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| The USS Maine enters Havana Harbor during January 1898. |
As wars go, the Spanish-American wasn't much. It lasted only 10 weeks and claimed fewer than 2,500 U.S. lives (297 in military action and 2,061 lost to disease).
But it did create a considerable stir at the time, due in large part to media giants Joseph Pulitzer and William Randolph Hearst who used their newspapers to whip the general population into a blood-thirsty patriotic frenzy.
The precipitating event occurred 120 years ago this month, on the evening of April 15, when the battleship Maine --- which had sailed into Havana Harbor ostensibly to protect U.S. interests as the Cuban War of Independence developed --- exploded and sank, killing 261 crew members.
Ten days later, Congress declared war on Spain --- by then a minor power that posed no direct threat to the United States.
We don't know to this day why the Maine exploded. The Hearst and Pulitzer media, people and politicians, blamed Spain. Those in charge of tracking the blast to its source were divided. Some though it had been a mine, others blamed a mechanical malfunction aboard the ship.
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The day that Congress declared war --- a Monday --- Iowa Gov. Leslie M. Shaw mobilized Iowa's National Guard units --- including Chariton's Company H, then headquartered in the armory located two blocks south of the square at the intersection of Armory Avenue and South Main.
The people of Chariton gave the boys of Company H a grand sendoff that evening and on the Tuesday that followed as the unit boarded a special train bound for Des Moines and Camp Dodge.
The following report of it was published in The Chariton Herald of Thursday, April 28. The reporter was The Herald's editor, Walter H. Dewey, then just 26 himself.
Reading his report, you'll note a number of references to the Civil War and to harmonious endorsement of this new war by former loyalists to both the Confederate and Union causes. A number of circumstances most likely explain this --- Chariton's mayor at the time, George W. Alexander, a native of East Tennessee, was a veteran of Confederate service. Dewey himself had mixed heritage. Born, too, in East Tennessee, his father was Union Gen. Joel A. Dewey, but two of his uncles had fought for the Confederacy --- Chariton attorney Napoleon B. Branner, who survived, and Thomas W., who didn't.
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COMPANY H CALLED OUT
Chariton's Military Company Will Fight the Spaniards
The Spirit of '61 Revived in this City; Grand Demonstration Monday Evening in Honor of Chariton's Brave Soldiers Who Go to the Front
The spirit of the days of '61 to '65, when the men who are now marching with a halting step and who show the scars of many a battle, were offering their services to the government, to be pitted against their southern brother, was again experienced in our city when it was definitely known that more than fifty of the best young men our proud city possesses had been called to give up their service, and perhaps their lives, in defense of the dear old flag which every true American, whether he hail from south or north of Mason and Dixon's line, whether he be high in the estimation and esteem of the peopLe or the poorest beggar that trods God's green footstool, loves with the same ardor that he bestows affection upon his own children.
Last Saturday the officers of Co. H received orders from General Byers to hold the company in readiness to proceed to Des Moines at a moment's notice. Since that time preparations have been rapidly pushed that everything might be ready to make a creditable report when the call should come. On Monday telegrams were sent to absent members calling them in and they were responded to from a half dozen different states where the boys had located.
On Monday evening a mass meeting was held in the court house. The company marched from the armory led by the Chariton band which played patriotic airs ranging from "Dixie" to "Marching Through Georgia." At the court house the large court room was packed with men, women and children. Four times as many more sought admission, but were turned away for want of room. The assembled crowd was a united crowd --- united by the breath of patriotism. There were men there who had worn the blue and those who had worn the gray, men whose religions differed as widely as Christian religions can, men who have opposed each other in politics, and men whose occupations varied from bankers to day laborers, yet their unity on this occasion demonstrated that sectional lines, religious differences and political prejudices vanish when national honor demands it. All are Americans. Short speeches were made, Mayor Alexander presiding. Those whose patriotic utterances fired the pride and patriotism of the assembled company and boys in blue were: Ex-Lieutenant Governor Warren S. Dungan, Hon. J.A. Penick, Col. O.A. Bartholomew and Sheriff Eli Manning.
At the close of the meeting F. R. Crocker proposed "three cheers" for Co. H and Col. Dungan led off with a "hip-hip and hurrah" in response that awakened the echoes of war times in the breast of every veteran there. The company then marched to the armory where they were dismissed to report on the morrow at 8 o'clock.
Tuesday morning just before starting to the depot Company H marched to the residence of Captain Will B. Barger, on east Court avenue, in order pay their respects to him before leaving Chariton. As is pretty generally known, Captain Barger has been quite sick for the past two weeks and unable to leave the house. When the boys came, however, he appeared on the porch and made them a very pretty and touching speech; with three cheers for their gallant captain the boys left the house.
On Tuesday at noon the boys, accompanied by several hundred of our citizens, both men and women, marched up to the depot to take the special for Des Moines. the train, which pulled in at 12:50, consisted of two baggage cars and eight passenger coaches, and carried the companies from Shenandoah, Glenwood, Red Oak, Villisca, Clarinda, Bedford and Creston. The last car was reserved for Co. H. The scene of final departure was an effecting one; tears of sorrow were forced back by the overwhelming strength of patriotism and fathers and mothers sorrowfully wished their brave sons God speed; while the great throng of people joined in one grand demonstration as a token of love in which the boys of Company H are held. Never were better soldiers mustered into the service. The complete roster of those who left for Des Moines is as follows:
G.E. Whitlock, First Lieutenant.
I.N. Bowen, Second Lieutenant
SERGEANTS
1st. O.A. Hougland.
2nd J.S. Howard
3rd Ed. Young.
4th Chas Flanders
CORPORALS
Ben Allen, W.T. Black, J.W. Cowles, W.A. Gillespie.
MUSICIANS
W.R. Smith, C.A. Rose
PRIVATES
Gus Anderson, Max Blous, Walter Black, Gene Byran, Grove Brock, J. Buffington, Bert Cowles, Harry Clowser, L. Chambers, B. Cook, Wm. Debord, Jesse Dawson, John Groves, O. Hixon, Bert Hahn, Chas. Hobson, Albert Henley, Hol. Hatcher, J.F. Hardy, John Irvin, A.E. Kitselman, Howard King, Elder Lodge, Chas. Lewis, G.L. McCoy, R.A. Plotts, C.E. Slater, Bent. Thomas, Martin Vincent, Calvin Vincil, Newt Wilson, N. Williams, J.S. Wertin, J.W. Wood, W.H. Wilson and Fred James.
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The aftermath of all this was anticlimactic. The boys of Company H made it as far as Florida, but no farther during this brief war. Sgt. William T. Black died there of typhoid on July 19, 1898, age 25; and his young brother, Pvt. and Trumpeter Walter E. Black, became critically ill there but made it home to Chariton to die at age 17 on Sept. 18, 1898.
Two other young men from Lucas County died of disease in the Philippine-American War (fought by Philippine forces for independence from U.S. colonial rule), which followed the Spanish-American War --- Pvt. John W. Mauk on Oct. 22, 1899, age 26; and Pvt. Ben Dismore, on Dec. 23, 1900, age 20. All four of these men are buried in the Chariton Cemetery.
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