BLOOMINGTON - During the Spanish-American War, men from Bloomington, including Capt. Julius C. Witherspoon, were part of a pioneering "all-colored" state regiment led not by white officers, which was the disgraceful practice back then, but rather by black officers.
The professionalism of the 8th Illinois United States Volunteers in the aftermath of the war clearly demonstrated blacks were just as capable of leading men under difficult conditions as their white counterparts.
Born in Archidelphia, Ark. in 1859 or 1860, Julius Witherspoon and his wife, Mary, moved to Bloomington in 1884. Julius found employment as a laborer, hostler, city police patrolman and livery barn manager. The large Witherspoon family included six daughters.
In 1898, the United States waged the four-month Spanish-American War. In the end, the Philippines and Puerto Rico became territorial possessions of the emerging American empire while Cuba became nominally independent, though it traded one overseer (King Alfonso XIII of Spain) for another (Uncle Sam).
Some members of the black community noted that Breitling Replica black U.S. troops fought to free Cubans (many of whom were descendents of African slaves) from under the thumb of Spanish colonial rule, all the while enduring second-class (or worse) citizenship back in the states.
Despite that fact, black regiments were some of the first ordered to Cuba, including the Tenth Cavalry (the famed Buffalo Soldiers), that played a key role in the Battle of San Juan Hill. Often, these units were referred to as "immune" troops in the exaggerated belief that blacks could better withstand the climate and diseases of the Caribbean tropics.
Witherspoon served as captain of the 8th's Co. G. The regiment's muster roll listed 1,195 men and 76 officers, of which at least 36 were from McLean County. Joining Witherspoon in Co. G., for example, was Lt. Henry W. Jameson, a minister from Bloomington.
The "Splendid Little War" (as U.S. ambassador to London John Hay called it) ended before the 8th Illinois made it to Cuba. Even so, the Illinois unit was used for post-war policing that ironically proved just as dangerous; there were far more U.S. casualties from tropic and camp-borne diseases than combat.
Omega Replica Watches In July 1898, the regiment mustered into service at the Illinois State Fairgrounds in Springfield. It was there that Illinois Gov. John Riley Tanner told the men that "even from the very doors of the White House have I received letters asking and advising me not to officer this regiment with colored men, but I promised to do so, and I have done it. I shall never rest until I see this regiment-my regiment-on the soil of Cuba, battling for the right, and for its kinsmen."
The 8th served in Cuba seven long months, from mid-August 1898 (Spain signed the armistice on Aug. 12) to March 1899, spending most of its time in and around San Luis, a town on island's eastern end.
In early January 1899, The Pantagraph published a lengthy letter from Witherspoon. "When we first arrived, we suffered heavily from malarial fever, but since the dry season has set in we have had very few cases of anything," he wrote in the letter dated Dec. 20, 1898. During the first week in Cuba, the regiment suffered from a lack of provisions. "But from that time until the present," Witherspoon added, "we have had fresh beef, canned fruit, hot biscuits and light bread every day."
Near the end of its tour, the 8th Illinois received an inspection by G
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