Elmore Nelson Page 1

1st Battalion 22nd Infantry

Corporal Elmore Nelson

Brothers-in-arms of Company H

Elmore Nelson

The following story of Corporal Elmore Nelson, Company H 22nd US Infantry
was put together by his grandson, William Bosque.

Elmore Nelson, a US soldier, served in Company H of the 22nd Infantry Regiment, a combat regiment that was always in the field and on the offensive.
On the 18th April, 1898, he departed by rail from Fort Crook, Nebraska, under the command of Charles A Wikoff and arrived on the 20th
in Mobile, Alabama. War between Spain and the USA was declared on the 25th April 1898.

The Regiment was assigned to the Fifth Army, First Brigade, 2nd Division under Major General William R Shafter. It left Mobile on the 28th April
arriving in Tampa Florida on the 2nd May. The commanding general realised that the army was not ready for a campaign in the tropics.
The troops were all in heavy winter uniforms, which they were forced to wear throughout the Cuban action,
as there was no time for them to be issued with uniforms more suited to the tropics.

On the 14th of June, they boarded the vessel Orizaba and sailed for Santiago, Cuba. Six days later, they arrived at Morro Castle,
which is the entrance to Santiago Bay. Lt Colonel John Patterson was placed in command.
They landed at Daiquiri and it was the first regiment to land in Cuba.

The small boats ferried them to shore in very choppy waters, so that the men were drenched. Each man carried a blanket, poncho
and 3 day’s rations all rolled up in a shelter tent. They marched through the choking dust which turned into mud on their sopping wet uniforms.
The sun bore down, so the men threw away blankets, clothing, haversacks and even their rations. Conditions were grim.
The next morning they took possession of Siboney.

On the 1st July, General Ladlow approached El Caney. Fierce battles ensued through overgrowth and jungles.
They were one day battles with many casualties. The most famous of these battles is called the Battle of San Juan Heights.
The soldiers slept alongside the muddy roadway. The troops withstood the lengthy siege of the Spanish, but being crouched in trenches,
knee deep in water, short of rations, battling the insects and very hot weather, they were easy prey to tropical diseases.
Elmore Nelson saw combat. He saw men shot down all around him.
Dysentery, malaria and other tropical diseases spread throughout the Regiment.
Elmore contracted both malaria and dysentery. On the 17th, the Regiment entered Santiago.
Out of 513 officers and men, only 165 were left and almost all were suffering from disease and malnutrition.

Montauk Point - Camp Wikoff - 1898

These men were returned to the US on the 11th August, 1898, and sent to Montauk Point, New York.
This is at the extreme end of Long Island to a receiving station called Camp Wikoff in honour of Colonel Charles A.Wikoff,
former Commander of the 22nd Infantry Regiment, who had died in battle.
Elmore arrived there both physically ill and mentally exhausted.

They arrived on the 20th and were issued their summer uniforms, but then sharp sea breezes and colder weather was settling in.
Conditions at Camp Wikoff were not good. There were too many patients and not enough doctors, nurses or medicines.
Now Elmore was hospitalised in a Boston Hospital and from there spent time on a sick furlough, with his parents in Mount Morris, Michigan
in the month of October, 1898. From there he was sent to Camp Crook, Nebraska. Four months of intensive training
and 4 additional companies were authorized bringing the strength of the Regiment to 26 officers and 1070 enlisted men.
Jacob Kreps was appointed commanding officer.

The 22nd Infantry Regiment was issued orders on the 27th January 1899 to proceed to California by rail for embarkation to the Philippines.
Although one of the provisions of the Treaty of Paris was that the Philippines was ceded to the USA by Spain,
the Filipinos believed that they would govern themselves and so tried to establish their own government under Aguinaldo.
The US would not agree to this, so the Philippine-American War, or Philippine Insurrection began on the 4th February 1899.
This war coming so soon after the Spanish American War did not allow sufficient time to recuperate.
Therefore, Elmore entered the Philippines with a very low power of resistance. After 5 months of marching, fighting and pushing bull carts in tropical weather,
he felt pains in his left groin and had to be hospitalised in the 3rd Reserve Hospital, Manila for an operation to the left testicle.
Still recovering, he was sent back to the Regiment and undertook a march. He again suffered pain but believed it was due to the recent operation,
only to discover that a groin rupture was developing. He was due to be discharged on the 9th September but he continued until the 15th
as he was still fighting against the Insurgents. He was discharged in Sindalon, Luzon.

Elmore Nelson's discharge from the US Army,
signed by his Company Commander, William Wassell
1st Lieutenant commanding Company H 22d Infantry

Elmore Nelson's Military Record
noting his service in Cuba and the Philippines

Under Battles & Skirmishes are listed:

Served during Spanish American War in Cuba 1898

Insurrection in the Philippines:

Pasig Campaign March 10 to 19 '99

Campaign against Malolos March '99

Expedition under Gen. Lawton from Manila to San Fernando April 21 to May 26 '99

Movement against Luago Aug 9 to Aug 15 '99

San Fernando to Balacat

...Elmore decided to buy some land in the Philippines (San Isidro to farm). The farm did not fair too well so he left for Manila.
While in Manila he met and consequently married Pilar Almeida Reyes, a Spanish-Portuguese.
They had one daughter, Maria Antonia (our mother). In Manila Elmore worked as a Patrolman.
Many years later on, Elmore decided to return with his family to the US. He tried to settle in his hometown of Flint Michigan.
His wife could not get used to the bitter cold of Michigan, So Elmore sold his grocery store and moved to Portland, Oregon.
Seeing his wife unhappy, he decided to take them back to the Philippines. He started a Sand, gravel, brokerage business and prospered.
His daughter Maria Antonia married a prominent Spanish businessman named Miguel Garcia Bosque.

Elmore Nelson had 6 grandchildren, Elena, Jose, Michael Jr., Teresa, Caroline and William, and numerous Great-Grandchildren.
Still living are Teresa G. B. Howes of Sydney, Australia, Caroline Rueda and William Bosque of California, USA.
There are also 3 nieces still living: Berneda Smith, Thelma Henderson and Doris Miller, all in the USA.

Elmore's daughter Maria Antonia (Toni) and his wife Pilar

Elmore's ratings report for the Philippine Patrolman Examination

Sometime between December 1926 and November 1928, Elmore, finding himself going blind and having complications with his hernia,
wanting to see his Parents one more time, his Father Alex Nelson and his mother Caroline Philpott Nelson,
he came back to the United States leaving his wife Pilar in the care of his daughter, Maria Antonia,
who was then married and had a family. Elmore put himself in the care of close friends, Col. and Eva Clyatt.
Elmore was so liked and appreciated by the Clyatts, that they took care of him until he was forced to enter the Bay Pines Veterans Hospital in 1937.
His health was deteriorating faster than anticipated........he had applied for hospitalization on January 19, 1932.
Since the discharge, the rupture in the groin increased and in 1933 it is in extreme development.

His pension was then reduced, from $40 per month to $15 per month,and he found himself having to plead for help from the Government.
His daughter and wife were not aware of his health and financial problems as Elmore elected to keep them in the dark.
Elmore passed away in Florida on March 15, 1938, due to complications of his war related injuries.
We never found out whether his pension was reinstated again.

We were only able to learn about his financial and health problems sometime in 1946,
once we were able to re-establish communications with his niece Berneda.
Only a month ago, Berneda, now pushing on her 90's discovered that she had these documents of Elmore.

--------------------------------------- William Bosque, April 2006

Elmore's father Alex Nelson and his mother Caroline Philpott Nelson

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