The following is a brief history of the 3rd New York Volunteer Infantry. The unit did not see service outside of the continental U.S. during the war.
The History:
The 3rd New York Volunteer Infantry was mustered into federal service on May 17, 1898 at Hempstead, New York. At this time, it consisted of 45 officers and 972 enlisted men. Soon the unit was sent to Camp Alger, near Washington, DC. and was apparently assigned to the 2nd Army Corps.
Active fighting ended with an armistice on August 13, 1898, finding the 3rd New York still stateside with the 2nd Army Corps. With the armistice, the Federal government began the mustering out of the volunteer troops, eventhough, technically Spain and the U.S. were still at war. The unit was mustered out of service beginning on Novemer 30 and ending, ironically, on December 10, 1898, the day of the signing of the Treaty of Paris, officially ending the war. At muster out, the 3rd New York consisted of 47 officers and 1,222 enlisted men.
During its term of service, the unit lost 31 men to disease, with four more discharged on disability. The unit also lost one man to suicide.
This is an image of Private Wayland Ayer Chapman sitting atop the colonel's horse. The image was taken at Camp Alger on July 18, 1898. Chapman was born on October 23, 1874 in Yates County, New York He survived the war and married Dora Thayer Sutherland on August 20, 1907 in Topeka, Kansas. They had four children. Chapman died on November. 3, 1946 in Los Angeles, California.
Clerk of Joint Committee on Printing, The Abridgement of Message from the President of the United States to the Two Houses of Congress. (Washington: Government Printing Office, 1899). Vol. 3, map opposite p. 484.
May, Roger Wayland (image and biography of Wayland Ayer Chapman)
Statistical Exhibit of Strength of Volunteer Forces Called into
Service During the War with Spain; with Losses from All Causes. (Washington:
Government Printing Office, 1899).
