The Spanish- American War and the Presidio

On April 21, 1898, the United States declared war against Spain. The causes of the conflict were many, but the imme- diate ones were America's support of Cuba's ongoing struggle against Spanish rule and the mysterious explosion of the U.S.S. Maine in Havana Harbor. This The 51st Iowa Volunteer Infantry Regiment marches through the Presidio'sLombard StJ was the first overseas war fought by the United States, involving campaigns in THE PRESIDIO'S ROLE passed through the post on their way to both Cuba and the Philippine Islands. The Presidio was a natural staging point the Philippines. At the turn of the centu- The Spanish fleet guarding the because of its proximity to the finest ry, San Francisco offered many attrac- Philippines was defeated by the U.S. harbor on the west coast, and possessed tions, but army life at the Presidio was Navy under the command of enough land to house and train large cramped and sickness often flared up in Commodore George Dewey on May 1, numbers of troops for service in the temporary tent camps. This situation 1898. Unaware of Dewey's success, the Philippines. The first prompted the military to improve troop President McKinley authorized soldiers left the facilities and this helped change the face the assembling of troops in The Presidio in May of the Presidio over the ensuing years. ,-,----,---c.-.vrdtoer mount.a.campaign.,« merks, ot. the 1 8, an consist- against the capital of brief war with ed of the 1st FIGHTING IN THE PHILIPPINES Manila. The military base California Most Presidio troops got to the islands best suited as the stag- Spain and the longer Infantry and the too late to fight the Spanish in the brief ing point for troops conflict with the 2nd Oregon war. However Philippine rebels had been bound for the Philippines Filpinos are evident Infantry waging guerrilla warfare against Spanish was the Presidio of San throughout the Regiments. Soon colonialism long before the U.S. became Francisco. The majority of Presidio. soldiers from involved. Their exiled leader, Emilio these soldiers were volun- Washington, Montana, Aquinaldo, quickly made contact with teers, originating from all over Iowa, Wyoming, Kansas, the attacking force already on its way to the United States, gathering and train- Tennessee, and Utah would be sta- the Philippines, in the belief that the ing at the Presidio before the long sea tioned at the Presidio in addition to the United States would help the voyage to the Philippines and their part regular garrison. From the beginning of "Insurrectos" gain independence from in, as Secretary of State John Hay put it, the war to 1900, some 80,000 men had Spain. But expansionists in the U.S. gov- the "splendid little war." THE PHILIPPINE FIGHT FOR THE UNITED STATES' ROLE IN INDEPENDENCE WORLD POLITICS The United States' drive to extend influ- The Spanish-American War and its after- ence across the Pacific instigated a math delayed Philippine independence Philippine American War. Fighting broke until after World War II, but established out on Feb. 4, 1899, and eventually far a relationship that fostered a substantial exceeded that against Spain. At the out- Filipino population within U.S. borders. break, the U.S. had only a small amount The United States emerged as an influen- of troops in the Philippines compared to tial world power with its new overseas Aquinaldo's 40,000 fighters. American possessions (the Philippines, Guam, troop strength increased until 1901 Hawaii, and Puerto Rico), and started on when it numbered 75,000. Nearly all of a path that would affect its role in inter- the troops sent to fight in the Philippines national affairs for the future century. spent time at the Presidio. On March 23, 1901, Colonel Frederick Funston, com- IMPACT OF THE SPANISH- mander of the 20th Kansas Infantry AMERICAN WAR ON THE PRESIDIO set Gate in 1898, bound for Manila. Regiment which had been stationed at The mark of the brief war with Spain and the Presidio, captured the nationalist the longer conflict with the Philippines is leader Aquinaldo. Funston's daring ernment had other plans. After the sign- evident throughout the Presidio. The actions in the Philippines earned the ing of the Treaty of Paris, on December arrival of large numbers of troops Medal of Honor and a promotion to 10, 1898, which ended the war against spurred its transition from a frontier mil- Brigadier General. The fighting dimin- Spain, the United States opted to give itary outpost to a modern army base. ished after Aquinaldo's capture, but Cuba its independence but keep the Buildings erected because of needed Theodore Roosevelt did not officially end Philippines, to the dismay of the post expansion and modification, like the war until July 4, 1902. Philippine nationalists. the Montgomery Street Barracks and the Letterman Hospital complex, are now an important part of the historic scene.

Tent camps were established on the Presidio to handle the thousands oj soldiers preparingfor transport to the Philippines, 1898. Sites on the Presidio related to the Spanish-American War

1. MONTGOMERY STREET 3. LETTERMAN HOSPITAL 4. TENNESSEE HOLLOW BARRACKS COMPLEX This was the site of the tent encampment These five brick barracks, located along This site had its beginnings when the of the 1st Tennessee and 1st Utah Montgomery Street, were constructed tent hospital at Camp Merritt, a tempo- Volunteer Infantry Regiments in May between 1895 and 1897 and represent rary encampment just south of the 1898. Once called Camp Miller, it split post expansion and the Army's desire for Presidio, was overwhelmed with large into two separate camps, Merriam on the more permanent quarters at the Presidio numbers of troops sickened by eastern border of the post, and on the eve of overseas involvement. On unhealthy living conditions. The hospital Tennessee Hollow, geographically sepa- the first floor of each barrack were a moved onto the Presidio grounds when rated by a low ridge. Tennessee Hollow, kitchen and mess hallthat catered to the CamPMerritt closed in the summer Of in the valley east of Officers' Row along --. two companies of 109 men stationed 1898. In December, the U.S. Army Funston Avenue, was a more open ravine there. With the monumental task of car- General Field Hospital was established at that time, with fewer and smaller ing for the large numbers of sick troops and temporarily placed in the trees, and no houses. from the damp and sandy Camp Merritt, the Army General Field Hospital tem- porarily took over some of these bar- racks in 1898.

2. ORDONEZ GUN This artillery piece was developed by Spanish Captain Salvador Diaz Ordonez in 1880, and was used to defend Spanish harbors, military installations and over- seas possessions. This particular weapon was supposedly damaged at Subic Bay in the Philippines by shellfire from the U.S.S. Charleston in September of 1899. But some historians believe an explosion of a shell inside the gun dam- aged the barrel instead of a direct hit. Publisher William Randolph Hearst brought the gun to San Francisco by the time of the 1906 earthquake and the Army acquired it in 1973 to exhibit at the Presidio. Montgomery Street barracks. The pre- sent, permanent location for the hospital 5. CAMP MERRIAM L was later chosen because of the nearby Named after Brigadier General Henry C. h location of transient troops, and its Merriam, the commanding general of the tl accessibility to the docks for unloading Department of California in 1898. The patients from ship!'. The first stage of camp was located on the eastern border tl the hospital complex was completed in of the Presidio close to the Lombard June1899 and was praised as a model Gate entrance (now the site of the A modern hospital. 8. LOMBARD GATE t Two sandstone pillars, ornamented with army insignia and flanked by cannon captured during the Spanish American War mark the Presidio's main entrance e at Lombard Street. The gate was con- structed in 1896 as a part of a program to permanently mark the boundaries in stone and improve the post's appearance to the people of San Francisco. Most e troops en route to the Philippines passed through this gate to meet their awaiting ships.

Nor 6. PLAQUE IN HONOR OF 9. SAN FRANCISCO NATIONAL point COLONEL JAMES F. SMITH CEMETERY Bay This plaque at former Camp Merriam is In 1884 the War Department designated located just south of the site (now in the the former post cemetery and surround- parking lot) where the 1st California ing land as the first National Cemetery Regiment of Volunteer Infantry camped on the West Coast. It gradually accumu- while awaiting transport across the lated more land, because of the inclusion Pacific. The plaque, given by the regi- of burials from abandoned forts around ment, commemorates their commanding the western U.S. and the casualties of officer and their actions in Guam and the Spanish-American War and the the Philippines. Philippine American conflict, until reach- ] ing its current size of 28 acres. Major >0'" 7. MONUMENT TO THE 51ST IOWA Generals Frederick Funston, who cap- Greenwich VOLUNTEER INFANTRY tured Aguinaldo, and William R. Shafter, commander of U.S. Army forces in Cuba A stone monument at the corner of during the war, are buried in the San Ruger Street and Sherman Road marks Francisco National Cemetery on the the camp site of the 51st Iowa Volunteer Presidio. Green Infantry Regiment, commanded by Colonel John C. Loper, which trained at Camp Merriam prior to service in the Letterman Hospital parking-lot), and Philippines from 1898-1899. On either housed the first volunteers shipped to side of Ruger Street are infantry bar- e the Philippines. The living conditions at racks built between 1903-1909 to pro- Camp Merriam were considered by the vide better quarters for troops on their troops to be far superior to those at way to the possessions that the United Camp Merritt, located just south of the States acquired because of its expansion Arguello Boulevard Gate. into the Pacific.

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