b'high cost - 81 American soldiers were killed, (more thanknew of how he handled his men at El Caney, may evenLeavenworth just before their departure - the writer half of the total Spanish dead in the battle) several hundredread his initial report, and no doubt would have been in(McCaskey himself) not sure whether it was a deployment wounded, and the 2nd Division was now so battered thatconcurrence with him if he had. At any rate, Roosevelt didto Cuba or the Philippines - but inscribed by McCaskey it was unable to support the San Juan Hill operation, thustake note of McCaskey, a possible reason why he would, asas "Major Wm. S. McCaskey, 20th U.S. Infantry" followed failing Colonel Roosevelt and his men a second time. Inpresident, promote McCaskey to major-general and give himby his child\'s comment: "A good picture of Papa, very the end, it would be McCaskey\'s old commanding officer,command of the Southern Department - a decision that, asthoughtful and clear.")the Gettysburg veteran Hawkins, and his 6th Infantry andwe shall see, he may have regretted).Pershing and his Buffalo Soldiers who would charge SanMcCaskey\'s regiment, like most of the American units Juan Hill right alongside Roosevelt and the Rough Riders. Shafter, in his usual bumbling manner, would post-mortemin the bloody, confusing, and controversial Philippine, extol the exploits of McCaskey and the 20th informally:or Aguinaldo insurrection performed credibly though Commenting on the failures of the El Caney operation, a"The regiment may well point with pride to its recordnot spectacularly, first securing the Manila perimeter, historian of the Spanish-American War noted: "It was ain this short but decisive campaign, during which itthen hunting down insurgents and bringing a sort of Pax bloody fight. Of the 520 defenders, only about 185 escaped,was commanding by it\'s major, now it\'s colonel, Wm. S.Americana to the villages and towns of Luzon province. fleeing northwards .There were about 38 dead, includingMcCaskey" (Ibid., p. 96). The fighting was fierce and perhaps more than a tad ironic, five officers, among them not only Vara del Rey (theconsidering that the 20th never took to the field in hunting Spanish General commanding El Caney). . .but also twoBUT FAILED TO ACKNOWLEDGE THEdown hostile Sioux or Cheyenne during all of their years of his sons. While at least 138 men had been wounded . . .ACHIEVEMENTS OF BOTH MCCASKEY AND on the Plains, save for hurling a few shells at those hostiles U.S. losses were higher, 81 killed and 360 wounded. It was aHIS REGIMENT IN HIS OFFICIAL REPORT OF moving north towards the camps of Sitting Bull and Crazy heroic fight, but an unnecessary one. El Caney could easilyTHE CAMPAIGN!Horse from the safety of Fort Abraham Lincoln on that be neutralized by a single brigade with minimal casualties,If it hadn\'t been up to General Bates, the commandingfateful day when their comrades of the 7th Cavalry rode while the balance of Lawton\'s force supported the mainGeneral of the 5th Army Corps might never havestraight into Valhalla. Now, in less than four years they attack on the Heights of San Juan, making victory in thatacknowledged McCaskey at all (Ibid., pp.95-96). had experienced the swirling, deadly combat in Cuba action more certain by diverting nearly half his commandand the almost endless guerrilla warfare and pacification to a secondary mission, Shafter had risked a disastrousMcCaskey had written hiscampaigns in Luzon. Fighting the insurgency in the defeat" (Nofi, Albert A., The Spanish-American War,bitter letter from a sickbed,scorching heat, humidity, the jungle, and the tepid, disease, Combined Books, New York (?), 1996, p. 137). for both McCaskey, stuckand critter-filled swamps of Luzon by securing Northern in the mosquito-riddenLuzon they made the suppression of the rebellion much Despite only losing one man and having fifteen wounded,wet trenches surroundingeasier. McCaskey and his men performed this almost Major McCaskey was, in an initial report, even moreSantiago, and his son,thankless task for almost 3 years, save for the platitudes critical of the sloppy and nearly disastrous performance ofDouglas, who had joinedissued to him and his men by his superiors, Bates, and Lawton and some of the other newly-minted brigadiers. "(S) the cavalry, came downanother former Civil War hero and medal of honor winner o many of our gallant friends were simply massacred andwith a malarial fever thatby the name of General Arthur McArthur - Douglas if our generals would keep up their foolhardy work a fewquite possibly was theMcArthur\'s father, who commanded US Army forces days longer, the Grand Army would not exist. The artillerydreaded Yellow Fever or thein the Philippines. When McCaskey and the regiment failed us, and the new generals tried to have infantry chargeYellow Jack. Refusing to besailed home in early 1902, the latter, in commending and capture blockhouses. It was a sad sight to see ourevacuated, McCaskey hadMcCaskey for securing the defenses of Manila, would gallant fellows fall like chaff, but never wavered. I thinkDr. George Emerylost 25 pounds and waswrite: "I congratulate you heartily upon your return from that the deaths of most of our men can be attributed to theGoodfellow, Thewasting away, until Generalthe Philippines. I appreciate very warmly all the good incompetence of our new generals" (Farioli and Nichols,Gunfighter\'s Surgeon Shafter sent his physicianwork done by your regiment, especially in Manila. . .We Last Man Standing, p. 90). to treat the sick major,felt absolutely dependent upon the garrison of Manila and a man whose personalknew that everything would be secure in the hands of your McCaskey was even more critical of how the brigadiersexploits and experiences (including developing a "reputationregiment" (Farioli and Nichols, Last Man Standing, p.101).handled - or messed up things in a letter to his wife: "Theas the United States\' foremost expert in treating gunshot whole campaign has been a blunder. Nothing has gonewounds" - Wikipedia entry) would be worth a separateWhile on re-deployment duties back in the states, right except for the Infantry and the Cavalry. The Medicalstory (and that story will be told in future issues of ArizonaMcCaskey was approached by the mayor of Chicago to Department instead of being here is for the most part inReal Country). For this real-life Doc Adams, a man knownprovide troops to protect President Roosevelt, who had a the U.S. debating and living high. We have no hospital, noas "The Gunfighter\'s Surgeon" had, in his wild and woollyspeaking engagement at Northwestern University on April ambulance, and mostly citizen physicians. The medicalTombstone practice days, resided in the home that actress2, 1903. If McCaskey hadn\'t had the opportunity to meet officers will never hear the end of this, nor will the artillery.Josephine Marcus abruptly vacated when she found her then- up with the "Cowboy President" as they charged through paramour, Sheriff Johnny Behan in bed with another woman.the brush, the hills, and the Spanish fortifications in Cuba, (Writer\'s note - in fairness to the artillery, especially in the(Josephine would shorten her name to Josie, latch on tohe certainly had it now, personally conversing with the case of Captain Allyn Capron Sr. whose Rough Rider sonBehan\'s lawman rival, a lanky, tough ex-Dodge City deputypresident no doubt about their joint Spanish war services. Captain Allyn Capron Jr. had been killed in action at Lasby the name of Wyatt Earp, and the rest was history) (Clavin,As noted in previous issues of Arizona Real Country, Guasimas, and whose four-gun battery kept up a steadyTom, Tombstone, St. Martin\'s Publishing, New York, 2020, p.Roosevelt, who was already famous for having a soft spot and accurate fire on Spanish positions, it was Shafter who188). Goodfellow would subsequently attend to the woundedfor Old West heroes such as Bat Masterson, Pat Garrett, and dawdled in getting all of the guns unloaded from the ships.in the aftermath of the OK Corral gunfight and would laterSeth Bullock, was similar for those who served alongside The result was that outside of just a couple of batteries andbe credited with saving the life of Virgil Earp when Wyatt\'shim in Cuba, especially those critical of Army leadership a machine-gun company that had performed quite well,brother, then the Tombstone Chief of Police was shot fromperformance as he was. While McCaskey made no mention there was practically no real artillery support when theambush and seriously wounded while walking home fromof his agreeable meeting with the president, it ultimately Americans began their assault on San Juan Hill. The blamea game of cards at the Oriental Theater just two and a halfwould pay him rank dividends.lay more on the shoulders of Shafter than on the artillerymonths after the OK Corral affair (Ibid., p. 302).officers, especially Capron, Grimes, and Lt. Parker of theJohn J. Pershing was one recipient of Roosevelt\'s fondness Gatling Guns). Doctor Goodfellow took the then-Major McCaskeyfor Spanish War veterans, as he would soon be promoted (unbeknownst to him his commanding officer andto general\'s rank, and apparently due to Roosevelt\'s . . .We have done its work and lost our men in murder. Thebenefactor General Bates was in the process of promotingadmiration, so ultimately would be McCaskey, who, after Quartermaster Department, the Substance Department, thehis friend to lieutenant colonel) under his care for almostone more brief Philippine tour of duty with the 20th in late Signal Department, all failed. The balloon cost the lives ofa month before McCaskey was well enough, though not1903, would be notified that Roosevelt had promoted him 60 good men.the Engineers failed. . .Shafter and all his petscompletely cured of fever (having lost another ten poundsto brigadier general\'s rank in the Regular Army, effective are failures and I hope never to serve under them again"and feeling completely exhausted) to rejoin his regiment asJanuary 24, 1904. McCaskey, after over 40 years of almost (Ibid., p. 91). it returned to the United States. It was rest and recuperationcontinuous service, would finally obtain that Silver Star for a time at the main U.S. returnee depot at Montaukhe had sought for so many years of routine garrison duty (There was another officer, like McCaskey, not a West PointerPoint, New York, and then the 20th was sent west to its oldand hard campaigning in the swamps and the hills of Cuba but someone who unlike McCaskey had never made a careerstomping grounds at Fort Leavenworth. The Philippine, orand the Philippines. But it did come at a price - he would, of the Army as the major had, who was just as virulentlyAguinaldo Insurrection had by then broken out. McCaskey,after almost 45 years of U.S. military service, with 35 years critical of Shafter, his officers, and how the campaign almoststill quite unwell from the effects of fever, and the 20thof continuous service in the 20th Regulars alone, first as a ended up in failure and disaster instead of the sugar-coatedwas ordered west to San Francisco, where they boarded acompany commander and then as regimental commander, victory it was made out to be. That officer was Coloneltroopship bound for Manila. now have to depart his beloved regiment, a regiment he Roosevelt of the Rough Riders, his words scathing enoughhad seen so much service in as well as experienced much, to cause umbrage at the War Department and probably cost(There is a photograph in this author\'s collection,the Custer notifications, securing the Canadian border, and Roosevelt a Medal of Honor for his heroics at San Juan Hillapparently inscribed by both McCaskey and one of his(finally) hard fighting in Cuba and the Philippines. during his lifetime. Roosevelt had probably met McCaskey,children, of McCaskey reviewing the regiment at FortPick up our August issue for Part 5.ArizonaRealCountry.com July 2022 45'