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Images courtesy of Univeristy Archives.

On Memorial Day 1906, a large crowd gathered on the grounds opposite the University of Minnesota's Armory, on land now occupied by the Bell Museum. They'd come for the unveiling of a sculpture dedicated to the U of M students who'd served in the Spanish-American War.

On hand to offer speeches for the occasion were former governor Samuel Van Sant, current governor John Johnson, University President Cyrus Northrop and professor Arthur E. Haynes. Haynes was the driving force behind the creation of this monument, donating the first $10 toward its completion and serving as chairman of the committee that raised the remaining funds.

Also on hand was the sculptor herself, a 35-year-old Boston woman named Theo Alice Ruggles-Kitson, who had already built a reputation

Sculptor Theo Alice Ruggles-Kitson created the Student Soldier Memorial for the University of Minnesota.

as perhaps the nations foremost creator of military monuments in a career that would stretch well into the 20th century. As a woman, working in a field composed almost entirely of men, Ruggles-Kitson had nonetheless thrived in her labors, winning numerous contracts for her heroic depictions of Revolutionary War era, Civil War, and now Spanish-American War soldiers. As she was introduced to the crowd, there was heard a lusty Ski-U-Mah from the assembled students on the grounds, according to the next days Minneapolis Journal, which reported that a similar cheer had been given to Professor Haynes.

Shortly after 10 o'clock that morning, after a brief musical introduction by the University's cadet band and a song from a group called the Euterpean Club, little Richard Pillsbury Gale, the grandson

Professor Arthur Haynes was the driving force behind building a memorial statue.

of yet another Minnesota governor (John Pillsbury), was given the honor of pulling the drapes from the statue. As buglers played reveille and the cadet artillery corps fired off a salute, the sculpture of an American soldier, circa 1898, was unveiled.

Set upon a six-foot-high granite pedestal, the soldier was himself a nine-foot-tall iron goliath. Dressed in khakis and wearing a slouch hat above an open-collared shirt with rolled-up sleeves, he was posed with his feet fl at on the ground and his hips slightly cocked. His left boot inched forward of his right, as if he were taking a momentary break from a slog through the jungles of the Philippines. A rifle rested in muscular arms across his thighs, with a cartridge belt on his hips, and pack set against the small of his back, adding to the impression

University student soldiers played games aboard ship en route to the Philippines.

of a soldier pausing in the midst of some sort of reconnaissance.

Veterans of the Spanish-American War called themselves hikers, in the same way that World War I vets were doughboys and World War II vets were G.I. Joes. In fact, this statue, which would subsequently be recast more than 50 times and wind up in town squares and cemeteries across the nation, was given the name The Hiker in almost all of these locales, including at Arlington National Cemetery, where the monument was dedicated under that name in 1965.

Here on the University of Minnesota campus, where the very first casting of Theo Ruggles-Kitson's statue was unveiled on that Memorial Day in 1906, the monument was called the Student Soldier Memorial; though over the years, it has become popularly known among U of M students

The front page of the Ariel carried photos of four University students who died in the Philippines, including Harry Currier, upper left, and Sidney Pratt, lower left.

as Iron Mike. Whatever its name, the sculpture memorializes the 218 University students who served in the war against Spain, including the nine who died in the conflict.

The Spanish-American War came to the U of M campus in the same way that World Wars I and II would arrive: with a wave of patriotic fervor and a rush of young men to the enlistment rolls.

Conflict between Spain and the United States had been simmering for many months prior to February 1898, when the U.S. battleship Maine was blown up in Havana harbor by whom and how remains a debatable matter. What was important was that the United States, feeling its muscle and long tired of a Spanish presence in its spheres of influence, decided that the time was right to free Cuba of its oppressive colonial ma