Chapter 27 Empire and Expansion, 1890-1909 In the years after the ...

Dewey’s May Day Victory at Manila
1. Americans went to war with great enthusiasm.
2. The US Army was commanded by Civil War officers and unprepared for war in the tropics and
vastly outnumbered by the Sp. Army in Cuba. Sp. Navy seemed to be better than the US’s and
except for Br. (now more a US ally) Europe favored Sp.
3. As Under Secretary of the Navy, Theodore Roosevelt took advantage of the secretary’s absence to
cable Commodore George Dewey, who was commanding the Asiatic Squadron in Hong Kong,
telling him to attack the Philippines if war started. McKinley later confirmed the order.
4. On 5/1/98 Dewey sailed into Manila Bay and attacked the antiquated Sp. Fleet. The Sp. lost the
battle and almost 400 men (No US sailors died.).
5. Dewey had defeated the Sp. Navy, but he couldn’t take Manila, so he had to wait for troops from
the US.
6. Other countries sent warships to “protect their nationals” in the Philippines. Dewey almost went to
war with Germany, but the Br. were friendly.
7. Troops finally arrived and Americans worked with Filipino insurgents led by Emilio Aguinaldo,
who had been brought from exile by Dewey, to defeat the Sp.
8. Events in the Philippines made America convinced that they needed Hawaii as a coaling station.
Hawaii was willing to cooperate, America wanted Hawaii, and Congress annexed it.
9. Hawaiians became citizens in a US territory.
The Confused Invasion of Cuba
1. Despite his protests that his fleet would be destroyed, Sp. ordered Admiral Cervera to take his
ships to Cuba.
2. Americans on the Eastern seaboard expected to be invaded and panicked.
3. Cervera sailed in the harbor at Santiago, Cuba and was bottled up by the American fleet.
4. US government decided to send an unprepared army across Cuba to drive Cervera out.
5. Theodore Roosevelt was the principal organizer of a group of cowboys, hearty characters, ex-polo
players, and ex-convicts who were led by Leonard Wood. They became known as the Rough
Riders
6. In June 1898 amid much chaos the army sailed from Tampa and landed near Santiago.
7. Fighting occurred on July 1 between the US and Sp. troops. The Rough Riders were very involved
and TR evidently thought it was great fun!
Curtains for Spain in America
1. As the American army closed in from the rear, a protesting Admiral Cervera was ordered to fight.
As he expected his fleet was destroyed, (500 Sp. Deaths to 1 American)
2. Soon after the naval loss Santiago surrendered.
3. American troops headed to PR where most of the people greeted them as liberating heroes
4. On August 12, 1898 Spain and the US signed an armistice
5. The American Army was laid low by malaria, typhoid, dysentery, yellow fever, and embalmed
beef.
6. With TR as a ringleader demands were made to pull out the troops and they were transferred to
Long Island, NY ending the “Splendid Little War.”
7. A scandal of the war was the death rate from disease; especially typhoid which was rampant in the
unsanitary camps
America’s Course (Curse) of Empire
1. The 1898 meeting between the US and Spain in Paris decided that Cuba was free that America got
Guam and Puerto Rico, and that (after much soul searching by McKinley on the pros-spread