Louis Romeo (1861-1936)

The American Foreign Legion

Between the Civil War and World War I enlisting as a soldier in the U.S. Army was not a normal career option. Some estimates show as many as a third of soldiers in the late 19th century were immigrants. One such soldier was Louis Romeo (1861-1936) who arrived in New Orleans from the south of France in around 1881.

Louis is not technically related to me, he is the stepfather of my grandfather, or the second husband of my great grandmother. Still, his story is much too good to leave to those who are truly related to him.

He was born in about 1861, when Nice had only just stopped being a part of what is now Italy and became part of France. So far I know nothing of his life in France, including the names of his parents, although he indicated on the U.S. census that his mother was Italian. His death certificate states that his father was Joseph. Perhaps.

In 1884, he joined the Army as a private, enlisting with the Eighth Cavalry, K Company. In the 1880s the Army roamed the frontier, keeping the Native Americans and the settlers from killing each other, primarily by ensuring the Native Americans stayed on their reservations and returning them to the reservations when they were discovered elsewhere. This often involved force and bloodshed.

Sometimes though, diplomacy was successful, and Louis's facility with languages came in handy. He noted on the census that his mother tongue was French and he likely spoke Italian and the local Nizza (Nice) dialect as well. By the time he enlisted he also spoke Spanish and during his time in the Army, he learned several Native American languages as well. Although he was officially a cook in the Army, his superiors knew who to call when they needed an interpreter.

The Army was not a means of upward mobility at that time. Although Louis served admirably during his five year enlistment (his discharge record comments that his character was "excellent", he remained a private and this was not unusual. He reenlisted for another five year term, but was discharged two years later with "dis[ease] of eye and impairment of mind."

He settled in San Antonio, becoming a firefighter. His "impairment" continued to haunt him and he was briefly hospitalized after attempting suicide by poison in 1894. He was approaching forty when the Spanish-American War broke out and he applied for civilian work with the Army, which hired him as a cook and sent him to Florida and Alabama for the duration. It seems he returned to San Antonio after the war.

By 1903 he had finally married, to a widow named Teresa Garza who had two children. They had a child in late 1905, a girl named Bertha. Louis spent the rest of his life in San Antonio near Fort Sam Houston, working as a watchman. He died on Christmas Day, 1936.