Our War with Spain

OUR WAR WITH SPAIN. BY RICHARD H. TITHERINGTON. THK STORY OK THK STRUGGI.IC IN WHICH TIIK UNITIJD STATICS HAS WON" SO RKMARKABI^K A TRIUMPH, OPIJNING A NKW KRA OF OUR NATIONAL liXPANSION—TIIi; THIRD INSTALMIVNT SKKTCHKS Tin; MOA'ICMUNT OF FVUNTS UP TO THIC STRIKING OF THIi HOUR F'OR INTICRA'IJNTION IN CUBA, AND THE FINAL DFFINITION OI' THF: ISSUKS UPON WHICH THli SWORD WAS DRAWN. HE destruction of the Alainc in as a friendly visit, and there had been T Havana harbor, on the night of no sign of a hostile demonstration, yet February 15, 1898, was a tragedy as the situation was such that her com extraordinary as it was starthng and mander had ordered an extra degree of momentous. The vessel, a battleship of watchfulness on the part of all those 6,682 tons, lay at the buoy assigned her responsible for the care of the ship. by the authorities of the port. Al There had been no alarm of any sort though her errand had been announced when, without a moment's warning. GENERAL MAXIMO GOMICZ, COMMANDICR IN CHIEF GKNhKAl. CALIXIO GARCIA, COMMANDER OF THE OF THE CI'BAN INSURGEXrS- , INSURGE.N'TS IN SANTIAGO PROVINCE. PRODUCED BY UNZ.ORG ELECTRONIC REPRODUCTION PROHIBITED 430 MUNSEY'S MAGAZINE. from deep down in the bowels of the the ship had been blown up. The cap vessel, there came the shock and roar tain ran on deck, and ordered the maga of a tremendous explosion—or rather zines to be flooded; but the magazines, of two explosions with a brief but dis partl}^ exploded, were already filled by tinct interval—instantly transforming the water that rushed through the rent the entire forward part of the Maine frame of the vessel. \.'reck of the .\I,ui ClCXiCK.YL VIi;\V OF THE CITY AND HARBOR OP HAVANA— into a shattered wreck, scattering The Maine was blazing fiercely and debris over other vessels anchored in sinking fast. In a few minutes she had the harbor, and breaking windows and settled down in about thirty feet of extinguishing lights along the water water, her upper works, a mass of front of the city. wreckage, remaining above the surface, Captain Sigsbee was sitting in his and continuing to burn, with occasional cabin, writing a letter, when the up explosions of ammunition, for four heaval came. Before he reached the hours more. Three of her boats, which door an orderly, from whom no explo hung aft, were intact, and were sion could shock the habit of discipline, launched before she sank ,• and in these, marched in and formally reported that and in boats from two neighboring ves sels—the Spanish cruiser Alfonso XII and the American steamer City of Washington, of the Ward line—the survivors were carried ashore. Most of the crew, whose quarters were di rectly above the seat of the explosion, were instantly killed, or were drowned with the sinking ship, the total loss be- mg 260 men, including two officers. Lieutenant Jenkins and Engineer Mer- ritt. A third officer, Lieutenant Blan- din, died some months after from causes attributed to the shock of the disaster. SORROW AND ANGKR IN AMERICA. To his brief announcement of the loss of his ship, cabled as soon as he went ashore. Captain Sigsbee added the sen tence : BARTOLOMEO MA6.SO, PRESIDENT OF THE CUBAN Public opinion should be suspended until INSURGENT GOVERNMENT 1897-1898. further proof. PRODUCED BY UNZ.ORG ELECTRONIC REPRODUCTION PROHIBITED OUR WAR WITH SPAIN. 431 The circumstances were such that a in time to prevent disaster, although suspension of tlie popular judgment some of the shells it contained had ac- was impossible. The case was one tliat tuall}' been charred by the heat. decided itself. The simple fact that an .Ar.iong other cases cited was that of American n:an of war had gone to a the liritish man of war Dotterel, de- Spanish port, and there, moored in tlie stroycd in the Straits of Magellan, in -n. ^tir—=s^|iB«r -"^A fabaiias Castle. -AS si:i;x FKoii THE SUBURB OP RECI.A, EAST OF THK UAREOR. sjjot assigned by Spanish officials, had 1873, by ati explosion which remained been destroyed by a nocturnal explo a mystery until it was traced to the sion, led inevitably to one conclusion. paint room, where a dangerous inflam At another time it might have been mable gas had generated. possible to consider, as was urged by a technical journal,* that " the combina SPANISH TRI5ACIIKRY AI^liAlGNKD. tion of steam, electricity, high ex But no technical plea of the possi plosives, and coal that may become self bility of accident to the Maine could igniting, is not a happy one, and the avail against the overwhelming sus- most exact precatitions against acci dents may fail at times, as they have in the case of other vessels." There had been narrow escapes from disastrous ex plosions on at least three others of our new steel war ships, due to the esca|)e. in the coal bunkers, of the gas that causes " fire damp" explosions in mines—a gas which, innocuous in the open air, is a very dangerous explosive vdien it accumulates in a confined space. About two years l)efore, while she was stationed at Key West, some of the Cincinnati's coal was fired by spon taneous combustion, and the steel bulkhead which—just as in the Maine— separated the bunker from a maga zine full of projectiles and ammunition became red hot. The imminent peril was revealed only by a tiny curl of smoke, and the magazine was flooded SALVADOR CISNKROS BKTANCOURT, MARQUIS OP * 77;;? Army and Nazy Journal, February SANTA LUCIA, PRESIDENT OF THE CUBAN 19, 1898. INSURGENT GOVERNMENT 1895-1897. PRODUCED BY UNZ.ORG ELECTRONIC REPRODUCTION PROHIBITED PRODUCED BY UNZ.ORG ELECTRONIC REPRODUCTION PROHIBITED OUR WAR WITH SPAIX. 433 J'RAXEDKS MATKO SA(;A,STA, I'RIOIIER OF SPAIN. BORN IX 1S27, AND EDUCATED A,S AN ENGINEER, Sl.NOR .SAGASTA ENTERED THE CORTES IX 1854, AND I'OR TWENTY YEARS HAS BEEN THE LEADER OF THE SPANISH LIBERALS. From a photograpji by Debas, Madrid, picion—nay, the practical certainty— The sinking of the Maine meant war engendered by tlie broad facts of the between the United States and Spain. case. She had been destroyed, by de That soon became evident even to those liberate and fiendish trcaclicry, and her who least desired hostilities. But war destroyers must be brought to ac was not to be proclaimed without count. That was the verdict rendered proper formalities, and these could not by a public opinion so strong, so imani- ])roceed with undignified haste. They mous, so earnest, that no official au might have moved faster had our armed thority, however anxious to avoid a forces been better prepared. The game conflict so long as an honorable way of was in our hands, but we were not escaping it was to be found, could re ready to play the trump card that our strain the voice of national indignation. vast and imdoubted superiority of 10 SI PRODUCED BY UNZ.ORG ELECTRONIC REPRODUCTION PROHIBITED 434 MUNSIiY'S MAGAZINE. strength gave us. Every day's delay tain Chadwick, Lieutenant Com enabled us to organize that strength mander ;\Iarix, and Lieutenant Com for action, and much invaluable work mander Potter. Their sessions began in was accomplished during those eight Havana harbor, on board the light weeks of suspense, when impatient house tender Mangrove, which brought critics were denouncing the administra- them from Kev West, on the 21st of CwiVif'....- . -, 'rsS™"" .' ' CUSHMAN K. I) WIS, IMllD STATES Sli.XATOR FKO-M :MIXXESOTA, CHAIRMAN OF THK SFXATE COMMITTH, ON KIRFICN AFFAIRS, AND AFTHOR OF THE REPORT OE" APRIL 13, l8gS, ON A\HIeH eoNOKI SS BASED ITS RESOLUTION E'OR ARMED INTERVICNTIOX. Friyjii a j>hoto^rnph by Bell, IVasJiij/gton. tion for its supposedly timid and half February. Divers and wrecking ap hearted policy. paratus had already been sent from the United States, but it was soon de TIIi; COilMISSIOX OI-' IXOUIKV. termined that the ]\Iaine could not be The President's first step was the raised. About a hundred of her dead natural and regular one of appointing were never recovered from the wreck; a conunission of inquirv to make a the rest were buried in the Cristobal formal report on the disaster. Four Colon cemetery, the funeral of those naval officers of ability and experience first found being attended by a great were selected—Captain Sampson, Cap- demonstration of public svmpathy. PRODUCED BY UNZ.ORG ELECTRONIC REPRODUCTION PROHIBITED PRODUCED BY UNZ.ORG ELECTRONIC REPRODUCTION PROHIBITED 43^^ MUNSEY'S MAGAZINE. HOW A WARSHIP COALS AT SEA—THE CRUISER CIXCIXXATI TAKING A SUPPLY OF FUEL FROM A COLLIER OFF THE; CUBAN COAST, APRIL, 1898. From a photograph l>y Byro7t, New I 'ork. The commission of inquiry sat for Havana from Matanzas (March 9). twenty tliree days in Havana harbor The Spanish cruiser Vizcaya entered and at Key West, closely following the the harbor a few days earlier. To keep work of the divers, and examining of up the polite fiction of the Maine's ficers and men of the Maine and a few " friendly visit " to Havana, the Vizcaya others who had been near the scene of had been dispatched to New York, to the disaster. No Spanish witnesses return the courtesy. She had arrived were summoned, and suggestions for a there in time to hear of the destruction joint inquiry were declined; but no ob of the American vessel (February 18), jection was made to the inspection of and had spent a week in the port, the wreck by Havana divers, whose evi watchfully guarded by the metropolitan dence was taken by a Spanish board police, before sailing for Havana, appointed on the night of the explosion.

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