SPANISH AMERICAN WAR CAMPS

1898-99 PERIOD  

By Fred M. Greguras

This is a compilation of information about named military camps established during the 1898-1899 Spanish American War period, primarily in the United States.  There were also many unnamed camps.  The purposes of the camps included mobilization, assembly, training, staging, occupation and demobilization.  The camps identified in Cuba and the Philippines were noted during primary research on camps in the United States and are not intended to be a comprehensive list.

My interest in this project began in June 1997 with a visit to Sagamore Hill, the home of Theodore Roosevelt.  While there, I saw the announcement of the Turner Broadcasting production of the Rough Riders to be aired that fall.  The scenes of the charge up San Juan Hill in the movie really sparked my research interest in the Rough Riders.  In researching the Rough Riders, I learned about Camp Wikoff on Long Island where the Rough Riders camped upon their return from Cuba.  The numerous stereoviews of Camp Alger, Camp Tampa and Chickamauga Park available on eBay lead to more research on these and other camps.  I also obtained a copy of Wright’s Official History of the Spanish American War which has literally hundreds of photos of various camps and opened up many new research directions.  About the same time, Dale Floyd provided me with the War Department’s list of named camps established during the Spanish American War (item 4 in the primary resources list).  This list, while not complete, is the most comprehensive governmental source of camp names and locations by city and state.

The next stage of research began on the Internet on Spanish American War and local history Web sites.  Information available included the location and source of names of muster in camps in Kansas, Kentucky, New York and Wisconsin.  I then used email and letters to contact local libraries, historians, national guard commands and other possible sources.  Most of my requests were quickly and pleasantly answered, sometimes with copies of newspaper articles, the contact information for another source or library loan information on how to obtain microfilm.  Local newspapers were a major source for information on specific locations of camps and how they were named.  A visit to the Carlisle Barracks Army War Museum library in July 1999 was a substantial step forward.  The research materials in the library’s collection of state adjutant generals reports and unit histories basically doubled my research material.

I was particularly interested in the camps in my home state, Nebraska.  Sources on Camp Alvin Saunders in Lincoln were a little misleading but I quickly pinned down its location as the state fair grounds.  Camp Meiklejohn at Omaha was a greater challenge.  An undated clipping from a scrapbook which mentioned Camp Meiklejohn referred to Colonel Bills boys at Fort Omaha and I initially thought it meant William (“Bill”) Jennings Bryan, Colonel of the 3rd Nebraska Volunteer Infantry.  The 3rd Nebraska mustered in at Fort Omaha at the outset of the war.  Through research in contemporary Omaha newspapers, I finally determined that the Colonel of the 2nd Nebraska Volunteer Infantry was named Bills and had to revise my earlier conclusion.  Camp Meiklejohn was the 2nd Nebraska’s muster out camp at Fort Omaha.

Many interesting research challenges remain.  For example, Camp Pratt, the muster out camp of the 7th California Volunteer Infantry at Los Angeles, continues to be a mystery even after a search of contemporary local newspapers.  The California adjutant general’s report mentions the camp but there is nothing in the newspapers, perhaps because a muster out camp at the end of the war wasn’t considered newsworthy.  Additional camps such as Camp Cobb, Virginia, will continue to be identified through various sources.  For example, information on Camp Cobb was in a soldier’s letter auctioned on eBay.  More subtle tidbits of information will continue to surface such as a comparison of an 1898 map and current map of Indianapolis indicating that today’s fairgrounds location is not the same as the 1898 fairgrounds location where Camp Mount was located.

                The events of 1898 occurred rapidly.  On April 23, 1898, two days before war was declared by the United States, President William McKinley issued a call for 125,000 volunteers to expand our small standing army.  Most state mobilization camps were in existence for only a few weeks before the troops moved to staging and embarkation camps at San Francisco or on the east coast, particularly at Camp Alger, Chickamauga Park and Tampa.  The Cuba invasion force boarded transports in Tampa during the period June 12-14, 1898.  The first Philippine expedition left the west coast staging area, San Francisco, on May 25, 1898.  The second call for an additional 75,000 volunteers also came on May 25, 1898.  The peace protocol ending the war with Spain was signed on August 12, 1898 and the formal peace treaty signed on December 10, 1898.

                Each state and territory had some muster in camp for its volunteers.  Two federal calls for volunteer troops sometimes resulted in two camps in the same city at different times, often in different locations and with different names.  There are also cases of different volunteer units at the same place at the same time such as a state national guard camp using different names for each of their camps.

                At the outset of the war, there was also concern that our Atlantic coast would be attacked by Spain.  The volunteer force supplemented garrisons at seacoast fortifications, particularly on the east coast.

                Because of the shortness of the war, most of the volunteers never saw combat.  Their biggest enemy was boredom and sanitary conditions.  For example, Nevada’s unit of volunteer infantry spent a hot and unproductive summer in Carson City and never left the city before being mustered out.  The first of the unit’s two camps at Carson City was at a racetrack which the owner soon reclaimed to prepare for the racing season.  The volunteers’ only action came in local saloons and fights among themselves and with the locals.

                In San Antonio, the Rough Riders camp, Camp Wood, was separated from Fort Sam Houston in part because of concern over possible fights between the regulars and the “cowboys.”  There were military drills for the multitude of Sunday visitors to the Rough Riders camp.  The Rough Riders were also interested in going visiting as indicated in the following extract from the San Antonio Daily Light of May 14, 1898:  “The other night there was a private dance given in the pavilion at Riverside Park and several of the men went over to look on.  ‘Can’t we get over there and dance too,’ said one of them to Mr. Quinn, the lessee.  ‘No, that’s a private dance,’ said Mr. Quinn.  ‘That’s all right,’ said the leader.  ‘We’re all privates, there’s not even a non-com among us . . . .”

There were muster in and muster out camps for the volunteers in every state and territory.  There were many staging camps in the south initially because of its proximity to Cuba and later during the winter of 1898-1899 because of its climate.  The San Francisco camps at and near the Presidio were the assembly and staging area for the Philippines.  The northern muster in camps were often cold and rainy because the time was mid-spring, 1898.  For example, there were heavy rainstorms and some snow throughout the muster in for Pennsylvania volunteers at Camp Hastings at Mt. Gretna, Pennsylvania.  According to a Warren Mail newspaper clipping, when Company I of the 16th Pennsylvania reached Camp Hastings on April 26, 1898, there was “plenty of snow, rain and mud.”  A May 10, 1898 clipping from the same newspaper says: “a few words about the wet weather can’t do justice to the subject.”

                The Cuba assembly and invasion staging area at Tampa was very overcrowded which resulted in a number of satellite camps being established in cities near Tampa.  Overcrowded and unhealthy conditions at Chickamauga Park, Georgia also resulted in satellite camps being established at other locations in the south.

Another reason that multiple camps were established in the eastern United States at different times in a single location was the need to keep a volunteer force through the winter of 1898-99, primarily as a reserve for possible occupation duty in Cuba and Puerto Rico.  On October 1, 1898, the War Department selected winter campsites in the south for state side volunteer troops.  Northern camps were abandoned and the troops were sent to the following and probably other locations:

                Cities with the most camps appear to be Macon, GA and Lexington, KY.  There are references to at least five camps in Macon, GA (Fornance, Haskell, Price, Prior and Rae) and possibly seven in Lexington, KY (Bradley, Collier, Hamilton, Hobson (renamed Corbin), Miles, Mill Farm and Sanger).  Some of the Lexington camps were likely the same place but called different names by different sources.

                Existing state national guard camps were often used for the muster in and out camps, for example, in Connecticut, Georgia, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Texas and Vermont.  Fairgrounds and "exposition" grounds were also popular sites for the camps because of their generally spacious grounds, large buildings, water and other facilities.  Existing buildings were often used for quarters.  Most camps were tent camps and only temporary buildings were constructed, usually for hospitals and warehouses.

                State governors and heroes and casualties of the naval campaigns and Santiago campaign were the most popular sources of names for the camps.  In many states, national guard camps had been previously named after the current state governor.  This custom continued for many Spanish American War state volunteer muster in camps.

I have visited only a small number of the sites of the camps:  Camp Black, Camp Hastings, Camp Meade, the Nebraska camps and San Francisco camps.  Although there isn’t much to see at any of these locations, I expect to visit more locations when I retire.

Table of Contents

Index

Memorial On-Line Library of Historical Publications

Chase County Nebraska USGenWeb  & AHGP Project

Livingston Cty Michigan USGenWeb & AHGP Project

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