alternatehistory.com
Spanish American War Pt 2
Before the Battle of New Orleans the nation had been divided on the war with Spain and it wasn’t a popular war. The United States was still going through reconstruction of trying to make the nation whole in the aftermath of the Civil War. In the south there was a battle between Redeemers who wanted to undue the Radical Republicans advances and break their coalition of Freedmen, Carpetbaggers, and Scalawags. In short, the Redeemers wanted to remake the South as close to the antebellum south just without legal slavery as they could. Whereas the Radical Republicans for the most part wanted to industrializatied the south and make it like the north. The Redeemers didn’t want anything to do with this war with Spain as adding Cuba to the nation wouldn’t do anything for them unlike it would had before the Civil War.
In the north the war wasn’t that populator either. War exhaustion was a real thing in the north as many wanted to get on with their lives. The rich wanted to make more money which the war upended as American merchant ships were subject to Spanish raiders. The lower class just wanted to make enough money so they could go west and homestead it for the most part. They didn’t want to go off and fight another war. Not with the chance of making a better life in the west being within reach for many.
The Battle of New Orleans through changed this. As news of Spanish actions in New Orleans spread it enraged most Americans. To have an American city invaded and sacked was too much for most Americans to accept lying down. Past allegiance to the Confederacy or being tired of war in the north no longer matter. Men both veterans of the Civil War and those who were too young to fight in that war when to recruiting stations in groves. The common rallying cry was Remember New Orleans in both the north and south.
In Cuba following New Orleans work was done on a follow up raid was started. Possible targets included Savannah, Georgia, Mobile, Alabama, or Charleston, South Carolina. Yet as news filleted out of the United States via Canada the Spanish learned they made a grave mistake by attacking New Orleans. Instead of being scared of the Spanish most Americans were well passed the point of being angry and in to the stage of being pissed off and wanting blood by the bucket.
On March 19 1874 the Spanish withdrew their best naval and army units from Cuba and Puerto Rico. Spain was still fighting its own civil war and Serrano wanted to make sure his side won even if he would have to go into exile for taking the blame for what was about to happen. He saw from the reports coming out of Canada he would not be able to win a quick war against the United States and elected to perform this withdraw and removed the best units that were loyal to him and his side from the Caribbean.
Even with this withdraw it still took time for the United States to mount an offensive. Yet instead of the Caribbean the first offensive to be launch was to the Central Pacific. This small force sailed from San Francisco on April 12th. Spain had a mess of Central Pacific Islands that were under their control but were lightly defended. Some of them such as Guam would be a good stopping point for trade with China and be a boom for the United States to control. Yet this really was an effort by the Navy to make up for their total failure in the Gulf of Mexico three months prior. Even through the Central Pacific invasion force was the first to be launch it would be the last one to be heard from given the distances of the Pacific.
The first invasion force for Cuba left Mobile on June 4th. It was a force of 45,000 men and was under the command of Major General Philip Sheridan. Its target was Havana. A second invasion force left Savannah three days later. This force was of 50,000 men under the command of Major General Winfield S. Hancock. Hancock’s target was Santiago on the other side of the island of Cuba from Sheridan. The idea was to perform a press the Spanish on both sides of the islands then meet in the middle of the island.
Sheridan’s force landed near Mariel on June 11th. Mariel was selected as it had a good enough port that would allow the unloading of artillery and Gatling Guns for support of the infantry in the campaign to take Havana. There were only a small number of Spanish soldiers defending Mariel who gave a ceremonial defense of the city before withdrawing to inform those still in Havana of the fact the Americans had arrived. Yet those in Havana decided not to attack instead they decided to hold up in Havana and force the Americans to take the city from them.
Hancock’s force landed near Santiago on June 17th. Unlike Sheridan he didn’t have a easily taken port to unload artillery and Gatling Guns. He further had to deal with the remains of the Spanish Caribbean Squadron which had been based at Santiago. Yet to help in this the USN had five old civil war monitors and other iron clads to blockade the harbor and give fire support to Hancock’s force. Like the Spanish facing Sheridan force through the Spanish didn’t attack the Americans as they landed. Instead they elected to say on the defensive and force the Americans to take their positions.
This set the stage for the two major battles of the war fought in Cuba. The Battle of Havana and San Juan Hill in late June and early July 1874.
In the north the war wasn’t that populator either. War exhaustion was a real thing in the north as many wanted to get on with their lives. The rich wanted to make more money which the war upended as American merchant ships were subject to Spanish raiders. The lower class just wanted to make enough money so they could go west and homestead it for the most part. They didn’t want to go off and fight another war. Not with the chance of making a better life in the west being within reach for many.
The Battle of New Orleans through changed this. As news of Spanish actions in New Orleans spread it enraged most Americans. To have an American city invaded and sacked was too much for most Americans to accept lying down. Past allegiance to the Confederacy or being tired of war in the north no longer matter. Men both veterans of the Civil War and those who were too young to fight in that war when to recruiting stations in groves. The common rallying cry was Remember New Orleans in both the north and south.
In Cuba following New Orleans work was done on a follow up raid was started. Possible targets included Savannah, Georgia, Mobile, Alabama, or Charleston, South Carolina. Yet as news filleted out of the United States via Canada the Spanish learned they made a grave mistake by attacking New Orleans. Instead of being scared of the Spanish most Americans were well passed the point of being angry and in to the stage of being pissed off and wanting blood by the bucket.
On March 19 1874 the Spanish withdrew their best naval and army units from Cuba and Puerto Rico. Spain was still fighting its own civil war and Serrano wanted to make sure his side won even if he would have to go into exile for taking the blame for what was about to happen. He saw from the reports coming out of Canada he would not be able to win a quick war against the United States and elected to perform this withdraw and removed the best units that were loyal to him and his side from the Caribbean.
Even with this withdraw it still took time for the United States to mount an offensive. Yet instead of the Caribbean the first offensive to be launch was to the Central Pacific. This small force sailed from San Francisco on April 12th. Spain had a mess of Central Pacific Islands that were under their control but were lightly defended. Some of them such as Guam would be a good stopping point for trade with China and be a boom for the United States to control. Yet this really was an effort by the Navy to make up for their total failure in the Gulf of Mexico three months prior. Even through the Central Pacific invasion force was the first to be launch it would be the last one to be heard from given the distances of the Pacific.
The first invasion force for Cuba left Mobile on June 4th. It was a force of 45,000 men and was under the command of Major General Philip Sheridan. Its target was Havana. A second invasion force left Savannah three days later. This force was of 50,000 men under the command of Major General Winfield S. Hancock. Hancock’s target was Santiago on the other side of the island of Cuba from Sheridan. The idea was to perform a press the Spanish on both sides of the islands then meet in the middle of the island.
Sheridan’s force landed near Mariel on June 11th. Mariel was selected as it had a good enough port that would allow the unloading of artillery and Gatling Guns for support of the infantry in the campaign to take Havana. There were only a small number of Spanish soldiers defending Mariel who gave a ceremonial defense of the city before withdrawing to inform those still in Havana of the fact the Americans had arrived. Yet those in Havana decided not to attack instead they decided to hold up in Havana and force the Americans to take the city from them.
Hancock’s force landed near Santiago on June 17th. Unlike Sheridan he didn’t have a easily taken port to unload artillery and Gatling Guns. He further had to deal with the remains of the Spanish Caribbean Squadron which had been based at Santiago. Yet to help in this the USN had five old civil war monitors and other iron clads to blockade the harbor and give fire support to Hancock’s force. Like the Spanish facing Sheridan force through the Spanish didn’t attack the Americans as they landed. Instead they elected to say on the defensive and force the Americans to take their positions.
This set the stage for the two major battles of the war fought in Cuba. The Battle of Havana and San Juan Hill in late June and early July 1874.
- Jim Smitty
- Word Count: 990