Colonel Roosevelt

by Edmund Morris

  22 Mount Kenya In 1909, Kenya was spelled Kenia, and denoted only the highlands of British East Africa. Ten years later, the entire region down to the coast was renamed “Kenya Colony and Protectorate.”

  23 “If I am where” Robinson, My Brother TR, 251.

  24 He has, besides Bull, Safari, 160–63; Paul Russell Cutright, Theodore Roosevelt: The Making of a Conservationist (Urbana, Ill., 1985), 26–37, 169–82. TR’s youthful 622-item “Roosevelt Museum of Natural History,” featuring an impressive collection of Nile bird skins, was accepted by the Smithsonian in 1882. For TR’s conservation record as President, see Douglas Brinkley, The Wilderness Warrior: Theodore Roosevelt and the Crusade for America (New York, 2009). The classic work on the hunter-conservationist paradox is John F. Reiger, American Sportsmen and the Origins of Conservation, 3rd ed. (Corvallis, Ore., 2001).

  25 this highly professional expedition TR, Works, 5.5–6; Kermit Roosevelt, The Long Trail (New York, 1921), 44–45.

  26 His son may not qualify KR to EKR, 10 Aug. 1909 (KRP); Sylvia Morris, Edith Kermit Roosevelt, 298. In the early days of the expedition, KR’s title of Bwana Mdogo became Bwana Maridadi (“Master Dandy”), a change not entirely to TR’s liking. However, the mandolin-strumming youth soon won general respect.

  27 How Edith Roosevelt feels Sylvia Morris, Edith Kermit Roosevelt, 347–49; EKR to Mrs. William D. Foulke, 7 Apr. 1909, Foulke Papers, Library of Congress.

  28 By now she should Sylvia Morris, Edith Kermit Roosevelt, 348; Archibald W. Butt, Taft and Roosevelt: The Intimate Letters of Archie Butt, Military Aide, 2 vols. (New York, 1930), 25.

  29 My dear Theodore TR, Letters, 7.3–4.

  30 “I am no hanger-on” Ibid., 6.1230.

  31 there is one title TR to J. Alden Loring et al. on board SS Hamburg, quoted in Frederick S. Wood, Roosevelt As We Knew Him: The Personal Recollections of One Hundred and Fifty of His Friends and Associates (Philadelphia, 1927), 221–22. See also Henry F. Pringle, Theodore Roosevelt, A Biography (New York, 1931), 510. On the very day TR quit the White House, he had pleasedly patted the shoulder of a reporter addressing him as “Colonel.” “This man knows how to flatter me.” The New York Times, 6 Mar. 1909.

  32 If war ever comes TR’s safari luggage contained a military greatcoat with gold braid round the sleeves. When preparing for his trip, he had to be dissuaded from ordering the elaborate dress uniform of a colonel of cavalry, to wear at formal events on his emergence from the jungle. EKR clinched the matter by threatening to match his outfit with that of a camp follower. (Sylvia Morris, Edith Kermit Roosevelt, 333.) See Whitelaw Reid to TR (“My earnest advice would be not to wear it, since it would certainly attract enormous attention”), 23 Sept. 1908 (WR); Archibald Butt, The Letters of Archie Butt: Personal Aide to President Roosevelt, Lawrence F. Abbott, ed. (New York, 1924); Wood, Roosevelt As We Knew Him, 419.

  33 “an outrage and an indecency” TR to Roy W. Howard of United Press, 16 Mar. 1909 (TRP). See also TR, Letters, 6.1403–5; Gary Rice, “Trailing a Celebrity: Press Coverage of Theodore Roosevelt’s African Safari, 1909–1910,” Theodore Roosevelt Association Journal, 22.3 (Fall 1996).

  34 A touch bon marché EKR to KR, 19 Oct. 1917 (KRP). TR’s $50,000 contract in 1909 would be worth $888,000 in 2010. (Measuring Worth) “I think there is such a thing as making too much money out of a given feat,” TR rather embarrassedly wrote Henry Cabot Lodge. (Lodge, Selections, 2.305.) He was also earning $12,000 ($213,000) a year as contributing editor of The Outlook.

  35 He rides out to hunt This excursion (24 Apr. 1909) is misdated in TR, Works, 5.27.

  Chronological Note: In order to correct some confusion in earlier accounts, the following chronology gives the main dates, major kills, and general itinerary of the Smithsonian–Theodore Roosevelt Expedition. It is based on a compilation of TR’s safari diaries for 1909 and 1910 (TRC and TRB), supplemented by those of KR and F. Warrington Dawson, and articles in the East African newspapers. Capitalized place-names denote bases of operations.

  1909

  Apr. 21: TR arrives Mombasa; 22: overnight train inland; 23: arrives KAPITI depot.

  FIRST SAFARI (5 WEEKS)

  Apr. 24: begins to hunt and camp in KITANGA RANCH region; 29: 1st 2 lions. May 2: 2 lions, 1 lioness; 3: Bondini; 5: Kilima Kiu camp; 6: cow eland, rhino near Juja; 9: bull giraffe; 11: Potha camp; 12: visits U.S. Machakos mission; 13: JUJA FARM for 1 week; 16: cow rhino; 16: 1st hippo, Rewero River; 19: Nairobi Falls; 20: Kamiti camp; 21: 1st buffalo; 24: TR charged by buffalo; 25: breaks Kamiti camp; 26: NAIROBI for 8 days; stays at Government House; 27: governor’s reception, dance; 28: moves to McMillan townhouse; 31: dinner Norfolk Hotel.

  SECOND SAFARI (7 WEEKS)

  June 3: leaves NAIROBI, via U.S. Kijabe mission, en route SOTIK; 5: begins moonlight marches across “the Thirst”; 10: camps on southern Guaso Nyero (5 days); 14: kills lioness; welcomed by Masai; 15: limestone springs camp (9 days); 16: 3 giraffes; 18: rhino, topi, wildebeest; 20: rhino cow, calf; 23: lion; 24: Masai pool camp (3 days); 25: big maned lion; 27: plains camp (6 days); 29: 7 kills, including 1 rhino; 30:

  First overseas mail. July 3: breaks camp; begins northward trek to Naivasha; 4: cow rhino; 6: rejoins naturalists at Guaso Nyero; 7: writing day; 11: reaches NAIVASHA; 12: camps on Attenborough Farm (12 days); 13: begins hippo hunting; 16: fever; 20: mass hippo kill; 23: employs Dawson as press secretary; 24: train to NAIROBI for 11-day stay in McMillan townhouse; 25ff: works on correspondence, chapters for Scribners. Aug. 3: dinner in his honor; speech, “Education in Africa.”

  THIRD SAFARI (3 WEEKS)

  Aug. 4: train via Kijabe mission (stone-laying ceremony) to NAIVASHA for 4 days; 8: leaves for Aberdare range; 11: arrives NYERI; Kikuyu dance welcome; 14: fever; ascends foothills of Mount Kenya; 18: begins elephant hunting; 19: 1st bull elephant; 22: returns NYERI to write.

  FOURTH SAFARI (2 WEEKS)

  Aug. 25: begins solo, 2-week hunt on the plains; 27: camps on headwater of northern GUASO NYERO; 29: trophy eland. Sept. 3: rejoined by main safari; 4: treks back north to Mount Kenya foothills; arrives MERU BOMA; 5: marching along equator; 7: begins 2-week hunt in and around Boma; 11: elephant bull; 13: elephant cow; 15: N’gouga Crater Lake; 16: rhino; 17: buffalo hunt; 21: safari divides; TR heads for 3-week hunt in GUASO NYERO valley. Oct. 15: arrives back in NYERI; receives mail; 17: crossing Aberdares; 20: returns NAIVASHA; 21: NAIROBI for 4-day stay.

  SIXTH SAFARI (5 WEEKS)

  Oct. 25: leaves NAIROBI for Londiani; 27: begins March to Mount Elgon highlands; 27: turns 51; 31: arrives UASIN GISHU plateau. Nov. 1: begins 4-week hunt for Victoria Nyanza fauna; giraffe camp; 9: moves to River ‘Nzoi; 9: follows honey-bird; 12: love letter to EKR; 14: meets up with American Museum of Natural History expedition; 15: 3 elephant cows; 18: arrives Lake Sergoi; 20: witnesses Nandi lion hunt; 26: returning to Londiani; 30: arrives Londiani; pays off, dismisses East African safari personnel; to Njoro for 10 days in and around Delamere ranch. Dec. 11: returns NAIROBI to prepare for Uganda safari (1 week).

  SEVENTH SAFARI (9 WEEKS)

  Dec. 17: farewell dinner; 18: departs NAIROBI by train via Nakuru for Kisumu; 19: arrives Kisumu; overnight steamer voyage across Lake Victoria to Entebbe, Uganda; 20: arrives Entebbe; reception by governor; dedicates mission; 21: in KAMPALA, prepares new safari team for northward trek; 23: begins 13-day march through sleeping sickness country; 28: kills charging elephant.

  1910

  Jan. 2: crosses Kafu into Unyoro kingdom; 5: arrives Butiaba, on Lake Albert; 7: embarks down White Nile; 8: stops at Wadelai; 9: arrives “Rhino Camp,” Lado Enclave; 10: begins 3-week hunt for white rhino. Feb. 1: hunts hippo; 3: sails on downriver; 4: arrives Nimule; 7: begins 10-day march past White Nile Rapids; 17: arrives GONDOKORO.

  EIGHTH SAFARI (8 DAYS)

  Feb. 18: upriver to Rajaf; 19: arrives Rajaf; begins to hunt eland, bongo; 23: 5 bull eland; 26: returns Rajaf, on to GONDOKORO. Mar. 1: down the Nile on Dal for next fortnight; 14: arrives KHARTOUM, pays off remaining safar
i personnel; returns to public life.

  36 his own Dutch surname See Biographical Note above, 582.

  37 After two years of drought The Leader of British East Africa, 29 May 1909; TR, Works, 5.27, 23.

  38 What he really wants TR, Works, 5.28, 45–46; Alexander Nemerov, “Vanishing Americans: Abbott Thayer, Theodore Roosevelt, and the Attractions of Camouflage,” American Art, Summer 1997.

  39 Trippa, troppa TR, Works, 5.41 [sic]; Theodore Roosevelt, An Autobiography (New York, 1913; Library of America, 2004), 251–52. TR quoted entirely from phonetic memory, not sure if his Dutch was correct or not (it wasn’t). A printed words-and-music version of this song in TRB begins, Trippel trippel toontjes, / Kippen in de boontjes. (“Wiggle, wiggle, little toes, / Snug inside their booties.”)

  40 By “veldt law” Morris, The Rise of TR, 202–12; TR, Works, 5.29. TR’s 1909 diary from this day on is filled with diagrammatic sketches that meticulously show the order and point of entry of all the bullets that brought down his specimens (TRC). See 20.

  41 He follows TR, Works, 5.70–71; TR in The Leader of British East Africa, 7 Aug. 1909.

  42 Right in front TR, Works, 5.72–73.

  43 He tries to notate Another of TR’s phonetic transcriptions on safari was of the following rendition, by African missionary-school students, of the U.S. national anthem: O se ka nyu si bai di mo nseli laiti / Wati so pulauli wi eli adi twayi laiti silasi gilemi. TR, Works, 5.365.

  44 They cluster around TR, Works, 5.76–80; Kermit Roosevelt, The Long Trail, 68. For connoisseurs of hunting chants, TR’s was as follows: Whack! fal, lal, fal, lal, tal, ladeddy; / Whack! hurroo! for Lanigan’s ball. He probably learned the song as a child in 1863, when it was popularized by Bryant’s Minstrels in New York.

  45 The firelight glows TR, Works, 5.80.

  46 Like a python The general procedure of TR’s safari was to travel (camping frequently en route) for a month or more, before looping back to Kapiti or Nairobi to restock, ship specimens, and communicate with the outside world. Each foray focused on a particular group of museum-desired fauna.

  47 As leader TR, Works, 5.459–68. After TR’s death, Charles William Beebe wrote that “he was one of the best field naturalists we have ever had in Africa.” TR, Works, 4.xiii.

  48 But his main TR, Letters, 7.8–9, TR; Works, 5.62.

  49 He is aware One admittedly “wrought up” description of a tropical storm pleased TR so much that he begged his editor not to delete it. TR, Letters, 7.33–34.

  Biographical Note: TR took with him to Africa two custom-made, watertight, antproof steel-frame writing boxes, covered with black bridle leather and sling-strapped for portage. The boxes contained 30 thick manuscript pads, enough for 1,500 pages of copy, with commensurate numbers of carbon sheets and two dozen indelible pencils.

  By June 1, he had completed six “chapters” of about 7,000 to 8,000 words each, and had decided on a title for his book: African Game Trails (TR, Letters, 7.16). Robert Bridges, TR’s editor at Scribners, was amazed at the steadiness, promptness, and copiousness of his dispatches. “I have always said that you are the best contributor we had” (Bridges to TR, 24 June 1909 [SCR]).

  The Bridges/Roosevelt correspondence in SCR reveals TR’s professionalism as an author. For example, on 17 July 1909, he sends instructions as to how his text may be split or shortened for serialization (“In the book, of course, I want the chapters to appear just as I have written them”), suggests chapter titles and illustrations, indicates the probable subject matter of future installments, and urges early publication in hardcover (“I am told that no less than eight books on hunting and travelling in British East Africa have been or are now being written.… The object of course is to forestall our book.”) He requests a $20,000 contractual payment, suggests a negotiant (F. Warrington Dawson) for French serial and book rights, and repeatedly presses the value of his son’s photographs. “I regard this book as a serious thing,” he wrote in another letter. “I have put my very best into it and I cannot consent to have it appear in any but first class form.” TR to Bridges, 26 Mar. 1910 (SCR).

  50 He is an honest writer See, e.g., TR, Works, 5.55: “Generally each head of game cost me a goodly number of bullets; but only twice did I wound animals which I failed to get.… Some of my successful shots at Grant’s gazelle and kongoni were made at three hundred, three hundred and fifty, or four hundred yards, but at such distances my proportion of misses was very large indeed—and there were altogether too many even at short ranges.”

  Biographical Note: Asked if he considered himself a good shot, he joked, “No, but I shoot often.” Lord Cranworth, Sir Frederick Jackson, and Bartle Bull have harshly criticized TR for this profligacy. Before losing the sight of his left eye, he had been a good marksman, managing once to put five bullets through the same target hole. But lack of target practice caused him to grow rusty as President—so much so that in 1908, he called in Admiral W. S. Sims, the navy’s ranking gunnery expert, to prepare him for Africa. Sims set up “a little apparatus” on the upper floor of the White House, consisting of a clamped gun firing at a revolving needle at 60-foot range. “We put the President on the machine,” he told a dinner audience long afterward, “and from the point of view of a rhinoceros, he did not shoot for sour apples.” TR’s half-blindness caused him problems in the early stages of his safari, but he shot better with practice, getting about half of his trophies at ranges of 200+ yards. After his death, the professional hunter Stewart Edward White pointed out that target shooting and game shooting are two very different skills. “So far from being a poor shot, [TR] was an exceedingly good game-shot, a much better game-shot than the majority of riflemen.” Sims to Roosevelt Memorial Association, 1926, quoted in “The Story of the Roosevelt Medals,” ts. (TRB); Wood, Roosevelt As We Knew Him, 223; Bull, Safari, 173, 180–81; TR, Works, 2.xxiii–xxiv.

  51 his indelible pencil A holograph chapter of African Game Trails, still in the original pad, is preserved in TRBU, and an almost complete copy of the original (top-sheet) ms. is in TRC.

  52 One copy of each Bibliographical note by R. W. G. Vail enclosed in TRC ms. of African Game Trails; Lawrence F. Abbott, Impressions of Theodore Roosevelt (New York, 1919), 173–74; Wood, Roosevelt As We Knew Him, 364ff.; TR, Letters, 7.19–21. It took about a month for one of TR’s envelopes to reach New York. By early July, Scribners already had six chapters in hand. “You can’t imagine how pleased we are to have so much good material in so early,” Robert Bridges wrote him (9 July 1909 [SCR]).

  53 As he falls TR, Works, 5.90–91, 187–88, 132–34, 155–56, 163–67. TR’s account of his hunt after buffalo, arguably the most dangerous game in Africa, is modest. “We walked toward them, rather expecting a charge; but when we were still over two hundred yards away they started back for the swamp, and we began firing.” The African hunters with him admitted afterward to feelings of panic as the buffalo massed to charge them on the open plain. TR took command, shouting an order that kept them standing still until the buffalo swerved into the papyrus. “We lost our heads, but the Colonel kept his, and saved us all from certain death.” F. Warrington Dawson, quoting his own diary, 31 May 1909, in “Opportunity and Theodore Roosevelt,” prepublication ts., 35–36 (KRP).

  54 In a sudden TR, Works, 5.205–6.

  55 But he is looking Ibid., 5.280.

  56 Then, curling up Ibid., 5.450; KR diary, 15 July 1909 (KRP). KR photographed this incident.

  57 zero at the bone The phrase is Emily Dickinson’s. TR sweated out this and other attacks of chronic fever with the aid of whiskey from Dr. Mearns’s medicine chest—the only alcohol he was seen to take on safari. With quaint precision, he calculated his consumption at “just six ounces in eleven months.” Wood, Roosevelt As We Knew Him, 333; TR, Works, 5.450. By May 1915, this had changed in his memory to “seven tablespoons of brandy.” See 278.

  58 Although he assures himself TR, Letters, 7.22. Dawson, “Opportunity and TR,” 38, puts TR’s total as of 20 May 1909 at “som
e 60 specimens of big game, including about 20 species.” Nine days later, The Leader of British East Africa reported his big-game bag had risen to 86 specimens. TR and KR together shot, by mid-July 1909, 12 lion, 7 rhino, 6 giraffes, 6 topi, 5 buffalo, 4 eland, and 3 hippos, plus numerous other lesser species and an indeterminate quantity of game for food.

  59 The trouble with such luck The New York Times commented on a report that TR had shot 18 antelope and 2 wildebeest on his first major hunt: “It really does seem to be a good deal of killing for a faunal naturalist.” William J. Long wrote in the San Francisco Examiner, “The worst thing about the whole bloody business … is not the killing of a few hundred wild animals … but the brutalizing influence which [such] reports have upon thousands of American boys.” Rice, “Trailing a Celebrity.”