Macomber speaks about Roosevelt trip to SW Florida
Pine Island award-winning author, lecturer and commentator Robert Macomber was invited to speak at Museum of the Islands monthly meeting last week. Macomber, who is a Civil War historian best known for his Honor Series of books, spoke about “The President and the Devilfish” – an account of Theodore Roosevelt’s trip to Southwest Florida in the hunt for the giant manta ray aka “devilfish.”
As a guest of his “home museum,” Macomber encouraged everyone to become a member to support the museum.
“We have to preserve our history and it costs very little.” Macomber said.
“I’m going to talk tonight about ‘The President and the Devilfish,'” he started. “The devilfish is actually a giant manta ray. They’ve become rare today but they were plentiful when the president came to Southwest Florida. The president I am speaking of is the legendary Theodore Roosevelt. Theodore Roosevelt is one of our most fascinating characters in our history and I’ve been studying him for 50 years. There are legacies among us here in southwest Florida now from Theodore Roosevelt.
“I want to give you some idea of the person Theodore Roosevelt was. The year was 1917. The first World War had been raging for three years and we were not in it yet. Theodore Roosevelt had not been president since 1909. But immediately after his presidency ended, he left on an expedition to Africa to embark on an African safari. Once he finished the safari he met his wife in Khartoum in the Sudan and embarked on a grand tour of Europe. The entire trip took about one year and he finished up in 1910 when he returned home.
“When Roosevelt returns home he learns that his hand-picked successor to the presidency, William Taft, is not living up to Roosevelt’s expectations and the Republican Party encourages him to run for the presidency once again. Roosevelt ran in a three-way race and lost badly to Wood-row Wilson. This came as a complete shock to Roosevelt and he decided to get away on another expedition.
“This time Roosevelt went to South America for a year between 1913 and 1914 and this expedition came close to killing him. Traveling down the ‘River of Doubt,’ at 1,000 kilometers long, Roosevelt is 55 years old and he gets really, really sick – as does his son, Kermit. Roosevelt is also struck with an old malady, malaria, that he had years before and is lying on what everyone believes to be his death cot. He has a wound on his leg that is festering and infected, he can’t walk and he’s lost 50 pounds in a couple of weeks.
“After several months they finally get close enough to civilization where Roosevelt finally gets the medical help he needs and he goes home. But his health never fully recovers. He was a very sick man for the rest of his life.
Macomber then discussed the Roosevelt’s difficult past.
“Roosevelt had a lot of tragedy in his life. His father died when he was in college. Then when he was in his mid-20s, his mother and his wife died on the same day – Valentine’s Day. Theodore Roosevelt and wife Alice had been married just three years when she died giving birth to their daughter Alice. Roosevelt never spoke of his first wife again and never mentioned her name. Roosevelt remarried and would have four sons and another daughter.
“The first daughter, Alice, who later became Alice Roosevelt Longworth, was the kind of daughter that was time intensive. She grew into her maturity while Roosevelt was president. She smoked, she danced those dances young ladies shouldn’t dance, she drove motor cars and was a handful. When President Roosevelt was asked if he could ‘manage’ his out-of-control daughter he responded, ‘I can be president of the United States, or I can control Alice. I cannot possibly do both.’
Macomber described what prompted the former president to pursue devilfish.
“Roosevelt left the presidency in March 1909 and it was about 1916 that Roosevelt read an article by Russell Coles. Coles was an accomplished fisherman, rather wealthy, and he wrote an article about hunting devilfish and how it is a manly occupation. Roosevelt was intrigued with killing devilfish. He wrote afterwards, ‘Killing devilfish with the harpoon and lance had always appealed to me as a fascinating sport.’ Roosevelt wrote a letter to Coles complimenting him on the article and Coles, in turn, invites the former president to Southwest Florida to hunt for devilfish.
“Roosevelt makes plans to spend a month hunting devilfish in Southwest Florida in the spring of 1917. This is immediately before the U.S. gets involved in World War I. By this time the Lusitania has been sunk and German submarines are spotted in the North Atlantic. It seems war is imminent and Roosevelt decides he doesn’t want to leave Washington.
“Roosevelt sends a second letter to Coles explaining that under the circumstances he can’t possibly come to Florida for a month. Coles, on the other hand, really wants to go devilfish hunting with Theodore Roosevelt and writes a letter back saying, ‘If you come to Florida, it won’t take a month to catch a devilfish, in fact, your trip will only take a week. If you leave Washington on March 23 by 25 minutes of nine on Monday, March 26, you will have killed your devilfish.’ Therefore Roosevelt would only be away from Washington for a week.
“Roosevelt was challenged and probably that telegram was the deciding factor in Theodore Roosevelt’s decision to come here,” Macomber continued. “They came down by train into Punta Gorda and boarded a Punta Gorda Fish Company steamboat for the trip to the east side of Captiva Island where there is a one-room barge about 50 feet long and 20 feet wide. This is their base of operations.
“It’s the following morning, March 26, and Roosevelt has been promised a devilfish by 35 minutes before nine o’clock. I have to think that Roosevelt is wondering whether Coles can pull this off.
“Here is a quote from Theodore Roosevelt: ‘It really is an extraordinary thing but exactly six minutes before the precise minute he (Coles) had prophesied, I struck a death blow with the spade lance into my first devilfish.’ Then minutes later Roosevelt struck and killed an even larger devilfish that two years before scientists believed was non-existent. Roosevelt stayed another day and headed back to Washington.
Macomber then addressed Roosevelt legacies in Southwest Florida.
“I mentioned earlier that there are legacies among us now from Theodore Roosevelt,” he said. “We know that Theodore Roosevelt was the first conservation president and it was President Roosevelt, that in 1908, in his last full year as president, he created the Pine Island National Wildlife Refuge. The first three islands that were designated part of the refuge were Bird Key and Middle Key, as well as an unnamed island we call Hemp Key. Years later Roosevelt wrote about the birds, weather and beautiful sunsets of our area.”
“By the third day of April 1917 Roosevelt was back in Washington but he had missed the declaration of war by one day. Remember, he was still very ill from his trip to South America but Roosevelt fully supports the new President Woodrow Wilson.
All four of Roosevelt’s sons ended up fighting in World War I, and it was a difficult time for the former president, Macomber noted.
“It was very difficult being a son of Theodore Roosevelt. Roosevelt had four sons with his second wife. Theodore Jr. was the eldest son and then Kermit, Archie and Quentin. All four sons served in combat in the First World War. One son, Kermit, volunteered with the British Army even before the U.S. entered the war. Once the U.S. declared war he served with the U.S. Army on the western front. Ted Jr. joined the Army and served in combat on the western front where he was badly wounded. Archie also served in combat on the western front and was grievously wounded. The fourth son, Quentin, volunteered and became the youngest pilot in the American Army in World War I.
“Roosevelt is very proud of his sons but the year 1918 was a horrible year for the Roosevelt family. Quentin was killed in action and all of the other sons were badly wounded. It seems that Quentin’s death was the final nail for Theodore Roosevelt. He never got over Quentin’s death and died on Jan. 6, 1919, at his home at Sagamore Hill. He felt he encouraged his sons to go to war and one paid the ultimate price.
“The three remaining sons ended up serving in World War II,”Macomber added. “Ted Jr. came back into the Army to serve as a brigadier general. Ted Jr. has the distinction of being the only general in the first wave of the invasion of Normandy. He was so crippled with arthritis and a heart condition at the time he used a cane to get around on the beach at Normandy. Ted received the Congressional Medal of Honor. He died one month later of a heart attack.”
“His brother Archie volunteered and commanded men in New Guinea and he received three Silver Stars. Finally, Kermit served and was shipped off to the Aleutian Islands where he committed suicide. It was very difficult being Theodore Roosevelt’s son.
“Well, that’s the story of Theodore Roosevelt and when he came to our islands to hunt for devilfish. Please make a point if you have a boat of getting to those little islands that are part of the Pine Island National Wildlife Preserve.”
Macomber has exclusive guided tours scheduled of Civil War sites in Pine Island Sound and Charlotte Harbor. Each is a 4-hour tour aboard Pineland Marina’s new boat “Island Girl.” The first tour is on Saturday, Jan. 10, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. The second tour is scheduled for Saturday, Jan. 24, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
“Get the insider’s story of some little known tales of the War Between the States and how our Southwest Florida region played a role in ways few can imagine,” promotional material about the cruises states.
The cost is just $100 per person per trip and reservations are required. A light lunch with water and soft drinks is included.
Reserve your place today by calling: 239-633-8142 at Island Girl Charters. Seats are expected to fill fast.