Newsletter of the Haskell Family Society
Volume 7, No. 4, December 19981 July 1998 marked the 100th anniversary of the most celebrated battle of the Spanish-American War--the charge of the Rough Riders at San Juan Hill, Cuba. The troops, officially the 1st U. S. Volunteer Cavalry, were not in fact commanded by Lieutenant Colonel Theodore Roosevelt as is popularly supposed (although he was present, second in command and took an active role), but rather by Army Surgeon Colonel Leonard Wood, who had earlier won the Congressional Medal of Honor for gallantry in fighting the Apache Indians.
The U. S. Army Cuban Expedition, with a land force of 17,000 regular troops and volunteers, marshalled in Tampa, Florida, and under the command of General William Shafter sailed for Cuba on 14 June 1898. The troops arrived off Santiago, Cuba, five days later to disembark at Daiquiri and Siboney Bay and on 26 June began their overland march. On 1 July some 7000 Americans took a strongly fortified village from 600 Cuban troops, in a skirmish later known as the Battle of EI Caney.
On the same day the dismounted volunteers, the "Rough Riders", took part in the seizure of San Juan Hill, at a cost of 1572 casualties but achieving command of the high ground east and north of Santiago in a position to place the city and Spanish fleet under artillery bombardment.
The majority of these volunteers were westerners, mostly from Texas and New Mexico Territory. However, they also included a substantial number of easterners who were Ivy League college students, athletes, or elite New York society members. Enlistment records show that occupations included 160 cowboys, 87 miners, 53 farmers, 26 students, 15 polo players, 10 football players, 5 golfers, 4 tennis players, 2 yachtsmen and 1 half-miler.
Numbered among this curiously diverse assemblage was U. S. Army West Point Academy Cadet Ernest Eddy Haskell, born 24 September 1876 in New Bedford, Massachusetts. His mother was Juliet Bonney (Eddy) Haskell.
Ernest entered West Point in 1896 and, when the Spanish American War broke out, took a furlough to join the Rough Riders under Colonel Wood and Lieutenant Colonel Roosevelt. Appointed a provisional second lieutenant, he sailed with them from Florida.
At the Battle of San Juan Hill confusion reigned in the jungle's heavy brush. ill-trained units became disorganised, and privates found themselves commanded by non-commissioned officers they had never seen before, while enemy sharpshooters poured well-aimed rifle fire from treetops and ambushes on the sides of the trails.
Losses among the Rough Riders were heavier than in any other regiment in the cavalry division. Lieutenant Haskell, dangerously wounded in the stomach by a heavy Mauser bullet, was one of the casualties. Colonel Roosevelt, future U. S. president, wrote in his book, The Rough Riders, 'A young West Point Cadet; Ernest Haskell, who had taken his holiday with us as an acting second lieutenant, was shot through the stomach. He had shown great coolness and gallantry, which he displayed to an even more marked degree after being wounded, shaking my hand and saying, "All right, Colonel, I'm going to get well. Don't bother about me and don't let any man come away with me." When I shook hands with him, I thought he would surely die, yet he recovered.'
The charge, in blistering heat, captured the Spanish fortifications, actually not on San Juan Hill but on adjoining Kettle Hill, and the cavalry had to fight on foot, as there had been no room to ship their horses. Of the estimated 400 Rough Riders who took part, eighty-six were killed or wounded, Ernest Haskell among them.
Although during the entire four-month war only 279 Americans died in direct combat, over 5000 succumbed to accidents or disease including fever and food poisoning.
Following his almost miraculous recovery from a serious wound, Ernest Haskell returned to West Point and graduated with the class of 1900 as second lieutenant in the infantry. In May 1902 he married Ethelyn Holt Rice and on 18 February 1905 their daughter Juliet Haskell was born. After serving a distinguished military career, Ernest Eddy Haskell retired as colonel.
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U.S. Veterans' Gravesites, ca.1775-2019
Name: Ernest E Haskell
Death Date: 9 Nov 1932
Cemetery: Arlington National Cemetery
Notes: COLONEL INF US Army
17249. William Frederick Haskell
William Haskell was a shoe manufacturer in Lynn, Massachusetts, and the first president of the Roger Haskell Family Association.
U.S., Civil War Soldier Records and Profiles, 1861-1865
Name: Amory H Gorham
Enlistment Age: 22
Birth Date: abt 1840
Enlistment Date: 4 Sep 1862
Enlistment Place: Boston, Massachusetts
Enlistment Rank: Seaman
Muster Date: 4 Sep 1862
Muster Place: Confederate States Navy
Muster Regiment: Navy
Muster Information: Enlisted
Muster Out Date: 15 Apr 1863
Muster Out Information: disch disability
Side of War: Union
Survived War?: Yes
Ship: USS Ohio
Additional Notes 2: Ship 2: USS Rhode Island Ship 3: USS Ohio
Title: Massachusetts Soldiers, Sailors and Marines in the Civil War