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About The Butte Miner (Butte, Mont.) 18??-1928 | View This Issue
The Butte Miner (Butte, Mont.), 24 Oct. 1899, located at <http://montananewspapers.org/lccn/sn84024810/1899-10-24/ed-1/seq-3/>, image provided by MONTANA NEWSPAPERS, Montana Historical Society, Helena, Montana.
Miner. w v w w v w w v v w y . / 7 /oniana in the W a r \AAAAAAAVM, W H EN the tocsin of war was sounded geographical and sectional lines were forgotten and as a unit the people of the United States responded to the call. Obedient to the decree of congress that Cuba should be free the president issued his call for national volunteers to aid the cause and in a day, as it were, there stood an arm y of Am erican soldiers ready for the conflict. Numerically, it was not a great army, but it was all that was considered necessary for the purpose. In morale it was the equal of any arm y that was ever enlisted to uphold the honor of its country. The w a r cry was but the culmination of a series o f rumblings low and deep that had for a long period been passing through the land. The wrongs and su f ferings, and heroic efforts of the Cuban peo ple had made a deep impression and aroused the sense of justice in the American heart and thousands were ready to go to their as sistance when opportunity offered. Treaties, diplom a cy and international law stood as a barrier and protected Spain for a time from the cloud of wrath that was gathering. Sud denly and unexpectedly more than 200 Am er ican sailors found watery graves in H avana harbor, the victim of a treacherous act of a treacherous people. The echo of that fateful blast was in a second reverberated through out the nation and there was a demand upon those in authority for retribution stern, prom pt and exacting. The answer of the ad ministration was the Cuban proclamation, but behind it, responsible for it and mightier than the appeal for struggling Cuba, was the universal defiant cry “ Rem ember the Maine.” The cry annihilated space, it was heard in the Rockies the same instant it was on seaboard and the hearts of mountain men throbbed with the same spirit and their pulses beat with the same quickened indigna tion as did those of the Atlantic men. Troops were needed said the national ex ecutive and to Montana was accorded the privilege of furnishing one regiment. That was no test o f the loyalty and patriotism of the Montana men. H ad It have been five regiments instead o f one they would have sprung into existence as speedily as names could have been enrolled. There were at the time nine organized com panies of the Na tional guard in the state, three were added in a day and hundreds who were eager to en list were turned away disappointed. It was a splendid exhibition of the timbre of our men and let it here be mentioned that though so far removed from the seacoast and the na tional capital, the First Regiment, Montana volunteers, was the first to be mustered into the service under the call, and it was not the fault of the organization that the oath was not administered to the members days earlier than it was. The men were ready and anxi ous but there were official delays for which they were not responsible. But the men of the First were not the only ones in the state w h o sought to do their duty. There were others and after pleading for the opportunity to serve their country four troops of cavalry were permitted to be enlisted, and follow ing them a large contingent was furnished to the engineer corps and a respectable number entered that highly important branch of the army, the signal corps. W h o were these men that were to represent the sovereign state of Montana in camp and field? E lse where will be found the roster, rather the roll of honor. They were o f no special class, sect or nation ality, but each one was a Montana man. Many were from the fertile valleys, some from the mountain tops, others from the deeps o f the mine, and still others from the vast plains. There were ranchers and miners and articans: merchants forsook their business, pro fessional men turned over their clients and patients to others, clerks resigned their positions, newspaper men caught the inspiration and clergymen were not found wanting. It was a goodly array and typical and characteristic of Montana. A resort must be made to figures to show the feel ing that pervaded the citizens of this state. The proclamation of the President calling for troops was issued April 23, 1898. A t that time the strength of the National guard, including officers and the three branches of the service, artillery, cavalry and infan try, was 686 men. These almost to a man at once sig nified their readiness to respond, but others were needed and on May 4, 1898, the state executive issued his call for one regiment of infantry and a squadron, four troops of cavalry. So eager was the answer that on May 9, the infantry regiment was mustered in at Helena with 50 officers and 988 men, and let it be re membered that it was the first volunteer regiment that was mustered in under the call. The cavalry con tingent was equally prompt for Troop A of Butte was mustered in May 10, and three days later Troop F of Missoula, Troop I o f Miles City and Troop M of Bil lings were mustered in at Helena, the total of the squadron rank and file being 337 men. Those were all that the governm ent would accept from Montana, though four times the number stood anxious to don the blue, and behind and about them stood a united populace of relatives, friends and fel- low -citizens who applauded their patriotism and whose actions showed that they were satisfied \the honor of the state had been entrusted in good hands and that the Montana volunteers would give a good account of themselves. W h o is there today who is not satisfied with the accounting given and the record made. The exegencies of war, the call of duty separated the bands. The riders were headed for Cuba and GENERAL H. C. KESSLER reached the fever infected district of Camp Chicka- mauga, and there for five long m onths they remained inactive battling with disease, a worse enemy than the Spaniards. It was not allowed that they should show their courage on the battle field, but by their conduct in camp, by their drill and descipline by their splendid bearing they won deserved praise from those in com mand as well as from their com rades of other states. A t Camp Chickam a u ga the Montana rough rider was a synom for the ideal soldier. There was another fate in store for infantry. On M ay 24, 1898, they started for the setting sun and after remaining on the coast until July 18, they set sail for Manila. Their deeds are history. From that Feb- rurary morning when they were rushed to the front until the day they returned to Manila long after their term of service had expired they floated the Montana flag side by side with the national emblem at every point on every field in the fateful campaign. In the advance, on the firing line, in the trench, they were found exam p lars of Montana manhood. W h ere there was danger there was the Montana flag, and under it the Montana hearts of oak. The service was ardu ous, the danger great, but when called upon there was neither murmur nor falter and in action they never knew defeat nor did their bugles ever sound re treat. They were soldier3 in the full sense of the word. They carried no buglemen to exaggerate their deeds and the regular dispatches failed to do them justice. In the flaming war stories they m a y not have gained so much notoriety as others but when m eas ured by the cold facts and weighed in the im p a rtial scales of those w h o were in superior com mand, their record stands unequalled. It can be summed up in a sentence, \D u ty faithfully and fearlessly perform ed.” T o attempt to single out any as deserving of spec ial mention mould be an injustice to their fellows. In the Montana regim ent there was but one degree of loyalty and courage—that was the superlative. It permeated officers and men alike. They defied the disease laden clim ate, endured the heat, were im pervious to rains, and became in due time reckless o f the song o f the Mauser bullet as during day and night it hutled am ong them sent on its errand of death by a treacherous foe. They learned to sleep in w a ter and march in mud, but they also learned to pay back the enem y in kind and w ith interest. W h ether a stockade was to be storm ed or a rifle pit charged the “ Montana yell” was head above the rattle of M on tana musketry and while one struck terror the other carried death to. the sem i-savages. N o m a tter w h a t the order, it was obeyed with alacrity and with success. It was the grit and discipline o f the regiment that kept it in the post o f danger. Those w h o were directing affairs knew that it could be relied upon and for that reason its services were alw a y s in de mand when daring w ork w a s to be done. It never faltered, it never failed. Incidents showing the grit of the boys are numerous but one will suffice. It was at the battle o f Caloocan, and the regim ent was w ell in the lead of the troops, when one of General M c Arthur’s aides rode up to Colonel Kessler and said: “ The generals com plim ents, but your regim ent is in advance o f the firing line and it is supposed to be in the reserve.” The instantaneous response w a s: “ M y com p li ments to the general and tell him to bring up his firing line.” The aide departed and the Montana regim ent did not fall back. This record was not, however, secured ^ without cost. W h ile M ontana honors and re spects her living heroes she doubly honors and mourns those who are dead, and has a full mead of praise for those who were maimed by bullets or emaciated by disease. It is the fate of w a r that many brave boys must fall. To some som e it was decreed that their lives should end on the field amid the scenes of carnage and the excitem ent of bat tle. To others the sum mons cam e through wounds received, and for others it was or dained that wasting disease, prolonged through w e a ry days of suffering and pain should carry them to the great beyond. It matters not in which shape the sum mons came each of them died in the line of duty as becomes a soldier. W h ile with mournful pride their far-aw a y graves will be laurelled and their sacrafices held in loyal rem em brance, M ontana offers to the bereaved rela tives o f its dead heroes all the respectful sympathy that their gried demands. It was 18 months ago that to the strains of martial music and with martial tread the boys marched en route to the field of con flict. On that bright May m orning they were escorted, cheered and ovated by their fellow - citizens. In return they promised that they would do their whole duty and that by no act of theirs should the fair fame of the com m on- done more than they promised, they have done more than they promised, they had added lustre to the name of the state. Their course has been watched with solicitude and pride. D u ring the irksom e days o f cam p life, on land and water, on the bloody field they have been follow e d with loyal loving hopes and fears and to their glory it can be said they have exceeded anticipations, in no place and under no circum stances have they been found wanting. A s on their departure they were bade Godspeed so on this day of their return M ontana with loud and universal acclaim bids them a joyous welcom e. The reception tendered them on this the occasion of their return is an earnest o f the esteem in which they are held by the people o f Butte and of the state o f Montana. That they are deserving of it is what makes the dem onstration doubly acceptable. In no m a tter what sphere of life the lot of a man is cast the consciousness of duty well perform ed is the best re ward and next to that is the com m endation of those whose praise or censure is w orthy of consideration. On this festive occasion there is no division of sentiment. All Butte sincerely shouts approval and its voice is but the echo of that of the state. To our glad acclaim there is no dissent, and coupled with it is the earnest wish that as they have shown themselves courageous in the field they will return to the avocations of peace and again settle down to good citizenship. That they m ay do this the helping hand of the business men and employers in all sections of the state should, and there can be little doubt, will be prom p tly extended.
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