OHIO IN THE
SPANISH AND PHILIPPINE WAR.
THOMAS M. ANDERSON.
Few can fulfill Pliny's motto: "To
do what deserves to be
written. To write what deserves to be
read."
Great generals are nearly always able
administrators, and
have often proved themselves great
statesmen. The ability to
command and to administer go together,
but few military com-
manders have wielded equally well the
sword and pen. Julius
Caesar, "The foremost man of all
the world," was at once a great
orator, author and warrior. Grant, a
great soldier, wrote an un-
pretentious memoir of his life, which
may survive as long as
Caesar's Commentaries. Sherman was a
great soldier and elo-
quent talker. Napoleon, the greatest
military genius, was a poor
writer, but a great administrator. But a
combination of brilliant
intellectual faculties is not always
united with the gift of ex-
pression.
Yet even an ordinary soldier may
"narrate a plain unvarn-
ished tale," and when he can do
justice to comrades living or
dead, he should try to write what
deserves to be read on their
account.
At the outbreak of the Spanish War, Wm.
McKinley, an
Ohio soldier, was President of the
United States, and Com-
mander-in-Chief of our army and navy.
Another Ohio soldier
was Adjutant General of the Army. As it
has always happened
to us, we were unprepared for war, and
the burden of prepara-
tion and organization fell upon these
two men. Ohio did not
seem to play so conspicuous a part in
our war with Spain, and
its corrollary the Philippine
Insurrection as in the Civil War.
The contest did not last long enough,
nor was it severe enough
to test the mettle of our soldiers or
the ability of our officers,
yet the promptness with which our forces
were gotten to the
front was remarkable, and reflected
great credit on the two men
upon whom the responsibility rested.
(551)
552 Ohio Arch. and Hist.
Society Publications.
In appointing general officers, the
President selected among
the first, Generals Keifer, Lawson,
Chaffee, Anderson, Garrison
and Ernest, of Ohio.
The first battle of the war, El Cane,
was won by Gen. Law-
son, who carried, after a stubborn
resistence, a strongly forti-
fied position. Lawson commanded a
division which bore its part
in the second day's fight at San Juan
Hill, and the subsequent
siege of Santiago.
After Spain sued for peace he was
transferred to the Phil-
ippines and put in command of the 1st
Division of the 8th Army
Corps, which he led with marked ability
and success. Neither
intense heat nor tropical storms stopped
his ceaseless attacks on
the enemy. Over miles of swamps and
almost impenetrable jun-
gles he led the way in person. In a
desperate battle at Zopote
river he won a decided victory, and a
little later, like the great
Turrence, he sacrificed his life in an
unimportant combat. In
Indian wars in the United States he
proved himself a natural
born partizan leader, and in his
campaigns in Luzon showed that
he was a daring and skillful general.
Genl. Anderson, another Ohio soldier,
led our first expedi-
tion to Luzon, and raised the first
American flag on its shores.
He directed the first land attack on
Manila, and as a division
commander won battles at Santana, Pasay
and Guadalupe
Church. These engagements and those of
McArthur on the
north of the Pasig were the only ones in
which the American
troops sustained any considerable loss.
But the enemy lost three
thousand men and nearly all their
artillery.
There were no Ohio regiments in these
engagements, but
there were four Ohio officers on the
staff of the 1st Division,
8th Army Corps, Capt. C. C. Walcutt,
Chief Quartermaster;
Capt. Wm. Anderson, of Greenville,
Commissary of Subsistence;
Major W. E. Bickheimer, Judge Advocate;
and Capt. T. M.
Anderson, Jr., A. D. C.
The next native of Ohio to claim
attention is Genl. Fred.
Funston, a tireless campaigner and
energetic fighter. He is best
known as the captor of Aguinaldo.
Genl. Adna R. Chaffee was a Brigade
Commander in the
Santiago campaign, doing such excellent
service that he was
Ohio in the Spanish and Philippine
War. 553
made a Major General of Volunteers, and
put in command of
our contingent in the march to Pekin. He
bore a conspicuous
part in the capture of that city, and
was made a Major General
in the Regular Army without passing
through the grade of
Major General. He is now Lieut. General
and Chief of the Gen-
eral Staff.
The prompt mobilization and muster in of
twelve regiments
of the Ohio National Guard, and their
field service has been so
well told in the history of the State
Guard that it is needless to
repeat the story. It is sufficient to
say that the organizations and
the service were alike creditable. To
the deep disappointment
of the rest, only two of the members saw
active service in the
field. The 8th O. V. I. under Col. C. V.
Hart, reached Santi-
ago just too late to take part in the
seige, but in time to perform
its share of routine duty afterwards.
The 4th O. V. I. under Col.
Alonzo Coit, received its baptism
of fire in a combat at the Barrio de Las
Palmas, near Guayamas
in Porto Rico. Five of the command were
wounded. The whole
division under Genl. Brook then advanced
to attack the Spanish
forces at Cayey. Just as a battery of
the 4th Artillery, under
Capt. R. H. Anderson, who hails from the
Pickaway plains, had
opened fire, a mounted orderly brought a
dispatch announcing
the peace protocol. But a number of
Ohio's officers were more
fortunate. Maj. Genl. Keifer commanded a
division near Ha-
vana after the protocol and before the
confirmation of the treaty
Brig. Genl. Garretson commanded a
brigade in Porto Rico.
The following officers were made Brig.
Generals of Volunteers
for efficient service in the Spanish and
Philippine wars: Genl.
Wm. Sinclair, Genl. M. V. Sheridan,
Genl. Gilbert S. Carpenter
Genl. Jacob Smith, Genl. Chas. Hood,
Genl. A. S. Burt, Genl.
H. B. Freeman, Genl. Oswald Ernest,
Genl. G. M. Randall, Genl.
E. B. Atwood, Genl. J. C. Chance, Genl.
C. M. Miner, Genl. Funs-
ton already mentioned. Maj. Genl. Wade,
a son of old Ben
Wade, the Ajax of the anti-slavery
movement, is now in com-
mand in Manila.
Mike Sheridan, as he is familiarly known
in the army, is
a brother of Genl. Phil. Sheridan.
Generals Ernest, Smith and
Burt were all brigade commanders. The
first named in Porto
554 Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications. Rico, Smith in Samar and Burt in the Zambele Province in Luzon. General G. M. Randall is still in the service. Of all these Ohio generals, only two were graduated from the Military Aca- demy. The others, with the exception of Lieut. Genl. Chaffee, began their military careers in the volunteer service. The people of Ohio are not a warlike people. They prefer the arts of peace to the science of war. Yet those of her sons who have adopted the military profession seem to master its the- ories, acting on the principle that what is worth doing at all, is worth doing well. |
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