The Spanish-American War ended with a Treaty signed December 10, 1898.
Leading up the war was slavery in Cuba, as President Grant said, December 1, 1873:
“Several thousand persons illegally held as slaves in Cuba…The slaveholders of Havana…are vainly striving to stay the march of ideas which has terminated slavery in Christendom, Cuba only excepted.”
In 1878, Spain finally crushed a ten year rebellion where over 200,000 died.
The cry went out for the U.S to intervene.
In 1898, the U.S.S. Maine was in Havana’s Harbor, when it blew up on February 15, either by an internal explosion or a mine.
The Spanish-American War began.
On April 20, Congress wrote:
“The abhorrent conditions which have existed for more than three years in the Island of Cuba, so near our own borders, have shocked the moral sense of the people of the United States, have been a disgrace to Christian civilization…Resolved…the people of the Island of Cuba are, and of right ought to be, free.”
On May 1, Commodore Dewey destroyed the Spanish fleet in Manila Bay.
On July 3, the United States, aided by Teddy Roosevelt’s Rough Riders, captured Santiago, Cuba, and the war soon ended with Cuba’s independence.
On July 6, 1898, President William McKinley wrote:
“With the nation’s thanks let there be mingled…prayers that our gallant sons may be shielded from harm…on the battlefield and in the clash of fleets…while they are striving to uphold their country’s honor.”
William J. Federer is a nationally known speaker, best-selling author, and president of Amerisearch, Inc., a publishing company dedicated to researching America’s noble heritage.
To learn more about the author please visit William Federer
Photo from p. 431 of Harper’s Pictorial History of the War with Spain, Vol. II, published by Harper and Brothers in 1899.
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