USA > New York > Bronx County > The Bronx and its people; a history, 1609-1927, Volume I > Part 49
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Second Regiment, New York Volunteers-On May 2, 1898, the Thir- teenth, Fourteenth and Fifteenth Battalions of the Third Brigade of the National Guard proceeded with such of their enlisted men as were willing to serve for two years in the Volunteer Army of the United States, from their home stations to Hempstead Plains, where a camp of mobilization was to be established. These battalions were to be formed into a regiment to be known as the Second New York Volun- teers, under command of Captain E. E. Hardin, of the Seventh United States Infantry, who was to receive a commission as Colonel of Volun- teers. Major James H. Lloyd of the Thirteenth Battalion was desig- nated as lieutenant-colonel. Each battalion proceeded by a special train to its destination and all arrived between three and five o'clock. Camp was laid out by the engineer and as soon as the lines were given the tents sprang up like a mushroom growth. The camp was named "Camp Black" in honor of the Governor of the State.
Colonel Hardin joined the regiment and assumed command on May 3rd, and the work of preparation for muster was immediately under- taken. Dr. Henry C. Baum of the Forty-first Separate Company of Syracuse was mustered in and assigned to the regiment as assistant surgeon of the Fifth. Major Lewis Balch, acting assistant surgeon-gen- eral, State of New York, who had been absent on leave since the arrival of the regiment, returned on the 5th and was mustered in on the 6th as surgeon.
The surgeon, assisted by Dr. Albert F. Brugman of the Second Bat- tery, N. G., who was subsequently assigned to the regiment as assistant surgeon and mustered in on the sixteenth, immediately commenced the work of examining physically the men of the regiment. From four to twenty-two men were thrown out of each company. Their places were filled by recruits sent from the home stations, and on Saturday, the 14th, the work of examination of both officers and men was practically con- cluded and the regiment ready for muster.
On May 11, 1898, all the regiments of infantry were formed in line of masses for review by the Commander-in-Chief, the Hon. Frank S. Black, Governor of the State of New York, Troops A and C acting as escort. On May 16th the Third Battalion, composed of men from the Forty-sixth, Thirty-first, Thirty-sixth, and Thirty-seventh, designated respectively as Companies H, G, E, and F, were mustered in, and Major Austin A. Yates was mustered in and placed in command of
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them ; after which the companies composed of men from the Eighteenth, Thirty-second, Twenty-second and Ninth, designated respectively as Companies K, M, L and I, were mustered in, and Major James W. Lester was mustered in and placed in command. Part of the other battalion, being absent on provost guard duty, only two companies from it were mustered in, viz .: The Seventh and Twenty-first, desig- nated as Companies B and D. Lieutenant-Colonel James H. Lloyd was mustered in and placed in command of the ten companies. The next day the companies composed of men from the Twelfth and Sixth, des- ignated respectively, Companies C and A, were mustered in, after which the regiment was formed in line of masses and the oath was adminis- tered to Colonel E. E. Hardin, who was placed in command.
Notwithstanding almost incessant rain during the entire time at Camp Black, the regiment received great benefit from their drills and the men hardened into real soldiers. On May 18th the regiment started, pursuant to orders received May 15th, for Chickamauga, Georgia. There the regiment was brigaded with the Fifth Maryland and the Second Nebraska, under command of Colonel Hardin, as the Second Brigade, and attached to the First Division, commanded by Colonel Frederick Dent Grant of the Fourteenth New York Volunteer Infantry and the First Army Corps under Major-General Wade. The regiment received orders on May 30th to proceed on June 1st to Tampa, Florida. The Sixty-ninth, New York, was afterwards detached. Camp was made with the shelter tents and it was not thought worth while to put up the large tents, as the regiment expected to go aboard the transports at Port Tampa as a part of the first Cuban expedition under General William R. Shafter. Ten days' travel ration were issued and ammuni- tion at the rate of one hundred rounds per man, and the officers' horses were sent aboard the transports. The regiment then awaited orders to move. The orders did not come, but after two days, back the horses came, and at the same time information that the capacity of the trans- ports had been overestimated and they were already crowded. So the expedition left, leaving the Second New York behind.
On July 6th notification was received from Corps Headquarters that transportation would be ready to move two battalions of the regiment by transport to Santiago. Everybody got ready but as time moved on chances to see service under this order faded. The delay was occasioned by the insufficiency of transports, and then word came that the expe- dition would not be started owing to fever at Santiago. After a stay at Fernandina, Florida, the regiments broke camp. Peace had been pro- claimed and the soldiers returned home, receiving a great welcome everywhere.
Third Regiment Infantry, New York Volunteers-When war with
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Spain broke out the President, after Congress had passed an act to increase the army by volunteers, and authorizing the President to call for one hundred and twenty-five thousand men, made his requisition upon the Governor of New York for twelve regiments of infantry and two troops of cavalry, that being its quota, and expressed a desire that the regiments of the National Guard be used as far as possible and to be fully armed and equipped ready to take the field. As a result Gen- eral Peter C. Doyle, commanding the 4th Brigade, National Guard, New York, was directed to organize one regiment from the separate com- panies of his brigade to be designated the Third Regiment Infantry, National Guard, New York.
The regiment was organized pursuant to the above order and upon the suggestion of the brigade commander, Brigadier-General Edward M. Hoffman, Inspector-General, S. N. Y., and Brigadier-General Wil- liam M. Kirby, General Inspector of Rifle Practice, S. N. Y., were de- tailed by the Governor to act as colonel and lieutenant-colonel respec- tively ; twelve separate companies of the brigade constituted the regi- ment formed into three battalions, and Captain William Wilson, 34th Separate Company, and M. B. Butler of the 42nd Separate Company, were nominated as majors.
Special Orders Nos. 70 and 72, Adjutant-General's Office, Albany, April 30, 1898, directed the moving of the several companies of the regiment from their home stations to Camp Black, Hempstead Plains, Long Island, New York, companies to consist of one captain, one first- lieutenant, one second-lieutenant, and eighty-one enlisted men, to be fully uniformed, armed and equipped, tents, cooking outfit, medicine chests and ammunition. About eighty-five per cent of the members of the regiment as mustered into the United Service were members of the National Guard before the necessity for volunteers was apparent and were made up from the best young men of The Bronx and other boroughs of New York and other communities.
On May 24th orders were received from the War Department for the regiment to move at once to Dunn Loring, Virginia, Camp Russell A. Alger. After the muster-in of the regiment considerable uncertainty prevailed among members as to what disposition was to be made of the organization. Upon the receipt of the orders to move, the soldiers were pleased to leave Camp Black, knowing little of the situations they were to meet.
At the Alger Camp the work of instructions and preparing the regi- ment for active service was continued with much vigor. The camp was not favorably located and the small drill grounds were divided with the Third Missouri Volunteers. About June 7th orders were promul- gated by the War Department that the volunteer regiments should be
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increased to the maximum strength of 106 men to the company. The regiment remained for the most part at Camp Alger until September, when the brief war having ceased the soldiers began to be mustered out and sent home.
Sixty-Ninth Regiment, New York Volunteers-On April 25th, Colonel Edward Duffy received a telegram from General Charles F. Roe, com- manding the Fifth Brigade, National Guard, New York, requesting in- formation as to the number of officers and men of the Sixty-ninth who would volunteer to serve in the armies of the United States for a period of two years, unless sooner discharged. On the following day Colonel Duffy reported to General Roe that the Sixty-ninth Regiment would volunteer to a unit to serve anywhere at which the country might re- quire its services. The regiment at that time consisted of eight com- panies, numbering thirty-one officers and 529 enlisted men. Colonel Duffy was at once directed by Adjutant-General Tillinghast to recruit the regiment to twelve companies of three officers and eighty-one men each.
The work was begun without delay and on May 2nd the regiment marched from its armory with full ranks and proceeded to Camp Black at Hempstead Plains, Long Island. On arrival at that point tents were pitched and the work of drilling and equipping the regiment for active service was begun. On May 19th the regiment was mustered into the service of the United States by battalions amid the greatest enthusiasm of officers and men, an especial pride being shown in the fact that every member of the regiment who had passed the surgeon's physical examination answered his name as the Mustering Officer called it and took the oath of fealty to the government. After the ceremony of mus- tering the regiment was presented with a handsome stand of colors by "The Friendly Sons of St. Patrick" of the city of New York, the pre- sentation address being made by Judge James Fitzgerald. The stand consisted of the National and State emblems and the historic green flag of Ireland.
On May 20th the regiment received with enthusiasm the order to proceed to Chickamauga and report to General Brooke, U. S. Army, and on May 24th it moved to entrain through the streets of New York amid scenes of immense popular enthusiasm, that were declared un- equalled since the Civil War. On May 27th the regiment arrived at Chickamauga National Military Park and reported to General Brooke and was assigned camp site at about two miles from Lythe Station on the Southern Railroad. During the six days' stay at Chickamauga Park the regiment improved greatly, special attention being given to the extended order drill. The regiment was here equipped with a wagon train, consisting of thirty wagons and 121 mules. While at
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Chickamauga the Sixty-ninth was attached to the Second Division, Third Army Corps.
On May 30th Colonel Duffy received orders from Major-General Brooke to proceed with the regiment to Tampa, Florida, and there re- port to General Carpenter, commanding the Second Brigade, Second (General Snyder's) Division, Fourth Army Corps, Major-General John J. Coppinger. On June 22nd the regiment struck camp and embarked on cars of the Southern Railroad, being divided into three sections. On June 6th the regiment marched into camp at Palmetto Beach, four miles east of Tampa. On June 18th the regiment was ordered to prepare to proceed to Jacksonville, Florida, but the order was later cancelled. In the meantime there was an addition of 303 recruits from The Bronx and other boroughs of New York. Owing to the bad weather the regi- ment moved to Fernandina on July 24th. On August 12th the regi- ment received orders to proceed to Huntsville, Alabama, and there go into camp. In a railroad accident near Birmingham, Alabama, Private Farley and Sergeant Glennon were killed and twenty-six other non- commissioned officers and privates and one civilian teamster were more or less injured. On August 29th the regiment reached Huntsville and were put into camp about a mile west of the town in a beautiful farm- ing valley. In the meantime the war had ended and the aspirations of the members of the regiment for active service faded, and the regiment in course of time returned to New York.
Seventy-first Regiment, New York Volunteers-The Seventy-first is claimed to have been the first regiment not only in the Empire State but in the whole United States to respond to the President's request for troops. It would appear also to have been the first regiment in the United States to proceed to camp for mobilization and muster. It was the first also to be mustered into the volunteer service of the coun- try, and the first New York troops to leave for the seat of war. Agree- able to the terms of the Hull bill, requiring a three battalion forma- tion of four companies each for every regiment it was necessary to add two companies to make the Seventy-first, which had been a regiment of ten companies, of 100 men each, to conform to new requirements. In six days all twelve companies were enlisted to their full strength and in readiness to obey the order of the Adjutant-General to proceed to Camp Black, near Hempstead. On April 30th Company H, Captain Walter I. Joyce commanding, had proceeded to Hempstead and broken camp. To this company must therefore be given the honor of being the first National Guard troops in the United States to encamp for the purpose of examination and mustering into the service of the Volunteer Army.
From Hempstead the destination was Tampa. Instead of proceed-
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ing to Tampa by sea, word soon came that the Spanish ships had been sighted off the Massachusetts coast and that the Government, fearing serious consequences to the troops, had decided to send them by rail. The regiment finally went in three sections, taking its position at Lake- land, near Tampa. It was felt from the beginning that the regiment's stay there would not be long, and this proved to be the case, for in one week's time orders came suddenly to strike camp, proceed to Ybor City, take train to Port Tampa and there board transport ships for the island of Cuba. On the afternoon of June 7th the anticipated order was received. Officers' call was at once sounded and men assembled in the company streets ready to receive their orders as soon as they might be received from their first sergeants. The terms of the order were : Prepare at once to remove men, tents and baggage; mules and wagons will be ready to move you, leaving Ybor City at six-thirty p. m., proceeding to Port Tampa, where transport ships await ; provide twelve days' travel and fourteen days' field rations. It was not until the fol- lowing morning that the train moved out and we proceeded to Port Tampa. There was an official order of fleet vessels, transports and con- voys leaving Tampa Bay, Quarantine Station, Tuesday, June 14, 1898, the "Indiana" and several of the warships meeting the troops off Key West early Thursday morning.
Colonel Downs selected "Vigilancia" as the transport for the regi- ment, and the regiment was boarded immediately with the horses. This kind of work had been going on all day and night until when the work was finished there were thirty-nine transport ships, carrying eighteen thousand troops. When the fleet started there were seen in addition twelve United States vessels as convoys, floats for transferring troops and horses in tow of several of the vessels, and other ships. Then orders came that the expedition to Cuba was temporarily suspended. Then finally the fleet started through the Gulf of Mexico and land was sighted on the 17th.
On the 20th the highlands off the southern coast of Cuba were vis- ible, the fleet having passed through the Windward Passage during the night. It was found that the fleet was off the Port of Guantanamo, where it was expected to land, but soon orders arrived to proceed towards Santiago, where all prepared to disembark. At five o'clock, June 23rd, the "Seguranca" steamed alongside the "Vigilancia" and General Shafter, commanding the Fifth Army Corps, standing upon the bridge, summoned Colonel Downs, ordering him to begin unloading his men at once, to work all night, each man to take one hundred rounds of ammunition and rations for three days. Some other troops had pre- viously been disembarked at Baiquiri, which was made a principal base of supplies; both of these places had previously been bombarded by
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the naval vessels, preparatory to the landing of troops. A feint was made to land troops at Aquadores, which was also bombarded, the at- tempt here being made to deceive the Spaniards as to the real place of landing. This attempt proved entirely successful, as all the troops were landed without any opposition from the enemy. It was early dawn of Friday, June 24th, when the Seventy-first Regiment, now en- tirely landed, bivouacked on the Siboney beach and at once breakfasted. A visit to the Cuban hamlet showed much destitution. The fathers of these families were Cuban insurgents, soldiers out in the mountains, doing guerilla work under General Garcia. For miles the country houses had been burned. This was General Weyler's plan to exter- minate the insurgent spirit in Cuba. The Seventy-first pitched camp in the large engine house, the adjutant took the tool house as his office, and the colonel and his staff and field officers established headquarters in the house adjacent, where until the time of the bombardment, the Spanish colonel in charge of all forces at Siboney had resided. Within a few hours after landing the enemy fired upon the troops and the first engagement of the United States army on Cuban soil took place at Las Guasimas.
Shortly after breakfast there was seen ascending the mountain path, to the west of Siboney beach, the first United States Volunteer Cav- alry, commonly known as Roosevelt's Rough Riders, though Colonel Wood commanded them, all dismounted. They walked into a body of Spanish troops thicketed in the jungle some four miles along the trail toward Sevilla. Orders came to the Seventy-first to proceed along the trail where had gone the First United States Cavalry and reinforce them, our troops having encountered the enemy, met with heavy losses and been repulsed. The troops had gone a little way when returning wounded men confirmed the troops' fear of a stern battle. General Hawkins ordered the Seventy-first to precede the First Regiment of the brigade, and followed himself with the Sixth and Sixteenth Infantry, Regulars. On went the Seventy-first over rocks and through thorns and past cacti and struggling in thick underbrush for some four miles, when just beyond the blockhouse that had been depopulated, the bri- gade was ordered to return to Siboney.
It seemed that Brigadier-General Young's Second Brigade of Cav- alry had gone up the valley road with instructions to surround the enemy, if possible, and prevent their retreat into Santiago. The first United States Cavalry was directed to proceed along the mountain trail to the southward with a similar object in view. As these latter pro- ceeded along the path and through thick bushes, quite unmindful of the nearness of the enemy, they received a volley of shots, which at once proved destructive and demoralizing. Volley followed volley into
Bronx-28
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the ranks of the First Cavalry, and simultaneously the Spanish engaged General Young's Cavalry Brigade along the valley road to the north- ward of Las Guasimas, between Siboney and Sevilla. The American troops fought bravely. There were some twenty killed and seventy wounded in this engagement.
On June 27th the Seventy-first marched with 200 rounds of ammu- nition, turning to the right at Sevilla five miles from Siboney. July 1st proved the eventful day of the Cuban campaign. On it were fought great battles. Both at El Caney and San Juan there took place battles of an unusual kind, with victorious results for America. Santiago is a city with natural fortifications of hills on every side. After the action at Las Guasimas the Spanish army had retired to their blockhouses and entrenchments, making a solid phalanx of troops of every arm of the service, extending from San Juan on the right toward the sea in an unbroken line three miles to the left, and at this point occupying the strongly garrisoned town of El Caney. After marching three miles along the road to San Juan Hill the Seventy-first was ordered to turn into a thickly-bushed field behind the Sixth. Very soon the bullets be- gan to pour in thick and fast on the regiment. It was at least an hour under fire along the line of march. No smoke could be seen, but men fell dead and wounded on every side.
Who were the first to get to the top of San Juan Hill, where was the blockhouse, and where were the entrenchments from which the Spaniards fled as soon as they saw the Americans, it is not possible to say. The honor lies either with the Thirteenth, Sixth, Sixteenth or Twenty-fourth Infantry. But among these troops to arrive first upon the hill, where the enemy had been entrenched, were Company F, led by Captain Rafferty, who behaved in a quiet, dignified and gallant man- ner. The fighting continued until sundown, the fire being continuous and intense. The Seventy-first used their muskets with disastrous effect on the enemy. Nothing but desultory firing, and mostly on our side, occurred thereafter until the fourteenth, the day of the surrender. San- tiago was surrounded and famine faced the enemy, and finally surren- dered, relinquishing the entire province. Finally orders came for part of the regiment to take transport for Montauk. When the troops came to New York, a vociferous welcome greeted them. Sobs mingled with the cheers. The regiment had left New York over 1,000 strong, a body of magnificent athletes. It paraded on its return fewer than 350 men, few of whom were well. The Bronx did all in its power to welcome those of the men of the Seventy-first who belonged to it, as it had wel- comed the other regiments, but the Seventy-first naturally was warmer to its heart than the others, for it had been in the thick of the battles at Santiago, and suffered more than any from the war.
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