Charles A. Wikoff

COL Charles A. Wikoff

Colonel Charles A. Wikoff took the 22nd Infantry Regiment from its frontier post at Fort Crook,
Nebraska, to the entrance to Santiago Bay, Cuba, on June 20, 1898.

At that time he was transferred to 3rd Brigade, and COL John H. Patterson took the 22nd Infantry ashore
at Daiquiri, the 22nd thus being the first US Regiment to land on Cuban soil.

COL Wikoff led his men of the 13th Infantry across the San Juan River, and pushed to within five hundred yards
of the Spanish fortifications at San Juan Hill. He was hit by enemy fire and died on the battlefield.
He was the most senior ranking officer of the United States Army
to die in action during the Spanish-American War.

At the end of the War, because of fear they were contaminated with yellow fever and typhus,
thousands of American troops were sent home under quarantine to a camp at Montauk Point, New York.

The camp was named Camp Wikoff, in honor of the popular commander of the 22nd Infantry,
who gave his life a few months before, in the meadow below San Juan Hill.

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