Name/Title
Print, PhotographicEntry/Object ID
2016.018.0001Description
Photograph of the Benicia barracks in 1892. It shows the line of barracks and a number of soldiers sitting on the porch or nearby. Written on the bottom of the photo it says "Company "E" Benicia Barracks, California, 1892". Some of the men are wearing riding boots like Cavalry and some are dressed as soldiers with what look like crossed cannons on their hats. One man standing by the fire buckets looks like a civilian.
The photo is of Company E, First Infantry Regiment, Regular Army. It is a unit that has been in every war the country has been in and has been active, except for one year, since the Revolution.
Various photos, apparently taken at the same time are floating around various museums and archives.
The regiment was in California to police labor disputes, primarily involving the railroads, and was stationed throughout the SF Bay area. Company E was in Benicia for a while.
Upon being relieved from this duty the companies of the regiment returned to their stations in the Department of California early in March, 1891.
The regiment has had numerous summer camps of instruction, frequently joining with the National Guard of the State in this duty. The camps have been located at Santa Cruz, Santa Barbara and Monterey.
The recent railroad strikes took the regiment into the field. Owing to the bitter feeling prevailing in California against the Southern Pacific Railroad company, the strike in that State early developed a serious phase which was intensified by the failure of tile National Guard to respond properly to the demands made upon it by the State authorities. Under these conditions the services of the regular troops were peculiarly valuable, and much useful information can be derived from a study of the arrangements made for the journey of the headquarters and five companies of the regiment from Oakland to Los Angeles when escorting the first train through after the inauguration of the strike.
Companies of the regiment have been stationed at Alcatraz, the Presidio and Gaston, and they now form the garrisons of Angel Island and Benicia Barracks and San Diego.
The following officers and enlisted men of the regiment have been mentioned in orders from the War Department for distinguished service.
Captain Marion P. Maus, General Orders No. 39, 1891, "For gallantry in action against Geronimo's band of hostile Apache Indians, near the Aros River, Mexico, January 10, 1886, and in the encounter with Chihuahua troops on the following day (11th) and for the marked skill and ability with which, after the death of its commanding officer, he conducted the expedition back to the United States."
General Orders No. 41, 1891. "May, 1885, and eleven months following," for services in the field in Arizona and Sonora.
Captain Thomas H. Barry, Private George Klinhaus and George Wilkensen, Company A, and Frank Hennessy (now out of service) Company B, General Orders No. 70, 1893, "For meritorious conduct in saving a sailor from drowning in San Francisco Bay, California, October 2, 1892."
Lieutenant Samson L. Faison, General Orders No. 41, 1891, 11 May, 1885, and eleven months following," for services in the field in Arizona and Sonora.
Lieutenants Lewis H. Strother and Sydney A. Cloman, General Orders No. 100, 1891, the former, for highly efficient services while conducting a band of Cheyenne Indians from Pine Ridge, South Dakota, to Fort Keogh, Montana; and the latter, "For the excellent judgment and discretion with which he executed the instructions of Major General Miles in the arrest, at White Clay Creek, South Dakota, of the Indian Plenty Horses."
Also attached is a photo of members of company "E" 1st regiment taken about the same time as the photo of the Barracks. An 1892 photograph of Officers of the First Infantry Regiment stationed at the Benicia Barracks. From left to right is Girard, O'Connell, Edmunds, Crofton, Vogdes, Wilcox, Benjamin, and Kirkman. U.S. Army Photograph Taken from History of Benicia Arsenal By J. W. Cowell, 1963.Collection
Benicia Historical Museum Collection
