FOURTH PENNSYLVANIA INFANTRY
GENERAL:
Dates of Muster-In/Muster-Out:
Companies A through H were mustered in on May 9 and 10, 1898. Companies I through M were mustered in during early July and joined the Regiment in Georgia.
Size of Regiment:
45 officers, 1211 men at muster out.
Losses:
During the regiment's term of service, it lost 3 officers and 32 men to disease. Three additional men were disabled.
Location of Service:
Puerto Rico.
Actions:
Actions around the towns of Arroyo and Guayama, Puerto Rico.
UNIT HISTORY:
This regiment was the first to be mustered into the United States Volunteer Service from the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. After being mustered in, the 4th Pennsylvania was ordered to Chickamauga Park, Georgia where it arrived on May 16, 1898. The 4th Pennsylvania was brigaded with the 3rd Illinois and the 4th Ohio Regiments. Here the drilling and training began in earnest.
On July 4, the 4th Pennsylvania was ordered to Charleston, South Carolina, arriving on July 25. Each man was ordered to carry fifty rounds of ammunition, and an additional one hundred fifty rounds per man were shipped to Charleston. The regiment was apparently equipped with the older .45-70 "trapdoor" rifles.
On July 27, the regiment embarked aboard the CITY OF WASHINGTON and the SENECA, and left Charleston's harbor, passing the old forts of Sumter and Moultrie (now having new armament installed) and bound for Puerto Rico. The transports arrived at Guanica, Puerto Rico on August 2. They were almost immediately sent to Ponce harbor, where the transports spent the night until being ordered to Arroyo, about fifty miles east. At Arroyo, the regiment
disembarked, while the guns of the auxiliary cruiser ST. LOUIS, cruiser CINCINNATI, and the GLOUCESTER blazed away, shelling the hills beyond the town.
A permanent camp was set up about one half mile from Arroyo. The regiment served on picket duty on the Patillo, and Guayama roads, and the road leading into the mountains.
Company I was detached to serve in the town of Arroyo, and did not rejoin the regiment until the unit left Puerto Rico. While in this camp, the 4th Pennsylvania was rearmed with the new Krag-Jorgensen .30 cal. rifles.
On August 6, the brigade advanced on and captured the town of Guayama, however, the 4th Pennsylvania was held in reserve and did not take an active part in the battle.
On August 13, the regiment readied itself for an attack on the Spanish forces that were strongly entrenched in the mountains north of Guayama. Two battalions of the regiment
advanced to the iron bridge about a mile north of Guayama, in support of the artillery force consisting of the 4th Ohio, Missouri Battery A (apparently with four dynamite guns), Pennsylvania Battery B, Illinois Battery A, and the 27th Indiana Battery. The regiment's third battalion remained at Arroyo to cover the town.
During the engagement, the 4th Ohio Infantry was to conduct a flanking movement on the enemy, but it was discovered that the Spanish forces were attempting to make a flanking
movement on the 4th Ohio itself! The 4th Pennsylvania's second battalion was ordered to the high ground overlooking the Cayey Road, on which the 4th Ohio was supposed to be
advancing. Also, Company B of the 4th Pennsylvania was ordered into the town to take possession of the barracks and public buildings. While all of this activity was going on, news arrived that the peace had arrived. The actions were suspended.
The Regiment was moved into camp on the Ponce Road, just south of the town. On August 28, the regiment, consisting of twelve hundred men, twenty-eight army wagons, ten ox carts and the regimental ambulances, was ordered to march to Ponce. The regiment arrived in Ponce two days later. On August 31 and September 1, the 4th Pennsylvania embarked on the CITY OF CHESTER. At 2:00 p.m., the transport weighed anchor, and the regiment left to return to the United States, arriving in New York on September 6, 1898.
The 4th Pennsylvania was given sixty days furlough. On October 27, about one thousand members of the regiment took part in the Peace Jubilee in Philadelphia. The regiment was
mustered out on November 16, 1898.
Bibliography:
Stewart, Thomas J., Adj. Gen., Record of the Pennsylvania Volunteers, Harrisburg: William Stanley Ray, 1901
