Arkansas in the Spanish-American War

Arkansas in the Spanish-American WarAuthor(s): Bertha DavidsonSource: The Arkansas Historical Quarterly, Vol. 5, No. 3 (Autumn, 1946), pp. 208-219Published by: Arkansas Historical AssociationStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/40018764 .

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ARKANSAS IN THE SPANISH-AMERICAN WAR

By Bertha Davidson*

Forrest City, Arkansas

The Spanish American War has been called a journa- listic war and the Arkansas press like that in many states did its share toward inciting people to demand intervention in Cuba in 1898. The following excerpts from the Fort Smith Elevator are typical.

The public is disappointed at President McKinley's asking Congress for $50,000 for relief of American citizens in Cuba instead of recommending that rights of belli- gerents be granted to the Cubans.1 - The time which Cleve- land foresaw is at hand, when the United States would have to put a stop to the troubles in Cuba.2 - President Mc- Kinley, in his message, gives the frozen face to Cuba, toward which island all the sympathies of all countries go out.3 - The Cabinet has absolved Spain from all re- sponsibility in the Maine Disaster. This makes the government seem to back down before reports are made by the investigating committees, and the United States will be a laughing stock of the nations.4 - The next step after the report is made should be intervention in Cuba, and this, too, aside from any consideration of the Maine incident. - This was Cleveland's policy; humanity and the interest of the United States demand it; the time is ripe whereas a year ago there would have been objections from all foreign powers.5 - The Fort Smith Elevator disagrees with the Hope Gazette which expresses the idea that inter-

* Bertha Davidson holds the M. A. degree from the University of Arkansas She is a teacher in Forrest City.

*Fort Smith Elevator, May 21, 1897, Vol. 19. No. 35. Hbid., Tune 25, 1897, Vol. 19. No. 35. *Md., December 17, 1897, Vol. 20. No. 8 *Ibid., March 4, 1897, Vol. 20. No. 19. *IWd., March 11, 1898, Vol. 20. No. 20.



Arkansas In The War 200

vent ion should have taken place two years ago.6 - Gen. Stewart S. Woodford, Minister to Spain, is the most amusing donkey of the whole situation for sitting in Spain and persisting in saying that the situation looks promising when both nations are getting ready for war. He will be one of the greatest jokes in history's pages.7

About the middle of April, while President McKinley was trying to settle the Cuban difficulty without war, the following lines appeared in the Arkadelphia Standard as expressing the sentiments of an ex-confederate soldier.

"Git my gun, Malinda, till I polish up the stock. The Spanish men are gaining ground. McKinley

made a balk; Too much consideration will not make Cuba free, So git my gun, Malinda, and hand her down to me.

Two hundred gallant sailors were murdered on the Maine,

The blood of every one of them is on the hands of Spain;

And men who love their country should never stop to lag,

When they're needed by their country to help defend the flag.

Git my gun, Malinda, she's rusted many a day; I carried her through Mexico. We fought at Monterey ; We faced the Yanks at Gettysburg, we fought the

fight with Lee. So git my gun, Malinda, and hand her down to me.

Git my gun, Malinda, I'll be a soldier true And join hands with the Yankees, who wore the

coats of blue; And wel'll march with our muskets a-gleanin' in the sun And help to fight for freedom. Malinda, get my gun.

«Ibid., March 18, 1898, Vol. 20. No. 21. 7Fort Smith Elevator, April 22, 1898, Vol. 20. No. 26.



2io Arkansas Historical Quarterly

I had hoped the glorious freedom through all my life might run,

But Cuba's sons of liberty must lick the tyrant Spain And Til follow up my sentiments with powder and

with lead. I believe in us that's livin' avengin' them that's dead.

So git my gun, Malinda, the Dons have given a shout, And I'm goin' to find the army and help to wipe

em' out. The cowards of Spain bio wed up the Maine, and

I ain't agoin' to lag, Just hand me down my musket and I'll follow up

the flag."8

According to the records, Spain had yielded every point in our demands and President McKinley had been so notified two days before delivering his war message to Congress. General Wood ford repeatedly sent messages to the effect that with a little more time a Cuban settle- ment could be made peaceably. Far from being an "amusing donkey", he was right. Spain did not want war. The United States, however, declared war on April 25, 1898, and on that date Governor Dan Jones received a message from the War Department assigning to Arkansas a quota of two regiments of infantry.

, Since little of the story of Arkansas' part in the war lias been written, the following details which the writer has gathered will perhaps be of interest to historians. The various histories of Arkansas, newspapers, and existing records have been consulted, particularly the Report of Adjutant General Arthur Neill of the Arkansas State Guard, 1897-1900. Nine veterans of the Spanish American War have been interviewed: J. W. Bunyard, Philippine service; Meade Fishback, 1st Arkansas and Cuba police duty; Squire Grosa, Philippine service; Captain Sidney Guard, New York, service in Cuba and the Philippines; F. R.

8Hcrndon, Centennial History of Arkansas, Vol. 1, p. 711. Chicago, Little Rock, S. J. Clark Publishing Co. 1922.




Hamilton, 2nd Arkansas; Mr. Hankins, 1st Arkansas and Philippine service; C. K. McClelland, Ohio; Mr. Mitchell, 1st Arkansas; Jess Walters, Philippine service.

In keeping with the order from the War Department, Governor Dan Jones began the organization of the Ark- ansas quota. Since no -two regiments of the State Guard were well, enough organized or equipped, it was the idea of Governor Jones that companies be selected from all sections of the state to- form two new regiments. On May 2, he issued General Order No. 2 which designated the corner of College Avenue and 17th Street in Little Rock as the place of camp, and its name was to be Camp Dodge in honor of Dr. Roderick Dodge whose heirs donated the site for that purpose. As no appropriation had been made available for military purpose, Governor Jones arranged with the bankers of the state to advance $10,000 for im- mediate use. In 1899 the State Legislature appropriated money to pay off the loan and later the United States repaid the amount to Arkansas. From this $10,000 a private received $13.00 per month, a corporal $ 15.00, a sergeant $18.00 and a 1st sergeant $25.00. Twenty per cent was added for foreign duty.

The First Arkansas Regiment was mustered in at Camp Dodge on May 16, 1898. Mustering was completed on May 20. The regiment consisted of thirteen companies, lettered from A through M, with Elias Chandler as Colonel. Many of the officers of these companies had been trained by him as commandant of the Military Department at the University of Arkansas, The Lieutenant Colonel was J. M. Dungan; the two majors, Greenfield Quarles and Clem- ent Schoer. (Since there were not enough blankets at Camp Dodge to supply the men with one each, Gus Blass of Little Rock generously donated a lot to fill the de- ficiency). The regiment was transferred to Chickamauga Park, Tennessee, on May 25 to May 27 and was assigned to the 1st Brigade, 2nd Division, 3rd Army Corps.

On May 25, the Second Volunteer Regiment of the infantry was mustered in at Camp Dodge in an organization of thirteen companies also, with Virgil Y. Cook as Colonel,



212 Arkansas Historical Quarterly

DeRosey C. Cabell as Lieutenant Colonel, and C. F. Sayle and J. J. Johnson as Majors. This regiment was moved also to Camp Thomas at Chickamauga Park. On arriving there on May 30, it was assigned to the 2nd Brigade, 2nd Division, 3rd Army Corps.

When the regiments were ordered to leave Camp Dodge, they returned to the State all equipment^ retaining only their uniforms which were to be returned when they reached Chickamauga.9 On arriving at Camp Thomas, the troops were assigned space for their camp. Each soldier had two blankets and many slept on the ground in their tents while some made a crude floor of rough boards. A lieutenant and several aides were sent back to recruit 120 men in Fort. Smith, Fayetteville, Van Buren, Bentonville, and Eureka Springs.10 Twenty-five per cent of the volunteers failed in the physical examination, but in three weeks the required number was procured. En- listed men had to be between the ages of 18 and 45, at least 54 inches tail, with a minimum weight of 120 pounds. The army accepted no one who had a physical disability or who was married (without special permission from the War Department). Those under 21 years of age were required to present the written consent of their parents.11

The training at Camp Thomas consisted of daily drill, target practice, and marches that lasted several days. The pleasure outings were trips to the theatre, Salvation Army Stations, Y.M.C.A. and beer canteens.12 According to the Adjutant General's report the two regiments were not permitted to engage in any active service and suffered severely from malaria, typhoid and other fevers, and dysentery, the result of improper sanitation and crowded conditions at Camp Thomas.13 Of course the official report was mild and formal in language, but the veterans and also the soldiers who were correspondents for the Arkansas papers did not couch their descriptions of the conditions in like

*Fort Smith Elevator, June 24, 1898, Vol. 20. No. 31. 10Lieutenant Meade Fishback, Fayetteville, Arkansas. ^Fort Smith Elevator, May 27, 1898, Vol. 20. No. 35. 12IWd., July 28, 1898, Vol. 21. No. 1. ^Keport of the Adjutant General of the Arkansas State Guard 1897-1900.




terms. A member of the First Arkansas said water was scarce and had to be boiled. Many men grew disgusted and drank from the river where bathing and washing were done.14 A Second Arkansas soldier said that conditions were indescribable; that their water turned brown because the calvary was stationed in their midst.15 The Second Arkansas had a higher percentage of sickness than the other regiments in the park. The surgeons thought latent malaria, developing after the men reached camp had made them more susceptible to camp ailments.16

Because of repeated complaints of the conditions in

camp, Governor Jones sent Adjutant General Neill and

Surgeon General Keller to make an investigation. General Breckenridge gave his permission for such investigation, but the order had to be issued by Colonel Hoff and he would not allow General Neill and General Keller to inspect any part of the camp except that of the Arkansas division. After a second appeal had been made to General Brecken- ridge, the order was issued. The consequent report was alarming. Hundreds oi the sick were crowded under tent flies, exposed to rain and heat and insects, and left with two or three irresponsible attendants. The government fur- nished no food other than government rations. The Red Cross, National Relief Association, and officers (by private contribution) were doing the best they could to provide suitable food. "Some of the sick men were wearing the clothes they wore when they entered camp from two days to two weeks before. Surgeons said requisitions for tentage and supplies had been ignored in Washington. The Arkansas boys, however, were in better condition than others due to the watchfulness and careful attention of their officers/'17 Dr. Rush S. Huldikoper of New York College of Veterinary Surgeons, who was appointed medical director of the camp at Chickamauga by President McKinley and then was asked by him to resign, had been a practicing

"Lieutenant Meade Fishback. 15F. R. Hamilton, Co. I. 2nd Arkansas Infantry. ™Fort Smith Elevator, July 29, 1898. Vol. 20. No. 40. ™Iind., August 26, 1898, Vol. 20. No. 44.




veterinarian for ten years before the war.18 Perhaps that explains a remark of one of the veterans to the effect that all ailments were treated with the same remedy, a handful of salts and a couple of capsules of quinine.

About the time that the First Arkansas was mustered in at Camp Dodge, The Fort Smith Elevator published a list of the rations of a soldier under army regulations. It vas as follows :

Fresh beer, 20 oz. or pork or bacon, 12 oz. Flour or soft bread, 18 oz. or hard bread, 16 oz. or

beans or peas, 22 - 5 oz. or rice or hominy, 1 1 - 3 oz.

Potatoes or onions or canned tomatoes, 16 oz. Coffee, green, 13 - 5 oz. or roasted, 17- - 25 oz. or tea,

8 - 25 oz. Sugar, 22 - s oz. Vinegar, 8-25 oz. Candles, 5 - 25 oz.19

Regardless of regulations, the rations were inadequate and were not re-enforced with fresh vegetables and fruits. In the haste to supply the army, much meat unfit for human consumption was shipped by unscrupulous packers. The "canned horse" of that period took heavy toll of those who were compelled to eat it.20 The government put a stop to the sending of food to the soldiers by citizens since such food might be a probable cause of illness.21 No one who has studied the conditions under which the armies lived is shocked at learning to what extent the loss of men in 1898 exceeded that in 1917-1918. In World War I, 7.5 men out of 1,000 died in cantonments, while in the Spanish- Ameri- can War over 20 out of 1,000 died. Arkansas lost 54 of her 2,000 volunteers.22

The Arkansas troops having finally decided that they lived on the wrong side of the Mason and Dixon Line ever to be sent to the front, were becoming "demoralized and

18IbtU. October 14, 1898, Vol. 20. No. 50. ™Fort Smith Elevator, May 20, 1898 Vol. 20. No. 30. 20D. Y. Thomas - Arkansas and Its Peofile. A History. Pasre 620, aiJWd. z*Fayetteville Democrat, Aug. 4, 1898, Vol. 31. No. 20.




untractable"23 when, on August 3, orders were received for the First Arkansas to accompany Major General Wade to Porto Rico.24 The boys went wild with enthusiasm. They tore up the floors that had been put in some of the tents and burned them in celebration. For two days the Quartermaster and Ordnance Departments were busy fur- nishing the companies with proper equipment. R. C* Neb- lett of the Y. M. C. A. Tent organized a committee of young men in the regiment to carry on the Christian work in Cuba as regular representatives were not to go. On August 5 fighting ceased and the orders for removal to Porto Rico were rescinded.

When the men had recovered from disappointment, a lieutenant in Company H drew up a petition asking that the First Arkansas be not sent to Cuba on garrison duty "in some pestilential island city". The number of signatures was growing rapidly when he was arrested and the petition disappeared. The men felt that they should have the right of freedom of speech and petition. Some of them also felt that if the United States had set out on a voyage of ag- grandizement and imperialism, the Secretary of War should let out the job by contract for cleaning and disinfecting slums and disease-infected towns - "Woe to the governor", a correspondent said, "or anybody else with political aspira- tions who uses his influence to have the First Arkansas landed in Cuba or any other island to do garrison duty". He also stated in this same letter that "if the true history of the volunteer army is ever written, the eyes of the people will be opened to some things that will prove to be a genuine sensation". He related two incidents as examples of these conditions. One is of a soldier's being called out for drill before he recovered from measles, of his being overcome by heat, taken to the hospital in an ambulance, and then placed on the ground where he died within two hours. Another is of a soldier's being crippled, possibly for life, with rheumatism from sleeping in a leaky tent.25

2SFort Smith Elevator, Aug. 5, 1898, Vol. 20. No. 41, 24 Ibid, August 12, 1898, Vol. 20. No. 42. ^Fort Smith Elevator > August 26, 1898, Vol. ZU. JNo. 44. ^orresponaent w.

Merritt.




The papers over the state tried to soothe the feelings of the boys at having to come home without getting into the fight. A consoling thought was offered by The Arkadel- phia Standard, "The Arkansas boys may come home with no heroic scars to attest their valor on the battle field, but there is a grain of comfort in the reflection that their patriotism will make old Arkansas more a home in the pension office than heretofore".26

According to the testimony of a member of the Sec- ond Arkansas, a vote was taken in the two regiments to determine which had the greater number of men willing to go to Cuba for garrison duty. Since the Second had a larger quota, it was transferred on September 9 to Camp Shipp at Anniston, Alabama. There the men had good water, plenty of food, and excellent care.27 The First Ar- kansas was sent to Fort Logan H. Roots at Little Rock on September 25. In the move these men had difficulty in getting their provisions from the railway station to the camp over the muddy road in a heavy rain. The wagons mired and the soldiers lived two days on wet bread and muscadines. From this camp they were mustered out on October 1 5 at which time they received from forty to eighty dollars each. Privates drew two months' pay and an allow- ance in addition for transportation home and for clothes. Those who were away on furlough were allowed compensa- tion for subsistence during the time they were off. Some- thing over $90,000 was disbursed to them.28

By December, the members of the Second Regiment at Camp Shipp, realizing they would not be sent to Cuba, became very restless and dissatisfied. Many had been ill of diseases contracted in Chickamauga. They were mustered out on February 25, 1899.

Veterans from both regiments in interviews with the writer spoke of many of their comrades who enlisted in the United States Volunteers and in the United States Regulars for service in the Philippines. One said about

™lbid.. August 26, 1898, Vol. 20. No. 44. Quoted from Arkadelphia Standard. 27F. R. Hamilton. 28Fort Smith Elevator, October 28, 1898, Vol. 21. No. 1.




fifty reentered the army on the day he did, and others joined every day. Fourteen officers ranging in rank from Colonel to Second Lieutenant re-enlisted.29

Arkansas was not unrepresented in the fighting while the men were waiting in Chickamauga Park for a chance to join the fray. The first shot of the war allegedly was fired by Stoker P. Morgan of Camden.30 President Mc- Kinley appointed ten Arkansas men in the Signal Corps and staff departments. Besides these there were many in the midst of the fighting of whom news sprinkled the papers of the state. People were watching avidly for such items as, "Elevator correspondent and his comrade sail on the Indiana for Cuba with the 33rd Regulars",31 or "Arkansas man passed examination at Fortress Monroe for appointment as Second Lieutenant in the regular army and was assigned to the artillery/'32 or "Fort Smith man wins captaincy in San Juan".33 A Van Buren soldier with Roosevelt's Rough Riders read in the Elezwtor that he had been killed in action. He wrote the editor that instead of being slain he "had had the privilege of setting a sandbag on top of a mountain and seeing the glorious old Stars and Stripes as they went up and floated in victory over the Spanish city of Santiago and its vanquished hosts".34

In the Philippines many more Arkansans helped con- quer the insurrectionistst that fought in Cuba. The veterans relate some very interesting stories of experiences there. One private had been sent in a group to rescue some prisoners and was hidden in some underbrush near a little town. He put tobacco juice in his eyes to keep himself awake but lost consciousness anyway. On awaking he found himself alone among enemies. He bluffed his way back bringing in twelve prisoners who, seeing the emblem on his cap and the head of his native guide above a rock, thought he was commanding a hidden group in his posses-

wReport of the Adjutant General of the Arkansas State Guard, 1897-1900. P. 119-35

soMoore, J. H., A School History of Arkansas. ^Fort Smith Elevator, July 1, 1898, Vol. 20. No. 36. S2Ibid, July 22, 1898, Vol. 20. No. 39. **lbidt July 22, 1898, Vol. 20. No. 39. ^Fort Smith Elevator, July 29, 1898, Vol. 20. No. 40.



218 Arkansas Histprical Quarterly

sion. He has a citation that Jie received just thirty-one years later.35 He and other men from Arkansas, some of whom he could name, were members of the 33rd United States Volunteers. His neighbor with whom he often "swaps war stories" was with the 18th Infantry. The men had "hard tack" and salmon for Christmas dinner in Manila Bay in 1898. This infantry was sent on to take Panay Island and was kept on board the good ship Arizona forty- nine days by the natives. The infantrymen finally landed under the gunfire of the Boston and Petrol that had steamed into Iloilo to relieve them. The Americans used con- vents, schools, and homes of natives as living quarters. They stayed on Panay two years, capturing towns during dry seasons and holding rebellious natives back from those already captured until the island was finally conquered. The report for this regiment asserts that, "There were many Arkansas men in it; they had pretty good hospitals; their nurses were American women ; and the mosquitos, malaria, adobe itchr and amoebic dysentery were even more danger- ous than the natives".86

Five friends from Washington County enlisted to- gether in the 6th Infantry. Two of them came back per- manently disabled. Their regiment first went to Leyte and stayed there eight months. The natives were peaceable and the mosquitoes did not make life too unbearable even though the soldiers left off most of their clothes. The 24th Infantry (negro) was on Mindanao, but the soldiers antag- onized the tribes that were peaceably inclined. The colored infantry was trans fered to Leyte and the Sixth was sent to Mindanao. Some of the companies of this regiment fought against groups of defiant Moros, while two companies were sent to watch a dato (leader of a tribe) in a walled city where he had eight hundred slaves. This assign- ment was supposed to last six months, but the tropical cli- mate, swarms of mosquitoes that were "reenforced" at nightfall, the monotony of seeing no one but dirty, greasy, Moro men, and the strain of the constant watching were

88Squire Gross. 36Hankms.




so hard on the nerves of the men that at the request of the officers they were replaced at the end of five months lest they break mentally. Many were already showing the strain.37

As their terms of service ended, the soldiers left the islands by way of quarantine stations, where there was thorough fumigation. Using required disinfectants the soldiers showered, washed their heads, and steamed their clothes, but with many the "dirty work" had already been done by the germs. Some of the soldiers seem to have felt that they had been doing "dirty work" too. A soldier correspondent for the Elevator, after thirteen months in Manila and three elsewhere, wrote that the American soldiers' feelings had been misrepresented; that they did not want to rob, plunder, and kill in the Philippines, but felt that the United States should set the islands free and prevent interference with that freedom by other nations. He said that the masses in America did not understand.38

It should be added that the soldier was not the only type of son sent by Arkansas to the Philippines. Represe- sentative Hugh A. Dinsmore of Fayetteville was one of the congressional committee that was appointed to go in 1901 to investigate conditions in the islands and make recommen- dations to Congress as to the needs. The committee members took their secretaries with them and paid their own expenses except for the free use of the government trans- port.39

«J. W. Bunyard. a*Fort Smith Elevator, November 3, 1898, Vol. 22. No. 1. "Fayetteville Democrat, May 9, 1901, Vol. 33. JNo. 42.



Arkansas in the Spanish-American War

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