USA > Indiana > Vigo County > History of Indiana from its exploration to 1922, Vol II > Part 38
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On the 19th of April, 1898, congress passed reso-
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lutions of intervention in the struggle between Spain and her colony, Cuba. The formal declaration of war followed, April 25. On April 23, President Mckinley called for 125,000 volunteers for two years. On the evening of the 25th the governor of Indiana received a telegram from the secretary of war calling for In- diana's quota.12 Governor Mount's proclamation was issued the same day calling for volunteers and order- ing the Indiana National guard to report without de- lay at the state fairgrounds in Indianapolis. Since hundreds were offering to go, where only scores could be accepted, the governor directed that no member of the National guard would be compelled to enlist for the war.13
At five o'clock on the morning of April 25, tele- grams were sent to all captains of companies in the
12 Record of Indiana Vounteers in Spanish-American War, 8. "The GOVERNOR OF INDIANA, Indianapolis, Ind. :
The number of troops from your state under the call of the President, dated April 23, 1898, will be four (4) regiments of Infantry and two (2) light batteries of artillery. It is the wish of the President that the regiments of the National Guard or state militia shall be used as far as their numbers will permit, for the reason that they are armed, equipped and drilled. Please wire as early as possible what equipments, ammunition, arms, blankets, tents, etc., you will require."
13 Record of Indiana Volunteers, p. 9.
"Whereas, The President of the United States, in pursuance of an act of Congress, has issued a proclamation calling for 125,000 volunteers, of which number four regiments, approximating 1,000 men each, and two batteries, have been apportioned to the State of Indiana. Inasmuch as the number of men who are at this time tendering their services is far in excess of requirements, I deem it timely to announce in this connection that there will be no compulsion upon any member of the Indiana National Guard to enter the federal service, except upon his own free will and accord. Any member of the National Guard whose business affairs would be jeopardized or whose domestic relations would subject his family to inconvenience and hardship will be permitted to stand aside honorably and without prejudice."
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guard and all the companies were in camp on the fairgrounds before night. On the 25th and 26th seven new companies were accepted into the guard to make it complete. Some of these companies had organized as soon as they ascertained there would be an opportunity for active service.
It was decided to continue the serial number of Indiana regiments. There had been five in the Mexi- cau war, and 152 in the Civil war. The first one mustered into service for the Spanish-American war thus became the One Hundred Fifty-Seventh. This was the Third of the guard, under Col. Willis T. May. The Second guard regiment became the One Hundred Fifty-Eighth, under Col. Harry B. Smith; the First guard, under Col. John T. Barnett, became the One Hundred Fifty-Ninth, and the Fourth, under Col. George W. Gunder, became the One Hundred Six- tieth. The first two of these regiments and Battery A of the guard, which became the Twenty-Seventh light battery, and Battery E of the guard which be- came the Twenty-Eighth battery of Indiana volun- teers, were mustered into United States service, May 10, and on the 15th and 16th of May left for the gen- eral mobilization camp at Chickamauga Park. The One Hundred Sixtieth left for Chickamauga Park on May 16, but the One Hundred Fifty-Ninth, having given all its arms to the other regiments, had to wait till May 22 for arms, when it was sent to Dunn Lor- ing, Virginia.
These troops had scarcely vacated their camp at the fairgrounds of Indianapolis before the president issued a call, dated May 25, 1898, for 75,000 more volunteers. It was not till June 18 that the order came from the department of war asking Indiana to furnish enough recruits to fill to the maximum the four regiments already in the field, to furnish two new companies of infantry, and one entire regiment
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of infantry. The two companies mentioned above were to be recruited from among the colored men. A company of engineers and one for the signal service were also ordered from the state. The two colored companies, designated First and Second separate companies, Indiana volunteers, colored, were mus- tered in, July 15, but did not leave for Fort Thomas, Kentucky, until September, and reached Chicka- mauga, October 8.
The company of engineers became company D of the Second United States engineers. After service at Fort Sheridan, Illinois, and at Montauk Point, they arrived at Havana early in November where they took an active part in helping Col. Leonard Wood put that city in sanitary condition. The signal service men became the Fourteenth signal corps company. They left for Washington, July 7, and from there went to Jacksonville, July 31, where they were mustered ont.
Fortunately, just as the Indiana troops were get- ting to the front the war came to a close. The One Hundred Fifty-Seventh had arrived at Tampa and had their horses and baggage already on transports when a protocol was signed. The One Hundred Fifty- Eighth was yet at Chickamauga; the One Hundred Fifty-Ninth reached its mobilization camp in Vir- ginia; the One Hundred Sixtieth was at Newport News under orders for Porto Rico; the One Hundred Sixty-First, under Col. Winfield T. Durbin, was at Camp Mount, the Indiana state fairgrounds. The last two regiments, however, were ordered to Cuba, largely for police duty, where they remained until March, 1899.
The Twenty-Seventh battery was on the battle line when the war ended but had not fired a hostile shot. It embarked from Newport News for Porto Rico, arriving August 4, whence it proceeded to
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Guayama, August 13. The Twenty-Eighth battery did not go further than Chickamauga.
The state had acquitted itself very well in the emergency. Its troops were ready to march on call. The hospital and medical service broke down com- pletely, though that was not the fault of the state. Typhoid and malaria fevers raged in the southern camps while these and yellow fever did the deadly work at the front. Out of a total number of 7,420 troops sent to the war from the state, seventy-three died of disease and forty deserted. Realizing that the national government was unable to care for the returning sick soldiers, the state provided a hospital at Camp Mount, where a large number of sick men, 264, were cared for until they were able to return home.14 By the end of the year all the soldiers had returned to their homes except the two regiments in Cuba and the two colored companies which were mustered out at Chickamauga, January 20, 1899.15
The experience gained in the Spanish-American war led to a greater emphasis on actual drilling. Accordingly the law of March 12, 1901, provided for regular drill one or more nights per week and at least three full days of target practice on the rifle
14 Report of Adjutant General, 1899, p. 78: "This completes a service unique of its kind. Indiana has the proud distinction of being the only state in the union that took upon itself the sole provision for the care of its sick soldiers returning in great numbers and in dire need from the Spanish-Americau war. With- out waiting for the dictation or the sanction of the general govern- ment at Washington, Indiana, at the instance of its governor, anticipating the great emergency of suffering incident to the return of large numbers of very sick men from far distant camp hos- pitals in the great heat of summer, took the initiative and was in complete readiness with hospital equipment, surgeons and nurses, to care for the sick soldiers upon their arrival." p. 79.
15 Record of Indiana Volunteers in the Spanish-American War 1898-1899, by Adjutant General James K. Gore.
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range each year. Provision was also made for pay- ing the troops a small amount for time actually spent in camp, or in drilling.
It was necessary, of course, as soon as the war was over to reorganize the guard. All the old guards- men were mustered out of service on their return from the war, leaving no troops in the service of the state. The new guard was begun with an attempt to organize one company in each congressional district. This plan was given up in August, 1899, and com- panies accepted wherever found.
During the year 1903 the guard mobilized at West Point, Kentucky, September 30, where it took part with the regular army in a ten days' maneuver. During the same year, July 6, company E was called to Evansville to guard a prisoner and was forced to fire on a mob, killing nine and wounding others.16
No serious duties beyond being called out occa- sionally to preserve or assist in preserving the peace devolved on the National guard between the Spanish- American war and the close of President Taft's ad- ministration when the Mexican situation became threatening. However, from time to time, changes were made in the organization, duties and pay of the guardsmen. In 1905 a higher rate of payment was provided for; in 1907 an armory board was estab- lished with power to provide state armories where- ever it thought expedient. An act of congress, Janu- ary 21, 1903, organized the militia of the several states participating in the distribution of the annual appropriation under the law of 1792 into the United States militia, popularly known as the National
16 Adjutant General's Report, 1904. 10. Full descriptions of the work at the annual training camp are given; also detailed reports of all the officers engaged in the "campaigns" around West Point. Full maps and plans of attack are included in the latter.
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guard. This guard was to be organized and be under the rules laid down in the Rules and Articles of War for the regular troops of the United States. The purpose was to prepare a reserve force that could readily be called into service when more than the regular army was needed. Effort was made to do away with all rules and regulations peculiar to any state. The Indiana guard fell in line with this re- form as rapidly as possible, although there was shown considerable reluctance by some in what seemed a surrender of this function of the state gov- ernment to the national.17 Finally the General As- sembly of 1915 repealed all militia laws in force and in a short statute of one section placed the organiza- tion of the state guard in the hands of the governor and his staff, subject only to a compliance in general with the military tactics of the United States and to a maximum requirement of forty-eight companies of infantry, four batteries, four troops of cavalry, one company of engineers, a signal corps, a hospital corps, an ambulance corps, and what other enlisted persons were deemed necessary.18
§ 204 ON THE MEXICAN BORDER
Early in the spring of 1911 the regular army en- gaged in maneuvers on the Mexican border, at which twenty officers of the state guard were present. The reports of these officers indicate that they were real- izing some of the actualities of a soldier's life.19 The long contest between the factional leaders in Mexico, the raids and counter raids of Madero, Huerta, Car- ranza, Gonzales, Zapata, and Villa, especially when they came near our borders, kept the members of the
17 Laws of United States, 57th Congress, Session II, ch. 196.
18 Laws of Indiana, 1915, ch. 128. In emergency the governor can call all the able bodied men of the state into the service. 19 Adjutant General's Report, 1911, p. 94, seq.
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Indiana guard on the alert. President Wilson seemed uncertain and adopted the safe policy of "watchful waiting."
Men began to talk of military training. No one acknowledged any immediate expectation of serious war yet the feeling hovered in the atmosphere that the nation was standing with folded arms unsteadily on the edge. In different parts of Indiana during the summer of 1915 there was a desire expressed that the United States establish a training camp at Indianapolis.20 The question of military training was discussed by school boards and at faculty meetings in colleges, many advocating it in both colleges and high schools.
Part of this interest was due to a state pride, ser- iously wounded by a recent examination by United States officers of companies of the state guard result- ing in the dismissal of some entire companies for not being up to standard. In fact, so many companies were disbanded on this account that the annual bri- gade encampment had to be abandoned because only two full regiments remained. The result of this re- organization, as it was termed, was the dismissal of many of the field and staff officers. The guard, ac- cordingly, in July, 1915, assembled at Fort Harrison by regiments and limited its training to company and battalion drills and target practice. A touch of the practical and a prophecy of the near future were noticed in the eagerness with which the guardsmen engaged in skirmish and battle drill and especially in trench warfare as exemplified in the European war.21 The anomaly of the situation was the widespread in- terest in military training and the poor condition of the Indiana National guard, as well as that of the
20 Indianapolis News, Oct. 11, 1915.
21 Indianapolis News, July 31, 1915, p. 15; also the American Review of Reviews, LII, 404.
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regular army. So noticeable was this feature of the situation that "preparedness" came to be an issue in the political campaign then approaching. One party, (not political) typified by Colonel Roosevelt, insisted that the way to be secure in the world and keep out of war was to be armed and prepared. The other party, typified by Colonel Bryan, insisted with equal vigor that that was precisely the way to get into war and that the way to keep out was to avoid all appearance of things military. Meanwhile the year passed by with no great apparent improvement in the condition of the guard.
Early in the year 1916 the raid of Villa on Colum- bus, New Mexico, made it apparent that serious trouble was ahead. General Pershing crossed the Mexican border in pursuit of Villa, while the country wondered whether it was war or not. As the weeks passed the danger diminished. A conference on the border seemed to straighten out somewhat the tan- gled skein and men turned to the darker cloud loom- ing up in the direction of Germany.
In the meantime it was determined to hold a civil- ian training camp at Fort Benjamin Harrison some time during the summer of 1916. April 27, Col. D. A. Frederick, of the regular army, arrived at the fort and began to arrange the field for the training which was to take place simultaneously with the annual maneuvers of the Indiana National guard.22 The people then settled down to a rather academic dis- cussion of the general question of what the nation should do in the matter of military preparedness.
Without any warning, on June 18, 1916, the secre- tary of war announced that the President had decid- ed to mobilize immediately, the entire National guard
22 Indianapolis Star, April 28, 1916. The training camps were abandoned June 20, when the National guard was called out; Indianapolis Star, June 20, 1916.
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on the Mexican border. The call stated that it had no relation to General Pershing's expedition, though people could not help observing that that expedition had just returned across the border. The call further stated that the guardsmen would be mobilized at their respective capitals and sent to the border just as fast as General Frederic Funston could take care of them. 28
The Indiana National guard at the time consisted of 2,367 line and 170 officers, organized in two full regiments and twelve separate companies. The com- panies assembled at their local armories on the fol- lowing Monday, June 19. New companies were or- ganized in a number of cities and recruiting for the regular army became active. The first companies of the guard began to arrive at Fort Benjamin Harri- son, June 23, where they were joined by their com- rades on the 24th. The first real war thrill the citi- zens of Indiana had had since the Civil war was when they gathered by tens of thousands to see the various companies leave for the mobilization camp. Enough new companies were organized to complete the Third guard regiment and thus Indiana was given a full brigade. By Sunday night, June 25, 1916, the Indi- ana National guard was in camp waiting the call of the nation.
June 26, Capt. Charles D. Herron, of the regular army, was appointed brigadier general to command the Indiana troops. Under him, Leslie R. Naftzger, of Indianapolis, was appointed colonel of the First guards; Thomas R. Coulter, of Vincennes, colonel of the Second; and Aubrey D. Kuhlman, of Auburn, col- onel of the Third. The release of Captain Herron from service in the regular army could not be secured and in his stead Lieut. Col. Edward M. Lewis was appointed by the governor and his release secured.
28 Indianapolis Star, June 19, 1916.
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By July 6 three batteries were ready for the front and on that day left in three special trains of fifteen coaches each for the Rio Grande. The tension of feeling, however, had been relieved by what was be- lieved to be a settlement of the difficulty with Mexico. Although the whole movement from this period on began to be regarded as a training trip, yet there was no lack of interest. On July 7, the Third regi- ment left; the Second, July 10; and the First left, July 11. Everything had been carried out satisfac- torily, though there had been no great speed shown; in fact, none was needed. The troops were called in- to camp, June 24, and could have been rushed to the front the next day had occasion demanded. With the guardsmen on the border and the civilian training camp called off the people turned their attention to the presidential election. The newspapers, however, contained ample news of the Indiana soldiers on the border.
Many of the guardsmen were students and a larger number were married men whose families needed their assistance at home. With the under- standing prevalent that there would be no conflict in Mexico and with no knowledge of any other motive for the training in camp, there came a general de- mand for the return of the National guard. Accord- ingly, on the 7th of September, 15,000 guardsmen were ordered mustered out; also all companies com- posed of students were ordered out that they might return to college. Severe criticism was directed to the latter part of this order by the newspapers of the state. It was pointed out that the students were par- ticularly free from responsibility, and of all the members of the guard they were the ones least needed at home. Yet more criticism and murmuring were caused as the weeks passed after this order had been given and no apparent effort was made to mus-
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ter them out. Especially was this the case as election day approached.24 Hundreds of petitions were sent to the war department asking the discharge of indi- vidual soldiers, until on November 12, the secretary of war issued general instructions that no more guardsmen would be mustered out or discharged ex- cept for the good of the service.25 It was announced also that the stay on the Rio Grande would be pro- tracted indefinitely. Hardly had this order been published until announcement came from the war de- partment that the Third regiment would be mustered out at once, but it was not done.
On the 24th of November, 1916, a protocol was signed by agents of the United States and Mexico providing for the immediate withdrawal of the Amer- ican troops from Mexico. Three days later it was announced again that the Third regiment would be sent at once to Fort Benjamin Harrison, where it ar- rived December 8. December 18, the artillery and signal corps units received orders to break camp on the border. January 21, the Second regiment receiv- ed orders to return. It had left Indianapolis July 10.
As soon as the election was over it became com- mon knowledge that the attempt to make an army out of the National guard was a disappointment. The at- tempt to recruit the regular army up to its maximum strength also failed. Suggestions of universal mili- tary training appeared. It was said and not denied that the President favored such a system as Switzer- land had. Colonel Roosevelt insisted that the nation must arm or go in the class with China. Ex-President Taft urged drafting an army outright as the best way
24 Indianapolis Star, Nov. 2, 1916: "It would be futile now. to inquire Into the procrastination that deprives the soldiers of their votes." Many states permitted their soldiers to vote in the field.
25 Indianapolis Star, Nov. 13, 1916.
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of expressing the spirit of democracy in military affairs. Harry S. New, senator-elect, expressed him- self, February 28, in favor of universal military training. The sentiment in Indiana favored some energetic measures for arming and preparing the nation.28 December 19, Secretary of War Baker ap- peared before a committee of congress and advocated a form of compulsory military training. There was considerable feeling displayed in this argument by those who maintained that a democracy should not compel any one to do anything against his will. Of one thing all were convinced, that the National guard would never become a national army so long as it was on a volunteer basis.
§ 205 WAR WITH GERMANY
The soldiers had scarcely returned from the Mex- ican border and been mustered out when the rela- tions with Germany became acute. It had long been known that war was imminent between the two na- tions, but the people had in a measure settled down to the conviction that whatever happened the worst would be an interchange of diplomatic notes. Janu- ary 22, 1917, the President appeared in the senate chamber at Washington and read an address appar- ently on world peace. Close upon this pacific effort, in fact so close that it seems impossible for the Pres- ident to have been ignorant of it at the time, came the startling announcement by Germany that the subma- rine warfare would be extended to all the seven seas, wherever English, French, or Italian commerce was carried. The shock at once broke our relations with Germany. February 2, the President again appeared before congress and virtually demanded a declara- tion of war against offending power. Congress, how- ever, took no action until called in special session.
26 Indianapolis Star, Dec. 10, 1916.
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The president addressed the two houses of congress in joint session, April 2, and on April 6, resolutions of war received his signature. These events pre- pared public opinion in Indiana for the military activity which followed. Nothing could be done im- mediately, but to recruit again the National guard. While congress wrestled with the army bill, the coun- try marked time. On the 18th of May, congress fin- ally agreed on the terms of the army conscription bill, fixing the age limits at 21 and 30, both inclu- sive.26ª The president's proclamation followed on May 19, fixing June 5 as registration day.
The law provided that one officer should be ap- pointed for each voting precinct, who, on the appoint- ed day, should enroll all men between the given ages, who presented themselves. A heavy penalty, one year's imprisonment, was fixed for those who failed to enroll. The president was permitted to use the state and local officers as far as possible for this work.
As soon as it was ascertained that war with Ger- many must come, Governor Goodrich issued a call, April 3, for a conference of leading farmers, grain dealers, canners and county agents to take steps to produce the largest possible crops during the ap- proaching season.27 At the meeting, April 5, a spe- cial committee was appointed to urge increased farm production. There were twelve members of the com- mittee, each to devote his attention to one product. Herbert C. Hoover was appointed national director of food supplies and he in turn chose G. I. Christie to direct the farm work in Indiana. Meetings were
26ª Official Bulletin, May 19, 1917.
27 Indianapolis Star, April 4, 1917: "In the face of the greatest shortage in the food supply this country has ever known, we are preparing to enter the European conflict. Indiana will send its quota of men, it must furnish more than its quota of food."
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held in each county, where local boards were organ- ized, usually under the supervision of the county agent. In the towns and cities every one, who could, was urged to plant a garden. Owners of vacant lots gave them rent free to any one who would cultivate them. Patriotic meetings were held in all sections. The Red Cross began to enlist help and raise money; the National guard units of the state were quickly reorganized, ambulance corps were organized and al- most over night the state became busy with the prep- arations for the conflict.
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