That Teddy Roosevelt

            Nothing was going to stop him from making a speech, not even a bullet!

Three men were campaigning for the presidency. Woodrow Wilson was a Democrat, William Howard Taft was running as a Republican, and Theodore Roosevelt was a Progressive, or as some said, the Bull Moose party.

The Progressives had Roosevelt on the campaign trail. And on October 12, 1912, Teddy was in Milwaukee. He was on his way to the auditorium to give his speech when he was shot in the chest by an unknown man. The man was never caught, but his bullet did some damage. It passed through the thick papers of the speech and struck the metal eyeglass case before entering Teddy's body.

Doctors ordered Roosevelt to the hospital, but he had his mind made up, and he was going to deliver his speech. He continued on, entered the auditorium, and stood before the crowd. He began his speech with, "Friends, I shall ask you to be as quiet as possible. I don't know whether you fully understand that I have just been shot, but it takes more than that to kill a Bull Moose."

Despite all his efforts, he finished second in the election. 

When he was determined to do something, he did it. My book, Range War Legacy, is set during his presidency, and he had a significant influence on the cattle and sheep war. My research relates the factual account of the part he played in history. He made things happen.

The information on Theodore Roosevelt, the Bull Moose Party, and his run for president is from Shocking Secrets of American History by Bill Coate.

 

          America's First Woman President

Woodrow Wilson was the 28th President of the United States. Before he became president, he married Edith Bolling. Was she the right choice for a future president?

He guided our nation through World War I. After the war, he wanted to form the League of Nations.

Congress was against it, so he embarked on a train trip through the country, giving speeches in favor of this new idea.

His doctors did not want him to take on the strenuous journey and commitment, as his health was failing. In Kansas, he had a paralyzing stroke. Everyone in his entourage headed back to Washington, D.C.

Edith Wilson took charge. Without her permission, no one could see the president. The vice president, his son-in-law, every secretary, and even Congressmen. There could be no exceptions.

The legislation that could enter his room was decided by Edith. If she approved, the president's palsied hand signed the papers.

His private secretary only entered when sent for. The important information or questions were given to Mrs. Wilson, and she determined when and if they were given to the president. 

Edith decided that while her husband was breathing, he would remain the president in thought and deed.

In 1920, the Nineteenth Amendment was signed. Edith Wilson, however, served as the president's secretary, the acting secretary of state, and the acting president of the United States by this time.

  Source of information from Shocking Secrets of American History by Bill Coate

 

              Election of 1876: Honest or Dishonest

In 1876, the Republican Rutherford B. Hayes and Democrat Samuel J. Tilden sought the office of the presidency of the United States. When the votes were counted, neither one had the majority. The nineteen electoral votes in Louisiana, South Carolina, and Florida were in dispute.

There were accusations and denials of dishonesty. Congress created a special commission to decide the issue. Commission members were three Republicans and two Democrats from the Senate, three Democrats and two Republicans from the House, and two Democrats, two Republicans, and one independent judge from the Supreme Court. The commission studied the votes from South Carolina and Louisiana. The electoral votes went to Hays.

The commission started looking at Florida.  

The Florida election officials contacted the Tilden people and offered the state's electoral votes to Tilden for two hundred thousand dollars.

Tilden rejected the offer, as he was positive he would win and be awarded Florida's electoral votes.

However, the commission awarded Florida's votes to Rutherford B. Hayes, who became the nineteenth president.

Tilden had won the popular vote by 247,000 over Hayes. But Hayes received 185 electoral votes to Tilden's 184.

                                         Elections in the 21st Century Are Still an Issue.

From Shocking Secrets of American History, written by Bill Coate

        The White House and the Common Man

Andrew Jackson was referred to as "Old Hickory." He campaigned on representing the "common man" as president. 

As a young man, he was considered 'mischievous.' He enjoyed cockfighting and brawling. He frequently misspelled the same word twice in the same letter and had poor grammar.

He lived by the maxim, "Give no insult, and take none." He bit off his opponent's ear during one of his fights. The "common man" was pleased by this behavior in his day.

In the 1828 presidential election, he defeated New England Puritan John Quincy Adams.

His supporters flocked to Washington, D.C., on Inauguration Day, and he invited the throng of shopkeepers, clerks, hobnailed artisans, and laborers to the White House. They accepted the invitation. Destruction of China and muddy boots on the furniture, and Old Hickory's ribs to almost crack were the result.

How can the White House be cleared of this mob of supporters? On the front lawn, tubs of lemonade and whiskey were provided. The "common man" swiftly made their way from the White House to the lawn. After the doors were locked, Jackson left through a side door and stayed in a hotel room for his first night as president.

Old Glory

William Harvey Carney, born in Norfolk, Virginia, in 1840, attended a school for Black children secretly run by a local minister.

When the Civil War began, he left the South, went to Massachusetts, and joined Morgan's Guard, part of the Fifty-fourth Massachusetts Infantry Regiment.

In July 1863, he fought in the horrific battle at Fort Wagner. His regiment, a part of a large force, was ordered to storm the sandy beaches of Morris Island, South Carolina, and take Fort Wagner. The battle was fierce, and Carney was hit twice by minieballs. He plunged on and made up his mind not to stop until he reached the Rebel ramparts.

Then he saw the color bearer get hit in the stomach. Sergeant William Carney rushed to him and dove for the flag. He grabbed it just before it hit the ground. He held the flag throughout the battle in which 1757 Union soldiers died. Sergeant Carney worked his way through the melee until he reached the regimental commander. He gave the commander the flag and said, before he fell unconscious, "The old flag never touched the ground."

He recovered from his battle wounds. He is the first Black soldier in the history of the United States to receive the Congressional Medal of Honor.

Information from Shocking Secrets & American History written by Bill Coate

          A Young Man and His War Legacy

The Civil War was a terrible and devastating division in our country's history. Brothers often fought brothers, and sons fought fathers. Families were split, and some never healed.

A young man with musical talent was sent to a music school in the South just before the war started. His family thought he would be safe, as he was from the North and only studying in the South.

His father was Captain Ellicombe in the Union Army.

One day his troops came to a field called Harrison's Landing, in Virginia, after a battle had been fought. The captain ordered his men to bury the Confederate soldiers.

The captain looked at the young faces and saw his son's. Why his son left school and joined the Confederacy, the captain didn't know. With love, he searched his son's pockets and found a scrap of paper with music notes on it. After the captain asked for and received permission to give his son a special burial, he gave his bugler the music, and it was played at the funeral.

The music drifted over the countryside, giving everyone the chills.

The division commander, General Daniel Butterfield, heard the haunting tune and inquired who wrote it. Captain Ellicombe gave the scrap to the general, who had it copied and gave it to his bugler, Oliver Morton, and ordered him to use it as a new bugle call. Before the Civil War was over, both sides of the conflict were playing the piece at the gravesites.

It is still played today for military funerals. It is called "Taps." "...it signals the end of a soldier's struggle as he is laid to rest."

At all military funerals, we are reminded of the heartbreak of war by the music of one young man.

From the book Shocking Secrets of American History by Bill Coate

Please let me know if these history tidbits are interesting. Shall I continue? Shall I stop?

Email pstinson23@comcast.net. 

 

                                            U.S. History

                    

                    Not Satisfied! Wanting More!

Robert Morris financed the American Revolutionary War on credit. He controlled the tobacco market and a vast banking and shipping empire. He wanted more. His thirst for more money led him to a scheme to build a large town along the Potomac River. The land was cheap, a town could be developed, and lots could be sold at prices that would yield astronomical profits. 

His problem was that he needed more capital. He decided to enlist Light-Horse Harry Lee, the father of General Robert E. Lee, to help finance the project. 

Light Horse Harry Lee was known as a brilliant general in the Revolutionary War, a governor of Virginia, and a member of Congress. He said the famous words at George Washington's funeral, "irst in war, first in peace, and first in the hearts of his countrymen."

Light Horse Harry Lee invested his entire family fortune.

It turns out that a technicality prevented the land titles from being obtained. (I have no idea what the technicality was.)

Mr. Morris and Mr. Lee were sent to a debtor's prison.

Congress acted and passed the Bankruptcy Act in 1800. This allowed Morris and Lee to go free. Morris died soon after his release, but Lee was humiliated at home. He abandoned his family and went to the West Indies. In 1818, he decided to return home, but he was stricken with typhoid fever and died at sea. The ship's crew buried him on Cumberland Island, Georgia.

Resource: Shocking Secrets of American History by Bill Coate