John Henry Parker aka "Gatling Gun Parker" (September 19, 1866 – October 14, 1942) was a brigadier general in the United States Army.Veteran Tributes: John H. Parker , retrieved May 2, 2012 He is best known for his role as the commander of the Gatling Gun Detachment of the U.S. Army's Fifth Army Corps in Cuba during the Santiago campaign in the Spanish–American War.
Early career John Henry Parker was born and raised in the small town of Sedalia, Missouri.Thompson, Goldianne (Guyer), Biography of the Guyers, Denver, CO: Monitor Publications (1968), p. 33 Nominated by his congressman to attend the United States Military Academy at West Point, he graduated in 1892, and was assigned in June of that year as a 2nd Lieutenant to the 13th Infantry Regiment.; three volumes; volume not identitified
Known as "Blackie" to his fellow officers, Parker was tasked with the charge of training soldiers of the Machine Gun Detachment in the use of their weapons.Roark, Albert E., "Doctor Gatling's Gun," Arizona and the West: Journal of the Southwest, No. 4 (Winter 1962), pp. 309–324 In the 1890s, duty with the machine gun detachment was regarded as of little value by most Army officers, and the detachment was frequently used as a dumping ground for men deemed unsuitable or undisciplined by their commanders. Nevertheless, Parker successfully carried out his assignment, and was promoted to 1st Lieutenant on June 11, 1892.
At the time, all of the Army's artillery and ammunition supplies were typically transported by draft animals such as horses or mules. It was becoming evident to many army commanders, both in the United States and abroad, that draft animals—the sole source of transport away from railroad tracks—were highly vulnerable to modern artillery fire at ranges under 1,500 yards, especially when contained in slow-moving trains of horse-drawn carriages and heavy wagons. The inability of army ground forces to bring gunnery and ammunition trains closer than 1,500 yards to an opponent with modern artillery support effectively prevented the short-ranged American black powder cannon of the day from providing any effective counterbattery fire to advancing infantry. In 1897, after considering the issue, Lt. Parker submitted a paper to the Army General Staff in which he advocated the use of highly mobile machine gun detachments. These machine gun detachments would be equipped with portable machine guns capable of being dismantled and transported to the front, together with sufficient supplies of ammunition and spare parts carried in highly mobile carriages and wagons. Parker visualized the detachments as independent from the slow-moving artillery and ammunition trains, constantly redeploying to avoid being targeted by enemy artillery, while using terrain masking to provide cover for the men and their transport animals. As self-contained, mobile units, the machine gun detachments could be used by a commander to provide effective covering fire for the artillery trains until they could get within effective range of the enemy lines. Unfortunately, Parker's treatise was ignored by the Army, though he continued to advocate the use of the machine gun in an offensive role.
In September 1897 Parker was assigned to the Infantry and Cavalry School as a student officer, where he graduated in April 1898. That same month he was assigned to the 25th Infantry Regiment in Tampa, Florida, where it was fitting out for an amphibious assault on Cuba.
Spanish–American War
After the outbreak of war with Spain, Lt. Parker approached General William Rufus Shafter, commander of the U.S. expeditionary campaign being readied in Tampa, Florida, for the assault on Santiago, Cuba, and requested permission to form a Gatling Gun Detachment. After Parker presented a detailed operational plan for the composition and employment of the Gatling Guns, Shafter approved the request, apparently impressed by the lieutenant's enthusiasm and attention to detail. On May 27, Parker was given four of a consignment of fifteen brand-new ten-barrel Model 1895 Gatling guns in .30 Army caliber recently received from Colt's Arms Company. In order to save time, Parker also received permission from General Shafter to utilize men from the infantry regiments already in Tampa and assigned to the invasion. However, the men themselves were "volunteers" selected by their existing company commanders, many of whom believed the assignment to be a temporary work detail (one commander even sent the cook from his private mess).
On his own initiative, Parker developed his own table of organization to include gun carriages, crew schedules, ammunition loads, and draft animal requirements. He then commenced training drills for the crews, using his own theory of mobile machine gun tactics to structure the new unit.: Parker recorded that the Gatling guns received from Colt were very tightly fitted, and required extensive modification to prepare them for extended periods of firing. Parker's men responded enthusiastically to the challenge of learning to operate, maintain, and fire the new guns.
When it became apparent that space aboard the transports of the invasion force would be limited, Parker had the Gatling Gun detachment assigned to guard ammunition being taken aboard the transport Cherokee. Under this pretext he was able to get his men, guns, wagons, and equipment aboard ship, though the Detachment still had not been supplied with any horses for pulling the guns.
While aboard the transport Cherokee, Parker's Detachment was assigned the task of anti-torpedo boat duty by the ship's captain, and the men were forced to manhandle one of the guns from the stifling hold up to the deck to accomplish this task. Parker's battery, consisting of four guns, carriages, and some 30,000 rounds of .30 Army ammunition, was given priority for disembarkation at Daiquirí, Cuba by General Shafter. When General Samuel Sumner ordered Parker and his men to remain aboard and wait their turn (on the grounds that Parker, a mere lieutenant, lacked authority to enforce his priority), Parker sent word to the expedition commander, General Shafter, who personally arrived in a steam launch to ensure that the Gatling Gun Detachment was landed immediately. Upon landing at Daiquirí, Parker immediately arranged for the purchase of several mules from local sources to pull the guns.
After being officially mustered into service on June 30, 1898, the Gatling Gun Detachment was ordered to advance to El Pozo, the site of General Shafter's headquarters for the impending offensive. Parker's battery was initially ordered to provide covering fire for the artillery. One of the Gatlings was detached to the service of General Shafter's aide, Lt. Miley. After being ordered to send his guns forward "to the best point you can find", Parker set up his remaining three Gatlings near the base of the San Juan Heights to provide covering fire for the advancing U.S. ground forces., p. 101
During the assault on San Juan Heights, Lt. Parker and his men used three of their four Gatling guns to cover the American assaults on both San Juan Hill and Kettle Hill. Equipped with swivel mountings that enabled the gunners to rake Spanish positions, the three fast-firingCranked at its highest speed until the first magazine of ammunition had been emptied, the M1895 Gatling Gun had a rate of fire of 800–900 .30 rounds per minute. guns, firing at a range of 600-800 yards, expended approximately 18,000 cal. .30 rounds in eight and one-half minutes (over 700 rounds per minute of continuous fire) into the Spanish defensive lines atop the heights, killing many of the defenders, forcing others to flee the trenchlines, while disrupting the aim of those still alive who continued to resist.: Well before the American infantry had reached the top of the heights, Capt. Lyman Kennon of the 6th Infantry and Capt. James B. Goe of the 13th Infantry reported that they personally observed Spanish troops running away to escape the Gatling fire.
Col. Theodore Roosevelt later noted that the hammering sound of the Gatling guns raised the spirits of his men: While thus firing, there suddenly smote on our ears a peculiar drumming sound. One or two of the men cried out, "The Spanish machine guns!" but, after listening a moment, I leaped to my feet and called, "It's the Gatlings, men! Our Gatlings!" Immediately the troopers began to cheer lustily, for the sound was most inspiring., p. 568
Trooper Jesse D. Langdon of the 1st Volunteer Infantry, who accompanied Col. Theodore Roosevelt and the Rough Riders in their assault on Kettle Hill, reported: We were exposed to the Spanish fire, but there was very little because just before we started, why, the Gatling guns opened up at the bottom of the hill, and everybody yelled, "The Gatlings! The Gatlings!" and away we went. The Gatlings just enfiladed the top of those trenches. We'd never have been able to take Kettle Hill if it hadn't been for Parker's Gatling guns.
On San Juan Hill, Parker's battery of Gatling guns continued to rake the trenchlines until the American assault broke into a charge about 150 yards from the crest of the hill, when the guns ceased firing (via hand signal from Lt. Ferguson of the attacking 13th Infantry) to avoid causing friendly fire injuries.: Col. Egbert, commander of the 6th Infantry assaulting San Juan Hill, stated that his regiment was brought to a momentary halt near the top of San Juan Hill until the cease fire order was given, as the Gatling fire striking the crest and trenchline was so intense. Upon gaining San Juan Hill, the carnage wrought by the Gatling fire was immediately noted by the officers and men who had led the charge into the Spanish trenches atop San Juan. Captain Boughton, among the first of the officers to surmount the crest of San Juan Hill during the infantry assault, stated the trenches on the hilltop were already filled with dead and dying Spanish riflemen, while the open ground behind the trenchline was covered with dead and dying Spanish defenders who had been shot while attempting to flee the hail of Gatling fire. Parker's employment of machine guns to support and cover infantry in the offense marked the first use by the U.S. Army of such weapons in that role.