The excuse for entering the war was the rebellion by the Cubans against Spanish rule and the explosion of an American battleship U.S.S. Maine. The Spanish colonies in mainland North and South America became independent in the early 1800s, but Cuba and Puerto Rico remained Spanish. Many Americans in the U.S. sympathized with Cuba, which began in 1895, and also, maybe more importantly, U.S. citizens owned $50 million worth of real estate and industry in Cuba. William McKinley became president in 1897, and later that year the Spanish prime minister was assassinated. After brutal rule that included concentration camps, Spain granted Cuba limited autonomy on January 1, 1898, but that was too little, too late. On January 12, there was a riot in Cuba against the Spanish.

On January 25, the U.S. government, concerned about this problem in Cuba, sent the battleship USS Maine to Havana. On February

Two months after Commodore George Dewey destroyed Manila Bay, Admiral William Sampson repeated with an annihilating victory over the Spanish in a running battle off Santiago, Cuba. One by one the Spanish ships were taken under a withering storm of American shells and were forced to abandon their run to the open sea and instead turn toward the safety of the Cuban coast. The Spanish ships returned fired, but the volume of fire could not match the fire from the American guns. The Oregon and the Brooklyn engaged each ship and continued to pursue the eluding Spanish vessels forcing them to turn toward land. Iowa, Texas, Indiana and the New York also engaged and administered destruction to the Spanish ships. (Oregon, Brooklyn, Iowa, Texas, Indiana, and New York were all American Battle Ships.) First the Infanta Maria Teresa fled the seen. Next was the Almirante Oquendo, then the Vizcaya. Only the Cristobal Colon, the fastest in the Spanish fleet remained. The great chase began.

Teddy always a man of action, knew his place was on the battlefield, not in the rear. At the age of 40 he took a fateful gamble. Determined to serve, not merely direct, he resigned from the Navy Dept. to organize and lead a crack regiment of volunteers for the Cuban invasion. Formally named the 1st United States Volunteer Calvary, they quickly became known as Teddy's Rough Riders.

On May 15, Theodore Roosevelt began training the famous Rough Riders for battles in Cuba, which brought him the fame that made him vice president in 1901 and then president on September 13 . In Washington, President McKinley received the news of the great battle. However, the battle of Manila did not end the war. 100 miles off the US coast is where Spanish held Cuba, by a substantial army, and hostile to American interests there. No naval force could impose on Cuba, and in order to force the Spanish out, a full scale invasion would have to be mounted.

Spain was by this time a decaying, weak empire, and no match for a vigorous, muscular American military kept in shape by killing American Indians. On May 1, U.S. ships under Commodore Dewey, sent from Hong Kong to the Philippines, won the Battle of Manila Bay. Before dawn on May 1, 1898, Commodore George Dewey's flagship Olympia led seven U.S. Navy cruisers and gunboats into Manila Bay. By 8 AM that morning Dewey's squadron had located and destroyed virtually the entire Spanish naval forces in the Philippines. Damage to the American ships was very little, and their crews suffered no fatalities and few injuries.

As soon as word spread that the colorful Roosevelt was looking for volunteers, the War offic

Some topics in this essay:
Rough Riders, Theodore Roosevelt, Colon Colon, Manila Bay, Spanish Fleet, President McKinley, Spanish Navy, American War, Spaniard Shortly, William McKinley, rough riders, manila bay, spanish fleet, oregon brooklyn, colonial power, battle manila, puerto rico, spanish ships, president mckinley, 1 1898, battleship uss maine, iowa texas indiana, united colonial power, cuba puerto rico, san juan hill,