War & Response: A Spanish-American War Centennial

In 1898, Cuba and Puerto Rico, the last of Spain’s colonies in the New World, had experienced attempts to gain their independence. The United States sympathized with the rebels in accord with the Monroe Doctrine. When an accident caused the battleship Maine to blow up in Santiago harbor, the explosion was falsely imputed to Spanish sabotage, even though the Spaniards had bravely saved several drowning crew members.

The “yellow press” of Hearst and Pulitzer then incited the American public to belligerency, despite the opposition of many prominent Americans. With its superior artillery and armor, the US Navy destroyed the Spanish fleets in the battles of Santiago and of Cavite in Manila Bay. By the treaty of Paris, the United States acquired the Philippines, Puerto Rico, and Guam, and gained recognition as a world power. The Spanish-American War marked the beginning of what we know as The American Century.

The images shown here are examples of Frederick Remington's illustrations for the book Cuba in War Time, by Richard Harding Davis, New York: R. H. Russell, 1897. Top left: "Guerillas with Captured Pacificos," pg. 21. Top right: "General Weyler in the Field," pg. 131. Bottom left: "An Officer of Spanish Guerillas," pg. 120. Bottom center: "A Spanish Officer," pg 27. Bottom right: "Young Spanish Officer," pg 63. From the collection of the Milwaukee Public Library.