Spanish-American War (1898) A conflict between the U.S. and Spain triggered by Cuban patriot José Martí's attempt to achieve Cuban independence from Spain. The Spanish government tried to suppress the insurgent forces (also led by Máximo Gómez and Antonio Maceo), including adopting a reconcentration policy that placed the civilian population in detention camps. The reconcentration policy drew the attention of Presidents
Grover Cleveland and
William McKinley, both of whom encouraged Spain to adopt a policy of home rule in Cuba. When Spain responded by issuing such a policy on January 1, 1898, however, the Cuban insurgents rejected it and continued their struggle. The mysterious sinking of the USS
Maine in Havana Harbor on February 15, 1898 pushed U.S. leaders and public opinion from an ambivalent position to one supporting armed intervention on behalf of the Cubans. President McKinley first pursued diplomatic channels to achieve Cuban independence, but Spain balked, fearing that a failure to defend the colony would trigger revolution in Spain itself. The U.S. then declared war on Spain on April 25, 1898, retroactive to April 21. Spain had a large army in Cuba and a strong garrison in the Philippine Islands, but its naval presence was weak in the Philippines and nonexistent in Cuba. Spain thus adopted a defensive strategy, using troops in the field to fend off American attacks, with the navy periodically reinforcing and resupplying threatened locations. The U.S. had a small regular army of 28,000 men and a large volunteer army that supported its strong navy. It planned a naval blockade of Cuba that would permit land operations, and a second naval campaign in the Philippines. The naval blockade was established in Havana on April 21 and broadened while Spain awaited the arrival of a squadron under Pascual Cervera. By the time the squadron arrived, it had been reduced to six vessels and was quickly blockaded in port by May 28. McKinley organized a force at Tampa to go to Santiago de Cuba to destroy the squadron. Gen.
William Shafter transferred the Fifth Army Corps, 17,000 men, to Santiago de Cuba on June 20. Shafter approached Santiago de Cuba from the east, landed virtually unopposed, and moved toward San Juan Heights, the principal bulwark around the city. Shafter attacked on July 1, struggling into the Spanish positions. All thought of continuing to Santiago de Cuba was forgotten, given the 1,385 casualties suffered that day. Part of this assault was the
Battle of San Juan Hill by the First U.S. Volunteer Cavalry Regiment (or
Rough Riders), which
Theodore Roosevelt later used in his campaigns for the governorship of New York and the vice presidency. After the action of July 1, Cervera received orders to leave Santiago de Cuba, complying two days later but encountering assaults from the American blockade vessels as they emerged from the channel. Only one Spanish vessel, the
Cristobal Colón, escaped the harbor. Shafter then decided to besiege the city, which forced its capitulation on July 17. The victory at Santiago de Cuba forced the Spanish government to inaugurate peace negotiations. During this process, however, U.S. forces undertook a campaign in Puerto Rico and an attack on Manila, where U.S. forces had established a presence on May 1. Spain agreed to a protocol on August 12 that ended hostilities among the nations, specifying independence for Cuba, cession of Puerto Rico to the U.S. in lieu of a monetary indemnity, and the cession of a port in the Ladrones (Marianas). However, the protocol did not address the Philippine Islands. McKinley, riding a domestic annexationist wave and lacking a viable alternative, instructed the American peace commission to obtain the entire Philippine archipelago; Spain accepted a payment of $20,000,000. The treaty was ratified on March 6, 1899 by the Senate and on March 19 by the queen regent of Spain (overriding opposition in the Cortes). Ratifications were then exchanged on April 11, 1899. The acquisition of the Philippines led to a long insurgency that was finally quelled in July 1902. The imperialist impulse proved short-lived, though, since by 1916 Congress had begun preparations for Philippine independence, which was ultimately achieved in 1946.
