The Herbert Fowler Papers contain twenty-one letters written in 1898 during the time of the Spanish American War. Herbert Fowler wrote fifteen of the letters, the majority of them are to his mother, Francis Carr Fowler. Written from April 30, 1898 to August 11, 1898, they detail the movements of his Company from camps in Springfield, Illinois to Chickamauga, Georgia to Picnic Island in Tampa, Florida and eventually to action in the trenches at Santiago. In the letters he describes the living conditions of the soldiers, the sickness that spread through the camps, his daily schedule, training exercises, the landscape, and the weather.

Herbert George Fowler was born on April 3, 1873 in Chicago, Illinois to Charles and Francis Carr Fowler. On April 26, 1898 he was enrolled as a Corporal of Company L of the First Regiment of the Illinois Infantry Volunteers to serve two years or the duration of the war. As part of the First Regiment he traveled from Springfield, Illinois to Chickamauga, Georgia to Picnic Island in Tampa, Florida, and eventually to action in the trenches at Santiago. He was discharged from service on November 17, 1898.

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