Brave Sons of Blaine County Idaho

On May 20, 1890, Company F, Idaho National Guard, was mustered in at Hailey by Col. W. T. Riley. It is a matter of regret that no roster of this company can be found. At the time in question there were two daily papers published in Hailey, which also were published weekly. One of the editors was a member of the company and the other was a veteran of the Civil War, yet neither published a list of the privates although both published a list of the officers. No roster of said company is on file in the office of the adjutant general at Boise. At the time, President Benjamin Harrison visited in Boise in May, 1891, a special train, free of charge, was provided for said company to go to Boise. In 1892 this company was ordered to the Coeur d’Alenes to assist in quelling the riots there.

When war was declared against Spain in 1898 the following residents of Blaine county enlisted and served in the Philippine Islands until discharged in 1899, namely, Morris E. Bruner, Charles Bechtol, John C. Cliff, Sidney C. Fuld, Frank W. Higginson, Jesse H. Jackson, Jerod H. Jacobs, Barnum M. Mallory, jr., Basil McCoy, Tremain Merton Osborn, John W. Sharp and Walter T. Wright. Sidney C. Fuld was promoted to the rank of corporal and served several months as clerk of the provost court of Manila.

Tremain Merton Osborn was promoted to the rank of sergeant major.

Herbert Gorham McPheters of Ketchum also served in the Philippines. He enlisted in Virginia City, Montana.

Dr. D. W. Figgins of Hailey, who a few years previously had been captain of Company F., I. N. G. (at Hailey) went to the Philippines as a major, and upon his return to San Francisco, California, with the troops in 1899, was brevetted lieutenant-colonel. On April 6, 1917, war was declared against Germany.

An Act “to authorize the president to increase temporarily the military establishment of the United States,” was approved May 18, 1917. This was known as the selective service law. In June, 1917, local and district boards were appointed by order of the president.

The local board for Blaine County was composed of Aaron Clements, then sheriff, chairman, Geo A. Mc Leod, then auditor, recorder, and clerk, and Dr. Robert H. Wright. All male persons between the ages of 21 and 30, both inclusive, were required to register in accordance with regulations prescribed by the president, except officers and enlisted men of the regular army, the navy, and the national guard and the naval militia while in the service of the United States. Following registration, local and district boards had to consider the various questions of exemption and discharge arising under the law, the examination, in the order determined, of a sufficient number of registered men in each subdivision to fill the quota to go to the colors, and notify all those selected for military service of the date upon which they must report to be assembled and sent to mobilization camps and their transportation to mobilization camps. In 1918 all local and district boards received instructions to register, classify and examine all male persons between the ages of 18 and 45 years, with the same exceptions as those pre scribed in 1917. There were but few of this class called to the colors as the armistice of November 11, 1918, removed all need of further military preparations. The roster of Blaine County Post No. 24, American Legion, contains the names of 317 ex-service men, and recites that the following were slightly wounded, namely:

John W. Cramer, who was awarded D. S. C., French Croix de Guerre, and Belgian S. W. Guerre, James F. Head, Lionel Hutton, Glenn Rice and John M. Talbott; and that the following were severely wounded, Albert Bellinger, Milton E. Blair, Carl A. Gubler, Guy M. Jones, John L. Rothio and Angus Young.

Back to: Blaine County, Idaho Genealogy and History

Source: Based on McLeod, George A. History of Alturas and Blaine Counties, Idaho. The Hailey Times, Publisher. Hailey, Idaho. 1930.

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