• Abstract and Figures
• Public Full-text

Uniform with this Volume. THE NATION S NAVY. OUR SHIPS AND THEIR ACHIEVEMENTS. By Charles Morris. Cloth, illustrated, $1.50. " This is one of the books that deserve an immediate, as well as a lasting popularity, for the reason that its every chapter is of vital and telling interest and instruc tion to all who keep in close touch with the eventful news of each day as the present war progresses. Mr. Charles Morris, the author, tells the absorbing story of our navy, from its earliest beginnings, in a manner that is sure to win the respect and regard of every reader for the successful effort of the writer, as well as an added admiration for our country and her notable his tory among the nations of the earth." Boston Courier. THE WAR WITH SPAIN A COMPLETE HISTORY OF THE WAR OF 1898 BETWEEN THE UNITED STATES AND SPAIN BY CHARLES MORRIS "HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES, AUTHOR OF "THE NATION S NAVY," " HISTORICAL TALES," ETC. WITH MAPS AND ILLUSTRATIONS PHILADELPHIA J. B. LIPP1NCOTT COMPANY 1899 17 COPYRIGHT, 1898, BY J. B. LIPPINCOTT COMPANY. PREFACE THE true mission of the United States may be held to be not war not destruction in peace, ; production, ; dustry, not rapine. But even to the most peacefully inclined of nations occasions come which irresistibly demand that the sword shall be drawn and blows be struck, and through one of these periods of violence this country has just passed. It has had to deal with a nation not yet in the nineteenth century, a belated relic of the mediaeval age, and has found it necessary to employ forcible methods. War is an evil, but there are greater evils only to be met by war, national diseases which * only the strongest remedies can cure. Spain s colonial system has been such a disease, one with which only heroic treatment would avail. It has been a system of despotism and enslavement, of the suppression of insur rection by massacre and starvation, and of obstinate ad herence to methods long since outlived by other civilized nations. The state of affairs had grown intolerable when the United States took up the sword for the relief of a starving and perishing people, and began a war based upon the highest of motives, that of humane sympathy and the succor of the oppressed. This country has been accused of a selfish greed for the of but it territory Spain ; may be safely said that no purpose of territorial aggrandizement was among the motives that inspired the war. All wars yield unpre- M124132 5 6 PREFACE. meditated results, and the principal result of this has been to place under the control of the United States certain island possessions which obviously cannot be handed back to Spain, to be misgoverned as before, and whose people are incapable of self-government. The United States must retain them or hand them over to land-greedy nations which stand ready to seize every shred of unappropriated soil. Some of them she has decided to hold but it be that this result ; may repeated of the war was not included among its motives. The war has been regarded with interest by foreign nations from another point of view. For years past the powers of instruments of destruction have been steadily on the increase, until it began to appear as if war would become wholesale butchery, and must cease as some thing too terrible to be contemplated. This war has, therefore, been looked upon as an object-lesson in the de structive powers of magazine rifles, rapid-fire guns, tor pedo-tubes, and other death-dealing implements. The result has been to prove that in the rush, the turmoil, the nerve-strain of combat, modern weapons are apt to waste their projectiles upon the empty air, and that infantry may still charge earthworks and rifle-pits with no greater loss of life than in former wars. In naval combat the value of coolness and training, as compared with the opposite qualities, has received a wonderful demonstra tion in the quick and complete destruction of the Spanish fleets and the remarkable immunity of American ships and men. The * man behind the gun seems of more importance than the gun itself. But a preface should not be an argument or an ex ample of special pleading, and we may conclude by saying that in these less than four months of war the PREFACE. 7 United States has taken a new position before the world, has dis a higher and nobler attitude. Europe suddenly of covered that we are more than a nation shopkeepers ; that we are a people who can strike shrewdly for the is destined to be a leader in the van right, and one that world of the value of human progress, an example to the of free institutions, peaceful industries, high aspirations, and moral energies. CONTENTS. CHAPTER I. SPAIN AND HER COLONIES. PAGE Cruelty of the early Spaniards Annihilation of the natives How Cuba was colonized Later history of Cuba Spain s methods of administration Commerce forbidden Character of office-holders Insurrections begin The cruelties of the Spanish army The Captain-General of Cuba given despotic powers Cuban hatred of Spain Attempts at insurrection The Lopez invasion The Quitman project Revolt in Spain Condition of affairs in Cuba Oppression of the islanders Large salaries and perquisites of the Spanish officials Frauds and fees The share of Spain Disregard of Cuban interests The revolt of 1868 A guerilla war The character of the country The machete as a weapon Bush fighting The rainy season Desultory warfare Official bulletins The trocha and reconcentration Outrages in Havana Mas sacre of the students The treaty of El Zanjon Promises of reform not kept 21 CHAPTER II. RELATIONS OF THE UNITED STATES TO CUBA. Early difficulties with Spain Threatened interference of the Holy Alliance between Spain and the revolting colo nies This leads to the Monroe doctrine The United States gives warning to European powers Mexico and Colombia warned to keep out of Cuba The United States guarantees Spain s title to Cuba Secretary Ever ett s ultimatum Offer to purchase Cuba The Black Warrior affair The Ostend conference Buchanan s 9 io CONTENTS. PAGE views The Virginius affair Protest and indemnity President Grant s attitude Injuries to American com merce 47 CHAPTER III. CUBA IN INSURRECTION. Cubans in exile The work of the clubs Marti s efforts The outbreak of revolt Maceo and Gomez reach the island Death of Marti Campos appointed governor- general His methods How the insurgents fought Their horsemanship Life in a Cuban camp Gomez in command His troubles and despondency Camaguey invaded Gomez s plan of campaign A war of skir mishesThe battle of Bayamo A Cuban constitution and government Maceo s activity Progress of the war west wardIts destructive character Pinar del Rio invaded Campos replaced by General Weyler Weyler s repu tation for cruelty His inefficient campaigning Destruc tion of plantations Maceo s operations His death The province of Pinar del Rio pacified Operations of Weyler in Santa Clara Gomez s waiting game General Garcia s capture of Victoria de las Tunas Indignation at Weyler s cruelty He is recalled and replaced by Gen eral Blanco A reform administration How the Cubans received it 58 CHAPTER IV. THE FORTS AND THE TROCHAS. The Spanish ill-success due to their method of warfare This method of advantage to the insurgents Guerilla warfare a Spanish habit The trocha trusted to Suc cessive trochas built Gomez and Maceo treat them with disdain Weyler s trocha from Mariel to Majana described The trocha from Jucaro to Moron The mul titude of forts The Spanish held the towns and forts, the defensive no the Cubans the country Spain on ; energetic offensive operations Their system of returning to dinner War bulletins Falsehoods with a purpose . 82 CONTENTS. ii CHAPTER V. THE RECONCENTRADOS AND THE MILITARY PRISONS. PAGE Weyler s barbarity The reconcentrado order Its disas trous effect Pacification by starvation The reconcen- trados at Jaruco McKinley s denunciation of the cruelty displayed What Senator Proctor and others saw in Cuba Incomunicado imprisonment General Lee s protests Murder of Dr. Ruiz No more Americans imprisoned The sufferings of Cuban exiles The story of Evange- lina Cisneros Spanish compared with Turkish barbarity A butcher of men feasted in Sagua The endless con flagrationsAn intolerable situation 92 CHAPTER VI. EVENTS LEADING TO INTERVENTION. Efforts to prevent expeditions to Cuba The Competitor prisoners President Cleveland s message Spain s reply General Lee sent to Havana His report President McKinley s action Spain s reply to Minister Woodford Intervention for charity Spain s financial condition The hopeless state of the war Lee s opinion of the in surgentsIncrease of irritation The riot in Havana The Key West squadron The, De Lome letter The Maine in Havana harbor The explosion and its result Wide-spread indignation The Court of Inquiry and its verdict Active preparations for war Emergency fund voted New ships bought and ordered Senator Proctor s speech The feeling in Congress McKinley s pacific action Lee leaves Havana The message to Congress The consular reports Warlike resolution of Congress Its immediate results Spanish methods War inevitable Concentration of the army The attitude of the powers of Europe 103 12 CONTENTS. CHAPTER VII. CUBA UNDER BLOCKADE. PAGE The waiting fleet at Key West A night of signalling The start for Cuba The first prize Establishment of the blockade Peril of the Paris Blanco and the Havanese Prizes of the fleet Lieutenant Rowan s daring journey The question of privateers Spain s declaration Sec retary Sherman retires The Matanzas ports bombarded The Cape Verde fleet The flying squadron Bombard ment of forts at Cienfuegos and Cardenas The jour ney of the Oregon Complaints from Tampa Attitude of the powers of Europe Friendliness of Great Britain .

Load more

  450

Copy Link