1st Nebraska Infantry Regiment (1898)

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1st Nebraska Infantry Regiment
The 1st Nebraska Infantry Regiment advancing on Santo Tomas
ActiveMay 10 or 12, 1898 – August 23, 1899
CountryUnited States
BranchInfantry
SizeRegiment
Engagements
Commanders
ColonelJohn P. Bratt
ColonelJohn M. Stotsenburg
MajorHarry Mulford

The 1st Nebraska Infantry Regiment was an

William W. Grayson firing the first shot of the war. After fighting in the Battle of Manila and then guarding a water pipeline, the regiment was present in a campaign that began in late March and resulted in the Capture of Malolos, fighting in several battles. In April, the regiment fought at the Battle of Quingua, where its commander, Colonel John M. Stotsenburg, was killed. After fighting in Battle of Calumpit and the Battle of Santo Tomas the regiment occupied San Fernando before being returned to Manila. On July 1, the regiment boarded the steamship
SS Hancock, which brought the men back to the United States, where they mustered out on August 23.

Formation and journey to the Philippines

Upon the outbreak of the

San Francisco, California,[6] leaving on May 16.[7] The trip was made by railroad and cost the government $15,808.80.[8] Colonel John P. Bratt commanded the unit, which would eventually receive the nickname "Fighting First".[2]

After arriving the San Francisco, the unit reported to Camp Merritt,[2] on May 19 and 20, where the men trained more.[7] While at Camp Merritt, an order was made to increase the size of the regiment's companies, and a few men were sent back to Nebraska for further recruiting.[9] The regiment left for Manila on June 15,[2] traveling on the steamship SS Senator, with three other troopships in the convoy.[10] On June 24, the men were allowed to disembark at Honolulu in the Republic of Hawaii while the ships took on coal. The vessels left Hawaii the next day, stopping again at Wake Island on July 4.[11] Manila Bay was reached on July 17.[2]

With Manila itself still in Spanish hands, the regiment disembarked at

Certificate of Merit.[13] Part of the regiment came under artillery fire on August 5, losing two men wounded.[14] When American troops occupied Manila on August 13 in an affair partially arranged with the local Spanish commander, the 1st Nebraska was one of the units that advanced into the town. It did not fire a shot and suffered no casualties.[15]

Occupation and Philippine–American War

Philippine-American War

American troops performed occupation duty in the city, with the First Nebraska policing the waterfront district near the customs house.[16] Tensions remained between the Americans and the Spanish and with the Filipino rebels under General Emilio Aguinaldo, who desired independence for the Philippines.[17] Soldiers in the occupying American forces often referred to the locals by racial slurs, and some of the soldiers behaved in a hostile manner towards the Chinese minority population of Manila. Some looting occurred as well.[18] Bratt was sent home due to illness in September, and John M. Stotsenburg was promoted to colonel to command the regiment on October 4.[19] Disease caused many illnesses and deaths in the unit, and 300 soldiers were discharged in December and shipped back to the United States due to illness or infirmity. The losses to illness were partially offset by the arrival in late November of the additional recruits that had been authorized in June.[20] In December, the regiment was transferred to Camp Santa Mesa, which was in a salient of the American lines outside of Manila that would allow the regiment a route with which to quickly take the city's waterworks if needed.[19]

In December, the

Mariquina River and a Hotchkiss gun.[26] During the two days of fighting, the regiment had six men killed and 22 wounded. Eight of the regiment's members were cited for gallantry.[27]

From February 7 to March 15, the regiment, along with an

set-piece battles, but the Filipinos found they were not having success with those tactics and began to move to guerrilla warfare. A larger action occurred on February 22, in which part of the regiment chased a detachment of Filipinos. On February 26, a detachment of the regiment was fired upon from the town of Mariquina, and the Nebraskans burned the town in response.[28] An investigation was launched into Stotsenburg in early March, but after interviewing men of the regiment, the investigators determined that the complaints that had led to the investigation had been made by maligners, and Stotsenburg was cleared.[29] During the time the regiment guarded the pipeline, it lost seven men killed and 14 wounded.[30]

Aguinaldo had his capital at

skirmish line and captured a few small defensive positions.[32]

On April 23, the 1st Nebraska sent a scouting party armed with new Krag–Jørgensen rifles. Filipino fire pinned the scouts down in a ditch, starting the Battle of Quingua. A charge by the Nebraskans drove off the Filipinos, but Stotsenburg was killed during the battle,[33] having been shot through the heart.[34] Major Harry Mulford took command of the regiment after Stotsenburg's death.[35] The Americans, including the 1st Nebraska, then began moving to the northwest towards San Fernando, which was a Filipino stronghold.[36] The regiment participated in the opening portion of the Battle of Calumpit on April 25, crossing the Calumpit River and driving back Filipino forces. On May 4, the 1st Nebraska fought at the Battle of Santo Tomas, where it suffered its final battle losses. After American forces captured San Fernando, the 1st Nebraska entered the city on May 6 and stayed there through the 20th. Battle and disease had taken the regiment from a strength of 923 men on February 4 to only about 300 when it reached San Fernando.[35] The campaign for Malolos and San Fernando had cost the regiment 20 killed and 168 wounded.[36]

The United States began to replace the state volunteer regiments with new national ones, and the 1st Nebraska was sent back to Calumpit on May 20. From there, it returned to Manila by rail, where it performed guard duty for a month.[37] On June 21, the regiment boarded the SS Hancock,[37] leaving Manila on July 1.[1] Hancock made stops in Nagasaki and Yokohama in July,[37] and the ship reached San Francisco on the night of July 29 and 30. The 1st Nebraska was mustered out on August 23, 1899, and the men boarded trains for Nebraska on August 25.[38] During the regiment's time in service, it had 64 men killed and several hundred wounded.[1]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e "First Nebraska Regiment". History Nebraska. Archived from the original on 2022-06-23. Retrieved 29 April 2022.
  2. ^ a b c d e Grant 1974, p. 321.
  3. ^ Thiessen 1989, p. 212–213.
  4. ^ Thiessen 1989, p. 227.
  5. ^ Thiessen 1989, p. 213, 216.
  6. ^ Thiessen 1989, p. 213.
  7. ^ a b Thiessen 1989, p. 216.
  8. ^ Coats 2006, p. 31.
  9. ^ Thiessen 1989, p. 217.
  10. ^ Thiessen 1989, p. 218.
  11. ^ Thiessen 1989, pp. 218–219.
  12. ^ Thiessen 1989, pp. 220, 222.
  13. ^ Thiessen 1989, pp. 223, 225.
  14. ^ Thiessen 1989, p. 225.
  15. ^ Thiessen 1989, pp. 225, 227.
  16. ^ Thiessen 1989, pp. 227–228.
  17. ^ Grant 1974, pp. 321–322.
  18. ^ Thiessen 1989, pp. 228, 231.
  19. ^ a b Thiessen 1989, p. 232.
  20. ^ Thiessen 1989, p. 231.
  21. ^ Thiessen 1989, pp. 232, 234.
  22. ^ Thiessen 1989, p. 234.
  23. ^ Grant 1974, p. 322.
  24. ^ Thiessen 1989, p. 235.
  25. ^ Thiessen 1989, p. 237.
  26. ^ Thiessen 1989, p. 238–239.
  27. ^ Thiessen 1989, p. 240.
  28. ^ Thiessen 1989, pp. 240–241.
  29. ^ Thiessen 1989, pp. 241, 246.
  30. ^ Thiessen 1989, p. 247.
  31. ^ Thiessen 1989, pp. 247, 249.
  32. ^ Thiessen 1989, p. 251.
  33. ^ Thiessen 1989, pp. 252–253.
  34. ^ Grant 1974, pp. 323–324.
  35. ^ a b Thiessen 1989, p. 255.
  36. ^ a b Grant 1974, p. 323.
  37. ^ a b c Thiessen 1989, p. 256.
  38. ^ Thiessen 1989, pp. 256–257.

Sources

  • Coats, Stephen D. (2006). Gathering at the Golden Gate: Mobilizing for War in the Philippines, 1898. Fort Leavenworth, Kansas: Combat Studies Institute Press.
  • Grant, H. Roger (1974). "The Fighting Firsts: The First South Dakota and Nebraska Volunteers in the Philippines, 1898–1899". South Dakota History. 4 (3): 320–332.
  • Thiessen, Thomas D. (1989). "The Fighting First Nebraska: Nebraska's Imperial Adventure in the Philippines, 1898–1899". Nebraska History. 70: 210–272.
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