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177 A s June rolled into July 1898, the situation at Camp George H. Thomas could still be viewed by the War Department as a success. In less than three months, it had transported, housed, equipped, fed, and trained over 75,000 regular and volunteer soldiers from all three branches of the army. With the help of Henry Boynton and the park commissioners, the military had converted the commemorative landscape of the Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Military Park into a functional camp and training facility. Although this massive occupation by men, animals, and equipment put stress on the landscape itself, it still fulfilled several of the park’s original goals. The thousands of soldiers and civilians who flocked to the camp enthusiastically noted and appreciated the monuments, markers, cannons, and scenic beauty of the preserved battlefield. They posed for photographs, purchased souvenir albums, and wrote about the park to friends and family back home. In addition, many of the soldiers in the park drew inspiration from the enlistment, travel, and training experiences that bonded them to the men of the previous generation who had done many of the same things in the 1860s. The actual presence of Civil War veterans in many of the regiments reinforced this connection and helped construct another layer of memory around the battle and the landscape. Just as importantly for the veterans, the park, and the soldiers was the knowledge that they were making a valuable contribution to America’s war effort. The influence and participation of Civil War veterans from President McKinley, Secretary of War Russell Alger, and Commander of the Army Nelson Miles, on down to the rank and file was direct and visible. The active participation of both Union and Confederate veterans left little doubt that they were playing an important role in the development of both reunion and patriotism. The immediate utilization of Chickamauga Park as the army’s main concentration point validated both its symbolic and practical purposes. The arrival of trainloads of troops, cheering crowds, martial music, acres of tents, and the “What They Will Do with Us Now Is a Mystery” ten 178 · conflicting memories on the “River of Death” spectacles of drills and mock battles on the old battlefield were inspiring reminders of the nation’s vitality and military tradition. To have the battlefield resonate once again with the sounds and sights of troops marching under one flag was gratifying to everyone involved with the park’s creation. The Regulars who had trained in the park early in the war were playing an important role in the campaign in Cuba. If at least some of the volunteers managed to make it to the front, the War Department and the commanders of the camp would have fulfilled their mission and demonstrated the park’s value and usefulness. Unfortunately, the bonds of memory and experience that united the Civil War veterans and the Spanish-American War volunteers would not withstand the sequence of events that began to unfold in July 1898. The United States was winning the war, and doing it more quickly than anyone could have imagined. While this was undoubtedly good news for the nation, it meant that the troops training at Chickamauga and other camps like it might be left out of the action. As a portion of the camp’s population shipped out for Puerto Rico, disease, the scourge of armies throughout history, struck the remaining troops at Camp Thomas. The health crisis grew within a few weeks from a few isolated cases to a full-scale epidemic, and led to anger, recriminations, and debate that extended well beyond the confines of the camp. When the victorious army that conquered Cuba experienced a similar health crisis, the situation at Camp Thomas became part of a larger debate over the War Department’s effectiveness in providing for the well-being of the troops. Ultimately, all of these factors would come together to produce a set of mixed and contradictory memories of the Spanish-American War. The ground campaign in Cuba had proceeded quickly following the landing of American forces under the overall command of Gen. William Shafter at Daiquiri on 22 June. After establishing a beachhead and supply base at nearby Siboney, the army marched inland toward Santiago. The army’s dismounted cavalry, under the command of Joe Wheeler (and including Roosevelt’s Rough Riders), fought its first battle at Las Guasimas on 24 June, and the Americans quickly pushed the Spanish back to the outer...

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