Lost in the Shadow of Fame

by William E. Lemanski

  Sickness and Delirium

  As the expedition’s slow, harrowing movement down the river progressed, the men continued to weaken under the backbreaking exertion and physical abuse the jungle imposed. All were in an emaciated state and Kermit had recurrence of his fever. His condition was so serious, he was barely able to stand. His temperature had spiked to 104 degrees and the doctor was administering quinine to relieve his suffering. Cherrie and Lyra developed dysentery.

  Roosevelt had spent much of his life on wilderness excursions and was always sensitive to contributing his share of labor and hardship in the bush. This trip was no different for him and despite his age and physical disabilities, he was adamant about shouldering his portion of the burden. While working in the water alongside of the men to upturn a canoe, he bruised his leg against a boulder. The wound became inflamed and within a day he came down with fever and was unable to walk. For forty-eight hours he lay in his tent while slipping in and out of delirium with an abnormally elevated temperature. As he lay in rags, burning with fever and perspiration, the doctor administered as best as he could in the fetid jungle environment laboring under the absence of any medical facilities. Kermit, who had partially recovered from his own disability, along with Cherrie and the doctor stood watch over the sick patient, fearful that he was close to death. Roosevelt’s stern and unforgiving wilderness ethics and military nature demanded all members of any expedition to bear an equal measure of burden and hardship and not present a danger to his comrades in any way. His stated opinion was:

  “No man has any business to go on such a trip as ours unless he will refuse to jeopardize the welfare of his associates by any delay caused by a weakness or ailment of his. It is his duty to go forward, if necessary on all fours, until he drops38

  If one is unable and becomes a threat to the lives of others he must be sacrificed to save all. Consequently, during his intermittent periods of being conscious, he implored Cherrie and Kermit to leave him behind stating:

  “Boys I realize that some of us are not going to finish this journey and I know that I am only a burden to the rest of you. Cherrie, I want you and Kermit to go on, I want you to get out – I shall stop here.” 39

  Naturally, neither Cherrie nor Kermit would leave Roosevelt. He no doubt correctly realized that he would never be abandoned and from a practical standpoint, if he did expire he would impose a greater risk to the expedition as Kermit would never leave his body to the appetite of the jungle. This realization may have had a great effect in spurring him on. Within a couple of days, both Roosevelt and Kermit recovered enough to continue. All of the men were considerably emaciated from the lack of food, exertion and the jungle’s toll with Roosevelt losing close to one quarter of his body weight and much of his stamina. His strength and robust constitution never fully recovered and some speculate, may have hastened his early death in just a few short years.

  Deliverance

  At long last conditions on the river began to slightly improve as the men were close to reaching the limit of their endurance; their emaciated bodies racked with fever and numerous bruising. The mountainous jungle began to level in elevation as the river widened portending a possible end of the treacherous rapids and debilitating portaging. Even their diet began to slightly improve when Cherrie and Kermit were able to secure some monkey and turtle and the men caught a large river catfish. The next few days were a disheartening repetition of encountering rapids and the arduous task of handling the canoes. Some of the comaradas were becoming so weak and unfit they were unable to man the canoes and Kermit began the task of fulltime paddling.

  On April 15th, just a day following the discovery of tree cuttings suspected of being made by rubber-men (harvesters of rubber), the expedition came upon a crude sign on the left bank of the river with the initials, J.A. In view of the hostile Indians and impassable river cataracts, the rubber collectors had been working the river upstream as far as their courage and endurance would permit and this was the limit of their assent. After seven weeks on the river, the claim marker confirmed the expedition was finally approaching the fringes of civilization and touched-off a euphoria within the group; evidence that their long jungle nightmare was reaching an end.

  Throughout the day the expedition passed evidence of civilized habitation: clearings, unoccupied thatched huts and even a couple of barking pet dogs. Due to the total isolation and wildness of this region of the river and fearing a possible Indian raid, the inhabitants fled at their approach, believing that no civilized white man could be venturing down this far from upriver. Finally they returned and the bone-weary and bedraggled men were able to sleep their first night since embarking on the river under a firm roof.

  v

  From here on the trip conditions became an amazing contrast compared to what the men had endured on the Rio Duvida. Roosevelt was still sick and spent much of the remainder of the trip sheltered from the blazing sun and occasional downpour, prostrate under a canopy rigged over his canoe. The men spent nights indoors at borrowed thatched houses and ate fresh meat and vegetables. The river trip also became easier as they were now traveling along a well-known waterway with established portage trails around the rapids they continued to encounter. Some provisions were available at the houses of the rubber-men and at one makeshift wilderness store, Cherrie and Kermit being drinking men, even procured a bottle of Italian Vermouth.

  On April 26th the expedition arrived at the confluence of the Rio Duvida and the Aripuanan where Rondon had previously sent one of his lieutenants ahead with provisions for the expedition on the off chance that the Duvida may converge with the Aripuanan. Lieutenant Pyrineus had been encamped there for over a month with flags flying as the flotilla of small canoes came into view. Rondon’s instincts proved correct. Up until this time, whether they would ultimately meet and from which body of water they would emerge, if they were to emerge at all, was only a guess. Always the military traditionalist, the next day Rondon officiated over the last “orders of the day” ceremony as the men gathered around a monument he hastily erected to commemorate the long journey and the amazing contribution the expedition made and the sacrifices they endured.

  History’s Disbelief and Modernity’s Shallow Memory

  The Roosevelt-Rondon Expedition should clearly be classified as one of the greatest explorations of the 20th century in both geographical importance and for human courage and endurance. With meager provisions and by using primitive equipment, instruments and techniques, a small group of men charted and placed on the map of South America a wilderness body of water the length of the Rhine River in Europe. During their almost six-thousand miles of travel, the expedition collected approximately 3,000 bird and mammal skins, 1,500 photographs including some birds, eggs and nests not yet known to science. Perhaps the most notable aspect of the adventure is that it was lead by a middle-aged ex-President of the United States along with his son.

  Today, many Americans are probably unaware of this extraordinary historical drama. Theodore Roosevelt is perhaps best known in the contemporary mind as a Mount Rushmore icon and remembered as a trust buster displaying a large set of grinning bicuspids; Kermit being not known at all. However, equal to today’s historical ignorance, following the expedition’s return, even with the facts before them, many prominent explorers and leading scientific institutions were in disbelief of Roosevelt’s South American claims. Perhaps from the jealousy of believing South America was the scientific domain of the British Empire, much of the criticism and doubt originated with the British. Sir Clements Markham, former President of the Royal Geographic Society thought the expedition explored a different, known river. Other British geographers and some overseas newspapers criticized Roosevelt as having mistakenly explored the Tapajos instead of a tributary of the Madeira. Particularly vicious accusations against Roosevelt came from Henry Savage Landor, a well known British explorer of the time. Eventually, the discoveries and claims of the expedition were verified and accepted by the scientific community,
placing the Roosevelt’s, Rondon and the other expedition members in history as some of the great explorers of the twentieth-century.

  NOTES:

  1 Theodore Roosevelt, Through the Brazilian Wilderness, 1914, pg. 247

  2 John Augustine Zahm, Following the Conquistadores, 1916, pg. 5

  3 Ibid., pg. 9

  4 Theodore Roosevelt, Through the Brazilian Wilderness, 1914, pg. 2

  5 William James Mills, Exploring Polar Frontiers: A Historical Encyclopedia, 2003, pg. 222

  6 Darthmouth College Library, the papers of Dr. George Shorkley (1871-1945). According to the library listing: “among Shorkley’s papers there is a little booklet titled ‘Fialaisms,’ in which he collected what he considered Fiala's ridiculous remarks. Shorkley also kept a journal titled ‘Medical Records,’ that he used as a personal journal as well, recording his view of events and frequently criticizing Fiala and others.”

  7 John Augustine Zahm, Through South America’s Southland, 1916, pg. 13 and 14

  8 Nathan Miller, Theodore Roosevelt, 1993, pg. 535

  9 Kermit later recorded “In September, 1908, he wrote me from Washington: ‘I have never gotten over the effects of the trolley-car accident six years ago, when as you will remember, they had to cut down to the shin bone. The shock permanently damaged the bone and, if anything happens, there is always a chance of trouble which would be serious.’ Kermit Roosevelt, The Long Trail, 1921, pg. 37

  10 Viewing a modern satellite image of the Amazon basin hydroshed resembles the nearly uncountable web of arteries, veins and capillaries in the human body. Numerous branches and tributaries that ultimately link into the mighty Amazon are arrayed over hundreds of thousands of square miles of this tropical wilderness basin. The Rio Roosevelt (aka Rio Teodoro) is still a remote, isolated waterway and tracks a frenetically circuitous route, continuously circling almost back into itself and dropping at numerous falls until merging in the north with the Madeira and ultimately emptying its conjoined waters into the Amazon.

  11 Theodore Roosevelt, Through the Brazilian Wilderness, 1914, pg. 9

  12 Ibid.. pa. 42 and 43

  13 Ibid., pa. 51

  14 Hermann Hagedorn, The Boys Life of Theodore Roosevelt, 1918, pg. 355

  15 Quoted in Stringing Together a Nation, Todd A. Diacon, 2004, pg. 36

  16 Theodore Roosevelt, Through the Brazilian Wilderness, 1914, pg. 172

  17 Ibid., pa. 184

  18 Ibid., pa.247 & 248

  19 John Augustine Zahm, Following the Conquistadores, 1916, pg. 480

  20 Theodore Roosevelt, Through the Brazilian Wilderness, 1914, pg. 159

  21 Arthur Tylee, his daughter Marian, and nurse Mildred Kratz, were killed on Nov. 3, 1930, together with three other missionaries by these tribesmen. As recently as January, 1951 adventurer Dave Yarwood was found dead with four turkey-feathered arrows in him within Nhambiquara country.

  22 Theodore Roosevelt, Through the Brazilian Wilderness, 1914, pg. 231

  23 Ibid., pg. 229

  24 Ibid., pg. 249

  25 Ibid., pg. 252

  26 Ibid., pg. 250

  27 Ibid., pg. 265

  28 The American Museum Journal, volume 15, 1915, pg. 39

  29 Theodore Roosevelt, Through the Brazilian Wilderness, pg. 276

  30 Ibid., pg. 277

  31 Ibid., pa. 256. At one of the campsites, carregadores ants devoured the doctor’s undershirt, ate holes in his mosquito-net and consumed the strap on Lyra’s gun case. One morning Roosevelt awoke in his tent to witness a procession of red and green leaf-bearing ants carrying away sections of his handkerchief and hat. They also devoured sections of his socks and underclothes; all necessary garments since his kit was already greatly reduced to lighten the load. Pg. 40

  32 Ibid., pg. 282

  33 George K. Cherrie Diary, Oct. 13 to May 14, pg.54

  34 Ibid., pg. 292

  35 Ibid., pg. 297, “One day more would complete a month since we had embarked on the Duvida-as we had started in February, the lunar and calendar months coincided. We had used up over half our provisions. We had come only a trifle over 160 kilometers, thanks to the character and number of rapids.”

  36 Ibid., pg. 298

  37 Ibid., pg. 317

  38 Theodore Roosevelt, Through the Brazilian Wilderness, 1914, pg. 328

  39 George K. Cherrie Diary, Oct. 13 to May 14; from a speech written by Cherrie, found in the diary. Document dated May 26, 1927

  Chapter IV – Settling Down

  in Civilization

  Ye have followed fast, ye have followed far,

  And where did the wandering lead?

  From the day that ye praised the spoken word

  To the day ye must gloss the deed.

  Rudyard Kipling “The Ballad of the Red Earl”

  During the many months of Kermit’s jungle wilderness trek in 1914, his mind and heart were continuously occupied with his fiancée, Belle Willard. Now, he was finally free of any commitments to his father and anxious to marry and continue on with his life.

  Belle Wyatt Willard was a young, vivacious socialite from a wealthy and prominent southern family. Belle’s father, Joseph E. Willard of Fairfax Virginia was ambassador to Spain and a former lieutenant governor of Virginia. The family built and maintained the famous Willard Hotel on Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington, DC, where presidents and potentates frequently lodged. During the 19th and first half of the 20th Centuries, such notables as Abe Lincoln, U.S. Grant and even Martin Luther King stayed at this Washington institution.*[9] In later years, Kermit served on the hotel’s board.

  During the Civil War, Belle’s grandmother, Antonia Ford, became a hero for the south as a spy for the famed Confederate Cavalry officer, JEB Stuart. Prior to the Battle of Second Manassas in August 1862, she saved Confederate troops by driving twenty-miles through Union lines to personally deliver intelligence information to Stuart on Union troop activities.

  In recognition of her service, she was awarded a commission as “honorary aide-de-camp” by Stuart. As the war progressed, she continued to spy for Stuart and the guerrilla commander, John Singleton Mosby, until her capture and confinement by Union troops. In the tradition of a romance novel, she ended up marrying one of the Union officers charged with guarding her following her capture: Major Joseph Willard.

  Marriage at Last

  Following Spanish civil law, the wedding civil ceremony on June 10, 1914, was held in Madrid at the office of the Chief of Police with a later Episcopal ceremony in the chapel of the British Embassy. Afterwards, a reception was held at the United States Embassy by Ambassador Willard. Among the many guests, the King of Spain was represented by his cousin, Don Alfonso of Orleans, and his wife, Princess Beatrice of Saxe-Coburg. The couple spent their honeymoon in the south of Spain. Even the wedding celebration of a president’s son could not deter Roosevelt’s detractors from criticizing their recently completed trip. By happenstance, Dr. Hamilton Rice, an American explorer who publically denounced the Rio Divuda discoveries, travelled on the same train as some of the wedding guests, raising concerns about a possible violent encounter between Rice and Roosevelt. During their stay in Spain they avoided each other and eventually, as details of the exploration became accepted within the scientific community, Rice apologized to the Roosevelts.

  Following their European honeymoon, the newlyweds settled into a conventional lifestyle in Argentina where Kermit secured employment as assistant manager for the National City Bank in Buenos Aires. In 1914, National City became the first foreign branch of any U.S. national bank (National City eventually became Citi Bank, one of the leading financial institutions in the United States today). This mid-level office position enabled Kermit to gain white collar experience in a managerial role that would later serve him in various executive level positions in the shipping industry. The Kermit Roosevelts lived a middle class lifestyle in Argentina through 1916 until he departed for the war in the Middle East. While in Argentina, Kermit’s first child, also named Kermit
and nicknamed Kim, was born. Kim was later to become a high-level World War II operative in the OSS, forerunner of the Central Intelligence Agency. He was also credited with the over-through of the Iranian Government in 1953 that placed the Shah in power.

  Kermit and Belle’s family continued to grow with the birth of Joseph Willard in 1918, Belle Wyatt in 1919 and Dirck in 1925.

  The Interference of War

  The belligerent Kaiser Wilhelm II had been increasing Germany’s land and naval forces for years, precipitating an arms race with Britain that even troubled TR when he was President.

  Tensions continued to rise among the major powers and the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand in June 1914 set the fuse of the European powder keg that had been forming for a number of years. Due to nationalism, militarism and distrust, various alliances were formed between the European powers. France, the British Empire, Germany, Russia and the lesser countries of Belgium, Serbia and Austria-Hungry along with Japan, engaged the entire European continent in a major conflict that began the following August. In November 1914, the Ottoman Empire, allied with Germany declared a holy war (jihad) against France and Great Britain. As the maelstrom grew, in May 1915 even Italy joined the fray. The “Great War” eventually became