Download The Spanish-American War

The Spanish-American War
by David Trask
Between 1895 and 1898 Cuba and the Philippine Islands revolted against Spain. The Cubans gained
independence, but the Filipinos did not. In both instances the intervention of the United States was the
culminating event.
In 1895 the Cuban patriot and revolutionary, José Martí, resumed the Cuban struggle for freedom that
had failed during the Ten Years' War (1868-1878). Cuban juntas provided leadership and funds for the military
operations conducted in Cuba. Spain possessed superior numbers of troops, forcing the Cuban generals Máximo
Gómez and Antonio Maceo, to wage guerrilla warfare in the hope of exhausting the enemy. Operations began in
southeastern Cuba but soon spread westward. The Spanish Conservative Party, led by Antonio Cánovas y
Castillo, vowed to suppress the insurrectos, but failed to do so.
The Cuban cause gained increasing support in the United States, leading President Grover Cleveland to
press for a settlement, but instead Spain sent General Valeriano Weyler to pacify Cuba. His stern methods,
including reconcentration of the civilian population to deny the guerrillas support in the countryside,
strengthened U.S. sympathy for the Cubans. President William McKinley then increased pressure on Spain to
end the affair, dispatching a new minister to Spain for this purpose. At this juncture an anarchist assassinated
Cánovas, and his successor, the leader of the Liberal Party Práxedes Mateo Sagasta, decided to make a grant of
autonomy to Cuba and Puerto Rico. The Cuban leadership resisted this measure, convinced that continued
armed resistance would lead to independence.
The Battleship Maine
Photographic History of the Spanish
American War, p. 36.
In February two events crystallized U.S. opinion in favor of Cuban
independence. First, the Spanish minister in Washington, Enrique Dupuy
de Lóme, wrote a letter critical of President McKinley that fell into the
hands of the Cuban junta in New York. Its publication caused a sensation,
but Sagasta quickly recalled Dupuy de Lóme. A few days later, however,
the Battleship Maine, which had been sent to Havana to provide a naval
presence there exploded and sank, causing the death of 266 sailors.
McKinley, strongly opposed to military intervention, ordered an
investigation of the sinking as did Spain. The Spanish inquiry decided that
an internal explosion had destroyed the vessel, but the American
investigation claimed an external source.
The reluctant McKinley was then forced to demand that Spain grant independence to Cuba, but Sagasta
refused, fearing that such a concession would destroy the shaky Restoration Monarchy. It faced opposition from
various domestic political groups that might exploit the Cuban affair by precipitating revolution at home.
Underlying strong Spanish opposition to Cuban freedom was the traditional belief that God had granted Spain
its empire, of which Cuba was the principal remaining area, as a reward for the conquest of the Moors. Spanish
honor demanded defense of its overseas possessions, including Puerto Rico and the Philippines. Spain sought
diplomatic support from the great powers of Europe, but its long-standing isolation and the strength of the U.S.
deterred sympathetic governments from coming to its aid.
On 25 April Congress responded to McKinley's request for armed intervention. Spain had broken
diplomatic relations on 23 April. The American declaration of war was predated to 21 April to legitimize certain
military operations that had already taken place, particularly a blockade of Havana. To emphasize that its sole
motive at the beginning of the struggle was Cuban independence, the U.S. Congress passed a resolution, the
Teller Amendment, that foreswore any intention of annexing Cuba.
Neither nation had desired war but both had made preparations as the crisis deepened after the sinking of
the Maine. McKinley, having opposed war, hoped to end it quickly at the least possible expenditure of blood
and treasure. The U.S. possessed a small well-trained navy, but the army was composed only twenty-eight
thousand regulars. Spain had large garrisons in Cuba and the Philippines, but its navy was poorly maintained
and much weaker than that of the U.S. Prewar planning in the U.S. had settled upon a naval blockade of Cuba
and an attack on the decrepit Spanish squadron at Manila to achieve command of the sea and preclude
reinforcement and resupply of the Spanish overseas forces. These measures would bring immediate pressure on
Spain and signal American determination. The small army would conduct raids against Cuba and help sustain
the Cuban army until a volunteer army could be mobilized for extensive service in Cuba. Spain was forced to
accept the U.S. decision to fight on the periphery of Spanish power where its ability to resist was weakest.
The war began with two American successes. Admiral William Sampson immediately established a
blockade of Havana that was soon extended along the north coast of Cuba and eventually to the south side.
Sampson then prepared to counter Spanish effort to send naval assistance. Then, on 1 May, Commodore George
Dewey, commanding the Asiatic Squadron, destroyed Admiral Patricio Montoyo's small force of wooden
vessels in Manila Bay. Dewey had earlier moved from Japan to Hong Kong to position himself for an attack on
the Philippines. When news of this triumph reached Washington, McKinley authorized a modest army
expedition to conduct land operations against Manila, a step in keeping with the desire to maintain constant
pressure on Spain in the hope of forcing an early end to the war.
On 29 April a Spanish squadron commanded by Admiral Pascual Cervera left European waters for the
West Indies to reinforce the Spanish forces in Cuba. Sampson prepared to meet this challenge to American
command of the Caribbean Sea. Cervera eventually took his squadron into the harbor at Santiago de Cuba at the
opposite end of the island from Havana where the bulk of the Spanish army was concentrated.
As soon as Cervera was blockaded at Santiago (29 May) McKinley made two important decisions. He
ordered the regular army, then being concentrated at Tampa, to move as quickly as possible to Santiago de
Cuba. There it would join with the navy in operations intended to eliminate Cervera's forces. Also on 3 June he
secretly informed Spain of his war aims through Great Britain and Austria. Besides independence for Cuba, he
indicated a desire to annex Puerto Rico (in lieu of a monetary indemnity) and an island in the Marianas chain in
the Pacific Ocean. Also the United States sought a port in the Philippines, but made no mention of further
acquisitions there. The American message made it clear that the U.S. would increase its demands, should Spain
fail to accept these demands. Sagasta was not yet ready to admit defeat, which ended the initial American
attempt to arrange an early peace.
Major General William Shafter then conducted a chaotic but successful transfer of
the Fifth Army Corps from Tampa to the vicinity of Santiago de Cuba. The need to move
quickly caused great confusion, but it was a reasonable price to pay for seizing the initiative
at the earliest possible moment. The navy escorted his convoy of transports around the
eastern end of Cuba to Santiago de Cuba, where he arrived on 20 June. After landing at
Daiquirí and Siboney east of the city, he moved quickly toward the enemy along an interior
route, fearful of tropical diseases and desirous of thwarting Spanish reinforcements on the
way from the north.
General Shafter
Neil, p. 237.
The battle of 1 July did not develop as planned. Lawton's force was detained at El
Caney where a Spanish garrison of only five hundred men held off the attackers for many hours. Meanwhile the
rest of the Fifth Corps struggled into position beneath the San Juan Heights. It did not move against the Spanish
positions until the early afternoon. Fortunately a section of Gatling guns was able to fire on the summit of San
Juan Hill, a bombardment that forced the Spanish defenders to abandon the position to the American force
attacking on the left. Another group on the right that included the 1st U.S. Volunteer Cavalry, commanded that
day by Theodore Roosevelt, moved across an adjacent elevation, Kettle Hill. The Spanish retreated to their
second line of defense, and the Fifth Army Corps, exhausted and disorganized, set about entrenching itself on
the San Juan Heights. Having failed to seize the city, Shafter considered abandoning this position, which was
exposed to enemy artillery fire, but mandatory orders from Washington led instead to the inauguration of a
siege, soon supported by the arrival of U.S. reinforcements.
The partial success of 1 July produced consternation in Havana. The commander
in Cuba, General Ramón Blanco, ordered Cervera to leave Santiago de Cuba, fearing that
the Spanish squadron would fall into American hands, to face the concentrated fire of all
the American vessels outside, a certain recipe for disaster. Blanco persisted, and on 3 July
Cervera made his sortie. Cervera hoped to flee west to Cienfuegos, but four of his five
vessels were sunk near the entrance to the channel. The other ship was overhauled over
fifty miles westward where its commander drove it upon the shore to escape sinking.
This destruction of Cervera's squadron decided the war, although further fighting
occurred elsewhere. Sagasta decided to capitulate at Santiago de Cuba and to inaugurate
peace negotiations at an early date through the good offices of France. He also recalled a
naval expedition under Admiral Manuel de la Cámara that had left Spain earlier, moving eastward through the
Mediterranean Sea and the Suez Canal to relieve the garrison in the Philippines. The navy had organized a
squadron to pursue Cámara, but his recall ended any requirement for it.
General Blanco
Neil, p. 263.
After the Spanish forces at Santiago de Cuba capitulated on 17 July, a welcome event because the Fifth
Army Corps had fallen victim to malaria, dysentery, and other tropical diseases, the Commanding General of
the Army, Nelson Miles, led an expedition to Puerto Rico that landed on the south coast of that island. He sent
three columns northward with orders to converge on San Juan. These movements proceeded successfully, but
were ended short of the objective when word of a peace settlement reached Miles. Meanwhile the fifth Army
Corps was hastily shipped to Long Island to recuperate while volunteer regiments continued the occupation of
Cuba commanded by General Leonard Wood.
The last military operations of the war were conducted at Manila. An
expedition under Major General Wesley Merritt arrived during July and
encamped north of the city. Preparations for an attack were made amidst
increasing signs of opposition from Filipino insurrectos led by Emilio Aguinaldo.
He had become the leader of a revolutionary outburst in 1896-1897 that had
ended in a truce. He established himself in Hong Kong, and in May 1898
Commodore Dewey transported him to Manila where he set about re-energizing
his movement. During the summer he succeeded in gaining control of extensive
territory in Luzon, and his forces sought to seize Manila. Dewey provided some
supplies, but did not recognize the government that Aguinaldo set up.
Dewey hoped to avoid further hostilities at Manila. To this end he
engaged in shadowy negotiations with a new Spanish governor in Manila and the
Roman Catholic Bishop of the city. An agreement was reached whereby there
Emilio Aguinaldo
Rockett, p. 20.
would be a brief engagement between the Spanish and American forces followed
immediately by surrender of the city, after which the Americans were to prevent
Aguinaldo's troops from entering Manila. General Merritt was suspicious of this deal, but on 13 August, after
the American troops moved through a line of defenses north of Manila, the Spanish garrison surrendered to
Dewey. The guerrillas were denied access, and the American troops occupied the city. Continuing American
failure to recognize the Aguinaldo government fostered increasing distrust.
Meanwhile, negotiations between McKinley and the French ambassador in
Washington, Jules Cambon, came to fruition. The string of Spanish defeats ensured that
the U.S. could dictate a settlement. On 12 August, McKinley and Cambon signed a
protocol that provided for Cuban independence and the cession of Puerto Rico and an
island in the Marianas (Guam). It differed from the American offer of June only in that it
deferred action on the Philippines to a peace conference in Paris. The cautious McKinley
hoped to limit American involvement with the Philippines, but a strong current of public
opinion in favor of the annexation of the entire archipelago forced the President's hand. He
Jules-Martin Cambon
Ilustración española,
developed a rationale for expansion that stressed the duty of the nation and its destiny,
22 August 1898, p.
arguing that he could discern no other acceptable course. The Spanish delegation at the
97.
peace conference was forced to accept McKinley's decision. The Treaty of Paris signed on
10 December 1898 ceded the Philippines to the U.S. in return for a sum of $25 million to
pay for Spanish property in the islands.
When the treaty was sent to the Senate for approval, anti-imperialist elements offered some opposition,
but on 6 February 1899 the Senate accepted it by a vote of 57 to 27, only two more than the necessary twothirds majority. Fatefully, two days before the vote, armed hostilities broke out at Manila between the American
garrison and Aguinaldo's troops, the beginning of a struggle that lasted until July 1902. Although Cuba received
its independence, the Platt Amendment (1902) severely limited its sovereignty and stimulated a dependent
relationship that affected the evolution of Cuban society. This dependency leads some historians to maintain
that the events of 1895-1898 were simply a transition (la transición) from Spanish imperialism to American
imperialism. Eventually the U.S. rejected the expansion of 1898, which included the annexation of the
Hawaiian Islands, canceling the Platt Amendment, granting independence to the Philippine Islands, and
admitting Hawaii into the Union. The war heralded the emergence of the United States as a great power, but
mostly it reflected the burgeoning national development of the nineteenth century. World War I, not the
American intervention in the Cuban-Spanish struggle of 1895-1898, determined the revolutionized national
security policy of the years since 1914. These policies, in keeping with American values, were decidedly antiimperialistic in both the formal and informal meanings of the term.
Reconcentration Policy
General Valeriano Weyler y Nicolau understood very quickly that the key to a Spanish victory over the
insurgents was to strip the guerrillas of their abilities to live off the land and camouflage themselves in groups
of civilians. To this end, he began a policy of moving Cuban civilians to central locations where they would be
under the control of the Spanish army. In addition, he put the entire island under martial law.
The policy had disastrous consequences. Unlike many concentration camps in the twentieth century, the
idea was to keep the Cuban civilians alive and protected until the Spanish were victorious. Unfortunately at
least 30% perished from lack of proper food, sanitary conditions, and medicines. The policy generated severe
anti-Spanish feeling in the United States which helped propel it into war in 1898. Finally, it did not benefit the
Spanish in the war.
PUERTO RICO IN 1898
Of all Spanish colonial possessions in the Americas, Puerto Rico is the only territory that never gained
its independence. Internal and geopolitical dynamics during the last quarter of the nineteenth century,
nevertheless, brought dramatic political, social, and economic changes to the island, setting the stage for the
development of its national institutions and the transformation of its political system as a United States territory
during the twentieth century.
The dawn of a new colonial era under the United States.
The strategic value of Puerto Rico for the United States at the end of the nineteenth century centered in
economic and military interests. The island's value to US policy makers was as an outlet for excess
manufactured goods, as well as a key naval station in the Caribbean. US Navy Captain Alfred T. Mahan became
the leading strategist and advisor to his government during the 1880s. He joined the faculty of the US Naval
War College in 1884 and became its president in 1886. Mahan formulated a strategic doctrine based on naval
power as the main element of military supremacy. Thus, the strategic doctrine of the United States, until then
focusing on ground warfare, was replaced by the primacy of naval power. US naval power in the hemisphere,
resulting from the ascendancy of its naval technology at the time, thus became the strategic basis of US military
doctrine and foreign policy during the late nineteenth century.
Mahan played a key role in the Spanish-American War, as a military strategist and close advisor to
President McKinley throughout the conflict. Overall, the US war strategy called for a predominantly maritime
conflict in which the newly upgraded US Navy could display its might.
During 1894 the first plans for a military conflict with Spain were formulated at the US Naval War
College. In 1896, a formal war plan was developed by Lieutenant William W. Kimball, a naval intelligence
officer at the War College. The stated objective was to 'liberate Cuba' from Spanish rule. The main theater of
operations would be the Caribbean, focusing on the Cuban and Puerto Rican coastal regions, and the conflict
would involve exclusively naval operations. According to this plan, US naval power would be employed against
the Spanish Navy at those points where the enemy would face an equal or superior force.
Accordingly, the US Department of the Navy began operational preparations early in 1898. These took
into consideration a wealth of intelligence reports on the weakening conditions of the Spanish forces. The
mysterious explosion of the Maine battleship in the Havana harbor, killing some 300 US marines on February
15, 1898, was the turning point for the United States to start its war operations. On April 21st, President
McKinley formally requested that the US Congress declare war against Spain. Although the US war effort had,
in retrospect, its tactical and logistical faults, its unquestionable military superiority over Spanish forces led to a
quick US victory.
The Spanish-American war lasted some four months. On May 1st, US forces destroyed the Spanish fleet
in Manila Bay, the Philippines dealing a decisive blow to the Spanish armada. Given the weakness of the
Spanish forces, the US then decided to expand its campaign, and bring in ground troops. It also changed its
strategy for Cuba and planned for military operations against Havana, the island's capital city and key post of
Spain in the Caribbean. US troops landed in Cuba late in June and on July 17 destroyed the Spanish fleet
stationed in Santiago de Cuba Bay, thus securing total control of the waterways in the Caribbean. Following
these events, President McKinley set forth the conditions for peace negotiations. The evacuation of Cuba by
Spanish forces and its transfer to the United States was the prelude to imposition of order and formation of a
stable government on the island. McKinley's second demand was the transfer of Puerto Rico from Spanish
authorities to the United States without compensation.
Although Spanish surrender was certain at this point, the occupation of Puerto Rico followed in an effort
to secure the US presence on the island prior to the initial discussions of a peace settlement. On July 18, General
Nelson A. Miles, commander of the invading forces, received orders to sail for Puerto Rico. Some 18,000 US
troops with a naval escort departed for Puerto Rico from Guantánamo Bay and the east coast of the United
States. They landed at Guánica Bay on July 25, immediately moving to the city of Ponce and other towns
located on the southern part of the island. The US troops then proceeded north towards San Juan, Puerto Rico's
capital and the main military post of Spanish forces on the island. But before they could reach San Juan, Spain
agreed on August 13th to sign a peace treaty with the United States, putting an end to all military hostilities.
President McKinley's conditions for a peace agreement prevailed throughout the peace negotiations and
were finally ratified in the Treaty of Paris, signed on December 10, 1898. The formal transfer of Puerto Rico to
the United States took two months, from August 12 to October 18, when the last Spanish troops sailed back to
Spain and the US flag was raised in most public buildings on the island. A military government was established
under the command of General John R. Brooke.
The Treaty of Paris gave the United States full control over all former Spanish military installations as
well as some 120,000 acres of land formerly owned by the Spanish Crown on the island. The main military
posts were located in the capital city of San Juan along with military bases in the towns of Cayey, Aibonito,
Ponce, Mayagüez, Aguadilla and the adjacent island of Vieques. Puerto Rico remained under direct control of
US military forces until the US Congress ratified the Foraker Law on April 12th, 1900, bringing a civilian
government to the island.
Teller and Platt Amendments
In April 1898 Senator Henry M. Teller (Colorado) proposed an amendment to the U.S. declaration of
war against Spain which proclaimed that the United States would not establish permanent control over Cuba. It
stated that the United States "hereby disclaims any disposition of intention to exercise sovereignty, jurisdiction,
or control over said island except for pacification thereof, and asserts its determination, when that is
accomplished, to leave the government and control of the island to its people." The Senate passed the
amendment on April 19. True to the letter of the Teller Amendment, after Spanish troops left the island in 1898,
the United States occupied Cuba until 1902.
The Teller Amendment was succeeded by the Platt Amendment introduced by Senator Orville Platt (RConnecticut) in February 1901. It allowed the United States "the right to intervene for the preservation of Cuban
independence, the maintenance of a government adequate for the protection of life, property, and individual
liberty..." The Platt Amendment was finally abrogated on May 29, 1934.
George Dewey
1837-1917
George Dewey was born on December 26, 1837 in Montpelier, Vermont. Upon his graduation from the
Naval Academy in 1858, he was commissioned as a lieutenant in 1861. During the Civil War he served with
Admiral Farragut during the Battle of New Orleans and as part of the Atlantic blockade. From 1871 until 1896,
Dewey held a variety of positions in the Navy. In 1897 he was named commander of the Asiatic Squadron,
thanks to the help of strong political allies, including Assistant Secretary of the Navy, Theodore Roosevelt.
Roosevelt's help was also essential in supplying Dewey with guns, ammunition, and other needed
supplies so that his fleet would be prepared if war broke out with Spain. An aggressive commander, Dewey
ignored China's neutrality and took on coal for his fleet at Mirs Bay. He was forced to leave Hong Kong on
April 25, but not before the U.S.S. Baltimore had arrived from Honolulu with needed ammunition.
Thus prepared for battle, Dewey launched his attack, through mined waters and firing shore batteries, on
Admiral Patricio Montojo's slow, outmoded, under-supplied Spanish squadron at Cavite in Manila Bay. On
May 1, he engaged the Spanish forces and demolished them, inflicting very heavy casualties. His troops
occupied the bay and Manila itself alone until General Wesley Merritt's soldiers arrived in August.
News of the victory in the Battle of Manila Bay reached President McKinley on May 7 and soon Dewey
became a national hero. Congress awarded him a promotion to real admiral and handed out citations to
members of his fleet. Although he thought about running for president, he settled for writing accounts of his
famous victory and publishing his autobiography in 1913.
Theodore Roosevelt
His fearless work as president of New York City's Board of Police Commissioners caught the attention
of political associates of William McKinley. After his election as President, McKinley appointed Roosevelt
assistant secretary of the navy in 1897. Much to Navy Secretary Long's chagrin, Roosevelt would make policy
himself particularly when the secretary was out lunching. One such case involved the appointment and supply
of Admiral Dewey's Asiatic Squadron with orders that they head for Manila harbor.
After resigning his post in May 1898, Roosevelt joined
Colonel Leonard Wood's First U.S. Volunteer Cavalry, soon to
become known as the Rough Riders. After Wood's promotion,
Roosevelt took command of the group and on July 1 led the right
wing of the attack on San Juan Hill on July 1. His uncanny flair for
publicity coupled with his own writings of the affair made him the
most celebrated participant of the Spanish-American War except for
Admiral Dewey himself.
At the conclusion of the war, Roosevelt almost immediately
was elected Governor of New York State. In order to get him out of
New York, the head of the Republican machine there, Thomas C.
Platt put him on the ticket as McKinley's running mate for the second
term. They were elected, but on September 14, 1901 McKinley was
assassinated and Roosevelt became the 26th President of the United States. He was one of the most activist
presidents in U.S. history and is usually rated in the top five of those who have held that office. One of his
greatest disappointments was President Woodrow Wilson's refusal to allow him to fight in World War I.
Teddy Roosevelt in Puerto Rico
Historia de Puerto Rico, p. 413.
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Questions About The Reading
1. Name 4 battles of the Spanish-American war and the leaders involved.
2. What role did the sinking of the battleship Maine play in starting the war?
3. What role did insurgents play in the war?
4. Cuba was taken with much blood shed. How was the Philippines taken?
5. What was the end result for the land captured during the war – Cuba, Puerto Rico, Philippines
6. What was the difference in policy between the Teller Amendment and the Platt Amendment?
7. What ever happened to Guam? Is it independent today? Where exactly is Guam?