Page:Portland, Oregon, its History and Builders volume 1.djvu/788

574 was named to command the volunteer regiment, which was headed for foreign wars of unknown proportions. Col. Yoran, the junior regimental commander of the brigade, was named lieutenant colonel. Lieut.-Col. C. U. Gantenbein, First Regiment, was chosen major of the First Battalion, Maj. Percy Willis of the Second Regiment, major of the Second Battalion, and Maj. P. G. East wick of the First Regiment, major of the Third Battalion. Among the companies, when a consolidation occurred, the senior captain was left in command, and the junior put in as first lieutenant. Company H of Portland, in recognition of its excellent militia record and the unanimity with which the members responded to the call to service, was permitted to enter the volunteer regiment intact, without change or addition of officers.

Medical examination for the national government was delegated to Captain Morris, and Captain Kendall of the Eighth Cavalry, was designated mustering officer. This examination was very exhaustive, as the government sought to avoid enlisting those who might develop physical disabilities in service.

A large number of men were rejected under the rigid specifications, and disappointment was never keener than among the list of rejected men, a few of whom gave way to deep emotion when told they could not go with their comrades to war. Lieut. L. R. Knapp was chosen quartermaster of volunteers, having held the same position with the First Regiment.

Captain Brosius, assistant surgeon of the First Battalion, was made chief hospital steward, and H. A. Littlefield and J. A. Byars assistant stewards. James Rintoul, sergeant-major of the First Regiment, got the same position in the new command; Carl Rittespacher became quartermaster-sergeant, and Charles Dillon commissary-sergeant.

A helpful organization which came into existence at the time of mustering the regiment was first known as the Emergency Corps, which later passed into the Red Cross Society. Mrs. Dr. Henry E. Jones was president of the organization, and Mrs. Fannie Lounsbury, secretary. By providing bandages and minor necessaries from the first, furnishing all told nearly $3,000 cash for use of the regiment, and by sending two nurses employed and paid by the society before other nurses were provided by the government, this society of women proved far-sighted workers for the volunteer command, and won places in Oregon history.

May 4th marked the day when the Second Oregon was ready for national assignment, and on May 13th the First Battalion, Major Gantenbein commanding, reached San Francisco, and established the regimental camp at the Presidio. May i8th the other two battalions, with regimental headquarters and band reached the same destination, and marched through San Francisco, a superb com- mand for a volunteer organization, winning first praise from press, the public and regular army commanding.

By the time that San Francisco was reached it was known that the western troops were to be sent to the Philippines to aid Admiral Dewey in conquering the remnant of Spanish power there and holding the Islands during the war. Orders for embarkation for the first expedition to the Philippines were not re- ceived until late in May; and the Second Oregon, First California, and two battalions of the Fourteenth Infantry (regulars) and a battery of heavy artillery were named as the forward commands.

On May 25, 1898, the first military expedition from the United States to a foreign shore in the history of the republic (Cuba being counted as part of the American continent), left San Francisco bay for the possessions of Spain in the Philippine archipelago; being made up of the First Regiment of California volunteers ; nine companies of the Second Oregon Regiment of Volunteers, on the troopship Australia, and three companies of the same regiment on the troop- ship Sydney, together with two battalions of the U. S. Fourteenth Infantry; and all under the command of Brig.-Gen. Thomas M. Anderson, U. S. A., as commander of the expedition, making his headquarters on the Australia.