The Sergeant [Bust of Rough Rider Sergeant]

Object Details

Object Essay

Frederic Remington, painter, illustrator, and sculptor, is perhaps the best known of the artists who depicted the life of the American West in the period from about 1880 to 1909. For many years, he lived the life of a cowboy, but on several occasions he traveled with the Army. His pictures represent the land, the Indians, the cowboys, the prospectors, the pony soldiers, and the settlers. They portray one of the richest pageants of America’s history.

Born in Canton, New York, Remington was the son of a newspaperman. In 1880, after two years at Yale University, he took off for the West, sketching as he went. In 1882, his first illustration was published in Harper’s Weekly. From then on, his paintings and illustrations were in great demand. It was not until 1895 that he first attempted sculpture: the result—Bronco Buster—was an immediate success. Collectors admired the naturalism of Remington’s style and the authenticity of his detail, whether it concerned the type of warbonnet a Sioux chief would wear or the kind of military gear a trooper of the Spanish-American War would have.

In 1898, Remington was with the Army in Cuba as a civilian illustrator (where he witnessed his friend Teddy Roosevelt’s famous charge of the Rough Riders). For his sculpture, Remington frequently chose subjects drawn from his days with the Army—such as The Wounded Bunkie (1896) and Trooper of the Plains (1905). Soldiering always attracted him, but he was less interested in the elite, gentlemanly life of the officers than in the crusty old sergeant or the ordinary trooper of the regular army. He shared with Teddy Roosevelt an admiration for men of action and robust lifestyles.

Remington and Roosevelt are, in fact, brought together in the little bronze piece known as The Sergeant, which was copyrighted on July 30, 1904, with the following description: “Bust of Rough Rider Sergeant, height from bottom of base to rim of hat 10 inches. Stern face, sharp nose, heavy moustache, prominent chin, cheeks somewhat sunken, hat tilted on back of head. Handkerchief around neck.”^{1_{Splete and Splete, 324.}} The military insignia of crossed sabers is on the left crown of the hat. Ben Daniels, a valiant sergeant in Roosevelt’s regiment of Rough Riders, may be the subject of The Sergeant. Born in Colorado Springs, Colorado, he had served as United States Marshal in the lawless days of Dodge City. Roosevelt’s enduring regard for him was expressed in a letter to John Hay, of August 9, 1903, in which the President said he would, in referring to a third party, “trust him as I would Seth Bullock, or Pat Garrett, or Ben Daniels. . . .”^{2_{Jones 1971, 5, 38, and 293. Quoted from Morrison, 14. In Roosevelt 1913, 51– 52, the President recalled: “While I was in the White House I always tried to get a couple of hours’ exercise in the afternoons— . . . tennis . . . , riding, or else rough cross-country walk. . . . My companions [at these times] we gradually grew to style the Tennis Cabinet; and then we extended the term to take in many of my old-time Western friends such as Ben Daniels. . . .”}}

Daniels, who managed to get part of one ear bitten off in one of his rowdy scrapes, remained a respected, valued friend of President Roosevelt, who tried to have him appointed as United States Marshal in the Arizona Territory in 1902. The Senate rejected him when it was discovered he had served three years in prison. Urging Roosevelt to stand by Daniels, Remington wrote to the President on February 16, 1902, in a tone that infers that Remington knew Daniels, probably from the days when they were both with the American forces in Cuba.^{3_{Splete and Splete, 320.}} If The Sergeant is not an actual portrait of Daniels, it is probable that he was at least its inspiration; the left ear is largely concealed by the hat, making it impossible to tell if part of it is missing.

In addition to the copyright, the date of The Sergeant is further established by a letter of 1904 from Remington to Riccardo Bertelli, owner of the Roman Bronze Works, which specifically mentions the piece.^{4_{Ibid., 324.}} Its popularity is indicated by the fact that forty-three numbered bronze casts have been catalogued, and four unnumbered casts are known.^{5_{See Shapiro 1981, 114–15. The Collection’s casting is unnumbered, as are those at the Amon Carter Museum, Fort Worth; the Metropolitan Museum of Art; and the R. W. Norton Art Gallery, Shreveport, Louisiana.}}

Wayne Craven

Excerpted from Clement E. Conger, et al. Treasures of State: Fine and Decorative Arts in the Diplomatic Reception Rooms of the U.S. Department of State. New York: H.N. Abrams, 1991.