Spanish American War
...command of Major General William Shafter and their goal was to go from Tampa to Cuba and bring supplies to Cuban rebels. The Americans also were planning on utilizing their Navy in the Atlantic to blockade Cuba and prevent the Spanish from receiving supplies from Spain. This plan would later change though as situations occurred during the war, as all war plans will be modified during a war do to minor setbacks or advances as a result of movements by the enemy. Even though the Americans destroyed the Spanish fleet in the Pacific Ocean, they had a much stronger Navy in the Atlantic, with the majority located in the Cape Verde Islands. This fleet set sail for Cuba once the Americans set up their blockade, and the Spanish wanted to break up this blockade by sending Admiral Cervera with an armada of four cruisers and three torpedo boats. Rear Admiral William Sampson was the American Naval Blockade commander with three battleships, two cruisers, and many smaller ships. A fourth battleship would arrive later on in the war. While the Spanish were on their way to Cuba, a rumor broke out that the Spanish were going to attack the East coast, which caused Sampson to send a powerful fleet to Virginia as a precaution. While Sampson was chasing Cervera’s fleet, the Spanish ships were in search of fuel, and so Cervera led them to Santiago de Cuba, where the American Navy in turn trapped them. The United States could not send in the Navy into the port of Santiago for fear of the ground guns operated by Spanish, which could do heavy damage to the American fleet. The Americans than decided to attack Santiago from the land, as they determined that it was imperative to capture Santiago and destroy the Spanish fleet without losing a single Naval ship because of their strained relations with other foreign powers in the world. On May 30, 1898, General Shafter was stationed in Tampa with some regulars, and he received a letter from Washington DC instructing him to go towards the area of Santiago with a group of soldiers and destroy the battalion of soldiers located there along with the Spanish fleet. Shafter headed over at first with 18,000 troops, but there was a rumor of some Spanish ships patrolling the area, and the troop transports had little defense and had to wait at sea until the area was inspected, and by the time the troops finally arrived in Cuba there were 17,000 troops remaining. Theodore Roosevelt and his group of Rough Riders did survive, and they would be very important in the Battle of San Juan Hill. The Cuban rebel leader General Calixto García agreed to help clear 300 Spanish soldiers out of the town of Daiquirí. The goal was for the US troops to capture the Morro Castle and forts at Socapa, but this required a march up a 230 foot cliff to a fort, which had already resulted a massacre of the British back in the 18th century, and General Shafter was reluctant in allowing this mission, so the Americans decided to land 15 miles east of Daiquirí. By June 22, 1898 the landings on the island had begun. The Spanish officer in charge in the Santiago province was Lieutenant General Arsenio Linares who had 36,000 troops at his disposal in his area but perhaps made a poor decision in withdrawing his troops from Daiquirí, in anticipation of a major battle defense around Santiago. This allowed the Americans to land around 20,000 men in Cuba without a shot being fired to drive them away. The only loss was five horses that drowned. The Americans set up a base at Siboney, and the first land battle of the short war was fought at Las Guasimas where 2,000 Spanish soldiers had been stationed to delay the Americans. The battle was lead by Brigadier General Joseph Wheeler for the Americans, a confederate army veteran, who led the Yanks to a somewhat victory, in which the Americans had more casualties, but the Spanish were the ones who retreated, allowing the Americans to now hold Siboney as their base and Las Guasimas as a good setup position on the road to Santiago. The Americans had a slow-down of movement at the Siboney base, partly due to General Shafter’s developing of a sickness, preventing him from even riding a horse. During this time, General Linares also began to make a difficult defense structure at El Caney and San Juan, both of which would become major battle points. Shafter’s plan had been to capture El Caney, leave some troops there and then move on to capture San Juan while General García took the Cubans to obstruct the road west from Santiago, which would prevent Spanish reinforcements from arriving at the battle. At El Caney, the Spaniards put up and incredibly strong fight, led by Spanish General Joaquin del Rey, firing against the Americans with more advanced rifles, and causing the Americans to take much longer to capture the little town, which delayed the assault on San Juan Hill. The town of El Caney was not captured until late in the day, when the blockhouse was finally captured, and later on General del Rey was shot down. The town’s capture now allowed the Americans to began the assault on San Juan. The Americans wanted to attack San Juan in order to be able to easier obtain Santiago, which was an important port. The hills of El Caney and San Juan were important hills outside the city, which were necessary to have to take over the city. Once San Juan Hill was taken, the American Navy could begin their assault on Santiago through their navy, in what was going to be a joint naval and army effort. The battle at San Juan started off slowly, with the volunteers becoming frightened as the Spanish fired many volleys into the direction of the Americans. The group became disorganized until Teddy Roosevelt and the Rough Riders arrived at the battlefield, and there led the Americans on a dramatic charge into San Juan Heights and Kettle Hill, which was an easy victory, unlike San Juan Hill which lied to the Americans side. Roosevelt was an inspirational figure to the volunteers, as he was well known throughout America and was a leader of the Rough Riders. Although an easy victory at San Juan Heights and Kettle Hill, San Juan Hill and its huge cliff was a different battle. There was an open plain which led to San Juan Hill, which was guarded well by the Spanish, and there was little effort to storm the fort until Lieutenant John Parker led an assault of three Gatling machine guns which slowly began to drive the Spaniards off their spots in the trenches of San Juan Hill. Eventually the Americans climbed the cliff, and were it not for the Spaniards misfiring there may have been many American casualties, but nevertheless the Americans reached the top and the Spaniards fled. The United States army now controlled all of San Juan Hill, which signified an open road to Santiago. The army did not know that the Spanish had a great defense force...