The Teddy Bear

   If there were ever a single human being that really deserved the title of superhero, then Theodore Roosevelt would probably be one of the leading candidates. No matter if you consider the man villain or hero, there is no denying the volume of experiences and accomplishments that Roosevelt managed to rack up in a single life time. Just a quick glance at a list of all that this man did, and how deeply he involved himself in every single endeavor, reads much like a work of fiction. It’s hard to imagine how any person could do so much in a single life time. There is little doubt that Roosevelt is far from the most tireless individual that has ever lived but, unlike many, Roosevelt understood something that Benjamin Franklin once remarked on. “It’s not just important to do hard work, other people have to see you doing it.”
No one ever accused Roosevelt of modesty but, unlike George Armstrong Custer, Theodore’s trumpet did not seem to be so much an act of vanity as it was a well calculated ploy. Like most tasks that Roosevelt committed himself too, he was very effective with his self promoting, public relations, campaign. Unfortunately for his political enemies, Roosevelt was generally competent at any task he undertook and, quite often, showed signs of brilliance at even tasks he was unfamiliar. It would be of my own opinion that Roosevelt’s success had less to do with his intelligence and more to do with his almost inhuman drive and work ethic. The man simply never stopped and, more important, he also surrounded himself with people who were talented at things that he was not.
Roosevelt’s foes were many and that included men who were, at least on the surface, supposed to be his allies. While no one was brave enough to write down that they were worried about Roosevelt as a potential rival or replacement, even to the point of jealousy, it seems quite clear that this was the case. This was never more true than the case of John Hay, the US Secretary of State.  There are many who wrote down that Hay not only disliked Roosevelt but, considered the man dangerous. Hay and Roosevelt were both Republicans and Hay’s boss, President Root, was even from the same political machine as Roosevelt. These were, allegedly, Roosevelt’s friends so one can only suppose what his enemies thought of him.
The main point that everyone, friends and enemies alike, could agree on about Roosevelt was that he was seething with ambition and quite good at managing his agenda. This was the reason that Roosevelt found himself posted in the most backwater theater of the war, the State of New Mexico, and all courtesy of John Hay. The Secretary of State made it clear in his writings, even if he did not say it outright, that Roosevelt could cause him no trouble from the little fort in Tombstone, New Mexico. It would become quickly apparent that Hay, like so many before him, had completely underestimated Roosevelt which some reporters described as “the bear in the room.”
Before Mexico and the United States found themselves at war, Roosevelt found himself guarding a very quiet border. He and his friend, Leonard Wood, who was his regimental commander, used the time to train a cavalry unit, composed primarily of reservists and militia, into a unit that easily proved itself just as competent as any regular formation. This seems to be largely due to the skills of both Wood and Roosevelt that complimented each other. Despite being a medical Doctor, Wood was a first rate soldier who was more than familiar with the modern state of military affairs. Roosevelt was not only a tireless administrator but, he was also very good at recognizing talent and stocking the unit with individuals that were worth their weight in gold.
Despite the inactivity of the front, Roosevelt was still making the newspaper with tales of his eccentric cowboy cavalry. Most of these tales were wild exaggerations and many of the descriptions of these men were out right fabrications but, at a time when war news was, at best, depressing it made good copy. It was so effective as propaganda that men like John Hay and President Root dare not try and squash the stories. Roosevelt had been a celebrity before the war but, as it drug on, he became a household name and achieved the status of being famous for no other reason than he was famous.
When the silent Mexican border suddenly became a new front in the war, Roosevelt was more than eager to put his unit into action. He quickly discovered that very little changed with the border. What did change was a reorganization of the US Army Department of New Mexico. The overall commander was replaced more than once and the senior officers were shuffled around considerably. Roosevelt found the confusion and turmoil that this caused to be intolerable. Like so many of his efforts in the early war, Roosevelt began a campaign of correspondence and, once again, his pen proved itself to be a far more effective weapon than his rifle.
While Roosevelt’s actual impact on the eventual command structure, in New Mexico, can be debated there is little doubt that it had an effect. Roosevelt tirelessly campaigned for his own candidate to lead his front and, no matter if you believe he was responsible or not, his man eventually got the job. One might think it strange, even unwise, that Roosevelt backed a virtually unknown junior officer but, it proved to be another case of Roosevelt’s uncanny knack at recognizing talent when he saw it. This was how a recently minted Lieutenant Colonel, by the name of John Pershing, suddenly found himself promoted to Brevet Major General and in charge of an entire front.
While this might have been something of a surprise to those who were far removed from New Mexico, the truth was that there were very few military men, in the state, who were. Even Pershing’s previous commanding officers were aware of who was really running the department of New Mexico and, in fact, there were two of them. Since before the war, Captain Pershing and, his unofficial partner in crime, Captain Fredrick Funston, were the “go too guys” in New Mexico. The strange state of affairs and politics of this state is largely the reason why.
The US aid to Pancho Villa was mostly handled by Funston who was acting as, much like his counterparts in South Africa, a private citizen with a reserve commission in the US Army. In practical, day to day, operations the truth seems to be that Funston was acting quite openly as a US Army officer. Pershing was officially assigned to the Quartermasters Office in Santa Fe but, in reality he was seldom there. Pershing made sure that Villa’s weapons made it to Funston who then made sure those same weapons made it to Mexico. All the while, Pershing also had a secondary task that he was obviously required to handle with subtlety.
At the end of the American War of 61, the state of New Mexico was actually two separate territories within the US. The western half of what was, in 1900, the US State of New Mexico, was the long forgotten territory of Arizona. The citizens of Arizona had been highly sympathetic to the Confederate States and, at one point, they even declared themselves a state of the CSA. It took military action to prevent this from becoming a reality. As a result of this incident the territory was punished right out of existence by the US. In 1900 there was still simmering resentment amongst the citizens in the western half of New Mexico.
John Pershing was tasked with the job of making sure that nothing came of the Arizona rebels. There were not that many of them and Arizona was so remote as to make them easy to ignore but, US aid to Pancho Villa suddenly made the area a little more important. Not only was the US using the area as a staging ground for arms shipments but, there was some fear that Mexico might return the favor by arming US rebels much like the Yankee Gringo’s were doing with Villa.
There is no record of any attempt by Maximilian’s government to aid the Arizona Secessionist Movement. There is also no known record that the Confederate States paid them any attention either. The CS Navy did have a single report on the matter and they seemed to believe that Pancho Villa’s rebellion made such an operation (supplying Arizonan’s with weapons) risky if not impossible.  With this knowledge, something that no one at the time could have known, it would seem that Pershing was handed a do nothing job. It might well have been but the side effects were very important.
In the process of dealing with the local citizenry, something that his duties made an absolute requirement, Pershing developed intimate knowledge of how the state worked. Also, while Pershing was not the most personable of fellows, he was quite honest and, even more important, competent. Pershing quickly developed a reputation of being no non-sense and effective. If the man gave you his word then something usually happened. He quickly gained the respect of even his enemies, many of whom would become his effective allies during the war. He would also give something back to the man who was always in his corner, Theodore Roosevelt.