Spanish-American War (1898): The US Becomes an Overseas Power

The Spanish-American War was a short conflict fought between the United States and Spain from April to August 1898, arising from Cuba’s war for independence. In under four months American forces destroyed two Spanish fleets, at Manila Bay and Santiago de Cuba, and won the land battles around Santiago, including the famous charge at San Juan Hill. The Treaty of Paris that followed ended Spain’s empire in the Americas and the Pacific and turned the United States into an overseas colonial power.

Background: Cuba and the road to war

Since 1895 Cuban insurgents had been fighting Spanish rule in the Cuban War of Independence. Spain’s General Valeriano Weyler forced rural Cubans into fortified towns, where huge numbers died of hunger and disease. American newspapers, especially William Randolph Hearst’s New York Journal and Joseph Pulitzer’s New York World, competed with dramatic and sometimes exaggerated stories of Spanish cruelty, a style that became known as yellow journalism.

American interests were also at stake. US investors had money in Cuban sugar and mining, trade with the island had collapsed, and expansionists such as Theodore Roosevelt, then Assistant Secretary of the Navy, argued for a stronger role in the Caribbean and the Pacific. President William McKinley, however, hoped to avoid war.

In February 1898 the New York Journal published a private letter from the Spanish minister in Washington, Enrique Dupuy de Lôme, that described McKinley as weak. Days later, on 15 February 1898, the battleship USS Maine, sent to Havana to protect American citizens, exploded and sank in the harbour, killing about 260 of the roughly 355 men aboard. “Remember the Maine!” became a rallying cry.

Declaration of war

A naval court of inquiry reported in March that a mine had caused the explosion, though it did not blame anyone. On 19 April 1898 Congress passed, and on 20 April McKinley signed, a joint resolution demanding that Spain leave Cuba and authorising force. It included the Teller Amendment, which disclaimed any intention to annex the island.

The US Navy began blockading Cuba on 22 April, and Spain declared war on 23 April. Congress formally declared war on 25 April, backdating it to 21 April.

Manila Bay

The first major battle took place on the other side of the world. Following orders sent earlier by Roosevelt, Commodore George Dewey took the US Asiatic Squadron from Hong Kong to the Philippines. On the morning of 1 May 1898 he entered Manila Bay and attacked the older Spanish squadron of Admiral Patricio Montojo off Cavite. Dewey’s order to the captain of his flagship, “You may fire when you are ready, Gridley,” became famous.

Within hours the Spanish ships were destroyed or scuttled. Spanish casualties numbered in the hundreds, while American losses were a handful of wounded and one man who died of heat stroke. Dewey controlled the bay, but he lacked troops to take Manila. The Filipino revolutionary Emilio Aguinaldo, brought back from exile on an American ship, declared Philippine independence on 12 June 1898, continuing the Philippine Revolution against Spain.

The Santiago campaign

In Cuba, a Spanish squadron under Admiral Pascual Cervera had slipped into the harbour of Santiago de Cuba, where it was blockaded. The US Fifth Army Corps under General William Shafter, about 17,000 men, landed at Daiquirí and Siboney from 22 June, supported by Cuban insurgents under Calixto García.

On 1 July 1898 American troops attacked the heights east of Santiago. At El Caney, a Spanish garrison of around 500 held out for most of the day against a much larger force. At San Juan Heights, regular regiments, including the African American 9th and 10th Cavalry and 24th Infantry, and the volunteer Rough Riders under Lieutenant Colonel Theodore Roosevelt, stormed Kettle Hill and San Juan Hill under heavy fire. American losses that day were over 200 killed and about 1,200 wounded.

With the army closing in, Cervera’s squadron attempted to break out on 3 July 1898. In the Battle of Santiago de Cuba, all six of his ships were destroyed or beached as they ran along the coast. Several hundred Spanish sailors were killed and well over 1,500 captured, including Cervera; the Americans lost one man killed. Santiago surrendered on 17 July.

Guam, Puerto Rico and the end of the war

On 20 June the cruiser USS Charleston arrived at Guam, whose Spanish garrison had not yet heard that war had been declared; the island surrendered the next day. On 25 July General Nelson A. Miles landed at Guánica in Puerto Rico and advanced against light resistance. In the same summer, on 7 July, Congress also annexed Hawaii, a separate step reflecting the same expansionist mood.

On 12 August 1898 the two countries signed a peace protocol in Washington. The next day, before the news reached the Philippines, American troops took Manila in a largely prearranged battle, with Filipino forces kept out of the city.

By the numbers

The Treaty of Paris

The Treaty of Paris, signed on 10 December 1898, ended the war. Spain gave up its claim to Cuba, ceded Puerto Rico and Guam, and transferred the Philippines in exchange for 20 million dollars. Neither Cuban nor Filipino representatives took part in the negotiations.

Annexing the Philippines provoked fierce debate in the United States. The Anti-Imperialist League, whose supporters included Mark Twain and Andrew Carnegie, argued that ruling colonies betrayed American principles. The Senate ratified the treaty on 6 February 1899 by 57 votes to 27, just above the required two-thirds, two days after fighting had broken out between American and Filipino forces, the beginning of the Philippine-American War.

Myths and facts

Hearst said “You furnish the pictures and I’ll furnish the war.” This famous line, supposedly sent to the artist Frederic Remington, appears only in a later memoir and there is no reliable evidence that Hearst wrote it.

Spain blew up the Maine. No evidence has ever shown that Spain was responsible, and Spain had every reason to avoid war. Later investigations favour an accidental internal explosion.

Roosevelt charged up San Juan Hill. The Rough Riders’ main charge was up neighbouring Kettle Hill, though they then joined the attack along the San Juan Heights.

Timeline

• 1898, 15 February: USS Maine explodes in Havana harbour.
• 1898, 20 April: Congress demands Spanish withdrawal from Cuba.
• 1898, 1 May: Dewey destroys the Spanish squadron at Manila Bay.
• 1898, 21 June: Guam surrenders to the USS Charleston.
• 1898, 1 July: Battles of El Caney and San Juan Hill.
• 1898, 3 July: Cervera’s squadron is destroyed off Santiago de Cuba.
• 1898, 25 July: US troops land in Puerto Rico.
• 1898, 12 August: Peace protocol signed in Washington.
• 1898, 10 December: Treaty of Paris signed.

Why it matters

The war of 1898 ended four centuries of Spanish empire in the Americas and gave the United States colonies in the Caribbean and the Pacific, along with a naval base at Guantánamo and a strategic interest that would lead to the Panama Canal. It launched Theodore Roosevelt toward the presidency and marked the moment the United States stepped onto the world stage as a great power.