 35.

  38. The Marquis bought sections of land on either side of the Little Missouri River, ranging from twenty to twenty-five miles long and five miles inland from the river, which was the utmost distance cattle would walk for water. Ibid., p. 42.

  39. The Chateau de Morès was hardly what any European would consider a chateau. It was a two-story, twenty-six-room ranch house, more elaborate in size and decor than any other residence in the area. It is now a museum, operated by the State Historical Society of North Dakota.

  40. Dresden, The Marquis de Morès: Emperor of the Bad Lands, pp. 42–44.

  41. Lang, Ranching with Roosevelt, p. 73.

  42. Bismarck Daily Tribune, July 28, 1883.

  43. Carleton Putnam, Theodore Roosevelt: The Formative Years, 1858–1886, p. 356.

  44. Dresden, The Marquis de Morès: Emperor of the Bad Lands, p. 61.

  45. Bismarck Daily Tribune, June 27, 1883.

  46. Putnam, Theodore Roosevelt: The Formative Years, 1858–1886, p. 357.

  47. Lang, Ranching with Roosevelt, p. 74.

  48. Dresden, The Marquis de Morès: Emperor of the Bad Lands, p. 71.

  49. The Marquis’s lawyer, George Flannery, used the influence of the territorial governor and attorney general to persuade Judge Collins to drop the charges. Ibid., p. 77.

  THE DUDE GOES WEST

  1. So serious was this attack that Theodore’s doctor sent him to Richfield Springs in the Catskill Mountains in early July to recuperate. When he arrived in Chicago, on his way to the Badlands, Theodore sent his mother a postcard reassuring her that he was “feeling like a fighting cock.”

  2. Theodore’s trip west took him five days by train. From Chicago to St. Paul, he endured a twenty-hour trip. After arriving there, he had a layover that was nearly twelve hours long. On September 7, he departed Bismarck in Dakota Territory at six in the evening, headed for Little Missouri. Donald Dresden, The Marquis de Morès: Emperor of the Bad Lands. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1970, p. 6.

  3. During Theodore’s Dakota trip, Alice was staying with her parents near Boston, Massachusetts. Letter to Alice Roosevelt, dated September 8, 1883. Rolf Sletten, Medora: Boom, Bust, and Resurrection. Medora, ND: Theodore Roosevelt Medora Foundation, 2013, pp. 58–59.

  4. The Red River Valley region is located in central North America, covering parts of North Dakota, Minnesota, and Manitoba, Canada.

  5. Theodore Roosevelt, Theodore Roosevelt: An Autobiography. Norwalk, CT: The Easton Press, 1996, p. 110.

  6. Theodore Roosevelt, Hunting Trips of a Ranchman. Birmingham, AL: Palladium Press (reprint), 1999, p. 34.

  7. This is the rifle Roosevelt poses with in the series of photos taken in 1884, where he is dressed in buckskins. One of these photos appears in the frontispiece of his book, Hunting Trips of a Ranchman (1885). Curt Eriksmoen, “TR Had Three Good Friends in Dakota Territory,” Bismarck Tribune, April 6, 2014.

  8. Ibid.

  9. Hermann Hagedorn, Roosevelt in the Bad Lands. New York: Houghton Mifflin, 1921, p. 17.

  10. Western custom dictated that anyone approaching a campsite or home had to hail the occupants, usually with a “Hello in the camp!” One had to wait to be asked to dismount and invited in. Doing so without proper overture was not just bad manners, but could get one shot.

  11. Lincoln A. Lang, Ranching with Roosevelt. Philadelphia, PA: J. D. Lippincott, 1926, p. 101.

  12. Ibid., p. 102.

  HUNTING THE SHAGGY BEAST

  1. Hermann Hagedorn, Roosevelt in the Badlands. New York: Houghton Mifflin, 1921, p. 24.

  2. Lincoln A. Lang, Ranching with Roosevelt. Philadelphia, PA: J. D. Lippincott, 1926, p. 113.

  3. Hagedorn, Roosevelt in the Badlands, p. 37.

  4. Lang, Ranching with Roosevelt, p. 113.

  5. Letter from Theodore Roosevelt to Alice Lee Roosevelt, September 14, 1883. Theodore Roosevelt Collection. MS Am 1541.9 (101). Houghton Library, Harvard University.

  6. Theodore Roosevelt, Hunting Trips of a Ranchman. Birmingham, AL: Palladium Press (reprint), 1999, p. 280.

  7. Letter from Theodore Roosevelt to Alice Lee Roosevelt, September 14, 1883, Houghton Library.

  8. Hagedorn, Roosevelt in the Badlands, p. 36.

  9. Roosevelt, Hunting Trips of a Ranchman, p. 284.

  10. Ibid.

  11. Ibid., p. 285.

  12. Letter from Theodore Roosevelt to Alice Lee Roosevelt, September 17, 1883. Theodore Roosevelt Collection. MS Am 1541.9 (102). Houghton Library, Harvard University.

  13. Roosevelt, Hunting Trips of a Ranchman, p. 286.

  14. Letter from Theodore Roosevelt to Alice Lee Roosevelt, September 17, 1883.

  15. Hagedorn, Roosevelt in the Badlands, pp. 41–43.

  16. Ibid., p. 43.

  17. He earned a total of $114.75 in 1883 for his book royalties. Carleton Putnam, Theodore Roosevelt: The Formative Years, 1858–1886. New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1958, p. 337.

  18. Edmund Morris, The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt. New York: Random House, 1979, p. 210.

  19. Roosevelt, Hunting Trips of a Ranchman, p. 287.

  20. Hagedorn, Roosevelt in the Badlands, p. 45.

  21. Letter from Theodore Roosevelt to Alice Lee Roosevelt, September 20, 1883. Theodore Roosevelt Collection. MS Am 1541.9 (103).
Houghton Library, Harvard University.

  22. Lang, Ranching with Roosevelt, p. 119.

  THE HOUSE WITH A CURSE

  1. Letter from Theodore Roosevelt to Alice Lee Roosevelt, September 23, 1883. Theodore Roosevelt Collection. MS Am 1541.9 (104). Houghton Library, Harvard University.

  2. Carleton Putnam, Theodore Roosevelt: The Formative Years, 1858–1886. New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1958, pp. 343–44.

  3. Mike Thompson, The Travels and Tribulations of Theodore Roosevelt’s Cabin. San Angelo, TX: Laughing Horse Publications, 2004, pp.4–5.

  4. “Gone to see the elephant” was a nineteenth-century term that meant someone who had seen things most people would never see or experience. It was a common term used among Civil War soldiers and cowboys.

  5. Edmund Morris, The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt. New York: Random House, 1979, pp. 217–18.

  6. Theodore goes on to relate how he spent the day sparring with his boxing teacher, proudly saying he bloodied his instructor’s nose with an upper cut. He then mentions an “exciting debate” on his Reform Charter bill, and that he will dine the next evening at the Rathbones. “It was very kind to ask me, but I do not anticipate much fun.” He signs it “Your Ever Loving Thee.” Elting E. Morison, ed. The Letters of Theodore Roosevelt: The Years of Preparation, 1868–1898. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1951, p. 65.

  7. The family doctor was unaware that the cramps Alice complained of were related to her kidneys failing, and not a usual side effect of the pregnancy. In any case, there was nothing the doctor could have done to save her.

  8. Morris, The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt, p. 231.

  9. Inscription entered on Saturday, February 16, 1884, personal diary of Theodore Roosevelt, 1884. Theodore Roosevelt Papers, Manuscript Division, Library of Congress.

  10. Morris, The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt, p. 235.

  11. Ibid., p. 237.

  12. Morison, ed. The Letters of Theodore Roosevelt: The Years of Preparation, 1868–1898, p. 66.

  13. Morris, The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt, p. 238.

  14. Ibid., p. 259.

  15. Letter dated April 30, 1884. H. W. Brands, The Selected Letters of Theodore Roosevelt. New York: Cooper Square Press, 2001, pp. 30–31.

  16. Theodore Roosevelt, Ranch Life and the Hunting-Trail. Alexandria, VA: Time-Life Books (reprint), 1981, p. 59.

  17. Translation would be that a man is “all talk and no action.”

  18. H. Paul Jeffers, The Bully Pulpit: A Teddy Roosevelt Book of Quotations. Lanham, MD: Taylor Trade Publishing, 2002, p. 52.

  HEADIN’ WEST

  1. Bad Lands Cow Boy, February 7, 1884. Theodore Roosevelt Center, Dickinson State University.

  2. A reconstructed version of the train depot stands at the original site on Pacific Avenue.

  3. Bad Lands Cow Boy, February 7, 1884.

  4. Hermann Hagedorn, Roosevelt in the Badlands. New York: Houghton Mifflin, 1921, pp. 89–90.

  5. Bad Lands Cow Boy, February 7, 1884.

  6. Hagedorn, Roosevelt in the Badlands, pp. 76–77.

  7. Bismarck Tribune, quoted in the Bad Lands Cow Boy, February 14, 1884. Theodore Roosevelt Center Dickinson State University.

  8. Ibid.

  9. Bad Lands Cow Boy, February 7, 1884.

  10. Ibid. February 21, 1884.

  11. Hagedorn, Roosevelt in the Badlands, p. 127.

  12. Ibid., p.129.

  13. Ibid., pp. 84–86.

  14. With his mother’s passing, Theodore received an additional $62,500 to add to the $125,000 he was given by his father’s estate. Carleton Putnam, Theodore Roosevelt: The Formative Years, 1858–1886. New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1958, p. 453.

  15. Ibid., p. 455.

  16. They were also referred to as “stovepipes.” Chaps made with angora hair on them were worn by some cowboys in the Northern Plains for warmth during the late fall and winter. They were known as “woolies.”

  17. Hagedorn, Roosevelt in the Badlands, p. 102.

  18. Lincoln A. Lang, Ranching with Roosevelt. Philadelphia, PA: J. D. Lippincott, 1926, p. 157.

  19. A quirt is a rider’s whip. Made out of leather or rawhide, it was braided and had a weighted handle. Quirts were about a foot long with two or three thongs made from leather, buffalo, or cowhide. Ibid., p. 154.

  20. Theodore Roosevelt, Theodore Roosevelt: An Autobiography. Norwalk, CT: The Easton Press, 1996, p. 123.

  21. This is the same buckskin suit Theodore wears in a series of photographs taken in a New York City photo gallery around 1885. The publisher used one of the pictures in Theodore’s book, Hunting Trips of a Ranchman (1885).

  22. Lang, Ranching with Roosevelt, p. 157.

  23. Ibid., p. 159.

  24. Elting E. Morison, ed. The Letters of Theodore Roosevelt: The Years of Preparation, 1868– 1898. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1951, pp. 73–74.

  25. He began his trip on June 18, 1884. Theodore Roosevelt, Hunting Trips of a Ranch-man. Birmingham, AL: Palladium Press (reprint), 1999, p. 209.

  26. Roosevelt, Theodore Roosevelt: An Autobiography, p. 125.

  27. Theodore eventually gave the telescope to Bill Merrifield. The telescope is now on display at the visitor center at the Theodore Roosevelt National Park. Roosevelt, Hunting Trips of a Ranchman, p. 211.

  28. Ibid., p. 214.

  29. Entry written on Wednesday, June 18, 1884. Personal diary of Theodore Roosevelt, 1884. Theodore Roosevelt Papers, Manuscript Division, Library of Congress.

  30. Roosevelt, Hunting Trips of a Ranchman, p. 220.

  31. Entry written on Wednesday, June 21, 1884. Personal diary of Theodore Roosevelt, 1884.

  32. Roosevelt, Hunting Trips of a Ranchman, p. 228.

  33. Bad Lands Cow Boy, June 26, 1884. Theodore Roosevelt Center, Dickinson State University.

  34. Putnam, Theodore Roosevelt: The Formative Years, 1858–1886, pp. 461–62.

  35. Interview was reprinted in the August 7, 1884, edition of the Bad Lands Cow Boy.

  36. Donald Dresden, The Marquis de Morès: Emperor of the Bad Lands. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1970, pp. 179–80.

  37. Roosevelt, Theodore Roosevelt: An Autobiography, p. 124.

  38. Hagedorn, Roosevelt in the Badlands, pp. 193–94.

  DAKOTA RANCHER

  1. Andrew Vietze, Becoming Teddy Roosevelt: How a Maine Guide Inspired America’s 26th President. Lanham, MD: Down East, 2010, p. 85.

  2. Ibid., p. 86.

  3. Edmund Morris, The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt. New York: Random House, 1979, p. 272.

  4. Letter from Theodore Roosevelt to Anna Roosevelt, August 17, 1884. Theodore Roosevelt Collection. MS Am 1834 (198a). Houghton Library, Harvard University.

  5. Vietze, Becoming Teddy Roosevelt, pp. 90–91.

  6. Hermann Hagedorn, Roosevelt in the Badlands. New York: Houghton Mifflin, 1921, p. 163.

  7. Vietze, Becoming Teddy Roosevelt, p. 89.

  8. Ibid., pp. 92–93.

  9. Adding to potential problems with the Marquis, Theodore had hired Dutch Wannegan as a ranch hand at the Maltese Cross. Morris, The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt, pp. 276–77.

  10. Ibid., pp. 822–23, n. 65.

  11. The town is now known as Wibaux, Montana, thirty-five miles west of Medora. There is no marker or plaque to designate Theodore’s incident.

  12. Theodore Roosevelt, Theodore Roosevelt: An Autobiography. Norwalk, CT: The Easton Press, 1996, p. 136.

  13. Ibid.

  14. “Down in your boots” is a term for being afraid or cowardly. Win Blevins, Dictionary of the American West. Seattle, WA: Sasquatch Books, 2001, p. 126.

  15. “Sand” was a favorite term among mountain men and cowboys for describing courage or grit.

  16. Morris, The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt, p. 277.

  17. Vietze, Becoming Teddy Roosevelt, p. 96.

  18. Letter from Theodore Roosevelt to Anna Roosevelt. August 17, 1884.

  19. Carleton Putnam, Theodore Roosev
elt: The Formative Years, 1858–1886. New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1958, p. 474, n. 12.

  20. Hagedorn, Roosevelt in the Badlands. New York: Houghton Mifflin, 1921, pp.175–76.

  21. Putnam, Theodore Roosevelt: The Formative Years, 1858–1886, p. 475.

  22. Ibid., p. 476.

  23. Personal diary of Theodore Roosevelt, 1883–1884. Theodore Roosevelt Papers, Manuscript Division, Library of Congress.

  24. Elting E. Morison, ed. The Letters of Theodore Roosevelt: The Years of Preparation, 1868– 1898. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1951, pp. 79–80.

  25. Edward P. Kohn, ed. A Most Glorious Ride: The Diaries of Theodore Roosevelt, 1877– 1886. Albany, NY: Excelsior Editions, 2015, pp. 232–33.

  26. Ibid., pp. 234–35.

  27. Diary entry dated August 30, 1884. Ibid., p. 233.

  28. The Tensleep Creek is a tributary of the Nowood River, which flows into the Big-horn River.

  29. Kohn, ed. A Most Glorious Ride: The Diaries of Theodore Roosevelt, 1877–1886. Albany, NY: Excelsior Editions, 2015, p. 236.

  30. Theodore Roosevelt, Hunting Trips of a Ranchman. Birmingham, AL: Palladium Press (reprint), 1999, p. 336.

  31. Douglas Brinkley, The Wilderness Warrior: Theodore Roosevelt and the Crusade for America. New York: HarperCollins Publishers, 2009, pp. 174–75.

  32. Morison, ed., The Letters of Theodore Roosevelt: The Years of Preparation, 1868–1898, pp. 81–82.

  33. Kohn, ed. A Most Glorious Ride: The Diaries of Theodore Roosevelt, 1877–1886, p. 239.

  34. Hagedorn, Roosevelt in the Badlands, pp. 207–08.

  A STRENUOUS LIFE

  1. Edmund Morris, The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt. New York: Random House, 1979, p. 284.

  2. Carleton Putnam, Theodore Roosevelt: The Formative Years, 1858–1886. New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1958, pp. 502–03.

  3. Letter dated November 11, 1884. Elting E. Morison, ed. The Letters of Theodore Roosevelt: The Years of Preparation, 1868–1898. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1951, p. 88.

  4. Theodore Roosevelt, Hunting Trips of a Ranchman. Birmingham, AL: Palladium Press (reprint), 1999, pp. 86–89.