The Bolivar bulletin. (Bolivar, Tenn.) 1888-1946, 1901-09-27
ROOSEVELT'S MOTHER AND
HER CONFEDERATE FLAG
Special to the Nashville Americana

Through the paternal branch OF the
ancestral tree may have flowed some
of the sap that gave President Roo
sevelt his indomitable spirit, but
certain it is that the maternal branch
was rich in that quality which
marked the Bullochs of Georgia for
their resolution, pertinacity and
strength of will. No better expo
nent of those traits could be found
than Martha Bulloch Roosevelt, the
mother of the President.
Not long after the civil war Mrs.
Roosevelt was on a visit to Savan-
nah, where she had many friends.
She was Georgia woman, of dis
tinguished ancestry, the Bulloch
family being one of the best in the
state and its representatives having
served with distinction in the high
est positions It was but natural,
therefore, that she should have been
we'll received upon her visit to this
city, and that there should have been
rare pleasure to her, an unrecon-
structed "rebel," in her intercourse
with her own people, those who had
fought and bled upon the field of
battle, or fought the greater battle
of watching and waiting.
Reunion with her southern friends
after the years of the war that she
had spent at her home in New York,
was pleasure to Mrs. Roosevelt,
and it was with the keenest relish
that she recounted stories of the
times and of the trials that she had
| suffered in the city of her adoption
through her answering loyalty TO
the cause of the South-a cause to
which two of her brothers had de-
voted themselves, one as the repre-
sentative of the Government of the
Confederacy in London, and the
other as an officer on the cruiser
Alabama. One of these stories
clearly reveals the character of the
woman, and leaves little difficulty
in determining whence the Presi-
dent gets some of those qualities
that have tended to his preferment.
1t was at dinner given in Mrs.
Roosevelt's honor by Mrs. Henrietta
S. Cohen that she told the story.
Of late years, because of Theodore
Roosevelt's rapid advancement, it
has been recalled by his mothers
old friends, who feel pride in hav-
ing known the mother of the Presi-
dent and gladly ascribe to her some
of the traits that are seen in her
son.
1t was just when the spirit of
peace, uncertain whether it should
alight, was lowering over the land.
New York was ahame with passion
ate patriotism, and anything smack
ing of Confederacy wasn't tolerated.
Feeling ran high and woe was it to
anyone who braved the tide and
showed a leaning towards the cause
of the South.
Theodore Roosevelt, the elder,
decided about that time to give some
great social function. The Roose-
welt mansion was accordingly brave
ly decked in bunting and with Uni-
ted States flags. From every win
dow save one flew the Stars and
Stripes. That exception was Mrs.
Roosevelt's boudoir window. Her
husband had not desired to omit it
from the decorative scheme, but she
would have none OF it. Instead she
hit upon a plan that would clearly
reveal her sentiments.
Stopping not to consider the peril
in which it might place her and her
husband, but determined to show
that all in that house were not Of
the cause of the North, she drew
from her cherished treasures the
Stars and Bars of the Confederacy.
Going to the window, she firmly
fixed its staff and allowed its folds
to fiutter to the breeze.
On the instant, almost, the hostile
ensign was noted. In hot indigna
ton one observer pointed it out to
another, and mob speedily grew,
as mobs will. Soon the street was
choked with angry people, who
shook threatening fists at the Con
federate flag and inveighed most
bitterly.
Alarmed by the gathering that
was swelled at every moment and
which directed its wrath against his
house, Mr.. Roosevelt sought the
cause that had stirred the people to
anger. He was not long in finding
it. Fierce acclaim directed his gaze,
which rested upon the futtering
emblem of the South. The Roose
Welt nature has never quailed before
a crowd. Theodore, the elder, saw
that imminent danger could proba-
bly, be averted only through per-
suading his wife to remove the OBJ
jectionable flag. With word to
the crowd he entered the house to
find his wife. He told her what she
already knew-that the anger of the
mob had been excited by her indis-
Greet display of the southern colors,
and said that it would be well for
her to take in the flag.
81 shall not do so,' said the moth
er of the President. "The flag is
mine; the boudoir is mine. l love
the flag, for it represents my native
land. No ruffian hand shall invade
the privacy of my boudoir to drag
down that flag, nor shall rufiian
sbouts force me TO remove it from /