“I SAW MANY MEN SHOT. EVERY ONE WENT DOWN IN A LUMP WITHOUT CRIES, WITHOUT JUMPING IN THE AIR, WITHOUT THROWING UP HANDS. THEY JUST WENT DOWN LIKE CLODS IN THE GRASS.”
EDWARD MARSHALL, REPORTER IN CUBA
ON THE 25TH OF APRIL, 1898, TO FREE CUBA FROM SPANISH ABUSES, THE UNITED STATES DECLARED WAR AGAINST SPAIN. THE FIGHTING LASTED THREE MONTHS, THREE WEEKS AND TWO DAYS. THE U.S. FOUGHT SPAIN NOT ONLY IN CUBA BUT IN PUERTO RICO, GUAM, AND THE PHILIPPINES.
AFTER THE CIVIL WAR, THE AMERICAN MILITARY NUMBERS FELL TO 26,000. IT WAS UNDEREQUIPPED AND UNDERTRAINED. NEVERTHELESS, WHAT AMERICAN TROOPS LACKED IN STRENGTH, THEY MADE UP FOR IN ENTHUSIASTIC SPIRIT. EAGERNESS TO “GET IN THE FIGHT” WAS HIGH. THE ARMED FORCES ROSE TO OVER 200,000 STRONG. OF THOSE, 72,000 WERE SENT TO FIGHT IN THE ISLANDS.
FIVE DAYS AFTER THE WAR WAS DECLARED, THE NAVY FIRED THE FIRST SHOTS BY ATTACKING AND DESTROYING THE SPANISH FLEET AT MANILA BAY IN THE PHILIPPINES. THE STRUGGLE FOR THE PHILIPPINES MOVED FROM THE SEA TO THE LAND. THE U.S. SENT IN A FORCE OF SOME 11,000 GROUND TROOPS.
ON MAY 13TH, THE UNITED STATES ATTACKED PUERTO RICO.
IN CUBA, THERE WOULD BE NO BOOTS ON THE GROUND UNTIL JUNE 6TH WHEN THE MARINES ASSAULTED AND TOOK GUANTÁNAMO BAY ON JUNE 10TH.
MEANWHILE IN TAMPA, FLORIDA, THE U.S. ARMY ASSEMBLED AND WAITED IN THE SUMMER HEAT TO BE LOADED ON SHIPS FOR CUBA. ONCE ON BOARD, THEY WAITED AGAIN FOR SEVERAL DAYS BEFORE THE SHIPS PULLED UP ANCHOR. IT TOOK THE SHIPS 15 DAYS TO TRAVEL ABOUT 350 MILES. THEY WERE CROWDED AND HOT. BY THE TIME THEY DISEMBARKED, THE TROOPS WERE WEAK FROM THE POOR FOOD AND FOUL WATER.
THE SITUATION WOULD NOT IMPROVE ONCE THE ARMY WAS ON LAND. THE FOOD RATION, WHEN AVAILABLE, WAS SALT PORK AND HARDTACK. THE OFFICERS, WHEN THEY COULD, PURCHASED VEGETABLES FOR THE TROOPS. WATER, ALSO IN SHORT SUPPLY, WAS RARELY BOILED.
THE ARMY INVADED CUBA ON JUNE 22ND. IT QUICKLY REALIZED THAT CIVIL WAR TACTICS WOULD NOT WORK AGAINST GUERRILLA FORCES AND RAPIDLY ADAPTED.
THE ARMY LEARNED THAT THEY MAY BE CONQUERING THE SPANIARDS, BUT CLIMATE AND DISEASES WERE DEFEATING THEM. THE ISLANDS WERE HOT AND HUMID WITH TORRENTIAL RAINS. FIVE TIMES MORE MEN DIED FROM DISEASES THAN IN COMBAT. THE SOLDIERS SUFFERED NOT ONLY FROM YELLOW FEVER AND MALARIA BUT HEAT EXHAUSTION, INFERIOR FOOD AND IMPOSSIBLE SANITATION.
AFTER THE SURRENDER OF SANTIAGO ON JULY 17TH, LT. COLONEL THEODORE ROOSEVELT AND OTHER OFFICERS FORESAW THE DANGER TO THE HEALTH OF THEIR TROOPS AND WROTE A LETTER TO THE SECRETARY OF WAR: “IF WE ARE KEPT HERE, IT WILL IN ALL HUMAN POSSIBILITY MEAN AN APPALLING DISASTER FOR THE SURGEONS HERE ESTIMATE THAT OVER HALF THE ARMY, . . . WILL DIE”.
THOSE THAT GREETED THE RETURNING TROOPS DID NOT RECOGNIZE THEM. THE MEN WERE MALNOURISHED AND FEVER-RACKED. MANY REQUIRED LONG- TERM CARE TO REGAIN THEIR HEALTH.
ON AUGUST 13TH, SPAIN RELINQUISHED ITS SOVEREIGNTY OVER THE ISLANDS.
UNITED STATES MILITARY CASUALTIES
•385 KILLED IN ACTION
•1,662 WOUNDED
•2,061 DEATHS FROM DISEASE
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