On the night of Feb. 15, 1898, the Battleship Maine — which had been sent to Havana, Cuba to rescue U.S. citizens caught up in a Cuban insurrection against their colonial rulers (Spain) — famously exploded and 266 U.S. sailors lost their lives. It was and is unclear to this day exactly what caused the ship to explode; at the time a Spanish mine or torpedo was suspected but today experts tend to believe an engine blew up. No matter the cause, it was enough for the Americans and war was declared on April 21, 1898
On April 24, 1898, Gov. Hazen Pingree called up the Michigan National Guard for service in the Spanish-American War. While only three Michigan men died in combat in Cuba, 698 died of diseases including malaria and yellow fever.
Crowds line the streets in Detroit as soldiers from the Michigan National Guard march to Union Depot for their departure to Camp Eaton near Brighton to prepare for the Spanish-American War in 1898.
Michigan converted its National Guard regiments, first established for the Civil War, into volunteer regiments: the Michigan 31st, 32nd, 33rd, 34th and 35th. The 33rd and 34th were the only ones to see action. Each regiment was divided into three battalions, and then subdivided into companies A through M, each containing about 80 men.
Enormous crowds described as reaching 100,000 people mobbed downtown Detroit for the send-off. People were held back by horse-mounted police as young volunteers in new uniforms marched down Randolph to Jefferson, and then up Woodward. About 700 Detroiters were mustered into the 34th Regiment, Companies A through H. Families and friends called out to the volunteers as they marched by and marching bands played “The Girl I Left Behind Me.”
“It was a sight never to be forgotten,” described the Detroit Free Press on April 27, 1898. “From business windows [we] looked down on a surging sea of people to which there flowed as between living banks a steady current of blue, the men of the Michigan National Guard. … Rarely in the memory of recent generations has there appeared such an inspiring spectacle as was presented by these soldiers and the crowd that bid them God-speed. Cheer upon cheer arose from the multitudes until the air was thunderous with shouting, and the music of the bands was drowned in universal applause.”
If nothing else is remembered about the Spanish American War it is the battle cry, “Remember the Maine!” On that day in 1898 the banner “Remember the Maine!” was everywhere in Detroit. There was a second part to the phrase that is now forgotten: “Remember the Maine! To hell with Spain!”
Michigan recruits at Camp Eaton
Days after war was declared the U.S. Army and Gov. Pingree selected Island Lake near Brighton for its regimental camp, dubbed Camp Eaton; when full, Camp Eaton held more than 4,000 raw recruits.
All arrived by trains from different regions and cities of Michigan, from the Upper Peninsula to Detroit, each train festooned with a “Remember the Maine” banner. One battalion of the 31st regiment sported new blankets with bouquets of flowers pinned to them by the ladies of their town. The new soldiers lived eight to a tent, drilled daily and learned sentry duty; reveille came at 5:30 a.m. and taps sounded at 10:30 p.m. Visitors, especially fretting mothers and fathers, came to check on their sons; many demanded to retrieve them or insisted that their son get better accommodations, which were respectfully ignored.
The new soldiers were paid $1.25 per month with 75 cents for “sustenance.” For entertainment, boxing matches were held as well as band concerts provided by Detroit’s 32nd infantry. The recruits were allowed to visit Brighton on Saturday night until 25 were arrested for drunkenness by the Brighton police and leaders ended that activity.
Governor Pingree visits Camp Eaton.
Governor Pingree was a true friend of these young soldiers both politically and personally, buying better boots and uniforms for his boys. He was a regular visitor on his white horse and followed them even as they shipped to other parts of the U.S.
The army’s plan was to send the new recruits to southern camps, such as Chickamauga Park, Ga., or Tampa Bay, Fla., to acclimate the northern recruits before sending them into the tropical Cuban hillsides.
On their last day before shipping out, 1st Sergeant William Cooper from the 31st Regiment, Company A, of Ann Arbor, recorded his experiences for the local paper, the Ann Arbor Argus Democrat:
“May 15th came and with it thousands of friends of the regiment. They came by train loads, by vehicles of every description, some came on wheels, some walked and all brought their lunch baskets with them, and soon the beautiful grounds were dotted with family groups who were lunching together there perhaps for the last time. … Sweethearts came for a last kiss and a look that meant everything. The day wore away and the crowd dispersed.”
At midnight their serious work began as Cooper and the others quietly boarded the trains for Chickamauga Park. He recalled only one figure remained to bid them goodbye, an old Civil War veteran who shook every young man’s hand in Company A as he wiped away tears. As Cooper observed ominously, “He had been through it all himself for four years, and he — well, he knew.”
The trains of Michigan soldiers chugged through Ohio greeted by cheers, flag-waving children, and marching bands at nearly every station, as they were the first regiment to pass through the state. Cooper reported:
“In Cincinnati our reception was tumultuous. Thousands of people crowded around our trains and during the time that we remained there, between 5 and 6 p.m., the bells and whistles of hundreds of factories, locomotives and steamboats kept up a continual din. It was a deafening welcome.”
The 31st camped at Camp Thomas, Chicamauga Park, where they encountered a serious problem with typhoid fever. They would be sent to Cuba after the fighting to help maintain order on the island. The 32nd Regiment went to Tampa, Fla., and the 35th remained in Island Lake until Sept. 14, when they were sent to Camp Meade in Pennsylvania.
The 33rd and 34th regiments were shipped to Camp Alger, near Falls Church, Va., then on to Tampa where they boarded transport ships the Harvard and Paris, to be sent to Cuba to fight.
For the rest of the story, read Bill Loomis’s article.
Sources:
Michigan History
Bill Loomis, “‘Remember the Maine!’ Michigan men fight in the Spanish-American War”, Detroit News, January 5, 2014.
For more information about the Spanish-American War, see Crucible of Empire: The Spanish-American War, a History Tube documentary (116 minutes).