Title: Spanish American War
1Spanish American War The War In Cuba
2U. S. S. Maine 1898
35 Gun Crew on the Maine
4In 1898, the United States Battleship Maine was
sent to Havana, Cuba as a warning to the Spanish
Government
The Battleship Maine entering Havana Harbor
5On February 15, 1898, a little after 900 PM, the
Maine exploded, killing 266 members of her crew...
6Investigations of the Maines Wreck showed that
there had been an explosion under the keel...
7The Yellow Press of the day demanded the United
States declare war on Spain
8Mast of the Maine at Arlington Cemetery
9The Congress of the United States
Declared war on Spain on April 25, 1898.
The United States had a standing Army of only
25,000 men, so the call went out for Volunteers
and State Militia (the forerunner to the National
Guard) to swell the ranks to 280,00 Troops.
10The Regular Army of the United States consisted
of 10 Regiments of Cavalry, 20 Regiments of
Infantry, and 5 Regiments of Artillery scattered
mostly in the Western United States
11The Best Known of all of these Volunteer Units
was the 1st U.S.Volunteer Cavalry
Col. L. Wood and Lt. Col.Theodore Roosevelt
12For the first time in American History, there
were no East, West, South, or NorthWe were all
Americans
The Rough Riders were organized from Arizona, New
Mexico, Indian Territory (Oklahoma) and comprised
of Native Americans, Hispanic, and Anglo Troopers
and filled out by Texans They worked with the
Black Soldiers that made up the Buffalo Soldiers
of the 9th, 10th Cavalry and 24th and 25th
Infantries.
13K Troop Training in San Antonio, Texas in May,
1898
14On to...
Cuba
15Rough Riders landing in Daiquiri, Cuba
16Rough Riders in Camp after Guasimas
17Fifth Corps Commander Major General William Pecos
Bill Shafter Commander of the Army in Cuba
18The most famous of all the Battles in Cuba was
San Juan Heights
19Buffalo Soldiers on San Juan Hill
20The same scene showing Buffalo Soldiers, Regular
Army and Volunteers on San Juan Heights
21Theodore Roosevelt became the Col. Of the Rough
Riders and the Commanding Officer of the Cavalry
Battalion. After Returning to the United States,
he ran for Governor of New York the next
year. Then became our 26th President.
22Following the war, he served as Military Governor
of Cuba until 1902. As a Brigadier General he
fought the Moros during the Philippine
Insurrection in 1904 and less than a year later
he was named Army Chief of Staff by President
William Howard Taft (who he knew in the
Philippines where Taft served as Civilian
Governor). In less than a decade, he had jumped
from a Captain in the Medical Corps to the
highest post in the Army.
Leonard Wood
23Living History Programs keep our Heritage
alive K Troop