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In 1854, diplomats recommended to President Franklin Pierce that the United States buy Cuba from Spain. The Spanish denied their request.
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The Cubans revolted against the Spanish in 1868-1878. The revolution was not successful but the Cuban people did force the Spanish to abolish slavery. -
José Martí was a Cuban poet and journalist in
exile in New York who launched a revolution in 1895. Martí
organized Cuban resistance against Spain, using an active
guerrilla campaign and purposely destroying property,
including American-owned sugar mills and plantations.
Martí wanted the U.S involved to free Cuba. -
In 1896, Spain responded to the Cuban revolt by sending
General Valeriano Weyler to Cuba to restore order.
Weyler created concentration camps for the entire
rural population of central and western Cuba. Here civilians could not help the rebels. An estimated 300,000 Cubans filled these camps, where thousands died from hunger and disease. -
Weyler’s actions fueled a war over newspapers creating yellow journalism. Stories of poisoned wells and of children being thrown to the sharks deepened American sympathy for the rebels. -
In February 1898, the New York Journal published a private letter written by Enrique Dupuy de Lôme, the Spanish minister to the United States. A Cuban rebel had stolen the letter from a Havana post office and leaked it to the newspaper. The de Lôme letter criticized President McKinley, calling him “weak” and “a bidder for the admiration of the crowd.” -
In 1898, President McKinley had ordered the U.S.S. Maine to Cuba to bring home American citizens in danger from the fighting and to protect American property. On February 15, 1898, the ship blew up in the harbor of Havana. More than 260 men were killed. -
After the events of the U.S.S Maine. On April 11, McKinley asked Congress for authority to use force against Spain. After a week of debate, Congress agreed, and on April 20 the United States declared war. -
On April 30, the American fleet in the Pacific went to the Philippines. The next morning, George Dewey gave the command to open fire on the Spanish fleet at Manila. Within hours, Dewey’s men had destroyed every Spanish ship there. -
In the Caribbean, the Spanish started with a naval blockade of Cuba. Admiral William T. Sampson effectively sealed up the Spanish fleet in the harbor. -
The most famous land battle in Cuba took place near Santiago on July 1. The first part of the battle, on nearby Kettle Hill, featured a dramatic uphill charge by the Rough Riders and two African-American regiments, the Ninth and Tenth Cavalries. Their victory cleared the way for an infantry attack on San Juan Hill. -
The Spanish fleet tried to escape the American blockade of the harbor at Santiago. The naval battle that followed, along the Cuban coast, ended in the destruction of the Spanish fleet. -
With victory at hand, American troops invaded Puerto
Rico on July 25. -
After the capture of Puerto Rico, the Philippines, and Guam the Spanish surrendered. -
The United States and Spain signed an armistice, which was a cease-fire agreement. -
On December 10, 1898, the United States and Spain met in Paris to agree on a treaty. At the peace talks, Spain freed Cuba and turned over the islands of Guam in the Pacific and Puerto Rico.
