Spanish American War- Battles and Famous People Involved
On April 25, 1898, the United States declared war on Spain. The first battle took place on May 1st of that year. The battle took place at Manila Bay. Commodore George Dewey led 7 U.S. Navy ships into Manila Bay, and almost the whole Spanish Naval force was destroyed by 8 AM.
The U.S. troops made their way to Cuba in June of 1898. On July 1, there was a battle called the Battle of San Juan Hill. 15,000 men from the United States were led by Major General William R. Shafter; there were also 4,000 guerillas, 12 guns, and 4 Gatling guns. The Spanish Army only consisted of 800 men and 5 guns, and was led by General Arsenio Linares. The Americans clearly had an advantage. General Shafter had a plan to take over the town in two hours, but he became sick and was unable to lead from the front line. He ended up leading the army from the headquarters. Some of the areas of the battle were called “Hell’s Pocket” and “Bloody Ford” because of the amounts of casualties that had taken place there. 205 Americans were killed and 1,180 were wounded compared to the Spanish who had 58 men killed, 170 wounded and 39 captured. Although more Americans were killed, the U.S. still defeated the Spanish Army.
Two days later, another battle took place at Santiago Bay, Cuba. Cervera, the leader of the Spanish fleet, decided to wait until 9:00 AM on July 3 to attack. He was hoping that he would catch the U.S. off-guard during their church services. Once the fleets had met, U.S. battleships Iowa, Indiana, and New York took down several Spanish ships. This Battle marked the end of the large naval battles in the Spanish- American War. Cevera lost all six of his ships and 323 of his men were killed, along with 151 wounded. 70 officers and 1,500 men were taken prisoner.
On July 17, 1898, the Spanish surrendered at Santiago.
William McKinley was the President at the time of this war and was reluctant to start this war with Spain. The first two years of his presidency were spent in attempt to avoid war, but he couldn’t avoid it forever. William McKinley was assassinated in September of 1901, and Theodore Roosevelt took his place.
Russell Alexander Alger was the Secretary of War at the time of the Spanish American War. During the Spanish American war Alger was criticized and accused of incompetence and indifference. McKinley hired someone to investigate the accusations. Alger was accused of deliberately sending American troops meat that had been injected with dangerous chemicals. The accusations were never proven, but Alger was still forced to resign in 1899.
I personally think that this war was a pretty even war. The total battles won by the U.S. forces were 10 battles. And the Spanish forces also won 10 battles. But I believe that the U.S. forces won the big important battles. 90% of men in this war passed away from disease and only 10% during battles or later on because of their injuries. There were more Spanish deaths than Americans though, with the ratio being about 55,000 Spanish deaths to about 8,000 American deaths. So the Americans did come out on top.
Sources:
http://militaryhistory.about.com/od/battleswars1800s/p/sanjuanhill.htm
http://militaryhistory.about.com/od/navalbattles1800s/p/santiago.htm
http://www.loc.gov/rr/news/topics/spanishAmWar.html
http://www.homeofheroes.com/wallofhonor/spanish_am/18_people.html
Comments
Well done Courtney!!