The Spanish American War, 1898
After their successful participation in the Centennial parade, the Legion returned to their home service until 1898, continuing to also engage in a variety of social events and concerts during the 1890s. They did just as much ceremonial escorting as active duty, providing music and pageantry to various events around Kentucky. Their presence was symbolic, evoking martial pride into a society which was increasingly finding itself on the world stage as an industrial and cultural power. After the sinking of the U.S.S. Maine in early April of 1898, volunteers were enlisting in the Legion in order to be of service to the federal government if war was declared on Spain. Pro-war sentiment was so strong in 1898 that the Legion was able to muster in due to the financial contributions of private citizens, who donated directly to the raising of a Kentucky volunteer infantry regiment for the U.S. Army to send to Puerto Rico.
The Legion was sent to Camp Bradley for training, located at Woodland Park in Lexington, Kentucky. They were welcomed to Lexington by a crowd of thousands, who dedicated poetry and music to the Legion. The song, “March On, Brave Lads March On!”, was performed in Lexington by a high school girls’ choir in honor of the arrival of the militia. The song was written by two female composers, writer Anna J. Hamilton and composer Mildred J. Hill (who would go on to compose the tune to the “Happy Birthday” song popular today). Dedicating music and poetry to soldiers, as well as performing it in their presence, was a socially acceptable and popular way for women of the 19th century to express their patriotism.
Stationed in Puerto Rico, the Legion, which was redesignated the First Kentucky Volunteers, did not see combat. According to a November 6, 1898 Courier-Journal article, the Legion was active in suppressing lawlessness and disorder after the collapse of the Spanish rule. The Legion operated against outlaw bands in the mountins who terrorized civilians. When the regiment returned home, they marched through the streets of Louisville in triumph.
Despite only lasting for 16 weeks, the Spanish-American War was the proving ground for a new generation of men, the first to come of age after the Civil War. Like generations of Kentucky men before them, those who fought in the Spanish American War were eager to continue the martial legacy of their family as well as their state. Patriotic sentiments were at an all-time high at the end of the 19th century, with military propaganda and romantic sentiment sweeping the nation. The Louisville Legion was welcomed to training camps with poems and performances, and their homecoming parade was attended by thousands of Kentuckians.
Perceptions and attitudes around war would change drastically through the 20th century, particularly after World War I. Military organization of state militias in the United States would change as well, altering the future and the image of the Louisville Legion.