115

Theodore Roosevelt

Typed Letter Signed, as President, to William Sturgis Bigelow,

sending a copy [present] of war correspondent George Kennan's eye-witness account of the Battle of Shaho and the Siege of Port Arthur [during the Russo-Japanese War], reporting that he met a Japanese officer engaged in the battle that sunk the Russian cruiser Rurik [Battle of Ulsan], and speculating that the Baltic fleet's return to native waters suggests that Japan is out of danger. 1 page, 4to, White House stationery, with integral blank; cigarette burn with minor loss at upper left edge, faint toning at right edge, horizontal fold; custom cloth clamshell box, leather label on front cover with gilt titling.

Washington, 9 January 1905.

  • Notes: "I send you a copy of a most interesting letter from George Kennan. Last night I saw a Japanese naval officer who was second in command on one of their cruisers in the fight in which the Rurik was sunk. I guess the Baltic fleet being on its way home means that all danger to Japan on the sea is over, unless the war lasts a year or two longer."

    With--Typed copy of George Keenan's letter to President Roosevelt, celebrating the imminent Japanese capture of Port Arthur, recounting having observed the shelling of military hospitals by Russian artillery and praising the precision of the Japanese artillery. 6 pages, onionskin paper; pin holes at upper left, folds. "Port Arthur" [Lüshunkou], 20 November 1904.

    On September 5, 1905, the Russo-Japanese War was brought to a close when delegations from Russia and Japan signed the Portsmouth Treaty, mediated by President Theodore Roosevelt, at the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard in New Hampshire.
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April 9, 2026 12:00 PM EDT
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