Dan Tyler Moore Dan Tyler Moore ( February 9 , 1877 – April 14 , 1941 ) was a career U . S . Army officer and an aide to President Theodore Roosevelt . An avid amateur boxer , and a sparring partner for Roosevelt , he struck the President in the eye , causing him to lose much of the sight of that eye . Early life . Moore was born in Montgomery , Alabama on February 9 , 1877 . He came from a family with a strong military heritage , and was the great - great - nephew of Aaron Burr . He grew up in Hanover , Germany and was educated in Switzerland . In 1898 , he graduated from the Eidgenössische Polytechnische Schule in Zurich , two classes ahead of Albert Einstein . Moore returned to the United States just before the Spanish - American War and was commissioned in the 15th Infantry . He served in Cuba from 1899 until 1901 , then transferred to the artillery and served in the Philippines from 1902 until 1904 . In 1904 , he was made a military aide to President Roosevelt . While serving in that capacity , he served as a sparring partner for Roosevelt , who was an enthusiastic amateur boxer . While boxing with the President , Moore struck Roosevelt so hard in the eye that the President lost sight in it . Moore did not learn of the result of the blow until 1917 , and only from reading Roosevelt ' s statement of how he came to lose sight in that eye , in which Roosevelt did not name Moore , but Moore realized that only he fit the description . Moore stated , " But could you ask for any better proof of the man ' s sportsmanship than the fact that he never told me what I had done to him ? " Military pioneer . In 1907 , the Artillery was divided , with separate divisions to deal with field artillery , and shore artillery . Moore remained with the " Redlegs " , as the field artillery was known . At the time , only Germany had a workable system of indirect fire ( how guns may be trained on a target that cannot be seen . Roosevelt wrote to Kaiser Wilhelm II , calling Moore " my young cousin " and secured his admission to the German artillery school , the first foreigner to attend . Moore spent much of 1909 and 1910 at the school , and was careful to appear to be a lazy but amiable officer , while soaking up all the knowledge he could . He returned to the United States in April 1910 , prolonging his stay in Europe for six weeks so he would qualify as a non - resident for customs fees . Following his return to the United States , in 1911 , Captain Moore was sent to Fort Sill , Oklahoma , where he was to found the U . S . Army School of Fire ( today the Field Artillery School ) . He was given complete authority to design the training of Army privates , non - commissioned officers , and officers at the school , which was initially run on a shoestring . He remained at the school until late 1914 . He was then sent to Washington , where he joined the staff of the Army War College . His houseguest there was Franz von Papen , later Chancellor of Germany during the Weimar Republic ( and Vice Chancellor briefly under Hitler ) — von Papen had been Moore ' s roommate in Germany . Unbeknownst to Moore , von Papen was running a spy ring out of Moore ' s house , for which the German was later expelled from the United States . In World War I , Moore , by now a Lieutenant Colonel , commanded a field artillery brigade . Upon his return to the United States in 1919 , he resigned from active duty , though he maintained a reserve commission until his 1941 death . He left a widow , Bessie Moore , a son , and four daughters . He is buried in the National Cemetery at Fort Sam Houston , Texas .