CHAPTER 27 _________ THE SPANISH AMERICAN WAR While the people of Montgomery
County may not, perhaps, lay claim to greater patriotism than
their
brethren throughout the state, the fact remains that this county
furnished many more than her quota of the soldiers who served
during the Spanish-American War. One reason, doubtless, was
that Red Oak and Villisca were each home of a militia company
belonging to the Iowa National Guard, one of which was reputed
to be one of the best companies in the state. But there was
another, and, in the early stages of the struggle, a greater
reason for the intense interest which the people of the county
manifested in the war. [Ensign Darwin Robert Merritt, Deceased - A victim of destruction of the battleship Maine in Havana harbor.] The events leading up to this terrible disaster had their beginning back in 1895, when the Cubans rebelled against Spain. This was by no means their first attempt to secure their freedom from Spanish rule, which was marked by revolting cruelty and injustice—at least according to the claims of the Cubans, and the American people pretty generally accepted their evidence. The last previous rebellion was known in history as the Ten Years' Insurrection, in which thousands of Cubans lost their lives in an unsuccessful effort to throw off the yoke of Spain. Beaten but not undaunted, the brave islanders in 1895 made another and final attempt. Such strength did they display that Page 229 Spain was compelled to send corps after corps of her army across the Atlantic, but without succeeding in pacifying the island. Marshal Campos, the Governor General, was replaced by the fierce soldier, General Weyler, whose cruel reign became historical. As a means of overcoming the rebels, he devastated whole districts, driving the inhabitants into the villages,where they suffered great hardships, many dying of starvation. As a rule, the people of the United States were ardent sympathizers of the Cubans, and a good many Americans found their way into the Cuban army. There is no doubt that the assistance received from their American friends was an important factor in keeping up the unequal contest. After the insurrection had been in progress for several years, attempts were made to have Congress recognize the Cubans as belligerents, but they failed. The government did, however, make such remonstrance against the methods used by "Butcher" Weyler, as he was called, that he was finally recalled, being succeeded by General Blanco. The beginning of 1898 found conditions there about as bad as they possibly could be and the feeling throughout the country was strong against Spain. So serious had the situation become that the government saw fit to send a warship to Havana to protect American interests should the exigency arise. This was in February 1898. On the night of the 15th of that month, while lying at anchor in the harbor, whither she had been conducted by Spanish official, the splendid vessel was blown up and 259 of her crew, including two officers, were lost. This terrible disaster was the culminating event which led to the final breach between the United States and Spain. A feeling of intense rage swept over the country. There was a popular demand for war at once, but final judgment was withheld until a careful investigation was made into the cause of the explosion, there being, of course, a possibility that it was Page 230 internal and was not caused by a mine, as was generally believed. On March 21st, the inquiry commission announced its finding, which was to the effect that the ship had been destroyed by the explosion of a submarine mine. Immediately following the announcement of the finding, Congress made an appropriation of $50,000,000 for national defense and preparations were made for war. On April 18th, both houses of Congress passed resolutions demanding that the government of Spain relinquish its authority in the island of Cuba and withdraw its land and naval forces from the island. This resolution was signed by President McKinley on April 20th, and the government of Spain was given three days in which to reply. But on April 21st, before our minister could present the ultimatum of the United States, he was given his passports. This was the signal for war to begin and formal declarations by both countries followed quickly. On April 23rd, President McKinley issued a call for 125,000 volunteers, and the governors of the various states at once ordered the National Guard to assemble at the State capitals. While all these events were transpiring, the local militia, Company M of Red Oak and Company B of Villisca, of the Third Regiment, Iowa National Guard, were making preparations so that they would be ready for any emergency, though few really believed that war would come. Unfortunately, at the critical juncture, Company B was greatly handicapped by being without a captain, her late commander, Sterling P. Moore, having shortly before been elected to the office of Major of the Third Battalion of the Third Regiment. The company was further crippled by the absence of the First Lieutenant, T. J. Poston, an excellent military man, who left early in the spring for the Klondike country. This left the company in charge of the second lieutenant, A. D. Poston. Page 231 Company M, on the other hand, was in the pink of condition. The first warlike note served to arouse the military spirit and all through March many recruits were received, while tri-weekly drills took the place of the usual weekly drill. The result was that when the call came for troops, Company M was one of the strongest companies in the Third Regiment. As this company figures prominently in the Philippine campaign and because it was in many respects an unusual body of men, a brief sketch of the organization will prove interesting. A temporary military company was organized in Red Oak in the fall of 1893 with Jesse W. Clark as Captain, W. H. French, First Lieutenant, and Harry F. Brown, Second Lieutenant, and steps were taken to secure the first vacancy in the Iowa National Guard. This opportunity came with the demise of Company M of the Third Regiment, and through the efforts of Major W. H. Evans of that regiment and his Sergeant Major, the newly elected Captain Clark, the Red Oak company fell heir to its name and place in the Guard. On Oct. 18th, 1893, the company was mustered into the service with twenty-nine men. In the election of officers which followed, Jesse W. Clark was chosen Captain, W. H. French, First Lieutenant, and Guy E. Logan, Second Lieutenant, and these officers still held these positions at the breaking out of the war and at its close. In the years that followed the organization, the company grew in strength and importance. It drew its membership from the best homes of the community and Company M "affairs" came to be looked upon as society events. But the members were something more than mere society men; they were athletes, and so faithfully did they train and drill that for three years they stood at the head of all the companies of the state. Their highest marking was received in 1896, when a record of 106.83 was made out of a possible 109. It was Page 232 during this year that the company, desirous of securing better quarters, organized an armory company and erected an armory building, 45 x120 feet, of red brick, costing about $6,000.
PREPARING FOR WAR The President's call for volunteers had scarcely been announced when Adjutant General Melvin H. Byers sent a call to the commanding officers of the various companies to hold their men in readiness to go to Des Moines on receipt of instructions by wire. There was great excitement in Red Oak and Villisca that day. In Red Oak this excitement was accentuated by the unusually high personnel of the company. No fewer than thirty-seven members of the company were members or ex-members of the High School, Captain Clark was County Superintendent of Schools, and the company included two instructors of the Red Oak High School, besides a number of young business and professional men. Before the company left for Des Moines, a number of new men enlisted, including the principal and one of the instructors in the Clarinda High School, E. Whitney Martin, afterwards a professor in Stanford University at Palo Alto, California, and C. E. Arnold, formerly an instructor in the Red Oak High School. The first call to arms was received on Saturday, but it was not until Tuesday morning that the actual departure took place. The interval was a time of intense excitement and patriotic fervor. Meetings were held both in Red Oak and Villisca in honor of the departing troops. The Guard assembled at the State Fair Grounds at Des Moines, which became Camp McKinley, being in command of Gen. James Rush Lincoln, a popular officer, and recognized as one of the leading military authorities in the country. He was afterwards commissioned as a brigadier general. Col. John C. Loper of Des Moines was placed in command of the Third Regiment, the number of which was changed to the Fifty-First Iowa Infantry. The regiment remained in Des Moines until June 5th, when it left Page 233 for San Francisco, for transportation to the Philippines, the three other Iowa regiments being assigned to camps in the South and East for service in Cuba, should they be required. Company M retained all its old officers, but Company B, having no captain or first lieutenant, and its second lieutenant failing to pass the examination, was compelled to put up with inexperienced and—in the case of the captain, at least—inefficient officers. They made the mistake of electing as their captain, A. F. Burton, a former and not too popular superintendent of the Villisca Public Schools. In the service which followed, he failed to command the respect of either his brother officers or his men. The regiment was mustered into the United States Service on Decoration Day, May 30th, 1898. On June 4th, official orders were received, sending the Fifty-First Iowa to San Francisco for service in the Philippines, and on June 6th, the start was made. At Red Oak a great demonstration greeted the section carrying Company M. IN CAMP AT SAN FRANCISCO The trip to San Francisco was uneventful. The regiment went into camp at once on the site of an old Chinese burying ground, on a dismal stretch of sand which was designated as Camp Merritt. Not only was the camp a dreary one, but after a time it became an unhealthy one. It is a notable fact that while the two Montgomery County companies lost a number of men by death, all the losses occurred in camp and not a single one was lost in the year spent on the ocean and in a strenuous campaign in the Philippines. At the time the regiment was ordered to San Francisco, instructions were issued to recruit the companies up to 106 men. Lieut. W. H. French was the recruiting officer sent to Red Oak, where he had little difficulty in securing the required number of men. After more or less ill health an da number of deaths among the men at Camp Merritt, the regiment was removed, the latter Page 234 part of July, to Camp Merriam at the Presido, where sanitary conditions were better. While in camp at the Presido, the Fifty-First was brigaded with Tennessee and Kansas Regiments, under the command of Gen. Charles King, the well known writer of military novels. The regiment remained in camp until Nov. 3d, when it sailed on the transport Pennsylvania, for the Philippines. During the last few weeks before sailing, the Iowa Regiment in general and Company M in particular won the honors of the camp. Company M participated in an exhibition drill at Mechanics' Pavilion, the largest public hall in San Francisco, afterwards destroyed by the great fire which followed the earthquake of 1906. Later, the company won a silver loving cup in a competitive drill in the same hall. The Eighth California, the Twentieth Kansas and the Tennessee Regiments were entered for the event, along with Company M, but the Californians and Kansans decided not to try conclusions with the Iowans, so the contest lay between Company F of Nashville, Tenn., the winner of many prize drills through the South, and Company M, the latter winning. Two other events which transpired just before sailing and were of great interest at the time, were the football games between an Iowa team and the Stanford University and the University of California teams. The former was won by Iowa with a score of 5 to 0, and the latter was a tie game. Captain Clark of Company M, coached the Iowa team, and Corporal Resolve P. Palmer, of the same company, at this writing an officer in the regular army, played full back, being the star of the team. ACROSS THE PACIFIC. The first stop of the Pennsylvania was made at Honolulu, after an uneventful run of a week, and a stop of three days was made. The football team had time to meet a native team from Punahou College, defeating the islanders by a score of 22 to 0. Page 235 A little less than a month was consumed in the remainder of the voyage to the Philippines, the Pennsylvania casting anchor in Manila Bay, Dec. 8th. But the regiment didn't land. There was trouble at Iloilo, one of the important cities of the islands and they were held in readiness to move on short notice. Christmas Day was spent in Manila Harbor, and, fortunately, the regiment received its Christmas boxes which had been sent from home, on Christmas Eve. The next day the Pennsylvania sailed for Iloilo, arriving there two days later. In the meantime, the Spanish garrison which the regiment had been sent to help relieve, had evacuated, and the city was in the hands of the insurgents. Preparations were at once made for battle. The expedition included several transports with troops and the Cruiser Baltimore, the troops being under command of General Miller. But the fight didn't come off. The insurgents put up a good bluff and no attack was made, though the regiment remained before the city for a month. Finally, the latter part of January, the Pennsylvania headed for Manila, an don Feb. 2, 1899, after three months on the water, the Fifty-First Iowa landed at Fort San Philippi, Cavite, across the bay from Manila. Here the regiment went into camp, and for some time guarded the navy yard. GUARD DUTY The war with Spain had long since come to a close and in the treaty of peace which followed, the United States had the unpleasant duty of pacifying the islands. The natives, under the leadership of Aguinaldo, a native patriot who had been interested in several Spanish uprisings, did not consider themselves as requiring pacification, and organized resistance followed. The first clash of arms came on Feb. 4th, between the insurgents and the outposts of the Nebraska regiment in the suburbs of Manila. The battle raged for three days, the Iowa Regiment being passive spectators. On the 9th, however, they got into action in a small way. The natives occupying the Page 236 village of San Roque adjoining Cavite, had shown considerable activity. Admiral Dewey ordered them to evacuate the village by 9:00 on that day or the city would be shelled. The insurgent force was 5,000 infantry and 700 mounted cavalry. The insurgents anticipated the action of the invaders by deserting their city and setting it on fire. The regiment pursued the retreating force through the burning city, the men suffering greatly from the heat. Beyond San Roque,the men spent their first night in camp on the field. A scouting expedition next morning ended, for the time, the active military service of Company M, the next few weeks being devoted to guard duty, and, as the force was small, guard duty came every other day and night. This service, was for the most part, uneventful. Practically all able bodied Filipinos were insurgent soldiers, including the natives employed about the government navy yards, and these fellows were ever ready to sneak up on a guard and stab him. One night while on guard Private Carl Cook of Company M, caught sight of a native crawling up on him from behind. The fellow refusing to stop at the word of command, Cook gave him two shots, one of which took effect. The body dropped over into the bay and was not found. While located at Cavite, Evan Evans, whose father was a mason, built a large bake oven for the cooking department which proved a welcome innovation. Private Robert Cook was delegated as engineer at the ice plant. Five men, Sergt. William Hiett, Privates Byers, Uvary, Robb and Olson, volunteered for service in the signal corps, all of them having some knowledge of line work. The last week in March, 1899, Company M, in company with company C, was ordered to Manila, but not as the boys hoped, to go on the fighting line. Instead they were ordered to report for guard duty with the 23rd regulars. Among their duties was to see that none but English speaking people were Page 237 on the streets after 7:00 p. m., that all native stores were closed at that time, and that all saloons were closed at 10:00; search suspicious looking people for weapons at any time, and stop gambling indulged in by the natives around the markets and native quarters. So anxious were the boys to participate in the real fighting that Privates Edwin Merritt, Ernest Dennis and Whitney Martin joined a Kansas company and participated in three days hard fighting before Malolos. Private Charles E. Arnold also participated in this engagement, spending three days on the firing line, but his object was to secure photographs of actual fighting on the battle fields for a company that was getting up a book, "Campaigning in the Philippines." The privates who absented themselves without leave, brought back with them a splendid report form the captain of the company in which they fought, which fact doubtless reduced their punishment for infraction of discipline to the minimum.
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