Dedicated: May 3, 2003 
SPONSOR: International Paper Company

THE FAMOUS BEAR HUNT:
"The Teddy Bear is Born"

On November 12, 1902, the Washington Post reported that President Theodore Roosevelt was headed to Smedes, Mississippi, 25 miles north of Vicksburg, for a 4-day bear hunt.  The article said the president "did not anticipate the pleasure of killing a bear so much as the pleasure of a few days complete recreation in the woods."

The guide for the hunt was Holt Collier, a scout during the Civil War and later a guide for Gen. Wade Hampton.  Collier had helped kill 1000 bears, nearly 150 in a single season. 

On November 14, the hounds cornered a 235-pound bear.  Collier tied it to a tree and called for the president.  When Roosevelt arrived, he would not shoot the bear.  

Political cartoonist Clifford Berryman drew Roosevelt with a little bear tied to a tree with the caption, "Drawing the Line in Mississippi."  Soon toy manufacturers were producing "Teddy's Bears," later called Teddy Bears.

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