SPANISH AMERICAN WAR IN THE PHILIPPINES

SPANISH AMERICAN WAR IN THE PHILIPPINES

Demands by Cuban patriots for independence from Spanish rule made U.S. intervention in Cuba a paramount issue in the relations between the United States and Spain from the 1870s to 1898. Sympathy for the Cuban insurgents ran high in America, especially after the savage ten years war  (1868–78) and the unsuccessful revolt of 1895. After efforts to quell guerrilla activity had failed, the Spanish military commander, Valeriano instituted the reconcentrado, or concentration camp, system in 1896; Cuba's rural population was forcibly confined to centrally located garrison towns, where thousands died from disease, starvation, and exposure


       Although the majority of Americans, including President McKinley, wished to avert war and hoped to settle the Cuban     question by peaceful means, a series of incidents early in 1898 intensified U.S. feelings against Spain. The first of  these was the publication by Hearst of a stolen letter (the de Lôme letter) that had been written by the Spanish minister at Washington, in which that incautious diplomat expressed contempt for McKinley   This was followed by the sinking of the U.S. battleship Maine in Havana harbor on Feb. 15, 1898, with a loss of 260 men.  
      The cause of the advocates of war was given further impetus as a result of eyewitness reports by members of the U.S. Congress on the effect of the reconcentrado policy in Cuba. 

tHIS CONFLICT WAS EXTENDED TO THE SPANISH COLONY.... THE PHILIPPINES

             









THE US BLAMED SPAIN  ON THE THE EXPLOSION OF AMERICAN SHIP USS MAINE



THE US PREPARATION OF WAR AGAINST 
SPAIN



                                 the us army





us rough riders bound for Philippines to attack theSpanish Army in the the Philippines
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the spanish army officers stationed in the Philippines




Spanish defenders in Manila








Havana,   because of its location and harbor, was destined to be of far greater importance than any other city of its size. Ninety-two miles from Havana, its spacious harbor and its naval base meant that the United States Navy would inevitably utilize it as an important supply depot and coaling station. Its strategic value was so great and at the same time so apparent that the failure of the Navy to prepare the base for action in time remains a cause for surprise.

In addition to the strictly military and naval activities for which it was destined, for many years had been deeply concerned with the course of events in Cuba. Prior to the outbreak of that revolution which led to the war between Spain and the United States, the city was a center of Cuban revolutionary agitation. The revolutionary Cuban junta, under the leadership of Jose Marti and Tomas Estrada Palma, had organized a total of sixty-one Cuban political clubs in Key West. These groups participated in raising funds for the rebels, in smuggling arms and men into Cuba, and in disseminating stories heralding the heroic deeds of the rebels.

Because of the appearance in the harbor of the ships of the Atlantic Squadron, the coming of the war,  would begin. The Atlantic Squadron arrived just as the U.S.S. "Maine" departed on its last voyage, on January 24, 1898. On February 3, the Miami Metropolis, a weekly newspaper, commented editorially on the fact that Key West was not only talking about the war, but declaring that it would begin within "sixty days or so". Actually seventy days were to elapse before President McKinley sent his message to Congress asking for authority to use the Army and Navy in Cuba.

Shortly after the "Maine" disaster, the US Navy began to take some steps to prepare  for use. Large stocks of supplies, of coal and ammunition in particular, were sent to Key West, and the Army was requested to strengthen the fortifications that protected the city from attack. The steps taken, however, go far to belie the statement that the Navy was better prepared for war than the Army. The story of the accumulation of supplies without having any place to put them resembles the description of the Army base at Tampa a bit later. The haphazard manner of operation resulted in untold waste of both time and money

Storage space for both coal and ammunition was nearly non-existent. The coal bunkers of the base could not even begin to hold the vast tonnage that was being sent. High explosives and ammunition arrived only to have to be stored temporarily in unsafe wooden buildings. The difficulty was simply that the Navy Department had not separated the command of the base from that of the fleet. The ranking admiral of the fleet automatically was in command of the shore establishment, and, naturally enough, his attention was focussed primarily on the fleet. Not until May 1, a full week and more after the departure of the fleet, was an officer of flag rank appointed to command the base. On May 7 Commodore George C. Remey arrived to take command

Warehouses, wharves, and docks of all sizes had been leased from private owners in the city. A contract had been let for the construction of coal bunkers large enough to hold 15,000 tons of coal, and the Army had cooperated by lending the Navy the use of an ammunition magazine at nearby Fort Taylor. Coal was temporarily stored on the barges in the harbor while waiting for the bunkers. The Army mined the entrance to the harbor and hastily began work on the fortifications. 

The arrival of Commodore Remey brought a degree of organization to the work, and real progress was made. Even then, however, it was to prove impossible to complete any of the major construction until late in 1899, long after the war was over. The Commodore was first delayed by an inability to find satisfactory quarters in the city for either office space or living room. On May 20, in desperation, he commandeered the newly arrived U.S.S. "Lancaster" and made it his flagship. After that he was able to proceed with the work at hand

The steam-driven ships required large amounts, and transferring it from the barges to the ships was a time consuming operation. Furthermore, it was belatedly discovered that the new bunkers under construction were being so placed that large warships could get no closer than six miles! Shallow water thus made the continued use of the barges necessary, unsatisfactory as they were. Remey solved this difficulty by reclaiming and using some old navy facilities located in the Dry Tortugas, near Fort Jefferson. Coal sheds were renovated, and new ones built, large enough to hold 20,000 tons. This, together with the 15,000 tons in the city, was deemed ample for the needs of the Navy at the time. To make the city bunkers accessible to the largest ships, arrangements were made to have a deep channel dredged through the shallow water. The channel, as well as the new bunkers, was completed the following year

By this means the coal problem was taken care of, and through the only too rare cooperation between the Army and the Navy the ammunition was properly stored, but many other matters demanded attention. Remey and his staff were to be kept busy. One task was to find a means whereby the base could fulfill one of its more important duties, the repair of vessels. Key West Naval Base did possess machine shops, but they were antiquated and totally inadequate. It was necessary to enlarge and modernize them at least so they could make minor repairs to ships and machinery. This was perhaps the simplest of the problems facing Remey. New machinery and tools, and skilled mechanics and workmen were imported from the Navy Yard at Philadelphia, and temporary wooden buildings were quickly thrown together. Plans were made, and work begun, on permanent shops, but in the meantime Key West was able to successfully repair sixty-four naval vessels that would otherwise have been forced to go to a larger base farther away. 

At first the captured Spaniards were held on board the ships under guard in the harbor, but an incident that took place early in May brought an order to transfer them to Fort Taylor. A boatload of young Cubans demonstrated their hatred of the Spanish by rowing out to one of the prizes and circling it while shouting curses and insults up at the hapless prisoners. The incident was roundly condemned in the Florida newspapers, and the guards aboard each ship were ordered to open fire on any boat making an unauthorized approach. Residents of Key West atoned for the action after Clara Barton, aboard the National Red Cross ship "The State of Texas," discovered that the prisoners were running out of funds, food and tobacco. She appealed to the city for money, and the people of Key West responded generously. 

The increased business of the port, and the expansion work underway at the naval base had brought a boom in the business of the city. Hotels were full, and rooming houses turned away prospective customers; every available warehouse was in use, and unemployment was a matter of choice rather than necessity. The Navy had been compelled to import labor from other areas, and add them to the personnel of the base. Construction work was the principal reason for the surplus of jobs over applicants, but even the telegraph office had added to its staff. Navy payrolls had expanded, and whenever a ship entered port, its crew added to the potential business. The merchants were reaping a full harvest, and anticipated a long period of prosperity since it was obvious that the work would not be completed for some time to come.

Making things even rosier for the city was the fact that the Army had also moved into Key West. The Engineers had inspected the defenses of the city in March, and had begun work shortly after. At one time, Key West had been considered as one of the few places in the country possessing adequate fortifications. The defenses consisted of Fort Taylor in the city itself, and  Fort Jefferson, seventy miles to the west on Garden Key. Both forts were old, and were considered inadequate in 1898. Jefferson had been turned over to the Public Health Service for use as a quarantine station, and in any event was too far away. Taylor's guns had been modern when installed during the Civil War, but were outranged by the guns of new battleships. The Engineers decided that Taylor could be of some use, but that Jefferson was too dilapidated for repair.


New batteries were planned, and large caliber coast defense guns were rushed to Key West from the north. Fort Jefferson was reclaimed, and a garrison of two companies of infantry sent out. Work was started on batteries placed at the entrance to the harbor, and new guns were ordered for Fort Taylor. The Twenty-fifth Infantry, plus some coast artillery troops, arrived to garrison the city. Key West Barracks, the only active post in the city, was enlarged, and the post hospital was prepared for service on a larger scale

Work on the batteries proceeded rapidly, but the task was of such magnitude that it was impossible to complete it until 1899. Vast amounts of material had to be brought to the city in addition to the thousands of cubic yards of sand purchased locally. Labor was recruited in Jacksonville, Mobile, and other Gulf cities. Temporary batteries were hastily emplaced to offer at least the semblance of protection, but the most that could be said for the work of the Army was that it added considerably to the prosperity of the merchants and contractors of the city.


 Work on the defenses began in March, a month before the start of the war. With the opening of hostilities, the services faced the prospect of large numbers of casualties, with the Army in particular anticipating numbers of sick and wounded from its projected Cuban campaign. It planned to bring the most seriously injured or sick to Key West, but the hospital facilities at Key West Barracks were not considered sufficient. The solution to this problem was without doubt the easiest and most satisfactory answer that was found to any of the many questions that arose. Just before the war began, the Mother Superior of the Convent of Mary Immaculate in Key West had written to the Navy. She offered the buildings of the convent itself, and of the school operated by the Sisters to the Navy for use as a hospital. The only conditions laid down were that the buildings should be returned in good condition after the war, and that the Sisters remain in the capacity of nurses. This last was a task they were well fitted for, having served in that capacity in many yellow fever epidemics in the past. 

Both the Army and the Navy then rushed plans to supplement the normal water supply in other ways. During the Civil War the Navy had constructed a distilling plant capable of producing 7,000 gallons of water per day. This was now brought back into service, and new and larger plants were built. The Army completed the first one on May 25, with a capacity of 50,000 gallons per day. With the others that were put into service in a short time, the water problem was ended. About the beginning of July heavy rains fell and all worries were ended.

in command of the troops in camp at Tampa, was ordered by Adjutant General Corbin to take a total of 10,000 soldiers and take them to Key West. They were then to be sent to Fort Jefferson, and await transportation to Cuba. Since Jefferson was being supplied with water from Key West, and Tampa was then making daily shipments of water to Key West, it is not difficult to picture the consternation had the troops actually been sent. As it was Shafter frantically wired Corbin, reminding him of the water shortage, and the order for the troop movement was cancelled. The incident is difficult to understand, since Corbin, on May 7, had authorized the use of Army funds to purchase water to be sent to Key West, and then in the face of that, went ahead with the troop order on May 10. On top of that, Fort Jefferson was scarcely capable of housing 10,000 troops with all their equipment

In 1898 there were several rumors of the appearance of yellow fever in Florida. Aware that with many thousands of soldiers camped in Florida the danger was greater than ever, Dr. Porter was more than ever on the alert. In July his attention was called to the discovery in Key West of a number of cases of a fever whose symptoms somewhat resembled those of yellow fever. He personally examined each patient and assured himself that they had nothing more severe than dengue, a non-fatal fever with a duration of about ten days. With that he paid no more attention to it