by Patrick McSherry
Pvt. Oscar Scroggin, 1st U.S. Volunteer
Cavalry, Troop H (Photo courtesy of Gib
Young).
Pvt. Oscar Scroggin was a private in Troop H of the 1st U.S. Volunteer Cavalry (also known as the "Roosevelt's Rough Riders"). Sometimes his name is given as Oscar Scroggins, though most records indicate Scroggin. Scroggin's Troop H did not travel to Cuba, but stated in the U.S. during the war.
Biography:
Oscar Scroggin was born in Logan County, Illinois on April 3, 1873 to
parents Alfred Scroggin and Rebecca Wood Scroggin. He was one of
fourteen children, and also had five more half-siblings. It appears that
the family moved to Iowa when Oscar was two years old. He was able to
read and write having attended public school until the eighth grade.
Scroggin, who was a farmer by trade and living in the Pecos Valley,
enlisted in the 1st U.S. Volunteer Cavalry
("Roosevelt's Rough Riders") at Santa Fe, New Mexico. He came to
Santa Fe with a group of twenty-four men from the Pecos Valley who
traveled to join the Rough Riders. The men came from Roswell, Eddy and
other locations, and gathered for a celebratory dinner at the Windsor
Hotel at Eddy on May 2, 1898 prior to proceeding to Santa Fe. At Santa
Fe the men had to pass medical examinations prior to being accepted into
the regiment. Interestingly the Pecos Valley Argus newspaper of
Carlsbad, New Mexico, commented that it did not expect all of the
twenty-four men to be accepted as some would probably not pass the
medical exam, and others could not meet the other requirements. The
newspaper commented that "Rough riders and sure shots are wanted, and it
is a well known fact that some of the members of the party here...could
not hit a barn door with a shotgun, nor sit astride a horse unless tied
on." Scroggin officially enlisted on May 4. At the time of his
enlistment, Scroggin was twenty-five years old. He was described as
being 5 feet 8 1/2 inches tall, with a dark complexion and black hair.
Apparently Oscar Scroggin met all of the requirements and was accepted
into the regiment.
On enlisting, Scroggin was assigned to Troop H. The regiment, being
recruited in several cities, was consolidated at San Antonio, Texas for
training. Only twenty-three days after enlisting, Scroggin and the
remainder of the 1st U.S. Volunteer Cavalry
were ordered to Port Tampa, Florida. When the invasion force boarded the
transports to be sent to Cuba,
it was determined that the entire Rough Rider
regiment could not be sent because of a lack of space aboard the transports. Four of the troops of the
regiment's twelve troops (Troops C, H, I, and M) had to remain behind in
Florida along with the regiment's horses. Oscar Scroggin, as a member of
Troop H, was among those left behind. The four troops left behind stayed
in their Florida camp until August 8. On that day, Troops C, H, I, and M
were ordered to join the remainder of the regiment which was returning
from Cuba. The regiment was
reunited at Camp Wikoff on Long Island,
New York.
Following the war Oscar Scroggin apparently returned to Iowa. In 1900,
he lived in Lake City, Calhoun County where he was joined by his mother.
At this time he appears to be a railway section laborer. In 1902 Oscar
married Myrtle Bryant. By 1910, he was still living at Lake City, but
had returned to farming. In the same year, he attended a meeting of the
"Spanish American War veterans" (probably the United Spanish War
Veterans or USWV) at Fort Dodge, Iowa. While there, he purchased a new
automobile.
Scroggin next moved to Spencer in Clay County, Iowa, by 1915 where he
was employed as a carpenter. In 1923 Scroggin may have accepted a
position as a clerk in the post office in Illinois. At some point before
1926, Oscar Scoggin moved to California. In that year a newspaper
article indicated that a farewell party was held at the Royal Neighbor
Lodge in Mt. Pulaski, Illinois for Mrs. Mabel Scroggin, Oscar's second
wife, who was leaving for Glendale, California to join Oscar. Scroggin
was in business with her brothers, George and Orville Tribbett, working
as a carpenter in Glendale.
In 1945, Oscar and Mabel Scroggin moved to Oroville, California. In
about 1958, the couple moved to Escalon Trailer Court in Escalon,
California. He was a member of the United Spanish War Veterans, Camp 145
located in Paradise California.
On May 2, 1960, Oscar Scroggin passed away at the Stockton Hospital after a brief illness. Funeral services were held at the Bergthold Mortuary in Manteca. He was interred at the Park View Cemetery in Manetca. Mabel lived until 1982. The couple had three sons and three daughters.
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Census for Lake City, Calhoun County, Iowa - 1900, 1910.
Census for Spencer, Clay County, Iowa - 1915.
Find-a-grave memorial 137946473 for Oscar Scoggin, https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/137946473/oscar-scroggin
"Give Farewell for Mt. Pulaski Woman," Herald and Review
(Decatur, Illinois). May 25, 1926, 2.
"Hotel to Open at Mt. Pulaski," Herald and Review (Decatur, Illinois). October 9, 1923, 11.
Jones, Virgil Carrington, Roosevelt's Rough Riders. (Garden City, NY:
Doubleday & Company, 1971) 289.
"Lake City Miscellany," Evening Times-Republican (Marshalltown, Iowa). April 30, 1910, 5.
"Oscar Scroggin," Stockton Evening and Sunday Record (Stockton,
California). May 3, 1960, 28.
"Pecos Valley Recruits," Pecos Valley Argus (Carlsbad, New
Mexico). May 6, 1898, 7.