Broughtons in the Spanish American War

Just before the turn of the 20th century, America would again find herself at war. It was a short war - lasting less than a year - but it would make a future President and his "Rough Riders" infamous. And it would send at least one Broughton into military service and war...

In her book, My Family The Broughtons, Leni H. Smith wrote of "Jack’s death" in the Spanish American War (April-Dec, 1898) and how the army placed a monument where he’s buried. On page 32, she wrote that his last name is spelled "Braughton" on the marker. That marker is in a small cemetery located in Lincoln Parish, Louisiana on state highway 271, also known as May’s Crossing, near the small rural town of Dubach. The cemetery has a cyclone fence around it, but there is no sign that bears the cemetery’s name. The small, white headstone is still intact and reads:

The headstone does not give a date of death, so it appears the marker led Smith to assume "Jack" was killed in the war when she wrote of it in her book. Further research indicates this was NOT the case.

Military records obtained from the National Archives in Washington D.C. show Harry J. Broughton did NOT die during the war although he was sick for a time. He enlisted May 9, 1898 in Little Rock, Arkansas. He was reported to be 33-years-old, single, working as a farmer and living in Parkdale, Arkansas with a person named "Ocie Broughton." Harry J. was 5-feet-10 inches tall with hazel eyes and black hair. Harry J. was promoted from private to corporal on August 8, 1898, but he contracted a disease while in the line of duty. His medical record shows he suffered from acute dysentery, acute diarrhea, and fever associated with malaria. He was treated at Camp G. H. Thomas, Georgia (Patient No. 1534). Harry J. was discharged from service at Fort L. H. Roots in Arkansas on October 25, 1898. In Harry’s military records, his first name remains constant, while the spelling of his last name repeatedly changes, appearing both as "Braughton" and "Broughton".