Spanish American War veterans with float photograph

Photograph showing a float of the United Spanish War Veterans in the Northwest Territory Sesquicentennial parade in Chillicothe, Ohio, May 9, 1938. The float was sponsored by the E.U. Weidler Camp #48 and the Captain G.W. Brandle Auxiliary #29 of the U.S.W.V. Identified left to right on the float are William A. Wolcott, Harry B. Ankrom, Mrs. Ruth Griesheimer, Claude Raynals, Mrs. Dorothy Nichols, William Drake, Elmer L. Valentine and Howard Strawser. Standing is Walter E. Owen. The United Spanish War Veterans was a fraternal organization that eventually included men who fought in the Spanish American War, the Philippine Insurrection and the China Relief Mission. It was organized into "Departments" by state, and then into smaller groups called "Camps." The organization lasted until 1992, when its last remaining member died at age 106. The Spanish American War was the shortest war in United States history, lasting less than four months. More than 15,000 Ohioans served in the militia and the volunteer army during the war during this time. Of those, few were involved in major action, although 230 died of disease. The Treaty of Paris, negotiated in part by Ohioan Whitelaw Reid, formally ended the war on December 10, 1898, and Spain relinquished to U.S. control the territories of Cuba, Puerto Rico, Guam, and the Philippines