NEGenWeb Project
Spanish American War

Compiled by Fred Greguras

 

Camp Briggs, Fargo, ND

•  Frank A. Briggs was governor of North Dakota Territory when the Spanish American War began. He died at Bismarck, North Dakota on August 9, 1898.
•   This camp was the assembly and training area for 1st N.D. Vol. Inf. According to the Fargo Forum newspaper, the volunteers started arriving in Fargo on May 2, 1898. The camp was abandoned on May 25, 1898. The camp was in the Huntington Addition, in the south part of Fargo at “the end of Eighth Street, away down at Seventeenth and Eighteenth Avenues. . . .The campgrounds will be on the west side of Eighth Street and the drill grounds on the east side.” The May 3, 1898 Bismarck Daily Tribune describes the location as on “Eighth Street between Seventeenth and Eighteenth on the south side [of Fargo]. . . . The camp ground will be on the west side of Eighth Street and the drill grounds on the west side.”

Camp Brooke, Newport News, VA (See Camps Grant, Haines and Warburton, VA)

•  Named for General John R. Brooke. See page 101 of source (7) for a brief biography. He was the initial commanding officer of the First Corps and second in command of the Puerto Rico expedition. Brooke is buried at Arlington National Cemetery.
•  Newport News, Charleston and Tampa were embarkation points for the Puerto Rico campaign. The first division of the First Corps was the primary unit ordered to Puerto Rico. The regiments that embarked in Charleston were quartered in warehouses along the wharves. No name was given to the Charleston camp.
•  In Fiala, Troop “C in Service, published by Eagle Press, 1899, the history of Troop C, New York cavalry, Camp Brooke is identified as the troop’s camp. The Newport News Daily Press, July 26, 1898 indicates the cavalry troop was camped north of the shipyard. The troop arrived in Newport News on July 25 and embarked for Puerto Rico on July 27, 1898.
•  Camp Brooke was the camp of the second brigade of the first division of the First Corps. The July 23, 1898 Newport News Daily Press indicates the brigade was camped above the shipyard. The camp was in the area of 45th Street north to beyond 50th Street and bounded on the east and west by the C&O railroad tracks and James River. This brigade was there only three days. The three regiments of the third brigade of the same division arrived as and after the second brigade departed for Puerto Rico. The third brigade named its camp on the same site Camp Grant, after its commanding general.
•  The 4th Penn Vol. Inf., part of the second brigade, arrived at Newport News Monday morning, July 25, 1898 and established a temporary camp named Camp Brooke according to the PA Spanish American War web page. The regiment remained in camp until the 27th when it embarked on the “City of Washington” bound for Puerto Rico.
• The July 29, 1898 Atlanta Constitution reported that the second brigade had just left “Camp Haines” and that the next brigade was camping in the same location. Camp Brooke and Camp Haines (Hains) are likely the same camp, named differently by two units. The July 29, 1898 Richmond Dispatch reports that Grant’s third brigade camped on the same site as Camp Haines.
• The 4th Ohio Vol. Inf. unit history indicates its camp was “in a field near the outskirts of the city and on the banks of the James River.” Creager, The Fourteenth Ohio National Guard, The Fourth Ohio Volunteer Infantry, Landon Printing & Publishing Co., 1899, page 117. The 4th Ohio was in the second brigade of the first division of the First Corps. This regiment was at Newport News only from July 24 to 28, 1898 before departing for Puerto Rico.

Camp Burdett, near Fort Preble, ME (See Camp Haven)

•  Named in honor of Col. Charles L. Burdett, commanding officer of the 1st Conn. Vol. Inf.
•  Two companies (F and K) of the lst Conn. Vol. Inf. were camped near Fort Preble from May 25 to July 16, 1898 on coast reserve duty according to Official History of First Regiment, Connecticut Volunteers, Spanish American War, City Printing Company, 1900.
•  According to Kenneth Thompson of Portland, Maine, this camp was at the military reservation at Portland Head (Cape Elizabeth) as a subpost of Fort Preble (South Portland), which was about three miles away. The two companies went back to Camp Haven in July, 1898. This military reservation became a separate installation in November, 1898 and was formally named Fort Williams in April, 1899. The 1st Conn. camp was in the area that became Fort William’s parade ground.

Camp Bushnell, Columbus, OH

•  Asa S. Bushnell was governor of Ohio during the Spanish American War.
•  From Moore, History of Franklin County, Ohio, Historical Publishing Company, 1930, page 233: “A campsite was procured on the east bank of Alum Creek at what was then known as Bullitt Park, now a part of Bexley. A five hundred acre tract of ideally located land was quickly transformed into Camp Bushnell, with drainage, water, lighting, tentage and commissary supplies, so that as fast as the soldiers came, they were cared for without confusion or inconvenience of any kind. This preliminary work was so well done as to deserve and win the praise of all army officers who had business with Ohio’s rendezvous.” Bexley is a suburb in the east part of Columbus, east of Alum Creek and north of U.S. 40.
•  The camp was established April 28, 1898 and abandoned May 29, 1898.
•  Bacheller, Lover’s Day at State Camp, Cosmopolitan Magazine, June, 1898, page 153, is about Camp Bushnell and contains many photos.
•  A souvenir booklet was published on this camp.

Camp W.L. Cabell, Dallas, TX

•  Named for William Lewis Cabell, Confederate General and six term mayor of Dallas.
•  This was the muster out camp of the 2nd Texas Vol. Inf. from about September 23, 1898 until November 9, 1898. The regiment was on furlough for much of this period.
•  The camp was located in the east part of Dallas at the old fairgrounds north of current Fair Park and west of the intersection of Elm and North Peak Streets.

Camp Caffery, Covington, LA

•  The camp was established on May 18, 1898 for the first company of Colonel Duncan H. Hood’s regiment of immunes. The camp was named for U.S. Senator Donelson Caffery of Louisiana who facilitated authorization of the organization of the regiment. The 2nd U.S. Vol. Inf. was organized and mustered in at Covington beginning on June 15, 1898 and left for New Orleans on July 25, 1898. The regiment departed for Cuba on July 28, 1898. 
•  According to sources (8) and (11), the camp was in St. Tammany Parish on the Tchefuncta River, about a mile above Covington. Articles in the New Orleans Daily Picayune place the camp near Abita Springs but close to the Tchefuncta River which seems geographically inconsistent. Articles in the New Orleans Times-Democrat consistently place the camp one mile due north of Covington and do not mention Abita Springs.

Camp Allyn Capron, Fort Thomas, KY (See Camp Wetherill at Fort Thomas)

•  There were two Allyn Caprons (father and son). This camp was named for Capt. Allyn Kissam Capron, Jr. of the 1st U.S. Vol. Cav. (Rough Riders) who was KIA at the battle of Las Guasimas on June 24, 1898. See his photo at page 232 of source (7). He is buried at Arlington National Cemetery. His father was born in Florida and was appointed to the USMA from NC September 1, 1863; became a second lieutenant 1st artillery June 17, 1867; first lieutenant August 19, 1873; captain December 4, 1888; participated in the artillery operations around Santiago during the Spanish American War, died September 18, 1898 near Fort Myer, Virginia, aged 52 years. See pages 218, 259 of Empire State.
•  This was likely the name for the 8th U.S. Vol. Inf. camp discussed under Camp Wetherill at Fort Thomas since Captain Capron had been killed about two weeks before the unit began arriving at Fort Thomas. Source (4) identifies only two camps, Camps Capron and Wetherill, as being at Fort Thomas during the war. The details of Camp Wetherill are known so Camp Capron was likely the camp of the 8th. The 8th U.S. Vol. Inf. consolidated at Fort Thomas in July and left for for Chickamauga, Georgia, on October 7, 1898.

Camp Allyn Capron, Puerto Principe, Cuba

•  Occupation camp

Camp Carpenter, Puerto Principe, Cuba

•  Named for Colonel Louis H. Carpenter, Brigadier General, U.S. Volunteers. Carpenter was commanding officer of the 5th Calvary and, as of January 7, 1899, of the Department of Puerto Principe, Cuba, one of seven departments within the military Division of Cuba. He was also the initial commanding officer of the first division of the Third Corps.
•  Occupation camp

Camp Churchman, Albany, GA

•  Named after 2nd Lt. Clark Churchman, 12th U.S. Inf., who died at Santiago, Cuba on July 2, 1898 from wounds suffered the previous day at San Juan Hill. He is buried at West Point.
•  In mid-November, 1898, the third brigade of the second division of the First Corps was camped at Albany, Georgia. According to a February 4, 1899 report in the February 11, 1899 Army and Navy Journal, the camp was two miles from town and all regiments had been ordered to be mustered out. The camp was on the south bank of the Kinchafoonee Creek along Old Leesburg Road (State Route 133) where the former American Legion Golf Course was located north of town. In early 1899, a hospital was established in an old dance hall at Tift Park at the southwest corner of North Jefferson and Seventh Avenue.

Camp Clark, Carson City, NV (See Camp Sadler)

•  Named after Captain Charles Edgar Clark of the battleship U.S.S. Oregon in the naval battle of Santiago Bay.
•  Second camp of the 1st Nev. Vol. Inf.
•  Camp Clark was the successor to Camp Sadler. Camp Sadler was established in June, 1898 at the racetrack, east of the capital building, in the southeast outskirts of Carson City. The racetrack’s owner wanted the camp moved so the track could be prepared for the fall racing season. In mid-August, the troops were moved to a camp in Treadway Park on the west end of Carson City which was named Camp Clark. Treadway Park was in northwest Carson City in the area where Carson Tahoe Hospital is located. The troops were mustered out by late October, 1898.

Camp Clark, Mobile, AL (See Camps Coppinger and Johnston)

•  Camp Clark was named after Brigadier General Louis L. Clark, Alabama National Guard.
•  Source (12) indicates that both the 1st and 2nd Ala. Vol. Inf. assembled at Camp Clark. Newspaper articles, however, indicate there were two camps, Clark and Johnston. Camp Clark was the camp of the 1st Ala. and Camp Johnston was the camp of the 2nd Ala. Camp Clark was established about May 1, 1898. Camp Johnston was first referred to in newspaper articles about May 10, 1898.
•  “The Alabama volunteers are rendezvousing here rapidly, and by tomorrows’ sunset it is more than likely that the old brigade grounds on Alba’s pasture will present an appearance similar to the brigade encampments of the state guards formerly held there.” Mobile Daily Register, May 2, 1898 (extra edition), page 4. According to the May 2, 1898 Montgomery Advertiser, “Their camp has been located on the bay shore, where the usual brigade encampments of the Alabama National Guards have been held. It is situated in what is known as Albas pasture, about midway between Frascati and Monroe Park, two bayside resorts.” This site is currently industrial land in or near the Alabama State Docks. The camps were adjacent to each other southwest of the vicinity of intersection of Bay and Yeend Streets. The camp was close to the bay shore.
•  The 3rd Ala. Vol. Inf., an all Black regiment also was organized and mustered in at Mobile, at the same campsite, after the 1st and 2nd Ala. left for Camp Coppinger. The May 25, 1898 Nashville Banner reported that the “white volunteers object to having the battalion of Negro troops encamped near them at Camp Clark, and the Negroes will not be sent to Mobile until the white troops move out to the brigade to which they have been assigned.” The May 30, 1898 New Orleans Daily Picayune indicates the 3rd Ala. was at the “Bay Shore Camp,” the same description of the camp site of the 1st and 2nd Ala. The September 6, 1898 New Orleans Times-Democrat identified the 3rd’s camp as Camp Johnston.

Camp Henry Clay, Lexington, KY (See Camp Hamilton)

Camp Cleary, Near Newnan, GA (See Camp Hobson, Lithia Springs, GA and Camp at Fort McPherson)

•  Named after Colonel P.J.A. Cleary, Chief Surgeon of the Department of the Gulf, according to the August 13, 1898 Atlanta Constitution.
•  This camp of regular army recruits was at the “resort” at Pearl Springs. This resort was about two miles south of Newnan in an area that is currently privately owned. It was located by Pearl Lake south of East Newnan Road, between US 29 and Gordon Road.
•  Established August 11, 1898 and abandoned about September 10, 1898.

Camp Cobb, Fredericksburg, VA

•  Named after Confederate General Thomas Cobb, who was killed near Fredericksburg in December, 1862.
•  This was the camp of the 4th U.S. Vol. Inf. from about June 4, 1898 until August 18, 1898.
•  The camp was located near the south end of Gunnery Road and west of Highway 17. Part of the site is a ballpark. A historical marker and regimental monument are at the site. The regimental monument was dedicated in 1942.
•  The camp is described in Harrison, Reconciliation on the Rappahannock: Fredericksburg during the Spanish-American War, published by Beck’s Antiques and Books, 1994.

Camp Collier, Lexington, KY (See Camps Bradley, Corbin and Hamilton)

•  Named after the Kentucky adjutant general, Daniel R. Collier, at the time the war started.
•  Muster in site for the 2nd and 3rd Ky. Vol. Inf. regiments. The 2nd left for Chickamauga, GA about May 25 and the 3rd on June 1, 1898.
•  The camp was at Tattersalls Fairgrounds. Troops were housed in buildings including a stable according to the May 4, 1898 Lexington Daily Leader. The May 1, 1898 Lexington paper refers to the camp site as Tattersalls Sales Mart. “Huge Barns” were used to quarter troops. Tattersalls was and is a horse sales market adjacent to the Red Mile Trotting Track just southwest of downtown Lexington at 1200 Red Mile Road. The Tattersalls’ area fronts on Broadway.

Camp Columbia, Havana, Cuba

•  Also listed as at Buena Vista, Cuba
•  The 3rd Neb. Vol. Inf. was here after the war was over from January to April, 1899 as part of the occupation troops of the Seventh Corps. William Jennings Bryan, the regiment’s initial commanding officer, had resigned immediately after the war was over so did not go to Cuba.

Camp Compton, Kansas City, MO (See Camp Jackson, MO)

Camp Conewago, Conewago, PA (See Camp Meade, PA)

Camp Conrad, Columbus, GA

•  According to source (10), at page 31, Camp Conrad was named in honor of Major Conrad who “displayed such remarkable bravery before Santiago but unfortunately was not permitted to return to his native land to enjoy the distinction of bravery, death overtaking him as he was coming home.” This was Major Casper H. Conrad, 8th U.S. Inf., who died at sea on August 15, 1898 from malaria and dysentery on an Army transport ship, the Olivette, on the way back from Cuba. He was buried at sea.
•  Also according to source (10), at page 32, the camp was originally named Camp Davis for Colonel Davis “who won fame at Santiago but Col. Davis being a living man” the name was changed to Camp Conrad.
•  In late October, 1898, the headquarters of the second division of the First Corps and one of its brigades was camped at Columbus, Georgia for the winter. The camp was established October 25, 1898 and abandoned in early February, 1899. A report in the January 21, 1899 Army and Navy Journal indicates the second division of the First Corps camped at Columbus “has been disintegrated” and the greater number of the regiments mustered out.
•  The camp was located north of 29th Street between Hamilton Road and 2nd Ave., North Highlands. Source (8) says the camp was in the area between 3rd and 6th Avenues and 29th and 33rd Streets. A map comparison indicates these are the same area.
•  According to source (10), at page 31, the camp was about 2 miles from the city “on the bank of the Chattahoochee River near the historic ‘Lover’s Leap’.” This is slightly to the west of the area described above.

 

©2005 Fred Greguras