Appendix F
[From a brief speech made to his men by Colonel Roosevelt after Sunday services on .]
I have waited this opportunity of speaking to you before we parted. I feel, and I know you all feel, that we are knit together by ties that can only be severed by death. I care much for the officers; I care even more for the men who make up the rank and file. Our trials, our hardships, our victories, we have all shared together, officers and men. There has been no distinction; we have all worked for the honor of the regiment. The men who were left in Florida did their duty as well as the men who went to Cuba, and all did it without a murmur.
What we have done only calls us to renewed exertion in the future. I know you are not likely simply to rest on your laurels. Life is a constant struggle, and no man can afford to remain idle, to rely in the present upon the deeds of an ever-fading past. After the first fight in Cuba you did not give up and rest on what you had done. On the contrary, you had gotten in touch with the Spaniards once, and each one of you had registered a vow that no one should get ahead of him the next time; and accordingly the next time you did even better.
Carry that same sentiment and spirit into your life when you separate for your homes. Every man has felt in the past that the honor of the regiment was in his keeping, and that he reflected honor or dishonor on all by his own individual acts. Now, in peace, let each of you have the same feeling for the nation as a whole. Let us so act that at the end of twenty years those of us who can look back will see that each man has prospered, has become a better man, a better American; that we have shown ourselves as capable to fight the battles of peace as of war.
The world will be kind to you for about ten days; until then everything you do will be considered right. After that you will be judged by a stricter code; and if you prove worthless you will be deemed to have been spoiled by the war. For just about ten days you will be overpraised, over-petted; then you will find that the hero-business is over for good and all; and if you try to trade any longer on what you have done in Cuba, you will merely excite the laughter of derision. You will do well to remember this; and each turn to his allotted task with all his heart and strength, to win success in the only way it can be won, asking no consideration because of the past, but demanding to be judged each on his merits in the actual work of the day.
[Response of Colonel Roosevelt in accepting an equestrian bronze, Camp Wikofi, Montauk Point, NY, .]
Officers and Men:
I really do not know what to say to you. Nothing could possibly happen that would touch and please me as this has touched and pleased me. Trooper Murphy said rightly that my men were nearest my heart, for while I know I need not say to my officers in what a deep regard I hold them, they will not mind my saying that just a little bit closer come the men. I have never tried to coddle you and have never hesitated to call upon you to spend your best blood like water. But of course I tried to do all I could for you, and you are the best judges as to whether I have succeeded or not.
I am proud of this regiment beyond measure. I am proud of it because it is a typical American regiment. The foundation of the regiment was the cowpuncher, and we have him here in bronze. No gift could have been so appropriate as this bronze by Frederic Remington. The men of the West and Southwest, horsemen, riflemen, and herders, have been the backbone of this regiment, which demonstrates that Uncle Sam has another reserve of fighting men to call upon, if the necessity arises. The West stands ready to give tens of thousands of men like you, and we are only samples of the fighters the West can put forth.
Besides the cowpuncher, this regiment contained men from every section of the country, every State in the Union, and because of that we feel proud of it. It is primarily an American regiment, and it is American because it is composed of all the races which have made America their country by adoption and those who have claimed it as their country by inheritance. It gives me extreme pleasure to look around among you and see men of every occupation, men of means and men who work with their hands for a livelihood, and at the same time know that I have you for friends. You are men of widely different pursuits, yet you stand here side by side; you fought shoulder to shoulder. No man asked quarter for himself, and each one went in to show that he was as good as his neighbor. It shows the American spirit. You cannot imagine how proud I am of your friendship and regard.
I have also a profound respect for you, because you have fighting qualities, and because you had the qualities which enabled us to get you into the fight. Outside of my own immediate family, as I said before, I shall never know as strong ties as with you. I am more than pleased that you feel the same way toward me. I realized when I took charge of you that I was taking upon myself a great responsibility. I cared for you as individuals, but did not forget that at any moment it might be necessary to sacrifice the individual for the whole. You would have scorned a commander who would have hesitated to expose you to any risk. I was bound that no other regiment should get any nearer to the Spanish lines than you got, and I do not think any did.
We parted with many in the fight who could ill be spared, and I think that the most vivid memories that we take away with us will be of those whom we left under Cuban sod and those who died in hospitals here in the United States—the men who died from wounds, and the men who, with the same devotion to country, died from disease. I cannot mention all the names now, but those of Capron, O’Neill, and Fish will serve. They were men who died in the pride of their youthful strength.
Now, just a word more I want to say to some of the men I see standing around not of your number. I refer to the troopers of the regular cavalry regiments; the white troopers; and the colored troopers. The latter the Spaniards called “smoked Yankees,” but we found them to be an excellent breed of Yankee. I am sure that I speak the sentiments of every man and officer in this assemblage when I say that between you and the other cavalry regiments there is a tie which we trust will never be broken.
I would have been deeply touched if the officers had given me this testimonial, but coming from you, my men, I appreciate it tenfold. It comes to me from you who shared the hardships of the campaign with me; who gave me a piece of your hardtack when I had none; and who shared with me your blankets when I had none to lie upon. To have such a gift come from this peculiarly American regiment touches me more than I can say. This is something I shall hand down to my children, and I shall value it more than I do the weapons I carried through the campaign.