Quote Originally Posted by JMA View Post
... and how long would it take from the decision to raise these volunteer unit(s) until they were battle ready?
23 April 1898 President McKinley called for 125,000 volunteers.

11 May 1898 the Second Oregon Volunteers were on the train from Camp Withycombe outside Portland, Oregon ( a great little military museum there, btw for those who enjoy that kind of thing) to their port of debarkation in San Francisco. As I recall they took up the motto "First to Assemble" as they were the first such volunteer regiment to form and ship out.

25 May they sailed from San Francisco.

20 June the Spanish Garrison on Guam surrenders (little to no fighting)

(8 July the US annexes Hawaii - oops, we tend to overlook that little land grab)

13 August Manila falls.