A Brief History of South Dakota/Chapter 30
CHAPTER XXX
THE WAR WITH SPAIN AND IN THE PHILIPPINES
When the war with Spain began in the spring of 1898, South Dakota promptly responded with much more than her quota of men. Under the President's call for troops South Dakota's quota was nine hundred and twenty-five men, but she furnished in all twelve hundred and fifty, having a larger percentage of volunteers to population than any other state. A regiment of the National Guard had been in existence here since the territorial days, receiving more or less state aid, and in anticipation of a declaration of war, after the destruction of the battleship Maine, in Havana Harbor, this regiment was recruited to its full allowance of men, one thousand and eight in all.
The regiment was ordered to mobilize at Sioux Falls, on April 30, and there the men were subjected to the most rigid examination by the medical officers, who rejected every person who was not in all respects fit. Lieutenant Alfred Frost, an officer of the regular army who had for a long time been upon detail as military instructor at the State Agricultural College at Brookings, was appointed colonel; Lee Stover of Watertown, lieutenant-colonel; Charles A. Howard of Aberdeen, and William F. Allison of Brookings, majors; Dr. R. C. Warne of Mitchell, chief surgeon; Jonas Lien of Sioux Falls, adjutant; and Rev. Charles M. Daley, chaplain.
While the regiment was recruiting, fitting, and training, news of the great naval victory in Manila Bay was received, and it was soon determined by the federal authorities to send the South Dakotans to the Philippines;
Lieutenant Colonel Lee Stover
but Manila was captured and the war with Spain was over before the arrival of the South Dakotans' transports.
Colonel Frost proved himself an able and firm disciplinarian; and he landed his men at Manila, on the 25th of August, in good health, thoroughly trained soldiers. Upon general inspection of all the troops in the island, Major-General Otis selected the South Dakotans as best fitted to take the field, and at the first crisis, on September 10, they were placed under marching orders and so held until the crisis had passed. As a mark of special distinction the regiment was selected to furnish guards for Generals Otis, McArthur, and Hale.
The first shot fired by an American soldier in the hostilities which ensued was fired by Private Smith of Company E on the night of January 10, 1899, three days after Aguinaldo issued his manifesto declaring himself commandant of the Philippines and asserting that General Otis was a usurper. On that night Smith was on sentinel duty near Block House No. 4 when he was approached by two Filipino soldiers. Just as they were passing one
Colonel A. S. Frost
of them made a vicious slash at him with a bolo. Smith dodged so as to escape the full weight of the blow, but received a bad wound in the face. Instantly he brought his rifle into position and shot the nearest Filipino dead, and with another shot seriously wounded the other.
For the next three weeks the situation was strained and nerve-trying. The South Dakotans were on outpost duty and under orders to sleep in their clothes. Finally on February 4 came the clash of open war. The battle began almost in front of the South Dakota outpost, and our men were instantly under fire and continued in the hottest of the fight for eighteen hours, during which Privates McCracken of Company H and Lowes and Green Colonel A. S. Frost of Company I were killed and five others wounded. During the battle the South Dakotans showed perfect discipline and courage, and their work was most effective.
From that time forward, until the end of the campaign, the South Dakotans were constantly upon the firing line, sleeping in their clothes and patiently enduring all the discomforts of forced marches through the swamps and jungles of a tropical climate, where the heat was oppressive, the rain almost incessant, and the food frequently insufficient and of inferior quality; but in all things they met the full expectations of their superiors and they received the warm commendation of the government. The regiment took active part in the affairs at La Loma church on February 6, at Malolos on March 25, and at Palo and Meyacanyan on March 26.
At Meyacanyan, John Holman, then a corporal of Company C, was promoted to a lieutenancy for exceptional bravery in action. As the regiment approached the bridge spanning the Meyacanyan it was discovered that the enemy had intrenched on the opposite shore, having first set the nearest end of the bridge afire. From their intrenchments the enemy commanded the bridge and were pouring a heavy musket fire across the river in the direction of the regiment. The fire at the further end had not made great progress, but the bridge was endangered unless the fire was at once extinguished. With the hostile bullets singing about his ears, Holman dashed across the bridge and extinguished the blaze, and then, undaunted, stood upon the approach and opened fire upon the intrenched enemy but a few yards away.
The next day, March 27, the South Dakotans bore the brunt of the battle at Marilao, one of the hardest-fought and bloodiest engagements of the war. All of the regiment was engaged and fought with valor. Nine men were killed, including Adjutant Lien and Lieutenants Adams and Morrison. Twenty-five others were wounded, one of them—Sergeant Preacher—mortally.
That day at Marilao another South Dakotan won fame for a most valorous deed: Captain Clayton Van Houten. The bridge across the river had been almost destroyed, so that only the steel stringers remained. The enemy was as usual intrenched across the stream. The South Dakotans plunged into the river and with their guns held high above the water struggled across it. A squad of Nebraska soldiers came up with a mountain howitzer, which Colonel Frost desired to plant upon the further bank of the stream; so he sent Sergeant Major Beck to order the Nebraskans to bring it across. They hesitated to obey, as the only means of reaching the further shore was by the stringers of the broken bridge, and it seemed an impossible feat to carry the gun over so narrow a footing. Captain Van Houten appeared upon the ground at that moment, and, taking in the situation at a glance, he caught the heavy gun from its carriage, swung it to his shoulder, and directing the Nebraskans to follow with the carriage, he carried the howitzer across the river, unaided, on the single span of steel. From the strain of that exertion he never recovered, but died at his home in Worthing three years later.
The regiment continued in the campaign, being among the first to enter Malolos and thence marching on to San Fernando, constantly harassed by the enemy and suffering much from sickness and the excessive heat. When they returned to Manila on June 10, General McArthur said, "The record of the South Dakota regiment in the Philippines has no equal in military history, so far as I know."
On August 12, 1899, the regiment embarked at Manila for home. It arrived in San Francisco in September, whither a large number of our prominent citizens had gone to welcome the boys back to the states. The regiment was mustered out at San Francisco. The citizens of South Dakota had provided transportation for the return of the men to their homes. They came by the northern route, and President McKinley met them at Aberdeen on the morning of October 14. That was a day of universal rejoicing in South Dakota. All along the way from Aberdeen to Yankton celebrations were prepared, and the President so timed his journey as to be present at several of them. The fête terminated at Yankton that evening, where an immense multitude had assembled from all over the state, and President McKinley there made one of his memorable addresses, in which he highly extolled the record which the regiment had made in the Philippines.
The total loss of the regiment during the war was: twenty-three killed in action; one drowned; thirty-two deaths from disease; sixty wounded.
In addition to this First Regiment South Dakota furnished five troops of cavalry, officially known as the Third Regiment, United States Volunteer Cavalry, but promptly designated "Grigsby's Cowboys." They were under command of Colonel Melvin Grigsby of Sioux Falls. Robert W. Stewart of Pierre was major; Otto L. Sues of Sioux Falls, adjutant;
Colonel Melvin Grigsby
Ralph Parliman of Sioux Falls, quartermaster; Rev. Galen S. Clevenger of Pierre, chaplain. The regiment was ordered to Chickamauga, en route to Cuba, but the war closed before its services were required.
Mark W. Sheafe of Watertown was appointed a brigadier general of volunteers by the President, but did not get into active service by reason of the early close of the war.
In addition to these, many patriotic citizens of South Dakota, failing to find a place in the regular organizations of the state, enlisted and rendered honorable service in other state organizations, both in Cuba and the Philippines.