The Daily Missoulian. [volume] (Missoula, Mont.) 1904-1961, 1909-07-25
FINE RECORD OF THE THIRD

companies from the lower Rio GraRde,
on the way to the coast, were COM
PEELED to surrender to an overwhelming
force Of confederates, but We're ex-
changed the following year Six Off
GERS resigned from the regiment and
joined the confederate army early in
1861.
The companies reaching the north
We're consolidated in mixed battalion
under Major George Sykes tafterward
major general OF volunteers and conf
mander of the Fifth CORPSE for the first
Bull Run campaign. This body was
the only regular infantry in the COM
mand Its gallant conduct in the first
great battle OF the war. its unflinching
steadiness and perfect order in aiding
to cover the flight of the panic
STRICKEN army. was but a presage Of
that which was to distinguish it
throughout the civil war.
AS part of the regular division of the
army of the Potomac, the regiment
participated in practically all the bat
ties of the war of that justly cele-
brated corps from the first Bull Run
until the final surrender of Lees army
at AppomattoX. In the grand review
Of the armies before President Lincoln
al Washington at the close OF the war
the Third. as part OF the provost
guard was the leading infantry regi-
ment of the column.
Meritorious Part.
The Third had borne Il mertorious
/ nj ina, S
and lost in killed and missing 139 and
1876 wounded, a total of ga, nearly
equal to its average strength present
during the war.
Following the declaration of peace
1 the regiment was recruited up to it's
full strength and sent to Kansas, Its
men were stationed at small posts
throughout the state and Indian Terri
tory for 10 years, during which time,
owing to the hostile activity of the In
dians, the regiment was called upon
! for almost continual escort duty, nc
one being permitted to venture out OF
sight of a military post without a
| strong escort Escorts and guards
were furnished for the overland mail
/ route, for government and emigrant
I
trains on the Kansas Pacific railroad
and for various other causes Such
/ duties varied by an occasional expe-
dition against the Indians, kept the
regiment constantly employed. "
i In 1874 the Third was transferred to
the east of the Mississippi river, where
| it was on duty in connection with the
enforcement of the civil rights bill ir
4 the south and utilized in suppressine
the railroad riots in Pennsylvania IN
4 1877. The regiment was sent to Mon
4 tana in the fall Of 1877, remaining II
years. doing frontier duty, building the
post at Missoula and constructing
\ military telegraph lines.
Fort Smelling.
I Smelling near st. Paul, in 1883. and the
4 regiment remained in that vicinity UNI
\ til the Spanish American war, being
employed meanwhile in connection
\ with strikes on the Great Northern
! and Northern Pacific railroads in 1894
The Third regiment was one of tht
first to move south at the outbreak
/ Of the Spanish war, starting for Mo-
1 bile, Ala, April 10, and later joining
General Skaters expedition at Tampa
/ Fla. The regiment took part in the
/ capture Of El Caney. and the next day
was at San Juan hill. where it re
manned in the trenches until the sur
| render of Santiago. In August it EN-
parked for Montauk Point, and soor
after it's arrival there returned to it:
old post at Fort Smelling. The San
tiago campaign cost it one officer ant
"a enlisted men from wounds and dis
I ease.
Detachments from the regiment sup
pressed the uprising of the reds a
Leech Lake, Mimi, that fall. losing ONT
| officer and five men killed and II
wounded.