Caspar Whitney

Caspar Whitney was the son of John Henry Whitney (1833–1869) and Amelia D. Goldermann, born in Boston, Massachusetts. He was educated at Saint Mathew's College in California.{{Cite Americana|wstitle=Whitney, Caspar}} During the Spanish–American War, Whitney submitted articles from the front in Cuba. At the Battle of Las Guasimas, he accompanied General Young's 1st and 10th (Regular) Cavalry. His published map of the battle is considered the most accurate of that action published at that time. His depiction of the fighting on the right is made from personal observation. His depiction of the left where the Rough Riders fought was based on post-battle interviews.

From 1900, he was an owner and editor-in-chief of the monthly Outing magazine, which promoted the outdoors and sporting pursuits, as well as a good deal of adventure fiction; authors included Jack London and Clarence E. Mulford. He was a founding member of the Explorers Club (1904) after expeditions in North and South America. He later edited Outdoor America. He declared bankruptcy in 1910.

As a sports journalist he was an advocate of athletic amateurism and was a member of the International Olympic Committee (1900–1905) and the American Olympic Committee (president 1906–1910). He wrote on a wide range of subjects including big-game hunting, inter collegiate sporting contests (especially football and baseball), amateur versus professional contests, and the Olympic Games.J. A. Lucas, Journal of Olympic History May 2000 In the early 1900s, he edited the American Sportsman's Library, a quality series of 16 volumes.

Whitney testified in a lawsuit against him that he earned a salary of $8,000 (nearly $200,000 inflation adjusted to 2008) for editing Outing and $1,500 (about $35,000 inflation adjusted) for editing the American Sportsman's Library.N.Y. Times, May 2, 1903

During World War I, Whitney was involved in Europe with the Commission for Relief in BelgiumCommittee of Belgium Relief (1915), and then war correspondent of the New-York TribuneNew-York Tribune (1917–1918).

Whitney married three times. He wed Anna Childs in 1889; after he departed for the Arctic Circle in December 1894, a trip he would later describe in his book On Snow-Shoes To The Barren Grounds, she filed for divorce, which was granted in Oklahoma in January 1895. He wed Cora Adele Chase in 1897; they were divorced in 1908.{{Cite web |date=Mar 5, 1897 |title=Caspar Whitney's marriage: The end of a long chapter of marital troubles |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/20431624/?match=1&terms=%22caspar%20whitney%22%20%22anna%20childs%22 |access-date=February 21, 2025 |website=newspapers.com |publisher=New York Times |page=6 |language=en |quote=While Mr. Whitney was away on a trip through the arctic circle, Mrs. Whitney went to Oklahoma and secured a divorce, on the ground of ill treatment. Upon his return he brought an action to have the decree set aside… Mr. Whitney then brought an action for divorce against Mrs. Whitney, and ... was granted the decree by Judge Dykman of the Supreme Court, at White Plains, N.Y.}}{{Cite web |date=December 13, 1908 |title=Caspar W. Whitney divorced: Second wife to obtain decree from editor of 'Outing' Magazine |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/187182380/?match=1&terms=%22caspar%20whitney%22%20%22Cora%20Adele%20Chase%22 |access-date=2025-02-21 |website=Newspapers.com |publisher=New-York Tribune |page=7 |language=en |quote=Mrs. Cora Whitney ... received a decree of divorce ... The charges were cruelty and non-support. His first wife obtained a divorce in January, 1895, in Oklahoma, on grounds of neglect and abandonment.}} He was married a third time in 1909, to Florence Canfield Whitney, who like him did relief work in Belgium during World War I. She later helped found the League of Women Voters and served on the Democratic National Committee. She remained active politically until her death in a motor vehicle accident in 1941.{{cite journal |title="Woman Political Leader Killed: Mrs. Caspar Whitney, Former Los Angeles Resident, Dies in Crash" |date=4 July 1941 |pages=12}} Caspar Whitney wrote a biography of Florence's father, the colorful miner and industrialist Charles A. Canfield (1848–1913), in 1930.

• Sporting Pilgrimage (1894)
• On Snow-Shoes to the Barren Grounds (1896)
• [https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/100192808 Hawaiian America] (1899)
• [https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/001509724 Musk-Ox, Bison, Sheep and Goat] (1904) (with George Bird Grinnell and Owen Wister)
• [https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/000383947 Jungle Trails and Jungle People] (1905)
• [https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/006254453 Flowing Road] (1912)
• What's the Matter with Mexico? (1916)
• Gott mit Uns - the Boche Delusion (1918)
• Hunt Clubs and Country Clubs in America (1928)
• Charles Adelbert Canfield (1930)

{{Reflist}}

• Dillon Wallace Papers
• Edgar Rice Burroughs Library
• Explorer's Club History
• Kent State Smart Club

• {{Commons category-inline}}
• {{Librivox author|id=12094}}
• {{Find a Grave|89345802}}

{{Authority control}}

{{Presidents of the United States Olympic Committee}}

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Category:1864 births

Category:1929 deaths

Category:19th-century American explorers

Category:American International Olympic Committee members

Category:College football awards organizations

Category:College football championships

Category:Fellows of the Royal Geographical Society

Category:Presidents of the United States Olympic Committee

Category:Sportswriters from Massachusetts

Category:Writers from Boston