President McKinley ordered all regular army troops sent to the east and west coasts. The 13th Regiment, headquartered at Fort Porter in the city, left for Tampa, Florida on April 19. They were joined by Company E from Fort Niagara.

As part of his continuing reminisciences, Buffalonian Charles S. Illingsworth wrote the following in the Summer 1957 Niagara Frontier quarterly:

We were all excited about the Spanish War. There was no question in our minds who would win. We would go to Fort Porter, at the Front, to watch the soldiers drill.

When McKinley called for volunteers, the two National Guard regiments, the 74th and 65th, took a vote. The majority of the 65th voted to enlist but the 74th voted not to go. When the results became known, the 65th were hailed as heroes and the 74th called cowards.

I was excited by all the talk about our navy and the battleship Oregon, and started building battleships and gunboats, using smooth boards for the hull, oblong blocks for the deck house, and pieces sawed from wooden curtain poles for smoke stacks. I whittled small pieces of wood into cannons, covering them with shoe polish. This was a lot of work and when finished did not look like the pictures of the boats they were intended to represent.

So I bought at Knox's toy sail boats for 10c; by removing the mast I had gained a real hull. Then it was not too much work to fasten on the upper works and smokestack and attach empty shotgun shells for cannon. Now the finished product could be recognized as a war ship.

A local weekly magazine called, I believe, Truth, was sold at news stands for 5c, containing in each issue a double-page color picture of a ship of our navy. I bought a copy each week, removed the center picture and fastened it to the walls of the ballroom with pins, until I had about twenty of them.

The regiment of the regular U.S. Army stationed at Fort Porter was ordered to the front. On the day they left they paraded down Niagara Street to Main, down Main to Exchange, and Exchange to the New York Central depot, where they entrained. Chet Stanley, Miller, and I went down to watch the parade, at Main and Seneca Streets.*

It was a thrilling site. A band played "A Hot Time in the Old Town" and the soldiers in their blue uniforms, campaign hats, and leggings, their blankets neatly rolled over one shoulder and across their chest, the barrels of the rifles shining, marched in platoon front, the line stretching from curb to curb.

Then the flag waving in the breeze, with the color guard on each side, head up, eyes straight ahead, walking proud and erect, made you feel you were glad to be an American.

Flags hung from windows along the line of march, crowds lined the sidewalks, applauding, cheering, and waving handkerchiefs. As the flat passed, men doffed their hats, and the crowd grew silent for a moment, as we suddenly realized that these soldiers were going to war, to shoot bullets at a foe, and to be shot at, perhaps wounded or killed. It was a sobering thought.

*ed. note: The 13th from Fort Porter was not able to have a parade because of rainy weather and instead loaded their cars from Niagara Street. It's likely Mr. Illingsworth is recalling the parade of the 65th on May 10.