Compiler's Note

My grandfather, Frank O. Borg, of La Porte, Indiana, served in Company F of the First Illinois Infantry during the Spanish-American War. This blog is a compilation of news articles and letters concerning him and other soldiers from La Porte, Indiana, in the Santiago Campaign during the Spanish American War. The period covered is April through September 1898, and the primary focus is La Porte men who enlisted in Co. F of the First Illinois Infantry.

 My father had told me that my grandfather a Spanish-American War veteran, had enlisted in the 1st Illinois infantry in 1898, even though he lived in La Porte. So in the late 1970s, while doing some genealogy research at our local library, I was looking through microfilm of La Porte newspapers from 1898, hoping to find some mention of his enlistment.  However instead of a small announcement, I was  amazed to find a treasure trove of information about my grandfather's service in the Spanish-American War.  

From the newspaper articles,  I learned that my grandfather was one of the first five men from La Porte to enlist in the 1st Illinois in 1898.  And I discovered that one of the men, Eugene I. Wile had volunteered to serve as the unofficial "war correspondent", sending back daily reports in the form of letters to the La Porte Daily Herald, which was one of 2 newspapers in La Porte at the time. These letters contained detailed descriptions of the daily lives of the soldiers of Company F, and in particular those from La Porte.

Over the course of the next several years, I pored through the microfilm, and printed out copies of the letters so that I could transcribe them.  These were negative copies, not always legible, and they were not stable--they faded and discolored quickly.  At first I used a typewriter for my transcriptions.  In 1985 I got my first computer and re-typed the pages into a MS-DOS word processing program.   When MS Windows and Office finally arrived on the scene, I was able to scan the pages and formatting became much easier.

I gave copies of my "Spanish-American War Book" to family members, and recently I decided to create a blog in order to share it with others who might be interested in reading

All of my transcriptions and images are copyrighted material, but I am happy to share this information.  Please contact me for permission.

Ruth Ann Russell

La Porte, Indiana

This blog is dedicated to the memory of both my grandfather Pvt. Frank Oscar Borg, Co. F, First Illinois Infantry, and his son, my father, Bernard A. Borg, Sr.