Jacob A. Riis (1849–1914). Theodore Roosevelt, the Citizen. 1904.
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| if the regiment went to the war without him. At sight of his real agony Mr. Roosevelt’s heart relented. |
| “All right,” he said. “You deserve to be shot as much as anybody. You shall go.” And he went, flowing over with gratitude, to prove himself in the field as good a man as his prison of yore who fought beside him. |
| Then came the mustering out. When the last man was checked off and accounted for, the War Department official, quartermaster or general or something, fumbled with his papers. |
| “Where is the prisoner?” he asked. |
| “The prisoner?” echoed Colonel Roosevelt; “what prisoner?” |
| “Why, the man who got six months at a court-martial.” |
| “Oh, he! He is all right. I remitted his sentence.” |
| The official looked the Colonel over curiously. |
| “You remitted his sentence,” he said. “Sentenced by a court-martial, approved by the commanding general, you remitted his sentence. Well, you’ve got nerve.” |