The U.S. Army's relief efforts during the 1906 earthquake and fire not only answered the needs of the immediate tragedy but also left a legacy for future domestic emergencies. Based on the army's experience in the 1906 disaster, clear and formal policies were developed regarding civil relief and the Army's relationship with the Red Cross was formally defined.

As U.S. Army troops marched into the city of San Francisco to assist in fire fighting and law enforcement efforts, Depot Quartermaster Major Carroll A. Devol sent a telegram to the War Department informing authorities of the earthquake and requesting relief aid. The quartermaster general sent out 46 telegrams to army headquarters across the nation. Almost immediately, trains loaded with military supplies began heading toward San Francisco. As the army clothed, fed and housed the refugees, the distinctions between military and civil functions blurred.

On the afternoon of the earthquake, Mayor Schmitz called together prominent citizens to establish the Citizen's Committee of Fifty. This group of men met twice a day during the emergency to address specific relief issues. Schmitz soon authorized the order of labor and supplies for public use. This proxy city government quickly realized it was overwhelmed and ill prepared to feed, clothe, house and monitor a refugee population of over 250,000.

Quartermaster Major Devol noted in his report that the massive distribution at the Presidio was "without any authority, but when reported was promptly approved by the Secretary of War." Devol was placed in charge of transportation, receipt and distribution of both military and civil supplies. In the first three days the four supply depots of the Presidio issued 3,000 tents, 12,000 shelter halves, 13,000 ponchos, 58,000 pairs of shoes and 24,000 regulation blue shirts. The commissary storehouses at the Presidio, Fort Mason and Fort Miley were undamaged and open during the relief efforts. The Presidio bakery began baking large quantities of bread. On the fifth day alone, a day of torrential rains, the army issued 20,000 blankets and 13,000 ponchos. According to army reports, over 30,000 refugees were dependent on the army for food and shelter - 16,000 at the Presidio alone. Eventually, the Army's Department of the Pacific distributed 15,000 tents in San Francisco.

Winding lines of refugees at Fort Mason. Photo credit: National Park Service, Golden Gate NRA Archives (GOGA 2316)

On the fourth day, as the last of the fires were being extinguished, the mayor met with leaders of the various law enforcement agencies including General Frederick Funston, in command while the division commander, General Aldophus Greely, was on a Washington visit. The city was divided into six districts, each under a different municipal or military control. These six districts were the basis for the creation of the seven relief divisions created three weeks later.

Food donations began arriving in San Francisco almost immediately. However, prohibitions against fires forbade people from cooking. By April 23rd, less than one week after the earthquake, the Citizen's Relief Committee was overcome by the food distribution efforts and the mayor asked the army to take over. General Greely, back in San Francisco, initially refused Mayor Schmitz's request to manage food distribution. It was only after prodding by members of the Committee of Fifty that Greely agreed to set up the nine food depots on April 26th. Each civilian was fed the equivalent of three-quarters of an Army enlisted man's rations. On April 30th more than 300,000 people were fed at these commissary food stations. The Army commissary later assisted in organizing and opening relief restaurants.

Supplies and donations (both military and civil) began coming to San Francisco from all over the country, even arriving before the fires ended. Train boxcars filled with donations carried signs such as "For the California Sufferers, From Denver, Colorado, More to Follow." The Southern Pacific Railroad reported 1,800 carloads of relief supplies that came into the city in a single month. Responsibility for the receipt and fair distribution fell to Quartermaster Devol.

General Greely met with Mayor Schmitz to define the Army's role in the recovery. Greely asserted that the army would not supervise in maintaining order - only assist civil authorities. According to army regulations, the military was to protect Federal property only. Greely worked with Schmitz under the vague state of civil-military law that existed but Greely remained sensitive to the army's role and authority in a civil disaster. Early on, he advocated a return to civil authorities in matters of relief and law enforcement. On April 29th, General Orders No. 18 outlined the role of the Army in the relief efforts. Army officers were appointed to work with the Mayor's committee and the Red Cross. Mrs. Eda Funston, the wife of General Funston, worked with the head of the fledgling Red Cross, Dr. Edward T. Devine, in setting up a releif distribution system.

The lines for food were stagering.
Credit: Bob Bowen Collection

The Army's food and clothing distribution responsibilities led to a system of relief strategies shaped by U.S. Army regulations. The city's seven relief areas were under command of Regular Army officers, called military chairmen, who were eventually paired with Red Cross workers, called civilian chairmen. Greely, in an effort to lessen army authority, worked with the Red Cross and reached an agreement whereby the Army would pass out civilian-donated clothing to the victims. Two clothing depots were set up in city schools where Red Cross agents received and sorted the donations.

A refugee wishing to request supplies would approach an army designee to obtain a necessary requisition. This example of a typical note, written on "In the Field" stationary of the First Infantry Regiment was signed by Capt. J. Duffy and addressed to Mrs. A.M. Curtis, a Red Cross agent. Captain Duffy wrote that Mrs. Deveago "was burned out in the recent calamity and lost all her effects. She wishes two blankets. Anything you can do for her will be appreciated."

In addition to distributing food and clothing, the Army ran 21 official refugee camps. These camps, organized and maintained in military fashion, were among the safest and cleanest of the earthquake refugee shelters. However, thousands remained outside the official camps, and it fell to the Army to enforce standards in even the smallest of huddled groups. Tent camps sprung up all over the city, formed by groups of people simply surviving together or run by a variety of organizations. These were a cause for concern, primarily because of sanitation issues; an outbreak of typhoid was a genuine fear.

Refugee camp on the Presidio. Photo credit: National Park Service, Golden Gate NRA Archives (GOGA 1766)

Sanitation was of such concern to the army, that in General Funston's General Orders No. 12, which divided the city into military districts, he noted: "Our greatest concern in the future may be expected from unavoidable sanitary conditions, and every person is cautioned that to violate in the slightest degree the instructions of the sanitary officers would be a crime that could have no adequate punishment."

While an Army medical officer was assigned to each of the official camps, enforcement of sanitation standards in the unofficial encampments fell under the jurisdiction of the Army's Lieutenant-Colonel G.A. Torney (Chief Surgeon of the Army's Department of California and commanding officer of the Army General Hospital at the Presidio). Two days after the earthquake, Funston issued General Orders No. 37 giving Torney authority in military and civilian sanitation matters. Torney became the Chief Sanitary Inspector in charge of all sanitary work and the key individual for enforcement of sanitary rules in both the official and stray camps throughout the city. (Torney was later appointed Surgeon General of the United States.)

When the city was divided into seven districts, each headquarters had a committee-appointed physician who reported directly to Torney. Also responsible for the official camps, Torney enforced the rules and regulations with an iron hand, expelling those refugees who did not maintain standards.

Torney's district inspectors combed the city, investigating sanitation concerns such as garbage, cisterns, and latrines. Their reports paint a poignant picture of the homeless refugees attempting to cope with their plight and the military trying to prevent disease. One of Torney's inspectors, Officer Charles Clark, M.D., of the Third District, reported on April 22nd: "(On) Gavin Street there are two children with sore throats which appear suspicious of diphtheria. There are about 100 families here with no shelter and no bedding whatsoever." Clark noted a variety of informal camps; including a camp at the foot of Hyde Street "composed of about 45 people" and one at Stewart and Folsom held about 60 people. Clark reported finding a garbage pile near a camp: "With the aid of a guard who could speak Spanish I was able to instruct the people camping in the park and at the top of the hill to clean up their garbage piles and rubbish." At another, Clark found "About 500 people. No bedding or tentage observable."

On the same day Clark was making his inspections, the front-page headline of the San Jose Sunday Mercury and Herald incorrectly declared: "Plague Is Now Threatening the Homeless." The newspaper noted "Typhoid fever, as a result of unsanitary conditions, has made its appearance. Four cases are now receiving medical attention. Smallpox and scarlet fever, too, are reported. General Funston has caused to be posted throughout the city notices of sanitary regulation." Perhaps Funston's sanitary precautions inspired the newspaper's erroneous story. Nevertheless, through Torney and the Army's sanitation efforts, there were no reported epidemics or outbreaks of disease.

Resources

"Army Headquarters and the San Francisco Earthquake and Fire," Presidio file.

Bronson, William. The Earth Shook, the Sky Burned, (San Francisco: Chronicle Books) 1997.

Ganoe, William Addleman. The History of the United States Army, Ashton, Maryland: Lundberg) 1964.

Halsey, Jr., Col. Milton B. Point Paper U.S. Army Activities in the 1906 Earthquake and Fire, Presidio Ranger files.

Hansen, Gladys and Emmet Condon, Denial of Disaster, (San Franciscio: Cameron and Company) 1989.

"Plague Is Now Threatening the Homeless," San Jose Sunday Mercury and Herald. 22 April 1906, 1.

"Presidio Refugee Camp is a Model of Its Kind; Thousands of the City's Homeless Well Cared for by the Military; Made to Observe the Army Sanitary Laws," San Francisco Call, 7 May 1906, 2.

Report of the Third Sanitary District, by Officer Charles Clark, MD, 22 April 1906, http://merrimack.nara.gov.

Russell Sage Foundation, San Francisco Relief Survey: The Organization and Methods of Relief Used After the Earthquake and Fire of April 18, 1906, (New York: Survey Associates, Inc., 1913).

Strobridge,William. "Soldiers in the Streets, 1906," The Pacific Historian, Spring 1978 (vol. 22, no. 1).

"Supply Situation In Hand Despite Destruction of Depot; Provisions on Way From East," Presidial Weekly Clarion, (Presidio of San Francisco), 27 April 1906.

"The commissary and the San Francisco Earthquake and Fire," Presidio file.

Thompson, Erwin N. Defender of the Gate: The Presidio of San Francisco, A History from 1846 to 1995, (Golden Gate National Recreation Area, California, National Park Service, 1995).

"Victims Fed And Clothed at Presidio; Health Conditions Good; Disease No Danger; People Secure," Presidial Weekly Clarion, (Presidio of San Francisco), 27 April 1906, 1.