Stirred by the battle cry “Remember the Maine,” a third of the graduating class of 1898 immediately applied for and received commissions in the army. At least 74 alumni and students served in the army and an additional 8 in the navy. Navy Commander Maynard Washburn fired the first shot of the war from the gunboat Nashville that he commanded. Two of UT’s military commandants served—Colonel George LeRoy Brown became commander of the Fourth Regiment of the Tennessee Volunteers, and Colonel Lawrence D. Tyson commanded the Sixth Regiment of the United States Volunteers.
Two alumni died in combat at the battle of El Caney, Cuba, on July 1, 1898. The flag-draped coffins of 1st Lt. Henry Leftwich McCorkle, class of 1889, (25th US Infantry) and 2nd Lt. John Jay Bernard, class of 1893 (4th US Infantry) were carried into the auditorium of Science Hall in April 1899 for a memorial service. The 1899 Volunteer was dedicated to them, and a memorial plaque was placed in Science Hall in June 1900 in a brief ceremony. Another UT alumnus, Lt.
Alan J. Greer, was awarded the Medal of Honor for action in the Philippines.
At the same ceremony at which the memorial plaque to McCorkle and Bernard was unveiled, a tablet bearing a small cannon taken from the Spanish fortification of the Cavite arsenal in the Philippines by Navy Lt. Valentine Nelson, class of 1875, was installed in Science Hall. When Science Hall was razed, the plaques and tablet were moved to the Alumni Memorial Building.
The university’s 1899 yearbook honored 82 students and alumni who had served in the war.