Spanish-American War

By callofdemocracy

  • Remember the Maine!

    The battleship Maine drifted lazily at its mooring. In a matter of seconds, the cloudless Havana night was puncuated with explosions. The battleship sunk, and the Americans had only one enemy they could blame.
    The Spanish, Link

  • War is Declared

    Link The United States declare war on Spain. After the propaganda and explosion of the Maine, the impressionable and warmongering citizens of the United States leave the Government no choice. War.

  • Battle of Manila Bay

    Link The Battle of Manila Bay took place on 1 May 1898, during the Spanish-American War. The American Asiatic Squadron under Commodore George Dewey engaged and destroyed the Spanish Pacific Squadron under Admiral Patricio Montojo y Pasarón. The engagement took place in Manila Bay in the Philippines, and was the first major engagement of the Spanish-American War.

  • Battle of Cárdenas

    Link The Second Battle of Cárdenas was a secondary naval engagement of the Spanish–in the port of Cárdenas, Cuba, between an American squadron of 5 ships under Captain Chapman C. Todd and 3 small Spanish vessels under Mariano Mateu. The battle resulted in an unusually costly American reverse that dissuaded the U.S. Navy from undertaking further attacks on the port.

  • Battle of Cienfuegos

    Link A force of 52 U.S. Marines, all volunteers, ventured out in two small boats to seize and cut the cables with saws and axes, while American battleships and armed Marines provided covering fire. Spanish response was rapid and withering. Although Spanish large-caliber guns were too inaccurate to strike at the small American craft, small arms fire was more effective, damaging boats and wounding Marines.After a tense, hour-long firefight, two cables were cut, and the Marines withdrew.

  • Battle of Las Guasimas

    Link The Battle of Las Guasimas, part of the Spanish-American War, unfolded from Major General "Fighting Joe" Wheeler's attempt to storm a Spanish position in the jungles surrounding Santiago. In the ensuing skirmish the Spanish infantry held its ground, skewering the advancing American regiments with rifle volleys; however, after an exchange of fire lasting two hours, Rubín, rather than press his advantage, pulled his men from the trenches and resumed his ongoing retreat.

  • Battle of Tayacoba

    Link Prior to the drop off of mules, men, and materiel, a small landing party was dispatched to provide reconnaissance on Spanish outposts in the area. Rowing onto the beach, the force crept into the jungle but was discovered by Spanish scouts and soon scathed by enemy fire. Unable to retaliate or even protect themselves, the Americans retreated onto the beach only to find that their boats had been sunk by Spanish cannon fire.

  • First Battle of Manzanillo

    Link After the blockade of Santiago, the Spanish attempted to resupply the city by taking in provisions from ports on the southern coast of Cuba that were not blockaded. Aware of the situation, the American consul at Kingston sent word to the military that the Spanish were preparing to send a resupply convoy from that city to the southern coast. To thwart these efforts, on 28 June President McKinley extended the blockade to include the southern coast of Cuba as well as Puerto Rico.

  • Battle of Saint Juan Hill

    Link This fight for the heights was the bloodiest and most famous battle of the War. It showed the U.S. that the old linear Civil War tactics did not work effectively against Spanish troops who had learned the art of cover and concealment from their own struggle with Cuban insurgents, and never made the error of revealing their positions while on the defense.

  • Sick Leave

    LinkThe American invasion force started to leave Cuba. The problem was fiebre amarilla, yellow fever, which had quickly spread amongst the American occupation force, crippling it. A group of concerned officers of the American army chose Theodore Roosevelt to draft a request to Washington that it withdraw the Army, a request that paralleled a similar one from General Shafter, who described his force as an “army of convalescents”.

  • A Protocol of Peace

    LinkHostilities were halted on 12 August 1898, with the signing in Washington of a Protocol of Peace between the United States and Spain. After over two months of difficult negotiations, the formal peace treaty, the Treaty of Paris, was signed in Paris on December 10, 1898, and was ratified by the United States Senate on February 6, 1899.