The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1898-08-01
WAS AT ASPINWALL.
Company F's First Sergeant Has
Seen Service Before


First Sergeant B. R. Norwood, Of Company
f. OF the Fifteenth Minnesota, has made
something of study of recent American
nilltary and naval movements.
The last time" he said Yesterday "prior
TO me present war with Spain, In which any
considerable body of American troops were
1 1asS on foreign soil was in the spring OF
ioeo, When a naval expedition under Lieut.
commander (now Captain) McCalla and two
battallons of marines under Lieut.. Col NOV
Solehel CommandanD Charles Hayward were
landed at the Isthmus Of Panama remaining
there about six weeks.
Like all other of the Latin American re-
pu3les, the United States of Colombia is, or
d. ieuSe was merely republic in name. Some
aliDltlous politician would seize the reins of
government and hold them until he had made
money III enough with which to decamp CT I'M
~ ~ ne o,o was murdered by some opponent. At
S az e!ecuons held in the fall of '8f both can
tio Tor the presidency claimed the cleo
llon, and the one who was in office held his
POSITION pos whether legally or illegally 1 do
not Know but at any rate civil war was in
were the order Of the day. 4N'' "AN p'''As'
A self-styled general, Aziparu by name,
VINO was IN command of the forces of the
outs, burned the city of Aspinwan, of Co.
ion, destroying millions of dollars worth Of
properly Proper belonging to foreign residents Capt.
close 10 shore and, by training his broadside
SO as to cover the ground, prevented the
d desf1ructlon of the Pacific Mail steamship
belonging to the Panama railroad Upon re-
celpt OF the news of the instruction veasss
o. OH the :, french, English and American navies
were all ordered to the harbors of Colon and
fanama as each Of these countries has i'm
mense Interests on the little strip of land
crossed by the Panama railroad
DE Lesseps was at the time building his
snip canal, and immense quantities of ma
terial belonging to the canal company went
up IN smoke The French were naturally
much exasperated, and threatened to land
troops, but Admiral Luce, then in command
OF the North Atlantic squadron, with the
frigate Tennessee as flagship, informed the
french that any attempt to land troops would
be considered unfriendly to the United States
ana that he would open fire on any vessel
making the attempt.
me American vessels lying in the harbors
OF Colon on the Caribbean side and Panama
on the Pacific could protect the interests of
the cities, but the intervening forty-nine
miles OF railroad was entirely unprotected. If
a mile or two of this road were torn up, or
some one of the many bridges destroyed, it
would cause the stoppage of at least one
fourth OF the International freight and pas
senger traffic of the western half of the con-
tinent of South America. The United States
interests alone, which centered principally in
New York, San Francisco, Baltimore and
New Orleans required about six large ocean
steamers weekly. The railroad belonged to
Americans, and it would not do to allow it
to be destroyed by a lot of disorganized guer-
r1llas, whose only provocation was political
revenge. Although the French were forbid
den to land troops, it was found upon con-
sultat1on Of the treaty between the United
States Of America and the United States of
Colombia that when the Panama railroad
was built permission was granted the limited
States Of America to land troops on the
lsthmus at any time to protect the railroad
ana such an act would not be considered as
cause for war. But little time was given to
act. The first news of the instruction
reached Washington in February. President
Cleveland was inaugurated as president for
his first term on March 4, 1885, and at the
very start the chance presented itself for
him to assert American dignity on foreign
SOIL The trouble had been brewing for
some time, but nothing serious had happened
until March %, when word reached Washing
and that an attempt had been made to burn
Panama. Immediate orders were issued to
mobilize all available marines and sailors at
Brooklyn for service at Panama. Although
but small force was required they had to
be collected from the different navy yards Of
Portsmouth, N. H.; Boston, Mass; Newport
R. l.; Brooklyn, N. Y; Philadelphia, Pa. |;
Annapolis, Md; Washington, D. c., and Nor
two battalions had been organized, equipped
and started on their way south March 81,
just three days after the first attempt at
mobilization of troops was commenced.
1.-The two remaining battalions were got I'M
der way April 8. and April is the entire
force had been landed on the isthmus.
time, and the entire command was drawn
up for battalion drill on the morning of
March %. telegram was handed Maj.
Forney the officer in command He opened
1t, read the contents, called up the officers
in charge of the different companies, and in
less than ten minutes after receiving the tel
egram the men were in their quarters packing
up for a campaign. At o'clock about 200
men, almost the entire command at Norfolk,
were being carried as fast as the government
boat Dispatch could carry them toward Brook
Ign.
This was. up to that time, the quickest
moblllzat1on OF troops ever accomplished in
any country, and I think it has never been
edualed since.
mo actual fighting took place between the
Americans and Colombians, but every reuui-
site for ,protracted campaign was carried.
When the American forces landed traffic over
the railroad had been suspended but 1t was
quickly resumed, every train carrying force
of marines in loop-hoed boxcars, protected
by boiler iron, pushed ahead Of the engine"
Sergeant Norwood has had a taste of tropi-
the order which may take the Fifteenth to
the front.