Omaha daily bee., 1902-03-09
SERVICE OF TWEyTY-SECOND
Record Of the Regiment that is Coming
Home from the Wars.
TWO COLONIES KILLED IN BATTLE
Laurels Added 20 Organizations Long
List OF Gallant Deeds During -Four
Years since II Left
Fort Crook.

When the Twenty-second infantry returns
TO the Department OF the Missouri this
week 1t will have accomplished a series Of
campaigns Of which any regiment might be
proud. Since leaving Fort Crook, with
which 1t is especially identified, having
been the first regiment to occupy the post,
1t has fought In two h~emIspheres and added
Iaurels to its already full store.
When the regiment was called into active
service at the beginning Of the Spanish
war, II, in common with all the other regi-
ments in the army, was In charge Of Of
tcers whose long records and previous hard
ships In the service of the government
weuld have warranted them in asking to
be relieved of the trouble OF active service
in a campaign, especially such a campaign
az was before the army of the United
States, which for the first time in fifty
years was called upon to do battle under the
tropics and to make war against a nation
whose relative powers was unknown. The
commander of the regiment at the time It
left Fort Crook was Colonel Charles A.
iWikoh, a man who had fought his way to q
commission from the ranks during the civil
war, and who. while in every way qualified
20 be the leader Of such q force by know
ledge and temperament, had, through the
system of promotion in vogue, grown gray
'AeAaAhh hVWCA Aohh III ~ amy
Began with n Musket.
Colonel Wickof was a native OF Pennsyl-
ivania. In 1851 he enlisted as a private in
company H of the First Pennsylvania volun-
aeers. This was a thirty-day regiment at
hat time and In May Of the same year,
after having been discharged from that
service he received a commission as hrst
lieutenant In the regular army, being at
ttached to the Fifteenth infantry. From 81
ito "a he was engaged In the campaigns OF
the east In that position. In 1864 he re-
tcelved his commission as captain and was
transferred to the Twenty-fourth infantry
where he remained until 1869, when he was
transferred to the Eleventh infantry. From
l1s69 to 1885 he was a captain, serving in In
dian campaigns upon the frontier. In 1891.
he became a major in the Fourteenth in
fantry, which position he held until 1891,
when he was commissioned as lieutenant
colonel and assigned to the Nineteenth In
ifantry. Six years later he became colonel
OF the Twenty-second.
when the COIOneI Was KILLED.
when Colonel wikoR and his command
left for Cuba in 1898 the call was hurried
and the families Of the officers were left at
the quarters in Fort Crook. There was
IuO 81 ohSooJ lutoIcnt NJ ~ now pobe tho
latest reports from the front and for the
benefit of the women and others stationed
Mt the post the commanding oficer had
made arrangements with The Bee to tele-
phone all important news to the post. This
was usually done about Z o'clock in the
evening. The telephone lines at the Fort
were all c~entered upon the Omaha line and
the families in the different houses were in
formed Of the events Of the day. The re-
port Of the wounding OF Colonel Wikoff
came 70 The Bee in the Afternoon and at
that time the oficer of the day was In
formed OF the fact and until the extent Of
the injuries were known 1t was decided to
keep the knowledge Of the accident from
the women at the post. The oficer said
that he would arrange 1t so that the party
telephone would not be attached to the
Omaha line at the usual time and the men
in the once could tell him the result Of
the injuries and he could break the news