During the Spanish-American War, he accompanied General Shafter's army to Cuba. On July 1, 1898, he led Shafter's advance and fired the first shot of the battle. The Spanish flag on the Fort at El Caney was carried away by a shot from his Battery E. Exposure in the Santiago Campaign resulted in his contracting Typhoid Fever from which he died at Fort Myer, Virginia, September 18, 1898. He lies in Section 1 of Arlington National Cemetery among other family members and next to his father, Erastus A. Capron.

WASHINGTON, September 18, 1898 - Captain Allyn Capron, First Artillery, died at his home near Fort Myer, Virginia, today.

Descended from a family of soldiers and fighters, Captain Allyn Capton is the third head of the Capron family to fall either in battle or from the results of a campaign.  His father, Captain Erastus A. Capron, was killed in the battle of Churbusco, Mexico, during the Mexican War, and Captain Allyn K. Capron, his son, commander of Troop K of the Rough Riders, was the secondman to fall in the battle of Sevilla Heights when that regiment made the gallant charge known as the fight of Las Guasimas.

It was during the campaign in Cuba that Captain Capron contracted typhoid fever, which resulted in his death.  When General Shafter's corps went to the front, Captain Capron accompanied it in command of his battery.  In the midst of battle he received information of his son's death, but he never swerved, and his battery did some excellent work during the trying days that followed.  The loss of his son preyed upon his mind however, and when the surrender of Santiago was made he obtained leave of absence, and returned to his home at Fort Myr wherethe disease contracted at the front developed.

Captain Capron was one of the best-known officers in the regular army and was regarded as an authority onmilitary tactics.  He had devoted himself particularly to that branch of the service, having been an honor graduate of the schoolof artillery in 1873.

He was born in Rhode Iswland in 1847 and was appointed from North Carolia to the Military Academy at West Point in 1863.  June 17, 1867, he received his commission as Second Lieutenant in the First Artillery and remained with his battery until 1871, when he was transferred to signal duty at Fort Whipple, Virginia.  Two years later he was promoted to First Lieutenant.  He became Captain in 1888, and since then had been on duty principally in the Department of California.

WASHINGTON, September 21, 1898 - The body of Captain Allyn Capron, one of the notable figures of the Santiago Campaign, and father of Allyn K. Capron of the Rough Riders, who fell in the first battle of the war, was buried at Arlington National Cemetery today with military honors.

The funeral was attended by a large number of prominent army officers, including Major General Miles and members of his staff, Generals Rogers and Gilmore, and by the officers of Captain Capron's late regiment, the First United States Artillery.

Among the many floral tributes was a wreath of orchids and lillies sent by the President and Mrs. McKinley from the White House Conservatory.

The body was borne to the grave on an artillery caisson, an American flag draping the casket.  The Rev. Alfred Harding conducted the Episcopal burial service, after which the impressive ceremony was closed by the firing of three volleys over the grave and the blowing of Taps by a bugler.

Two posthumous Silver Star Citations have been awarded to the late Captain Allyn Capron, First United States Artillery, according to an announcement made yesterday by his son, Major P. A. Capron, United States Marine Corps, of the Marine Barracks at Charleston, South Carolina.

The citations are for gallantry in the Sioux Indian campaign in 1890 and 1891  and in the Spanish-American War.  Captain Capron died three weeks after returning from Cuba from the effects of typhoid fever contracted during the campaign.

The citations have been sent to his widow, Mrs. Agnes K. Capron.

A postmunous Silver Star Citation also has been awarded to Captain A. K. Capron, Seventh United States Cavalry, for gallantry in action at the battle of Las Guasinas, Cuba, June 24, 1898, where he was killed.  The star has been sent to his widow, Mrs. Lillian Capron of Washington, D.C.

CAPRON, AGNES K WIDOW OF
DATE OF DEATH: 05/15/1938
DATE OF INTERMENT: 05/20/1938
BURIED AT: SECTION WEST  SITE 679
ARLINGTON NATIONAL CEMETERY
 WIFE OF ALLYN CAPRON - CAPT 1ST US ARTY

CAPRON, GEO S/O ALLYN
DATE OF DEATH: 06/15/1893
DATE OF INTERMENT: Unknown
BURIED AT:   SITE LOT 679
ARLINGTON NATIONAL CEMETERY
 SON OF ALLYN CAPTON

Photo By M. R. Patterson, October 2002

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