A 'Bully!' Book Launch at Montauk Point Lighthouse

The Montauk Historical Society is releasing a new edition of Jeff Heatley’s 1998 book “Bully! Colonel Roosevelt, the Rough Riders & Camp Wikoff” the only definitive book about the quarantine camp built in Montauk in 1898 for soldiers of the Spanish-American War. The new edition, complete with index and important updates, was published by East End Press with a grant from the Robert David Lion Gardiner Foundation. Its official launch and book signing will take place at 2 p.m. on November 11, at the Oceans Institute of the Montauk Point Lighthouse. Heatley will read from “Bully!” and answer questions about the book posed by Mia Certic, executive director of the Montauk Historical Society.

“We are very proud to have funded this new edition of ‘Bully!’ in time to celebrate the 125th anniversary of Camp Wikoff,” said Kathryn Curran, executive director of the R.D.L. Gardiner Foundation. “Apart from telling this important, little-known story, the release of the book dovetails beautifully with our ongoing Teddy Roosevelt Augmented Reality Program, which is bringing T.R. to life in museums across Long Island — including the Montauk Point Lighthouse — through the magic of technology.”

In 1898, after their victory in the Spanish-American War, American troops were suffering from exhaustion, malnutrition and tropical diseases, to say nothing of their war wounds. The decision was made to bring them to Montauk, which was scarcely inhabited in those days, in order for them to heal in the fresh sea air. The camp turned Montauk into a metropolis practically overnight, as over 25,000 soldiers took up residence in tents and other temporary structures that spread over the hills from Fort Pond Bay to Third House. A few short months after its construction, Camp Wikoff was dismantled and the soldiers departed.

While garnering national headlines 125 years ago, today the story is barely known outside of Montauk. “Bully!” seeks to remedy that situation, laying out the history of the camp chronologically through contemporaneous newspaper articles, speeches, letters, illustrations, and other public and private documents. Admitting to a “lifelong obsession” with Camp Wikoff, Heatley poured tremendous energy into this new edition, adding important material and photographs.

“I am happy and gratified that this new edition of my book will allow more people to learn about this brief but remarkable period in our history,” he said.

“I’m beyond thrilled that the R.D.L. Gardiner Foundation made it possible for us to bring ‘Bully!’ back into circulation,” said Certic. “It had been out of print for years, and copies were very hard to come by. East End Press has done a beautiful job creating a whole new look, and, perhaps most importantly, creating an index to make research so much easier.”

The book is available locally at Homeport in Montauk, as well as BookHampton in East Hampton and will soon be found on major online book platforms as well. Established in 1987, the Robert David Lion Gardiner Foundation primarily supports the study of Long Island history, inspired by the late Robert David Lion Gardiner’s personal passion for New York history.

For more information about the book launch, visit montaukhistoricalsociety.org.