alternatehistory.com

So yeah, after a year and a half of barely posting here, while being active on other, smaller AH sites, I've finally gotten around to beginning a History here.
Anyway, here goes nothing...

From In the Shadow of Giants: A History of the United States 1958-1980 By Gavin F. Person. (C) 1990

"I think, with the manuscript neatly stacked next to me on my desk, all 646 Pages of non-biased work, not including the Notes and index, that I have every right, to add my own biased thoughts into a few pages at the beginning. This is one of the purposes of a Preface, and I intend to use it...

... In 1988, I was working in New York City, where the Public Libraries' newly opened archives were yielding so much information on the First Roosevelt's years in City politics. Arriving early in the day and leaving well past midnight for weeks, the only time I wasn't searching for files and taking notes, would be when I left the Library for a few minutes to get a lunch from a nearby deli and stretch my legs. It was on one of these breaks that I found the most interesting of markers, a Carved Stone in the wall of an old three story building...

The marker stated that just where I was standing:

"On the Day of July 21st , 1861,
Martha Bulloch Roosevelt, Unborn Child, and Driver were killed, when their carriage collided with a southbound train, as they crossed the unguarded track, returning to her families residence.
This marker has been placed to commemorate their tragic deaths, and those of all killed in Ground-level rail accidents in New York County, prior to her Husband Theodore Roosevelt, Sr.'s committed work to create a proper warning system on these streets and rail lines. "

Below that was a date, placing the marker's placement in 1881, the same year that Theodore Roosevelt Sr. would become the President of the United States.

I had written my college thesis on Martha's husband
, this had been the turning point of his life. Her death is what set the stage for a series of events, that would directly lead to those I was researching just a few blocks away. Here was the tragic beginning of an American Epoch. After a few minutes at my accidental discovery, I turned back, to continue writing about the end of that same era. One one level that discovery didn't mean much, but the more I thought about it, the more I realized that what I was writing about was entirely dependent on what had occurred at that spot."

From The First American Civil War: Day by Day 1861-1865 (C) 1985
"July 21st:
Eastern Theater: The Confederate Army of the Potomac and the Federal Army of Virgina engage in the first major battle of the war...

...Other Events: Martha "Mittie" Roosevelt is killed in a Carriage accident in New York City. Her Husband, future President Theodore Roosevelt Sr, unable to accept the death when informed at work, would return to the family residence. Ignorant to his surviving children, friends, family and servants, he will remain in his study for the next several weeks, speaking to no one and never departing the house...

August 18th:
...Other Events: Theodore Roosevelt writes letters to President Lincoln, as well as the Governors of New York, Connecticut, Vermont, Pennsylvania, and Ohio, requesting a commission, serving in a Union Regiment, to be engaged in the war. Lincoln is noted to have told his secretary that 'I feel for the man, but I will not push to give a man with a death-wish a regiment'. Governor Edwin Morgan of New York decides to Commission Roosevelt with a Battalion command"

From The Making of Theodore Roosevelt II by Franklin Pierce O'Higgens (C) 1952

"...It is the most interesting thing to note that, though his wife had been a staunch supporter of the Confederacy, to the extent that she flew a Rebel flag from the third story balcony, on Mittie's death the elder Roosevelt would join the Union army. Leaving Teddy, Anna and Elliot in the care of their grandfather out in Oyster Bay.
Considering the man's breakdown following his wifes death, it is highly probable that he was only doing to seek quick and honorable means to be reunited with her.
At the same time, as a Staunch Republican before the war, this may have been his patriotism being released from the constraints of his marriage. One could note the removal of his late Wife's Confederate Flag, nearly the moment he recovered from his catatonic state to support this.
Young Teddy was not in a position to truly understand his fathers motives at the time. But it is beyond a doubt that both lines of thought would develop in his mind, later, to have much effect on his future development..."
-------------------------
Thoughts, comments, criticisms are all welcome.
Top