The following article is about the burial of the members of the American military forces who had been temporarily interred in Cuba and Puerto Rico and then returned to the United States.
The Article:
The bow of the former Allan
Lines liner ROUMANIAN, now a
U.S. Army Transport and recently renamed USAT CROOK, plied the waves of
the Caribbean bound for the United States. In the past, it carried excited
passengers, untried regiments of soldier bound for Cuba,
and regiments of disease-ridden men, sick but happy to be heading home.
This trip was different. The four hundred foot long vessel had only a few
passengers, among them Brigadier General Ezra Ewers and his family, a
Captain Carnahan and his wife, a Lieutenant Frazer and his wife, and a
contingent of undertakers. The ship’s flag was at half mast. The remainder
of the “passengers” did not notice of the roll of the sea. They, 667 in
number, were dead.
The ship was charged with
bringing home the bodies of those soldiers who had died in Cuba
and Puerto Rico during the Spanish American War. Of
the 667 bodies (though this number does vary in different accounts), 438
were from Cuba, and 119 were from Puerto Rico. Of the bodies, 110 were not
identified, though often their regiment was known. The men were
disinterred and brought aboard, being attended to by the large group of
undertakers. The bodies were placed in metal coffins and then inside of
crates.
The vessel arrived in New
York, her bow and rigging draped in black, reminiscent of a hearse. The
Secretary of War, Russel Alger, had ordered Maj. Gen. Wesley Merritt to
meet the ship. The orders read:
“By
direction of the President, you will, upon the arrival of ROUMANIAN
with the remains of the soldiers who were killed or died at Santiago and Porto Rico, fire a fitting salute, order all flags
half-staff and detail a sufficient guard of honor to see the caskets taken
off the ship and expressed to their former homes…”
Families were given the
option of claiming the bodies of loved ones, so long as they paid for the
shipping of the body to their place of interment. Many bodies were
reclaimed and found their way home to their loved ones. The bodies that
were not claimed by their family, or not identified, were to be taken to
Arlington National Cemetery for interment.
From New York, those bodies
to be interred at Arlington were placed aboard a funeral train, suitably
draped in black. The bodies were offloaded at Rosslyn, Virginia and
transported to the place of the their burial. The number of bodies were so
great that the train had to make two runs to deliver all of the bodies.
The men were not buried in a
mass burial, but in a coordinated burial of over three hundred soldiers in
adjacent graves on a two acre plot overlooking the Potomac River. On
Thursday, April 6, 1899 all was in place and an interment ceremony was to
be held. The coffins were still sealed within
wooden boxes and would remain so. Each box bore a statement that read:
“For
sanitary reasons the within casket, which is hermetically sealed, should
not be opened or removed from the wooden box.”
The 336 boxes were placed under tents in groups of about twenty. Row of graves were previously dug and cross beams placed across their openings. When all was ready, the boxes were carried out of each tent and individually placed on a set of cross beams. Soon the tents disappeared and a sea of boxed coffins filled the field. The boxes were flanked by mounds of earth. Each box was covered with an American flag.
The boxes were not placed in
any specific order, however, the boxes containing the remains of the few
officers were placed at the front, closest to where the president would
be. These officers included Capt. Edgar Hubert (8th U.S.
Infantry), Lt. William Wood (12th U.S. Infantry), Lt. R. S.
Turman (6th U.S. Infantry). Lt. Francis Creighton (Volunteer
Signal Corps)
The dignitaries and the
populous of the nation’s capital city came out for the event, as many
federal offices were closed to allow the employees to take part.. The
official delegation included President McKinley,
members of the cabinet, Maj. Gen. Nelson Miles
and various members of the military. Also present were the British and
German ambassadors. The dignitaries arrived accompanied by the tune of the
funeral march from “Saul.” A military contingent was present from the
District of Columbia National Guard, the Naval Militia and Fourth and
Fifth Artillery. Joining them were about 15,000 members of the public. The
crush to get into the cemetery was so great that the president and his
entourage were caught in a traffic jam, and the police had to be called to
clear the way.
As the president’s party
approached, the parents of John O'Dowd of the 7th U.S. Infantry
broke through the crowd to place flowers on the box containing their son’s
body, followed by the family of Lt. William Wood doing the same for their
son.
The
field
was surrounded the by ranks of soldiers on three sides. The band played
“Nearer My God to Thee.” The post chaplain of Fort Monroe, Rev. C. W.
Freeland, performed the military committal service, and when he got to the
portion that included the words “…dust to dust, earth to earth,” a soldier
placed at each grave crumbled a handful of earth onto each box. The entire
assemblage said the Lord’s Prayer. Afterwards, Father McGee of St.
Patrick’s Church stepped forth to consecrate the ground for the Catholic
soldiers included. During the entire event, a cannon was fired every half
hour from nearby Fort Myer. As the service reached its conclusion, the
Fourth and Fifth Artillery fired three salutes and “Taps” was played.
The service over, the dignitaries withdrew. The ground was left to those charged with the actual burials, expected to take two or three days. The soldiers were now interred in their native land.