Captain David Dawson Mitchell

   Cause of his death was Killed in action Phillipines.

  General Notes:

I don't have proof that this is the same, but I am very much certain this is the same as DD Mitchell's son. Birth year same and same place of origin, St. Louis, same name as father.

He entered army service February 29, 1876, 28 years old as a 2nd leutenint. Promoted first lt. Jan 31, 1882 and Captain July 31, 1896. He served in New Mexico, california, Arizona and Cuba during the war with spain.

Well I did find a 1900 census showing that his father is born in Virginia and his mother Kentucky. This matches his family information. He died later this year in the Philipines.

excerpt out of thePhilippine-American War 1899-1902
Worse was to come. On September 17, a combined force of the fifteenth and thirty-seventyh infantry reginments, which consisted of about 130 men under the command of Capt. David L. Mitchell, came upon a strong insurgent force at Mavitac, in the Laguna Province of Luzon. The insurgents, commmanded by Gen. Juan Cailles, had dug in on the other side of an arm of the Laguna de Bay, at the far end of the bridge. The surrounding land was still soaked from the monsoons, making movement extremely difficult. Mitchell did what had served American offices well since the start of the war. He sent his men across the bridge in a frontal assault on the insurgent fortifications. Experience had taught him, as it had taught other American officers, that the insurgents would fire high and would break before the Americans got too close. Unfortunately for Mitchell's command, the insurectos refused to cooperate. Instead of firing high, the filipinos fired accurately. Instead of breaking whent he Americans closed to within a few hundred yards, the Filipinos continued to fire. The result was a debaucle for the US soliders and a stunning victory for the Filipinos. Advancing under the heavy and accurate fire, unable effectively to shoot in return at the Filipions in their entrenchment, the Ameircans at first pressed the attack and then after an hour broke and retreated. In that hour, twenty-four American soldiers and nineteen wounded. The Filipinos lost roughtly ten dead and twenty wounded.

David L. 153 Mitchell, John, 108-109 Monroe Doctrine, 22 Moros, xiv, 99...

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In response to a war challenge earlier called by a Filipino revolutionary general, Juan Cailles, Colonel Cheatham of the U.S. forces based in Sta. Cruz, Laguna ordered a company each of the 37th and 15th Infantry Regiments to attack the revolutioanry camp at Mabitac, Laguna. Commanded by Captain David Mitchell of the 15th Infantry, the group was ordered to attack from two sides: east of the river and west over the water.

The attack took place on September 17. (Bungling it right off) The company from the 15th Infantry made the mistake of advancing through the road, instead of the east, immediately falling into the firing range of the Filipinos. Swiftly, the whole lead group was killed, including Captain Mitchell and a sergeant. The soldiers of the company from the 37th Infantry then came to the rescue by driving the revolutionaries from their trenches. By then, however, they had lost 20 men and 30 rifles, and sustained 24 wounded. As soon as the Americans retreated from the battle scene, the victorious revolutionaries retook Mabitac.

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The 3rd Battalion went to the Philippines (instead of China) where it arrived just in time for
Company " L " to take part in the sharpest fight any part of the regiment had since the scrap against
the Apaches in 1880. One hundred thirty men, most of them from the 15th Regiment, attacked eight
hundred Philippine insurgents in Laguna Province on 17 September. Because the area was flooded,
they fought for an hour and twenty minutes waist-deep in water. Captain David Mitchell, 2nd Lt
George A. Cooper, three noncoms and eleven privates were killed, thirteen men wounded. After this,
there were other brisk fights, and in them the "Can Do" Regiment carried itself well.

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In 1883 he was at Fort Randall, Dakota territories

I also found him living with his aunt Elizabeth Fible in Kentucky in an 1860 census as a young boy

Attended the Kentucky Military Academy at Franklin Springs, near Frankfort and locust hill in 1867.

David married Henrietta Reese Scott Mitchell, daughter of Living and Living, on 18 Sep 1883 in frankfort, Franklin, KY. (Henrietta Reese Scott Mitchell was born on 20 Jul 1849 in Franklin KY and died in Oct 1929.)