Teddy Roosevelt and the River of Doubt

In December of 1913, a group of explorers, Kermit Roosevelt, and Theodore Roosevelt set out to explore an uncharted river in the Amazon. When they got there Kermit had hollowed out logs for them to use as canoes down the river. Once the canoes were ready they set off to explore. The river was over 1,000 miles long and had a few tributaries. While they were exploring Teddy got a cut in his leg. He ended up with Malaria and several infections. Teddy had a dose of morphine; he was planning on taking it so he wouldn’t slow up the rest of the group that was with him from getting to civilization. They were running out of food and supplies but Kermit encouraged his father to keep on going as he carried him to civilization. The canoes they had were gone so they had to go by foot. Kermit and the other men raced to a civilization to get help. Once they got there all the men’s health had declined and Teddy had lost 50 pounds and was unable to walk. He was in very critical condition. They then came back to America to get help. All the men would have issues that would stay with them for the rest of their lives because of the trip and Teddy would be plagued with flare-ups of malaria and inflammation so bad that they would require hospitalization for the rest of his life.