Spanish American War Monument in Omaha

This past weekend I visited a local monument to the veterans of the Spanish American War here in Omaha, Nebraska. The monument and two period cannons are on display near the front gate at Westlawn-Hillcrest Cemetery located at 57th and Center Street. The monument is an impressive granite marker with some rather elaborate engraved details and an attached brass plaque. The two cannons are actually reproductions constructed by students from a local high school. There were also several grave markers for Spanish American War veterans, but I will have to go back in the spring because too many of them were covered with ice and snow. Overall it is an impressive memorial to the veterans of a bygone era and a forgotten war.

The Third Nebraska Volunteers

The Third Nebraska Volunteer Infantry served as part of the occupation force in Cuba following the Spanish American War. The Third Nebraska originally was intended to serve in Cuba as part of Major General William Shafter’s Fifth Corps. However, the unit served as part of Fitzhugh Lee’s Seventh Corps instead. The Third Nebraska was raised in the second call for volunteers, and was mustered into service between July 1 and July 17, 1899 at Omaha, Nebraska. At the time of mustering in, the unit consisted of forty offices and 1,274 enlisted men. The colonel of the regiment was none other than William Jennings Bryan, who had run against William McKinley for the presidency.

The Third Nebraska was not involved in any of the major battles but would have faced the dangers of illness and disease, serving in camp in the U.S. and as part of the occupation force in Cuba. The unit was encamped at Camp Cuba Libre in Jacksonville, Florida while the war was ongoing. The fighting ended less than a month after the Third was mustered into service, when an armistice was set in place on August 12, 1898.

The Third Nebraska departed for Cuba on December 30, 1898, twenty days after the Treaty of Paris was signed, ending the war. The unit arrived in Cuba on New Years Day, 1899. The Third Nebraska served in Cuba until April 7, 1899, arriving back in the U.S. five days later.

The Third Nebraska Volunteer Infantry was mustered out of service on May 11, 1899 at Augusta, Georgia. At the time of mustering out, the unit consisted of fifty-five offices and 1,251 enlisted men. During its term of service the unit had one officer and thirty-one enlisted men die of disease. In addition, twenty men were discharged on disability, one man was court-martialed and three men deserted.

This regimental history is courtesy of the Spanish American War Centennial Website which you can visit at www.spanamwar.com.

The Fightin' First Nebraska

The First Nebraska Volunteer Infantry was mustered into service on May 9 and 10, 1898 at Lincoln, Nebraska. At the time of muster-in, the unit consisted of fifty-one officers and 983 enlisted men. On May 16, the regiment left Lincoln for San Francisco, where it arrived three days later. The First Nebraska was assigned to the Third Independent Brigade or the Philippine Expeditionary Force

On June 15, the regiment steamed for the Philippines in fragments aboard the transports ARIZONA, PENNSYLVANIA, MORGAN CITY and SENATOR where it arrived on July 17. Here the regiment was assigned to the Second Independent Brigade of the 8th Army Corps. The First Nebraska took its place in the trenches at Malate, and took part in the attack on Manila that resulted in its surrender on August 13, 1898. By coincidence, an armistice was reached with Spain on the same day, ending the fighting. On October 14th the regiment was reassigned to the First Brigade, Second Division of the 8th Corps, being transferred to the Second Brigade on December 11, the day after the Treaty of Paris was signed, formally ending the war.

The regiment remained in the vicinity of Manila and participated in the defense of the city when the Philippine American War began on February 4, 1899. The First Nebraska captured the Manila pumping station on February 6, and between that date and May 4 went on to be involved in engagements at Mariquina, San Francisco, Polo and Meycauayan, Marilao, Santa Maria and Bigaa, Guiguinto, Malolos, Quingua and Pulilan, Bagbag River, Calumpit, and Santo Tomas. From May 21 to June 22, the regiment was in the barracks at Malate and the trenches San Pedro Macati.

On July 1, 1899, the First Nebraska left the Philippines for the United States aboard the transport HANCOCK (formerly the transport ARIZONA), arriving on July 29, 1899. The unit was mustered out of service on August 23, 1899 at San Francisco, California. At the time of muster out, the unit consisted of forty-five officers and 842 enlisted men.

During its term of service, the First Nebraska lost two officers killed in battle with another officer dying from wounds received in battle. Ten other officers were wounded in battle. In addition nineteen enlisted men were killed in battle with thirteen additional men succumbing to wounds received in battle, and 153 others wounded. Twenty-eight enlisted men died of disease, one man drowned and two men deserted. In total, eleven officers and 166 enlisted men were wounded in battle.

The regiment won renown for splendid service in the Philippine Islands, and grateful citizens of Nebraska, individually, and by municipal, business, and other associations, 159 subscriptions in all, advanced the sum of $40,342.75 to pay the expense of transporting its members to their homes in the state. David E. Thompson, of Lincoln, subscribed $20,000 and William J. Bryan, of Lincoln, $1,250. The legislature of 1901 made an appropriation for refunding to the subscribers $36,315.45, the amount expended. Regiments of other states which served in the Philippines were treated in a like generous manner. The legislature also appropriated the sum of $11,000 for the purpose of paying $37.50 to each of the members of the regiment who had been mustered out of service on account of disability and had come home before the regiment was mustered out. The legislature of 1899 appropriated $2,000 to be expended by the governor "for the relief, aid and comfort of the sick and wounded soldiers now members of the First and Third regiments in the Philippine Islands and in the Island of Cuba." The Second and Third regiments suffered unduly from disease, caused by bad sanitary conditions, which seem to be incident to lack of experience and discipline on the part of both officers and men in the volunteer service in the early period of our wars. These regiments were disappointed because they had no chance to fight; but if opportunity had occurred they would have proved themselves as valorous and efficient as their envied contemporaries of the First regiment. All of these regiments were of superior quality, and the considerable number of men who had been in the State University battalion measurably improved their discipline and morale. Colonel John M. Stotsenburg was the heroic, and most considerable figure among the soldiers of Nebraska in the war with Spain. He was killed in action at Quingua, Luzon, April 23, 1899, and was honored with burial in the national cemetery at Arlington Heights. Colonel Stotsenburg was professor of military science and tactics in the University of Nebraska when the war began, and many of the cadets joined his regiment.

This regimental history is courtesy of the Spanish American War Centennial Website which you can visit at www.spanamwar.com.