Service at Home 1906-1908 22nd Infantry

The regiment's annual target practice for 1906 commenced May 19.
This season marked the first with the new Springfield rifles, the U. S. magazine rifle, model 1903.

The 22nd Infantry quick marches to the "Front"
photo from 1906 Pacific Monthly magazine article about the American Lake maneuvers

July 11, 1906, regimental headquarters, band, headquarters first battalion and Companies A, C and D, 22nd Infantry,
left for McDowell, Cal., en route to the coming maneuvers at American Lake, Washington. This detachment stopped at Alcatraz,
where they were joined by Company H of the regiment, while headquarters of the third battalion and Companies I and L
proceeded to Oakland, California, from the Presidio of California. Companies K and M, coming from the depot of recruits and casuals,
also proceeded to Oakland to entrain for American Lake.
The two sections of the Southern Pacific train carrying the regiment arrived at Murray, Washington, the detraining point,
on July 13, and the regiment immediately went into the comfortable and well-located camp at American Lake.
Following are the organizations which took part in the maneuvers: Third Infantry, Seventh Infantry, Fourteenth Infantry,
Twentieth Infantry, Twenty-second Infantry, Regimental headquarters and one squadron Second Cavalry,
regimental headquarters and six troops Fourteenth Cavalry; First, Ninth, Twenty-fourth, Seventeenth and Eighteenth batteries of Field Artillery;
Companies C and D, first battalion of Engineers; Company H, Signal Corps; Company B, Hospital Corps, :and several machine-gun units.
The troops conducted a very successful and instructive series of maneuvers lasting until the middle of September, 1906.
On the 15th of September the 22nd Infantry broke camp and the several organizations returned to their proper stations.

The First Machine Gun Platoon

In July, 1906, the War Department issued orders to organize the regimental machine-gun platoon.
In the 22nd Infantry this unit was organized and commanded by First Lieutenant Henry A. Ripley,
and consisted of one sergeant and two gun detachments,
each gun detachment being composed of one corporal and nine privates.
Company A provided one sergeant and six privates;
Companies B and C each furnished one corporal and six privates.

Collar disc worn by the
machine gun platoon,
and later by the
machine gun companies

Editor's note: The US Army was slow to accept the modern technology of the machine gun.
The German Army recognized the quantum leap the machine gun offered, and led the world in the employment of such weapons,
and in formulating tactics in which they could be used.
The above illustrations are from a US Army publication of 1906, which informed about the use of machine guns,
and was nothing more than translations of text written by and for the German Army.
The texts were translated into English by Captain Jacob Kreps, who, on January 20, 1906,
was appointed Commissary of the 22nd Infantry.

General Order Number 14
dated July 1, 1906

This order established the machine gun platoon
for the 22nd Infantry Regiment.

The platoon became a part of 1st Battalion,
and, as an extra duty, command of the platoon
was given to 1LT Henry Ripley,
Adjutant for 1st Battalion.

U.S. Army cal. 30 Maxim Model 1904 machine gun

On October 29, 1906, Special Order No. 99 from the Headquarters Twenty-second Infantry,
detailed the following enlisted men from 1st Battalion for service with the machine gun platoon:

Sergeant Willis Armstrong ---- Company A
Corporal James R. Somers ---- Company C
Corporal Louis D. St. Amant ---- Company B
Privates Clem J. Delose, William B. Elliott, Jeter Jarrett, Benjamin Kinser, Nels O. Radley, and John J. Reid ---- Company A
Privates Sidney E. Henderson, Joseph Riha, Lionel Watson, Earl F. White, William C. Wilson and Ames Wood ---- Company B
Privates Robert E.P. Davis, Frank J. Dunn, Patrick S. Driscoll, Zeb. V. Fowler, Alexnder Powalisz and Frank E. Duffy ---- Company C

In March, 1907, the School of Musketry of the Pacific Division was organized and established at the Presidio of Monterey, California.
Company C, 22nd Infantry, officered by Captain P. W. Davison, 1st Lieutenant E. W. Tevry and Second Lieutenant Dean Halford,
and the regimental machine gun platoon under First Lieutenant H. A. Ripley, was detailed as a part of the school personnel.
These troops left Fort McDowell on March 22, 1907. Captain F. G. Stritzinger, Jr., 22nd Infantry, was appointed an assistant instructor
at the school. Second Lieutenants E. E. McCammon and C. B. Moore, and one enlisted man from each company of the 22nd Infantry
were detailed to take the first course in the school of musketry.
Following the departure of Company C from Fort McDowell, Company K was transferred to their barracks.
At the same time Companies I and L were moved from the Presidio of San Francisco to the depot of recruits and casuals.
Annual target practice for 1907 was conducted by the organizations of the regiment during May, June and July.
June 12, Field and Staff, 2nd battalion, and Companies F and H moved from Alcatraz Island to the Presidio of Monterey;
June 24, Companies E and G, having completed their target practice, moved from the rifle range to the Presidio of Monterey.

An artillery crew at Battery Godfrey loads a projectile and powder bags into the breech of a 12-inch gun.
The 1,070-pound shell was raised to the breech by a small crane.
Photo from National Park Service GGNRA

Completed in 1895, this Endicott-era battery was armed with three 12-inch guns mounted on barbette carriages.
The first 12-inch artillery platform in the nation was constructed and tested at this battery. Battery Godfrey was built to match or outshoot
the guns of contemporary battleships at ranges of up to ten miles. These guns could fire one 1,070-pound shell per minute.

Battery Godfrey was named in honor of Captain George J. Godfrey of Company A of the 1st Battalion 22nd Infantry,
who was killed in action in the Bulácan Mountains , Island of Luzon, Philippine Islands, June 3, 1900.

Ed. Battery Godfrey was located on the northwestern end of the Presidio, as part of Fort Scott.
Its guns faced the Pacific Ocean, and were part of the Presidio's defenses, from 1895 to 1943,
when the Army declared the guns obsolete and ordered them to be scrapped.

The 22nd Infantry enroute to Goldfield, Nevada 1907
Photo from the P.E. Larson Collection, courtesy of the
Nevada State Museum, Carson City, Nevada
Nevada Department of Cultural Affairs

December 4, 1907 the regimental commander was directed to place two companies in readiness to move to Goldfield, Nevada,
for strike duty. This was due to an impending strike among :he members of the local union of the Western Federation of Miners.
Companies B and K were selected by the colonel for this duty, but on the following day the entire regiment, less the band and Company C,
received orders to proceed immediately to Goldfield.
The regiment left Fort McDowell at 8 A. M., December 6, 1907, on the army transport Slocum for Oakland, California,
the point at which the command was directed to entrain. The following officers accompanied the first section of the regiment on this service:
Colonel Alfred Reynolds, commanding;
Majors Daniel A. Frederick and Jacob F. Kreps;
Captain L. T. Richardson, adjutant;
Captain Orrin R. Wolfe, quartermaster;
First Lieutenant H. A. Ripley, adjutant, 1st battalion.
Company B: Captain George E. Stewart, Second Lieutenant Edward A. Pearce.
Company D: First Lieutenant Robert Whitfield.
Company I: Captain William H. Wassell.
Company K: First Lieutenant John H. Baker, Second Lieutenant R. V. Venable (attached).
Company M: First Lieutenant David A. Henkes.

1st LT Parker Hitt, seen here at Goldfield in command of the machine gun platoon.
Hitt commanded the machine gun platoon from November 1907 to June 1908,
and again from August to December of 1910.
Photo from the P.E. Larson Collection, courtesy of the
Nevada State Museum, Carson City, Nevada
Nevada Department of Cultural Affairs

The two machine guns of the machine gun platoon of the 22nd Infantry, at Goldfield 1907.
Editor's note: The guns are the U.S. Army cal. 30 Maxim Model 1904. The US Army bought 282 of these
water-cooled, belt fed weapons, along with a license to manufacture them.
Nearly all of the guns were made in England by Vickers, however,
with US production amounting to less than fifty examples.
Photo from the P.E. Larson Collection, courtesy of the
Nevada State Museum, Carson City, Nevada
Nevada Department of Cultural Affairs

Company A remained at Fort McDowell to garrison the post and carry on the routine of guard duty, etc.,
while Company L remained at the depot of recruits and casuals.
Upon arrival of the first section at Goldfield the town and its inhabitants were found in a quiet and peaceful condition.
Camp was immediately established near the freight depot of the Tonopah and Goldfield railroad.
These were the first United States troops ever seen in Goldfield, Nevada.
The second section, arriving shortly after the first, went into camp on the opposite side of town.
The following officers of the regiment accompanied this section:

Company E: Second Lieutenant Edward E. McCammon (attached).
Company F: Captain Lawrence A. Curtis.
Company G: First Lieutenant Harry Graham, Second Lieutenant M. H. Thomlinson.
Company H: First Lieutenant James R. Goodale, Second Lieutenant John T. Burleigh.
Captain Curtis was in command of this detachment and First Lieutenant Solomon B. West was adjutant.

General Funston, commanding the Department of California, complimented the regiment
on the movement to Goldfield in the following letter to Colonel Reynolds:

HEADQUARTERS, DEPARTMENT OF CALIFORNIA, San Francisco, California,
DECEMBER 26TH, 1907.

The department commander desires to express his appreciation of the promptness with which you, on the 6th instant,
after receipt of telegraphic orders, prepared your command and embarked on vessel en route to train for Goldfield, Nevada.

The 22nd Infantry encamped at Goldfield, Nevada, 1907
Photo from the P.E. Larson Collection, courtesy of the
Nevada State Museum, Carson City, Nevada
Nevada Department of Cultural Affairs

The quiet and passive attitude of the Goldfield miners indicated that there was no necessity for troops to remain on duty in the town.
Accordingly, orders were issued directing the units of the regiment to return to their respective stations on December 30.
Two days prior to that set for departure, however, this order was revoked. The remainder of the service at Goldfield was uneventful,
the troops suffering somewhat from the intense cold that prevailed during December and January.
January 3, 1908, Companies H and I were filled to maximum strength by transfers from the other organizations of the regiment
and left on duty in Goldfield. The remainder of the regiment then returned to its proper stations.
January 14, Company L moved from the discharge camp to the Presidio of Monterey, and on February 12,
this Company was attached to the school of musketry for duty. At the same time Captain Frank Halstead relieved Captain Joel R. Lee
in command of Company L, the latter officer having been transferred to the 23rd Infantry.
March 7, 1908, Companies H and I were relieved from duty at Goldfield and returned to their permanent stations,
the former to the Presidio of Monterey, the latter to the discharge camp.

On April 3, 1908, Captain William H. Wassell, 22nd Infantry, died at Fort Bayard, New Mexico,
from exposure in the course of his service in the Goldfield mining region.
The death of this gallant and noble officer was a terrible shock to the remainder of the regiment to which he had so endeared himself;
and it is fortunate that the 22nd Infantry will always possess a tangible memory of his services,
for Captain Wassell prepared the history of the regiment from 1898 to 1904.

Editor's note:
Captain William H. Wassell is considered one of the primary historians of the 22nd Infantry Regiment.
While on duty with the Regiment in the Philippines in 1905, he and Captain Robert L. Hamilton
used the earlier writings of Major O.M. Smith concerning the Regiment during the Indian Wars,
and brought the Regiment's history up to date by adding that of the Spanish American War
and the Philippine Insurrection.
Captain Wassell's other writings were published in various journals in the late nineteenth century,
most notable of which was his work The Religion of the Sioux , published in Harper's Magazine in 1894.

The 1st Battalion 22nd Infantry website is grateful to
the Nevada State Museum Department of Cultural Affairs
for permission to use the above photos of the 22nd Infantry at Goldfield, Nevada.

For more on the mining strike at Goldfield and the history
of the State of Nevada, click on the banner below
to go to the Nevada State Museum Department of Cultural Affairs website: