Intense enthusiasm marked the departure of the expedition from San Francisco. A fleet of tugs swarmed in the bay the morning of the 25th, as the transports got under way, and accompanied the troopships out through the Golden Gate, where the course was shaped for Hawaii.
At the Hawaiian capital the most complete and cordial reception ever accorded troops of a foreign land, was extended to the first expedition. For two days the citizens of Honolulu vied with each other in courtesies and hospitality. Every comfort and enjoyment that could be extended awaited the soldiers.
Tropical fruits, so much desired by the men, abounding everywhere, could not be paid for. Culminating this national courtesy, the entire expedition was banqueted the second day in Honolulu by the whole people, covers being spread in the executive grounds for 3,600 men, this number embracing the marines and jackies on the cruiser Charleston, and the gunboats Bennington and Yorktown, then in harbor. President Sanford Dole and all of his cabinet, and all other officials of the Hawaiian government, with their wives and daughters, waited upon the soldier feasters and made the day one of singular delight, which will ever be remembered.
An uneventful cruise followed the departure from Hawaii June 4, until Guam was reached. Outside of Honolulu, Captain Glass commanding the Charleston, which had been assigned as escort for the troopships, opened sealed orders directing him to proceed to the Ladrone Islands and capture the Island of Guam. June 20 the fleet steamed around the headland of Guam, and the Charleston moved directly to the harbor of San Louis d'apra, near the town of Aguana, where Spanish gunboats were expected. Upon entering the harbor, after testing out a dismantled fort with small shells, the Charleston found the place defenseless. The Spanish governor of the islands, commanding 50 armed Spanish soldiers and 50 armed natives, with perhaps 50 more natives not so equipped, was ordered to surrender, which he did; and an American governor was placed in charge.
While at this port, covering a period of two days, the first death in the regiment occurred, Elias Hutchins being the victim. June 22d the fleet sailed away from Guam, and June 28th, northern Luzon was rounded, where the cruiser Baltimore from Dewey's fleet was in waiting as a pilot for the run down the coast. At this time the fleet got the news of the military and naval operations in Cuba, which had not begun at the time of sailing from San Francisco.
On the morning of June 29th, the transport fleet sighted Corregidor Island in the entrance to Manila bay. An act of impudence on the part of the German naval commander in the bay was committed while the fleet passed in, the full significance of which was not realized then, but which later weighed in arraignment of German intrusiveness. The German cruiser Kaiserin Augusta was standing just inside the passage with steam up, apparently waiting for something. She steamed out alongside the transports as they entered, passed clear along the line, while her officers with their glasses scanned the troopships apparently to make estimates of the military forces being brought. That evening the German launches which had been permitted to maintain close connection with the Spanish commander in the besieged city, conveyed the information to the captain-general of the Spanish forces, or at least this procedure was believed to have been pursued.
Disembarkation of the troops began the day after dropping anchor just off Cavite, amid the wrecked gunboats and cruisers which remained mute testimonials of Admiral Dewey's fire. Col. Summers was the first member of the regiment to go ashore, and the first of the expedition.
The First Battalion, Major Gantenbein, had the distinction of being the first troops landed; and Private McKenna of Company L was the first enlisted man. These of the Oregon regiment had the distinction of leading the United States land forces in their advance upon Oriental territory.
