3rd Georgia Volunteer Infantry

The Spanish-American War started April 21, 1898. On April 23, the President called for 125,000 volunteers. A second call was made May 25 for another 75,000 men. The call was at first confined to existing units but was then issued to the citizens at large. Members of existing units were the first to be accepted and organized. The Spanish American War Memorial was erected in 1931 by the United Spanish War Veterans and auxiliaries of Savannah Georgia. The memorial is located on Bull Street at Park Avenue. It consists of a heroic scale bronze statue of a soldier - typically called the "Hiker", mounted on a stone pedestal. Bronze Inscriptional plaques are mounted at the sides of the monument. The 3rd Georgia Regiment was the only one to go to Cuba as a distinctively Georgia organization. Company K, commanded by Henry Kolshorn of the German Volunteers, an old Savannah militia company, was composed of about fifty Savannahians.

3rd Georgia Volunteer Infantry 1898

3rd U.S. Volunteers - Ray's Immunes
Compiled by Eileen Babb McAdams, copyright 2008
Data source: Atlanta Constitution, May 5, 1899 ; April 22, 1899

A big thank you goes to Eileen Babb McAdams for us of this material. We have abstracted it to fit our format. Background:
The 3rd U.S. Volunteers - "Ray's Immunes" were commanded by Colonel Patrick Henry Ray organized the 3rd U.S. Volunteers under the immune act. The recruits were mostly from Georgia, South Carolina, Florida and Alabama. These men were chosen because they were from the South and thus thought immune from Yellow Fever which they would encounter. The regiment mustered into service June 1898 in Camp Price, Macon, Georgia. They arrived at Santiago, Cuba about August 18, 1898. The 3rd .S. Volunteers received the surrender of Spanish garrisons in the province of Santiago except in the city of Santiago. The 3rd Volunteers arrived home in Macon, Georgia on April 8, 1899. They paraded to Ocmulgee Park. They were assigned to Camp Fornance located at Ocmulgee Park on the north side of Macon, north of Vineville. Many were ill and some died from disease contracted in Cuba. The regiment was mustered out May 2, 1899.