Please note that the following is a digitized version of a selected article from White House History Quarterly, Issue 50, originally released in print form in 2018. Single print copies of the full issue can be purchased online at Shop.WhiteHouseHistory.org No part of this book may be reproduced or distributed in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher. All photographs contained in this journal unless otherwise noted are copyrighted by the White House Historical Association and may not be reproduced without permission. Requests for reprint permissions should be directed to rights@whha.org. Contact books@whha.org for more information. Š 2018 White House Historical Association. All rights reserved under international copyright conventions.
From the White House to the Piedmont AND BACK Theodore Roosevelt’s Intrepid Ride CLIFFORD KRAINIK
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George McClellan, dime novelist Ned Buntline, and Wallis Simpson, the future Duchess of Windsor. Slightly to the south of the hotel building is a grassy lawn where once stood the Norris Tavern, where the Marquis de Lafayette was feted in 1825. In front of the courthouse is a statue of John Marshall. A few blocks from the center of Warrenton is a singlestory brick building, formerly an automobile dealership, then an A&P grocery store, that now serves as a Salvation Army thrift store. Here customers, many of them “regulars,” have an opportunity to purchase a wide array of secondhand items, from kitchenware to costume jewelry and the proverbial knickknack. As a photographic historian and collector of antique photography since childhood, I have cultivated oblique sources for locating images of the past. At the Warrenton thrift store I have occasionally found family photograph albums filled with unidentified
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A skilled equestrian, Theodore Roosevelt is seen here with Major John Pitcher, Superintendent of Yellowstone Park in 1903. above
A view of Cannonball Ridge, just east of the Blue Ridge Mountains, seen from the rolling streets of Warrenton, Virginia.
ABOVE AND OPPOSITE, TOP: LISA HELFERT FOR THE WHITE HOUSE HIS TORICAL ASSOCIATION
warrenton, virginia , the seat of Fauquier County is located in the lush rolling Piedmont, fifty miles from Washington, D.C., just east of the Blue Ridge Mountains. Named after the fallen Revolutionary War hero Dr. Joseph Warren of Boston (John Adams’s personal physician), the town was incorporated in 1810 on land donated by Richard Henry Lee. It was visited by president-elect Bill Clinton in 1993 and twice by sitting presidents —Franklin Pierce in 1852 and Teddy Roosevelt in 1909. The wide pillared, neoclassical courthouse placed at the apogee of the town’s elevation serves as the terminus of three converging roads that date back to colonial times. The business district, easily mistaken for a movie set, is small but important for serving the needs of an affluent rural community. Within the shadow of the courthouse are a number of historic sites. First, there is in the former Warren Green Hotel, a favorite lodging for Union General
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The Salvation Army store in Warrenton where the author happened upon the photograph that inspired this article. below
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The Old Courthouse (seen here during the Civil War in a photograph by Timothy O’Sullivan) was designed in 1853 by William Baldwin and rebuilt to the same plan following a fire in 1889.
portraits from previous generations. Once in a while, a photograph of a long-forgotten farmhouse or a stable might appear on the sale table. Although I put myself in the orbit for discovery, I was not at all prepared to see, leaning against the sales counter, the large framed 1908 photograph of a heroic painting of Theodore Roosevelt—price, $10. I immediately recognized the gentleman wearing the wide-brimmed hat and dressed in riding outfit as the hero of San Juan Hill, and unquestionably, one of the greatest U.S. presidents of the twentieth century. The painting was signed “Gari Melchers” by the artist himself. But how did this extraordinary photograph—almost 2 feet tall and in its original walnut frame—of Roosevelt’s presidential portrait happen to end up in a thrift store in Warrenton, Virginia? The story of the connection begins early in the winter of 1909, during the final days of Theodore Roosevelt’s second term in office, when the president became alarmed about the nation’s military preparedness. Certainly his doubts were not based on the might of the United States Navy fleet. He demonstrated that America had become a major sea power following the Spanish-American War by dispatching a convoy of sixteen battleships—“The Great White Fleet”—on a worldwide goodwill tour in 1907. The appearance of the numerous formidable white-hulled warships, decorated with red, white, and blue banners on their bows, was the visual articulation of Roosevelt’s foreign policy of “Speak softly and carry a big stick.” It was not the fleet itself but the physical condition of the military officers who
manned the fleet that worried him. Having overcome a sickly childhood, Roosevelt promoted the benefits of strenuous physical activity throughout his adult life. He wrote in his autobiography: Some of the younger officers who were my constant companions on these walks and rides pointed out to me the condition of utter physical worthlessness into which certain of the elder ones [officers]) had permitted themselves to lapse, and the very bad effect this would certainly have if ever the army were called into service. I then looked into the matter for myself, and was really shocked at what I found. Many of the older officers were so unfit physically that their condition would have excited laughter, had it not been so serious, to think that they belonged to the military arm of the Government. A cavalry colonel proved unable to keep his horse at a smart trot for even half a mile, when I visited his post; a Major-General proved afraid even to let his horse canter, when he went on a ride with us; and certain otherwise good men proved as unable to walk as if they had been sedentary brokers. . . . It was late in my administration; and we deemed it best only to make a beginning—experience teaches the most inveterate reformer how hard it is to get a totally non-military nation to accept seriously any military improvement. Accordingly, I merely issued directions that each officer should prove his ability to walk fifty miles, or ride one hundred, in three days.1
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The business district in Warrenton today could easily be mistaken for a movie set.
know for whom or for what purpose. Roosevelt correctly reasoned that if it were known that the horses were for the presidential party, he would receive the very best mounts in the stable, but if the request was made for mere navy officers, the army would send their basic stock, which is exactly the nonpreferential treatment the president sought. He was determined that his ride should be a test matching as close to the same conditions the average officer would be required to meet. Admiral Rixey contacted his friend and fellow navy doctor, John Cropper Wise of Warrenton, to plan a luncheon at the Warren Green Hotel for a “party of four.”6 Roosevelt and Rixey were to be joined by the physician, Dr. Cary T. Grayson, USN, a native of Culpeper County, Virginia then residing in Georgetown, and by Captain Butt, who was originally from Augusta, Georgia. It is interesting that three of the four horsemen were southerners, and Roosevelt proudly laid claim to a southern heritage through his mother’s Georgia family, the Bullochs. For the occasion the president wore a sweater, riding breeches, high top boots, and a broad-brimmed slouch hat. Captain Butt recounted the start of the ride from the White House to Warrenton: It was just twenty minutes to four when we mounted our horses. The President rode Roswell on the start and I had my old faithful Larry. The two Virginians had their own mounts also. We started on a dog trot down Pennsylvania Avenue and made the bridge in ten minutes. But, oh the wind was cold! There were few clouds to be seen, and while
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A B O V E A N D O P P O S I T E , T O P : L I S A H E L F E R T F O R T H E W H I T E H O U S E H I S T O R I C A L A S S O C I AT I O N
Secretary of the Navy Truman Newberry and Rear Admiral Presley M. Rixey, chief of the Bureau of Medicine and Surgery and White House physician, responded to Roosevelt’s “directions” with a fitness directive, Navy General Order No. 6, issued on January 4, 1909. It required any officer up for promotion to pass a physical endurance test. The candidate could choose to complete either “a fifty mile walk within three consecutive days and in a total of twenty hours; a ride on horseback at a distance of ninety miles within three consecutive days; or a ride on a bicycle at a distance of 100 miles within three consecutive days. . . . Officers would not be promoted unless they passed the exam and their medical record would now include a fitness report.”2 One newspaper endorsed the program, saying, “This [order] will give the corpulent sea fighters who have long occupied swivel chairs an opportunity to get into fit condition for the ordeal.”3 There was however, an immediate objection to the program from within the military. Navy Surgeon James Gatewood feared that the endurance test would leave participants in a “depressed physical state” and promoted the maintenance of golf courses, bowling alleys, and tennis courts at navy installations instead.4 The president, angered by the “let’s build a country club” response to his physical fitness program, decided to challenge the naysayers with a literal show of force. According to Captain Archibald W. Butt, the president’s aide-decamp, it was Admiral Rixey who proposed, perhaps half-kiddingly, that the president and a few able friends ride to Warrenton, Virginia—a distance of about 50 miles—have lunch—then return to the White House on the same day. The 100 mile, oneday horse ride, would make a clear statement about the feasibility of Navy General Order No. 6 to the dubious military personnel. Admiral Rixey later admitted that he had no idea that the president would take him seriously. The Rough Rider who had journeyed to the bottom of Long Island Sound in a submarine and who would later fly in an experimental airplane in Paris thought the notion of a 100 mile horseback ride in the dead of winter, a “splendid idea.” Rixey later politely asked First Lady Edith Roosevelt to try to change the president’s mind, and she replied that “it would do no good whatever.” 5 Captain Butt was placed in charge of arranging for three sets of relay horses to be stationed along the Virginia countryside on January 13, 1909, without letting the commanding officer at Fort Myer
AUBURN VIRGINIA WIKI
The Warren Green Hotel appears today (above) much as President Roosevelt would have known it in 1909 when he stopped for a lunch of soup and rare roast beef. A photograph taken in the 1880s (right) includes horses awaiting their riders who are likely dining inside.
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everything was frozen hard there was no sign of a blizzard in the sky. . . . For the first six miles, in fact to Falls Church, the roads were fair and we made good time, but from Falls Church to Fairfax the roads were bad and we lost time.7 By 6:20 a.m. the quartet reached Fairfax Court House, where the first detachment of horses from Fort Myer were waiting. It took just fifteen minutes for the frigid horsemen to change mounts and leave at a brisk trot toward Centreville on the Old Alexandria Turnpike, present-day Route 29. A few miles past Centreville the next relay of horses was waiting, and by 7:30 a.m. the party reached Bull Run battlefield. The somber monuments erected to the memory of the fallen Civil War soldiers brought on a story that Captain Butt shared with his companions: “When one old General was talking of the Battle of Bull Run, one of his listeners asked, ‘Did you run, General?’ to which he promptly replied, all who didn’t are there yet.’”8
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By the time they reached Gainesville the riders were in fine spirits, and at 9:35 a.m. the last change of horses for the outgoing portion of the trip was made at Buckland, an eighteenth-century stagecoach town on the Fauquier and Alexandria Turnpike. It was hoped that the party would reach Warrenton by 11:00 a.m., but at times it appeared doubtful because the badly hardened furrowed road forced the riders to use the embankments. Nevertheless, through sheer determination, the fatigued horsemen reached Warrenton just as the clock in the old courthouse sounded out the welcoming gongs of eleven bells. The New York Times told the story of the lunch and the hospitality bestowed on the pilgrims: Good Dinner at Warrenton—The President was a hard man to follow, for he did not let his party rest more than ten minutes at any place, with the exception of Warrenton, where they took lunch or rather dinner, for the Presidential horsemen by that time
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The Old Courthouse remains a distinctive landmark on Main Street in Warrenton.
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When Roosevelt returned from his famous roundtrip one-day ride to Warrenton, the White House was covered with snow and likely appeared much as it does in this c. 1907 photograph. First Lady Edith Roosevelt reportedly watched from a second story window for the president to return.
were famished. The President fell to and played havoc with soup and rare roast beef. His three followers also proved themselves valiant trenchermen. The meal over, it was discovered that Warrenton had been advised by telephone of the President’s coming. Business was suspended and the schools had been closed for the afternoon. A crowd of more than 1,000 persons had gathered outside and clamored for a speech. Mr. Roosevelt would much rather have rested comfortably after his big dinner, but he grinned good naturedly and went outside. His appearance was the signal for an outburst of cheering. When it had subsided, he said he was enjoying the ride to the utmost; that he was glad to be with them, and that he thanked them deeply for the kind reception. Then the good people of Warrenton lined up and Mr. Roosevelt shook hands with each, giving especial attention to the school children.9
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Not surprisingly, the newspaper reports were not entirely accurate. No doubt a large crowd did assemble to greet the president, but the U.S. census indicates that in 1910 Warrenton had a population of 1,427. If so, and if almost every man, woman and child would have been present at the Warren Green, the president would have had to remain late into the night to shake hands with each. Captain Butt’s account says that after the reception and a speech by Roosevelt were concluded, the weary riders “had to eat lunch in ten
minutes. He [the president] drank two cups of tea and ate some soup. The rest of us swallowed hunks of beef, but none of us took anything in the way of alcohol.” 10 The riders mounted their steeds at 12:15 p.m., and politely declined a request by members of the Warrenton Hunt who wished to escort the visitors over part of the return trip. The presidential party reached Buckland about 1:30 p.m., slowed down in part by the condition of the road and the contentious nature of the army horses. Captain Butt’s mount in particular resented the trip back and made every effort to throw its rider. And even though the new set of horses obtained at Buckland proved more manageable, the esprit de corps of the travelers was at a low ebb. Captain Butt explained: Just before we reached Centreville we met the blizzard, which came in from the north in the shape of a blinding sleet storm, and this storm was continuous from this point to Washington. The wind was blowing a gale and the ice cut our faces so that I thought mine must certainly be bleeding. . . . When we reached Fairfax we got the horses on which we had begun the ride. . . . On any other horses I don’t think we would have made Washington without an accident, if indeed we had made it at all. We left Fairfax in inky blackness and walked practically the entire way to Falls Church. . . . Once, when I began to trot, the President’s horse went into a ditch, but luckily recovered himself without injury.11 Concerned that the icy streets of Georgetown would be impassable, Butt had one of the orderlies telephone the White House to have a carriage waiting to retrieve the horsemen. When the president was told of the plan he dismissed the offer saying, “By George, we will make the White House with our horses if we have to lead them.”12 The final torturous leg of the journey, stretching down icy, snow-swept Pennsylvania Avenue to the beckoning warmth of the White House was completed at 8:30 p.m. Captain Butt concluded his narrative of the adventure with this poetic vignette: Mrs. Roosevelt was watching for us from the window of Miss Ethel’s room, and by the time we alighted she was standing in the doorway to welcome us. It was a perfect picture. She
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A reporter for the New York Times gave a much more exciting account of the return of the intrepid horsemen: When he (the president) rode up to the portico of the White House at 8:30 tonight he was covered with mud and ice from the brim of his Rough Rider hat to the tops of his riding boots. He sprang from his steaming mount, however, with the alacrity of a boy just back from a canter on the bridle path in the park, threw the reins to an orderly, and, after shaking himself to cast off his icy mail, disappeared into the White House. Before the doors closed behind
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him, the President flung back three hearty words—this with a grin that showed all his teeth and wrinkled his weather-beaten face into a hundred little furrows: “It was bully!” 14 Two days after this epic winter test of riders and horses, the president penned a note on a crisp sheet of White House stationery that summarized the journey: My Dear Captain Butt: I desire that this letter be filed with your record. On January 13th, you rode with me from the White House, Washington to the inn at Warrenton, Virginia, and back, a distance which we have put at 98 miles, but which I am informed was 104. We covered the distance between 3:40 in the morning and 8:40 in the evening, including an hour and a quarter at Warrenton and five or ten minutes where we changed horses. . . . After the first stages the horses were ordinary cavalry horses, and two of yours were hard
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This photograph captures President Roosevelt on a flat saddle and Mrs. Roosevelt on a side saddle out for a ride on Jackson Place near the White House.
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had on some light, fluffy evening gown and I don’t believe that Dolly Madison, even in her loveliest moments, ever looked more attractive than did Mrs. Roosevelt that moment, standing there, framed in the big doorway with the strong light on her and the wind blowing her clothes in every direction.13
animals to ride. . . . The conditions of the weather and roads materially increased the difficulty of the ride, for from Centreville a blinding sleet storm drove in our faces, and from Fairfax Court House we were in pitch darkness going over the frozen roads through the sleet storm. You as well as the rest of the party returned in fine condition, convincing me of the fact that the test provided for the army and navy was not excessive.15 If President Roosevelt thought that the success of his 100 mile ride had convinced his critics of the virtues of requiring a physical testing program, he was sadly mistaken. In a few months Roosevelt— the program’s driving force—was succeeded by President William Howard Taft, and the next year Rear Admiral Rixey retired. His successor gradually reduced the physical requirements for officers until they were suspended following U.S. entry into World War I. Not until a half century later did the navy finally recognize the importance of Roosevelt’s emphasis on physical fitness and make testing an essential part of military regulations.16 Still adamant in his belief that military officers should be in top physical condition, President Roosevelt wanted the importance of his remarkable 100 mile ride to remain alive in the memory of his countrymen. In a gesture of gratitude for the hospitality and cheer bestowed upon the four horsemen by the citizens of Warrenton, he ordered a very large photographic copy of the recently commissioned painting by Gari Melchers portraying him as a dauntless horseman. The beautifully framed 50 by 32 inch photograph of the painting was then given to the people of Warrenton. On the photograph the president penned a personal inscription, which says: To the City of Warrenton, Va. With the regards of Theodore Roosevelt. On Jan 13, 1909 at 3.40 a.m. I rode away from the White House in company with Surgeon General P. M. Rixey, USN, Capt. Archibald W. Butt, U.S.A. and Dr. C. T. Grayson, U.S.N. We reached Warrenton at 11 a.m.; took lunch; we were warmly and hospitably greeted by the people of Warrenton; and at 12:20 again mounted our horses and started back, reaching the White House at 8.40; last thirty miles we rode
with a driving sleet storm in our faces. We each rode four horses. T.R.17 The handsome gift from the president of the United States presently hangs in the Virginiana Room of the Fauquier County Public Library, just across the street from the Warren Green Hotel where the president and his party were so enthusiastically received. It was a smaller photographic copy of the Melchers painting of Roosevelt—not inscribed by the president—that was discovered in a Warrenton thrift store. Perhaps it was a gift from the president to a local admirer. NOTES The author wishes to thank Rebecca Norris for her assistance in researching and editing this article. 1.
Theodore Roosevelt, Theodore Roosevelt: An Autobiography (New York: Macmillan Company, 1913), 54.
2.
Andre Sobocinski, “Teddy Roosevelt and the Navy’s PRT,” posted January 15, 2013, Navy Medicine Live (blog), online at www.navymedicine.navylive.dodlive.mil.
3.
“Test for Naval Officers,” Frederick (Maryland) Daily News, January 20, 1909, quoted in ibid.
4.
Quoted in ibid.
5.
Archie Butt to his sister-in-law Clara, January 12, 1909, The Letters of Archie Butt: Personal Aide to President Roosevelt, ed. Lawrence F. Abbott (Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, Page, 1924), 284.
6.
Dr. John Cropper Wise and his wife resided at 100 Culpeper Culpepper Street at the time of the president’s visit and introduced the president to the citizens of Warrenton at the Warren Green Hotel, January 13, 1909. Richard Gookin, March 2016, online at saintjameswarrenton.org/agneswisewindow
7.
Butt to his sister-in-law Clara, January 14, 1909, Letters of Archie Butt, ed. Abbott, 288–89.
8.
Ibid., 290.
9.
“98-Mile Ride, Bully, President Declares,” New York Times, January 14, 1909.
10.
Butt to his sister-in-law Clara, January 14, 1909, 1909 Letters Lettersof of Archie Butt, ed. Abbott, 292.
11.
Ibid., 294.
12.
Ibid.
13.
Ibid., 294–95.
14.
“98-Mile Ride, Bully, President Declares.”
15.
Theodore Roosevelt to Archie Butt, January 15, 1909, Letters of Archie Butt, ed. Abbott, 295.
16.
Sobocinski, “Teddy Roosevelt and the Navy’s PRT.”
17.
Note that Warrenton is actually a town not a city; city, itit was was incorporated on January 5, 1810.
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Theodore Roosevelt’s Portrait by GARI MELCHERS w h e n t h e g r e a t Detroit railroad industrialist, Charles Lang Freer decided to donate his magnificent collection of East Asian, American, and Middle Eastern art to the Smithsonian Institution in 1906, it was the first and largest such gift from a private patron. His initial bequest consisted of 2,250 cataloged art objects, $1 million dollars in funds to build a museum, and financial instruments to maintain and curate his collection. But the massive gift came with stipulations. The Freer Gallery of Art— named for its benefactor—would be prohibited from accepting gifts of art to be added to the collection, a device to ensure that the highest level of connoisseurship, established by Mr. Freer, would not be compromised. The museum would also be prohibited from exhibiting art that was not a part of the Freer’s permanent collection. Finally, once a work of art became part of the Freer collection it would not be permitted to leave the museum as a loan for any reason. Negotiations between Freer and Samuel P. Langley, the director of the Smithsonian Institution, regarding the restrictions associated with the gift, continued for about six months and finally stalled, until President Theodore Roosevelt successfully intervened on behalf of the donor. To express his gratitude, Charles Freer commissioned a lifesize painting of the president and wisely chose Gari Melchers, one of the most
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accomplished naturalistic portrait painters of the day, to create the portrait. Melchers, christened Julius Garibaldi Melchers, was the son of a German-born American sculptor who displayed great aptitude for painting at an early age. He received formal instruction in Europe, where his works, shown in salons, received favorable attention, awards, and invitations for exclusive memberships in societies and associations of designers and artists. He won a Grand Prize at the 1889 Paris Exposition Universelle and was commissioned to paint the panels Peace and War for the World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago in 1893. Late in his career Melchers was awarded a Gold Medal from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. President Roosevelt enthusiastically accepted Freer’s gift for a commissioned portrait and invited Melchers to the White House on Friday, February 28, 1908, for lunch. Afterward the president showed Melchers his riding habit, as he had decided he would be painted as a horseman. Melchers wrote in his diary, “He was very nice about everything and put on his riding clothes— and we discussed the question of black or yellow boots—cravat and waistcoat color—until everything was decided— and he arranged with me to come for work at nine Saturday morning.” The next day the president stood in the white house history quarterly
small dining room for a sketching session with the artist. Melchers noted in his diary, “The President never asks for a rest—and stands an hour or two without losing his place.” The sessions continued for more than a week. “The president is remarkable, full of strength and vigor, kind and considerate—and talks remarkably well on all subjects,” wrote Melchers on Sunday, March 1. On March 15, after the portrait was finished, Roosevelt wrote to Melchers, “I am delighted with the picture and am especially pleased that it should be done by an American artist.” Freer was pleased as well, saying it captured the “dignity, force and character” of the president. “Art is a language,” he wrote Melchers on March 19, 1908, “and your portrait will talk to the people through coming centuries.” The monumental painting, Portrait of President Theodore Roosevelt, by Gari Melchers measures approximately 4 by 7 feet. Freer paid Melchers $2,500 for the portrait and donated it to the Freer Gallery of Art later in 1908. SOURCES
Melchers’s diary entries and the letter to Melchers from Roosevelt, quoted in Michelle Crow-Dolby, “Painting a President,” posted May 9, 2014, Gari Melchers Home and Studio (blog), online at www.garimelchers.wordpress.com; Freer letter to Melchers, quoted in Joelle Seligson, “Thanks, Mr. President!” posted February 15, 2016, Freer/ Sackler (blog), online at www.freersackler.si.edu. Also see Thomas Lawton and Linda Merrill, Freer: A Legacy of Art (Washington: D.C.: Freer Gallery of Art, Smithsonian Press, 1993), 189, nn. 42, 43.
F R E E R G A L L E R Y O F A R T, S M I T H S O N I A N I N S T I T U T I O N
CLIFFORD KRAINIK
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