Eighth Army Corps (Spanish–American War)

The Eighth Army Corps was formed on June 21, 1898, shortly after the outbreak of the Spanish–American War, in order to provide a ground contingent to exploit Commodore George Dewey's success in defeating the Spanish fleet in Manila Bay on May 1, 1898.

Eighth Army Corps
Active	1898–1900
Country	United States
Branch	United States Army
Type	Corps
Size	10,844
Engagements	Spanish–American War Battle of Manila (1898) Philippine–American War Battle of Manila (1899)
Commanders
Notable commanders	Wesley Merritt Elwell Stephen Otis Arthur MacArthur

San Francisco was the natural point of departure, but troops stationed there had been deployed to Cuba at the outbreak of the war. Colonel Thomas M. Anderson, who commanded the last remaining regiment on the coast, was ordered to San Francisco, made brigadier general of volunteers, and put in charge of the preliminary arrangements pending the selection of the officer to command the expedition that was to become Eighth Corps.^[1] Major General Wesley Merrit was later selected to command Eighth Corps, which had only one division, curiously numbered as the Second Division, with General Andersom selected to command it.

Eighth Corps defeated the Spanish forces under the command of Governor-General of the Philippines Fermín Jáudenes in the Battle of Manila on August 14, 1898 and continued to prosecute the Spanish–American War and the Philippine–American War until, at the end of March 1900, the complexities involved in dealing with guerrilla warfare and governing the islands led to the transformation of what had been the Department of the Pacific into the Division of the Philippines with four geographical departments, each of which was in turn divided into military districts. This step brought an end to the Eighth Corps.^[2] Units of the former Eighth Corps fought to an eventual victory in the Philippine–American War in July 1902.

Command structure

Following is the Order of battle for the Eighth Army Corps:^[3]

Commanding General, Eighth Army Corps: Major General Wesley Merritt

• 2nd Division - Colonel Thomas M. Anderson
  • 1st Brigade - Brigadier General Arthur MacArthur Jr.
    • 23rd Infantry Regiment - Lieutenant Colonel John W. French Jr.
    • 14th Infantry Regiment - Colonel Thomas M. Anderson^[4]
    • 13th Minnesota Volunteer Infantry Regiment - Col. Charles McCormick Reeve^[5]
    • 1st North Dakota Volunteer Infantry Regiment - Lt. Col. Amasa P. Peake^[6]
    • 1st Idaho Volunteer Infantry Regiment - Lt. Col. John W. Jones^[7]
    • 1st Wyoming Volunteer Infantry Regiment - Col. DeForest Richards^[8]
    • Astor Battery - Captain Peyton C. March
  • 2nd Brigade - Brigadier General Francis Vinton Greene
    • 18th U.S. Infantry Regiment - Col. David D. Van Valzah
      • 1st Battalion - Lieutenant Colonel Clarence M. Bailey
      • 2nd Battalion - Major Charles Keller
    • 3rd U.S. Artillery Regiment - Maj. William August Kobbé^[9]
      • 1st Battalion - Captain James O'Hara
      • 2nd Battalion - Captain William E. Birkhimer
    • U.S. Engineer Battalion, Company A - 2nd Lieutenant William Durward Connor
    • 1st California Infantry Regiment - Colonel James Francis Smith
    • 1st Colorado Infantry Regiment - Colonel Irving Hale
    • 1st Nebraska Volunteer Infantry Regiment - Colonel John P. Bratt
    • 2nd Oregon Volunteer Infantry Regiment - Colonel Owen Summers
    • 10th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry Regiment - Colonel Alexander Leroy Hawkins
    • Utah Volunteer Artillery Regiment - Colonel Harry B. Mulford^[10]
      • Light Battery A - Captain Richard Whitehead Young
      • Light Battery B - Captain Frank A. Grant
    • California Volunteer Heavy Artillery Detachment - 1st Lieutenant John A. Koster^[11]

See also

• Camp Merritt, California

References

1. Faust 1899, p. 55
2. "The Army Medical Department 1865–1917: Campaigns of the New Empire". Archived from the original on 2007-06-13. Retrieved 2007-04-06.
3. Giessel, Jess; McSherry, Patrick (2012). "Order of Battle VIII Army Corps PHILIPPINES". U.S. Order of Battle, 1898. The Spanish American War Centennial Website. Retrieved 2014-06-14.
4. The United States Army and Navy Journal and Gazette of the Regular and Volunteer Forces. Vol. 35. New York: Army and Navy Journal Incorporated. 4 September 1897. p. 440. Retrieved July 4, 2024.
5. The Masterkey. Vol. 21. Southwest Museum. 1947. p. 148. Retrieved 3 July 2024.
6. Cooper, Jerry; Smith, Glenn (2005). Citizens as Soldiers: A History of the North Dakota National Guard. Lincoln, NE: University of Nebraska Press. p. 40. ISBN 0-8032-6449-6. Retrieved 4 July 2024.
7. Jenkins, Micah J. "A Roster of the 1st Idaho Volunteer Infantry". The Spanish-American War Centennial Website. Retrieved 4 July 2024.
8. "First (1st) Wyoming Volunteer Infantry Battalion: United States Volunteers, May 1898, to September 23rd, 1899". The Spanish American War Database. Retrieved 4 July 2024.
9. Robert Hugh Ferrell, ed. (22 July 2012). Reminiscences of Conrad S. Babcock: The Old U.S. Army and the New, 1898-1918. Columbia, MO: University of Missouri Press. p. 8. ISBN 9780826272829. Retrieved 6 July 2024.
10. Finzer, W. E. (1902). The Official Records of the Oregon Volunteers in the Spanish War and Philippine Insurrection. Adjutant-General's Office. p. 9. Retrieved 6 July 2024.
11. Otis, Elwell Stephen (1899). Appendices to Annual Report of Major General E.S. Otis, U.S. Volunteers, Commanding Department of the Pacific and 8th Army Corps, Military Governor in the Philippine Islands. Manila. p. 23. Retrieved 3 July 2024.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)

• Faust, K.I. (1899). Campaigning in the Philippines: Illustrated. Hicks-Judd Company.