1st Battalion 22nd Infantry

The 22nd Infantry 1890 - 1898

A photo of some of the officers of the 22nd, taken at Fort Keogh 1892

from the book Combat Diary by A.B. Feuer

In July, 1890, company E changed station from Fort Totten to Fort Buford, N. D.
Pursuant to G. O. 76, headquarters of the army, July 21, 1890, companies I and K were skeletonized and ceased to exist,
except on paper. The officers were assigned to companies, replacing absent officers; the enlisted men were transferred to other companies;
and the company records were laid away in the archives of the adjutant's office.

In November, company G changed station from Fort Totten to Fort Yates, N. D.
The companies were not in the "coffee cooling" business, but were from time to time scouting or camping at agencies where the Indians were restless
or were thought to be preparing "to go on the warpath." In the latter part of 1890, there was an uprising of the Indians at Pine Ridge
and Rosebud agencies, South Dakota. Companies A, B, D, G, and H were ordered into the field and campaigned more or less all of that winter,
sometimes in very inclement weather. Company D, under command of Lieut. J. G. Ballance, made an extraordinary march to the relief
of Captain Fountain's troop, 8th cavalry, reported to have been surrounded by 500 Indians at Cane hills, South Dakota.
December 23, at 7:45 p. m., it started upon its march in a wind and snow storm, from Beisigl's ranch, reaching New England city,
a distance of sixty-three miles, at one o'clock a. m., the 25th. It was necessary to make a halt there to rest and thaw out the half-frozen men.
In a few hours the march was continued twenty-two miles, when a portion of Captain Fountain's troop was met. The safety of the troop was reported,
and the company then returned to New England city.

In the mean time companies C and K had hard duty at the Cheyenne agency Montana.
In December, 1890, Iieut. Casey, who commanded a company of Cheyenne scouts that he had organized by authority
of the war department under plans originated by himself, marched from Fort Keogh to the theater of hostilities, and on January 7, 1891,
was camped on White river, near the mouth of White Clay creek, not far distant from the Pine Ridge agency and the hostile camp.
Early that morning several of the Sioux had entered his camp and held a friendly talk with him. At 9 o'clock he started out
with two of his scouts to examine the hostile camp, and when within a short distance of it, was brutally murdered by a Brule Sioux
(Plenty Horses) belonging to the camp, who, in a cowardly manner, shot him from the rear. Casey was a brave and energetic officer,
and an enthusiastic friend of the Indian. He originated the plan of organizing them into military companies, believing that by it much would be done
to elevate and civilize them, and looked forward to the realization of his efforts. He died before he had reached the meridian of his strength,
full of intellectual vigor and generous impulses, and as most of us might wish to die— in harness.

Photo of a Soldier of Company H 22nd Infantry
He wears the model 1872 forage cap. The blue scarf is not regulation.
Photo taken by L.A. Huffman, Miles City, Montana, during the time the Regiment
was statoned at Fort Keogh.

Some time after the close of the hostilities the companies returned to their station—July, 1891, found them all back at their posts.
The Cheyenne Indians on the Tongue river agency were at this time always more or less restless, making it necessary to keep
at least one company at the agency practically all the time. In December, 1900, troop G, 1st cavalry, was relieved by company F, 22nd Infantry.
Company F was relieved by company C in April, and the latter company was withdrawn in May, 1891.
In April, 1891, company I was designated as an Indian company; the station was changed to Fort Yates, N. D.,
and it was given an authorized strength of fifty-five Sioux Indians.

During the summer of this year, company A was transferred from Fort Abraham Lincoln, company G, from Fort Yates,
and company E, from Fort Buford, to Fort Keogh for station. In making this change, company E marched overland.
This now brought the entire regiment, with the exception of the Indian company at Fort Yates, together at Keogh—
the first time in the history of the regiment.

US Army Infantry Drill Regulations, Revision of 1891
belonging to Captain William W. Daugherty of the 22nd Infantry

In December of 1891, the Northern Cheyennes on the Tongue river agency again became restless, and company A was sent out.
The old temporary camp, known as Camp Crook, south of the agency, was abandoned and a camp site near the agency was selected
and named Camp Merritt, after the then department commander. The company began the erection of log quarters for the officers and enlisted men,
although it was in the coldest part of a severe winter. While engaged in this work, 2nd Lieut. W. E. Bruce, due to the exposure,
contracted pneumonia, from which he died on February 27, 1892. He was a young officer of promise, and his death was a loss to the regiment.
The quarters at Camp Merritt were in due time completed, and a garrison of one company, changed every three months from Keogh,
was maintained there as long as the 22nd remained at Keogh.

On July 13, 1892, a telegram from department headquarters directed that all of the regiment available be sent immediately
to the scene of the mining riots in the Coeur D'Alene region in Idaho. The telegram was received at 4 o'clock p. m., and at 9.30 p. m.
companies B, D, F, G, and H were at the railroad station, equipped for thirty days' field service and ready to embark for the scene of the trouble.
Upon arrival in the Coeur D'Alenes, July 15, the command was divided between Wallace and Mullan, and for the two weeks following,
was actively engaged in preserving order, guarding mines, and assisting in the arrest of the leaders in the riot. This duty continued until July 27,
when, order having been restored, the command was relieved and started on its return trip to Fort Keogh.

( Ed., The Panic of 1893 resulted in a country wide depression which lasted for four years.
In 1894 the populist Jacob Coxey called for all unemployed workers throughout the country to march on Washington D.C.
to protest the unemployment and to lobby the government to create jobs. Coxey's followers became known as his "Army".
By far the largest single gathering of Coxey's "Army" formed in the Pacific Northwest under the leadership of
William Hogan, and numbered some 500 men. They easily intimidated and brushed aside all local and federal law enforcement
attempts to curtail their activities. The governor of Montana called upon President Cleveland for Federal military assistance.
The Department of the Dakotas directed the 22nd Infantry to act upon the President's orders.)

April 25, 1894, companies A, B, C, D, F, and H left Fort Keogh, under orders to intercept and arrest the Hogan division of Coxey's army.
This contingent of the unemployed had been organized in Helena and Butte, Montana; their aim was to reach Washington
and join the main corps of Coxey's army. Although carrying no firearms of any kind, there had been more or less trouble between them
and the civil authorities. Matters reached a crisis when the Hoganites seized a train of cars on the Northern Pacific road
and completely blocked all traffic on the line. Mails were delayed for several weeks; the entire northwest was paralyzed by a few hundred men.
When the regiment received its orders, the most alarming rumors were rife—the men were desperadoes, they were fully armed,
they had murdered and robbed peaceful citizens. On the evening of April 25, orders were received to hold the regiment at the railroad station
at Keogh, ready to embark at a moment's notice on a special train. Shortly afterward came word that the army was at Forsyth,
forty-two miles west of Keogh, getting an engine from the roundhouse to continue their journey eastward.
Immediately after came orders to intercept the army before it could leave Forsyth.

Then followed a long-remembered ride. In box cars, over a rough stretch of railroad that was full of curves, the six companies
were rushed at full speed of the engines. Some minutes before, at the far end of the single track, desperate men were struggling for an engine;
they were in ignorance of the regiment's order to intercept them; if the west bound train did not reach Forsyth
before the east bound train was off the siding, a collision was inevitable. Fortunately the suspense was soon over.
Just as the Hogan engine was ready to pull out, the regiment's train dashed in. The Coxey engineer was knocked from his cab
and four hundred and eighty quiet, unarmed, unresisting prisoners were surrounded by a chain of soldiers. The "army" was so glad
to surrender to forces of the United States that, during the night, a number that had not been captured beat their way into the enclosure of sentinels
by concealing themselves on switching engines. A zealous officer of the guard was made glad on the following morning when he was able to turn over
more prisoners than he had received. The Coxeyites were taken back to Helena, where companies A, C, and H acted as a guard over them
until July 26. In the meantime the remaining companies were guarding bridges, tunnels, and trains.

Order sent by telegraph from Brig. General Wesley Merritt to LTC Page,
instructing him to use his command to protect the Northern Pacific Railroad.
After the detention of the Hogan contingent of Coxey's "Army" it was feared
that a sympathetic population might cause disruption of railroad services,
in conjunction with the Pullman Strike which began in May and June of 1894.
The order is signed by the Regimental Adjutant, 1st Lieutenant F.B. Jones,
who was Regimental Adjutant of the 22nd Infantry from January 16, 1892 to January 16, 1896.

On the right - 22nd Infantry guarding the Northern Pacific Railroad 1894
Among the Soldiers, in the dark dress, is the legendary Calamity Jane

As result of a fire at Fort Keogh on December 30, 1894, which totally destroyed two sets of barracks, companies B and D
were transferred to Fort Assiniboine, Mont., for station, arriving at that station, January 19, 1895.
In August, 1895, Company E, which had been sent to Fort Pembina, N. D., in the autumn of 1892, for station, was transferred
to Fort Assiniboine, and Pembina was abandoned. In September, company A from Fort Keogh and D from Fort Assiniboine
were transferred to Fort Yates, and companies B and B from Assiniboine to Fort Harrison. These latter were the first troops
to garrison Harrison, the new post at Helena, Mont.

The parade ground at Fort Assinniboine, Montana.
The fort was 38 miles from the Canadian border.

In 1896, the regiment lost two officers by death. On February 16, ist Lieut. John A. Wills died at Ashville, Tenn., and on April 15,
at Fort Yates, 2nd Lieut. H. G. Hambright was thrown from a horse and killed. The death of these officers was greatly regretted by all in the regiment.
In June, 1896, the long period of frontier service was broken and the regiment made glad by orders sending it to the new post, Fort Crook,
near Omaha, Nebraska. The entire regiment arrived at Fort Crook, June 29, and all were happy to be stationed together.
All were soon comfortably settled in the fine new quarters and entered upon the longest period of garrison service and unbroken quiet
experienced by the entire regiment since its organization. With the exception of practice marches, occasional encampments with national guard
or G. A. R. organizations, this quiet continued until the beginning of the Spanish-American war in 1898.

The entire regiment went to Chicago in July, 1897, to participate in the exercises attendant upon the unveiling of the Logan monument,
and in September of the same year participated in the parade in Omaha at the opening of its fair.
In all these years, the regiment led an active life. During Indian campaigns, mining troubles, and railroad strikes, it had done its full share of good work.

[ The occasion of the regiment's assuming a garrison status at Fort Crook, Nebraska, in June, 1896, marked also a culmination
of a long, active and arduous period of service on the vastly extended Western frontier. During this time the battalions, companies
and detachments of the regiment had marched and fought over many thousands of miles of hitherto unexplored country.
The success of the widely varying missions of the command speaks for itself, and, in accordance with the basic principles of warfare,
can only be attributed to the high state of esprit, training and morale of officers and men. In the course of these years the casualties
in the regiment had fortunately been small, but to those few who gave their lives in the operations involving the pacification
of the powerful and sometimes unruly tribes of the Indians, and the upholding of law and order in the remote fastnesses of the early West,
the great body of American citizens must award both honor and gratitude for their services in behalf of the progress of American civilization.¹ ]

Letter from the Army's Ordnance Department in Washington
to Captain Mott Hooton of the 22nd Infantry, dated June 8, 1895.
At the time CPT Hooton was Commanding Officer of F Company, and was at Fort Pembina, North Dakota.
The fort was situated at the junction of the Pembina and Red Rivers, right on the border of North Dakota and Canada.
Most of the fort was destroyed by a fire in May of 1895, and the post was abandoned in August of that year.

During a Department of the Dakotas inspection of the post in 1894, a number of deficiencies were noted
by the Department Inspector. Those pertaining to Company F were pointed out in this letter of September 7, 1894,
to Company F's Commanding Officer, sent by the Post Adjutant, 1st Lieutenant F. B. Jones.

Caption reads:
Band, 22nd U.S. Infantry, Fort Crook, Neb.
Winners of First Prize at Minneapolis, July 5, 1897 - Seven Bands Competing

Company D 22nd Infantry camped September 1897

The 22nd Infantry Regiment on the parade ground at Fort Crook,
Regimental Band on the left

The above narrative is taken from the 22nd Regimental History compiled in 1904
under the direction of Captain R.L. Hamilton

¹ From the 22nd Regimental History compiled in 1922
under the direction of Captain G.C. Graham

( Ed., ) Notes and comments from the website editor

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