The Spanish-American War: Independence From Spain

The Spanish-American war was started when Cuba tried to become independent from Spain. Spain brutally tried to keep Cuba in line, which was on display for the American public by several newspapers. Spain sent their Cuban prisoners to concentration camps to stop the Cubans from making their guerrilla-type attacks against them. The US feared for the many Americans living in Cuba at the time, so they sent a ship called the USS Maine to Cuba's Havana Harbor to keep the Americans safe in January 25th, 1898. The Maine was an armored ship that had been commissioned for naval service in 1895, five years after she was launched. She had eight boilers, two immense steam engines and four ten-inch main guns that could shoot a five hundred and twenty
Furious, the US Navy blockades Cuba from Spain. Three days later, Spain declares war on America. The Spanish-American war had begun. On May 1st, Commodore George Dewey and his naval squadron arrived at the Philippines in Manila Bay. The Spaniards were sorely outgunned and outboated by USA's metal armored boats. They were defeated quickly, only costing the US seven injured men and a morning better spent somewhere else. A month later, the Filipinos revolt. It was two days since the US captured Cuba's Guantanamo Bay, and the Filipino rebels declared their independence from Spain. It was near ending of the Philippine Revolution of 1896-1898, but neither the Spaniards nor the Americans recognized their declaration. The Philippine Revolution would lead to a third war: the Philippine-American War of 1899-1902. The United States got involved in the Philippine Revolution after they declared war on Spain and barricaded Cuba on April 20th,
Roosevelt himself led the charge on San Juan Hill and Cuba's Kettle Hill, zigzagging back and forth on one of the only horses left, “Little Texas.” The Rough Riders capture of San Juan Heights gave Americans the high ground around the port city Santiago de Cuba. The fame that Roosevelt won after he and his Rough Riders captured San Juan Hill helped him win election as William McKinley's Vice President in 1900. After the US troops seized San Juan Hill, above Santiago de Cuba, a Spanish navy squadron tried to break out of the harbor. Spanish Admiral Pascual Cervera was leading the six ships that were trying to escape, but Rear Admiral William T. Sampson and Commodore William S. Schley were leading the American battleships that intercepted them. The US navy destroyed the Spanish ships in the largest naval battle of the Spanish-American war called the Battle of of Santiago de Cuba. Fourteen days after the Battle of Santiago de Cuba, Spain surrenders to the United States at Santiago de Cuba. A month later they signed an armistice agreement to end the Spanish-American war. In December the Treaty of Paris ends the war officially. Under its agreements, Spain gives up all of its rights to Cuba, Spain surrenders Puerto Rico and Guam to the US, and Spain relinquishes the Philippines to the US in exchange for twenty million