Exclusive of soldiers, seamen and marines who enlisted in the regular army and navy, Maine furnished for the war with Spain one volunteer regiment of infantry, four batteries of heavy artillery, and a signal corps, a total of 1,717 officers and men. This was more than her full quota.

Neither the artillery nor the infantry saw active service, but over fifty men died from fever contracted in the southern camps, and many more were permanently invalid.

The Signal Corps was orderd to the front and did excellent service in the several battles on the island of Cuba near Santiago, which led to the surrender of that city and the Spanish forces occupying it. General Greeley, chief signal officer of the United States Army, at the close of the war addressed the Maine Signal Corps in these words, "You of the volunteers that came into the field from your shops and desks, cannot be expected to stand the hardships of this campaign like the regulars who are trained soldiers, neither are you expected to perform the many duties which devolve upon you with the same intelligence as the regulars who have had years of constant practice and study, but the comparison is very flattering to you. You were the first to report for duty to Washington, you were the best equipped of any detachment that has reported here during the war. The State of Maine ought to be proud of you and should be proud of the manner in which she prepared you for the field."

MEGenWeb Project Spanish-American War resources:

• US GenWeb Archives Pension Project - Maine

Source(s) for narrative on this page: The Maine Book, by Henry E. Dunnack, Librarian of Maine State Library. Augusta, Maine 1920. pages 3-8.

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State Coordinator ~ Tina S. Vickery. SPECIAL NOTE: Tina Vickery is ill at this time and Betsy Mills will be serving as a temporary contact until she is able to return. Special thanks to David Colby Young, Maine's previous State Coordinator.