Stories of Our Spanish American Soldiers - Company M, 6th Regiment O.V.I.

 Now and then through 2026, our blog will feature stories about the men from Defiance and surrounding areas who volunteered for service in the Spanish-American War from 1898 - 1899.

When President McKinley called for volunteers, our local men were eager to participate. On June 23, 1898, a train pulled out of Defiance with a whole company of men. The cry was, "We are going to free Cuba!"

They were headed first to Camp Bushnell in Columbus, Ohio, and then by July 6 to Chickamauga Park, Camp George H. Thomas, where they would meet up with the rest of the 6th Regiment. It was part of the old Civil War battlefield.

By the summer of 1898, Camp Thomas was in horrible shape - overcrowded with a lack of clean water and poor sanitation. The War Department decided to move the regiment up to Knoxville, Tennessee.

They ended up in Camp Poland, near Knoxville, by both marching and by train.

Finally on August 27, 1898, they boarded a train for Charleston, SC and then boarded a C.S. Transport boat called the Mennewaska in the evening to depart for Cuba.

(While the group were still at Camp Thomas, the armistice had been signed, but we were still officially at war until The Treaty of Paris would be signed on December 10, 1898. Troops, however, were needed to occupy the new lands attained by our troops.)

Company M arrived in Cuba in the harbor of Cieninegas, Cuba on January 3 and marched through that city to a camp about four miles out of town.

*Misspelled in newspaper - it should be Cienfuegos Bay

Under the leadership of Captain James A. Crandall, they soon moved to the Provost Guard Camp in the city itself. There they served to keep the peace until April 21, 1899, when they boarded a ship for a 4 day cruise to Savannah, GA.

Once there, they went through disinfecting stations and fumigation and stayed in quarantine on Danfuki Island.

They headed back to into Savannah on May 9 and hopped a train to Augusta where they were mustered out and paid. They could then head for home where they would arrive as a group on May 26, 1899.

Auglaize Village holds a panoramic photo of Company M which will be used in our storytelling. Someone had the historical foresight to number each soldier and write the corresponding name along the sides.