The Spanish-American War

By APerdue
  • William McKinley is swarn in as the 25th President of the United States

  • Cuban rebels start riots in the streets of Havana, Cuba

  • The warship USS Maine which is docked in Havana harbor blows up, killing 260 people

  • Yellow journalists blame the Spanish for the explosion of the Maine and create the slogan "Remember the Maine"

  • Theodore Roosevelt wires Commodore Dewey in Hong Kong, he tells him to prepare for possible military action in the Philippines

  • Congress recognizes Cuban independence and tells Spanish to leave immediately

  • Congress declares war on Spain

  • Commodore Dewey destroys most of the Spanish fleet in the Philippines after a surprise attack.

  • Theodore Roosevelt resigns the position of assistant secretary of the Navy to start volunteer cavalry regiment.

  • Theodore Roosevelt starts service with the First Regiment of U.S. Cavalry Volunteers, popularly known as the Rough Riders

  • William Randolph Hearst says "You furnish the pictures, and I'll funish the war" to American artist Fredric Remington

  • Spanish fleet enters the harbor at Santiago

  • The Battle of San Juan Hill-the Rough Riders and the 9th and 10th African American regiments fight in a long battle

  • The Spanish leave Cuba for Puerto Rico, officialy surrendering the island of Cuba to the US

  • Spanish forces pull out of Puerto Rico and sign an armistice officialy ending the Spanish-American War

  • The majority of American forces arrive back in Montauk, Long Island and are subject to quarantine

  • The Treaty of Paris is signed and the U.S. gains Puerto Rico and Guam, we buy the Philippines from Spain for 20 million.

  • The Senate ratifies the Treaty of Paris.