John Blackshoe Sends: Serendipity History – Halloween 1898- “Who Stole the Beer?” - Part III

 Part 3 of 4-  The Perps- the 160^th Indiana Volunteer Infantry

This is the rifle issued to 26 year old Private Melvin W. Minear, the Wagoner for Company M of the 160^th Indiana.

He was later promoted to Corporal.  He was from Claypool, IN, the seventh of ten sons in his family, and the only one who enlisted.  After the war, he married, raised a small family (wife, two sons, and a daughter) and bounced around locations within about 20 miles of his birthplace variously employed as farmer, mail carrier, and lightning rod salesman.  He died in 1953 at age 81.

Source: Author’s collection and photo.
Biographical info from various Ancestry.com sources

 

No one would suspect that the 160^th Indiana would be involved in a beer theft.  After all:

“It may be a pleasure of the friends of the 160^th Regiment to know that it was one of the few regiments in which the sale of intoxicating liquors was prohibited. 
For this credit is due Col. Gunder, as he desired to shield his command from the evils of intoxicants and so preserving the health and character of his men.”
Source:

 After initial mustering into federal service the regiment went to Camp Thomas at Chickamauga, TN, arriving on May 16^th, 1898, with dozens of other Regiments and inadequate water, food or preparation.

On June 7, 1898- “Each soldier was issued a Springfield rifle, cartridge belt, canteen, haversack, knapsack and shelter half.  Previous to receiving the rifles, sentinels stood guard around the camp with clubs.”

 The 160^th was NOT among the units sent to Tampa for the invasion of Cuba, and remained in the increasingly sickly Camp Thomas until late July.  They were designated to be part of an invasion of Puerto Rico later that summer, leaving Camp Thomas for Newport News, VA on July 27^th, arriving three days later.   There, they were introduced to the wretched heat and humidity of Tidewater Virginia in the summer.   This was before air conditioning, so they soldiered on.   Shortly before they were to embark on transports for Puerto Rico, the Spanish signed the Armistice, so they remained at Camp Grant in Newport News for a total of three weeks.

 Next they were sent to Lexington, KY, where the weather was a bit better, setting up Camp Miles west of town, and after 3 weeks there moved eight miles east to Camp Hamilton.  So, they arrived at the scene of the beer crime about September 15^th and remained there until November 9^th, becoming more disgruntled with an apparent end to the war, but not their service. 

The brief unit history published April 28, 1899 by the Huntington, Indiana Weekly Herald was the first public mention of the beer incident I was able to find. 

“While [in Lexington]the Pabst and Schlitz companies lost several hundred cases of beer.  The 160^th Indiana have the credit of drinking the beer whether they were the ones who took it or not.  Co. K must have gotten a little of the beer at least.”
Source:

Later, the published unit history more candidly revealed more details, such as would only be known by the perpetrators:

“Halloween came and we were yet in Camp Hamilton.  On that night the boys were full of prank and one was committed that did not seem to be much of a joke to Pabst and Schlitz, but it has since proven to be a cheap advertisement.    Three car loads of beer intended for the Twelfth New York canteen were on the siding in the rear of the camp of the Third Kentucky and 160th Indiana.    The beer so near proved too great a temptation and the  boys  decided they must sample a little of it, and it being Halloween, it would be no crime to use the beer.  During the night the 160th Indiana and Third Kentucky unloaded two hundred and fifty cases of bottled beer and one and a half cars of keg beer.   With so much beer on hand it was difficult to find enough hiding places.    Holes were dug beneath the tent floors kegs were weighted and put in the bottom of the creek, bottles strung on wires and suspended in the water, indeed there was beer anywhere and everywhere.  Pabst and Schlitz were infuriated, bringing action to recover damages at once.  An investigation was ordered and it was decided that the Twelfth New York was liable.    In the meantime the papers far and wide contained accounts of the joke, as it proved to be.  Thousands of buttons have been printed and distributed as souvenirs, thus proving a cheap advertisement, .so satisfactory that the beer manufacturers have come to regard the matter as a joke and have withdrawn their claim for damages.”

Source: 

But, life in the 160^th was not all beer and skittles. 

“While at Lexington, the provost guards had little trouble to maintain order.  The two principal events of the 160^th were the killing of a Negro soldier by a priate of Co. G., and the other by Private Chilcot shooting a private of the Second Mississippi, which resulted in the loss of a leg.  Both casualties occurred in the line of duty.”

Source:

About a week after the beer theft, they left for Columbus, GA, where they set up Camp Conrad, awaiting occupation duty in Cuba.   With the war officially over as of December 12^th, the regiment was finally officially selected for occupation duty in Cuba.   On December 19, 1898- bolt action .30 caliber Krag rifles were issued to replace the single shot .45-70 trapdoor rifles. 

Leaving Columbus by train, the SS Saratoga took them to Cuba in three sections during January 1899.

Occupation duty in Cuba was interesting, and something of an adventure, albeit lacking what Sir Winston Churchill described from his own experience about this time.  "There is nothing more exhilarating than being shot at and missed.”  Duty was mainly show the flag, keep the not yet departed Spaniards from bullying local officials, and general police and public works tasks.   Compared to a winter in Indiana, a ten week trip to a Caribbean island was not a bad deal, especially if not shot at, and not malaria season!

Determined to get all troops off the island before the tropical disease season started, the 160^th left aboard the U.S. Army Transport Thomas on March 27, 1899 and arrived in Savannah, GA , March 29.  Ironically, General George H. Thomas, “the rock of Chickamauga” was the namesake of both their first and last contacts with the state of Georgia.

U.S. Army Transport THOMAS with a load of passengers circa 1901.
Source:

Men of the 160^th Indiana in the mess shack in Savannah, GA, 1899.  The happiest guy is the one peeling the potato.  Do these guys look like they might steal some beer?  Yes, yes they do!

Source: Courtesy Indiana State Library.

The 160^th Indiana Volunteer Infantry mustered out April 25^th 1899, after one year of service, and the men proceeded home.  So, the 160^th Indiana served their full terms of enlistment, including about two months on occupation duty in Cuba. 

 The Huntington, Indiana Weekly Herald ran a lengthy unit history of their local Company K on its front page on April 28^th 1899 when the 160^th was mustered out.  I highly recommend it as a good summary of soldier life in the Spanish American War.  (It may require a subscription…) https://www.newspapers.com/image/40238797/?clipping_id=110971431&fcfToken=eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJmcmVlLXZpZXctaWQiOjQwMjM4Nzk3LCJpYXQiOjE3Mjg4Njk4MTksImV4cCI6MTcyODk1NjIxOX0.QDG0jaJm-mJpxym6A5xLNCX1teZjX7_hI3FuAwwqOPA

 This unit had an active veterans group with annual reunions for nearly 40 years.   Their 1912 reunion featured the ribbon and celluloid “Who Stole the Beer” buttons.   I’d consider that a confession.

Source:

Losses by unit. All started with about 50 officers and 1,000 enlisted, with some
replacements arriving during their service period.  Source:

	12th New York	160th Indiana	3rd Kentucky
OFFICER losses
Resigned or discharged	30	7	7
ENLISTED losses
Transferred	13	69	27
Discharged-disability	47	59	60
Discharged- courts martial	-	-	8
Discharged by order	210	117	129
Death from disease	23	11	17
Death- accidental	1	-	2
Murder or homicide	-	1	1
Suicide	1	-	-
Deserted	91	15	56
TOTAL ENLISTED LOSSES	386	272	300

Part 1 looked at “The Crime” of the beer theft

Part 2 looked at “The Victims”- the 12th New York.

Part 4 will look at “The Perps” from the 3rd Kentucky

John Blackshoe Sends: Serendipity History – Halloween 1898- “Who Stole the Beer?” - Part II

12^th New York enlistments at their armory in 1898
Source: http://daytoninmanhattan.blogspot.com/2015/09/the-lost-12th-regiment-armory-columbus.html

The Crime; the Victims; and the Perps.

Part 2 of 4-  The Victims-  12^th New York Volunteer Infantry

The only image found for this unit is one of enlistments taking place at their New Yawk City Armory at Columbus Avenue at 61^st Street.   This armory was opened in 1887, and “[t]housands of invitations were sent out, it is said, but after about 3000 people were admitted to the armory, the rest were kept out at the point of the bayonet.”   

The 12th New York Volunteer Infantry was mustered into service on May 13, 1898 at Peekskill, New York. At the time of muster in, the unit consisted of 43 officers and 978 enlisted men. Initially, the unit was first sent to Camp Thomas at Chickamauga, Georgia. Conditions in this camp were terrible. It was overcrowded, unsanitary, and disease-ridden.

Following muster into federal service at Peekskill, NY on May 13, 1898, they arrived by choo-choo near Chattanooga, TN at Camp Thomas on the Chickamauga battlefield on May 20^th.  Life at Camp Thomas was grueling with limited water, poor food and lots of disease.   Many units were quickly sent to Tampa for the Cuban invasion, but the 12^th NY was not one of them. 

As the summer passed, Spanish forces world-wide suffered defeats and the likelihood of the 12^th being needed for combat swindled.  So, they remained at Camp Thomas until August 24^th when they were sent to Lexington, KY.

At Camp Hamilton, even prior to the shooting and beer theft, the 12^th’s conduct was not exemplary.

 Among other activities, there was a regimental drill competition in September,between the 12^th New York, and their future antagonists the 3^rd Kentucky and 160^th Indiana (more about them in parts 3 and 4).  The 12^th New York won the drill competition.  This was followed by a competition between the best company from each of the regiments.  The 12^th won again, but it was discovered that their “company” was actually selected men, mostly NCOS from across the regiment.  The prize was taken away from the cheaters and split between the 3^rd Kentucky and 160^th Indiana.

The October 9^th Shooting and Aftermath

The Regiment was outraged on October 9^th, when one of its members was shot dead by the Provost Marshalls (Military Police) in Lexington, as reported on the front page of the New York Times:

Source:  New York Times, October 11, 1898, page 1. (Clipped and made to two columns)

Apparently a similar story ran in the Lexington Herald (copy not found) but this incensed the Commander o the 12^th New York, who defended the conduct and honor of his troops with the following:

Source:  Lexington Herald-Leader, October 13, 1898, page 5.

As the uproar over this shooting was calming, Halloween arrived, and so did the shipment of beer for the 12^th New York to enjoy.    But, someone else got most of it!

 

Although some sources suggest that the theft was widely reported and the brewers dropped their charges due to free publicity, I found nothing to confirm that, but it sounds plausible.

 

After the beer theft, their enlistments continued to drag on.   Finally,

… on November 13th the regiment departed Lexington for Americus, GA where a new camp was set up. On December 26th the 12th Regiment left camp en route for Cuba, where it arrived on the 1st of January 1899 and took up garrison duty at Matanzas and Cardenas. On March 20th, 1899 the regiment was sent home to New York City where it arrived on March 27th and was mustered out on April 20th, 1899.
Source:

 Their service in Cuba was pretty much the same as the other occupation troops, show the flag, keep any remaining Spaniards from interfering with new local governments, and provide security and public works support.

The unit was mustered out of service on April 20, 1899 at New York City. At the time of muster out, it consisted of 46 officers and 945 men. During its term of service, the unit suffered from high losses. Twenty-three enlisted men died of disease, one man died as the result of an accident, and one man committed suicide. Forty-seven additional men were discharged on disability. Ninety-one men deserted!

Losses by unit.  All started with about 50 officers and 1,000 enlisted, with some
replacements arriving during their service period.  Source:

	12th New York	160th Indiana	3rd Kentucky
OFFICER losses
Resigned or discharged	30	7	7
ENLISTED losses
Transferred	13	69	27
Discharged-disability	47	59	60
Discharged- courts martial	-	-	8
Discharged by order	210	117	129
Death from disease	23	11	17
Death- accidental	1	-	2
Murder or homicide	-	1	1
Suicide	1	-	-
Deserted	91	15	56
TOTAL ENLISTED LOSSES	386	272	300

Part 1 looked at “The Crime” of the beer theft

Part 3 will look at “The Perps” from the 160th Indiana

Part 4 will look at “The Perps” from the 3rd Kentucky

 

 

John Blackshoe Sends: Serendipity History – Halloween 1898- “Who Stole the Beer?” - Part I

Who stole the beer?   “Not us, we were not at Camp Hamilton. “
Spanish American War era camp scene, possibly the 9^th New York. 
Source- Author’s collection

The Crime; the Victims; and the Perps.

Part 1 of 4-  The Crime

 

Monday, October 31^st 1898 was a memorable day (and night) in Camp Hamilton, Kentucky, located just east of Lexington.

The troops were restless.  They had volunteered to fight the evil Spanish oppressors in Cuba after the U.S. Battleship Maine was blown up in Havana Harbor on February 15, 1898.   An act enthusiastically attributed to Spanish skullduggery, but later determined to have been from spontaneous combustion in a coal bunker adjacent to one of the ship’s magazines.

 War was declared on April 20^th followed by the President calling for 125,000 volunteers to augment our miniscule 28.000 man army.  

On May 1^st, the U.S. fleet, previously ordered to the Philippines by Under Secretary of the Navy Teddy Roosevelt (during SECNAV’s absence) defeated the Spanish fleet at Manila Bay, with the sole American death being a heat stroke victim.

Volunteer units mustered in their home states in late April and early May and moved on to four large federal camps.  Health, sanitation, food and quartermaster support were huge problems everywhere.

Some of the newly raised volunteer troops were sent to Tampa, Florida for the invasion of Cuba.  Most, but not all of those, actually boarded the invasion fleet transports, hastily converted and ill-suited for passengers.   Landings over the beach at Daquiri and at a small pier in Sibony on June 22^nd positioned them to besiege the Spanish stronghold at Santiago, where the Spanish fleet was located.

 

A series of small battles culminated in the July 1^st attack on San Juan Hill.  The victors included publicity hogging  Lt. Col. Teddy Roosevelt (who had left his Navy job to volunteer) and his oddball mix of cowboy and socialite “Rough Riders” in the 1^st U.S. Volunteer Cavalry who fought well.  As did the Black “Buffalo Soldiers” of the 10^th U.S. Cavalry.  First Lieutenant John J. “Black Jack” Pershing (USMA 1886) was with them (a story in itself).  Roosevelt said that “Pershing is the coolest man under fire I ever saw in my life.”  The 71st New York Volunteer Infantry, and 3^rd U.S. Cavalry were also combatants deserving of praise along with Lt. John Parker’s Gatling Gun Battery and Capron’s field artillery.

Roosevelt and his 1^st. U.S. Volunteer Cavalry on San Juan Hill after the battle.  This often used photo is part of a larger one where the 3^rd U.S. Cavalry was on the left and the 10^th U.S. Cavalry was on the right.  I have not been able to find a decent quality copy of the uncropped photo.

Source: Public Domain.

The capture of San Juan Hill was a strategic victory, placing the city and harbor of Santiago under siege while the Navy blockaded the exit from the harbor.   This forced Cervera’s fleet to try to fight their way out on July 3^rd, only to be mauled by the U.S. Navy.  Within a few weeks the Spanish Army surrendered.   

Still smoldering hulk of Spanish Cruiser Vizcaya off Santiago July 3, 1898.

Source: Public Domain 

The Spanish government agreed to an armistice on August 12^th, essentially ending the war, much to the dismay of troops who had not seen combat and felt cheated out of a chance at glory.  Peace talks began in Paris on October 1^st, and a formal treaty was signed December 10^th, ending the “Splendid Little War.”

 After the August Armistice, it was a long, hot, boring summer in filthy camps for volunteers who saw the war as over and their services no longer needed.  They thought they should be discharged and sent home.  The Army did not agree.

 Such was the case with the troops at Camp Hamilton.  Many had initially been sent to Camp Thomas near Chattanooga, TN, on the old Chickamauga battlefield.  Some 50,000 troops were ordered there, with little planning, limited water supplies, horrible sanitation and a lack of just about everything but dysentery, typhoid and other diseases.

 Well after the Cuban invasion forces left Camp Thomas, remaining troops were stuck there.   Several units left Camp Thomas on July 28^th and arrived in Newport News, VA two days later, tentatively assigned for a campaign in Puerto Rico.  But, the armistice on August 12^th canceled that expedition.  

 While there:

“The conditions at Camp Grant [near Newport News] were harsh – the sand and southern heat were hard for the men to endure, combined with poor food (bacon and canned meat, much of which was condemned, and hardtack), and unsanitary conditions. While stationed in Newport News, Private Alonzo Andrews of [160^th Indiana Infantry] Company I was shot and killed by Sam Hall, a local saloon keeper, along with a comrade who was wounded in the foot.  History records that “The entire regiment was infuriated, some suggested that the Negro suffer death for his crime, and even attempted to carry out the suggestion by force of arms. Happily, better judgment prevailed, justice was assured, and so quiet was restored.” Hall was removed to Norfolk to prevent any attempts at lynching him.”

Source:

 The Puerto Rica expedition was canceled by the Armistice, and on August 21^st, many units left Newport News to set up a new camp near Lexington, KY.  Three weeks later they moved a few miles east to another new camp, “Camp Hamilton,” where they would stay until November 9^thafter Halloween.

The Players

Hard feelings began brewing among the different regiments even before there was any beer to be stolen.   Though brigaded together, the 3^rd Kentucky was largely (in my opinion) a rural “hillbilly” outfit, enthusiastic, inexperienced, but patriotic.   The 160^th Indiana were a cohesive group of average citizens, from existing National Guard units, from a state just across the river from Kentucky so there was a natural affinity between the two, and they have been paired together from the beginning.  The 12^th New York was, well, New Yorkers, and their urban culture was foreign to the other regiments and among the border state hillbillies, there may have been a lingering stench of “damn Yankees.”

Most seriously, on October 9^th, the 3^rd Kentucky was assigned as Provost Guard [Military Police/ Shore Patrol] in Lexington, and when a soldier from the 12^th New York Volunteer Infantry refused to show his pass and ran away, the Kentuckian shot and killed him.   It was later found that he had a pass belonging to someone else.   That morning Provost Marshall orders had been changed to no longer permit firing at persons who were fleeing, but PVT Kitchen was absent from morning muster when that was announced.   The New Yorkers were all for lynching the Kentuckian.  (A courts martial later found he acted in the line of duty and was not punished.)

The Indiana version of this incident is probably pretty accurate:

“On October 9th occurred a very grievous event, — the killing of a private of the Twelfth New York by Private Kitchen, of the Third Kentucky, on duty as a provost guard.  Private Kitchen was immediately arrested and placed in jail to await investigation.  It was [later] proven that the killing was done in the line of duty, but, however, some of the Twelfth New York began to plot to avenge what they thought a wrong.

 

On the night of the 10th they attempted to carry out their plan to mob Kitchen, but Gen. Wiley heard of the intention, and at 7:00 p.m."To Arms" was sounded, the entire 160th Indiana and a battalion of the Third Kentucky being ordered out.

 

Ten rounds of ammunition having been issued to each man, the battalions reported to General Wiley for further orders.  After waiting an hour and a half they were ordered to return to camp.  At 9:00 P.M. "To Arms" sounded again, the battalions reporting at 7:00 quickly responded and were soon on their way to the city.  It was a weary march of five miles.  On arriving at Lexington, the companies were divided into squads with orders to patrol the streets and arrest every soldier regardless of his rank or pass.  Each and every arrested man was made to march to camp and it was long after midnight when the long column with its four hundred prisoners ended in the field near camp, in which the arrested men, except commissioned officers, were compelled to await the morning, guarded by the Third Kentucky, but when morning came the guard was withdrawn and all were free again. The Twelfth New York felt very unkind towards the 160th for the part it took in this affair.  The 160th has no pardon to ask, it realizes that obedience is the first lesson of the soldier, they only did what they were commanded to do. “
Source:

 We’ll see different versions of this event in the next installment, maybe tomorrow, Part 2.

The Beer

 

Pabst and Schlitz beer bottles circa 1898 and unit history of the 160th Indiana

Source: Author photo and collection

Shortly after the October 9^th incident, Friends and supporters of the 12^th New York, hoping to cheer up their home town troops sent two (or three?) box cars filled with beer down to Camp Hamilton in Lexington for them to enjoy.  These were from the two most popular brands at the time, Schlitz and Pabst, some in bottles and some in kegs.   On Halloween, or perhaps the night before sometimes known as “Mischief Night” the box cars with the beer arrived at a siding near the camp.

But, before the New Yorkers could take the beer to their section of the camp, troops from the 160^th Indiana and 3^rd Kentucky showed up and helped themselves.  Accounts vary but some 250 cases of bottled beer and many kegs were taken, and promptly hidden in those camps, buried under tents, or submerged in the stream running through the camp.

Naturally, the thirsty New York troops, the beer companies, and the folks who bought the beer were very unhappy.   Let’s just say that the troops from Indiana and Kentucky were very happy!

While this is an amusing incident of soldier life, commemorated by a ribbon and badge at a reunion of the 160^th Indiana in 1912, there is a lot more to understand about the troops involved and the events of the time.

Source:   (cropped and resized)

So, this Halloween, why not celebrate like they did in 1898?  Have a beer, any beer, but just don’t steal it.

Part 2 will look at “The Victims”- the 12^th New York.

Part 3 will look at “The Perps” from the 160^th Indiana

Part 4 will look at “The Perps” from the 3^rd Kentucky