Self-Guided
BIKE / HIKE & RUN TOUR
OF HISTORIC CAMP WIKOFF
Montauk, New York
July > October, 1898
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CAMP WIKOFF
In August & September, 1898, Gen. William Shafter’s Fifth Army Corps
America’s first veterans of a war fought overseas on foreign soil
returned home at Fort Pond Bay, Montauk, following their victorious campaign
against Gen. Toral’s Spanish forces at Santiago de Cuba.
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More than half of the 22,500 returning veterans suffered from tropical fevers — malaria, typhoid, dysentery, & yellow fever — contracted in Cuba.
Camp Wikoff was established as a quarantine & recuperation camp — more than 350 soldiers died of those fevers. And, more than 60 died on board the 40+ transports en route home from Cuba and were buried at sea.
National war heroes, Col. Theodore Roosevelt and his Rough Riders debarked the Transport Miami on August 15, and were mustered out of service on September 13 & 14th, 1898.
Camp Wikoff opened with the arrival by train, of the Sixth U.S. Cavalry on August 8th, and closed with the departure, by train, of the Seventh U.S. Infantry on October 9, 1898.
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Archival Map of Camp Wikoff, September, 1898. / BULLY! page 500.
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LET’S GO!
MONTAUK STATION
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BULLY! pages 227 – 228.
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Montauk Station >>>>>> Montauk Village Green.
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MONTAUK’S GREAT PLAIN
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Saturday, September 3, 1898
President McKinley Praises Gen. Shafter’s Fifth Army Corps
“You have come home after two months of severe campaigning, which has embraced assault, siege and battle — so brilliant in achievement , so far-reaching in results as to earn the unstinted praise of all your countrymen.”
BULLY! pp 245 – 246
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Montauk’s Great Plain >>>>>> Third House
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Third House
Montauk County Park
“A civilized bed”
Col. Theodore Roosevelt at Third House on August 19th, 1898 / BULLY! p. 91.
— Reported in the New York Times, August 20, 1898.
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Third House >>>>> Montauk Point Lighthouse.
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Montauk Point Lighthouse
Montauk Point State Park
September 6, 1898: Roosevelt’s Signature & Regiment / Lighthouse Log
Montauk Point Lighthouse / BULLY! pp 286 – 287
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Transport Allegheny en route from Santiago de Cuba to Fort Pond Baya 2,000-mile / 7-day trip to Montauk. More than forty transports brought Gen. Shafter’s Fifth Army Corps to
Fort Pond Bay.
‘Floating Hell!’, BULLY! / pp. 191 – 195.
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Montauk Lighthouse >>>>>> Ditch Plains.
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Ditch Plains
Col. Roosevelt and Rough Riders charge to the beach
at Ditch Plains for an afternoon swim / BULLY! p 163
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Ditch Plains >>>>>> Shadmoor State Park.
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Shadmore State Park
The VFW traces its deepest roots to Camp Wikoff, where
America’s first veterans of a war fought overseas on foreign soil
returned home.
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Hike the 2.5 mile Loop Trail at Shadmoor State Park,
includes 1.2 mile Roosevelt’s Run Trail.
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Lieutenant ‘Black Jack’ Pershing
Black Jack Pershing, in command of the Tenth Cavalry / Buffalo Soldiers — which charged with Roosevelt’s Rough Riders at San Juan Hill — camped at A.M. Hoyt property — which is now Shadmoor State Park.
Lieut. John Joseph Pershing would become Commander of the American Expeditionary Forces during World War I. And, with Gen. George Washington, the highest ranking general in U.S. military history.
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Shadmoor State Park >>>>>> Montauk Village.
Commissary Stop
At Ease / Free Time
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Montauk Village >>>>>> Second House
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Second House
Second House, Montauk. Photo courtesy of the East Hampton Historical Society.
Second House served as an inn during Camp Wikoff.
Second House / Restored to 1880. Photo, December, 2020.
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Second House >>>>>> Fort Pond Bay
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Fort Pond Bay
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America’s First Veterans of a War Overseas on Foreign Soil
Returned Home at Fort Pond Bay, August & September, 1898.
BULLY! pp. 55-56
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Col. Theodore Roosevelt w/ Rough Rider Woodbury Kaneon the Iron Pier at Fort Pond Bay after debarking the Transport Miami.
BULLY! pp. 60 – 72
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Boston Globe, August 21, 1898 / BULLY! p. iv
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Fort Pond Bay >>>>>> Montauk Station
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“To the Army sleeping under the twinkling stars at Montauk we give the respect, the love, and the honor which is the just due of every soldier who has shown himself willing to give his life for his country’s honor and safety.”
— G. Hilda, Riverhead News, September 24, 1898 / BULLY p 424
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Report of the War Commission
“….Montauk Point was an ideal place for the isolation of troops who had been exposed to or had yellow fever, and for the recuperation of those greatly debilitated by malarial attacks of marked severity.
…. The people of the United States should ever be proud of its soldiers, who, co-operating with its sailors, in less than three months put an end to Spanish colonial power, enfranchised oppressed people, and taught the work at large the strength and the nobility of a great Republic.”
— New York Times, February 13, 1899 / BULLY! pp 456 – 459
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Upon completion of the Tour, holler with force:
BULLY!
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Published by Montauk Historical Society & East End Press,
with a Grant from the Robert D.L. Gardiner Foundation.
—– September, 2023 —–
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“A Gem!” First Edition
“A gold mine of information!” First Edition
“Extraordinary work!” Second Edition
“The book is fantastic!” Second Edition
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Visit / AAQ Preservation : Camp Wikoff, National Military Park Proposal …. link
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Indispensably Grassroots
————
www.aaqeastend.com
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