 In 1876, it participated in the organization of the "Centennial Legion" at the Centennial Exhibition in Philadelphia that year.On 14 May 1898, the regiment volunteered as a unit for service in the Spanish–American War and was mustered into federal service as the Fifth Maryland Regiment of United States Volunteers.After a short period of encampment near Baltimore, it was dispatched first to Chickamauga, then to Tampa, and finally to Huntsville, Alabama, returning to Baltimore in September of the same year.