Page 67 - NS-2 Textbook

60 MARITIME HISTORY

THE SPANISH-AMERICAN WAR OF 1898 plosion, even though the Spanish govenunent expressed
sympathy and denied any part in the incident. Several
For years Americans had resented Spain's harsh rule shIdies in recent years have indicated that the probable
over Cuba, the most important Spanish colony in the cause was a coal dust explosion in a forward coal bunker,
New World. Cuban revolutionaries had been inciting in- which set off ammunition in a nearby magazine. In any
surrections against this rule for more than twenty years, event, the loss of the MaiJ1e brought the nation to the
which by 1895 had resulted in a state of near anarchy and brink of war with Spain.
open rebellion. Spanish authorities had been ruthless in Although both nations h'ied to head off war with fur-
their attempts to suppress the rebellion and retain con- ther negotiations over the next couple of months, neither
trol of the island, resulting in the killing of thousands of had much doubt that war was inevitable. On 19 April
civilians. Partly in response to this human suffering, and Congress passed four resolutions: declaring Cuba free
certainly because of ecollmnic concern over some $50 and independent, demanding withdrawal of all Spanish
million "vorth of American investment in sugar cane forces, guaranteeing that the United States would not
plantations and $100 million in annual sugar trade, sup- annex Cuba, and directing the president to use American
port grew for the United States to intervene in Cuba, per- armed forces to enforce these resolutions.
haps even to annex it frOlll Spain, by force if necessary. Under the leadership of Assistant Secretary of the
Yellow journalism (stories ·written to incite an emotional Navy Theodore Roosevelt, the Navy prepared for war.
response) in U.S. newspapers, including publication of a Recognizing that the Spanish-owned Philippine Islands
letter stolen from the Spanish ambassador describing in the Pacific region could become a key U.S. base to pro-
President McKinley as "weak," further whipped up tect its Asian trade, in late February Roosevelt cabled
American feelings in support of war with Spain. Commodore George Dewey in his flagship Olympia at
In February 1898 McKinley sent the battleship USS Hong Kong to make ready the U.S. Asiatic Fleet to attack
MaiJ1e to Havana to protect American lives and property. the Spanish fleet at Manila. Roosevelt backed up the in-
On the evening of 15 February a tremendous explosion struction by rushing the cruiser Baltimore across the Pa-
ripped the MaiJ1e apart, sinking her in minutes, and cific with a load of shells and arranging for the purchase
killing 266 of her 354 officers and crew. Most Americans of two British vessels to be used as colliers (coal resupply
at the time immediately blamed the Spanish for the ex- ships). Because Cuba would be a primary objective of the

Remember the Maine! Sunk in the harbor of Havana, Cuba, by an explosion of unknown origin, the loss of the Maine set off the war of 1898
with Spain. Above, the Maine rests on the bottom on 16 February 1898, the morning after she blew up.