The Mystery of the Uniform

Of all the photos Sarah has shared with us, this is one of my favorites. It's your great grandfather, Charles Bennett Ware (Kathleen Ware's father), in full uniform. I asked Sarah about the uniform, but she didn't have any info on his military service.

I once did a drawing of Teddy Roosevelt which featured a pin identical to the one on Ware's hat, and because it seemed he would have been of age to fight in the Spanish American War, I started by researching uniforms from that war. I got a match. Next, I looked up Spanish American War service records and got a hit on Charles Ware. Turns out, he served as a corporal in the Spanish American War, in Company E of the Illinois Infantry.