Captain William Herman Wilhelm Journal, 1898-1902

William Herman Wilhelm (1867-1901) was born in Mauch Chunk, Pennsylvania, the son of James Henry and Martha Weaver Wilhelm. He was educated at Ulrich's Preparatory School in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania and then went on to Lehigh University in 1883. Wilhelm left Lehigh for the U.S. Military Academy and graduated from there in 1888. When war was declared against Spain, he became aide-de-camp to Brigadier-General Simon Snyder and accompanied him with the Army of Occupation to Cuba. In 1899 Wilhelm was promoted to Captain with orders to proceed to the Philippines and was assigned to the 21st Regiment of Infantry as Captain in Company B. The material in the diary details Wilhelm's experiences fighting in the Philippine-American War (1899-1902). The diary is a copy of the original, and was created by Wilhelm's cousin, Ethan Allan Weaver. The diary begins November 28th, 1898 when Wilhelm leaves Knoxville, Tennessee by train for Savannah, Georgia to board his transport ship the "Manitoba" bound for Cuba. His notes during his time in Cuba with General Snyder are written in Spanish. Upon his arrival in New York, April 5, 1899 he returns to the use of English for the remainder of his diary which ends June 7, 1901. According to Weaver, Wilhelm was mortally wounded in action near Lipa, Batangas Province, Philippines on June 10, 1901. Captain Wilhelm died June 12, 1901. His body was returned to Mauch Chunk via Manila for burial and presumably his journal accompanied his body where it came into the possession of Weaver.