Omaha Daily Bee Newspaper, August 10, 1902, Page 29

National Society of the Army of the Philippines GENERAL IRVING ARMY OF THE HEN Dewey found himself master of Manila bay, but confronted on land by a hostile Spanish force he had no means of overcoming, he had laid the foundation for quite a chapter of history, not the least interest'ng paragraph of which has to do with the National Society cf the Army cf the Philippines. In order to make Dewey's work complete and effective, it was deemed necessary to send soldiers to supplement the naval forces in the archipelago, and then another glorious page in the record of Amer.can arms was written. It's a queer looking thing, often mis- taken for a target trophy, with its two circular centers of red. surrounded by bands GENERAL HALE IN.THE FIELD— Taken Near Blockhouse No. 6§ in February, 1899. of blue and white, but it’s a badge of which thousands of brave young men are proud, becanse it denotes that they have fol- lowed Old Gic ry beyond seas, have faced leath in ewamp and jungle, and have served their country faithfully as soldiers. It is he insignia of the Eighth army corps, callel 'nto existence when the government deé- 'érmined to take possession of the Spanish islands of the East. This corps was com- posed almost wholly of vo'unteers, and maluly of volunteers from the west, and HALE PRESIDENT NATIONAL SOCIETY OF THE PHILIPPINES. for this reason is very dear to the pecple of the west, who watched with persona interest for months the news from faraway Manila. From June, 1898, to August, 1899, the history of the corps is the history of the volunteers. Volunteers stormed the trenches, threcaded the morasses and pene- trated the jungles. Volunteers captured the blockhcuses, the forts and the towns and drove Aguinaldo's ferces back and back and back, until they fled, broken into small bands, to the mountains and wilderness. It was volunteer blocd that drenched the rice paddies, and it was volunteer dead that hallowed the soil of the island of Luzon. Soldiers of the regular army have had their share in the ‘warfare that followed before the pacification of the islands, but they came after the volunteers, and, while their reccrd is no less valorous and thei- deeds were wrought with the same high purpese in view, it is not probable that the people will ever cease to think first of the voiunteer when the Filipino insurrection is recalled. At the beginning of the Spanish war the prospect was that all land battles would be fought in Cuba and consequently every effort was set in that direction. Only one regi- ment of the regular army was left on the Pacific coast when the news came from Dewey in Manila bay, the Fourteenth in- fantry, under command of Colonel Thomas N. Anderson. Colonel Anderson was made brigadier general of volunteers and given command of the Department of the Pacific, and the mobilization of volunteer regiments at San Francisco was hastily commenced. On May 20 Major General Elwell 8. Otis, U. 8. V., assumed command at San Fran- cisco, and on the next day General Anderson was assigned to command the first expe- dition to the Philippines. This was the beginning. In a few days Major General Wesley Merritt, U. 8, A., assumed com- mand at San Francisco, and from that time on events moved rapidly. In the first expedition, which sailed from San Francisco May 25, 1898, Brigadier Gen- eral Anderson in command, were 158 officers and 2,386 men. These were the Second Ore- gon and the First California volunteer in- fantry, a detachment of Batteiries A and D, California volunteer artillery, and Compa- nies A, C, D, E and ¥, Fourteenth infantry, U, 8. A. In additien were the usual com- plement of staff officers, hospital corps and the like. On June 15 the second expedition salled, and from this time cn the ferry across the Pacific was busy, until November 3, 1898, when there had been sent on five expeditions 919 officers and 21,410 men of all arms of the service. At that time, when it appeared that peace was soon to be de- clared, the sending of men to the islands was discontinued, and no more were ordered acrcss until the outbreak of the insurrec- ticn The vclunteer regiments in service in the Philippines were: First California, First C.lorado, First Idaho, Fifty-first Iowa, Twentieth Kansas, Thirteenth Minnesota, First Montana, First Nebraska, First North Dakcta, Second Oregon, Tenth Pennsylvania, First South Dakota, First Tennessee, First Washington, First Wyoming, all infantry; Patteries A and B, Utah Light artillery, California battery and Astor battery. Of the rigular army the Fou:teenth, Bighteenth CAPTAIN ) S JAMES COSGRAVE FIRST NEBRASKA, LINCOLN, TREASURER SOCIETY OF ARMY OF THE PHILIPPINES. LIEUTENANT DONALD MACRAE, JR., FIFTY-FIRST I0WA, COUNCIL BLUFFS—PRESIDENT LOCAL 8O- CIETY ARMY OF THE PHILIP- PINES. and Twenty-third infantry, the Fourth cavalry and the Third artillery had been sent across. On August 1 Major General Merritt issued the first order organizing the Second division of the Eighth army corps and forming it into b:igades. Brigadier General Anderson was a signed to command of the division. The first brigade was under command of G:neral Arthur MacArthur and was com- posed of the Twenty-third infantry, U, 8, A., two battalions; one battalion of the Four- teenth infantry, U. 8. A.; the Thirteenth Minnesota, the First Idaho, the First North Dakota, the First Wyoming and the Astor battery. Brigadier General F. V. Greene had command of the Second brigade, and urder him were two battalions of the Elght- eenth infantry and four batteries of the Third artillery, U. 8. A.; a company of en- glneers and the First California, the First Colorado, the First Nebraska, the Tenth Pennsylvania and Light Batteries A and B of the Utah artillery. The Second Oregon and California battery were ordered to re- port to the officer in command of the di- vi~‘on It was on this Second division of the Eighth army corps that the brunt of the fighting in the Philippines prior to the withdrawa! of the volunteers fell. Under Gene als MacArthur and Greene these two brigades led the assault on Manila when that city was taken on August 13. When the friction with Aguinaldo and his band of insurgents became intense it was this division that had the positions guarding the city, and when the hostilities became active it was this division that took the hardest part of the work. Brigadier Gen- eral Irving Hale, who went out as colonel of the First Colorado, succeeded General Greene in command of the Second brigade, and directed its operations up till the vol- unteers were ordered to Manila to prepare for return home. He commanded in the advance to Malolos and from there to C2lumpit and fFan Fernando. The arrival of more troops after the fall of Manila made some change in the composition of the Second division. Major General Mac- Arthur succeeded Major General Anderson in command and Brigadier General Harri- son QGrey Otis succeeded * General Mac- Arthur in command of the First brigade. At the time of the outbreak the First brigade consisted of the Twentieth Kansas, the First Montana and the Tenth Pennsyl. vania volunteer infantry and the Third artillery, U. 8. A. The Second brigade had the First Colorado, the First Nebraska, the First South Dakota and the Utah artillery. This organization was not again disturbed. A histery of this divizion’s operations is a history of the campaign in Luzon up till the relief of the volunteers by the regulars in June, July and August of 1899. It is a story of men who fought their way foot by foot from Manila to San Fernando, MAJOR GENERAL ARTHUR MACARTHUR, U. 8. A,, WHO WILL BE THE GUEST OF THE NATIONAL fOCIETY OF THE ARMY OF THE PHILIPPINES AT COUNCIL BLUFFE. wading swamps, swimming rivers, breaking th'ns across 1ice paddies, overcoming ap- parently insurmountable difficulties; the firing line always advancing and always a day at least ahead of the commissary, until the men were almost starved; of seeing comrades stricken by fever or ball, of struggling on under the blazing sun or the drenching rain of the troples, always upborne by that indomitable spirit whizh has ever imbued the American soldier, until the object sought had been achieved. And when the president said, “It s enough; come home,” the hardships c¢f the cam- palgn were forgotten in the anticipations of the reunion with the home folks. And what a reunicn that .was! It began et the Goldcn Gate, ard it d!dn’t end unt!l SUMNER KNOX, FIFTY-FIRST IOWA, COUNCIL BLUFFS — SECRETARY LOCAL BOCIETY ARMY OF THE PHILIPPINES, every man of the volunteer regiments of the Eighth army corps had beén made to feel that he was indeed welcome home, Nothing could more forcibly express the sentiments of the American people toward the volunteer soldier than the demonstra- tions which greeted the several regiments at their homes. It was during this time of jubilation that the National Soclety of the Army of the Philippines was born. General Irving Hale, Lieutenant Colonel Moses of the First Colorado, Majors Ander- son and La Selle api*other officers of the same regiment were li\terrnled in its for- mation, and after calling a ‘meeting of members of the regiment in I)énver, ad- dressed themselves to officers and men of other rexlmenu" and the society was soon well under way.” Its first reunion was held at Denver in 1801, Its second will be held at Counc’l Bluffs, beginning on Wednes- day. It will bring together many of the men who fought side by side in the mo- jungles and trenches of the Philip- , and many who have won high names in the annals by reason of their comnec- tion with the Bighth army corps. For th's the life of this corps was far more prolific of that which brings men to light than any engaged in the Cuban end of the cam- paign. The major genera’s who were con- nected with the Eighth army corps were Wesley Merritt, Elwell 8. Ot's, Thomas N. Anderson, Arthur MacArthur, H. W. Law- ton, Henry C. Merriam. Brigadier Generals Lloyd Wheaton, Charles King, Francis V. Greene, Harrison Grey Otis and Marcus P, Miller commanded brigadcs in.the corps, and Brigadier Generals Irving Hale, Fred- erick Funston, Owen Summers, James F. Smith, Harry C. Kessler, C. McC. Reeve and John H. Wholley, who went out as colonels, won their star in the juangles of Luzon. e, While talking cf lfia howecoming” of the volunteers, here's a story from the, Presidio that has never been in print. . If; you meet Lieutenant “Bill” Sweeney of, the First Colorado at the reunion he cap tell who the go'dier is. He is a tall young man from Alabama, but served with the Kipst Colorado, When the volunteers were quartered at Camp Merritt on the way out the good women of San Francisco put in their time making the boys comfortable, Each ‘“‘adopted’” a number of the youngsters, and each to her gsquad was known as “mother.”” This incident occurred on the evening the First Colorado reached the Presidio on its return, The young soldier told the story: ‘“‘Yeh sve, ah hadn't had a good Christian drink of whiskey since we sailed from San Fran, an’ so when a fellah met me and mah bunkie down heah by the cook house and handed me a half- pint of good ol’ cohn likker, ah felt like ah was home again, suah. Ah hands the bottle to mah bunkie an’' says, ‘Afteh you, seh.' Mah bunkie says ‘how,’ and takes his share an’ hands the bottle back to me. An' ah stands theh, wipin' off the mouth of that bottle an’ thinkin' how good that cohn juice’s goin’' to taste an’ ah heah's someone say, ‘Oh, theh's that little southun boy,' an’ ah' turns round an’ theh's mah mothuh. An' I jest draps thet bottle an’ the good ol' lady she hugs me like ah was heh own boy an' that cohn likker soake into the sand.” Comes from Cleveland Washington Times: Prof. Elliott, an Ohlo sclentist, was before the ways and means committee some time ago speaking upon the subject of the preservation of the fur seals of Alaska. In the course of his statement sentative Tawney asked his business was. “I am a pomologist, a horticulturist, viti- culturist, an artist, and a naturalist,” re- plied the professor. The reply staggered the Minnesota rep- resentative for a moment, and then he said: *Oh, I understand, you come from Cleveland; that explains it.” A Ready Financier Wiashiugton Star: “Release clafthed the American woman, “Tes Wopidn't be business,” answered the European outlew, gently, but firmly “But you are wasting your time. I have no rich relatives who can pay my ransom." “That is all right. I'nn keep you in cap- tivity long enough to secure a sufficient measure of publicity and then take a mort- gage on the receipts of your lecture tour." Repre- the witness what me!” ex-