Turn of the Century - Fort Huachuca - U.S. Army

Marchbanks, for having his horse shot upon receiving orders for the Philippines so that the animalwould not “fall into the hands of someone who might mistreat him.” Daggett’s service dated backto early in the Civil War when he was a lieutenant in a company of Maine Volunteer Infantry. Hewas in all the big engagements of the Army of the Potomac—Bull Run, Gaines Mill, GoldingsFarm, White Oak Swamp, Second Bull Run, Crampton’s Gap, Antietam and Fredericksburg,second Fredericksburg, Salem Church, Gettysburg, Rappahannock Station, the Wilderness,Spottsylvania, Cold Harbor and Petersburg. He served with the 14th Infantry in the Philippinesand commanded a brigade in Eighth Army Corps. He was part of the China Relief Expedition toYangtsun and Peking in 1900.Following the action at El Caney, Colonel Aaron S. Daggett, commanding the 25th, and Brig.Gen. Adna R. Chaffee, commanding the 1st Brigade on the 25th’s right during the fight, engagedin a flurry of feuding reports. Daggett felt that the 25th had not received fair credit for taking thefort at El Viso, especially in view of Chaffee’s report which claimed that the 12th Infantry of hisbrigade pretty much had the hill in their possession at 1400. Daggett thought that odd, since hisregiment was giving and taking a heavy fire from that time until 1630 when the Spaniardssurrendered. It was a time when some of the heaviest fighting was going on. In his final report,Daggett, supported by his company commanders’ accounts, concluded “That the 25th Infantrycaused the surrender of the stone fort.” In his indorsement Chaffee called the proposition“absurd.” Any ill feeling that might have lingered between the two men did not surface in thecoming years, as Daggett would serve with Chaffee in the Philippines and as a subordinatecommander in the China Relief Expedition.LandingIn preparing for the invasion of the island, the precise location could not be determined untilthe whereabouts of the fleet of Admiral Cervera was known. An initial plan to land forces underGeneral Miles around Havana was shelved because of the danger of the landing fleet beingintercepted by Cervera. But then on 19 May the U.S. Navy found them. The Spanish fleet hadslipped into Santiago de Cuba, a wide bay with a narrow opening. Naval gunfire was exchangedwithout effect. Admiral Sampson called for land forces to seize the batteries protecting Santiago.He put ashore at Guantanamo Bay his marines who, in the first land warfare of the campaign,cleared the enemy from a swath of land that was to become a support base for the Navy and afoothold on Cuban soil for the next century.68 HUACHUCA ILLUSTRATED