On February 15, 1898, the United States battleship Maine blew up in the harbor of Havana, Cuba. Cuba, along with Puerto Rico and the Philippine Islands in the Pacific, was part of the decaying colonial empire of Spain. Three hundred years before, Spain had been the richest and most powerful nation in Europe. But now she stood in stark contrast to the young United States, just beginning to flex its muscles as a world power.
After the United States declared war on Spain, there was such a "rush to the colors" that thousands of men had to be turned away from the recruiting centers. Because it was decided that the President did not have the legal right to "federalize" the militia, National Guard units had to volunteer as individuals. But unit integrity was maintained: units were sworn in as individuals (often taking the oath en masse), and then kept their previous structure by reelecting their officers and Non-Commissioned Officers. 164,932 Guardsmen from every state entered federal service in this way.
Logistical Problems The Spanish-American War was a logistical nightmare. Volunteers were collected together in hastily-built tent cities, but the Regular Army was too small to have any apparatus for training, arming, feeding, or clothing them. Medical supplies were lacking, which became a critical problem when diseases broke out in the unsanitary camps. Wool uniforms were issued for wear in the tropics, and the Guardsmen were issued single-shot, black-powder Springfield rifles which betrayed the firer's position with every puff of smoke. When the troops bound for Cuba reached their embarkation point at Tampa, Florida, there were not enough ships to carry them all to Cuba.
Victories in the Caribbean Initial expeditionary forces of approximately 17,000 men each eventually reached Cuba and Puerto Rico. The best-publicized unit in either force was a volunteer unit partly recruited from Texas and New Mexico Guardsmen, the First United States Volunteer Cavalry , better known as the "Rough Riders." Led by Lieutenant Colonel (and later President) Theodore Roosevelt, a former New York National Guard officer, the Rough Riders made their famous charge (up Kettle Hill, not San Juan Hill) on foot, because there was not enough room in the transports to ship their horses to Cuba.
The Spanish defenders put up a spirited defense, but the United States victory in these campaigns was never in doubt. Disease took a far greater toll than Spanish bullets or artillery; malaria, yellow fever, and typhoid (the biggest killer) were epidemic.
Guerrilla War in the Philippines Although not widely perceived by the American public in 1898, the real importance of the Spanish-American War was in launching the United States as a colonial power in the Far East. Admiral George Dewey and his fleet defeated the Spanish navy in the Battle of Manila Bay without a single United States casualty, and a land force was quickly assembled in San Francisco to follow up on Dewey's victory.
The National Guard played a tremendous role in taking and holding the Philippine Islands. Most of the 25,000-man Regular Army was in the Caribbean, so three-quarters of the initial 5,000 troops which sailed from San Francisco were Guardsmen from the Western states. The next increment of 5,000 was composed largely of National Guard units from the Midwest.
These Guardsmen found themselves in a kind of combat no American army had ever experienced, or been trained for. The Spanish surrendered Manila after only a token show of resistance. But that was only the beginning: next came a guerrilla war, fought in the jungle and savannah, against an ideologically-committed enemy.
The ideologically-committed enemy were Filipino freedom-fighters, bitterly disappointed that the United States, after taking the Philippines from the Spanish, annexed the islands instead of granting them independence. In February 1899, the Filipino insurgents attacked the United States lines around Manila. After securing the city against further attack, the United States troops began operations to defeat the rebels in the countryside, their natural base of operations.
The insurgents were a formidable enemy. They were organized (they had been fighting the Spanish, just as the Cubans had); they knew the terrain and were used to the tropical climate; their leaders were Westernized and well-educated. But when the rank-and-file Insurrectos ambushed American troops in the jungle they used the traditional bolo, a large machete which could literally cut a man to pieces.
The Americans first had to take and hold the larger Filipino towns and villages. From these not-always-secure bases they then fanned out in search of the enemy. The guerrillas were elusive, and, just as in Vietnam 60-odd years later, it was often dif ficult to separate the Insurrectos from peaceful villagers. One veteran from the 1st South Dakota Volunteer Infantry recalled ". . . the natives would just take off their uniforms and put on ordinary white peasant clothes . . .you never knew when one would start shooting from behind."
The United States troops coped with this unfamiliar type of warfare, but, just as in the Caribbean campaigns, disease was the most lethal enemy. By the end of the first year in the Philippines, National Guard units were decimated by various illnesses. Typhoid fever alone killed 1,900 the first year.
The Regulars Take Over As the months of fighting dragged one, cries were heard back in the various states to bring their Guard units home. The troops seconded the emotion: after all, they had enlisted to avenge the Maine, not to conduct search-and-destroy missions in the Philippine jungles. The Army hierarchy realized that the insurrection was liable to drag on for years, and was more properly a task for Regulars. But the Army received authority to recruit from among soon-to-be-demobilized Guard units, and two regiments of infantry and one of cavalry were raised from Guardsmen who found life in the tropics exciting.
Despite the difficulties of fighting in a strange environment, the 13,000 Guardsmen who served in the Philippines acquitted themselves well. National Guard units had bome the brunt of the first year's fighting. Some units spent four months in the line--a long time in jungle warfare. Perhaps more than any other major campaign in American history, the success of the first year's fighting in the Philippines belongs to the National Guard.
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