William A. Chanler

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Chanler was a delegate to the Democratic State Convention at Saratoga Springs, New York, in 1896 and in 1897; and was a member of the New York State Assembly (New York County, 5th Assembly District) in 1898. He worked enthusiastically to pass bills concerning the Sunday closing law for New York City saloons and amending the code regulating prize fights.

A fervent supporter of the Cuban struggle for independence, Chanler wrote to his friend von Höhnel in early 1898:

In February 1898 he took a leave of absence in order to accompany a shipment of weapons and ammunition to the Caribbean together with Emilio Núñez. Among the guns were two M1895 Colt-Browning machine guns that Chanler had donated (Rubens states that they were Maxim-Nordenfelt guns). After the sinking of the USS Maine, when it appeared certain that war would break out, Chanler offered to resign from the assembly and was granted an indefinite leave of absence. In May 1898 Chanler was elected a sachem of the Tammany Society.

In April 1898, at the outset of the Spanish–American War, Chanler responded to President William McKinley's call for volunteers by forming a New York regiment, with the encouragement of Theodore Roosevelt, who was hoping to lead it as lieutenant colonel. Known as the "Tammany Regiment," it was to be equipped at Chanler's expense. In early May, Governor Frank S. Black informed Chanler that the volunteer quota had already been reached by the 1st U. S. Volunteer Cavalry Regiment and that the army was unwilling to accept volunteer infantry, although Chanler speculated that it was in fact a politically motivated move. Most of these men went on to serve in "Chanler's Rough Riders," led by Chanler's older brother Winthrop.

Chanler immediately volunteered his services to General Máximo Gómez and was given the rank of colonel in the nascent indigenous Cuban Army. Chanler selected ten men skilled in scouting and took them to Tampa, Florida in preparation for transport to Cuba. The group included Chanler's brother Winthrop Astor Chanler, his brother-in-law C. Temple Emmet, his friend George Galvin, fellow explorer Dr. William Louis Abbott, war correspondent (later Lieutenant) Grover Flint, and the German surgeon Dr. Maximilian Lund, as well as a grandson of General Hood, a great-grandson of Daniel Boone, and two former members of Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show.

On May 10, 1898, while Chanler was in Tampa, he was offered a commission as captain and assistant adjutant general on the staff of Major General Joseph Wheeler, which he accepted. He served as acting ordnance officer, Cavalry Division, Fifth Army Corps, from May 23 to August 23, 1898. In June and July 1898 he fought in the Battle of Las Guasimas, the Battle of El Caney, at San Juan Hill, and in the Siege of Santiago de Cuba, for which he received a commendation from Major General Wheeler for "gallantry in battle". He was honorably discharged on October 3, 1898.

On October 20, 1898, Chanler declared his candidacy for congress as a Democrat and in November he was elected to the Fifty-sixth Congress, defeating incumbent Lemuel Ely Quigg and serving as representative of New York's 14th congressional district from March 4, 1899, to March 3, 1901. During his term he introduced H.R. 9963, legislation to improve living conditions for American sailors. He expressed vocal support for the construction of the Panama Canal and the annexation of Hawaii as well as Cuba. He was not a candidate for renomination in 1900. In 1904 he declared his candidacy for governor of New York on the combined Democratic and Independence League ticket but later withdrew. He managed the successful campaign of his brother Lewis Stuyvesant Chanler for Lieutenant Governor of New York in 1906 as well as his unsuccessful bid for governor in 1908.

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