SPANISH AMERICAN WAR

𝟏𝟖𝟗𝟖 The start of the Spanish-American War focused national attention on the port city of Tampa, primary staging area for U.S. troops bound for Cuba. The city was soon crowded with over 30,000 troops, including Lieutenant Colonel Theodore Roosevelt and his Rough Riders cavalry unit plus volunteers from most states.

The May 18, 1898, DELAND WEEKLY NEWS, in its Personal and Social column, reported a number of DeLand people took the weekend excursion to Tampa. Included were W.B. Fudger, A.H. Woodall, E.L. Powe, Will Turner, Lloyd Miller, Monsel Bracey, Will Creamer, Joe Conrad and Will Painter. They described Tampa as “a sight”, with streets packed with blue coats “who ran the town to suit themselves and drank all the red lemonade (and other things).” After seeing the Regulars’ camp at Port Tampa, they visited local boys in the volunteer camp, where long rows of white, four-person tents were jammed together. They first met Bill Webb, “decked out in brown overalls, blue flannel shirt, broad brimmed hat, brown leggings and brogans”. Others from West Volusia included Fred Lovell, Walter Leonardy, Guy Reynolds, Eli Cords, Sherman Rogers and young Clark [who attended the university the first of the year]. The volunteers expected to be transferred to Chickamauga for more training.

SOURCE: VOLUSIA THE WEST SIDE, published by WVHS, pp. 289-90. The photo from Florida Memory shows an 1898 camp of Spanish-American War volunteers in Tampa.