Theodore Roosevelt’s Visit To Brattleboro

If you were in Brattleboro on September 1st, 1902, there is a good chance that you might have worked your way downtown to the train station late in the afternoon in expectation of the arrival of a notable visitor.

Arrangements had been in the works for months for a visit to Brattleboro by President Theodore Roosevelt. The Young Men’s Republican club had sent an invitation and had been forming committees to schedule the visit, arrange a program of activities, decorate the parade route, and welcome him to town. As the President’s plans changed (his time available was increasingly short), so did Brattleboro’s. The reception banquet was cancelled and a more simple ceremony substituted.

The visit, Roosevelt’s welcome, and his speech made headlines, and he spoke to those assembled on the topic of good government and Abraham Lincoln.…..

Prior to visiting, Roosevelt had been north of Brattleboro, spending time at John Hay’s estate in New Hampshire, and getting around to Lake Champlain, Newport, NH,  and other points north. Brattleboro was intended as his official stop in the state of Vermont. His entourage was expected at 3:35 p.m.

We’ll pick up the story via the news account from The Phoenix, September 5, 1902:

“President in Brattleboro

Received with Great Enthusiasm by Over 8,000 People – the Pretty Feature of the Flower Girls – President’s Address on Essentials of Good Citizenship 

The distinguished honor of receiving the President of the United States which came to Brattleboro with President Hayes, Harrison and McKinley, occurred again on Monday, when President Theodore Roosevelt fulfilled his acceptance of an invitation to visit the town as the guest of the Young Men’s Republican club. That the reception was carried out successfully and satisfactorily is shown by a dispatch to a newspaper by a representative who was with the presidential party, which said: “The reception accorded him at Brattleboro was among the prettiest, best conducted and most enthusiastic he has received in his tour of New England. The President’s progress through Brattleboro was a continuous ovation.”

The special train of Pullman palace cars carrying the President and the members of his party, including Secretary Cortelyou, Governor W.W. Stickney of Ludlow, Lieut. Gov. M.F. Allen of Ferrisburg, Adjutant Gen. W. H. Gilmore, Col. C.S. Forbes of St. Albans, secret service men, newspaper men and special photographers, arrived at the station at 4:10 o’clock, being 35 minutes late. As soon as the train stopped Secretary Cortelyou appeared on the rear platform, followed by President Roosevelt. At the appearance of the President the enthusiasm of the great crowd who were pressing against the ropes around the station was let loose and shout after shout went up in his honor. The President removed his hat and acknowledged the reception with graceful bows and a genuine Roosevelt smile.

Stepping from the car the president walked across the station platform which had been covered with white canvas, and met with the members of the reception committee: Wallace N. Batchelder, president Young Men’s Republican club; Ernest J. Waterman, chairman, executive committee; William H. Vinton, chairman borad of selectmen; Edward W. Blodgett, chairman board of bailiffs; Kittredge Haskins, member of Congress; Hoyt H. Wheeler, judge United States district and circuit courts; James L. Martin, United States district attorney; Frederick Holbrook, war governor of Vermont; Herbert B. Titus, brigadier general, U.S.V.; William Austine, Col. U.S.A.

This formality over, the President stepped into an open landau with ex-Governor Holbrook, Governor Stickney and Judge Wheeler and the team was driven a short distance from the station, stopping between files of Grand Army men on one side and members of the Young Men’s Republican club on the other. The other members of the party and committee of welcome took places in carriages which had been provided, and the procession started with the First Regiment band in the lead. Behind the band was company I, Vermont National Guard, the President’s carriage with a detachment of the Guard as an escort, the other carriages, Sedgwick Grand Army post and members of other posts in this county, 100 veterans in all; and the Young Men’s Republican club.

The line of march was up Main and North Main streets, which were decorated with a profusion of United States flags, to the common. As the President’s carriage passed the Brooks House a group of little girls on the balcony threw great quantities of flowers upon the President and his carriage. The bottom of the landau was covered by the flowers. The President was greatly pleased and smiled his acknowledgement. At the common a group of little girls strewed flowers in the President’s path as he ascended the steps of the band stand, from which he spoke. A dispatch to a metropolitan newspaper said: “Nothing comparable with these two incidents has happened before on the tour.”

(Lelia Thompson, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. C.H. Thompson, presented the President with a handsome bouquet of white carnations in front of the Brooks House, which drew from the president a pleasing smile. The idea of showering the President with bouquets from the Brooks House and at the common was conceived and carried out by the United States Daughters of 1812. Two hundred and eighty bouquets were thrown.)

While members of the party and guests were being seated the band struck up “Garryowen.” Going to the edge of the stand President Roosevelt raised his hat and said: “I thank you for that.” The band stopped suddenly, but the President said: “Oh, no, no! Go on. Don’t stop. That’s my favorite!” And the band played on. When the President began speaking he stepped down one or two steps so as to be in full view of the audience, which, it is estimated, contained over 8000 people. He was interrupted frequently with loud cheers and applause. At the close of his speech little Jacob Estey, son of Col. and Mrs. J. Gray Estey, went up the steps and presented the President a large and handsome bouquet of roses.

Listen to “Garryowen”

The President’s Address

After seats had been taken on the platform United States Attorney James L. Martin said: “Fellow citizens you are requested to join with me in three hearty cheers fo the President of the United States.” The cheers were given with a will, and Mr. Martin then said: “I have the pleasure of introducing you to the President of the United States.” Amid another outburst of applause as he began, President Roosevelt said in substance:

Mr. Chairman, and you my fellow citizens, men and women of Vermont, I am glad indeed to have had the opportunity of spending portions of two days travelling through your beautiful state, and I am glad to end my visit in the state here in the home of the venerable Governor Holbrook, the man who was one of those who, in the great crisis of the nation, fought well to the honor of the great cause, the cause of the Union, and won the proud title of War Governor.

Now, gentlemen and ladies, there isn’t any patent device that can be newly coined for getting good government. It can be achieved only on the same terms and by the same means that it was achieved in the days when you, Governor Holbrook (turning to the ex-Governor on the platform), upheld the arms of Abraham Lincoln. 

In working for good government there are certain conditions that must be observed. In the first place be cautious in promising. You look over the writings of Abraham Lincoln, look over his speeches, and you will find he never promised the millenium. He promised what could be performed, he kept his word, and he did a little better, too. Abraham Lincoln was able to defend the cause of righteousness because, while he strove to get, he never promised to get, never attempted to get, the impossible. he recognized that there was a deal of human nature in mankind.

The essentials of good government are the same now as they ever have been, just as the essentials of decent living are the same. The means and methods are changed, just as a man’s household changes. Men can lift the standard of good citizenship only by practicing what they preach. If any man tells you there is a patent device that will remedy all the ills of state, he is a quack.

It remains true now, as it has always been true, that the standard of good government and moral sentiment in the nation is represented by the average citizenship of the country. 

It is the men behind the laws, the same as it is the men behind the guns. You, men of the great war (addressing the old soldiers), you fought with different weapons from those carried by these soldiers of today (the Estey Guard). Your tactics were different, your uniforms were different, but the spirit that drove you to victory was the same. If it had not been that you had in you the stuff of your forefathers who fought with Washington, you never would have gone through the three and three-quarter years of conflict as they went through the Revolutionary conflict of alternate victory and defeat, including the struggles of Germantown and Brandywine.

And now you, my comrades, you there, you, my younger friends (the Estey Guard) let me say right here, that I hope to see the day when you as well as the regulars will have the new smokeless powder rifles. If you go against the best of weapons, you can only win with the best of weapons. But if you have the best of weapons and do not have the right stuff in you, you could be beaten with a man with a club. You must have the best stuff in you as well as the best weapon.

The only way to get good citizenship is the same now as in the days of Abraham Lincoln. I am speaking to you of common-place truths and they are common-place because they are fundamental truths. There are no special truths to tell about citizenship; we only have the old ones brought freshly to our minds. Really, the fair dealing of honest, decent men is one of the first essentials of good government. If a man has not got decency in him, then, the abler he is the more dangerous he is. Mere ability unaccompanied by moral sense is a curse to the community.

If there is anything we ought to feel ashamed of it is “smartness,” meaning ability to get ahead of one’s neighbor. On the other hand the timid good are not really valuable people in any community. We need honesty and we need courage, but it matters not how honest or how able a man is, if he is a natural born fool we have not much to do with him. We must also have the saving grace of common sense. We do not need to talk about it, we do not need to preach about it, but we need to practice the virtues of Abraham Lincoln.

Off to Northfield

When the party left the band stand to return to their carriages President Roosevelt courteously took the arm of the venerable ex-Governor and assisted him down the steps. The act was greeted with cheers from the audience. The procession was formed in the same order as before and returned to the station by way of Linden and Main streets. Another cheer went up as the train pulled out for Northfield, Mass., with the President bowing to the crowd from the rear platform.”

….

His visit did inconvenience some.  The paper noted that  “there was a good deal of grumbling on the narrow gauge railroad Monday over the want of seating capacity, as there were many more passengers than usual on account of the President’s visit to Brattleboro. We should say that extra occasions are the ones to be provided for, as it is not a pleasure to pay your fare and then have to stand all the way wither to or from Brattleboro.”

Photo of carriage from Brattleboro Historical Society collection. Other photos from the Library of Congress.