The US Army in the
War with Spain

Dedicated in Memory of these Veterans of the War with Spain:
John Habermann, Ed Halritz, Gene Moon, & Ben Ortsheid

Americans watched sympathetically as the Cuban people were herded into concentration camps and garrisoned towns by the Spanish Colonial Governor, General Valeriano Weyler. Word escaped that the Cubans were dying by the thousands in these enclosures.

In early 1898, a private letter written by the Spanish Minister to the United States, Dupuy de L“me, was purloined from the Post Office in Havanna. The letter spoke about American President William McKinley in very disrespectful and inflammatory terms; it was viewed as a national insult.

In mid-February, the American battleship,
U.S.S. Maine, was sunk in the harbor at Havanna
after a tremendous explosion which ripped the
vessel apart and killed 260 members of the crew.

American newspapers took over from there;

In April, Congress proclaimed Cuba free and independent and authorized the President to use land and naval forces to expel Spain from Cuba. President McKinley threw a naval blockade around Cuba. Congress voted to double the size of the Regular Army and issued a call for 125,000 volunteers.