The American Military by Brad D. Lookingbill

Author:Brad D. Lookingbill [Lookingbill, Brad D.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: eBook
Publisher: Wiley
Published: 2013-09-24T07:00:00+00:00

Remember the Maine

Over the course of the nineteenth century, the Cuban struggle for independence attracted American attention. While an expatriate living in New York, José Martí became a symbol of the movement to free Cuba from Spanish dominion. He organized the Junta to coordinate a campaign under the banner of Cuba Libre. Recruiting revolutionaries from Key West to Santo Domingo, he joined filibustering expeditions to liberate what the Spanish called the “ever faithful isle.” After landing in Cuba, he died in his first battle on May 19, 1895.

The insurrection of 1895 spurred the governor general, Valeriano Weyler, to institute punitive measures against the civilian population of Cuba. While rebels struck plantations and trains, Spanish soldiers assaulted villages in retaliation. To suppress the widespread unrest, the reconcentrado policy involved the herding of men, women, and children to areas controlled by the Spanish Army. As a result of the devastation, disease, and starvation, thousands perished in the Cuban countryside. The “yellow journalists” of the U.S. circulated sensational stories about the military atrocities, denouncing the Spanish commander in Cuba as a “butcher.”

With Cuba only 90 miles off the coast of Florida, pressure for the U.S. to stop the mayhem continued to mount. American “jingoists” called upon the federal government to safeguard national interests with military action. In 1897, John D. Long, the Secretary of the Navy, directed senior officers to develop a war plan based upon the previous work of the Naval War College and the Office of Naval Intelligence. Their planning drew from a key document by Lieutenant William W. Kimball, which he titled “War with Spain.” Acknowledging the fact that American trade with Cubans actually surpassed Spanish commerce with them, a congressional resolution recognized the rebel cause. Unable to crush the rebellion against the empire, the Spanish government eventually replaced the “butcher” with the more humane General Ramón Blanco. Spain offered autonomy to the island but refused to grant independence.

The McKinley administration expressed no animosity toward Spain, although the Republican platform in the presidential election of 1896 included a plank on behalf of Cuban independence. When anti-American riots erupted in Havana, he ordered the U.S.S Maine to the harbor in early 1898 as a sign of resolve. Spanish ambassador Dupuy de Lôme made disparaging remarks about the U.S. president in a letter reprinted in the New York Journal, which editorialized that it amounted to the “worst insult to the United States in its history.” Having seen “the dead pile up” as a private during the American Civil War, McKinley remained reluctant to push for war against Spain.

While anchored in Havana, the presence of the Maine troubled Spain but sparked no immediate reaction from officials. Captain Charles D. Sigsbee, the commander of the U.S. battleship, went ashore with the American consul, Fitzhugh Lee. Taking precautions against “injury or treachery,” he stationed the marines on guard while ordering the sailors to remain on board. He attended a bullfight at Regla without incident.

Figure 9.2 Ship's company, U.S.S. Maine, 1896. Prints and Photographs Division, Library

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