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El Mundo del 1898: la Guerra Cubano-Española-Americana (División Hispana, Biblioteca del Congreso)
Chronology of The Cuban-Spanish-American War of 1898
Library of Congress > Researchers > Hispanic Reading Room > World of 1898
Abril 19 del 1898
El Congreso de los Estado Unidos por votación de 311 a 6 en la Cámara y 42 a 35 en el Senado adoptó la Resolución Conjunta para la guerra con España. Incluida en la Resolución estaba la Enmienda Teller, (Sen Henry Moore Teller – Colorado) que rechaza cualquier intención de EE.UU.de ejercer jurisdicción o control sobre Cuba excepto en un papel de pacificación y prometió abandonar la isla tan pronto como terminara la guerra.
The World of 1898: The Spanish-American War (Hispanic Division, Library of Congress)
The Cuban-Spanish-American War of 1898
1898 HOME > Chronology
By Country: Cuba | Philippines and Guam | Puerto Rico | Spain
1868
10 October, 1868
Carlos M. de Céspedes issued the Grito de Yara and initiated the Ten Years’ War in Cuba (1868-1878), the independence movement that served as the forerunner of the 1895 Insurrection and the Spanish American War.
1890
U.S. foreign policy is influenced by Alfred T. Mahan who wrote The Influence of Sea Power upon history, 1600-1783, which advocated the taking of the Caribbean Islands, Hawaii, and the Philippine Islands for bases to protect U.S. commerce, the building of a canal to enable fleet movement from ocean to ocean and the building of the Great White fleet of steam-driven armor plated battleships.
1892
5 January, 1892
José Julián Martí y Pérez formed El Partido Revolucionario Cubano (Cuban Revolutionary party). This Cuban political party was organized first in New York City and Philadelphia and soon spread to Tampa and Key West, Florida.
1895
24 February, 1895
Cuban independence movement (Ejército Libertador de Cuba) issued in the Grito de Baire, declaring Independencia o muerte (Independence or death), as the revolutionary movement in Cuba began. It was quelled by Spanish authorities that same day.
10 April, 1895
José Martí and Máximo Gómez Baez returned to Cuba to fight for independence; Gómez was to serve as military leader of the new revolution. The Cuban Revolutionary party (El Partido Revolucionario Cubano) in New York worked tirelessly for revolution, inspired by José Martí and maintained by various voices for Revolution.
12 June, 1895
U.S. President Cleveland issues proclamation of neutrality in the Cuban Insurrection.
1896
16 February, 1896
Spain begins reconcentration policy in Cuba.
28 February, 1896
The U.S. Senate recognized Cuban belligerency with overwhelming passage of the joint John T. Morgan/Donald Cameron resolution calling for recognition of Cuban belligerency and Cuban independence. This resolution signaled to President Cleveland and Secretary of State Richard Olney that the Cuban crisis needed attention.
2 March, 1896
The U.S. House of Representatives passed decisively its own version of the Morgan-Cameron Resolution which called for the recognition of Cuban belligerency.
9 August, 1896
Great Britain foils Spain’s attempt to obtain European support for Spanish policies in Cuba.
7 December, 1896
President Cleveland says that the United States may take action in Cuba if Spain fails to resolve crisis there.
1896
William Warren Kimball, U.S. Naval Academy graduate and intelligence officer, completed a strategic study of the implications of war with Spain. His plan called for an operation to free Cuba through naval action, which included blockade, attacks on Manila, and attacks on the Spanish Mediterranean coast.
1897
19 January, 1897
Both William Randolph Hearst’s New York Journal and Joseph Pulitzer’s New York World, through its sensational reporting on the Cuban Insurrection, helped strengthen anti-Spanish sentiment in the United States. On this date the execution of Cuban rebel Adolfo Rodríguez by a Spanish firing squad, was reported in the article “Death of Rodríguez” in the New York Journal by Richard Harding Davis. On October 8, 1897, Karl Decker of the New York Journal reported on the rescue of Cuban Evangelina Cisneros from a prison on the Isle of Pines.
4 March, 1897
U.S. President William McKinley inaugurated.
8 August, 1897
Spanish Prime Minister Antonio Cánovas is assassinated prompting change in government.
1898
1 January, 1898
Spain grants limited autonomy to Cuba.
8 February, 1898
Spain’s ambassador to the U.S., Enrique Dupuy de Lôme, resigned.
9 February, 1898
Pulitzer-owned New York Journal publishes Spanish Minister Enrique Dupuy de Lóme’s letter criticizing President McKinley.
14 February, 1898
Luís Polo de Bernabé named Minister of Spain in Washington.
15 February, 1898
U.S.S. Maine explodes in Havana Harbor.
9 March, 1898
U.S. Congress passes Fifty Million Bill to strengthen military.
17 March, 1898
U.S. Senator Redfield Proctor (R-Vt.) influences Congress and U.S. business community in favor of war with Spain.
19 March, 1898
The battleship U.S.S. Oregon left the port of San Francisco, California on its famous voyage to the Caribbean Sea and Cuban waters.
28 March, 1898
Report of U.S. Naval Court of Inquiry finds U.S.S. Maine explosion caused by a mine.
29 March, 1898
The United States Government issued an ultimatum to the Spanish Government to terminate its presence in Cuba. Spain did not accept the ultimatum in its reply of April 1, 1898.
4 April, 1898
The New York Journal issued a million copy press run dedicated to the war in Cuba. The newspaper called for the immediate U.S. entry into war with Spain.
10 April, 1898
Spanish Governor General Blanco in Cuba suspended hostilities in the war in Cuba.
11 April, 1898
The U.S. President William McKinley requested authorization from the U.S. Congress to intervene in Cuba, with the object of putting an end to the war between Cuban revolutionaries and Spain.
13 April, 1898
The U.S. Congress agreed to President McKinley’s request for intervention in Cuba, but without recognition of the Cuban Government.
The Spanish government declared that the sovereignity of Spain was jeopardized by U.S. policy and prepared a special budget for war expenses.
19 April, 1898
The U.S. Congress by vote of 311 to 6 in the House and 42 to 35 in the Senate adopted the Joint Resolution for war with Spain. Included in the Resolution was the Teller Amendment, named after Senator Henry Moore Teller (Colorado) which disclaimed any intention by the U.S. to exercise jurisdiction or control over Cuba except in a pacification role and promised to leave the island as soon as the war was over.
20 April, 1898
U.S. President William McKinley signed the Joint Resolution for war with Spain and the ultimatum was forwarded to Spain.
Spanish Minister to the United States Luís Polo de Bernabé demanded his passport and, along with the personnel of the Legation, left Washington for Canada.
21 April, 1898
The Spanish Government considered the U.S. Joint Resolution of April 20, 1898, a declaration of war. U.S. Minister in Madrid General Steward L. Woodford received his passport before presenting the ultimatum by the United States.
A state of war existed between Spain and the United States and all diplomatic relations were suspended. U.S. President William McKinley ordered a blockade of Cuba.
Spanish forces in Santiago de Cuba mined Guantánamo Bay.
22 April, 1898
U.S. fleet left Key West, Florida for Havana to begin the Cuban blockade at the principal ports on the north coast and at Cienfuegos.
23 April, 1898
President McKinley called for 125,000 volunteers.
24 April, 1898
Spanish Minister of Defense Segismundo Bermejo sent instructions to Spanish Admiral Cervera to proceed with his fleet from Cape Verde to the Caribbean, Cuba and Puerto Rico.
President of the Cuban Republic in arms, General Bartolomé Masó issued the Manifiesto de Sebastopol and reiterated the mambí motto “Independencia o Muerte”.
25 April, 1898
War was formally declared between Spain and the United States.
26 April, 1898
Willaim R. Day became U.S. Secretary of State.
29 April, 1898
The Portuguese government declared itself neutral in the conflict between Spain and the United States.
30 April, 1898
The Spanish Governor General Blanco ordered hostilities resumed with the Cuban insurrectionists.
1 May, 1898
“The message to García”. U.S. Army Lieutenant Andrew S. Rowan, through the assistance of the U.S. government, the Cuban Delegation in New York, and the mambises in Cuba, made contact with General Calixto García in Bayamo to seek his cooperation and to obtain military and political assessment of Cuba. This contact benefitted the Cuban Liberation Army and the Cuban Revolutionary Army and totally ignored the Government of the Republic in arms.
2 May, 1898
The U.S. Congress voted a war emergency credit increase of $34,625,725.
General Máximo Gómez opens communication with U.S. Admiral Sampson.
4 May, 1898
A joint resolution was introduced into the U.S. House of Representatives, with the support of President William McKinley, calling for the annexation of Hawaii.
11 May, 1898
Charles H. Allen succeeded Theodore Roosevelt as assistant secretary of the navy.
27 May, 1898
U.S. Navy, under Admiral William Thompson Sampson and Commodore Winfield Scott Schley, formally blockaded the port of Santiago de Cuba.
28 May, 1898
General William Rufus Shafter, U.S. Army, received orders to mobilize his forces in Tampa, Florida for the attack on Cuba.
3 June, 1898
First contact of the commanders of the U.S. Marines and leaders of the Cuban Liberation Army, aboard the armored cruiser U.S.S. New York at which the revolutionary forces provided detailed information for the campaign.
9 June, 1898
U.S. Admiral William Thompson Sampson sailed to Guantánamo Bay.
10 June, 1898
U.S. Marines land at Guantánamo, Cuba.
13 June, 1898
The Rough Riders sailed from Tampa, Florida bound for Santiago de Cuba.
18 June, 1898
U.S. Secretary of the Navy John D. Long ordered Commodore William T. Sampson to create a new squadron, the Eastern Squadron, for possible raiding and bombardment missions along the coasts of Spain.
The main U.S. force appeared off Santiago de Cuba, with more than 16,200 soldiers and various material in 42 ships. A total of 153 ships of the U.S. forces assembled off of the harbor.
Lieutenant General Calixto García (Cuba) and Admiral Sampson and General Shafter (US) met in El Aserradero (south coast of Oriente Province, Cuba) to complete the general strategy of the campaign. Cuban forces occupied positions west, northwest and east of Santiago de Cuba.
22 June, 1898
U.S. General Shafter’s troops land at Daiquirí, Cuba.
27 June, 1898
Lieutenant General Calixto García requested that Tomás Estrada Palma and the Cuban Committee ask President McKinely to recognize the Cuban Council of Government.
1 July, 1898
U.S. and Cuban troops took El Viso Fort, the town of El Caney, and San Juan Heights. Spanish General Vara del Rey died in the fighting. San Juan Hill was taken at the same time, with the help of the Rough Riders under Teddy Roosevelt and Leonard Wood at the battle on Kettle Hill. These victories opened the way to Santiago de Cuba. General Duffield, with 3,000 soldiers, took the Aguadores Fort at Santiago de Cuba. Spanish General Linares and Navy Captain Joaquín Bustamante died in battle.
2 July, 1898
Admiral Cervera and the Spanish fleet prepared to leave Santiago Bay.
3 July, 1898
The Spanish fleet attempt to leave the bay was halted as the U.S. squadron under Admiral Schley destroyed the Spanish destroyer Furor, the torpedo boat Plutón, and the armored cruisers Infanta María Teresa, Almirante Oquendo, Vizcaya, and Cristóbal Colón. The Spanish lost all their ships, 350 dead, and 160 wounded.
15 July, 1898
Spanish forces under General Toral capitulated to U.S. forces at Santiago de Cuba.
17 July, 1898
Santiago surrenders to U.S. troops.
18 July, 1898
The Spanish government, through the French Ambassador to the United States, Jules Cambon, initiated a message to President McKinley to suspend the hostilities and to start the negotiations to end the war. Duque de Almodóvar del Río (Juan Manuel Sánchez y Gutiérrez de Castro), Spanish Minister of State, directed a telegram to the Spanish Ambassador in Paris charging him to solicit the good offices of the French Government to negotiate a suspension of hostilities as a preliminary to final negotiations.
U.S. General Leonard Wood was named military governor of Santiago de Cuba.
Clara Barton of the Red Cross cared for wounded soldiers at Santiago de Cuba.
26 July, 1898
French Government contacted the United States Government regarding the call for suspension of hostilities at the request of the Spanish Government.
28 July, 1898
Duque de Almodóvar del Río called for the U.S. annexation of Cuba.
U.S. officials instruct General Shafter to return troops immediately to the United States to prevent an outbreak of yellow fever.
30 July, 1898
U.S. President McKinley and his Cabinet submitted to Ambassador Cambon a counter-proposal to the Spanish request for ceasefire.
2 August, 1898
Spain accepted the U.S. proposals for peace, with certain reservations regarding the Philippine Islands. McKinley called for a preliminary protocol from Spain before suspension of hostilities. That document was used as the basis for discussion between Spain and the United States at the Treaty of Peace in Paris.
11 August, 1898
U.S. Secretary of State Day and French Ambassador Cambon, representing Spain, negotiated the Protocol of Peace.
12 August, 1898
Peace protocol that ended all hostilities between Spain and the United States in the war fronts of Cuba, Puerto Rico, and the Philippines was signed in Washington, D.C.
President of the Governing Council of the Republic of Cuba Bartolomé Masó called for elections of Revolutionary Representatives to meet in Assembly.
12 September, 1898
The U.S (General Wade, General Butler and Admiral Sampson) and Spanish Military Commission (Generals Segundo Cabo and González, Admiral Vicente Manterola, and Doctor Rafael Montoro) met in Havana, Cuba, to discuss the evacuation of Spanish forces from the island.
13 September, 1898
The Spanish Cortes (legislature) ratified the Protocol of Peace.
16 September, 1898
William R. Day resigned as U.S. Secretary of State and was succeeded by John Hay.
22 September, 1898
When Major General Calixto García and his Cuban forces arrived in Santiago de Cuba, General Leonard Wood formally recognized his efforts in the war since General Shafter had failed to recognize the Cuban leader’s participation in the capitulation of Santiago.
1 October, 1898
The Spanish and United States Commissioners convened their first meeting in Paris to reach a final Treaty of Peace.
10 November, 1898
In accord with the Assembly of Representatives of the Revolution, a commission of Major General Calixto García, Colonel Manuel Sanguily, Dr. Antonio González Lanuza, General José Miguel Gómez and Colonel José R. Villalón met to seek support for needs of the Liberation Army and to establish a Cuban government. The U.S. did not recognize this commission. The U.S. instead stated that the U.S. had declared war on Spain and all of its possessions because of the destruction of the battleship U.S.S. Maine and other acts against the United States.
26 November, 1898
Captain General Ramón Blanco y Erenas resigned as Governor General of Cuba.
28 November, 1898
The Spanish Commission for Peace accepted the United States’ demands in the Peace Treaty.
10 December, 1898
Representatitves of Spain and the United States signed the Treaty of Peace in Paris. Spain renounced all rights to Cuba and allowed an independent Cuba, ceded Puerto Rico and the island of Guam to the United States, gave up its possessions in the West Indies, and sold the Philippine Islands, receiving in exchange $20,000,000.
1899
1 January, 1899
Spanish forces left Cuba.
6 February, 1899
U.S. Senate ratified the Treaty of Paris by a vote of 52 to 27.
19 March, 1899
The Queen regent of Spain, María Cristina, signed the Treaty of Paris, breaking the deadlock in the Spanish Cortes.
11 April, 1899
The Treaty of Paris was proclaimed.
