Alabama in the Spanish American War, Philippine Insurrection, and China Relief Expedition, February 15th, 1898, to July 4th, 1902

The State of Alabama

In The Spanish American War, February 15th, 1898, to July 4th, 1902

The following information is about the Volunteers and Government Officials of the State of Alabama during the Spanish American War, the Philippine Insurrection, and China Relief Expedition, February 15th, 1898, to July 4th, 1902. If you have any additional information, photographs, artifacts, etc., that you wish to contribute, feel free to submit the information to the Webmaster.

Timeline of Events	Government	Volunteers
Military Camps	Veterans Organizations	Memorials

Timeline of Events

April 23rd, 1898: President William McKinley issues a call for 125,000 volunteers, of this number Alabama is called upon to provide two volunteer regiments and one battalion of Infantry. At the start of the War with Spain Alabama�s military forces were organized under the title of the �Alabama National Guard� and was reported as having an authorized strength in April of 1898 at around 7,788 officers and men, in reality the number of men organized were only 2,471 officers and men, with another 165,000 liable for military duty. The National Guard was organized into one brigade, commanded by a Brigadier General, and consisted of three regiments of infantry, one battalion of artillery, and one squadron of cavalry, with the brigade headquarters being established in Birmingham. In April of 1898 they were organized as follows:

1st Cavalry Squadron

1st Artillery Battalion

1st Infantry Regiment

2nd Infantry Regiment

3rd Infantry Regiment

Separate Company, Colored Infantry

The staff for the National Guard consisted of an Adjutant General who acted as the Chief of Staff, an Inspector General, Judge Advocate General, Surgeon General, Chief of Engineers, Quartermaster Genera, Chief of Ordnance, Paymaster General, Commissary General of Subsistence, and an Inspector General of Rifle Practice, all of whom carried the rank of Colonel of Cavalry, and in addition to this was added an Assistant Adjutant General and four Aide-de-Camps who carried the rank of Lieutenant Colonel of Cavalry. Attached to the Alabama National Guard at the time was 1st Lieutenant Samuel G. Jones of the 5th U.S. Cavalry Regiment, he continued to serve with the Guard until June 30th, 1898, when he was relieved from that duty.

April 30th, 1898: Governor Johnston issues a call for volunteers.

May 6th, 1898: The 1st Alabama Infantry Regiment, U.S. Volunteers, and 2nd Alabama Infantry Regiment, U.S. Volunteers, are mustered into service at Mobile, Alabama.

May 25th, 1898: President McKinley issues a second call for an additional 75,000 volunteers, of this call up Alabama is requested to provide two battalions of Infantry, and to recruit those companies already in service to 106-men each. The two battalions raised are organized from colored volunteers and joined with the 1st Battalion to organize the 3rd Alabama Infantry Regiment.

June 6th, 1898: The 3rd Alabama Infantry Regiment, U.S. Volunteers, is mustered into service at Mobile, Alabama.

October 31st, 1898: The 1st Alabama Infantry Regiment, U.S. Volunteers, is mustered out of service at Birmingham, Alabama. The 2nd Alabama Infantry Regiment, U.S. Volunteers, is mustered out of service at Montgomery, Alabama.

March 20th, 1899: The 3rd Alabama Infantry Regiment, U.S. Volunteers, is mustered out of service at Anniston, Alabama.

Alabama Government	Alabama Volunteers
Federal and State Government	Alabama Volunteers, 1898 to 1902

Alabama United States Senator and Major General of U.S. Volunteers, Joseph Wheeler with his staff in 1898.

Camps and Military Installations

During peace time and war the United States Military and State National Guard maintains forts, posts, depots, and other installations throughout the various states, and in times of war Camps are organized as rendezvous for the various volunteers joining. The following is a listing of those posts that were located and active in the State of Alabama from February 15th, 1898, to July 4th, 1902.

CAMP CLARK, MOBILE COUNTY

This Camp was established around May 1st, 1898, and was named in honor of Brigadier General Louis V. Clark of the Alabama National Guard. The Camp served as the Rendezvous for the 1st Alabama Volunteer Infantry Regiment, and later as the mustering in site of the 3rd Alabama Volunteer Infantry Regiment after the 1st Regiment had moved to Camp Coppinger. The Camp was located at Alba�s Pasture near Frascati and Monroe Parks, which has served as the Alabama National Guards muster grounds, the site is currently an industrial area.

CAMP COPPINGER, MOBILE COUNTY

This Camp was established as a Camp for the Units of the 4th Army Corps by Major General John J. Coppinger, U.S.V., and was initially referred to as Camp Mobile. By early May there were seven Regiments from the United States Army at the Camp. Towards the end of May 1898 the First and Second Alabama Volunteer Infantry Regiments moved to Camp Coppinger from Camps Clark and Johnson. The camp was apparently abandoned around June 27th, 1898, when the last troops stationed there were sent to other Camps. The Camp was apparently located in the area between the suburbs of Crichton and Spring Hill, and was bounded on the north and east sides by Three-Mile Creek, on the South side by Stein�s Creek, and on the west side by Moffatt Road.

CAMP FAULKNER, JEFFERSON COUNTY

This Camp was established in September of 1898 as the mustering out Camp of the 1st Alabama Volunteer Infantry Regiment, and was named in honor of Captain J.M. Falkner of Montgomery, Alabama. The 1st Regiment was mustered out of service on October 31st, 1898, and the Camp was broken down shortly thereafter. The Camp was located at East Lake in Northern part of Birmingham, near the current Interstate 59 and 1st Avenue North.

CAMP ALBERT G. FORSE (WHEELER), MADISON COUNTY

This Camp was established on August 15th, 1898, by Major General John J. Coppinger, U.S.V., and was designated as Camp Wheeler in honor of Major General Joseph Wheeler, U.S.V. The Camp was later re-designated as Camp Albert G. Forse, who had been killed in action on July 1st, 1898, in Cuba, when Major General Joseph Wheeler, U.S.V., assumed command of the Camp. The Camp was abandoned on March 7th, 1899, with the departure of the last troops leaving that place. The Camp was located at several different points and was composed of the Camp sites of the various commands, the Robinson Homestead at 2709 Meridian Pike in Oaklawn and the Sullivan Home on Greene and Randolph Streets were turned into Military Buildings, while there were units camped at Brahan Springs, West Huntsville, the Chapman Farm, the property of William Moore, at Moore�s Grove, Calhoun Grove, McCalley Grove, and College Grove near Randolph Street. The headquarters for the Camp was located at the Steele Home in Huntsville, on 808 Maysville Road. The Medical Supply House was located on Holmes Street.

FORT GAINES, MOBILE COUNTY

In 1821 the United States Army Corps of Engineers began construction on a point on Dauphin Island at the entrance of Mobile Bay, Alabama; the post would be named in honor of General Edmund Pendleton Gaines (1777-1849) and known as Fort Gaines. Through various delays and issues with funding construction of the fort was not begun until 1853 under the supervision of Engineer Joseph G. Totten. With the secession of Alabama in January of 1861, and the occupation of the fort by the Alabama (and later Confederate) forces, work was continued by the State of Alabama, and the fort was completed in 1862. The fort served as part of the Confederate defenses of Mobile Bay until it�s capture on August 8th, 1864, by the Union fleet under Admiral David G. Farraugt; these forces would occupy the Fort until the late 1860�s when it was abandoned and left in the care of a caretaker. In March of 1898 the Army reactivated the post and began construction of three new Endicott Batteries on the site, two of these would be designated as Batteries Stanton and Terrett, the third would remain unnamed, construction on these batteries would continue from 1898 to 1901. A battery of the Coast Artillery Corps would serve as the garrison of the post into the First World War (1917-1918), when the post also saw the establishment on the site of an anti-aircraft gunnery school. The Fort would remain in use until the 1920�s when it was finally closed, the United States Government selling the property to the State of Alabama. However, during the Second World War (1941-1945) the post was re-activated for a time and used by both the Alabama National Guard and the United States Coast Guard, before once again returning to inactive status.

For More Information on Fort Gaines click Here

CAMP HILARY A. HERBERT, MONTGOMERY COUNTY

This Camp was established in September of 1898 for the purpose of mustering out the Second Alabama Volunteer Infantry Regiment, and was named in honor of Hilary A. Herbert who was a former Confederate Officer and Secretary of the Navy. The Regiment setup Camp on September 17th, 1898, and shortly after the 20th the Regiment, with the exception of 100 men, was furloughed to return home. The Regiment re-assembled at the Camp on October 31st, 1898, following it�s furlough expiring and was then mustered out of United States Service. With there departure the Camp ceased to exist. This Camp was established over the Railroad to Riverside Park in the tract of land adjoining the Fair Grounds.

CAMP JOHNSTON, MOBILE COUNTY

The Camp was established as the assembly camp for the Second Alabama Volunteer Infantry Regiment in early 1898, and was named after Alabama Governor Joseph F. Johnston. The Camp was abandoned on June 24th, 1898, with the departure of the last troops stationed there. It was located adjacent to Camp Clark on the side of Mobile Bay near Monroe Park.

FORT MORGAN, MOBILE COUNTY

In 1819 the United States Army Corps of Engineers, under the supervision of Captain R.E. DeRussey and Lieutenant Cornelius Ogden, began construction of a new masonry fort at Mobile Point opposite of Dauphin Island, and which points controlled the entrance to Mobile Bay. An earlier post, Fort Bowyer, had been constructed on the site, and was the site of a battle in the War of 1812, however was constructed of earth and a wooden stockade and had deteriorated to a great degree. Construction continued from 1819 to 1834; as the fort neared competition in 1833 it was designated as Fort Morgan in honor of Revolutionary War General Daniel Morgan (1736-1802), and was completed in 1834, and the first garrison (Battery B, 2nd U.S. Artillery) arrived at the fort that March. In 1837 the post temporarily become the home for 3,000 Indians who were being relocated from the State of Alabama to the Indian Territory (Oklahoma). With the secession of Alabama in January of 1861 the Alabama Volunteers, under Colonel John B. Todd of Mobile, occupied the fort on January 3rd, 1861, and began the work of strengthening and reinforcing the Fort to defend Mobile Bay. On August 5th, 1864, the Union Fleet under Admiral David G. Farragut launched an attack against Fort�s Morgan and Gaines; Gaines was captured on the 22nd and the Confederate fleet either sunk or surrendered on the 5th; meanwhile the Union land forces under Major General Gordon Granger laid siege to Fort Morgan (commanded by Brigadier General Richard L. Page) for two weeks, the fort sustaining in that time over 3,000 artillery rounds being fired into the post, until on August 23rd, 1864, General Page surrendered the Fort to the Federal forces. After the capture of the Fort the post served as a staging area for operations in and around Mobile Bay by the Federal forces throughout March and April of 1865. The Fort remained in use by the troops serving on reconstruction duty in Alabama until December 31st, 1867, when the garrison was withdrawn and the post placed under the care of a single caretaker. It would remain inactive until March of 1898, when the post was again re-activated and garrisoned by Battery I of the 1st U.S. Artillery. From 1898 to 1900 the post saw the construction of five new Endicott Batteries on the site, as well as the addition of fire control, electricity and improved communications to the post. The new batteries would be designated as Batteries Bowyer (1898), Dearborn (1900), Duportail (1900), which was constructed inside of the masonry fort, Thomas (1900) and Schenk (1901). The post continued in service, and in 1915 the Coast Artillery Corps constructed a temporary battery called �Battery Test� a mile from the fort, for the purpose of conducting tests on it�s experimental disappearing carriage; after the completion of these tests the battery was abandoned. During the First World War (1917-1918) the fort served as a training camp for the Coast Artillery Corps, which taught the mean in the use of the modern artillery, as well as anti-aircraft and mining in the war. In early 1923 the garrison was once more withdrawn and on April 1st, 1923, the post returned to caretaker status; and on October 15th, 1931, it was officially abandoned. The fort remained empty until April of 1942 when it was re-activated for use in the Second World War, and the Army constructed an Airfield nearby, the post being garrisoned by Battery F of the 50th Coast Artillery Regiment. The post remained occupied throughout the war and in 1946 the post was closed and turned the property over to the State of Alabama in 1947.

For more information on Fort Morgan click here.

CAMP SHIPP, CALHOUN COUNTY

The Camp was named in honor of Lieutenant William E. Shipp who was killed in action on July 1st, 1898, in Cuba. The camp was established on September 3rd, 1898, as a winter camp for several state volunteer regiments (3rd Tennessee, 14th New York, & 1st Alabama), however in January of 1899 the various regiments began returning to their home states to be mustered out of service, and by late Janaury the camp had been abdandoned. The camp was located near the Union Foundry in West Anniston.

Veterans Organizations

Following the end of the conflicts the Veterans began forming themselves into various regimental and national organizations for the purpose of keeping in contact with old and new friends, as well as to perpetuate the memory of their fallen comrades, several organizations sprung up in the years immediately following the war, however aside from the Regimental Associations most of these eventually came together to form the "United Spanish War Veterans." The following is information regarding the Department of Alabama of the United Spanish War Veterans and the Auxiliary of the United Spanish War Veterans.

Department of Alabama
United Spanish War Veterans

Department of Alabama
Auxiliary of the U.S.W.V.

Veterans Memorials

The following pages contain information on the burial locations of the Veterans of 1898 to 1902, as well as the monuments and memorials that were erected to the memory of the Veterans, Battles, and other events that took place during those years, within the State of Alabama.

Graves Registry

Monuments & Memorials

Resources

Books & Published Material

- Pages 3 to 4 & 782, "The Annual Cyclopedia and Register of Important Events of the Year 1898." D. Appleton & Company, New York, 1899.

- "Camps of the United Spanish War Veterans. Local Lairs of the Military Order of the Serpent, 1904-1992." George Kane.

- "Correspondence relating to the War with Spain, and conditions growing out of the same, including the Insurrection in the Philippine Islands, and the China Relief Expedition, between the Adjutant-General of the Army and Military Commanders in the United States, Cuba, Porto Rico, China, and the Philippine Islands, from April 15, 1898, to July 30, 1902." Government Printing Office, Washington, D.C., 1902.

- Volume I, "Historical Register and Dictionary of the United States Army, from its organization, September 29, 1789, to March 2, 1903." Francis B. Heitman, Government Printing Office, Washington, D.C., 1903.

- Pages 1262 to 1264, "History of Alabama and Dictionary of Alabama Biography." Thomas M. Owen, The S.J. Clarke Publishing Company, Chicago, Illinois, 1921.

- "Muster Rolls of Alabama Volunteers in the Spanish-American War of 1898." Adjutant General�s Office, Washington, D.C., 1899; Reprint, Washington, D.C., Library of Congress, 1989.

- "Officers of Volunteer Regiments Organized Under the Act of March 2, 1899." Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1899.

- Pages 7 to 13, "The Organized Militia of the United States." Government Printing Press, Washington, D.C., 1900.

- Pages 520 to 525, Volume I, "Report on the Origin and Spread of Typhoid Fever in U.S. Military Camps during the Spanish War of 1898." Walter Reed, Victor C. Vaughan, Edward O. Shakespeare; Government Printing Office, Washington, D.C., 1904.

- "Southern Martyrs. A History of Alabama�s White Regiments during the Spanish-American War. Touching incidentally on the experiences of the entire First Division of the Seventh Army Corps." M. Koenigsberg; Montgomery, Alabama; Brown Printing Company, Printers and Binders, 1898.

- "Statistical Exhibit of Strength of Volunteer Forces Called Into Service During the War With Spain; with Losses From All Causes." Adjutant Generals Office, Government Printing Office, Washington, D.C., 1899.

Documents, Papers & Non-Published Materials

- General Index to Compiled Service Records of Volunteer Soldiers who served During the War with Spain. Microfilm publication M871, 126 rolls. ARC ID: 654543; Records of the Adjutant General's Office, 1780s-1917, Record Group 94; The National Archives at Washington, D.C.

- Pension applications for service in the US Army between 1861 and 1900, grouped according to the units in which the veterans served. (NARA T289) National Archives & Records Administration, Washington, D.C.

Websites & Online Resources

- Alabama National Guard.

- Spanish-American War Camps, 1898-1899 Period.