THIS MEANS WAR!
125 years ago, there were public allegations of incompetence and inexperience leveled at Gen. Russell A. Alger surrounding his tenure as U.S. Secretary of War from 1897-1899 under President William McKinley. With the internet continuing to give these remaining old rumors oxygen let’s review who the General really was: his military background, his business expertise, and his personal character.
Russell was born in a log cabin on a small farm in Medina County, Ohio February 27, 1836. Both parents and his older sister died when he was 12 years old, leaving him to raise two younger siblings. Through clever bartering and very hard work, he was able to board, clothe, feed, and educate them all.
After teaching for a few years to put himself through law school, he passed the bar and worked for a firm in the Cleveland area. Quickly bored with just office work, he relocated to Grand Rapids in 1860 to add some exploratory investments in pine timber to his income in legal. He married local beauty Annette Henry in April 1861 just as the Civil War began. By September 2 he had enlisted in the 2nd Michigan Cavalry Regiment and mustered in as a captain. As he rose rapidly through the military ranks, he was transferred to the 6th then 5th Michigan Cavalry. He visited every U.S. military camp with President Lincoln documenting conditions and what supplies each had and what was needed. He was also given a special role by the War Department to mass distribute millions of handbills containing the President’s amnesty proclamation; he reported directly to Lincoln on both of these projects.
Secretary of War Gen. Russell A Alger sitting at his desk in his Washington, D.C. office, 1898. (Bettman/Getty Images)
Alger was a very patriotic and heroic figure, considered a brilliant military strategist by the top brass including Generals Sheridan, McClellan, and Custer. On September 20, 1864, after fighting in 66 battles and skirmishes, being severely injured twice (at Booneville and Boonesboro), and taken prisoner then escaping, he retired from active duty and moved with Annette to Detroit. Initially a Brevet Brigadier General, President Johnson and the U.S. Senate officially confirmed him as Brevet Major General on March 2, 1867.
Following the war, in addition to practicing law, Alger amassed great wealth with his various business endeavors including iron mining, railroads, banking, oil, livestock, shipping, and all things lumber related.
Gen. Alger and Detroit Mayor Maybury ride from the train station to his home upon his return from Washington, DC as Secretary of War before an adoring throng, August 2, 1899. (Detroit Historical Society)
For his first two political offices, Gen. Alger was appointed Michigan’s Inspector General beginning March 17, 1869, then voted Governor of Michigan from January 1, 1885 – January 1, 1887; he declined a second term as governor. As a reminder the Office of Inspector General’s purpose was to investigate and root out waste, abuse, fraud, and corruption by ensuring honesty and integrity in government.
In both 1888 and 1892 he found himself under consideration as a potential Michigan Republican nominee for the U.S. Presidency; he failed to win the nomination both times.
There were two prominent fraternal military organizations following the Civil War and Lincoln’s assassination, and Gen. Alger was very involved with and led both. Alger was a co-founder and long-time member of the Grand Army of the Republic (GAR) Michigan Post and was Michigan’s Grand Commander May 1867- May 1868. At the 23rd National Encampment of the Grand Army of the Republic in Milwaukee, August 28 – 30, 1889, Gen. Alger was elected National Commander-in-Chief for the usual one-year term. The GAR was at its peak membership of 409,489 during his tenure ending August 13-14, 1890, in Boston at the 24th National Encampment.
Gen. Alger was also one of the 13 Charter Members of the Michigan Commandry of the Military Order of the Loyal Legion of the United States when it was founded February 4, 1885. He was unanimously elected Commander of the Michigan Commandry of MOLLUS for the 1887-1888 term. Prior to the Michigan Commandry being founded, Alger was a member of the Massachusetts Commandry most likely joining circa 1868.
The General was extremely popular, a beloved “adopted son” of Detroit. People loved his rags-to-riches life story and battlefield exploits, while remaining a kind, honest, and spiritual neighbor. Alger embodied what a good citizen should be.
For Christmas 1886 the Newsboys of Detroit received their first of many annual donations from Gen. Alger, later carried on by the Alger family. A complete warm suit of clothes was provided for each of the approximately 2,000 poor newsboys hawking the Detroit Evening News on the city’s bitterly cold streets. This is one of many examples of the philanthropic nature of the man, usually done away from public view.
Gen. Alger began his appointment as President William McKinley’s Secretary of War on March 5, 1897. Due to his enviable battlefield experience and previous camp visitations to document supply needs, this should have been a great appointment; his years as an Inspector General should have been an added bonus. Unfortunately, the deactivated military of the late 1890’s had appropriations regularly stricken from bills and D.C. wish lists. If they were needed, they had nothing.
Less than a year into his tenure the USS Maine sank in Havana Harbor with 269 killed outright or from related injuries; it was time to pay the piper, America. That date was February 15, 1898, and the rallying cry heard was “Remember the Maine!”
The cause of the explosion was widely attributed to “a spontaneous fire in the coal bunkers” and the sinking declared an accident by many officials at the time and now.
However, it is widely believed that yellow journalism – courtesy of William Randolph Hearst’s and Joseph Pulitzer’s huge newspaper reach - promoted the story of Spain being solely responsible by blowing up the ship. The U.S. soon plunged into war.
By early September, Alger had petitioned the President to launch an investigation into the War Department. Drawing on his Inspector General experience, he had questions about many things he saw as completely wrong or missing in their attempts to wage the business of war. The Civil War-era uniforms the newly enlisted were given were made of wool to fight in Cuba and the Philippines during the summer! There were huge mobilization issues; heavy ordinance was sorely lacking; their guns completely outdated. There were no conveyance methods to get the supplies out of the U.S. and successfully onto two islands. The list goes on. This war was not one with men on horses travelling between States firing pistols or rifles. This was mucking through very rough, unfamiliar terrain (particularly in the Philippines) woefully ill-equipped and in extreme heat and humidity, with malaria, yellow fever, typhoid, and dysentery in massive abundance.
There were also some very serious allegations leveled about the food served, embroiling Alger and a few others in something the yellow papers dubbed “The Embalmed Beef Scandal.” After hearing some “defective beef” statements uttered by the Army’s Gen. Nelson Miles, syndicates again belonging to Hearst and Pulitzer alleged that “rotting beef embalmed in formaldehyde” was being served both tinned and refrigerated to the troops. Investigative testing done in response showed the beef was the same that was being sold at corner butcher shops to American families. This disclosure was certainly not great news, but the inferior meat issue helped ensure domestic laws were enacted to improve the safety of our food. It also proved that the libelous idea of the U.S. government purposefully serving tainted meat to our troops was false.
Although the Spanish-American War was not a long one and we were victorious, it was a pointed illustration in how not to engage in warfare. Preparedness was paramount and we were not. The U.S. was overly susceptible to wild rumors generated by dubious sources. Allegations and public in-fighting among the different military divisions and key personnel were an embarrassment. Too many of our troops died because of mosquito-borne illnesses and exposure, not because they were overwhelmed by the Spanish. We won, but we publicly shot ourselves in the foot doing so.
On July 1, 1899, Gen. Alger was taken aside by Vice-President Hobart and told that he was going to be asked to resign by President McKinley as Secretary of War. Alger and McKinley were old acquaintances, and the General was shocked sensing he was being made a scapegoat. Alger had asked the President several times if he had any doubts about his ability. McKinley had been copied on all of his correspondence and they had been in continuous communication. McKinley in response insisted more than once that he wasn’t looking to fire or force out Alger, but the rumors were loud and undeniable in Washington, D.C.
Tiring of the uncertainty and spectacle, Gen. Alger resigned on July 19 stipulating that his final work date was at the President’s discretion making McKinley look like the heavy for vacillating. On July 25, McKinley advised that July 31 would be the end of his tenure as Secretary of War. At noon on August 1, Gen. Alger congratulated his successor at the swearing in and departed.
Gen. Alger returned home to Detroit on August 2 to pandemonium and a hero’s welcome. His train first stopped in Toledo from Washington and was met by a large contingent of VIP well-wishers and politicians. Upon his Detroit arrival, some 150,000 adoring citizens crammed the train depot and the streets waiting for his speech and to witness his short carriage ride home. His family was already at the Fort Street home with a battery of local VIPs and society women to greet the General and his huge entourage.
Gen. Alger had always been treated like royalty in Detroit, and his followers knew that he been a casualty of post-war politics – and they were having none of it. He was interviewed extensively and made no excuses about what was not under his control and what was in his previous role. He also revealed that he would immediately write a book detailing exactly what he knew and did surrounding his handling of the war; he wanted his good name cleared! Although he had a grievance with McKinley, he remained a gentleman stating that he would write, but withhold publishing the book, until McKinley’s death. Known for his honesty, his following quote about President McKinley made headlines across the U.S.: “He has many loveable qualities, but he lacks backbone, and nothing can make up for the lack of backbone” (Milwaukee Journal, March 4, 1900).
Certainly Alger could not have anticipated that his book would see such a quick release. On September 6, 1901, President McKinley was assassinated in Buffalo, NY’s Temple of Music at the Pan-American Exposition while shaking hands in a public receiving line.
Before year’s end The Spanish-American War by Gen. R.A. Alger (Harper & Brothers Publishing) was published. It gave his side of the story leading to his exit as Secretary of War, filled in much information not known at the time, and clarified misinformation. It is an incredibly detailed, but fast moving, read and not boring. One recognizes both his Inspector General and particularly his legal background in his writing. His facts and figures are clearly but meticulously laid out telling a compelling story of fighting a war with sparse up-to-date resources; willing, but very ill troops; and a handful of in-fighting, egocentric military leaders that sometimes ignored direct orders. You can read the book at the link below.
Once the book was published, much of the misinformation about Gen. Alger was proven false and most of the public remembered him as the military hero and gentleman he was.
Although his health had been slowly declining for years, on September 28, 1902, Gen. Alger was appointed to fill Sen. James McMillan’s seat when he died abruptly while in office. Alger was then elected in his own right to serve as Senator from Michigan until he also passed while in office, January 24, 1907. His funerals in Washington, D.C. and Detroit were massive, with hundreds of thousands in attendance.
Gen. Alger usually referred to himself when asked as “an American soldier.” Evidence and actions seem to point to him being an excellent one, and always ready to serve his country however and whenever he was needed.
BOOK CREDIT: Alger, R. A. (1901) The Spanish-American War. New York, London, Harper & Bros. [Pdf] Retrieved from the Library of Congress.