From NKAA, Notable Kentucky African Americans Database (main entry)
48th and 49th U.S. Volunteer Infantries, American-Philippine War
The 48th and 49th Infantries, organized in 1899, were African American volunteer regiments designated for battle in the American-Philippine War. The line officers were African Americans. During President McKinley's second term in office, the 48th and 49th were formed with the appointment of 24 Captains, 50 1st Lieutenants, 48 2nd Lieutenants, and 2,688 enlisted men, all African Americans. The field and staffs were white.The regiments arrived in the Philippines in January 1900, stationed in the Department of Northern Luzon. The units had their share of racial problems, and the African American officers were treated as enlisted men. Back home in the U.S, African American leaders opposed the war, including Bishop Henry M. Turner, Booker T. Washington, and Washington, D.C., newspaper editor E. E. Cooper. After a year and a half, the 48th and 49th were the last of the volunteer forces to return to the U.S., in May and June of 1901.
Of all the U.S. volunteer regiments in the Philippines, the 48th and 49th had the least desertions and reports of abuse of the Filipino people. Private Thomas Taylor, a 14-year old from Winchester, KY, was one of the youngest U.S. volunteers in the Philippines.
Listed in the 1900 U.S. Federal Census among the 125 men in Company A, 49th Regiment Volunteer Infantry, were 12 Kentucky natives.
- Danville - Private Governor Durham (b. 1875)
- Frankfort - 2nd Lieutenant Henry Walls (b. 1870)
- Lexington - Corporal Clifford Chambers (b. 1880)
- Franklin - Private Abby Anderson (b. 1878) and Private James Turner (b. 1878)
- Louisville - Corporal Lenwood Kendall (b. 1878), Corporal John VanDyke (b. 1872), Private James J. Lewis (b. 1876), Private William Logwood (b. 1878), Private Charley Miles (b. 1878,) and Private Sam Turner (b. 1877)
- Mt. Sterling - Private Keas Anderson (b. 1878)
- Carlisle - Private George Price (b. 1878)
- Cynthiana - Musician Edward J. Berryman (b. 1879), Private Virgil Asberry (b. 1880), Private James H. Block (b. 1880), Private James L. Bradshaw (b. 1877), Private Calvern Hill (b. 1880), Private Sanford Holmes (b. 1879), Private John Ingles (b. 1876), and Private Newell G. Lattamore (b. 1866)
- Elizabethtown - Private Edward Clark (b. 1879)
- Frankfort - Private Abe Crocket (b. 1871)
- Jamestown - Private John Wallace (b. 1873)
- Lexington - Private Joseph Adley (b. 1880) and Private William D. Carter (b. 1873)
- Louisville - Private Robert Parrish (b. 1881)
- Mildale - Sergeant William H. Jones (b. 1869)
- Newport - Corporal George E. Bassett (b. 1869)
- Paris - Corporal James Helvey (b. 1875), Musician James C. Whaley (b. 1882), Artificer George T. Robinson (b. 1869), Private Richard Bedinger (b. 1878), Private Charles H. Robinson (b. 1879), Private John H. Robinson (b. 1880), Private Charles Steward (b. 1874), and Private Thomas Turner (b. 1877)
- Richmond - Corporal Creed V. Irvine (b. 1881), Corporal Pleas Ferrill (b. 1880), Cook Wesley Harris (b. 1874), Private William Black (b. 1878), Private James G. Brock (b. 1878), Private John Dillingham (b. 1873), Private Merrill Gentry (b. 1878), Private John Russell (b. 1867), Private Auros White (b. 1878), and Private Elder W. Campbell (b. 1872)
- Somerset - Private Kite Allen (b. 1881) and Private Thomas Johnson (b. 1881)
- Shelbyville - Private Fleur Lavine (b. 1879)
- Winchester - Corporal John Clemens (b. 1860), Corporal Arthur Taylor (b. 1879), Corporal Robert Haggard (b. 1865), Private Thomas Downey (b. 1877), Private William Fulda (b. 1868), Private Isaac Gipson (b. 1881), Private Fred Kohlas (b. 1881), Private George W. Mills (b. 1881), Private Andrew Poston (b. 1865), Private Lee Taylor (b. 1881), Corporal Spencer Turner (b. 1880), Private Allen Childs (b. 1877), Private Samuel Duncan (b. 1880), Private Richard Hunter (b. 1882), Private William T. Rones (b. 1880), Private Robert Simpson (b. 1880), Private Thomas Taylor (b. 1885), Private William Taylor (b. 1879), Private Henry Watts (b.1 882), Private Parker Wells (b. 1881), Private Joseph Williams (b. 1882), and Private Theodore Wilson (b. 1880)
- Kentucky (no city given) - Private Daneal Amos (b. 1879), Private Edward Clay (b. 1877), Private James Judy (b. 1872), and Private Edward Smith (b. 1877).
For more on the encounters of the 48th and 49th, see Annual Report of Major General Adna R. Chaffee, U.S. Army, Commanding Division of the Philippines, vol. II, 1901 [available full-text at Google Books]; and "Black Americans in the U.S. Military from the American Revolution to the Korean War," a New York State Military Museum website.