John Bigelow , Jr . John Bigelow , Jr . ( May 12 , 1854 – 1936 ) was a United States Army Lieutenant Colonel . He was the subject of many articles on military frontier life in " Outing Magazine " published by his brother Poultney Bigelow and with sketches drawn in the field by the then young and obscure Frederic Remington . The book " Frontier Cavalryman " is based on his journals and service with the Buffalo Soldiers . He received a Silver Star and a Purple Heart for his actions in Cuba . He was assigned as a superintendent of Yosemite National Park in early 1904 and retired from the Army the following September . He became a teacher at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and later an author of several books . He was recalled to active duty in World War I and served in Washington , District of Columbia until 1919 . He retired again and died in 1936 at age 81 . Early life and family . John Bigelow , Jr . was the eldest of the two sons of the statesman John Bigelow , Senior and Jane Tunis Poultney born in New York City , New York . He spent much of his early years in France and traveled throughout Europe with his parents . He became fluent in the French language as well as having a general understanding of German and Italian . On April 28 , 1883 he married Mary Dallam ( July 24 , 1858 Baltimore , Maryland – about 1941 ) and they had one son and several daughters of which only one survived him . Their son , Captain Braxton Bigelow was killed in action in 1917 while serving with the British Royal Engineers near Loos . Indian Wars and frontier service . Bigelow was appointed from New York and graduated from the United States Military Academy at Westpoint , New York in 1877 . He requested cavalry and was assigned to the 10th U . S . Cavalry but served with the 9th U . S . Cavalry for a time before going back to the 10th . While at the Military Academy Bigelow met Henry Ossian Flipper a classmate who had been born a slave . Bigelow faced for the first time the racism then prevailing in America . His upbringing in Europe did not prepare him for such hatred . His efforts to explain what he saw in Europe only inflamed other racists . With subtle help from his peers , Flipper was the first " negro " to graduate from West Point . 9th Cavalry Regiment – The Buffalo Soldiers . After the Civil War two regiments of " Negro Troops " were raised for cavalry service on the frontier . These were the 9th Cavalry and the 10th U . S . Cavalry . By 1877 the regiments led by white officers were veterans of Indian Warfare and frontier life . Bigelow , later with the 10th Cavalry , wrote historical sketches for these Buffalo Soldiers which are still used today as a reference . On December 14 , 1877 , the young Bigelow reported for duty at Fort Duncan in West Texas . He was assigned to Company B , 9th Cavalry . In time he learned to become a cavalry trooper . His handsome looks turned many a lady ' s head and he left many broken hearts behind him . His language skills and presentation were also a plus for him . His journals and sketches created a colorful portrait of his frontier service . In 1877 the 9th Cavalry were in the New Mexico Military District , which covered parts of New Mexico , Colorado and Texas . Bigelow and participated in the later part of the Apache Wars dated from 1875 to 1881 . His service included the Battle of Tularosa with Chiricahua Apache warriors led by Victorio in May 1880 . In 1881 the 9th were transferred east to Fort Riley , Kansas . But Bigelow was transferred to the 10th U . S . Cavalry and in October 1882 he is at Fort Davis in Texas . 10th Cavalry Regiment . In the spring of 1885 the 10th left Fort Davis for the Department of Arizona . En route the widely scattered troops began to come together and formed a full regiment of 12 troops for the first and only time in its history . Bigelow stated it was a sight to see and would never be seen again . On May 20 , 1885 , the regiment reached its new headquarters at Fort Apache , Arizona territory . Within weeks they were headed to various isolated posts and forts for duty . In the mid - 1880s the hunt for Geronimo was on and Bigelow was involved with the search , patrolling out of Fort Grant . Many patrols were carried out and the public ' s attention was drawn to the hunt . " Harper ' s Weekly " sent a young Frederic Remington out to document the historic events . While Remington went out with various cavalry troops of the 10th , he met a friend of an old friend in the dusty west . Bigelow ' s brother Poultney Bigelow was a former Yale classmate of Remington and had remained in contact with him . This started a friendship which would last for decades . Bigelow allowed Remington to read his journals and see his sketches . While Bigelow never became proficient in his sketches , his journals became the basis of serial articles on the hunt for Geronomo for his brother ' s " Outing " magazine . Remington added a series of freelance sketches for the magazine that included his new friend , John Bigelow . Bigelow , now tough and leaner in stature , with a regimental approved mustache , from his tenure on the frontier had become a teacher to Remington regarding the cavalry and the tools of the trade . Bigelow teased his friend about his British - style pith helmet . He gave his friend a quiver of Apache hunting arrows and its bow that he had recovered from the field . Remington made dozens of sketches that often focused on what Bigelow did and often inserted himself in his own sketches . In 1889 Remington would publish some of his sketches and tell of what it was like going on a " scout " with the Buffalo Soldiers . The tall lean frame and face of Bigelow can be seen in many of Remington ' s later paintings and artistic works . Unfortunately this caused some problems for Bigelow . Not only did some officers become jealous of the attention given to Bigelow , but many women , married and single , competed for his attention . Bigelow had many a close call toward the state of matrimony , but improved his Spanish skills . On at least two occasions his " notoriety " caused him delay in returning to his command because of the " need " for him to attend a party while in transit at some frontier posting . While the prize of capturing Geronimo in September 1886 went to Captain Henry Lawton , in command of B Troop , 4th Cavalry , the 10th Cavalry had drawn their part of the noose tight to make it happen . Bigelow and his troop were part of the escort taking Geronimo to the railroad station for his imprisonment back east . In 1891 , The headquarters for the 10th was moved to Fort Grant . Bigelow was listed as the Regimental Quartermaster . There he would write a brief history of the 10th Cavalry which became part of the United States Military historic record . Late career and Spanish - American War . In late June 1898 , Captain Bigelow in command of D Troop , 10th Cavalry landed in Cuba . The harsh jungle conditions were hard on him and his men . His unit was part of the Cavalry Division ' s Second Brigade which included the 1st Volunteer Cavalry later led by Lt . Colonel Theodore Roosevelt and was in the thick of the fighting . Three principal battles were fought by this brigade on the approach to the principal city of Santiago de Cuba . The first of these were the Battle of Las Guasimas on June 24 , 1898 , where Bigelow and the 10th Cavalry saved a portion of the Rough Riders from annihilation when their lead companies were ambushed and pinned down . This was where " Harper ' s Weekly " war correspondent Frederic Remington experienced the true horror of combat and heard the whistle of bullets near his head . Remington later painted the " Scream of the Shrapnel " in 1899 that represented this event . The second was the Battle of El Caney in the early morning hours of July 1 where stubborn Spanish forces held the Americans at bay for almost twelve hours . Then came infamous or famous Battle of San Juan Hill in the late afternoon . Bigelow was in a quandary . His troops and others were receiving fire from the San Juan Heights that was fortified by the Spanish defenders . Other units went into position on the left and the right . But still no orders to advance came . Bigelow ' s second in command , First Lieutenant Jules Garesche Ord , son of General Otho Cresap Ord , was sent to Brigadier General Hamilton S . Hawkins asking permission to attack . Hawkins refused to give permission but did not deny it either . En route back to the company , Ord passed by the different units including Roosevelt ' s Rough Riders and asked them to support the regulars when they went up the hill . Captain Bigelow led his soldiers up the steep slopes to the heights of San Juan Hill . Advancing through blistering fire , Bigelow was hit but continued to urge his men forward . Just past the midway point he was hit in quick succession by three Spanish bullets which caused him to fall . Several soldiers present reported that he encouraged them with , " Men , don ' t stop for me , just keep up the charge until you get to the top of the hill . " His men did so and were able to provide covering fire for those attacking adjacent to them . Bigelow ' s second in command , Jules Ord , reached the top and began directing supporting fire when he was hit in the throat and mortally wounded . On that one day and one place , one half of the 10th ' s officers and one - fifth of its soldiers became casualties . First Lieutenant John J . Pershing , quartermaster of the 10th , took over command of D Troop . Pershing had helped lead the charge up Kettle Hill with the right flank of the 10th . Bigelow was awarded the Silver Star for his actions on San Juan Hill . In August 1899 , he turned down a lieutenant colonelcy with a volunteer regiment to stay with the 10th . This act was perceived as a snub . It took many months for him to recover from his wounds and he found himself back in Cuba in 1899 . He spent the next three years investigating Spanish war claims there . Superintendent of Yosemite National Park . Returning to the United States , he was shuffled from one fort to another each further westward until he reached the Presidio of San Francisco in later part of 1903 . His repeated efforts for an active command fell on deaf ears . In 1904 he became the superintendent of Yosemite National Park which was then considered a retirement posting . Once again he served with elements of the 9th Cavalry Buffalo Soldiers . In early 1904 , Bigelow ordered an arboretum on the South Fork of the Merced then in the southern section of Yosemite National Park . This arboretum had pathways and benches , and some plants were identified in both English and Latin . This " Pioneer attempt " to interpret the botanical features of Yosemite was 16 years before Dr . Harold C . Bryant ' s nature guiding service which became the nucleus of the interpretive program for the National Park Service . Dr . Bryant was inspired by Joseph Grinnell who cited Bigelow ' s arboretum in his 1914 work on Yosemite . Yosemite ' s arboretum is considered by the National Park System to be the first museum . The NPS cites a 1904 report , where Bigelow declared the arboretum " To provide a great museum of nature for the general public free of cost . . . " Unfortunately , the forces of developers , miners and greed cut the boundaries of Yosemite in 1905 and the arboretum was nearly destroyed . Bigelow and his Buffalo Soldiers , as military stewards , were some of the first " Park Rangers " that protected the national parks from illegal grazing , poaching , timber thieves , and forest fires . But they and their leaders came against those who influence or control politics , the soldiers followed their orders and allowed " progress . " Bigelow became more aware that he had become " persona non grata " for his stanch support for the black Buffalo Soldiers . Seeing the winds of change shrinking Yosemite and Claiming ill health , he retired from the Army in late September 1904 . Then he headed east toward home where he would write and teach . Retirement . Bigelow ' s retirement from the Army did not stop him from working . He became a professor of French and the head of the Department of Modern Languages at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology from 1905 to 1910 . Afterward he devoted himself to studying strategy , tactics and international relations . He wrote several books on these subjects ( e . g . " American Policy : The Western Hemisphere in its Relation to the Eastern " ) . His efforts to become a foreign statesman like his father was turned down . His unintentional snubbing of Teddy Roosevelt in 1899 and undaunted support for black troops continued to prevent him from serving his country like his father . In 1914 when war broke out in Europe , he redoubled his effort to join the diplomatic corps and when that failed , he offered to serve in any capacity . As America was dragged into World War I , Bigelow was recalled to active duty as a Lieutenant Colonel . Again he was denied an active command and served at Rutgers and in the War Department ' s Historical Branch until his release in the later part of 1919 . He and his wife Mary suffered a tremendous loss in 1917 . Their only son , Braxton had been killed in action while serving with the British near Loos . Braxton decided to get in the war early and in 1915 became an officer in the British Royal Engineers . By the time of his death he was a Captain and had received many awards for his service . After the war years , Bigelow and his wife traveled to Europe with their daughter Jane . They visited the grave of their son and he explored the possibility of serving with the British . Discouraged by what he saw in Europe he returned home . On February 29 , 1936 with war looming once again in Europe he died at home in Washington , D . C . Honors and awards . During his military career , Bigelow earned the Silver Star while attacking up San Juan Hill in Cuba . He received a Purple Heart for his four wounds received there .