Rounsevelle Wildman

Rounsevelle Wildman (March 19, 1864, in Batavia, New York – February 22, 1901) was an American journalist, a member of the United States Foreign Service, and the owner and editor-in-chief of the literary magazine Overland Monthly from 1894 to 1897.

Biography His maternal grandfather, Colonel J. P. Rounsevelle, was a leading politician and financier in the state of New York. After education in Lima, New York at Genessee Wesleyan Seminary (of which his father was the president), Rounsevelle Wildman graduated from Syracuse University, where he studied journalism. From 1893 to 1897, Wildman published several magazine articles describing his experience in the Malay Archipelago.

When President William McKinley, a Republican, took office in 1897, he appointed Wildman as the U.S. Consul to Hong Kong. In early 1898 he was promoted to the position of Consul General. When the Spanish–American War started in April 1898, the U.S. Pacific Fleet under the command of Commodore George Dewey went to Manila Bay and destroyed the Spanish fleet in the Battle of Manila Bay. Wildman functioned as a go-between for messages to and from Commodore Dewey and officials in Washington, D.C. Wildman was heavily involved with Emilio Aguinaldo and the Filipino armed forces who since 1896 were fighting for Filipino independence from Spain. The 1898 Treaty of Paris caused fighting to begin in February 1898 between Filipino independence forces and U.S. troops.

In June 1890 in Washington, D.C., Rounsevelle Wildman married Leticia Sherman Aldrich (1865–1901). Rounsevelle and Leticia Wildman and their two children drowned in the February 1901 sinking of the S.S. City of Rio de Janeiro. The family was returning to the United States to participate on March 4, 1901, in the second inauguration of William McKinley.

Selected publications