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

Seen Service Before.
First Sergeant B. R. Norwood, of COMPANY
F. of the Fifteenth Minnesota, has male
something of a study Of recent American
military and naval movements
ne last time" he said yesterday, "prior
70 o me present war with SPAIN in which any
SIonsslaIeraDle body of American troops were
Loo, Wnen naval expedition under Lieut.
commander (now Captain) McCalla and two
G Saiitan0ns OF marines under Lieut.. Col now
Colenel CommandanD Charles Hayward were
ianded at the Isthmus of Panama remaining
there about six weeks.
nrh Ike an an other of the Latin American re-
pteplics, the United States of Colombia is, or
az ieast was merely republic in name Some
AMBITIOUS politician would seize the reins of
government and hold them until he had made
money me enough with which to decamp or un-
~ ~ ne was murdered by some opponent At
Inc electlons held in the fall of '84 both can
t ton Tor the presidency claimed the eec
POSITION, whether legally illegally 1 do
us ha4 fsd put at any rate civil war was in
the or aha of fb Punder and page
sef-styled general, Aziparu by name.
VINO was In command of the forces of the
, outs burned the city of AspinwalI, of CO.
RKI op oelonging to foreign residents. Capt
hane D.. of the Nipsic, pulled his vessel in
eo as to IS shore and by training his broadsde
d des1Tructi9n Of the Pacific Mail steamship
COCKS and the principal warehouses and sheds
ceOt nf th 10 the Panama railroad, Upon re-
ceipI OF the news of the instruction vezsa's
VI Inc french, English and American navies
we're all ordered to the harbors of Colon and
panana, as sachs of these countries has i'm
nlense interests on the little strip of land
crossed by the Panama railroad.
De LeEseps was at the time building his
snip canal, aud immense quantities of ma
teIlal belonging to the canal company went
up IN smoke; The French were naturally
. 1lucn eXasperated, and threatened to land
troops, put Admiral Luce, then in command
OF OF, the North Atlantic squadron, with The
Irlgate Tennessee as flagship, informed the
french that any attempt to land troops would
De considered unffiendly to the United States.
making the attempt.
% Ghe 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
mile or two Of this road were torn I'D, 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
tment 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 II
to be destroyed by lot of disorganzed guer-
r1ilas, whose only provocation was political
revenge. Although the French were forbid
den to land troops, it was found upon con-
sultation 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 United
states OF America to land troops on the
1sthmus at any time to protect the railroad
and 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 fer
MIN to assert American dignity on foreign
soil. The trouble had been brewing for
some time, but nothing serious had happened
| until March 2S, when word reached Washing
ton that the city of Colon had been burned
and that 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 Nd; 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 obi of troops was commenced.
1.-The two remaining battalions were got I'M
der way April 6. and April Is the entire
force had been landed on the isthmus.
81 was stationed at Norfolk Va, at the
| time, and the entire command was drawn
UP for battalion drill on the morning Of
March %. A 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 2GO
men, almost the entire command at Norfolk,
were being carried IS fast as the government
boat Dispatch could carry them toward Brook
Ign.
This was, up to that time, the quickest
mobilization of troops ever accomplished in
any country, and L think it has never been
eaualed since.
mo actual fighting took place between the
Americans and Coombians, but every requi-
site for protracted campaign was carried.
When the American forces landed traffic over
the railroad had been suspended, but it was
quickly resumed; every train carrying force
by boiler iron, pushed ahead of the engine"
Sergeant Norwood has had a taste of tropi-
cal campaigning, but he is eagerly awaiting
the order which may take the Fifteenth to
the front.