The Spanish–American War (1898) in real time

First United States Volunteer Cavalry

By: Thomas W. Cutrer

Type: General Entry
Published: 1952

Updated: May 30, 2020

FIRST UNITED STATES VOLUNTEER CAVALRY.

The advent of the Spanish-American War in 1898 saw the regular United States Army and the state militias inadequately staffed to support operations overseas. Under a law passed on April 22, three regiments of volunteer cavalry were raised in the western states and territories to augment the regular defense establishment. President William McKinley was to appoint all commanding officers, who in turn selected their own staff and line officers. Recruiting began late in April. The most famous of these units—in fact, the only one to serve in combat—was the First United States Volunteer Cavalry, better known as the "Rough Riders" but also called "Teddy's Terrors" and the "Rocky Mountain Rustlers." The unit was nominally commanded by Col. Leonard Wood, an army surgeon who had won the Medal of Honor for an Indian fight ten years before, but in fact was led by Lt. Col. Theodore Roosevelt. This legendary aggregation of cowboys, Indian fighters, outlaws, Eastern aristocrats, and Ivy League athletes took part in the attack on Santiago de Cuba and wrote a gallant and bloody record during its brief existence. "We drew a great many recruits from Texas," wrote Roosevelt, "and from nowhere did we get a higher average, for many of them had served in that famous body of frontier fighters, the Texas Rangers. Of course, these rangers needed no teaching. They were trained to obey and to take responsibility. They were splendid shots, horsemen, and trailers. They were accustomed to living in the open, to enduring great fatigue and hardship, and to encountering all kinds of danger." Near the end of June Colonel Wood was promoted to command of the cavalry division's second brigade, and Roosevelt became in fact commander of the regiment. "We rendezvoused at San Antonio," one of the men wrote in later years, "Twelve hundred as separate, varied, mixed, distinct, grotesque, and peculiar types of men as perhaps were ever assembled in one bunch in all the history of man . . . and one—possibly two—Democrats." Roosevelt joined his regiment in San Antonio on May 16. There, encamped in what is now Roosevelt Park, it learned drill and discipline. The men, their lieutenant colonel wrote, were pleased to have been organized and trained "in the city where the Alamo commemorates the death fight of Crockett, Bowie, and their famous band of frontier heroes." The regiment also purchased its horses in Texas. These animals "were not showy," Roosevelt wrote, "but they were tough and hardy" and made excellent cavalry mounts.

On May 30 Lt. Gen. Nelson A. Miles ordered the Rough Riders to Tampa, Florida, where the troop was assigned to Maj. Gen. Joseph Wheeler's cavalry division of Lt. Gen. William R. Shafter's Fifth Corps for the forthcoming invasion of Cuba. As no transports could be found to move the division's horses to Cuba, however, the cavalry fought through the campaign as infantry. The Rough Riders were the first United States troops to land in Cuba. They raised their regimental flag over a blockhouse swiftly taken from the Spaniards. The regiment's baptism of fire came at Las Guasimas on June 24, when Roosevelt's men, well-armed with Krag-Jörgensen carbines, mauled a detachment of the Spanish army impeding the invasion force's penetration to the interior of the island. The Spaniards then fell back to and fortified San Juan Hill, which Shafter's corps assaulted on July 1. In this battle the First United States Volunteer Cavalry, with elements of the Ninth and Tenth United States Cavalry regiments, made the famed charge on San Juan (actually Kettle) Hill, seizing the Spanish fortifications and pushing the defenders back into Santiago de Cuba. The attack cost 1,000 American casualties and induced Roosevelt to write to his friend Senator Henry Cabot Lodge, "We have won so far at a heavy cost; but the Spaniards fight very hard and charging these entrenchments against modern rifles is terrible. We are within measurable distance of a terrible disaster." Fearful of further unacceptable casualties, Shafter entrenched his corps to besiege the city. "The boys are simply exhausted," wrote one Rough Rider officer, "having to work all night and lie in the sun all day in the trenches. We have to build our own fortifications, but we are getting along alright." On August 7, following the capitulation of Santiago de Cuba, the regiment, suffering from malaria and yellow fever, was evacuated from Cuba with the rest of Shafter's Fifth Corps.

The fame of the Rough Riders catapulted Theodore Roosevelt into the vice presidency and later the presidency of the United States. In San Antonio, in addition to Roosevelt Park, Roosevelt Street and the Roosevelt Bar of the Menger Hotel, a favorite watering place of the regiment, are named in memory of their sojourn in Texas.

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Antonio Eulate and Fery

Biography

Eulate and Fery, Antonio. Ferrol (La Coruña), 5.VI.1845 – Barcelona, 19.II.1932. Marino, vice admiral.

He comes from a military family. Son of Antonio Eulate y Evia, lieutenant of ship, native of Cádiz, and grandson of Ramón Eulate y Tobía, of Madrid, captain of frigate and knight of the Order of San Juan. His mother, María Fery del Casal, from Ferrol (Coruña), and his maternal grandfather Carlos José Fery y Limbur, colonel of Infantry, from Cádiz. On January 1, 1858 he sat as an aspirant at the Naval Military College of San Fernando (Cádiz) at the age of thirteen.

Once the exams were passed, he left for Havana in the (barque or "hulk") Santa María (1861). There he transfers to the brig Habanero and then to the frigate Petronila of the squadron of Joaquín Gutiérrez de Rubalcava, with which he travels through the area. On his return to the Peninsula (1862), he joined the squadron of the Count of Bustillo in Cádiz and accompanied Queen Isabel II through the Mediterranean. The (barque or "hulk") Santa Maria takes him to Manila (1863). There he passed to the schooner Santa Filomena, qualified as an officer, and was examined and approved with a note of "very good" for marine guard 1st class. He travels to China with correspondence and collects tributes north of Luzon.

Under the orders of the frigate captain Antonio Mora, head of the Visayas, he beats the Moorish pirates in Tavi-Tavi and in the archipelago of Joló. He is congratulated several times in this period.

Back in Cuba, in the frigate Gerona he served in Cartagena de Indias guarding the steamer Cúylor suspected of going to Peru (1867). On the steamer Blasco de Garay, he sails through Puerto Rico collecting detachments, and travels the English Antilles. Yara's cry of rebellion surprises him in Havana (October 10, 1868). He was sent to New Orleans and returned on November 1 when the insurrection had already been declared in Cuba, so he joined in Nuevitas the cruisers of the north coast dedicated to the repression of the smuggling of arms and ammunition that was made from North America and Jamaica, capturing the English schooner Mary Lowe. He was promoted to lieutenant (1870) and granted a license to marry in December of that year. He leaves Eulate la Gerona and passes from second commander to the steamer Hernán Cortés, in which, among other commissions, he moves to Puerto Cabello to monitor the steamer Virginius (suspected) of smuggling activities and whose capture by the Tornado would originate a violent reaction of the Americans. On his return to La Guaira, he renders aid with the boats of his boat (vessel) to the English boat Tenit that was driving the United States minister in Venezuela and was in danger of capsizing in the rada (Roadstead or anchorage). For this he receives the thanks of the American minister and the Admiralty. Already in Havana (1872), he is granted a four-month license (shore leave) for particular matters to enjoy in Puerto Rico, where he has his family; it is the first license (shore leave) he enjoys in his entire career. After three years and ten months in a row of active service in the apostadero of Havana, he returns to the Peninsula.

The anarchy awakened in the heat of the September revolution (1868) is about to explode in the form of a republican insurrection when Eulate arrives in Ferrol, to the Major Assistantship of the Arsenal (October 11, 1872); he tries to put down the rebellion and is stopped by the rebels. During the seven days that his detention lasted, he tries to reduce them at the risk of his life, for which reason the King rewards him with the Red Cross of Naval Merit. Eulate, after some time in the frigate Asturias, goes from second commander to the steamer Ciudad de Cádiz. With him he moves to La Coruña and takes a battalion of Mendigorría to take him to Santander; then he returns to Ferrol and embarks the republican prisoners and women of the galley of La Coruña to take them to Cádiz, and in the anteport (approach or sally port arrival to) of this city he is surprised by the proclamation of the First Republic (February 11, 1873), chaired by Estanislao Figueras, and accepted the constituted government. The beginning of the Third Carlist War and the conflict posed by the Artillery Corps had made King Amadeus I abdicate, lacking the support of General Prim, his promoter.

Soon the Republic becomes a mess, indiscipline takes over the ships' crews and the cantonal revolution breaks out everywhere.

Eulate was in La Carraca (Cádiz) when hostilities broke down with the insurgents led by Fermín Salvoechea (July 20, 1873), and assisted with his ship in the defense of ships and arsenal, making and receiving cannon fire. When in Cartagena the delirious cantonalist movement led by the deputy Antonio Gálvez is unleashed, Eulate is also there, in the blockade of the port, in the squadron of Admiral Lobo, operating under the fire of the coastal batteries whose shots cause several casualties in the steamer Cádiz. Then, embarked on the propeller frigate Carmen, he attends, on the morning of October 11, the combat against the cantonal squadron, and receives several hits. The blockade is maintained until a new exit of the frigate Numancia (January 13, 1874), which leads to the leaders and other escapees of the troops of General López Domínguez who besiege the city. The frigate Carmen, already integrated into the squadron of Admiral Chicarro, who relieves Lobo after the coup of Pavia, fights against the Numancia, and with the Vitoria pursues her to Oran, they recover her and take her to Cartagena, already liberated this city (January 19, 1874). After the campaign and the Mediterranean squadron dissolved, he left for La Carraca.

The second Carlist uprising in all of Spain – begun in 1872 – was at its peak when Eulate joined as first assistant of the General Majority to the Naval Forces of the Cantabrian Sea (1874). In this destination he attended the entry into Portugalete, which was in the hands of the Carlists, and was one of the first to jump with the armed sailors to cut the chains that closed the port. When the apostadero of Fuenterrabía was created, Eulate was named its commander (1874). He maintains free access to the river with great effectiveness, and for this he was repeatedly congratulated by the Minister of the Navy and the President of the Government of the Republic (1874). When the Carlists began the siege of Irún, Eulate fought until the bombardment ceased, and maintained expeditious communication with the besieged square. Again the Government shows him "its pleasure for his behavior in the siege of Irún". Meanwhile, the coup of Martínez Campos occurs in Sagunto (December 29, 1874), the Republic falls and the Monarchy is restored.

Eulate proclaims in the apostadero (naval base?) to Don Alfonso XII as king of Spain (January 7, 1875), abiding by the constituted Government. (Oath of fealty.)

With the steamers Piles and Ferdinand the Catholic, Eulate seizes several ships that were trying to land goods and ammunition for the enemy.

With the second ship enters and anchors in the port of Pasajes under the fire of the battery of San Marcos, which causes two deaths and five wounded to the crew.

Under the command of the monitor Puigcerdá, it cooperates with the naval forces of the Nervión at the steps of troops and formation of bridges, establishing communications between Navarre and Guipúzcoa. With the closure of the apostadero (1876), it is passed to Cádiz. He remained in the Northern campaign for about two years and was awarded the rank of lieutenant colonel of the Army (1876).

In June 1876 Eulate returned to Puerto Rico, assigned as interim assistant of the district of Aguadilla and captain of its port; there he was promoted to lieutenant of ship 1st class (Equivalent to a USN LTCDR.)(1878). At that time he intervened in the rescue of the crew of the schooner brig Asia in those waters, an action that is noted on his service sheet. He makes a commission to the island of Culebra (Puerto Rico) in the gunboat Activo, of which he presented a report that deserved the praise of S.M.

Already in the Peninsula, he passed to the Court of auxiliary of the section of personnel of the Ministry of Navy (1879). (General staff school.)

At this time, he was awarded the Simple Cross of San Hermenegildo, the Medal of the Civil War (1873-1874) and the Medal of Alfonso XII with passer (ribbon) of Cantabria. From second commander of the corvette Tornado he became secretary of the general command of the Instruction Squadron (1880) (flag secretary) and then to the frigate Sagunto, flagship of Rear Admiral Polo de Bernabé.

A short time later, he was sent to the Major Assistantship of the Arsenal of Havana, during the separatist war (1882). Upon meeting the regulatory time, he is relieved and takes command of the notice (*aviso.) Fernando el Católico. From that moment on, he sails tirelessly through that area of the Caribbean: Puerto Rico, Santo Domingo, Jamaica, Cartagena de Indias... Eulate receives a new congratulation in which "S.M. the King deigned to express his Royal pleasure for the correct and humanitarian conduct he observed with the ship of his command in the siege of Cartagena de Indias" (July 7, 1875).

When the time was running out, he handed over the command (1886) and was appointed commander of the Navy and captain of the port of Sagua (Cuba) on an interim basis, and then secretary in commission of the General Command of the apostadero (naval station or base).

At that time he was awarded the Cross of Naval Merit 2nd Class with white badge for the command and good management of Ferdinand the Catholic, and promoted to the position of frigate captain (1887) *(equivalent to USN senior captain at the time.); he ceased at the destination and was transported to the Peninsula. Upon arrival in Cadiz, he requests four months of sick leave.

Once health has been restored, Eulate is appointed in a short time secretary of the technical board of the cleaning of the pipes of La Carraca (Cádiz) (steam engine and boilers overhaul), second commander of the frigate Gerona and commander of the arsenal of the Apostadero de La Habana (Havana naval base and port), which he commanded on two occasions. In command of the cruiser D. Jorge Juan (1891), he made numerous trips and commissions along the coasts of Cuba, Puerto Rico and Venezuela; in this country he intervened in the protection of Spanish citizens and several foreign consuls in the town of La Guaira (*See the Hanna article quote above. M.). To do this, seafaring forces disembark to ensure order. He then ceased in command for having been appointed assistant of the Navy of the district of Mayagüez and captain of its port (1893) (USN equivalent is base superintendant). When he was promoted to captain (1896), he was confirmed in the destiny of the arsenal.

In April 1897 Eulate was in Mahón (Menorca) taking command of the battleship Vizcaya, flagship of the training squadron commanded by Admiral Pascual Cervera; he has turned fifty. He went to Cadiz with the squadron, but days later left for Spithead (Portmouth, Great Britain) to participate in the naval review passed by the Prince of Wales (later King Edward VII) in commemoration of the sixtieth anniversary of the coronation of Queen Victoria (June 26, 1897).

When the second Cuban insurrection broke out with the "cry of Baire" on February 25, 1895, Spain's relations with the United States of America had worsened markedly; the Government of this country allowed the existence of a Cuban revolutionary committee in New York and the organization of parties of insurgents, fundraising, supply of armaments, of food, etc., in its territory and exerted pressure on the Spanish Government presided over by Cánovas. The system of reconcentrating used by General Weyler was harshly criticized, among other things. The U.S. government comes up with the idea of sending the Maine cruise ship "to greet the Spanish authorities." (The euphemism is "overawe" or "terrorize".).The Maine enters Havana under the command of Captain Sigsbee on January 25, 1898 and on February 15 flies through the air (Blows up as in upshoots. The Spanish phrase is not exact.) in the middle of the night, which causes a very violent campaign against Spain in America, blaming it for having participated in the disaster. In response to the visit of the North American cruiser, the Spanish Government of Sagasta decided to send the Vizcaya to New York; so Eulate left Cartagena on January 31, 1898 and arrived in that city on February 19 at times of great tension, because they already have news of what happened there.

(I doubt that the Sagasta government had one personage outside the line Armada officers serving, who had any idea what an incredibly stupid idea the Vizcaya port call was at NEW YORK CITY of all places. M.)

Of this visit he writes a long report that was considered an impertinence by the Minister of the Navy Segismundo Bermejo, because he understands that the matter is not his concern. He could leave that port before the outbreak of hostilities and, following orders from Admiral Cervera, he went, together with the Oquendo, to the Portuguese islands of Cape Verde to join the ships of the squadron that were waiting there. The squadron, short of coal, leaves the port of San Vicente (Cape Verde), where it was, by order of the Portuguese Government that did not want to compromise its neutrality; the Vizcaya left with its speed reduced because it had not been able to clean funds (its hull or "bottom") since July of the previous year. After a defeat conditioned by the search for coal, on May 19 they sighted the morro castle, without distinguishing any enemy ship, and entered Santiago (Cuba), where there was (insufficient) coal, considering it impossible to reach Havana.

Once the operations began, the American squadron bombarded the port of Santiago almost daily. One of the shells hits the Vizcaya, but with such good luck that it explodes when it collides with the waterline, which is armored. On July 3, the ships leave the channel in perfect formation. The march is opened by the Teresa, the admiral's flagship; it is followed by the Vizcaya.

(The 13 inch shell was a "dud", otherwise the ARS Vizcaya's keel would have kissed mud. M.)

The North American fleet closes the exit of the port forming a semicircle. The Vizcaya and The Colón head west along the coast of Cuba while the ships Iowa, Texas, Indiana and Brooklyn ceaselessly shut down (Howitzered as in US ships lobbed shells at long range.) firing on them. The fires in Vizcaya are continuous. Eulate remains on the bridge directing the action from there, trying to ram the Brooklyn on his side (beam attack), but he (USS Brooklyn) dodges the attack. It (USS Brooklyn? See my remarks below. M.) follows the Vizcaya to the west under a rain of projectiles, some of which pierce its hull causing fires and injuries everywhere.

(*She, USS Brooklyn, counterturns a full circle. It was news to me that ARS Vizcaya joined the ARS Infanta Maria Teresa in the ram attempt. That explains the USS Texas' and USS Oregon's sudden storm of rapid fire shots out athwart the USS Brooklyn's intended course track, and which barrages fell behind the ARS Infanta Maria Teresa. They were trying to hit the ARS Vizcaya, trusting the USS Brooklyn to handle the ARS Infanta Maria Teresa. So this makes a confusing Cervera ram attempt both clearer and more confused. It also makes Schley's crazy starboard bows to the enemy maneuver more understandable. He might have been trying to open up shooting lanes for his next ships in line, except that USS Texas screwed that intgent up by not turning to port and reversing track.  M.)

Eulate, wounded in the head and back, orders the destruction of the silk flag given by the Provincial Council of Biscay and replaced by another, giving a piece to the constable Francisco Zaragoza that expired, to serve as a shroud. When the ship ran aground in the basement (sand shelf) of the beach of Aserraderos, a few miles from Santiago, so that it did not fall into the hands of the enemy, the boating of personnel towards the beach began without suffering attacks by the insurrectionary forces under the command of the leader Manuel Cobroco, until an intense rifle fire was heard against the last boat, in which Eulate went, causing great mortality (fear?) in him.

The castaways were picked up by American boats; Eulate was taken to the Iowa and presented to his commander Robert Evans, a man with a brilliant maritime record, who greeted him with the guard formed and rejected the saber that Eulate laid for him saying "(a) brave man does not disarm". Cervera, in the office he sent to Captain General Blanco, states, among other things, "this boss (leader or chieftain) was given back the sword." After his stay at the Naval School of Annapolis prisoner, and already signed the peace, Cervera commissions Eulate to hire a ship to reintegrate (repatriate) them to Spain, for which he travels to New York and hires the City of Rome. In the Council of War that followed by these events (1899), his action was justified.

(Court martial. It was an unmerited and undeserved court martial. M.)

On July 17 he took possession of the command of the maritime province of Cádiz and the port captaincy of this city, until August 1901; in January 1902, he was given command of the Numancia and, once the conditions of command had been met, he disembarked and was appointed president of the Board of Funds of Military Buildings of the Department of Cádiz. (In USN terms he was Chief or the Bureau of Personnel.)

He embarks again, now in the battleship Pelayo, of chief of staff of the Instruction Squadron, and during his time in this he was given several decorations and badges: Commander's Badge with plaque of the Order of Christ, of Portugal, Insignia of Officer of the Legion of Honor, of France (sent by the President of the Republic) and the Cross of Naval Merit of 3rd Class, with white badge, delivered by King Alfonso XII, for the brilliant state of the landing column in Santa Pola (Alicante) of which Eulate was chief.

*(The Rif Wars in which he has better fortunes. M.)

Promoted to captain of the 1st class (1903) (equavalent to a USN commodore or rear admiral lower half), he disembarked by dissolution of the Squadron and went on to play the position of Chief of Staff of the Department of Cartagena (1903) and, a few months later, the same position in the Department of Cádiz. Meanwhile, he is awarded the Grand Cross of the Royal and Military Order of St. Hermenegild and the Cross 2nd Class of the Order of St. Anne, Russia. In that destiny he remains until he is appointed commander of the Navy of the province of Seville (1906), in which he arrives his pass to the situation of barracks (January 16, 1908).

Being in this situation, he twice served as civil governor of the Canary Islands (1909 and 1910). In the intermediate he ascends to the employment of rear admiral (1910) and is in charge of the general command of the apostadero (naval base) of Cartagena, and when he passes to the situation of reserve for having reached the regulatory age (June 11, 1911) (mandatory retirement.), he is again given the destiny of civil governor of the province of the Canary Islands, and, by modifications in the denomination of the jobs, he took the rank of vice admiral (1912). In this year he is authorized to wear the decoration of the "Bust of the Liberator" of 2nd Class and the great Plaque of Honor and Merit of the Spanish Red Cross awarded by the president of the Republic of Venezuela, the first, and by the president of the Supreme Assembly the second.

In the years that follow, Eulate continues in a situation of reserve, without destination, at the disposal of the Government.

In 1913 he travelled in commission to Amsterdam on the occasion of the naval exhibition in that city. In July 1917 he moved his residence to Barcelona, where he died at the age of eighty-seven.

Eulate was a brave man, of astonishing serenity and of great patriotism and self-denial, whose behavior, even defeated, attracted the general attention, causing the admiration of his contenders.

A sailor of great vocation, he was present in numerous maritime conflicts of his time. He sailed in seventy-one ships and commanded seven. In his long working life – sixty-five years – there are only eleven months of leave. Although he is not known literary activity, both in Puerto Rico and Tenerife, as well as in Barcelona, already a vice admiral in the reserve, he had a literary gathering in his house. These gatherings were attended by Gertrudis Gómez de Avellaneda, Cuban poet daughter of a sailor, and her own daughter, the poet Carmela Eulate y Sanjurjo, born in Puerto Rico.

The Barcelona gathering was attended by Frank Taylor Evans, son of the commander of the Iowa, who received Eulate wounded. His great humanity, on the other hand, took him daily to the clinics of Bartrina or Puig Sureda in Barcelona where there was never a lack of wounded from the Naval Aeronautics.

Works of ~: "Report about the island of Culebra, given by the lieutenant of ship D. Antonio de Eulate y Fery", Ferrol (Coruña), Imprenta de El Correo Gallego, 1880; "Memoria del reconocimiento de la costa de la isla de Culebra", in Boletín de la Real Sociedad Geográfica de Madrid, t. VIII, Imprenta Fortanet (1.er semester 1880).

Sources and bibl.: Archivo-Museo don Álvaro de Bazán (El Viso del Marqués, Ciudad Real), Cuerpo General, leg. 620/379; Naval Museum of the Navy (Madrid), Manuscript of Eulate, sig. E4442; Eulate, Antonio, Colegio Naval Militar, folder n.º 469, year 1853. "El vicealmirante de la Armada D. Antonio Eulate y Fery", in Revista General de Marina (RGM), t. CX, p. 11; T. Benítez Francés, El manuscrito de un combate o el 3 de julio desde el Vizcaya, Ferrol (Coruña), Imprenta de El Correo Gallego, 1898; G. Clarke, "Naval Aspects of the Spanish-american War", in Lord Brassey, The Naval Annual, Portsmouth, 1899, chap. V, pp. 123-174; P. Cervera y Topete, Colección de documentos referente a la Escuadra de Operaciones de las Antillas, Ferrol, Imprenta de El Correo Gallego, 1899; V. Concas y Palau, La escuadra del almirante Cervera, Madrid, Librería San Martín, 1899; D. de la Válgoma, y el baron de Finestrat, Real Compañía de Guardia Marinas y Colegio Naval, t. VI, Madrid, Instituto Histórico de la Marina, 1943; C. Eulate Sanjurjo, Eulate, la España heroica y la América magnánima, Madrid, Editorial Naval, 1951 (Biblioteca de camarote 23 de la RGM); J. Llabrés, "Tertulia", in RGM (February 1968), miscellaneous 14.154, p. 206; G. J. A. O'Toole, The Spanish War, an American Epic 1898, London, W. W. Norton & Company, 1984; M. Hernández Sanchez-Barba, and M. Alonso Baquer (dirs.), Las Fuerzas Armadas Españolas, historia institucional y social, Madrid, Ed. Alhambra, 1985; J. Cervera Pery, La guerra naval del 98, Madrid, Editorial San Martín, 1998; E. de Diego, "La política de la Restauración en Ultramar", in VV. AA., Visiones de Ultramar del 98 (XVIII Jornadas de Historia Marítima), Madrid, Instituto de Historia y Cultura Naval, 1998 (cuad. monogr. n.º 32).

Relations between the United States and Spain were already strained over Cuba when the battleship USS Maine mysteriously exploded in Havana Harbor on February 15, 1898. Spain had been accused of cruelly crushing rebels in its Cuba and Philippine colonies, and newspapers across the U.S. clamored for retribution.

The sinking of the Maine and the hysterical newspaper reports that followed led Congress to declare a state of war with Spain on April 21, 1898. Four days later, President William McKinley asked Oregon for a regiment of infantry, with a strong preference that the National Guard be used to fill the request. By May 11, Oregon had organized and mustered in the Second Regiment, Oregon U.S. Volunteer Infantry. On May 25, the regiment embarked at San Francisco and sailed for the Philippines. It was the first time that members of the Oregon National Guard fought on foreign soil.

Oregon units took part in the peaceful surrender of the island of Guam on June 21. The Oregon regiment then provided the first U.S. Army unit to land at the Philippines and the first unit to enter the Walled City of Manila. The regiment took part in the surrender of the Spanish army in Manila on August 13. On August 16, the war with Spain came to an end, and Oregon's regiment took up provost guard duty, playing the role of police in the city of Manila. But the Oregon Volunteers' service to the war was not yet over.

On February 4, 1899, Philippine insurgents attacked U.S. troops in Manila. For the next four months, Oregon troops fought in five campaigns and forty-two battles, engagements, and skirmishes. Sixteen Oregonians were killed in action or died of wounds, forty-eight died of other causes, and eighty-eight were wounded in action.

Three members of the regiment were awarded the Medal of Honor for heroism: Private Edward E. Lyon of Portland, Private Frank C. High of Jacksonville (later Ashland), and Private Marcus Robertson of Hood River. On May 13, 1899, Private Lyon, with eleven other scouts, charged over a distance of 150 yards and routed about 300 of the enemy. Three days later, the same scouts led an advance across a burning bridge and engaged more than 200 insurgents. Privates Robertson and High were cited for decisive action and teamwork during the engagement.

The regiment sailed for home on June 14, 1899. Before its departure, Major General H.W. Lawton told the soldiers: "You have nobly earned the reputation of being among the best soldiers of the American Army." Oregon National Guard troops returned to the Philippines in 1945 to help free the islands from Japanese occupation.