He
thanked God that his country could stand out again untarnished.
And then a great exultation came over him, as he believed that at
last he himself having put on his sword, would be allowed to join
the American army bound overseas, share its dangers and glories
in the field, and, if Fate so willed it, pay with his body the
debt of patriotism which nothing else could pay. He wrote
immediately to the War Department, offering his services and
agreeing to raise a division or more of Volunteers, to be sent to
the front with the briefest delay. But Secretary Baker replied
that without authorization by Congress, he could not accept such
bodies of Volunteers. On being pressed further, Mr. Baker replied
that the War College Division of the General Staff wished the
officers of the Regular Army to be kept at home, in order to
train new men, and then to lead the first contingents which might
go abroad.*
* The entire correspondence between General Wood and President
Wilson and Secretary Baker is given in The Foes of Our Own House
hold, by Theodore Roosevelt (Doran, New York, 1917, pp.
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