OFFICIAL HISTORY OF THE OPERATIONS OF THE 13TH MINNESOTA INFANTRY, U. S. V. IN THE CAMPAIGN IN THE PHILIPPINE ISLANDS WRITTEN BY LIEUTENANT MARTIN E. TEW Who was in all the Engagements in which the Regiment participated, and acted in the capacity of Through Courtesy of Commanding Officers, Lieutenant Tew was permitted to use the Official Records of the Regiment GENERAL REEVE, COLONEL AMES, MAJOR BEAN And other Officers and Men of the Regiment. HEADQUARTERS 13TH MINNESOTA VOLUNTEER INFANTRY. Model Camp, Presidio, San Francisco. September 23, 1889. TO WHOM IT MAY CONCERN: I certify that the accompanying historical matter and rosters, written especially for "Campaigning in the Philippines," relative to the 13th Minnesota Volunteer Infantry, are official, the account of the field operations having been compiled from the official records of the regiment. FRED. W. AMES, Colonel 13th Minnesota Volunteers, Commanding. HEADQUARTERS 13TH MINNESOTA VOLUNTEER INFANTRY. Meycauayan, Luzon Island. June 22, 1899. TO WHOM IT MAY CONCERN: I have examined the manuscript of the accompanying history of the 13th Regiment, Minnesota Volunteer Infantry, as written by Martin E. Tew, and find the statement of facts therein correct in all particulars. EDWIN S. BEAN, Major 13th Minnesota Volunteer Infantry, Commanding. THIRTEENTH MINNESOTA INFANTRY. INNESOTA, rich in God-given beauty, and pure as her own invigorating airs from the north, is a natural cradle of liberty. Her flower-studded meadows, her broad fields of waving grain, her variegated forests, musical with the voices of nature, her picturesque hills, glowing with the verdure of summer or shining with the snows of winter, cannot fail to inspire a love of freedom and build up a sturdy manhood. For the prosecution of the great war which gave freedom to millions of black men, Minnesota furnished eleven regiments of hardy pioneers. On the battlefields of Gettysburg and Chicamauga are now erected columns of marble and granite, commemorative of the highest type of heroism. Those monuments, dedicated as tributes of honor to the sons of Minnesota, may moulder away, but time cannot efface from the memory of men the story of their god-like valor. During the trying years of Indian uprisings along the western borders of civilization, Minnesota's frontiersmen gave to the world an example of hardihood, fortitude and courage which will live in song and story of future generations. When, on April 23, 1898, after viewing the sad results of a long reign of tyranny in Cuba and other Spanish colonies, President McKinley called for 125,000 volunteers to give liberty to oppressed alien peoples, and to avenge the cowardly destruction of the battleship Maine, it was entirely fitting that Minnesota, true to her record of 1861, should be the first State in the Union to respond with her full quota of three regiments, fully equipped, mustered-in and ready for any service. The 1st Regiment, Minnesota National Guard, which, on being mustered into the United States service, became known as the 13th Minn. Vol. Inf., was reviewed at the capital grounds on April 29th, by His Excellency, Gov. David M. Clough. From the capital, the regiment marched to the State fair grounds, midway between St. Paul and Minneapolis, and there went into camp. At this time the organization consisted of fifty commissioned officers and nine hundred and seventy-eight enlisted men. Of the twelve companies in the regiment, five-A, B, F, I and L-were from Minneapolis, and four-C, D, E and H-were from St. Paul. Company G was from Red Wing, K, from Stillwater and M, from St. Cloud. The personnel of the regiment was of a very high order. A large majority of its members were men who occupied responsible and lucrative positions in private life, and whose enlistment meant great personal sacrifices. Lawyers, doctors, journalists, ministers, teachers, university and college men, electricians, bookkeepers, stenographers, and, in short, men from all professions and trades crowded |