A Brief History of the 2nd U.S. Volunteer
Infantry
By Patrick
McSherry
Col. Duncan Hood, the commander of the 2nd U.S. Volunteer Infantry
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U.S. Volunteer Infantry
General:
The Second U.S. Volunteer Infantry, an ”immune” regiment, served, in
the occupation forces in Cuba.
Unit History:
The 2nd U.S. Volunteer Infantry was formed in Louisiana and Texas in
early May of 1898. The regiment was not mustered into service immediately
with mustering in finally occurring between June 16 and June 26, 1898 at
Covington, Louisiana. The regiment was commanded by Colonel Duncan Hood,
the orphaned son of Confederate Major General John Bell Hood who had
served in the American Civil War. Duncan Hood had been adopted by a New
York family on his father's death, and later attended West Point. After
graduating, he served as a 2nd lieutenant the 5th U.S. Infantry before
resigning from the U.S. Army in 1896. When given the command of the 2nd
U.S. Volunteer Infantry, he was one of the youngest colonels in the army
during the Spanish American War.
The regiment’s second in command, H. Y. Grubb of Kentucky, was also a West
point graduate, class of 1896. He had served with the 18th U.S. Infantry
regiment prior to joining the 2nd U.S. Volunteer Infantry.
The regiment was raised as an “immune” regiment. The belief was that men
living in the south, men of color, etc. were more immune to the tropical
diseases that decimated the U.S. Army’s Fifth
Corps in Cuba than men
from other areas of the country. Regiments made up of these “immune” men
were raised to replace the men of the Fifth
Corps as occupation troops in Cuba.
Unfortunately, the “immune” theory was not scientifically sound, and the
men were no less immune to yellow fever or malaria, leading to many deaths
among the various “immune” regiments, such as the 2nd U.S. Volunteer
Infantry.
On the July 25, the regiment arrived in New Orleans, from where it steamed
to Cuba on July 28
aboard the transport BERLIN.
The regiment arrived in Cuba
on August 5. Just days later, Companies I and L, under the command of
Major Boatner, received orders and were carried by the steamer SAN JUAN to
Caimanera and Guantanamo where the companies set up camp. Later in the
month, other portions of the regiment may have been ordered to Baracoa,
and Sagua de Tanamo.
By October, the regiment was headquartered at Songo. At the end of that
month, six of the regiment’s companies, under the command of Col. Hood,
were ordered to proceed by ship to Holguin Province and to specifically to
go the port of Gibara. The regiment's orders were to protect the Spanish
troops embarking aboard transports to be repatriated to Spain. Here Col.
Hood received the surrender of the arms of twelve thousand Spanish troops
from General Nario.
Once the Spanish troops were gone, Hood was ordered to take four companies
to the town of Holguin where he would take control of the civil
government, basically serving as governor. The other two companies
remained at Gibrara under the command of Lt. Col. Grubb. The
remaining six companies left behind at Songo rejoined Hood at Holgiun a
few weeks later. Unlike the first six companies, these men crossed Cuba
from south to north, and were reputedly the first American force to do so.
In December General Leonard Wood, the acting governor general of Cuba,
reviewed the 2nd U.S. Volunteer Infantry. Newspapers reported that he
found the regiment to be “equal to any volunteers he has yet seen. Their
discipline, he says, is perfect, and reflects the highest credit upon Col.
Hood.”
In the area under the regiment’s jurisdiction there was an ongoing issue
with “brigands,” or outlaws, robbing and looting. In early April, 1899 it
was reported that a detachment from the 2nd U.S. Volunteer Infantry had
gotten into a skirmish with four outlaws at the Alcate and Arroyo Blanco
plantations. Two of the outlaws were killed and one member of the 2nd U.S.
Volunteer Infantry was wounded.
Later that same month, Col. Hood had an attack of appendicitis and was
reported to be ”violently ill.” By May 4, Hood was greatly improved and
wanted to get back to his regiment before they were returned to the United
States. The doctors reported that he would require possibly two more weeks
to be able to travel. Apparently he did rejoin the regiment before its
departure on May 25. On that day the regiment departed Gibara bound for
New York City on board the transport
LOGAN (formerly the MANITOBA),
arriving in New York City four days later. The regiment was ordered to
Camp Meade, near Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, arriving on May 31.
The regiment was eventually mustered out on June 22, 1899 and departed
Camp Meade. It had been the last volunteer regiment left at camp, having
occupied the camp with the 19th U.S. Infantry. The 19th U.S. Infantry
became the sole occupant of the camp. At the time of mustering out, the
regiment consisted of forty-four officers and 644 enlisted men. By late
June, the men were arriving home in small groups.
During its term of service, the regiment lost one officer and thirty-seven
enlisted men to disease. In addition, two enlisted men died as the result
of an accident and eleven men deserted.
Following his service in the Spanish American War, Col. Duncan Hood
journeyed to the Transvaal in South Africa where he commanded a Boer
regiment in Boer Wars.
Lt. Col. Grubb went back to serving with the 6th U.S. Infantry as a first
lieutenant and was sent to the Philippines. He was killed in action in the
Philippines after being there only a few weeks.
Bibliography:
“An Alabama Man,” The Montgomery Advertiser (Montgomery,
Alabama). October 5, 1899, 1.
“Back from Isla de Cuba,” The Evansville Journal (Evansville,
Indiana) June 25, 1899, 10.
“Berlin has Sailed,” Weekly Town Talk (Alexandria,
Louisiana). July 30, 1898, 6.
“Brigands Active Near Santiago,” The Sun (New York, New York).
April 4, 1899, 2.
“Col. Hood Seriously Ill,” The Times-Democrat (New Orleans,
Louisiana). April 27, 1899, 1. (also source of image of Hood).
Correspondence relating to the War with Spain And Conditions
Growing Out of the Same Including the Insurrection in the Philippine
Island and the China Relief Expedition. Vol. 1 (Washington:
Government Printing Office, 1902)
“The Cubans Quarrelling,” The Sun (New York, New York). October 23, 1898,
1.
“Fighting with Boers,” Montpelier Evening Argus (Montpelier,
Vermont). November 16, 1901, 1.
“Immunes Return Home,” The Town Talk (Alexandria, Louisiana) June
27, 1899, 4.
“More Delay Agreed To,” The Times (Washington, DC) October 25,
1898, 1.
“News From Washington,” The Times-Democrat (New Orleans,
Louisiana) February 22, 1899, 8.
“North Coast of Santiago,” The New York Times (New York, New York)
December 12, 1898, 2.
“Second Immunes,” El Paso Herald (El Paso, Texas) June 22, 1899,
1.
“Spaniards in Cuba,” Indianapolis News (Indianapolis, Indiana).
May 4, 1899, 1.
“Spaniards Lay Down Their Arms at Guantanamo,” The San Francisco Call
and Post (San Francisco, California). August 10, 1898, 4.
“Troops in Santiago,” The Buffalo Review (Buffalo, New York).
August 29, 1898, 1.
“Washington’s Big Jubilee,” The Times-Picayune (New Orleans,
Louisiana) May 26, 1899, 1.
West Point, Class of 1895, Cullum’s Register. Vol. IV, 615.
https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Gazetteer/Places/America/United_States/Army/USMA/Cullums_Register/3722*.html
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