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100-712: During the Spanish–American War , members of the Michigan Naval Militia, organized into the Michigan Naval Brigade, constituted the majority of the crew of USS  Yosemite . During the war, Yosemite intercepted the Spanish steamer SS Antonio Lopez , beginning the Third Battle of San Juan . The naval militia remained active through World War I , and included a University of Michigan division. During

200-477: A "crusade" and a combination of "knight-errantry and national self- assertiveness." Osgood argued: In his War and Empire , Prof. Paul Atwood of the University of Massachusetts (Boston) writes: The Spanish–American War was fomented on outright lies and trumped up accusations against the intended enemy. ... War fever in the general population never reached a critical temperature until the accidental sinking of

300-764: A Spanish political system that was not stable and could not risk a blow to its prestige. The eruption of the Cuban revolt, Weyler's measures, and the popular fury these events whipped up proved to be a boon to the newspaper industry in New York City. Joseph Pulitzer of the New York World and William Randolph Hearst of the New York Journal recognized the potential for great headlines and stories that would sell copies. Both papers denounced Spain but had little influence outside New York. American opinion generally saw Spain as

400-690: A cablegram from the Spanish Consul in Hong Kong arrived with the information that the American squadron had left Hong Kong bound for Subic for the purpose of destroying the Spanish squadron and intending to proceed from there to Manila. The Spanish Council of Commanders, with the exception of the Commander of Subic, felt that no defense of Subic was possible with the state of things, and that the squadron should transfer back to Manila, positioning in shallow water so that

500-506: A component of the militia of Michigan. Therefore, the Michigan Legislature has the legal authority to reactivate the naval militia. Spanish%E2%80%93American War U.S. victory [REDACTED]   United States [REDACTED] Cuban Liberation Army [REDACTED] Philippine Revolutionaries [REDACTED]   Spain Total: 339,783 (only 20–25 percent of

600-613: A force of 20,000 volunteers and regulars. In the meantime, before these forces arrived, Dewey returned Emilio Aguinaldo to Manila from exile in Hong Kong , and Aguinaldo retindered the Philippine Revolution seeking independence from Spain. In recognition of George Dewey's leadership during the Battle of Manila Bay, a special medal known as the Dewey Medal was presented to the officers and sailors under Admiral Dewey's command. Dewey

700-492: A hopelessly backward power that was unable to deal fairly with Cuba. American Catholics were divided before the war began but supported it enthusiastically once it started. The U.S. had important economic interests that were being harmed by the prolonged conflict and deepening uncertainty about Cuba's future. Shipping firms that had relied heavily on trade with Cuba now suffered losses as the conflict continued unresolved. These firms pressed Congress and McKinley to seek an end to

800-451: A low point for Spanish colonialism. Liberal Spanish elites like Antonio Cánovas del Castillo and Emilio Castelar offered new interpretations of the concept of "empire" to dovetail with the emerging Spanish nationalism . Cánovas made clear in an address to the University of Madrid in 1882 his view of the Spanish nation as based on shared cultural and linguistic elements—on both sides of

900-514: A request to the U.S. State Department to send a U.S. warship to Cuba. This request led to the armored cruiser USS  Maine being sent to Cuba. While Maine was docked in Havana harbor, a spontaneous explosion sank the ship. The sinking of Maine was blamed on the Spanish and made the possibility of a negotiated peace very slim. Throughout the negotiation process, the major European powers, especially Britain, France, and Russia, generally supported

1000-412: A result of the explosion. Of the 94 survivors only 16 were uninjured. In total, 260 servicemen were killed in the initial explosion, six more died shortly thereafter from injuries, marking the greatest loss of life for the American military in a single day since the defeat at Little Bighorn twenty-one years prior. While McKinley urged patience and did not declare that Spain had caused the explosion,

1100-509: A single fatality among his crew: Francis B. Randall, Chief Engineer on the McCulloch , from a heart attack. On the other hand, the Spanish naval historian Agustín Ramón Rodríguez González suggests that Dewey suffered heavier losses, though still much lower than those of the Spanish squadron. Rodríguez notes that Spanish officials estimated the American casualties at 13 crewmen killed and more than 30 wounded based on reliable information collected by

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1200-581: A three-pronged invasion of the island. The plan called for one group from Santo Domingo in the Dominican Republic led by Máximo Gómez , one group from Costa Rica led by Antonio Maceo Grajales , and another from the United States (preemptively thwarted by U.S. officials in Florida) to land in different places on the island and provoke an uprising. While their call for revolution, the grito de Baire ,

1300-446: A training ground for its army. Spanish Prime Minister Antonio Cánovas del Castillo announced that "the Spanish nation is disposed to sacrifice to the last peseta of its treasure and to the last drop of blood of the last Spaniard before consenting that anyone snatch from it even one piece of its territory". He had long dominated and stabilized Spanish politics. He was assassinated in 1897 by Italian anarchist Michele Angiolillo , leaving

1400-427: A united European stand against the United States but took no action. The U.S. Navy's investigation, made public on March 28, concluded that the ship's powder magazines were ignited when an external explosion was set off under the ship's hull. This report poured fuel on popular indignation in the U.S., making war virtually inevitable. Spain's investigation came to the opposite conclusion: the explosion originated within

1500-622: A war. On April 19, while Congress was considering joint resolutions supporting Cuban independence, Republican Senator Henry M. Teller of Colorado proposed the Teller Amendment to ensure that the U.S. would not establish permanent control over Cuba after the war. The amendment, disclaiming any intention to annex Cuba, passed the Senate 42 to 35; the House concurred the same day, 311 to 6. The amended resolution demanded Spanish withdrawal and authorized

1600-399: Is named after Commodore Dewey, as is Dewey Beach, Delaware. Union Square, San Francisco features a 97 ft (30 m) tall monument to Admiral George Dewey's victory at the Battle of Manila Bay. Vessels engaged in actual combat during the Battle of Manila Bay ranged in size from 5,870 tons ( Olympia ) to 492 tons ( Marques del Duero ). Engaged Vessels: Despite the superiority of

1700-486: The 1898 Treaty of Paris , signed on December 10 with terms favorable to the U.S. The treaty ceded ownership of Puerto Rico, Guam, and the Philippines to the U.S., and set Cuba up to become independent state in 1901, although in practice became a U.S. protectorate. The cession of the Philippines involved payment of $ 20 million ($ 730 million today) to Spain by the U.S. to cover infrastructure owned by Spain. In Spain,

1800-593: The Americas or to interfere with the newly independent states in the hemisphere. The U.S. would, however, respect the status of the existing European colonies. Before the American Civil War (1861–1865), Southern interests attempted to have the United States purchase Cuba and convert it into a new slave state . The pro-slavery element proposed the Ostend Manifesto of 1854. Anti-slavery forces rejected it. After

1900-682: The Battle of Cavite , took place on May 1, 1898, during the Spanish–American War . The American Asiatic Squadron under Commodore George Dewey engaged and destroyed the Spanish Pacific Squadron under Contraalmirante ( Rear admiral ) Patricio Montojo . The battle took place in Manila Bay in the Philippines , and was the first major engagement of the Spanish–American War. The battle

2000-514: The Isla de Cuba five and the Isla de Luzón was hit three times. Unengaged vessels: Engaged Vessels: Unengaged Vessels: The Spanish vessels had 19 torpedo tubes between them but no serviceable torpedoes. Shore Defenses The batteries were supplemented with the guns removed from Montojo's fleet. The Corregidor, Caballo and El Fraile batteries had a combined total of 17 guns. The United States Navy ships: The destroyed Spanish ships after

2100-666: The Philippines , and its domination of Cuba. It represented U.S. intervention in the Cuban War of Independence and Philippine Revolution , with the latter later leading to the Philippine–American War . The Spanish–American War brought an end to almost four centuries of Spanish presence in the Americas, Asia, and the Pacific; the United States meanwhile not only became a major world power, but also gained several island possessions spanning

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2200-580: The USS Maine was deliberately, and falsely, attributed to Spanish villainy. ... In a cryptic message ... Senator Lodge wrote that 'There may be an explosion any day in Cuba which would settle a great many things. We have got a battleship in the harbor of Havana, and our fleet, which overmatches anything the Spanish have, is masked at the Dry Tortugas. In his autobiography, Theodore Roosevelt gave his views of

2300-472: The Ulloa . The Concord fired on the transport Mindanao , whose crew immediately abandoned ship. The Petrel fired on the government offices next to the arsenal and a white flag was raised over the building after which all firing ceased. The Spanish colors were struck at 12:40 p.m. According to American sources, Dewey won the battle with seven men very slightly wounded, a total of nine injured, and only

2400-478: The West Coast of the United States feared a Spanish attack at the outbreak of the Spanish–American War. Only a few U.S. Navy warships, led by the cruiser USS  Olympia , stood between them and a powerful Spanish fleet. In practice, however, Olympia was far superior to the Spanish colonial fleet, as the battle would show. Admiral Montojo, a career Spanish naval officer who had been dispatched rapidly to

2500-479: The gunboat Marques del Duero . The Spanish ships were of inferior quality to the American ships; the Castilla was unpowered and had to be towed by the transport ship Manila . On 25 April, the squadron left Manila Bay for the port of Subic, intending to mount a defense there. The squadron was relying on a shore battery which was to be installed on Isla Grande. On 28 April, before that installation could be completed,

2600-673: The 1880s and 1890s. Roosevelt served as Assistant Secretary of the Navy from 1897 to 1898 and was an aggressive supporter of an American war with Spain over Cuban interests. Meanwhile, the "Cuba Libre" movement, led by Cuban intellectual José Martí until he died in 1895, had established offices in Florida. The face of the Cuban revolution in the U.S. was the " Cuban Junta ", under the leadership of Tomás Estrada Palma , who in 1902 became Cuba's first president. The Junta dealt with leading newspapers and Washington officials and held fund-raising events across

2700-528: The 333 years of Spanish rule, the Philippines developed from a small overseas colony governed from the Mexico-based Viceroyalty of New Spain to a land with modern elements in the cities. The Spanish-speaking middle classes of the 19th century were mostly educated in the liberal ideas coming from Europe. Among these Ilustrados was the Filipino national hero José Rizal , who demanded larger reforms from

2800-480: The American Civil War and Cuba's Ten Years' War , U.S. businessmen began monopolizing the devalued sugar markets in Cuba. In 1894, 90% of Cuba's total exports went to the United States, which also provided 40% of Cuba's imports. Cuba's total exports to the U.S. were almost twelve times larger than the export to Spain. U.S. business interests indicated that while Spain still held political authority over Cuba, it

2900-560: The American artillery, the success rate of their guns was minimal, a total of 5,859 shells were expended during the battle. Excluding shells fired at land targets and the unengaged vessels, only 145 hit the seven Spanish engaged vessels. The Reina Cristina and Castilla suffered 81 hits between them, the Don Antonio de Ulloa was hit 33 times, the Don Juan de Austria 13, the Marques del Duero 10,

3000-402: The American position and urged Spain to give in. Spain repeatedly promised specific reforms that would pacify Cuba but failed to deliver; American patience ran out. McKinley sent USS Maine to Havana to ensure the safety of American citizens and interests, and to underscore the urgent need for reform. Naval forces were moved in position to attack simultaneously on several fronts if the war

3100-565: The Americans at Subic Bay , northwest of Manila Bay, but abandoned that idea when he learned the planned mines and coastal defenses were lacking and the cruiser Castilla started to leak. Montojo compounded his difficulties by placing his ships outside the range of Spanish coastal artillery (which might have evened the odds) and choosing a relatively shallow anchorage. His intent seems to have been to spare Manila from bombardment and to allow any survivors of his fleet to swim to safety. The harbor

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3200-605: The Atlantic—that tied Spain's territories together. Cánovas saw Spanish colonialism as more "benevolent" than that of other European colonial powers. The prevalent opinion in Spain before the war regarded the spreading of " civilization " and Christianity as Spain's main objective and contribution to the New World . The concept of cultural unity bestowed special significance on Cuba, which had been Spanish for almost four hundred years, and

3300-771: The Caribbean, or of the Philippines or Guam . Historians note that there was no popular demand in the United States for an overseas colonial empire. The first serious bid for Cuban independence, the Ten Years' War, erupted in 1868 and was subdued by the authorities a decade later. Neither the fighting nor the reforms in the Pact of Zanjón (February 1878) quelled the desire of some revolutionaries for wider autonomy and, ultimately, independence. One such revolutionary, José Martí, continued to promote Cuban financial and political freedom in exile. In early 1895, after years of organizing, Martí launched

3400-457: The Cavite arsenal, detonating its magazine , and ending the fire from the Spanish batteries. Dewey cabled Washington that he controlled the bay but would need 5,000 additional men to seize the city. The completeness of the victory in the opening stages of the war prompted President McKinley to send additional troops to seize the city. After some consideration, the U.S. War Department began assembling

3500-729: The Marine Corps available to the Navy Reserve and the Marine Corps Reserve", at least 95% of members of the naval militia must also be members of the United States Navy Reserve or the United States Marine Corps Reserve . Naval militias of U.S. states are recognized as a component of the organized militia of the United States under 10 U.S. Code §7851. Michigan law recognizes the Michigan Naval Militia as

3600-580: The Philippines on June 1, 1896, known as "the Kimball Plan". On April 23, 1898, a document from Governor General Basilio Augustín appeared in the Manila Gazette newspaper warning of the impending war and calling for Filipinos to participate on the side of Spain. Roosevelt, who was at that time Assistant Secretary of the Navy, ordered Commodore George Dewey , commanding the Asiatic Squadron of

3700-402: The Philippines, was equipped with a variety of obsolete vessels. Efforts to strengthen his position amounted to little. The strategy adopted by the Spanish bureaucracy suggested they could not win a war and saw resistance as little more than a face-saving exercise. Administrative actions worked against the effort, sending explosives meant for naval mines to civilian construction companies while

3800-471: The President to use as much military force as he thought necessary to help Cuba gain independence from Spain. President McKinley signed the joint resolution on April 20, 1898, and the ultimatum was sent to Spain. In response, Spain severed diplomatic relations with the United States on April 21. On the same day, the U.S. Navy began a blockade of Cuba. On April 23, Spain reacted to the blockade by declaring war on

3900-503: The South. The prospect of a naval war gave anxiety to those in the South. The financial security of those working and living in the cotton belt relied heavily upon trade across the Atlantic which would be disrupted by a nautical war, the prospect of which fostered a reluctance to enlist. Potential volunteers were also not financially incentivized, with pay per month initially being $ 13.00 which then

4000-564: The Spanish and the Cubans, but promised the U.S. it would give the Cubans more autonomy. However, with the election of a more liberal Spanish government in November, Spain began to change its policies in Cuba. First, the new Spanish government told the United States that it was willing to offer a change in the Reconcentration policies if the Cuban rebels agreed to a cessation of hostilities. This time

4100-482: The Spanish authorities. This movement eventually led to the Philippine Revolution against Spanish colonial rule. The revolution had been in a state of truce since the signing of the Pact of Biak-na-Bato in 1897, with revolutionary leaders having accepted exile outside of the country. Lt. William Warren Kimball, Staff Intelligence Officer with the Naval War College prepared a plan for war with Spain including

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4200-473: The Spanish consulate in Hong Kong . According to Rodríguez, Dewey may have concealed the deaths and injuries by including the numbers among the 155 men who reportedly deserted during the campaign. A Spanish attempt to attack Dewey with the naval task force known as Camara's Flying Relief Column came to naught, and the naval war in the Philippines devolved into a series of torpedo boat hit-and-run attacks for

4300-574: The Spanish fleet in Manila was seriously undermanned by inexperienced sailors who had not received any training for over a year. Reinforcements promised from Madrid resulted in only two poorly-armored scout cruisers being sent while at the same time the authorities transferred a squadron from the Manila fleet under Admiral Pascual Cervera to reinforce the Caribbean . Admiral Montojo had originally wanted to confront

4400-483: The Spanish government as a tyrannical oppressor. Historian Louis Pérez notes that "The proposition of war in behalf of Cuban independence took hold immediately and held on thereafter. Such was the sense of the public mood." Many poems and songs were written in the United States to express support of the "Cuba Libre" movement. At the same time, many African Americans , facing growing racial discrimination and increasing retardation of their civil rights, wanted to take part in

4500-419: The Spanish tyranny in Cuba. Historian Nick Kapur argues that McKinley's actions as he moved toward war were rooted not in various pressure groups but in his deeply held "Victorian" values, especially arbitration, pacifism, humanitarianism, and manly self-restraint. A speech delivered by Republican Senator Redfield Proctor of Vermont on March 17, 1898, thoroughly analyzed the situation and greatly strengthened

4600-550: The U.S. On April 25, the U.S. Congress responded in kind , declaring that a state of war between the U.S. and Spain had de facto existed since April 21, the day the blockade of Cuba had begun. It was the embodiment of the naval plan created by Lieutenant Commander Charles Train four years ago, stating once the US enacted a proclamation of war against Spain, it would mobilize its N.A. (North Atlantic) squadron to form an efficient blockade in Havana, Matanzas and Sagua La Grande . The Navy

4700-435: The U.S. It funded and smuggled weapons. It mounted an extensive propaganda campaign that generated enormous popular support in the U.S. in favor of the Cubans. Protestant churches and most Democrats were supportive, but business interests called on Washington to negotiate a settlement and avoid war. Cuba attracted enormous American attention, but almost no discussion involved the other Spanish colonies of Puerto Rico , also in

4800-414: The U.S. began a blockade of Cuba, and soon after Spain and the U.S. declared war. The war was fought in both the Caribbean and the Pacific, where American war advocates correctly anticipated that U.S. naval power would prove decisive. On May 1, a squadron of U.S warships destroyed the Spanish fleet at Manila Bay in the Philippines and captured the harbor. The first U.S. Marines landed in Cuba on June 10 in

4900-713: The United States Navy: "Order the squadron ...to Hong Kong. Keep full of coal. In the event of declaration of war with Spain, your duty will be to see that the Spanish squadron does not leave the Asiatic coast, and then offensive operations in Philippine Islands." Dewey's squadron departed on April 27 for the Philippines, reaching Manila Bay on the evening of April 30. Battle of Manila Bay The Battle of Manila Bay ( Filipino : Labanan sa Look ng Maynila ; Spanish : Batalla de Bahía de Manila ), also known as

5000-403: The United States and soften support for war with Spain. An attempt was made to negotiate a peace before McKinley took office. However, the Spanish refused to take part in the negotiations. In 1897 McKinley appointed Stewart L. Woodford as the new minister to Spain, who again offered to negotiate a peace. In October 1897, the Spanish government refused the United States' offer to negotiate between

5100-464: The United States would see "a duty imposed by our obligations to ourselves, to civilization and humanity to intervene with force". Intervention in terms of negotiating a settlement proved impossible—neither Spain nor the insurgents would agree. Louis Perez states, "Certainly the moralistic determinants of war in 1898 has been accorded preponderant explanatory weight in the historiography." By the 1950s, however, American political scientists began attacking

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5200-496: The United States, wrote that S=Cuba was entirely dependent on the outside world for food supplies, coal, and maritime supplies and that Spain would not be able to resupply a naval expeditionary force locally. While tension increased among the Cubans and Spanish government, popular support of intervention began to spring up in the United States. Many Americans likened the Cuban revolt to the American Revolution, and they viewed

5300-560: The army capable of field operations) [REDACTED] 288,452 (Caribbean) Total: 4,119 American: Total: 56,400–56,600 Spanish: The Spanish–American War (April 21 – December 10, 1898) was fought between Spain and the United States in 1898. It began with the sinking of the USS Maine in Havana Harbor in Cuba , and resulted in the U.S. acquisitions of Puerto Rico , Guam , and

5400-458: The business community to find a negotiated solution. Wall Street, big business, high finance and Main Street businesses across the country were vocally opposed to war and demanded peace. After years of severe depression, the economic outlook for the domestic economy was suddenly bright again in 1897. However, the uncertainties of warfare posed a serious threat to full economic recovery. "War would impede

5500-553: The conference that sounds of exploding ammunition had been heard and fires sighted on the Cristina and Castilla . At 10:40 a.m. action was resumed but the Spanish offered little resistance, and Montojo issued orders for the remaining ships to be scuttled and the breechblocks of their guns taken ashore. The Olympia , Baltimore and Boston then fired on the Sangley Point battery putting it out of action and followed up by sinking

5600-415: The crew of 400, more than 200, including Montojo, were casualties and only two men remained who were able to man her guns. The ship managed to return to shore and Montojo ordered it to be scuttled. The Castilla , which only had guns on the port side, had her forward cable shot away, causing her to swing about, presenting her weaponless starboard side. The captain then ordered her sunk and abandoned. The Ulloa

5700-462: The crews that the halt in the battle was to allow the crews to have breakfast. According to an observer on the Olympia , "At least three of his (Spanish) ships had broken into flames but so had one of ours. These fires had all been put out without apparent injury to the ships. Generally speaking, nothing of great importance had occurred to show that we had seriously injured any Spanish vessel." Montojo took

5800-556: The deaths of hundreds of American sailors held the public's attention. McKinley asked Congress to appropriate $ 50 million for defense, and Congress unanimously obliged. Most American leaders believed that the cause of the explosion was unknown. Still, public attention was now riveted on the situation and Spain could not find a diplomatic solution to avoid war. Spain appealed to the European powers, most of whom advised it to accept U.S. conditions for Cuba in order to avoid war. Germany urged

5900-524: The defeat in the war was a profound shock to the national psyche and provoked a thorough philosophical and artistic reevaluation of Spanish society known as the Generation of '98 . The combined problems arising from the Peninsular War (1807–1814), the loss of most of its colonies in the Americas in the early 19th-century Spanish American wars of independence , and three Carlist Wars (1832–1876) marked

6000-445: The destruction could have been caused by a mine." After Maine was destroyed, New York City newspaper publishers Hearst and Pulitzer decided that the Spanish were to blame, and they publicized this theory as fact in their papers. Even prior to the explosion, both had published sensationalistic accounts of "atrocities" committed by the Spanish in Cuba; headlines such as "Spanish Murderers" were commonplace in their newspapers. Following

6100-439: The destruction of the Spanish flotilla . The U.S. squadron swung in front of the Spanish ships and forts in line ahead , firing their port guns. They then turned and passed back, firing their starboard guns. This process was repeated five times, each time closing the range from 5,000 yards to 2,000 yards. The Spanish forces had been alerted, and most were ready for action, but they were heavily outgunned. Eight Spanish ships,

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6200-431: The draft of any of the ships due to the depth of the water. Inside the bay, ships normally used the north channel between Corregidor Island and the northern coast, and this was the only channel mined. Dewey instead used the unmined south channel between El Fraile and Caballo Islands. The El Fraile battery fired a few rounds but the range was too great. The McCulloch , Nanshan and Zafiro were then detached from

6300-411: The entire Spanish fleet would be sunk with minimal casualties for the Americans, who suffered only ten casualties in all. Upon realising that the battle was hopeless, Montojo ordered his two protected cruisers to be scuttled to ensure that they did not fall into the hands of the Americans. The battle remains one of the most significant naval battles in American maritime history . Americans living on

6400-554: The explosion of USS Maine . President McKinley issued two calls for volunteers, the first on April 23 which called for 125,000 men to enlist, followed by a second appeal for a further 75,000 volunteers. States in the Northeast, Midwest, and the West quickly filled their volunteer quota. In response to the surplus influx of volunteers, several Northern states had their quotas increased. Contrastingly, some Southern states struggled to fulfil even

6500-511: The explosion, this tone escalated with the headline "Remember The Maine, To Hell with Spain!", quickly appearing. Their press exaggerated what was happening and how the Spanish were treating the Cuban prisoners. The stories were based on factual accounts, but most of the time, the articles that were published were embellished and written with incendiary language causing emotional and often heated responses among readers. A common myth falsely states that when illustrator Frederic Remington said there

6600-433: The fate of American interests in Cuba due to the war, the cruiser USS  Maine was dispatched to protect them. Less than a month later, the cruiser exploded while lying at anchor in Havana harbor, killing 261 sailors onboard and inflaming American opinion. Upon the outbreak of war, the Americans realized that defeating a significant Spanish squadron then stationed in the Philippines was important to ensuring victory in

6700-448: The first mandated quota, namely Alabama, Kentucky, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Virginia. The majority of states did not allow African American men to volunteer which impeded recruitment in Southern states, especially those with large African American populations. Quota requirements, based on total population, were unmanageable, as they were disproportionate compared to the actual population permitted to volunteer. This

6800-447: The following morning. However, Oscar F. Williams , the United States Consul in Manila, had provided Dewey with detailed information on the state of the Spanish defenses and the lack of preparedness of the Spanish fleet. Based in part upon this intelligence, Dewey—embarked aboard Olympia —led his squadron into Manila Bay at midnight on 30 April. Passing the entrance, two Spanish mines exploded but were ineffective as they were well below

6900-510: The globe, which provoked rancorous debate over the wisdom of expansionism . The 19th century represented a clear decline for the Spanish Empire , while the United States went from a newly founded country to a rising power. In 1895, Cuban nationalists began a revolt against Spanish rule, which was brutally suppressed by the colonial authorities. Yellow journalism in the U.S. exaggerated the atrocities in Cuba to sell more newspapers and magazines, which swayed American public opinion in support of

7000-435: The island's southeast, moving west and engaging in at the Battles of El Caney and San Juan Hill on July 1 and the destroying the fleet at and capturing Santiago de Cuba on July 17. On June 20, the island of Guam surrendered without resistance, and on July 25, U.S. troops landed on Puerto Rico , which a blockade had begun on May 8 and where fighting continued until an armistice was signed on August 13. The war ended with

7100-419: The land batteries, and the forts returned fire for two and a half hours although the range was too great for the guns on shore. Five other small Spanish ships were not engaged. Montojo accepted that his cause was hopeless and ordered his ships to ram the enemy if possible. He then slipped the Cristina's cables and charged. Much of the American fleet's fire was then directed at her and she was shot to pieces. Of

7200-452: The line and took no further part in the fighting. At 5:15 a.m. on 1 May, the squadron was off Manila and the Cavite battery fired ranging shots. The shore batteries and Spanish fleet then opened fire but all the shells fell short as the fleet was still out of range. At 5:41 with the now famous phrase, "You may fire when ready, Gridley ", the Olympia ' s captain was instructed to begin

7300-565: The march of prosperity and put the country back many years," warned the New Jersey Trade Review. The leading railroad magazine editorialized, "From a commercial and mercenary standpoint it seems peculiarly bitter that this war should come when the country had already suffered so much and so needed rest and peace." McKinley paid close attention to the strong antiwar consensus of the business community, and strengthened his resolve to use diplomacy and negotiation rather than brute force to end

7400-448: The opportunity to now move his remaining ships into Bacoor Bay where they were ordered to resist for as long as possible. A captains' conference on the Olympia revealed little damage and no men killed. It was discovered that the original ammunition message had been garbled—instead of only 15 rounds of ammunition per gun remaining, the message had meant to say only 15 rounds of ammunition per gun had been expended. Reports arrived during

7500-468: The origins of the war: Our own direct interests were great, because of the Cuban tobacco and sugar, and especially because of Cuba's relation to the projected Isthmian [Panama] Canal. But even greater were our interests from the standpoint of humanity. ... It was our duty, even more from the standpoint of National honor than from the standpoint of National interest, to stop the devastation and destruction. Because of these considerations I favored war. In

7600-414: The pro-war cause. Proctor concluded that war was the only answer. Many in the business and religious communities which had until then opposed war, switched sides, leaving McKinley and Speaker Reed almost alone in their resistance to a war. On April 11, McKinley ended his resistance and asked Congress for authority to send American troops to Cuba to end the civil war there, knowing that Congress would force

7700-571: The rebels refused the terms in hopes that continued conflict would lead to U.S. intervention and the creation of an independent Cuba. The liberal Spanish government also recalled the Spanish Governor-General Valeriano Weyler from Cuba. This action alarmed many Cubans loyal to Spain. The Cubans loyal to Weyler began planning large demonstrations to take place when the next Governor General, Ramón Blanco , arrived in Cuba. U.S. consul Fitzhugh Lee learned of these plans and sent

7800-575: The rebels. President Grover Cleveland resisted mounting demands for U.S. intervention, as did his successor William McKinley . Though not seeking a war, McKinley made preparations in readiness for one. In January 1898, the U.S. Navy armored cruiser USS Maine was sent to Havana to provide protection for U.S. citizens. After the Maine was sunk by a mysterious explosion in the harbor on February 15, 1898, political pressures pushed McKinley to receive congressional authority to use military force. On April 21,

7900-481: The residents of some Cuban districts to move to reconcentration areas near the military headquarters. This strategy was effective in slowing the spread of rebellion. In the United States, this fueled the fire of anti-Spanish propaganda. In a political speech, President William McKinley used this to ram Spanish actions against armed rebels. He even said this "was not civilized warfare" but "extermination". Spain depended on Cuba for prestige and trade, and used it as

8000-407: The rest of the campaign . While the Spanish scored several hits, there were no American fatalities directly attributable to Spanish gunfire. On 2 May, Dewey landed a force of Marines at Cavite. They completed the destruction of the Spanish fleet and batteries and established a guard for the protection of the Spanish hospitals. The resistance of the forts was weak. The Olympia turned a few guns on

8100-451: The revolt. Campos's reluctance to accept his new assignment and his method of containing the revolt to the province of Oriente earned him criticism in the Spanish press. The mounting pressure forced Cánovas to replace General Campos with General Valeriano Weyler , a soldier who had experience in quelling rebellions in overseas provinces and the Spanish metropole. Weyler deprived the insurgency of weaponry, supplies, and assistance by ordering

8200-446: The revolt. Other American business concerns, specifically those who had invested in Cuban sugar, looked to the Spanish to restore order. Stability, not war, was the goal of both interests. How stability would be achieved would depend largely on the ability of Spain and the U.S. to work out their issues diplomatically. Lieutenant Commander Charles Train, in 1894, in his preparatory notes in an outlook of an armed conflict between Spain and

8300-453: The ship. Other investigations in later years came to various contradictory conclusions, but had no bearing on the coming of the war. In 1974, Admiral Hyman George Rickover had his staff look at the documents and decided there was an internal explosion. A study commissioned by National Geographic magazine in 1999, using AME computer modeling, reported: "By examining the bottom plating of the ship and how it bent and folded, AME concluded that

8400-530: The ships could be run aground to save the lives of the crews as a final resort. The squadron departed Subic at 10:30 a.m. on 29 April. Manila , towing Castilla , was last to arrive in Manila Bay, at midnight. At 7 p.m. on 30 April, Montojo was informed that Dewey's ships had been seen in Subic Bay that afternoon. As Manila Bay was considered unnavigable at night by foreigners, Montojo expected an attack

8500-401: The war as a mistake based on idealism, arguing that a better policy would be realism. They discredited the idealism by suggesting the people were deliberately misled by propaganda and sensationalist yellow journalism. Political scientist Robert Osgood, writing in 1953, led the attack on the American decision process as a confused mix of "self-righteousness and genuine moral fervor," in the form of

8600-525: The war, members of the Michigan Naval Militia served in Naval Railway Battery crews on the Western Front . Naval militias are partially regulated and equipped by the federal government, and membership requirements are set in accordance with federal standards. Under 10 U.S. Code § 7854, in order to be eligible for access to "vessels, material, armament, equipment, and other facilities of the Navy and

8700-415: The war. The U.S. Asiatic Squadron commanded by Dewey, a veteran of the American Civil War , was dispatched to ensure success. On 1 May, the American squadron steamed into Manila Bay to engage with the Spanish. The Spanish, aware that they were hopelessly outgunned, made a desperate defense against the Americans. The battle was not much of a contest, with superior American naval gunnery and seamanship ensuring

8800-399: The war. They saw it as a way to advance the cause of equality, service to country hopefully helping to gain political and public respect amongst the wider population. President McKinley, well aware of the political complexity surrounding the conflict, wanted to end the revolt peacefully. He began to negotiate with the Spanish government, hoping that the talks would dampen yellow journalism in

8900-564: Was especially evident in some states, such as Kentucky and Mississippi, which accepted out-of-state volunteers to aid in meeting their quotas. This Southern apprehension towards enlistment can also be attributed to "a war weariness derived from the Confederacy's defeat in the Civil War." Many in the South were still recuperating financially after their losses in the Civil War, and the upcoming war did not provide much hope for economic prosperity in

9000-458: Was hit by a shell at the waterline that killed her captain and disabled half the crew. The Luzon had three guns out of action but was otherwise unharmed. The Duero lost an engine and had only one gun left able to fire. At 7:45 a.m., after Captain Gridley messaged Dewey that only 15 rounds of 5" ammunition remained per gun, Dewey ordered an immediate withdrawal. To preserve morale, he informed

9100-650: Was later honored with promotion to the special rank of Admiral of the Navy . Building on his popularity, Dewey briefly ran for president in 1900 , but withdrew and endorsed William McKinley , the incumbent, who won. The same year Dewey was appointed President of the General Board of the United States Navy , where he would play a key role in the growth of the U.S. Navy until his death in January 1917. Dewey Square in Boston

9200-481: Was no war brewing in Cuba, Hearst responded: "You furnish the pictures and I'll furnish the war." However, this new " yellow journalism " was uncommon outside New York City, and historians no longer consider it the major force shaping the national mood. Public opinion nationwide did demand immediate action, overwhelming the efforts of President McKinley, Speaker of the House Thomas Brackett Reed , and

9300-526: Was not avoided. As Maine left Florida, a large part of the North Atlantic Squadron was moved to Key West and the Gulf of Mexico . Others were also moved just off the shore of Lisbon, and others were moved to Hong Kong too. At 9:40 P.M. on February 15, 1898, Maine sank in Havana Harbor after suffering a massive explosion. More than 3/4 of the ship's crew of 355 sailors, officers and Marines died as

9400-518: Was one of the most decisive naval battles in history and marked the end of the Spanish colonial period in Philippine history. Tensions between Spain and the United States worsened over the Spanish conduct during their efforts to quell the Cuban War of Independence , with many Americans being agitated by largely falsified reports of Spanish atrocities against the Cuban population . In January 1898, fearing

9500-452: Was protected by six shore batteries and three forts whose fire during the battle proved to be ineffective. Only Fort San Antonio Abad had guns with enough range to reach the American fleet, but Dewey never came within their range during the battle. The Spanish squadron consisted of seven ships: the cruisers Reina Cristina (flagship), Castilla , Don Juan de Austria , Don Antonio de Ulloa , Isla de Luzon , Isla de Cuba , and

9600-447: Was ready, but the Army was not well-prepared for the war and made radical changes in plans and quickly purchased supplies. In the spring of 1898, the strength of the U.S. Regular Army was just 24,593 soldiers. The Army wanted 50,000 new men but received over 220,000 through volunteers and the mobilization of state National Guard units , even gaining nearly 100,000 men on the first night after

9700-435: Was successful, the result was not the grand show of force Martí had expected. With a quick victory effectively lost, the revolutionaries settled in to fight a protracted guerrilla campaign. Antonio Cánovas del Castillo, the architect of Spain's Restoration constitution and the prime minister at the time, ordered General Arsenio Martínez-Campos , a distinguished veteran of the war against the previous uprising in Cuba, to quell

9800-461: Was the U.S. that held economic power over Cuba. The U.S. became interested in a trans-isthmus canal in either Nicaragua or Panama and realized the need for naval protection. Captain Alfred Thayer Mahan was an exceptionally influential theorist; his ideas were much admired by future 26th President Theodore Roosevelt , as the U.S. rapidly built a powerful naval fleet of steel warships in

9900-466: Was then raised to $ 15.60 for combat pay. It was more economically promising for most southern men to continue in their own enterprises rather than enlist. The overwhelming consensus of observers in the 1890s, and historians ever since, is that an upsurge of humanitarian concern with the plight of the Cubans was the main motivating force that caused the war with Spain in 1898. McKinley put it succinctly in late 1897 that if Spain failed to resolve its crisis,

10000-511: Was viewed as an integral part of the Spanish nation. The focus on preserving the empire would have negative consequences for Spain's national pride in the aftermath of the Spanish–American War. In 1823, the fifth American President James Monroe (1758–1831, served 1817–25) enunciated the Monroe Doctrine , which stated that the United States would not tolerate further efforts by European governments to retake or expand their colonial holdings in

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