National_Guard

For the next thirty-five years, California’s militia forces were called upon to assist in putting down Indian uprisings. During this same time frame, the state’s militia were called upon by the Governor to intervene in labor disputes and riots. With the outbreak of the Spanish-American War in 1898, close to 165,000 National Guard and Naval Militiamen were called for active duty. Although only a few National Guard regiments were sent to Cuba, California’s militia were among the first to be shipped off to the Philippines to fight on that front and participated in the Philippine Insurrection that followed. When the Spanish-American war began, this small chain of islands was hardly thought of in the equation - at least in the minds of the average American. All headlines focused on the destruction of the USS Maine. This event having transpired on February 15, 1898, in Havana, Cuba - thousands of miles away from the Philippines. Patriotism and glory were put on pinnacles by the American press with a battle cry of: "Remember the Maine!" The Spanish-American War marked a turning point in American history. The United States had become a colonial power, exercising control or influence over islands in the Caribbean Sea, the mid-Pacific Ocean and close to the Asian mainland. The former Spanish colonies of Cuba, Puerto Rico, Guam, and the Philippines, as well as the formerly independent nation of Hawaii, all became American possessions.

California's National Guard

Spanish-American War Era (1898 - 1903)

Relative Pages

CW3 Mark J. Denger

California Center for Military History

Spanish-American War

Philippine Insurrection