b'General William S. McCaskeyParticipant and Witness to HistoryPART 4 By Alan RockmanHE SAW THIS TOO - FORTbe reimbursed) (Ibid.). The following year Major CarrollTHE SPANISH-AMERICAN WAR AND THE PHILIPPINE ASSINIBOINE IN THE WAKEwould direct McCaskey to undertake the establishment ofINSURRECTION - AT SAN JUAN HILL WITH TEDDY, OF THE CRUSHING OF THEa base camp near the Sweet Grass Hills to deter any cross- AT AN ARMY HOSPITAL WITH VIRGIL EARP\'S RIEL REBELLION AND THEcountry raids and incursions. Deep in the rugged territory,DOCTOR, AND CHASING AGUINALDO IN LUZONREMOVAL OF THE METISthis arduous assignment would take a little over five monthsWilliam Spencer McCaskey was 54 years old in the spring of AND CREE REFUGEES in the heat and humidity of a mosquito-filled Montana1898. He had recently been promoted to major of the 20th McCaskey spent the next decadesummer before completion. Once again, the career soldierInfantry after nearly three decades of holding a captain\'s a typical Old Army soldier in a series of routine Old ArmyMcCaskey took upon himself an assignment he probablyrank in the Regular Army, the same rank he held when he assignments ranging from patrolling the plains and desertsdidn\'t care for but finished it to the best of his ability. was mustered out of Civil War service. While he did see of the Southwest and the Indian Territory, to the regularityaction in 28 battles and was actively involved in some of the of the almost endless requisition forms, keeping booksMcCaskey, his family, and his 20th Infantry had arrived atconflict\'s major battles, including Perryville, Stones River, balanced, checking off supply lists at dreary, dusty, windsweptAssiniboine in the spring of 1885 as the last shots of the RielChickamauga, Chattanooga, and Atlanta, where he nearly isolated forts on the frontier, to recruitment duties at theRebellion were being fired across the border. They stayedattained the Medal of Honor, the March to the Sea campaign more "civilized" David\'s Island in New York, the primarythere for almost a decade keeping the peace and ensuringand Bentonville, he never saw any action major or minor, army depot for those recruits enlisting for Infantry servicejustice and fair treatment for the Cree refugees. Longsave for lobbing those few shells at those warriors outside the (Ibid. pp. 73-74; Don Rickey Jr., Forty Miles a Day on Beansperiods of inactivity coupled with short periods of tensiongates of Fort Lincoln on their way to join Sitting Bull at Little and Hay, University of Oklahoma Press, Norman, 1963, p.with both red man and white (one of the 20th Infantry\'s lastBig Horn, or the couple of occasions when he and the 20th 33). He saw no action, the work tedious, monotonous, andAssiniboine assignments was guarding the railroad lineswere sent out to quell some very insignificant occurrences. In depressing for anyone else than a dedicated career armyand preventing the violence of the 1894 Pullman Railroadshort, he saw no significant action during the Plains Indian man. Throughout it all, McCaskey stayed loyal to his wifestrike from spreading and getting out of hand in NorthernWars. Just mundane garrison duty with the notable exception (despite the occasional tensions of their marriage), he neverMontana) were the lot of McCaskey and his troopers, butof informing the women of the 7th that they were now took to alcohol, remaining pretty much a social drinker allat least there was the consolation of having his family withwidows - consoling and seeing after them.his life, albeit with a fondness for tobacco - and cigars. Thehim much of the time, his boys growing and wanting an only consolations were that those postings allowed him to bearmy career, his daughter becoming a teacher\'s assistant atBut all this was about to change. The "Maine" had been together with his family, the troubles with Nellie seeminglythe fort\'s school. blown up in Havana Harbor, and all hell was about to break a thing of the past and that he had avoided a Yellow Feverloose in the United States. The drumbeats of war had begun breakout at his last southwest posting. Finally, in the fall of 1894,to pound, Colonel Hawkins was promoted to Brigadier orders arrived for McCaskey,General and divisional command, and shortly thereafter Then, in the spring of 1885, he received a plum assignmentsoon to be promoted toMajor McCaskey was transferred to the Independent - he and his beloved 20th Infantry were to be sent northmajor - he was 51 yearsBrigade commanded by his old friend and sometime to Fort Assiniboine on the Montana-Canada border. Fortold - and seven companiesmentor Brigadier General John C. Bates (Bates had lobbied Assiniboine, located near Harve, Montana, was the largestof the 20th Infantry toseveral times for the promotion of McCaskey). Despite the fort ever built in the then-Montana Territory, with abe redeployed to Fortchaos and lack of logistical organization in Tampa Harbor, spacious parade ground and towers constructed as if theyLeavenworth, Kansas,Bates was able to secure berths for his Independent Brigade were medieval castles (Hart, Herbert M., Old Forts of theand to be placed under(the 20th and 3rd Infantry Regiments), and they were Northwest, New York, Bonanza Books, 1963, p. 177). It wasthe command of Colonelamong the first American regulars to land in Cuba.originally built a few years after Sitting Bull and his SiouxHamilton S. Hawkins, a had fled into Canada, with Crook, Terry, and Nelson Miles inSouth Carolina native whoMcCaskey practically saw no action whatsoever during pursuit, in the months after Little Big Horn and began raidingdespite his southern birthan almost quarter-century of Indian warfare, but here in across the border despite a Canadian promise to rein him in.Brigadier Generalfought for the Union ArmyCuba he was soon involved in the thick of things - the Sitting Bull was finally starved into returning to the UnitedHamilton S. Hawkins during the Civil War. Asbullets flying, the cannons blasting and the mosquitoes States and reservation life, but the Indian threat remaineda young Union officer atbiting. Bates\' brigade was attached to the 2nd U.S. Division with the outbreak of the Riel Rebellion. The CanadianGettysburg, he was presentcommanded by Brigadier General Henry Lawton, the Army, militia, and Northwest Mounted Police ("Mounties")on Cemetery Ridge and witnessed the carnage and bloodyBattle of Atlanta Medal of Honor recipient and captor of suppressed the rebellion and ultimately hanged Riel, butrepulse of Pickett\'s Charge - an event that left an indelibleGeronimo. Marching towards Santiago, Lawton had failed scores of embittered Metis (half-breeds) and Cree had fledimpression on his mind (Traxel, David, 1898: The Birthto arrive on time to support the Rough Riders in the battle Saskatchewan and Alberta south into Montana Territory,of the American Century, Alfred A. Knopf, New York,of Las Guasimas, and he was determined not to repeat the right smack dab in the area around Fort Assiniboine. Not1998, p.191). McCaskey and his men left Fort Assiniboinesame mistakes, rushing his division forward to attack the only were these rugged mountain men and Plains Indianson October 13, 1894. Several months later, in the earlySpanish outer works at El Caney despite a lack of proper hungry and cold, but they were also still armed and a threatmonths of 1895, his replacement, a cavalry lieutenant, andreconnaissance and artillery support. A balloon that had to both Canada and the inhabitants of Montana. his cavalry regiment would arrive at Assiniboine. been sent up to spot the Spanish lines instead revealed the American advance, and with pinpoint accuracy, the It was to Assiniboine that Captain McCaskey and hisHis replacement\'s name? John J. Pershing. His cavalrySpanish artillery and rifle fire began to take its toll on the company of the 20th Infantry were sent, to keep the Metisregiment? The 10th ("Buffalo Soldiers") Cavalry. men of both Lawton\'s Division and Bates\' Independent and Cree refugees fed, and sheltered, and to help keep thatBrigade, of which McCaskey\'s 20th was a part of. Despite vast mountainous territory at peace. To do this, McCaskeyPershing and his Black Cavalrymen would becomethe heavy fire, Major McCaskey and the 600-man strong and his men were constantly on patrol; constantly ensuringinvolved in the hard task of completing the removal andregiment led the advance, McCaskey deploying his men that the refugees were kept fed and prevented from raidingthe deportation of the pitiful Cree refugees back to Canadain two lines along a sunken road just below the Spanish back-and-forth across a border that was still a porous one,(Vandiver, Frank E., Black Jack: The Life and Times of Johnlines. Then, even though there was heavy sniper fire that despite all of the efforts of both the U.S. Cavalry and thoseJ. Pershing, Volume I, Texas A&M University Press, Collegekilled a soldier standing right next to McCaskey, the 20th Red-Coated Royal Canadian Mounties to keep it secure.Station, 1977, pp. 141-151). This Lieutenant Pershing, whosurged forward. Despite the heavy firing and the Spanish During one tense period, when Cree Indians were starvinghad been the first captain of cadets at West Point, would godefenders inflicting casualties on the Americans, (the and there was no assistance from the Indian Agencyon to bigger and better things. But that\'s another story. Spanish soldiers having the advantage of firing smokeless forthcoming, the fort commander, Major Henry Carroll, wentcartridges didn\'t help matters) McCaskey, his men, and the to great lengths - taking action on his own accord and payingrest of the 2nd division were, with latent artillery support out of his pocket to ensure they were fed (he would eventuallyfinally able to secure the stone fortress despite being several hours overdue. Lawton had secured his objective, but at a 44 July 2022'