NORTHWESTERN

 IOWA

ITS HISTORY AND TRADITIONS

1804-1926

CHAPTER X.

THEY DID THEIR PART.

IN THE SPANISH-AMERICAN WAR - VICTIMS OF TYPHOID FEVER - THE FIFTY-FIRST REGIMENT OF INFANTRY - THE FORTY-NINTH REGIMENT - TROOPS FOR THE MEXICAN BORDER . . . . . . . . . . . . . 299

Opportunities for accomplishment often make the difference between fame and glory and faithful and inactive readiness. There are thousands of unknown men and women in whose minds and souls have been planted the seeds of great achievement whose lives have never fallen under the germinating sun of opportunity.

So, Northwestern Iowa, and the State at large, held in leash many brave and ready soldiers who were denied that action in battle by which others earned military fame and promotion in Cuba and the Philippines, and over the Mexican border, at a later crisis in national affairs.
 

THE SPANISH AMERICAN WAR.
 

The United States Congress declared war against Spain on the twenty-fifth of April, 1898, because of the unexplained destruction of the battleship “Maine” in the preceding February, while the ship was lying in Havana harbor. The government investigations following that awful affair are matters of historic record. The people of Iowa were stirred to the full extent of their indignation and patriotism, and enthusiastically upheld the action of Congress in standing behind Cuba as a republic independent of Spain.

The states and territories of the United States were called upon to furnish their quotas of troops for the war, and on the 25th of April, the secretary of war sent to Governor Leslie M. Shaw a requisition for three regiments of infantry and two batteries of light artillery. The Governor replied that they would be ready for orders at Camp McKinley, Des

 

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Moines, on the 2d of May, and as a basis of Iowa’s quota four regiments of the State National Guard were directed to report there. On the 30th of April, the Governor was notified that the quota of his State had been changed to four regiments of infantry and two batteries of light artillery. On the same day the Second, Third and Fourth regiments of the Iowa National Guard were selected as a basis for the volunteer troops required of the State.
 

VICTIMS OF TYPHOID FEVER.
 

In May, 1898, the Second Regiment was ordered to New Orleans, its number having been changed to the Fiftieth Iowa Volunteer Infantry, Col. D. V. Jackson commanding. This regiment was sent from New Orleans to a camp that had been established at Jacksonville, Florida. The Iowa soldiers were extremely anxious to be ordered to the seat of war, but so rapidly did events in the field and on the ocean follow one another that the conflict was ended before any of the soldiers of the Fiftieth were ordered to the front. The regiment remained at Jacksonville until the 13th of September, when, the war being ended, it was ordered home. It lost by death, mostly from typhoid fever, thirty-two men, and was mustered out at Des Moines on the 30th of November, 1898.

The Fifty-second Regiment left Des Moines on the 28th of May, and went into camp at Chickamauga Park, Georgia. There it remained until the 28th of August, when it returned to Des Moines and was mustered out of service on the 20th of October, 1898. The losses from sickness were thirty-six men, thirty-one of whom died from typhoid fever.
 

Thus more than sixty Iowans of these two regiments were victims of typhoid fever. Defective food and unsanitary conditions brought death to these soldiers, who gave of their strength and lives with as much faithfulness and bravery as if they had offered them on long marches and the blood-stirring fields of battle.
 

THE FIFTY-FIRST REGIMENT OF INFANTRY.
 

The Fifty-first and the Forty-ninth infantry regiments were sent to the fields of hostilities in the Philippines and
 

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Cuba, but of the former only one man was killed in battle and the Forty-ninth was never engaged with Spanish troops. The Fifty-first Regiment left Des Moines on the 5th of June for San Francisco, where it remained in camp until July 29th; then embarked on the transport “Pennsylvania” for the Philippine Islands by way of Honolulu. Reaching Manila Bay on December 7, 1898, it participated in the following engagements: Guadalupe Church, March 5, 1899; Quingua, April 23d; East and West Pulilan, April 24th; Calumpit, April 25th; San Tomas, May 4th; San Fernando, on several days; Calulut and Angeles, August 9th. On the 6th of September, 1899, the regiment returned to Manila on its way home, and on the 22d sailed on the transport “Senator,” arriving at San Francisco on the 22d of October, 1899. Governor Shaw, Adjutant General Melvin H. Byers, Secretary of State G. L. Dobson and Auditor Frank F. Merriam proceeded to San Francisco to welcome the return of the only Iowa regiment that had seen active service in the war. It home-coming was fittingly celebrated in San Francisco, and on the 2d of November, 1899, the regiment was mustered out of the service, the members reaching Council Bluffs on the 6th. The losses were one killed, and forty who died of disease.

The Forty-ninth Regiment was, numerically, the first of the Iowa commands to be listed in the war. The last of the Iowa regiments engaged in the War of the Rebellion was numbered Forty-eight, and it was decided by the State authorities to continue thereafter the numbering of the regiments mustered into the Spanish-American war from the State. The Forty-ninth left Des Moines for Jacksonville, on the 11th of June, 1898, and was assigned to the Third Brigade, Second Division, Seventh Army Corps. On the 19th of December, it was sent to Havana, remaining until April, 1899, when it returned to the United States and was mustered out of the service. Although at no time engaged in battle with the enemy, the Forty-ninth Regiment had the satisfaction of participating in the ceremonies attending the evacuation of Havana by the Spaniards on January 1, 1899. Its losses were fifty-four men from disease.

Thus nearly 160 Iowa men gave their lives to their country’s cause in the Spanish-American war. Besides these four
 

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regiments, the State raised two batteries of light artillery, fifty men for service in the Signal Corps and a company of colored immunes, but, as stated, only two of its regiments of infantry reached the fighting fronts. What proportion of the personnel of these Iowa commands was furnished by the northwestern counties, it is impossible to estimate, although it is probable that more men from that section of Iowa joined the Fifty-first than any other regiments.
 

TROOPS FOR THE MEXICAN BORDER.
 

Mexico was torn by contending factions for several years after the resignation of Diaz as its president. The revolutions culminated in 1915-16, when American lives and American property were in continual danger of destruction. In June, 1916, President Wilson called out State troops for border service, and Iowa responded by sending 4,500 national guardsmen to the outskirts of the danger zone in Northern Mexico. The First Iowa Brigade, under command of Gen. Hubert A. Allen, consisted of three regiments of infantry, one battalion of artillery, one squadron of cavalry, one company of engineers, sanitary detachments, a field hospital and an ambulance company.

Nearly a month was spent at Camp Dodge in drilling and conditioning the men, and mustering the organizations into Federal service. In mid-summer began the movement toward the border. The Iowa troops went into camp amid the brush and cacti near Brownsville, Texas, on the Mexican border. Before the summer was over, the Iowa camp site was “the neatest, cleanest and best arranged camp in the entire valley.” The men proved themselves true soldiers, stood high in competition with troops from other states, and often received special recognition from inspecting officers. Eight deaths occurred among the men of the brigade, all of which were the result of accidents. The military authorities had been taught some lessons in the Spanish-American war, and the deaths among the troops from disease had been cut to a minimum.

Again, it is impossible to closely apply the subject to Northwestern Iowa, although the story, as here given, will strike hundreds in that section of the State who eagerly ac-
 

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companied the Iowa Brigade to, but not into, the promised land, with the ambition to do their part in “getting Villa.” In a word, Iowa soldiers have always done their part, when their country either called them to prepare for action and be patient, or to be all ready and then advance bravely to the fray. Either course proves the true soldier.