DAHLQUIST CYCLEWORKS
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    • Story of America in 2 Bicycles
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      • 1890s Columbus Bicycle
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      • Additional American Bicycles >
        • 1949 Schwinn Paramount Sports-Tourist
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        • Mead Coventry Flyer
        • 1972 Schwinn Super Sport Custom Coffee Bike
        • 1983 Trek 850
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        • French Gray Mead Crusader
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        • Napoleon and Josephine
        • 1987 Schwinn Paramountain
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        • 1981 Jeffrey Bock Light Touring
        • 1981 Trek 950
        • 1983 Moulton-Made John Howard
        • 1992 Schwinn Paramount S.A.S.S. Buell Mountain Bike
        • 1997 Rivendell Road Standard
        • 2017 Rivendell Appaloosa
        • 2020 Ridin' with Biden
    • American Balloon-Tire Bicycles >
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      • Robin Hood Camping Bicycle
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      • 1949 Paris Tour de France
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      • Bicycle Institute of America Mystery Racer
      • The Double Bar Humber Number
      • 1952 Humber Sports
      • 1952 Carlton Silver Clubman
      • 1967 Marshall Field Raleigh 5 Speed Sprint
      • 1970s Bob Jackson
      • Ephgrave No. 1
      • Dahlquist Cycleworks Delivery
      • Teens Era BSA Path Racer
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    • 1939 Durkopp Track Bicycle
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    • Repurposed WWII German Military
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The Story of America in Two Bicycles:
An 1896 Buffalo Soldier Bicycle
and a 1904 Teddy Roosevelt
​Campaign Bicycle

First, a thumbnail sketch of Teddy Roosevelt, the youngest and most popular president in the history of the country. 

He was a living whirlwind, once described as "a steam engine in trousers," and "a one-man circus parade followed by a steam calliope." An intellectual who read a book a day and quoted poetry on the hour, Roosevelt's interior life did not live up to the hyper-male image he chose to project. He was a sickly child, and looked upon life as one long continuous field of battle. Born a patrician and raised to believe he was a notch above other people (his mother was from the south, and grew up surrounded by slaves), Roosevelt nevertheless tried to cope with fear by fighting for progressive causes in rough and tumble public life.

Theodore Roosevelt, commonly referred to as "T.R.," liked war. Compensating for his own real or perceived weakness, from childhood on he was constantly trying to prove himself a man. Glorifying war was sure to win him votes in turn of the century America, and T.R. would use the Spanish-American War to make himself a hero. His reckless charge leading his Rough Riders up San Juan Hill in Cuba would prove his ticket to the White House. It was after such a battle in Cuba that Roosevelt and his men found themselves without rations.

Enter one Mingo Sanders, Sergeant in the Twenty-Fifth Colored Cycling Corps of the United States, referred to today as "The Buffalo Soldiers''  (Read the Story of the Twenty-Fifths famous ride from Fort Missoula, Montana to Yellowstone and back in 1896, and the nearly two thousand mile ride from Fort Missoula to St. Louis in 1897 that accompanies my Buffalo Soldier bicycle featured elsewhere on this site). Mingo Sanders was every bit as important to the success of the Buffalo Soldiers' historic ride as was Lt. Moss, the white commander of the infantry. Sanders provided both the necessary discipline and spiritual inspiration to complete that grueling ride. And it was Mingo Sanders who shared his hardtack with Roosevelt and his men on that historic day in Cuba.

Fast forward, as they say, to the town of Brownsville, Texas in 1906. The First Battalion, Twenty-fFfth Infantry, including Mingo Sanders, was sent to Fort Brown in Brownsville, where racial discrimination was commonplace. On August 13, 1906, a white bartender was killed and a police officer injured in a shooting incident. There were no witnesses to identify a single suspect, but the Twenty-Fifth was accused of the crime. Although the Twenty-Fifths white commanding officers confirmed that the black soldiers were confined to their barracks at the time of the shooting, the white residents of Brownsville claimed they saw blacks firing rifles. There was no trial, no hearing, and the soldiers of the Twenty-Fifth were unable to confront their accusers. 

A white South Carolinian was assigned to investigate the incident. Although the Buffalo Soldiers had been abused and insulted by the citizens of Brownsville, Texas, and a Texas Grand Jury failed to indict any of the black soldiers, when Mingo Sanders appealed to Theodore Roosevelt for clemency, he and 167 soldiers of the Twenty-Fifth Infantry were dishonorably discharged from the army. Roosevelt justified his decision based on what he called the black soldiers' "conspiracy of silence." Six recipients of the Congressional Medal of Honor and Mingo Sanders were drummed out of the service. Sanders was seventeen months from retirement. Although Roosevelt is credited with being the first American president to invite an African-American to dine in the White House, T.R. publicly proclaimed that "It would take black people many thousands of years to match the intellectual powers of white people," and refused to reverse his decision. Historian Clay Jenkinson says "This is without question the most dishonorable moment of Roosevelt's long and extraordinary career." 

Roosevelt waited until blacks had cast their vote for his congressional candidates across the north before he dismissed all 167 men from the service, and would make no mention of the case in his autobiography. Mingo Sanders, who fought alongside T.R. in Cuba and shared his rations with Roosevelt's Rough Riders after the Battle of Las Guasimas would be condemned to a series of menial jobs for the rest of his life.

Here are two bicycles that when juxtaposed tell the story of America:
The Story of America In Two Bicycles ©Daniel Dahlquist
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  • Home
  • Bicycle Stories
    • Story of America in 2 Bicycles
  • American Bicycles
    • American Bicycles >
      • 1890s Columbus Bicycle
      • 1892-93 Stover
      • 1893 Elliott Hickory
      • More American Bicycles >
        • 1895 Columbia Model 45 C.A. Fudge
        • 1895 Gormully & Jeffery Rambler No. 12
        • Patee Track Bicycle
        • 1895 Patee Gents'
        • 1895 Patee Ladies' Loop Frame
        • 1895 Sterling (As Ridden by Bobby Walthour)
        • 1896 Buffalo Soldier Bicycle
        • 1897 American-Made Humber Roadster
        • 1897 Crescent No. 9
        • 1899 Sterling Shaft-Drive
        • 1899 Monarch
        • 1900 Gormully & Jeffery American Bicycle Co. Rambler
        • 1902 Columbia Model 92
      • Some More American Bicycles >
        • Teddy Roosevelt 1904 Campaign Bicycle
        • 1907 Cruso Double Bar Semi-Racer
        • 1908 Tribune Blue Streak Racer
        • 1909 Sears Peerless
        • 1915 Sears Chief Motorbike
        • 1915 Truss Frame
        • 1916 Mead Ranger Coaster Brake Special
        • 1919 Haverford Black Beauty 'Pacer' Arch Bar
        • Tyger's 1918 Mead Racer
        • 1918 Columbia Military Model
        • 1919 Crown
        • 1920s Mead Ranger Motorbike
        • 1923 Mead Racer
        • 1923 Iver Johnson Model 90
      • Even More American Bicycles >
        • 1926 Columbia 50th Anniversary Motorbike
        • Supplee Hardware Suhaco Special Crown Wannabe
        • 1920s/30s Greyhound Semi-Racer
        • Marshall Field Tricycle
        • 1930s/40s Drysdale Special Track
        • 1936 Schwinn Liberty First Generation Klunker
        • 1936/37 Iver Johnson Model 90
        • 1937 Schwinn Paramount Track
        • 1939 Mead Ranger
        • 1939 Schwinn Superior Sports-Tourist
        • 1943 Dayton Military Bicycle
      • Additional American Bicycles >
        • 1949 Schwinn Paramount Sports-Tourist
        • 1954 Mead Ranger/Schwinn New World
        • 1956 Schwinn Paramount Sports-Tourist
        • Mead Coventry Flyer
        • 1972 Schwinn Super Sport Custom Coffee Bike
        • 1983 Trek 850
        • 1985 Schwinn Voyageur Custom
        • French Gray Mead Crusader
      • Further American Bicycles >
        • Napoleon and Josephine
        • 1987 Schwinn Paramountain
        • Iver Johnson Lightweight Touring Mens' & Ladies'
        • Schwinn Paramount Tricycle
        • Tyger's Teesdale
        • 1981 Jeffrey Bock Light Touring
        • 1981 Trek 950
        • 1983 Moulton-Made John Howard
        • 1992 Schwinn Paramount S.A.S.S. Buell Mountain Bike
        • 1997 Rivendell Road Standard
        • 2017 Rivendell Appaloosa
        • 2020 Ridin' with Biden
    • American Balloon-Tire Bicycles >
      • 1935 Schwinn Excelsior Double-Diamond Clunker
      • 1940s Schwinn Excelsior Clunker
      • Scotty Bandito Cowboy Bike
      • Roadmaster Rat Rod
  • Belgian Bicycles
    • 1930s Delfa
    • 1940s Sieber
    • 1950s Jean Aerts
  • British Bicycles
    • 1895 Humber Path Racer
    • 1897 Humber Tandem
    • 1907 Full-Nickel BSA Path Racer
    • 1910 Raleigh Superbe Cross Frame
    • 1911 New Hudson Imperial
    • Unique & Unity Juvenile Bicycle
    • WWI Humber British Army Postal Service Bicycle
    • 1920s Hercules
    • Hercules NFS & Humber Messenger Bicycle
    • More British Bicycles >
      • 1930s Royal Enfield Roadster
      • 1930s Special Sunbeam
      • 1932 Royal Sunbeam
      • Humber Bermuda
      • 1936 Hetchins Brilliant No. 2
      • 1940s Maclean Featherweight
      • Robin Hood Camping Bicycle
      • 1947 Humber Roadster
      • 1949 Paris Tour de France
    • Even More British Bicycles >
      • Bicycle Institute of America Mystery Racer
      • The Double Bar Humber Number
      • 1952 Humber Sports
      • 1952 Carlton Silver Clubman
      • 1967 Marshall Field Raleigh 5 Speed Sprint
      • 1970s Bob Jackson
      • Ephgrave No. 1
      • Dahlquist Cycleworks Delivery
      • Teens Era BSA Path Racer
  • Canadian Bicycles
    • 1926 CCM Motor Bicycle
    • 1940s CCM Flyer Track Bicycle
    • 1976 Marinoni "Quebec" Special
  • Chinese Bicycles
    • Tiananmen Square Tribute Bicycle "Forever"
  • Dutch Bicycles
    • Netherlands Raleigh City Bike
    • Netherlands Raleigh Prestige
  • French Bicycles
    • 1903 Peugeot Roadster
    • 1903-1910 Tour de France Racer
    • 1910/Teens J.B. Louvet Truss Frame Racing Bicycle
    • 1920s L' Automotion
    • Automoto Champion du Monde
    • Bobet's Bicycle
    • 1961 Rene Herse Touring
    • Bobet Cyclo-Pedia Touring Bicycle
    • Blue Bobet
    • 1955 Peugeot PHX-10
    • 1960s/70s Peugeot UO-8 Juvenile
    • Motobecane Wine Bike
  • German Bicycles
    • 1939 Durkopp Track Bicycle
    • 1940 Achilles Gents & Ladies Roadsters
    • 1940s/50s Durkopp Diana Sport
    • 1940s/50s Durkopp Diana Loop Frame
    • Repurposed WWII German Military
  • Italian Bicycles
    • Bianchi Military Bicycle
    • 1940s Bottecchia
    • 1941 Legnano Tipo Campione Del Mondo
    • 1949 Gloria Garibaldina Extra
    • 1950s Fausto Coppi
    • 1950s Legnano Tipo Roma Track Bicycle
    • More Italian Bicycles >
      • Gino Bartali Team Bike
      • 1950s Legnano Tipo Roma Road Bicycle
      • Early 1960s Legnano Gran Premio
      • 1961 Bianchi Rekord
      • 1967 Torpado
    • Even More Italian Bicycles >
      • 1970s Eddie Merckx Colnago
      • 1970-71 Pogliaghi Italcorse
      • 1974 Carlsbad CA Masi Gran Criterium
      • 1976 Pogliaghi Selection
  • Japanese Bicycles
    • Miyata Mister
    • Kyokurei Post-War Roadster
    • Post War Maruto Deluxe "High Class" Roadster
    • 1960s Five Speed Fujicycle
    • 1973 Schwinn World Voyageur
    • 1973 Fuji S-10-S Special Racer
    • 1974 Schwinn Voyageur II
    • 1985 Fuji Opus III
    • 1987 Team Fuji Funny Bike
  • Swedish Bicycles
    • 1930s/40s Hermes
    • 1947 Crescent Roadster
  • Poetry
    • A bientot mon ami
    • Bicycle Haiku
    • Bicycle at Rest
    • Bill Harley and Major Taylor
    • Four Sunflowers
    • ​Mile-a-Minute Murphy
    • Neruda: Wrong on Bicycles
    • Tribute to Tyger
    • On a Mountain Road in Virginia
    • Forever Bicycles
    • The Humber Chainring
    • What I'll See on that Bicycle Ride
  • Events
    • 6/11/2022 Dream Team Presentation
    • 7/19/22 25th Anniversary
    • 8/26/222 Auburn Vintage Bike Show
  • About
  • Contact