a magazine exploring indiana history indiana historian silver set are presently on loan to the...

Indiana HistorianTheA Magazine Exploring Indiana History

Indiana in the Spanish-American War

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2 The Indiana Historian, September 1998 © Copyright Indiana Historical Bureau 1998

Focus

The Indiana HistorianSeptember 1998ISSN 1071-3301

Order Number 7045

EditorPamela J. Bennett

Lead ResearcherPaula A. Bongen

DesignerDani B. Pfaff

Contributing EditorsCarole M. Allen, Janine Beckley,

Alan Conant, Dani B. Pfaff,Virginia Terpening

The Indiana Historian provides re-sources and models for the study of localhistory to encourage Indiana’s citizens ofall ages to become engaged with the his-tory of their communities and the state ofIndiana.

The Indiana Historian (formerly TheIndiana Junior Historian) is issued quar-terly from September through June.

It is a membership benefit of the Indi-ana Junior Historical Society. One compli-mentary subscription is provided to Indi-ana libraries, school media centers, andcultural and historical organizations.

Annual subscriptions are available for$5.00 plus tax. Back issues are availableat individual and bulk pricing.

This material is available to visuallyimpaired patrons in audio format, cour-tesy of the Indiana History Project of theIndiana Historical Society. Tapes are avail-able through the Talking Books Program ofthe Indiana State Library; contact the Talk-ing Books Program, 317-232-3702.

The Indiana Historian is copyrighted.Educators may reproduce items for classuse, but no part of the publication may bereproduced in any way for profit withoutwritten permission of the Indiana Histori-cal Bureau.

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This year marks the centen-nial of the Spanish-AmericanWar. It lasted barely four months,from April to August 1898. Themajor focus of this issue is on thehome front experience.

An overview of the war is onpages 3-4. The timeline through-out provides greater detail.

On pages 5-6 is an overviewof the official Indiana response tothe call for volunteers to fight thewar. The chart on page 6 summa-rizes the organization and serviceof Indiana volunteers.

A diary on pages 7-10 pro-vides an extensive record ofservice in the words of one volun-

teer. That view is expanded byphotographs and boxed items.

On page 11, there is a briefexplanation of the dilemma ofblack citizens and soldiers in thewar.

Disease was the biggest killerin this war. The role of nurses anddevelopment of the U.S. ArmyMedical Department is summa-rized on page 12. The experience ofone Indiana soldier in the HospitalCorps is provided on pages 13-14.

Resources are provided onpage 15.

The front and back coverimages demonstrate the pride ofIndiana volunteers.

The U.S.S. Indiana, built 1891-1895, was thefirst state-of-the-art battleship of the new U.S.

Navy. It played an important role in the blockade ofCuba and the battle off Santiago on July 3, 1898.

The ship chaplain, William G. Cassard, edited abook for the crew: Battleship Indiana and Her Partin the Spanish-American War (New York: privately

published, 1899). The ship also served in WorldWar I. The U.S. sank it in 1920 in tests of aerial

bombs. The citizens of Indiana demonstrated theirpride in the ship by presenting a Tiffany and Co.

silver service on September 21, 1896; the story isin Indiana’s Gift to the Battleship Indiana

(Indianapolis: privately published, 1896). Pieces ofthis silver set are presently on loan to the Indiana

Governor’s Residence from the Naval SupplySystems Command, Mechanicsburg, Pa.

• Explore in more depth some ofthe topics on the Spanish-Ameri-can War in this issue. There areextensive resources on the Internetas well as in library collections.• Explore the resources in yourcommunity about the role itspeople played in the war. The offi-cial Record of Indiana Volunteers(see Bibliography, page 15) pro-vides the town of each volunteer.Your community or county seatalso might have a war memorialwhich lists war volunteers. Besure, for example, to work withyour public library, historical so-

ciety or museum, local newspaper,local national guard armory, andlocal historians. Are there descen-dants still in the area who mighthave stories or artifacts from thewar that they would share?• What has happened to the coun-tries on the map on page 3 of thisissue? What is their status today?• Newspapers played a large rolein forming public opinion aboutthe war. How has the media influ-enced wars that were fought afterthis one. What role does the mediaplay in forming public opinion inthe present?

You be the historian

Throughout this issue quota-tions from primary sourcescontain original spelling andgrammar.

© Copyright Indiana Historical Bureau 1998 3The Indiana Historian, September 1998

1888 1888 1889 1889 1889 1889 1890

George Eastmanintroduces theKodak, a squarebox camera usingroll film, makingphotographypractical for thefirst time(Carruth, 349).

November 6RepublicanBenjaminHarrison ofIndiana is electedpresident of theUnited States(Carruth, 348).

Singer ManufacturingCompany ofElizabethport, NewJersey, produces andmarkets the firstelectric sewingmachine known in theU.S. (Carruth, 351).

April 22The greatOklahoma landrush begins atnoon; thousandsof settlers raceto stake a claim(Carruth, 350).

First MayDaycelebrationis held inParis(Grun, 445).

May 31Flood kills 2,295persons when damon Conemaugh Riverabove Johnstown,Pennsylvania, breaksdue to heavy rain(Carruth, 352).

Census showsU.S. population of62,947,714; thecenter ofpopulation isplaced 20 mileseast of Columbus,Indiana(Carruth, 354).

JulyIdaho andWyoming areadmitted to theUnion as the43rd and 44thstates(Carruth, 354).

1890

In 1898, Spain ruled theisland of Cuba located south ofFlorida in the Caribbean Sea.Since 1895, Cubans had been inrevolt against Spanish rule.Spanish rulers on the islandbecame more and more cruel tothe Cubans. There was wide-spread belief by Americans thatthe U.S. had to defend the free-dom of the Cuban revolutionariesand help to free them from Span-ish oppression. Also, valuableAmerican trade with Cuba wasbeing interrupted.

In January 1898, the U.S.Steamship Maine was sent toHavana, Cuba as a show of sup-port for American interests. OnFebruary 15, 1898, the Maine wassunk in the harbor by an explo-sion. “Remember the Maine”became a battle cry in manyAmerican newspapers. Two NewYork newspapers trying to in-crease circulation led the waywith stories—some of them false—which caused Americans tosympathize with the Cuban fightfor independence and blameSpain for the Maine sinking.

U.S. President WilliamMcKinley tried to avoid warthrough various diplomatic activi-ties. Finally, however, at therequest of President McKinley, theU.S. Congress declared war onSpain on April 25, 1898, retroac-tive to April 21.

During the war the recentlyupgraded U.S. Navy performedwith great success. The U.S. Armyis generally remembered for theglory of the Rough Riders andTheodore Roosevelt winning SanJuan Hill from the Spanish

Remember the Maine!

(Cosmas, 1). However, manyvolunteer soldiers mustered intothe U.S. Army never left the U.S.

Many historians believe thatthe Cuban situation became anopportunity for politicians whowanted to increase U.S. posses-sions, influence, and trade. Thesepoliticians are called expansion-ists. Theodore Roosevelt was anexpansionist. Indiana’s U.S.Senator Albert J. Beveridge was aleader in this movement (Phillips,62-63). Others, called isolation-ists, believed that the U.S. shouldnot acquire further externalterritory and not govern othercountries. The U.S. had begunacquiring external territory withthe purchase of Alaska fromRussia in 1867. The U.S. annexedthe Hawaiian Islands on July 7,1898.

The war ended with thesigning of a protocol on August12, 1898. During the short war

AmericanOverseas

Involvement1898

PhilippineIslands

HawaiianIslands

Cuba PuertoRico

Guam

Alaska

Map adapted from: Morris and Morris, 628.

Private Jesse K. Stork,Holland, Dubois Countywas reportedly the firstAmerican soldier killed inbattle in the Spanish-American War. His tomb-stone in Fairmount Cem-etery, Huntingburg com-memorates this fact.Indianapolis News, June 10, 1963.

First battle death


1890 1891 1891 1892 1892 1893 1893

December 15Sitting Bull, chiefof the SiouxIndians, is killedin a fight withU.S. soldiers inSouth Dakota(Carruth, 356).

James Naismith,a physicaleducationinstructor inSpringfield,Massachusetts,invents the gameof basketball(Carruth, 357).

August 24Thomas A.Edison files thefirst patent for amotion picturecamera(Carruth, 359).

January 1Ellis Island inupper New YorkBay becomes thereceiving stationfor immigrants(Carruth, 360).

November 8Democrat GroverCleveland iselected presidentof the U.S.(Carruth, 362).

Natural gasfound in Indianaprovides powerfor an estimated300 newfactories(Phillips, 194).

January 17Queen Liliuokalani ofHawaii is deposed by arevolution. AmericanSanford Dole, protected byU.S. Marines, heads aprovisional government,which is ended on April 13(Carruth, 362, 364).

SpringWorldwidefinancialpanic andeconomicdepressionbegin(Carruth, 363).

1893

The wreckage of the U.S. Steamship Maine, pictured above after it exploded onFebruary 15, 1898, remained in Havana harbor until 1911. The explosion could havebeen caused by an external mine or an accident. Several investigations of the event

have occurred. The background and latest work is described in Thomas B. Allen,“Remember the Maine?” National Geographic, 193:2 (February 1998), 92-111. This

image is one of more than fifty photographs purchased in Cuba by two brothers fromHenry County. Claud Bock (Company G) and William Bock (Company H) were in the

161st Regiment Indiana Volunteer Infantry, which served as an occupation force inHavana during peace negotiations. The collection was donated to the Indiana

Historical Society. See Erich L. Ewald, “The Bock Brothers: Their ‘Splendid LittleWar,’” Traces of Indiana and Midwestern History, 7:1 (Winter 1995), 30-37.

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over 5,000 American soldiers died;379 of the deaths were battlecasualties. The rest of the mendied from diseases in camps in theU.S. and on foreign soil. The U.S.concluded a peace treaty withSpain on December 10, 1899.

The war was a turning pointin world politics. Spain lost itsnavy, its territories, and its posi-tion as a world power. As a resultof the war, U.S. influence as aworld power increased. The U.S.acquired the Philippines, PuertoRico, and Guam, occupied Cubafor a time, and acquiredGuantanamo Naval Station inCuba.

U.S. problems in conductingthe war also brought about lastingchanges: Walter Reed discoveredthe cause of yellow fever; a newrespect for medical needs broughtgreat improvements in the U.S.Army Medical Department; therole of the state national guardorganizations was better defined(Cosmas, 301, 313).Sources: See page 15 of this issue.

When the news ran like an electric shockthrough America that our battleship theMaine had been blown up in Havana Harboron the night of Feb 15th 98 it set everything [i]n a state of excitement [?] least inFt Crook. All the soldiers was very muchwrought up over the news and [wanted?]to go to war with Spain— . . . the excitementran hight and we mourned over the heroesof the Main and Old Glory fluttered in silentagony on the staff in front of the gaurd

A Hoosier in the regular armyThe 115-page Spanish-American War diary of Edward L.

Henry is in the Indiana Historical Society Library. A fewpages are transcribed here. Henry was in Company C,Twenty-second Regiment, U.S. Infantry stationed at FortCrook, Nebraska. The unit was part of the First Brigade,Second Division, Fifth Corps in Santiago, Cuba. Accordingto the 1900 census, Henry was born in May 1878. He

married Ida Anderson in Shelby County November 16,1899. They lived in Shelbyville in 1900, and he was a daylaborer. The 1910 census lists Henry with his wife and fourchildren. No death date has been located.Sources: <http://www.22nd infantry.org/station.htm>; Alger,288-89. Thanks to Maurice Holmes, Shelbyville, for his help inlocating this background information.

house at Ft Crook and the boys in my Co.(Co “C) would sit and talk of the Maine andwar till we thought that we were really inwar with Spain so things went on slowlyand no battles or hair breadth escapeswas made except in soldier’s talk amongstour selfs. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . .. . . we marched out in a coulem of fours500 strong with our Colonel at the head ofthe reg and Old Glory waving over our

heads we were proud strong and healthy. . . but we returned without our bravecommander he fell in the bloody battle ofSann Juan Hill . . . it was a heart brokenand weary reg that returned to Ft Crooksix months later, the fine and gallantlooking reg that marched out of Crook . . . onthat April day 500 strong returned to Crookin the month of Sept 250 strong searedwith smoke of battle and broken down inhealth from Cuban fever. . . .


1893 1894 1894 1894 1894 1894 1894

May 1World’sColumbianExpositionofficially opensin Chicago,Illinois(Carruth, 363).

IndianaDepartment ofStatisticsestimatesaverage annualwage of miners inIndiana at $287(Phillips, 326).

Indiana National Guardunits, including 2 blackcompanies, are calledby Governor ClaudeMatthews to calmstriking coal miners inSullivan County(Gatewood, 118, 118n).

136,000 U.S.coal minersstrike forhigher wages(Carruth, 367).

May 11Strike at the Pullmanrailroad car plant in southChicago begins; a generalrailway strike by theAmerican Railway Union,headed by Eugene V.Debs of Indiana, follows(Carruth, 369).

June 28U.S. congres-sional resolutionmakes LaborDay a legalholiday(Carruth, 369).

August 8HawaiianRepublic isofficiallyrecognized bythe U.S.government(Carruth, 368).

September 412,000 garmentworkers strike inNew York Cityprotestingsweatshopconditions andpiecework wages(Carruth, 369).

1894

The U.S. Congress declaredwar on Spain on April 25, 1898.On April 22, President WilliamMcKinley had been authorized toraise a volunteer army to fight thecoming war. He called for 125,000volunteers to strengthen theregular U.S. Army.

On April 25 at 6:15 p.m.Indiana Governor James A. Mountwas notified by telegram by theSecretary of War that Indianamust supply four regiments ofinfantry and two light batteries ofartillery. The president wantedtrained units of the states’ na-tional guards or militias to providethe first volunteers. GovernorMount responded immediatelythat the troops would be readywithin twenty-four hours—see theillustration on this page.

Governor Mount issued aproclamation on April 25 callingover 4,000 men to the IndianaState Fairgrounds, Indianapolis,“where they will be mobilized andmustered into the service of theUnited States government.”Mount’s proclamation said thatthere were more volunteers thanwere needed. He urged that a manshould only enter service “uponhis own free will and accord.”

From this first call, IndianaVolunteer regiments 157 through160 were mustered into U.S.service—continuing the number-ing from the Civil War IndianaVolunteer regiments. Also the27th and 28th Light Batteries,Indiana Volunteers were musteredin. In addition, Indiana provided acompany of engineers and acompany for the signal corps.

The response to Mount’s callwas wildly enthusiastic. Indianawas “the first state to meet its fullquota of troops” (Phillips, 64). Itwas believed that “This was to bea war of conquest and glory . . .and for the last time in its historythe departure of fathers, brothers,

Indiana responds to the warsons, and neighbors was attendedby unrestrained jubilation” (Wattand Spears, 90).

President McKinley called for75,000 more volunteers on May25. The Indiana quota was oneregiment of infantry and twocompanies of black volunteers.

Governor James A. Mount responded positively to the call forvolunteers for the U.S. service in the Spanish-American War.

This is a record copy of the telegram that Mount sent to the U.S.War Department on April 25, 1898.

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1895 1895 1895 1896 1896 1896 1896

U.S. and GreatBritain come closeto war over 80-year-old boundarydispute betweenVenezuela andBritish Guiana(Carruth, 370).

Indiana GeneralAssemblyauthorizes thereorganizationand reequiping ofthe IndianaNational Guard(Phillips, 63, 64).

February 24Cuban revoltagainst Spainbreaks out(Carruth, 370).

Swedish philanthropistAlfred Nobel dies; Nobelprizes are establishedfor those who havebenefitted mankind inphysics, physiology andmedicine, chemistry,literature, and peace(Grun, 450, 451).

Governor Matthewsremoves the 2 blackcompanies from theIndiana NationalGuard anddesignates them as“separate” compa-nies A and B(Gatewood, 118).

April 23First movingpictures ona publicscreen areshown inNew YorkCity(Carruth, 374).

June 4Assembly of the firstFord automobile iscompleted in Detroit,Michigan by HenryFord and associates(Carruth, 375).

October 1Rural freepostal deliverybegins in WestVirginia(Carruth, 374).

1896

Photograph, Twenty-eighth Indiana Battery in camp at Chickamauga Park, Ga. (The Indiana Woman,September 3, 1898, p. 15). Information from History of National Guard and Record . . .1898-1899.

Indiana Volunteers in the Spanish-American War

157th IndianaVolunteer Infantry

Knox, Fort Wayne, Goshen, North Manchester,Elkhart, South Bend, Angola, Waterloo, Auburn,

Ligonier, Plymouth

May 10, 1898 Port Tampa City, Florida; Fernandina,Florida; Indianapolis, Indiana

November 1, 1898


Indianapolis, Rochester, Frankfort, Franklin,Winchester, Covington, Sheridan, Martinsville,

Kokomo, Crawfordsville

Chickamauga Park, Georgia; Knoxville,Tennessee; Indianapolis, Indiana

May 10, 1898 November 4, 1898


Vincennes, Terre Haute, New Albany,Washington, Evansville, Roachdale,

Brownstown, Bloomington, Greencastle,Princeton

May 12, 1898 Dunn Loring, Virginia; Thoroughfare Gap,Virginia; Camp Meade, Pennsylvania;

Indianapolis, Indiana

November 23, 1898


Marion, Decatur, Lafayette, Wabash, Bluffton,Ossian, Columbia City, Warsaw, Tipton,

Huntington, Anderson, Logansport

May 12, 1898 Chickamauga Park, Georgia; NewportNews, Virginia; Lexington, Kentucky;

Columbus, Georgia; Charlestown, SouthCarolina; Matanzas, Cuba; Savannah,

Georgia

April 25, 1899

161st IndianaVolunteer Infantry

Hammond, Mount Vernon, Shelbyville,Madison, Jeffersonville, Richmond, New Castle,Rushville, Monticello, Columbus, Michigan City,

Lawrenceburg

July 15, 1898 Jacksonville, Florida; Savannah, Georgia;Mariana, Cuba; Savannah, Georgia

April 30, 1899

Company A,Colored

Evansville, Indianapolis July 15, 1898 Fort Thomas, Kentucky; Chickamauga Park,Georgia

January 20, 1899

January 20, 1899Fort Thomas, Kentucky; Chickamauga Park,Georgia

July 15, 1898all over stateCompany B,Colored

27th Light Battery,Indiana Volunteers

Indianapolis May 10, 1898 Chickamauga Park, Georgia; NewportNews, Virginia; Arroyo, Puerto Rico; Ponce,

Puerto Rico; Indianapolis, Indiana

November 27, 1898

28th Light Battery,Indiana Volunteers

Fort Wayne May 12, 1898 Chickamauga Park, Georgia; Indianapolis,Indiana

October 31, 1898

Company D, 2ndU.S. Engineers

all over state July 1, 1898 Chicago, Illinois; Montauk Point, Long Island,New York; Savannah, Georgia; Port Tampa,Florida; Los Quemados de Marianao, Cuba;

Danfusti Island, South Carolina

May 16, 1899

14th Company,U.S. Signal Corps

all over state July 7, 1898 Washington, D.C.; Jacksonville, Florida;Indianapolis, Indiana

October 21, 1898

Regiments andCompanies Volunteers and Recruits from: Mustered in Ordered to; mustered out at last entry Mustered out

These volunteers were musteredinto U.S. service at Camp Mount:the 161st Regiment and compa-nies A and B Colored Infantry(Phillips, 64-65).

The Indiana National Guardhad been reorganized and re-equipped by the Indiana “GeneralAssembly in 1895 and was rela-tively well prepared” (Phillips, 64).This allowed for the rapid re-

sponse to the call for volunteers.None of the Indiana units, how-ever, took part in a battle, butseveral reached foreign soil.

Indiana furnished a total of7,421 volunteers for the war.There were no battle casualties,but seventy-three died of disease.Approximately, 1,000 Hoosiersserved in the regular army(Phillips, 66).

The official story of thesevolunteers was issued in 1900 asthe Record of Indiana Volunteersin the Spanish-American War,1898-1899. A summary of theirservice is provided above. Themany diaries and letters—manyin books and newspapers—provide the human story of thiswar.


1896 1896 1897 1897 1897 1897 1897

NovemberFirst U.S. icehockeyleague isformed inNew YorkCity (Carruth,375, 376).

November 3RepublicanJames A.Mount iselectedgovernor ofIndiana(Phillips, 51).

November 3RepublicanWilliamMcKinley iselectedpresident ofthe U.S.(Carruth, 374).

Indiana General Assemblypasses labor law prohibitingchildren under the age of 14from working in manufactur-ing; no one under 16 or nowoman under 18 is allowedto work more than 10 hoursa day or 60 hours a week(Phillips, 332-33).

Indiana GeneralAssembly passeslaw making itmandatory for allchildren betweenages of 8 and 14to attend school(Phillips, 389).

April 19First BostonMarathon is wonby John J.McDermott ofNew York City in 2hours, 55 minutes,10 seconds(Carruth, 377).

May 24U.S. Congressappropriates $50,000for relief of Americansin Cuba. Later in theyear, Spain releasesAmericans imprisonedin Cuba (Carruth,376).

1896

July 2Coal miners’strike shuts downmines inPennsylvania,Ohio, and WestVirginia (Carruth,377).

Clarence Chambers Account

We went into quarters in thebarns on the State fair groundsJuly 1st 1898. The boys immedi-ately set to work in cleaning uptheir quarters. The cooks werethen elected and set to work inpreparing dinner. . . . Dinner wasserved about three oclock in theafternoon. It consisted of A spoon-ful of rice, A potato boiled with thejacket on A slice of bread . . . andA quart of coffee. The boys werehungry and were not very wellsatisfied with their dinner, but thecooks were new and were notfairly onto their job. Supper wasmuch better we had beefsteak andbeans and the boys eat until theywere satisfied and by the next dayall seemed to be in the best ofspirits.

On Sunday morning July 3”1898 the roll was called immedi-ately after breakfast. . . . At tenoclock the boys were lined up forchurch services. . . . After rationswere served on the morning ofJuly 4th 1898 the company waslined up at 6.30 this being thetime for the regular morning drill.Capt. [Charles E.] Cosby ad-dressed the company by saying asthis is A national holiday insteadof drilling we will smoke and thecigars were passed around by theCapt. in person. . . .

July 5th 1898 was [medical]examination day for the Madisonboys and every one was wonderingwhether or not he would pass theexamination. There were severalboys in our company that were soanxious to go that they actuallyshed tears upon being told that

Indiana volunteers in camp

Note: Photographs from The Indiana Woman, May 4, 1898 were takenby Joseph W. Van Trees, a professional photographer in Indianapolis.

Initial quotations in the captions are from The Indiana Woman.

“Indianapolis Light Artillery.” Note the State Fair buildings in the background. The tentsbehind the soldier and the artillery carriages were housing for the men of this unit. This

unit was Battery A of the Indiana National Guard’s First Regiment of Light Artillery. Itbecame the Twenty-seventh Battery of Light Artillery, Indiana Volunteers when it was

mustered into U.S. service May 10, 1898 (History of National Guard, 233, 365).

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Clarence B. Chambers was born inLancaster, Jefferson County, Indiana onMarch 25, 1861. He lived in Kent, JeffersonCounty, when he volunteered to fight in thewar. He enrolled as a private in Madison onJune 27, 1898 for two years in Company Dof the 161st Indiana Regiment. He wasthirty-seven years old, single, and a farmer.His record of service in the Indiana StateArchives also provides this description:grey eyes, dark hair, dark complexion,height 5 feet 6.25 inches.

When his account of the war wasdonated to the Indiana Historical Society in1980, his descendant indicated that hehad three children and died on December

21, 1924 in Indianapolis. Pension recordsindicate that Myrtle E. Chambers, ClarenceB. Chambers widow, applied for his soldier’spension March 16, 1925. The nameClarence Chambers appears in Indian-apolis city directories from 1904 until 1922with various occupations; it is not clearwhich entries apply to this man.Sources: Documentation with collection SC1718, Indiana Historical Society Library; Record. . . 1898-1899. W. E. Biederwolf, History of theOne Hundred and Sixty-first Regiment IndianaVolunteer Infantry (Logansport, Ind.: Wilson,Humphreys & Co., 1899) provides a completerecord of Chambers’ regiment and has manyinteresting photographs. Biederwolf waschaplain of the regiment.


1898 1898 1898 1898 1898 1898

January 25BattleshipU.S.S.Mainearrives atHavana,Cuba(Carruth,378).

February 9Letter written bySpanish minister toU.S., stolen andpublished in New YorkJournal, calls U.S.President McKinleyweak and questions hishonesty (Carruth, 378).

February 15U.S.S. Maineexplodes inHavana harbor;260 officers andcrewmen are killed.Cause of explosionis not known(Carruth, 378).

April 11U.S. PresidentMcKinley requestsauthorization fromCongress to usearmed force to endthe civil war inCuba (Carruth, 378).

April 19U.S. Congress adoptsjoint resolutionauthorizing PresidentMcKinley to use militaryforce in Cuba anddemanding Spain’swithdrawal from theisland (Carruth 378).

April 22President McKinleyorders a blockade ofCuban ports; RearAdmiral William T.Sampson sails fromKey West, Floridawith a large fleet(Carruth, 378).

April 22Congress passes VolunteerArmy Act authorizing theorganization of the FirstVolunteer Cavalry, known as theRough Riders, commanded byColonel Leonard Wood andLieutenant Colonel TheodoreRoosevelt (Carruth, 378, 380).

1898

were soon to be made for the StateFair On the morning of July 29”1898 A detail from the differentcompanies was organized to putup our tents on the grounds justEast of the race track and on July30” 1898 we packed up all ourbelongings and moved over in ournew quarters. . . . The boys of Co.D. 161st Ind. Regt. drew theirguns on Aug. 2” 1898 they werethe Springfield rifle model of 1884and the belts were issued Aug. 5”1898.

. . . Col. Durbin made theannouncement that the 161st IndRegt was ordered to JacksonvilleFlorida . . . . the boys . . . wererejoicing over their departure fromCamp Mount.

. . . The boys received theirfirst months pay on the 10” ofAug. 1898:

. . . Thursday Aug 11” 1898 . . .we began . . . to break camp andby 9.30 every tent in the regimenthad been taken down and by 11oclock every thing was packedready for shipping. We ate our last

they were rejected The Madisonboys were called upon to do picketguard duty for the first time atcamp Mount on July 6” 1898. thecamp grounds were unusuallycrowded with visitors and thepicket guards have A great deal oftrouble owing to the fact that theyhave no uniforms and it is hard todistinguish soldiers from citizens . . . .

The Madison boys signed themuster roll on July 9” 1898.Before signing Capt. Cosby madethe state-ment that if there wasany one that wished to go homethat person could make it knownby stepping two paces to the frontnot one man stepped out. . . .

On the morning of July 12”1898 the regular rules for drillingwere put in force. . . . The Articlesof war were read to the Madisonboys on July 16” 1898 . . . Thefirst stagger at A battalion forma-tion took place July 18th 1898 . . .Col. [Winfield T.] Durbin thoughtthey done exceedingly well for thefirst time: Uniforms were issued tothe boys on July 19” 1898 they

were glad to get them as theirclothing was getting rathershabby. The boys at camp Mountalways look forward to Sunday asA gala day and Sunday July 24thwas no exception. . . . The largestexcursion came fromLawrenceburg and Mt Vernon. TheLawrenceburg delegation wasaccompanied by the local band . . . .

On Sunday July 24” 1898 forthe first time the different battal-ions were drawn up in regimentalformation under command of Col.Durbin. . . . Fully two thousandpersons were in the grand standat the time and there were manyexpressions of satisfaction at thesoldierly appearance The weatherwas sweltering and to provide forprostration the ambulance wascalled out during the parade. . . .Religious services were held in thegrand stand . . . .

Up to this time we had beentaking up our quarters in thebarns on the State fair groundsbut we had received orders tovacate the barns as preparations

“A Mess Camp, Company H., SecondRegiment.” A mess camp was wherefood was prepared and eaten by eachcompany of soldiers. Indiana GovernorJames A. Mount insisted that volunteersat Camp Mount be well-fed. On April 28,for example, rations for 4,500 menincluded bacon, 3,375 pounds; freshbeef, 5,000 pounds; soft bread, 4,500loaves; potatoes, 4,500 pounds; coffee,563 pounds; cabbage, 1,350 pounds;pickles, 4,500 (Indianapolis Journal, April29, 1898). Letters and articles frequentlymention the welcome food itemsprovided by Indianapolis and home-townvisitors to Camp Mount—especially onSunday. This Indianapolis company ofthe Indiana National Guard becameCompany H of the 158th RegimentIndiana Volunteer Infantry when it wasmustered into U.S. service May 10, 1898(History of National Guard, 312, 324).

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1898 1898 1898 1898 1898 1898 1898

April 23U.S. PresidentMcKinley calls for125,000volunteers to fightin war with Spain(Carruth, 380).

April 24Spaindeclareswar on theU.S.(Carruth,380).

April 25U.S. Congresspassesdeclaration ofwar againstSpain effectiveApril 21(Carruth, 380).

April 25Black leaders in Indianabegin movement torecruit an “independentcolored regiment”whose services will beoffered to GovernorJames Mount(Gatewood, 121-22).

May 1In the Philippines,Commodore GeorgeDewey commandinga six-ship squadron,destroys a largerSpanish fleet withonly 8 U.S. wounded(Carruth, 380).

May 24Battleship U.S.S.Oregon reaches KeyWest, Florida after 67-day voyage from SanFrancisco, California.Need for a canal acrossPanama is demon-strated (Carruth, 381).

May 25PresidentMcKinleyissues asecond troopcall, this timefor 75,000volunteers(Carruth, 380).

June 1217,000 U.S. forcesleave Key West,Florida under GeneralWilliam R. Shafter, tocapture Santiago deCuba, Spain’s largestnaval base in Cuba(Carruth, 380).

1898

dinner at Camp Mount at 11.45and by one oclock we were on themarch for Indianapolis. It was realfunny to see the boys as theymarched from the camp groundsto the . . . street car station. Theywere not experienced hands atrolling their blankets and theirdog tents with their mess outfit onthe inside and as they were giventhe double quick A time or two themess pans began to fly. Some ofthe boys stopping to pick them upwere ran over by the boys behindthem. We took the street car as faras sixteenth street from there wemarched to the Soldiers Monu-ment and around the Capitol.from there to North Street depoton the Big Four rail road. We wereall the afternoon getting thereGreat crowds of people werecollected along the streets and atthe depot. We boarded the trainabout 8.30 that evening. . . .

. . . At 1.40 A M. on August14” 1898 our train landed inJacksonville Florida. . . .

. . . Our train was ran intoUnion Station where we got hotcoffee. Rations were then passedaround and we proceeded to eatbreakfast After breakfast our trainwas ran out to the camp groundsat Park Panama about five milesNorth of Jacksonville. It wasSunday morning and the heat wasintense . . . . And slowly sinkingthe golden sunset from shiningo’er A camp of patriotism and love,while the flag of freedom is float-ing o’er our land, while the peace-ful pines are waving to and fro atthe will of A refreshing sea breezewhile the Almighty is looking downupon us from on high . . . . Shouldwe not feel grateful to serve ourdear and honored country?Should we not look back and

recall the deeds of our forefatherswhen our country was in A peril-ous struggle for freedom? . . . . Isthere anything grander than toserve one’s country . . . .

Notwithstanding our camp inPanama Park was kept clean andnice and had all the appearance ofbeing A healthy place we had Agreat deal of sickness while there. . . . Our Regiment took its placeat Jacksonville in the SeventhArmy Corps third Brigade andthird division. After A time sick-ness began to increase so rapidlythat it became necessary that theofficers in command at the hospi-tal divisions make A requisi[ti]onon the different regiments for Adetail to be sent to the hospitals toact as nurses. . . .

. . . On Sunday morningOctober 23” 1898 we began break-ing camp at Park Panama Florida. . . . We had A long and weari-some siege of it at this place and itwill long be remembered by theboys of company D. as one of theunhealthiest places we were everin. . . . we left there for Savannah

Georgia at one oclock on themorning of October 24” 1898 . . . .

. . . December 1st 1898 therewere seventy-one new recruitsarrived at Savannah for the 161stInd. the most of them had beentransferred from the 159th Ind.This was done in order to recruitthe regiment up for ocupation inCuba . . . .

. . . It is impossible to esti-mate the many thousands ofpeople who saw the review [of theSeventh Army Corps in Savannah,Ga. on December 6, 1898] . . . .

. . . There was much cleeringand applause . . . the one hundredand sixty-first Indiana presented Apractically perfect appearance.Every company kept good line andthe distances were accurate. . . .The streets all along the line ofmarch back to the camps werethronged with people . . . .

On Monday morning Decem-ber 12th 1898 the one hundredand sixty-first began breakingcamp at Savannah Georgia toembark for Cuba having been incamp there just seven weeks.

Taylor C. Power, Camp Mount, Indianapolis, to his father, JesseTaylor Power, Indianapolis, May 6, 1898. Power was BattalionAdjutant, Third Battalion, Second Regiment, Indiana NationalGuard. The Second Regiment became the 158th Regiment IndianaVolunteer Infantry when it was mustered into U.S. service on May10, 1898. History of National Guard, 177. This letter is in theWilliam Wacker collection, Indiana Historical Society Library.

. . . Every time she [his wife Mayne] comes out she begs and pleadsfor me to show the white feather and get out. If I was to do that I wouldlose the respect of every person I know. The streak of yellow wouldshow to you and to my people and I could not look a man straight inthe face. It is a choice of which to serve—my country or my wife I ampledged to both and as I see it now. My duty at this time is to mycountry, and so it will be. If I am wrong I will have to be judged later. . . .

His country first


1898 1898 1898 1898 1898 1898 1898

June 21Governor Mount isinformed thatIndiana’s quota ofsoldier volunteersincludes 1regiment and 2black companies(Gatewood, 128).

June 24U.S. troops winfirst major landbattle againstSpain at LasGuasimas,Cuba (Carruth,380).

July 1U.S. troops,including the RoughRiders, take overSan Juan Heightsand El Caney, Cubawith heavycasualties on bothsides (Carruth, 382).

July 3U.S. shipsdestroy theSpanish fleetattempting tobreak theblockade atSantiago(Carruth, 382).

July 7PresidentMcKinley signslegislationannexing theHawaiianIslands(Carruth, 380).

July 8Forces underAdmiral Deweyoccupy IslaGrande in SubicBay nearManila,Philippines(Carruth, 382).

July 17General JoséToral and 24,000Spanish troopssurrender to U.S.General Shafterat Santiago deCuba (Carruth,382).

July 25U.S. forcesinvadePuertoRico withlittleresistance(Carruth,382).

1898

July 28Ponce, PuertoRico’s secondlargest city,surrenders toAmericans(Carruth, 382).

1898

In this war, as in others before and after it, women didnot sit idle as men went off to fight. The Record of IndianaVolunteers in the Spanish-American War, 1898-1899 (pages20-21) published by the State of Indiana in 1900, includedthe following tribute.

We . . . went aboard the UnitedStates transport Mobile. TheMobile is one of the finestequipped vessels in the UnitedStates for the transportation oftroops having been fitted up bythe government expressly for thatpurpose. she has all of the accom-modations that can be found inthe modern hotel she was fitted upwith spring mattresses instead of

“Battery E, Bringing In The Cannon.”The men are pulling a cannon in theirstreet clothing since uniforms had notyet been issued. Battery E was the FortWayne unit of the Indiana NationalGuard’s First Regiment of LightArtillery. It became the Twenty-eighthBattery of Light Artillery, IndianaVolunteers when it was mustered intoU.S. service May 12, 1898 (History ofNational Guard, 233, 367).T

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Women on the home front

the hammocks . . . she had Acapacity for carrying two thou-sand (2400) four hundred menwithout being crowded she alsohad A dining room that wouldseat six-hundred people. We leftSavannah harbor at 715 A.M. onDecember 13” 1898 . . . . Wecaught site of land in Cuba abouteight oclock on the morning ofDecember 15th 1898 and it was

only A short time afterwards thatwe were passing Morro Castle shewas still flying the Spanish flag. . . .We . . . went into the harbor atHavana. After the whistle hadblown for Havana the regimentalband began to play, “On thebanks of the Wabash far away”“The Star Spangled banner” . . . .We were received with A heartysalute by the people of Havana.

This report would be incomplete without at least a mention ofthe part taken by the loyal and patriotic women of Indiana. In everycity and hamlet from which the boys came to make up thevolunteer army, there was an organization of devoted mothers,sisters and sweethearts who tried to make the soldier’s life aseasy as was possible, toiling early and late in making articles andgarments to send to hospital and camp, and doing all in theirpower to make the boys comfortable.

An organization was perfected early in July, 1898, and wascalled the “Indiana Soldiers’ Aid Society.” The object was torender aid to Indiana soldiers in camp, field and hospital, toprovide assistance for their families when in want, and to be ready

for service at any time, and in any manner that opportunityoffered. Large quantities of fruits, jellies, cordials and soups weresent to hospitals in the south, together with towels, handkerchiefs,pajamas, bedding, all of which were used for the comfort ofIndiana’s sons.

All are deserving of praise and honor, and it would not be rightto mention any particular organizations, but the ladies ofIndianapolis assisted in making the return of the regiments,batteries and separate companies so pleasant that it is due themto say that they earned the respect and gratitude of every manfrom this State.

As regiment and battery returned to Indianapolis for musterout, the ladies met them at the station with delicacies for the sick,and coffee and sandwiches for the well, and no organizationarrived without being given the same hospitable welcome. Adinner was served to each organization by a committee selectedfor that purpose, and every man was made to feel that he wasonce more in the hands of friends.


1898 1898 1898 1899 1899 1900

August 7Rough Ridersand other U.S.forces leaveCuba toescapeepidemics(Carruth,382).

August 9U.S. forcedefeatsSpanish forceat Coamo,Puerto Rico(Carruth, 382).

August 12U.S. warwithSpainceases(Carruth,382).

November 8RepublicanTheodoreRoosevelt iselectedgovernor ofNew York(Carruth, 382,384).

December 10Treaty ending Spanish-American War is signed inParis. Cuba gainsindependence, U.S. gainsPuerto Rico, Guam, and,for $20,000,000, Spanishholdings in the Philippines(Carruth, 384).

Slaughteringand meatpacking is thelargestindustry inIndiana(Phillips, 280).

February 4Philippineguerrillas fire onU.S. forces atManila markingthe beginning ofrebellion forindependence(Carruth, 384).

Ball BrothersCo. of Muncieis largestproducer ofglass canningjars in theU.S. (Phillips,297-98).

1898 1898

April 30U.S. Congresspasses actestablishing theTerritory of Hawaii;Sanford B. Dole isappointed firstgovernor(Carruth, 388).

1900

Indiana black citizens—andblacks across the country—hadgreat sympathy with the Cubansfighting for freedom. Black news-papers regularly praised the“colored” leaders in Cuba. “TheIndianapolis World, one of the fewblack Democratic newspapers inthe nation, noted that the absenceof race prejudice among ‘theCuban patriots’ would make theisland ‘an inviting field for emigra-tion from the United States’ afterindependence” (Gatewood, 115-16).

Black citizens were anxiousto help the Cuban patriots. Na-tionwide, however, black citizensdemanded that black officers beallowed to command black troops.Blacks should “be allowed toparticipate in the military effort ina manner that would elevate theirstatus rather than perpetuate aracial caste system” (ibid., 117).

The first call for volunteerson April 25, 1898—generallylimited to national guard/militiatroops—had few blacks. Moststate militias did not allow blacksto enroll (Cosmas, 136). Indiana’sNational Guard had had twocompanies of black soldiers sincethe mid-1880s, in spite of aconstitutional provision limitingservice to white males.* Thesemen had served well under blackofficers in several emergencies. By1898, however, the companieshad been disbanded in a complexdispute over organization(Gatewood, 118-20).

With the second call forvolunteers in May 1898, there wasan effort to recruit black volun-teers. There had been protests to

the White House and Congressthat black exclusion from thevolunteer army was a “denial ofequal citizenship.” Eventually8,000-10,000 black soldiers werein the volunteer army. Included inthat number were several regi-ments of black soldiers with blackofficers (Cosmas, 136).

The War Department brokeits racial policy because Indianafought for, and was the first stateto obtain, an exception to thatpolicy. Governor James Mountand Senator Charles Fairbanksfinally went to President WilliamMcKinley to gain permission toraise two companies of blacksoldiers with black captains whohad served in the Indiana NationalGuard (Gatewood, 127, 139).Indiana was represented in thewar by these two companies.

Like most volunteer units,black units did not engage in anybattles. Black soldiers in theregular army, however, foughtgallantly—under white officers—atthe battle of San Juan Hill, Cubawith the Rough Riders andTheodore Roosevelt (Cosmas, 136).

Reproduced from microfilm of the IndianapolisFreeman, An Illustrated Colored Newspaper,

July 23, 1898. The Freeman was a blackRepublican newspaper (Gatewood, 115).

Black soldiers in the war

* The Indiana constitutional restrictionagainst blacks in the national guard wasremoved in 1936, long after blacks hadbegun to serve. Women were recruited in1973 after a constitutional amendmentremoved the word ‘male’ from the militiaprovision (Watt and Spears, 194).


1900 1900 1900 1901 1901 1901 1901

June 21U.S. militarygovernor of thePhilippines,General ArthurMacArthur grantsamnesty toFilipino rebels(Carruth, 388).

November 6Republican Winfield T.Durbin, commandingofficer of the 161stIndiana Volunteers inthe Spanish-AmericanWar, is electedgovernor of Indiana(Phillips, 75).

November 6William McKinley isreelected presidentof the U.S. and NewYork governorTheodoreRoosevelt is electedvice president(Carruth, 388).

QueenVictoria ofEngland dies;her sonEdward VIIbecomes king(Grun, 454).

January 10First great oil strikein Texas gushes inon the Spindletopclaim nearBeaumont, Texas(Carruth, 393)

February 2Army NurseCorps isorganized as abranch of theU.S. Army(Carruth, 390).

April 19The rebellion inthe Philippinesis ended byproclamation(Carruth, 392).

September 6PresidentMcKinley is shotand diesSeptember 14(Carruth, 390).

1901

Anna C. Maxwell, Sternberg U.S.Hospital, Camp Thomas, Chick-amauga Park, Ga., to The Board ofManagers of The Presbyterian Hospi-tal, New York City, October 31, 1898

The high number of deathsfrom disease in the Spanish-American War in part reflects alack of medical knowledge. Also,the U.S. Army Medical Departmentwas not prepared. U.S. SurgeonGeneral George M. Sternbergborrowed medical supplies fromthe states to insure that invasionforces had necessary medicalitems. The Army MedicalDepartment’s Hospital Corps didnot have enough personnel.Sternberg recruited men acrossthe country to serve in the regulararmy as nurses, stretcherbearers,and ambulance drivers (Cosmas,245-49).

Throughout the war, therewere not enough army personnel

Nursing the sickto care for increasing numbers ofseriously ill soldiers in camps inthe U.S. Sternberg was forced torecruit trained female nurses on acontract basis, which he hadresisted. Women had served suc-cessfully as nurses for the UnionArmy in the Civil War. Formaltraining of nurses had existedsince the 1870s in the U.S. Thou-sands of women from all over thecountry sent applications to servein this war (Kalisch, 49-70, 197-99).

Applications were processedby Dr. Anita N. McGee and acommittee of the Daughters of theAmerican Revolution. On May 6,1898, the first female nursessigned army contracts. On July 7,Congress authorized employment

of civilian nurses at $30 per month.(Dock et al., 36-37, 37n, 41). Thewomen proved their value, skill, andcourage; many gave their lives.

The American Red Cross alsoworked closely with the U.S. Armyto recruit nurses and to providemedical and other supplies tosoldiers and medical staff (ibid.,29, 52-53). Private religious or-ders, women’s medical associa-tions and nursing groups, andother private relief organizationsalso provided badly needed staff andsupplies (ibid., 40; Cosmas, 247).

Many accounts of the warexperiences of medical personnelhave been preserved. Some areavailable in the histories of nurs-ing cited here.

Kate B. Stansberry, In-dianapolis, graduated fromIndianapolis TrainingSchool for Nurses in 1890.“She was well known bothin Indianapolis and Chi-cago, through her chosenprofesison.” She served inthe Spanish-American Waras a nurse. In November1898, she died in Jackson-ville, Florida from typhoidfever at the age of twenty-nine. “When stricken withthe fever she was busy car-ing for nearly forty sol-diers.” She was buried inCrown Hill Cemetery.The Indiana Woman, November 26,1898, p. 11.

On August 12 we went to the SternbergU.S. Field Hospital, to begin the work wehad set out to do. This hospital . . . wasdesigned to hold one thousand patients.The supplies were coming in slowly, butfor the first patients, who numbered onehundred and thirty-six, the only thingsready for use were the tents and beds.The supplies that were on hand had neitherbeen unpacked nor verified and we werehelpless . . . . I went to the Quartermasterand told him I should stay there all night,or until the supplies were unpacked. . . .before midnight we had given out sufficientmaterial for the night . . . . I was informedthat it was a military law that the soldier,

sick or well, must be on the spot beforerations can be drawn, hence the supply offood did not arrive until the following day.

As the tents were prepared andsupplies provided, more patients wereadmitted; often two hundred in a day. . . .

. . . It was certainly a most harrowingsight to see the long narrow cots filled withwhat had been strong, splendid men,hollow-eyed, emaciated, muttering in thedelirium of fever . . . . Their bonesprotruding through their skin and bed soresseveral inches deep were not uncommonlyfound on hips, back, elbows and often onthe head and ears . . . .

The Government sent us one hundredand fifty-two nurses and a dietitian. . . .The total number of patients receivedbetween August 15 and September 10 . . .was nine hundred and thirty-six. Fourhundred and seventy were furloughedand sixty-eight died.Excerpted from Dock et al., 51-53.

An Indiana nurse One nurse’s experience


Fred C. Hurt, hospital stewardFred Carlton Hurt was born in

Waynetown, Montgomery County, Indianaon July 28, 1876. His father, WilliamJohnson Hurt, was a doctor. At the time ofhis enlistment into the U.S. Army MedicalDepartment Hospital Corps, he was in thesophomore class of the Indiana School ofMedicine, Indianapolis. He died of typhoidfever probably on August 9, 1898 at FortMonroe, Newport News, Virginia.

Newspaper article: “The First One To Go”

. . . Waynetown can boast ofone of her sons now atChicamauga. Fred Hurt for sometime has been making an effort tosecure a place in the hospitalcorpse, and on Saturday receivednotice of his appointment condi-tioned on his passing the exami-nation. On Tuesday morning,without a good bye to the boys ortelling any one, he in companywith his father, went to Indianapo-lis and reported. . . .

Newspaper article: “At Chicamauga”Hurt, Camp Thomas, ChickamaugaPark, Ga., to Dear Folks at Home,June 26, 1898

. . . The papers say thehealth in camp is improving, It’snot so, When I came here therewas 75 men in our hospitals.Today we have 125. Our corps isallowed 90 men to do the variouskinds of . . . work about thehospital, and today we only have14 able for duty. They have to callmen from the ranks to nurse andhelp us out. . . .

Newspaper article: “At Chicamauga”Hurt, Camp Thomas, ChickamaugaPark, Ga., to Mrs. Brant and Bettie,June 28, 1898

. . . Each regiment containsabout 2,000 soldiers and have ahospital of their own. Then comethe division. We are the maindivision being the first. We havethe largest “field hospital” atChickamauga and all seriouscases are brought to us. Atpresent we have 150 men . . . whoare bad sick. There are only 10men who go on duty at one time totake care of 150. We go on 12

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1901 1902 1902 1903 1903 1904 1904

September 14TheodoreRoosevelt issworn in as26th presidentof the U.S.(Carruth, 390).

June 28U.S. Congresspasses IsthmianCanal Act whichauthorizes andfinances constructionof a canal across theIsthmus of Panama(Carruth, 394).

July 1U.S. Congress passesPhilippine GovernmentAct declaring PhilippineIslands an unorganizedterritory and authorizinga commission to governthe territory (Carruth,394).

July 4First Pacificcommunications cableis opened; PresidentRoosevelt sendsmessage around theworld and back to himin 12 minutes(Carruth, 397).

December 17Orville Wrightmakes firstpowered flight in aheavier-than-airmachine at KittyHawk, NorthCarolina (Carruth,395).

May 5Eugene V. Debs ofIndiana is nominated forthe presidency of theU.S. by the SocialistNational Convention(Carruth, 398).

November 8Theodore Rooseveltis elected presidentof the U.S; CharlesFairbanks of Indianais elected vicepresident (Carruth,398).

Sources: Sketch by Nancy Hurt Diener, adescendant of Hurt, in The Spanish AmericanWar and Private Fred C. Hurt, June to August1898 (a scrapbook), Crawfordsville DistrictPublic Library, Crawfordsville; Montgomery: YourCounty Magazine (December 1988), 19.Crawfordsville Daily Argus, August 10, 13, 1898.Materials cited here are from the scrapbook.Copies of the Hurt materials are in the IndianaDivision, Indiana State Library.

In his letter of July 9, 1898, Fred Hurt indicates to GertrudeJachman, that he will send a photograph later of the tintype

that he describes. This photograph fits that description: “Thecross is red, the pants stripe green, the sack is a medicine

bag. The moustache a summer luxury” (Hurt, Camp Thomas,Chickamauga Park, Ga., to Gertrude Jachman, Indianapolis,

July 9, 1898). Jachman reportedly was Hurt’s fiancée.


1906 1907 1907 1909 1909 1910 1910

United States SteelCorporation beginsconstruction ofworld’s largest steelfurnace and mill innorthwestern Indiana;the company lays outthe new town of Gary(Phillips, 309).

January 26U.S. Congresspasses a lawprohibitingcorporate campaigncontributions tocandidates fornational office(Carruth, 404).

September 12Lusitania, the largeststeamship in the world, arrivesin New York City on its maidenvoyage setting a new speedrecord of 5 days, 54 minutesbetween Queenstown (nowCobh), Ireland and New York(Carruth, 407).

National Associa-tion for theAdvancement ofColored People isfounded in the U.S.to promote therights and welfare ofblack Americans(Carruth, 412).

Albion FellowsBacon of Evansvillesuccessfully lobbiesthe Indiana GeneralAssembly to passthe state’s firstcomprehensivehousing law(Phillips, 487).

Madam C. J. Walker,black woman fromLouisiana, estab-lishes a company inIndianapolis tomanufacture hairtreatments andcosmetics (Phillips,291-292).

May 18Halley’s cometpasses closeenough to earth forits tail to be seenby many people;some fear theend of the world(Carruth, 415).

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In late July or early August 1898 Fred Hurt’s medical unit wastransferred to Fort Monroe, Newport News, Virginia. There hecontracted typhoid fever and died probably on August 9, 1898.After his death, his nurse, Caroline Robin, corresponded withHurt’s father, Dr. W. J. Hurt, and apparently sent these pictures.In an undated letter (circa winter 1898), she wrote: “Your boy,expecially became very dear to me, and it is something I shallnever forget.” She also described the hospital camp. “We havetwenty beds to the ward. . . . the ward is composed of four tents.We . . . have everything we need to make the men comfortable.Thanks to the Red Cross Auxi.iary. . . . At first they only hadmale nurses, then we came down . . . . by Sept 1st we had 11trained nurses on the field at night, and two in most of the tentsduring the day.”

hours and are off 24. We have twocrews and while one is on theother is sleeping. We get $30.00 amonth I understand. . . . I won’tallow myself to think of the possi-bility of returning home for I am a“Regular” and not a “Volunteer”and am in for three years hardwork. If the war ends before thethree years have passed I will geta discharge and go home. . . . Iwould like very much to seeWaynetown, my parents, mygrandfather and my friends there.If you hear any of the boys talk ofgoing to war, try and discouragethem if they are going for a “pic-nic” for the picnic soon wears offand here you are to stay and youcan’t tell how long. . . .

Hurt, Camp Thomas, ChickamaugaPark, Ga., to Gertrude Jachman,Indianapolis, July 9, 1898. . . We are all packed up ready togo to Cuba but I am in doubtwhether we will get to go or not. . . .This tintype if not spoiled orbroken will give you an Idea how Ilook after setting up all night andhaving just marched 8 miles to get

a bite to eat. You shall have aphoto in the near future.

Hurt, Camp Thomas, ChickamaugaPark, Ga., to Gertrude Jachman,Indianapolis, July 16, 1898. . . I came down here expecting togo to the front and I am tryingevery means to get there. . . . Ourwork is alful hard on us, andsometimes we are compelled to gowithout anything to eat. It is themost trying experience I have everrun across. If we were only at thefront it wouldnt be so bad, buthere we are nursing 200 patients

in the Hospital and none of usever saw a spaniard. I call it truePatriotism to nurse all the conta-gious diseases. . . .

By the way, do you suppose Iwill ever get to see you again?That question passed through mymind last night while I was settingup with a case of Typhoid Fever. . . .And if I get back to Indiana thefirst place I will go will be yourtown and see you before I gohome. . . . To tell the truth I dontexpect to ever get home if I go toPuerto Rico . . . .

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Selected ResourcesA Note Regarding Resources: Items are listed on this page that enhancework with the topic discussed. Some older items, especially, may includedated practices and ideas that are no longer generally accepted. Resourcesreflecting current practices are noted whenever possible.

Bibliography

• Alger, R. A. The Spanish-AmericanWar. New York: Harper & BrothersPublishers, 1901.

Official point of view by the secre-tary of war.• Carruth, Gorton. The Encyclopediaof American Facts and Dates. NewYork: Harper Collins Publishers, 1993.

Comprehensive, easy-to-readtimeline of American history.• Cosmas, Graham A. An Army forEmpire: The United States Army in theSpanish-American War. Columbia:University of Missouri Press, 1971.

Very useful on all aspects of the war.• Dock, Lavinia L., Sarah ElizabethPickett, Clara D. Noyes, Fannie F.Clement, Elizabeth G. Fox, Anna R.Van Meter. History of American RedCross Nursing. New York: TheMacmillan Company, 1922.

Early history of American RedCross Nursing Service using manydocumentary sources.• Gatewood, Willard G., Jr. “IndianaNegroes and the Spanish AmericanWar.” Indiana Magazine of History, 69(1973): 115-39.

Detailed examination of the topic.• Grun, Bernard. The Timetables ofHistory. New York: Simon andSchuster, 1991.

Comprehensive, easy-to-readtimeline of world history.• A History of the National Guard ofIndiana. Indianapolis: W. D. Pratt,1901.

Useful introduction; helpful intracking unit information.• Kalisch, Philip A., and Beatrice J.Kalisch. The Advance of AmericanNursing. Boston: Little, Brown andCompany, 1978.

Textbook for nursing profession;provides comprehensive survey oftopic.• Morris, Richard B., and Jeffrey B.Morris, eds. Encyclopedia of AmericanHistory. New York: Harper & Row,Publishers, 1976.

Useful entries on the war andrelated topics.• Phillips, Clifton J. Indiana inTransition: The Emergence of an

Industrial Commonwealth, 1880-1920.Indianapolis: Indiana HistoricalBureau and Indiana HistoricalSociety, 1968.

Chapter that includes war veryuseful for context.• Record of Indiana Volunteers in theSpanish-American War, 1898-1899.Indianapolis: Sixty-first GeneralAssembly of Indiana, 1900.

Basic resource; contains Indianagovernment actions and names andservice of all volunteers.• Watt, William J., and James R. H.Spears, eds. Indiana’s Citizen Sol-diers: The Militia and National Guardin Indiana History. Indianapolis:Indiana State Armory Board, 1980.

Useful background; good chapteron Spanish-American War.

Additional resources

• Foner, Eric, and John A. Garraty,eds. The Reader’s Companion toAmerican History. Boston: HoughtonMifflin Company, 1991.

Useful entries on the war andrelated topics.• Gatewood, Willard B., Jr. “SmokedYankees” and the Struggle for Empire:Letters from Negro Soldiers, 1898-1902. Urbana: University of IllinoisPress, 1971.

Includes some items from Indiananewspapers.• Internet resources:

• <http://www.inspire-indiana.net>Many articles available.

• <http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/sawhtml/satitles.html>Library of Congress AmericanMemory site.

• Lovett, Christopher C., KarenManners Smith et al. “Rememberingthe Maine: Teaching about theSpanish-American War Era after 100Years.” Social Studies, 89: 3 (May/June 1998), starting 123.

Many references and resourceslisted.• “The War of 1898.” OAH Magazineof History, 12: 3 (Spring 1998).

Useful background essays andlesson plans.

Suggested student resources

• Bachrach, Deborah. The Spanish-American War. San Diego: LucentBooks, 1991.

Good resource with interestingphotographs; for intermediate readers.• Carter, Alden R. The Spanish-American War. New York: FranklinWatts, 1992.

Easy-to-read work chronicles thewar with text, photographs, maps,and political cartoons. Part of A FirstBook series.• Kent, Zachary. The Story of theRough Riders. Chicago: ChildrensPress, 1991.

Describes how the Rough Riderswere formed at the beginning of theSpanish-American War. Part ofCornerstones of Freedom series.• Levinson, Nancy Smiler. Turn of theCentury: Our Nation One HundredYears Ago. New York: Lodestar Books,1994.

Good source for general historicalbackground; includes a chapter onthe Spanish-American War.• Smith, Carter, ed. Presidents of aWorld Power: A Sourcebook on the U.S.Presidency. Brookfield, Conn.: TheMillbrook Press, 1993.

Historical context for the Spanish-American War; American Albumsfrom the Collections of the Library ofCongress series.• This Fabulous Century: Prelude,1870-1900. New York: Time-LifeBooks, 1970.

Limited text; wonderful photo-graphs provide some understandingsof life in the period covered. Volume 8of series.

Special Thanks to:

• Carole Allen, Indiana HistoricalBureau.• Maurice Holmes, Shelbyville.• Mary Johnson and Dellie Craig,Crawfordsville District Public Library.

Indiana Historical Bureau140 North Senate Avenue • Room 408 • Indianapolis, Indiana • 46204-2296 • 317-232-2535 • TDD 317-232-7763

IndianaHistorical

BureauServing Indiana

Since 1915

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Company H, First Regiment, Indiana National Guard, became Company H of the 159th Regiment IndianaVolunteer Infantry when it was mustered into U.S. service May 12, 1898 (History of National Guard, 329, 339-40).

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