1898 invasion of Guantánamo Bay
Encyclopedia
The Battle of Guantánamo Bay was fought from June 6 to June 10 in 1898, during the Spanish-American War
, when American and Cuba
n forces seized the strategically and commercially important harbor of Guantánamo Bay, Cuba. Capturing the bay from the Spanish forces was instrumental in the following Battle of Santiago de Cuba
and the subsequent invasion of Puerto Rico
. Although overshadowed by the land and sea battles at Santiago
, the establishment of the United States naval base at Guantánamo Bay
and the rout of defending Spanish troops by American and Cuban forces was important in the final Spanish defeat.
against Spain since 1895. Soon after the rebellion began, two insurgent leaders — José Martí
and General
Máximo Gómez
— had landed at beach of Cajobabo, between Guantánamo Bay and Cape Maisí
, but after three years of fighting throughout the island, the rebels had only been successful in two provinces — Oriente and Camagüey
.
Following the explosion the of the battleship
in Havana
harbor in February 1898, the U.S. declared war on Spain in support of the Cuban insurgents. Havana harbor was blockaded, and by the end of May the Spanish fleet was bottled up in Santiago Bay, 40 mi (34.8 nmi; 64.4 km) west of Guantánamo Bay, by Rear Admiral
William T. Sampson
. In the U.S., an army expeditionary force
was rapidly being readied at the same time for action in Cuba. Thus, America was allied with the Cuban insurgents. Guantánamo Bay had a measure of commercial importance because of the sugar port of Caimanera
on the western shore of the inner bay, some five statute miles (8 km) from the sea.
and guerrillas
held Guantánamo City, the port of Caimanera and the railroad connecting the two cities, the large sugar mills, and other outlying strong points. The Guantánamo garrison consisted of some 5,000 men under the command of General Felix Pareja. A Spanish blockhouse stood on the hill overlooking the village on Fisherman's Point near the entrance to the bay, and a fort on Cayo del Toro commanded the relatively narrow channel
leading from outer to inner bay. The Spanish gunboat
Sandoval was based at Caimanera on the inner bay, and a string of blockhouses defended the railroad to Guantánamo City, 14 mi (22.5 km) inland.
The Cuban insurgents maintained coastal outposts from the mouth of the Yateras River, east of the bay, to a point 15 mi (24.1 km) west of Santiago, and were in undisputed possession of the western point at the entrance to the bay.
, captained by Commander
Bowman H. McCalla
, and the auxiliary cruisers and , commanded by Willard H. Brownson
. Commander McCalla had been detached by Admiral Sampson from the blockading fleet at Santiago and ordered to reconnoiter the bay for a naval base. The captain of St. Louis was to cut the cables which had their terminus in a small station on Fisherman's Point, and connected Cuba with Haiti
and the outside world.
On a previous occasion, St. Louis, on a similar mission, had been driven from the bay by the Spanish gunboat Sandoval. This time, as the three warships came into the bay at dawn, Spanish soldiers clustered about the blockhouse on the hill known today as McCalla Hill. The blockhouse and the village were speedily cleared by fire from Marbleheads six-pounder gun, along with a single 5 in (127 mm) shell
. The Spanish gunboats Alvarado and Sandoval came down the channel from Caimanera to meet the attack but retired precipitately on discovering the caliber of guns against them. The one cannon of the fort on Cayo del Toro opened fire on Marblehead without effect until it was silenced.
The telegraph cables leading east to Cap-Haïtien
, west to Santiago, and the small cable in the bay connecting Caimanera and Guantánamo City with Cap-Haïtien were all successfully cut, and from 7 June-5 July the town of Guantánamo had no communication with the outside world.
Upon returning to the blockading fleet from the reconnaissance, Marblehead carried two Cuban officers who had been brought off to the ship from Leeward Point (the western side) of Guantánamo Bay. They had been sent to Admiral Sampson by General Calixto Garcia
(the same who figured with U.S. Lieutenant
Rowan in the famous "A Message to Garcia
") to report that the Cuban forces, whose outposts occupied positions on the coast from the mouth of the Yateras to a point 15 mi (24.1 km) west of Santiago were at the disposition of the U.S. Commander-in-Chief
. Commander McCalla thereafter maintained close liaison with General Pedro Pérez
, commanding the Cuban forces around Guantánamo City, through the latter's Chief of Staff
, Colonel
Vieta, and thus received valuable advice and assistance.
With the decision to establish a base at Guantánamo Bay, the First Battalion
of Marines
, consisting of six companies of around 650 men (four infantry and one artillery company), was ordered to proceed in the converted transport USS Panther
, and join the fleet off Santiago. The First Battalion, under the command of Lt. Col. Robert W. Huntington USMC, had been undergoing battalion exercises while awaiting orders at Key West. The Panther reached Santiago on 9 June 1898. That same day, in advance of the battalion landing, Navy Commander Bowman H. McCalla of the USS Marblehead
, the officer in command of the landings, approved a camp site selected for the Marines by Lt. Col. Huntington. The site selected was a flat ridge on top of a hill, above the village on Fisherman's Point, and designated Camp McCalla. In addition to an artillery company equipped with a battery of four 3-inch rapid-firing artillery pieces and a Model 1895 Colt-Browning
machine gun, each marine was equipped with the Navy's new rapid-firing magazine rifle, the Model 1895 Lee Navy
. Both the Colt machine gun and the Lee rifles used a new high-velocity smokeless powder cartridge, the 6 mm Lee Navy
.
The Marine battalion landed unopposed on 10 June with five of its six companies, leaving the artillery company aboard to unload the ship, as Commander Reiter, the captain of the Panther, had refused to authorize the use of ship's personnel for unloading duties. Reiter also refused to permit the unloading of the remainder of the Marines' small arms ammunition, claiming that it was needed as ship's ballast. Lt. Col. Huntington sought assistance from Commander McCalla, who ordered Reiter to release the Marine's ammunition at once: "Sir, break out immediately and land with the crew of the Panther, 50,000 rounds of 6-mm. ammunition," McCalla ordered. "In the future, do not require Colonel Huntington to break out or land his stores with members of his command. Use your own officers and men for this purpose, and supply the Commanding Officer of Marines promptly with anything he may desire."
The Marines burned crude huts of the village and the remains of the blockhouse
with all their contents to avoid the possibility of yellow fever
. The Spanish had fled in such a hurry that clothing, money, jewelry and weapons had been left behind. The battalion raised the American flag, the first U.S. military unit to do so on Cuban soil, and sent out detachments for outpost duty.
Lt. Col. Huntington ordered Company C to occupy a 150-ft tall hill located some distance from the main Marine position, and which could not be supported by the main body at Camp McCalla. Two forward outposts were established, one at a road junction located several hundred yards ahead of the camp and known as the "Crossroads", and one called "The Bridge" placed across a road a mile and a half from the American camp, where Spanish forces bringing artillery from Caimanera were expected. With the sea at their backs, a lack of mutual support between outposts, and the thorny scrub
and cacti
of the arid hills stretching in a dense tangle before them, the Marines had a less-than-ideal tactical position. Commander McCalla pointed out to Lt. Col. Huntington that his outposts were too far forward and could not be seen or supported in the dense undergrowth between the outposts and the main camp. Three of the companies stacked arms and returned to the ship to help with unloading operations. Shortly after sundown, the Marines had their first meal of coffee and hardtack
. Soon afterwards the first alarm came. Voices were heard and lights seen in the thicket, but no attack came that night. Spanish forces defending the area were desperately short of food, and delayed attacking until the Marines had completed unloading their stores in hopes of seizing the American supplies.
By daybreak, the Marines had completed unloading their stores and equipment, though the artillery pieces and their ammunition were left aboard ship. The remaining companies of the battalion came ashore, and Company C was withdrawn from its isolated hill outpost. The only sound in the thickets was the cooing of mourning dove
s, a sound which Marines would later learn was a favorite signal call used by Spanish loyalist guerrilla forces.
Lt. Col. Huntington was joined in the afternoon by Colonel Laborde of the Cuban army, who for several days had been with Commander McCalla as pilot on Marblehead, and now had been sent ashore to assist the Marines and provide intelligence about the enemy.
Laborde reported the major Spanish force in the area had its headquarters at the "Well of Cuzco", 2 mi (3.2 km) southeast of Fisherman's Point. The well
provided the only fresh water in the area. This occupying force of about 500 soldiers and guerrillas, joined by the troops driven from the blockhouse on the bay, constituted the gravest threat to the U.S. base of operations. Laborde noted that seizing Cuzco Well and destroying it would inevitably force Spanish forces to retreat to all the way Ciudad Guantánamo (Guantánamo City).
As they spoke, firing began in the thicket in front of their position. Lt. Col. Huntington led most of his command forward. However, the thorny tangle of trees, underbrush, and cactus forced him to proceed with only one company.
At daybreak (0500) on Saturday, 11 June, Spanish guerrillas opened fire on the Marines at Camp McCalla from the surrounding brush. Firing a fusillade from their rapid-firing Mauser rifles, the guerrillas advanced towards the camp. After heavy fighting, and supported by the reserve company (Company C) the Marines drove the enemy back into the bush, pursuing the enemy until the chase was abandoned at dark. Two pickets on outpost duty, Privates William Dumphy and James McColgan, who were posted as a early-warning patrol 100 yards ahead of the "Crossroads" forward outpost were later found dead, shot and cut numerous times in the face and body. Their weapons, shoes, belts, and part of their clothing had been taken.
This was the beginning of what Huntington's executive officer, Major Henry Clay Cochrane, later called "its 100 hours of fighting". At Camp McCalla, the Marines dug in and began firing at the concealed Spaniards, aided by three 3-inch field pieces and two additional 6 mm Colt-Browning machine guns which had been landed on 12 June by the . Gunfire from Marblehead passed overhead and impacted in the nearby hills. Wearing large palm leaves tied to their uniforms for camouflage, and firing smokeless powder cartridges, the Spanish forces were difficult to locate as they moved from bush to bush in the dense undergrowth.
On the evening of 12 June, enemy forces came within fifty yards of Camp McCalla, and a desperate firefight began. Marines responded with their Lee straight-pull
rifles, along with machine gun and artillery fire from the Marine 3-inch field pieces. Perhaps deterred by the intense artillery and machine gun fire, the Spanish did not attempt to overrun the camp. Acting Assistant Surgeon
John Blair Gibbs and Sergeant
Charles H. Smith were both killed in this exchange of fire. Marines later found several blood trails, but no bodies, as the guerrillas removed their wounded and dead to conceal their casualty figures.
The next day, the Marines were reinforced by about 60 Cubans under Lieutenant Colonel
Enrique Thomas. The Cubans had been equipped with rifles and white duck sailor uniforms by Commander McCalla from the USS Marblehead. Familiar with guerrilla tactics, the Cuban insurgents deployed in pairs in front of the camp, burning the brush and undergrowth as they advanced, thus denying to the enemy of cover. The USS Marblehead, which had provided shore bombardment on several occasions, steamed down the coast and shelled the well at Cuzco. Nevertheless, the Spanish attack was resumed at dusk, and two more Marines—acting Sergeant Major
Henry Good and Private
Goode Taurman—were killed.
By nightfall on 13 June, the Marines were exhausted. They had not slept nor rested for 100 hours. Relief or reinforcements was impossible, since U.S. Army troops had yet to leave the U.S. The fighting continued for two more days.
Marine companies C and D, about 160 men, under Captain George F. Elliott
, a future Commandant of the Marine Corps
, joined by the fifty Cubans under Lt. Col. Thomas, would approach Cuzco along the cliffs by the sea. A smaller Marine force would advance by an inland valley, holding a picket line for the main force, with men in reserve to assist if necessary. The gunboat was assigned to support the attack from sea.
The day was already hot when the combined U.S.-Cuban force began its march on 14 June. Colonel Laborde guided the main force, and a Cuban scout named Polycarpio guided a smaller force led by 2nd Lt. Magill. The march was slowed by rough terrain, vicious undergrowth, and increasing heat; at one point, the captains of Companies C and D in the main column had fallen behind owing to heat exhaustion. It was almost 11:00 when the main force reached the steep, horse-shoe shaped hill around Cuzco valley; the commanders of Companies C and D rejoined their units fifteen minutes later.
About the same time, the Cubans, who were marching ahead of the Marine companies, were spotted by the enemy. A race for the crest of the hill began. The Marines and the Cubans reached the summit first, under heavy fire from the Spanish and guerrillas. The smaller Marine force approached on the double, using their 6 mm (0.236-inch) Lee rifle
s to pour a deadly crossfire
on the enemy flank
. Three of the four M1895 Colt-Browning machine gun
s accompanying the Marines were used by Company C in the fighting. According to Pvt. John Clifford of Company D, the machine guns were instrumental in supporting the Marine assault. This was the first known tactical use of machine gun fire for mobile fire support in offensive combat.
The light weight of the Marines' new 6 mm Lee cartridge proved to be of considerable benefit, allowing each Marine and machine gun crew to transport large amounts of ammunition over the mountainous, jungled terrain. Midway through the battle, the Cuban rebel forces ran out of 6 mm cartridges, and were resupplied with an additional six clips (30 cartridges) from the belts of individual Marines, yet none of the Americans ran short of ammunition, despite firing some sixty shots apiece in the battle.
During this portion of the fighting, Captain Elliott had requested that Dolphin provide fire support to the Marines by shelling the Spanish blockhouse and nearby positions with her naval guns. Through a miscommunication of signals, however, the gunboat began unknowingly dropping shells in the direct path of a small force of fifty marines and ten Cuban irregulars led by 2nd Lt. Magill, who was attempting to flank the Spanish position and potentially cut off any avenue of retreat. Affixing his handkerchief to a long stick and braving the Spanish fire, Sergeant John H. Quick
took up an exposed position on the ridge to immediately wigwag a flag signal to Dolphin to adjust her gunfire. War Correspondent Stephen Crane
, who had accompanied the Marines, later described the scene in his war tale "Marines Signaling Under Fire at Guantanamo":
When Sergeant Quick finished this message, the ship answered. Quick then picked up his Lee rifle and resumed his place on the firing line. For his gallant and selfless conduct during this action, Quick would later receive the Medal of Honor
.
Dolphin shifted her fire onto the enemy camp and blockhouse, and by 14:00, the Spanish had broken and fled the blockhouse. Unfortunately, 2nd Lt. Magill's men were delayed sufficiently to prevent them from cutting off a Spanish retreat, though his men did capture the Spanish signaling station and its heliograph
equipment. As the Spanish forces withdrew through a gully on the other side of the valley, Marines opened fire at a distance of 1,200 yards, firing volley after volley. The Spanish were unable to accurately return fire, allowing Marine Company B and the Cuban rebels to close the distance, firing as they advanced. The Spanish to first attempted to concentrate their fires on the Cubans and managed to kill two of them, but were forced back by marine rifle fire once again, at which point the remaining enemy, which up to that point had been withdrawing in good order, broke and scattered.
and ammunition. Two Marines and two Cuban rebels had been wounded, and two Cuban rebels killed, who were buried where they fell. The most serious casualties suffered by the Marines were from heat exhaustion, which disabled one officer and 22 men. Gunboat Dolphin took these aboard after the fighting was over for the trip back to Camp McCalla. The Spanish headquarters building (blockhouse) was burned, and the freshwater well at Cuzco was destroyed, thus ending its immediate usefulness, including to the Marines, whose officers would not let them drink from it prior to its destruction. Water was eventually brought up from the USS Dolphin after a wait of two hours.
Spanish forces retreated in small groups of stragglers to Guantánamo, via Cayo del Toro and Caimanera. Apparently expecting the U.S. forces to follow up the victory, they fortified Dos Caminos, a small settlement at the crossing of two roads, and added several blockhouses to the number already erected on the rail line. The Spanish soldiers were apparently impressed by marine firepower; upon arrival at Ciudad Guantánamo (Guantánamo City), the surviving members of the Cuzco Wells garrison informed General Pareja that they had been attacked by 10,000 Americans.
Camp McCalla saw no further attacks by Spanish or guerilla forces, and was disestablished on August 5, 1898.
Meanwhile attention was soon focused on other areas of the bay. The Spanish were adding to their earthworks on Cayo del Toro, where they had three bronze 6.4 in (162.6 mm) guns and a modern 3.5 in (88.9 mm) Krupp gun. At Caimanera, on the bluff
south of the village, were mounted three more of the 6.4 in (162.6 mm) guns, and the small gunboat
Sandoval had a battery of one six-pounder and an automatic one-pounder Maxim gun
.
As the Americans proceeded slowly, a lookout on Marblehead reported that the starboard propeller was foul of a buoy. The engine was stopped, and the propeller was cleared of the "buoy", which turned out to be a contact mine
. The mine was successfully disarmed. Afterward, it was learned that the ships had passed through a field of 18 such mines, or torpedoes, on the trip up the bay and through the same field on the return trip, without injury of any kind. A few days after the attack on Cayo del Toro, the mine field was thoroughly explored, and 14 mines were recovered. Their failure to explode on contact was attributed to mechanical faults, plus a healthy growth of barnacles on the contact levers.
The minesweeping operation, carried out without specialized equipment, involved two steam launches and two whaleboat
s from Marblehead and Dolphin. A launch and whaleboat side by side, connected to the other launch and whaleboat by a rope with a chain drag in the center, swept the channel. When the drag met an obstruction, the boats came together and crossed the ends of the drag. The boats were then hauled carefully up to the mine, which was brought to the surface and disarmed. Twice the drag brought up two mines together.
While sweeping for mines, the boats had been fired on from Hicacal Beach, where 250 Spanish infantry were posted to guard the mine field. It was determined to rout the last enemy force remaining in the vicinity of the bay, and on 25 June Lt. Col. Huntington led two companies of Marines and 40 Cubans in an amphibious assault
on Hicacal Beach. It proved to be a bloodless encounter, since the Spanish had left a day or two earlier.
and Siboney
between 22 and 25 June, without opposition. A week later, on 1 July, the historic battles of El Caney
and San Juan Hill
ended in victory for U.S. forces, opening up the approaches to Santiago itself. On the morning of 3 July, a demand was sent to the Spanish commander, General Arsenio Linares, to surrender or suffer bombardment
of the city as an alternative. On the same morning, the Spanish fleet under Admiral
Pascual Cervera sallied forth from Santiago Bay, only to meet with complete destruction at the hands of the U.S. fleet. Major Spanish resistance at Santiago was at an end, although it was not until 15 July that a preliminary agreement was signed. U.S. forces occupied the city on 17 July.
The 7,000 Spanish troops at the city of Guantánamo — only 40 mi (64.4 km) away — did not march to the aid of Linares' besieged army, because prior to the cutting of his communications, General Pareja had been directed by his superiors to hold the city of Guantánamo
at all costs. This was so ordered because the Spanish feared that the Guantánamo valley might be used as an invasion route by U.S. forces, as the English had once used it to advance on Santiago. After the Navy cut the cables and established a base at Guantánamo Bay, General Pareja remained in complete ignorance concerning the course of the war because the Cuban insurgents maintained such a tight ring about the city that not one messenger got through their lines. Fifteen were caught and executed as spies. None of General Linares' frantic requests for aid reached Pareja.
The threat posed by U.S. Naval forces and a battalion of Marines at Guantánamo Bay, plus the stranglehold on land communications by 1,000 Cuban insurgents, effectively pinned down an army of 7,000 men which might have changed the outcome of the fighting at Santiago. Less than a week after the surrender of Santiago, the base at Guantánamo Bay was used to launch the invasion of Puerto Rico, 500 mi (804.7 km) to the east. Three thousand five hundred troops under General Miles sailed from the Bay on 21 July. This was the last important event in the Spanish-American War phase of Guantánamo Bay; on August 12, the war ended with the signing of the peace protocol
and an armistice
.
The new U.S. Naval Base was not formalized by lease agreement between the U.S. and Cuba until five years later, when in 1903 it was acquired as a "coaling and Naval station", but its worth was already proven.
Lt. Col. Huntington's Marine First Battalion, which had reembarked aboard the USS Resolute
during the siege and surrender of Santiago, sailed for the United States, and after a stop at New York, arrived at Portsmouth Harbor, disembarking her marines on the evening of 24 August 1898.
Spanish-American War
The Spanish–American War was a conflict in 1898 between Spain and the United States, effectively the result of American intervention in the ongoing Cuban War of Independence...
, when American and Cuba
Cuba
The Republic of Cuba is an island nation in the Caribbean. The nation of Cuba consists of the main island of Cuba, the Isla de la Juventud, and several archipelagos. Havana is the largest city in Cuba and the country's capital. Santiago de Cuba is the second largest city...
n forces seized the strategically and commercially important harbor of Guantánamo Bay, Cuba. Capturing the bay from the Spanish forces was instrumental in the following Battle of Santiago de Cuba
Battle of Santiago de Cuba
The Battle of Santiago de Cuba, fought between Spain and the United States on 3 July 1898, was the largest naval engagement of the Spanish-American War and resulted in the destruction of the Spanish Navy's Caribbean Squadron.-Spanish Fleet:...
and the subsequent invasion of Puerto Rico
Puerto Rico
Puerto Rico , officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico , is an unincorporated territory of the United States, located in the northeastern Caribbean, east of the Dominican Republic and west of both the United States Virgin Islands and the British Virgin Islands.Puerto Rico comprises an...
. Although overshadowed by the land and sea battles at Santiago
Santiago de Cuba
Santiago de Cuba is the second largest city of Cuba and capital city of Santiago de Cuba Province in the south-eastern area of the island, some south-east of the Cuban capital of Havana....
, the establishment of the United States naval base at Guantánamo Bay
Guantanamo Bay Naval Base
Guantanamo Bay Naval Base is located on of land and water at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba which the United States leased for use as a coaling station following the Cuban-American Treaty of 1903. The base is located on the shore of Guantánamo Bay at the southeastern end of Cuba. It is the oldest overseas...
and the rout of defending Spanish troops by American and Cuban forces was important in the final Spanish defeat.
Background
Cuba had been in rebellionRebellion
Rebellion, uprising or insurrection, is a refusal of obedience or order. It may, therefore, be seen as encompassing a range of behaviors aimed at destroying or replacing an established authority such as a government or a head of state...
against Spain since 1895. Soon after the rebellion began, two insurgent leaders — José Martí
José Martí
José Julián Martí Pérez was a Cuban national hero and an important figure in Latin American literature. In his short life he was a poet, an essayist, a journalist, a revolutionary philosopher, a translator, a professor, a publisher, and a political theorist. He was also a part of the Cuban...
and General
General
A general officer is an officer of high military rank, usually in the army, and in some nations, the air force. The term is widely used by many nations of the world, and when a country uses a different term, there is an equivalent title given....
Máximo Gómez
Máximo Gómez
Máximo Gómez y Báez was a Major General in the Ten Years' War and Cuba's military commander in that country's War of Independence ....
— had landed at beach of Cajobabo, between Guantánamo Bay and Cape Maisí
Cape Maisí
Cape Maisí or Cape Maysí is a cape at the eastern extremity of Cuba, projecting into the Windward Passage.-References:* Merriam-Webster's Geographical Dictionary, Third Edition. Springfield, Massachusetts: Merriam-Webster, Incorporated, 1997....
, but after three years of fighting throughout the island, the rebels had only been successful in two provinces — Oriente and Camagüey
Camagüey
Camagüey is a city and municipality in central Cuba and is the nation's third largest city. It is the capital of the Camagüey Province.After almost continuous attacks from pirates the original city was moved inland in 1528.The new city was built with a confusing lay-out of winding alleys that made...
.
Following the explosion the of the battleship
Battleship
A battleship is a large armored warship with a main battery consisting of heavy caliber guns. Battleships were larger, better armed and armored than cruisers and destroyers. As the largest armed ships in a fleet, battleships were used to attain command of the sea and represented the apex of a...
in Havana
Havana
Havana is the capital city, province, major port, and leading commercial centre of Cuba. The city proper has a population of 2.1 million inhabitants, and it spans a total of — making it the largest city in the Caribbean region, and the most populous...
harbor in February 1898, the U.S. declared war on Spain in support of the Cuban insurgents. Havana harbor was blockaded, and by the end of May the Spanish fleet was bottled up in Santiago Bay, 40 mi (34.8 nmi; 64.4 km) west of Guantánamo Bay, by Rear Admiral
Rear Admiral
Rear admiral is a naval commissioned officer rank above that of a commodore and captain, and below that of a vice admiral. It is generally regarded as the lowest of the "admiral" ranks, which are also sometimes referred to as "flag officers" or "flag ranks"...
William T. Sampson
William T. Sampson
William Thomas Sampson was a United States Navy rear admiral known for his victory in the Battle of Santiago de Cuba during the Spanish-American War.-Biography:...
. In the U.S., an army expeditionary force
American Expeditionary Force
The American Expeditionary Forces or AEF were the United States Armed Forces sent to Europe in World War I. During the United States campaigns in World War I the AEF fought in France alongside British and French allied forces in the last year of the war, against Imperial German forces...
was rapidly being readied at the same time for action in Cuba. Thus, America was allied with the Cuban insurgents. Guantánamo Bay had a measure of commercial importance because of the sugar port of Caimanera
Caimanera
Caimanera is a municipality and city in Guantánamo Province on the south eastern coast of Cuba. It is a fishing village and port built on the West shore of the sheltered Guantanamo Bay, just North of the US naval base and South of the provincial capital, Guantánamo...
on the western shore of the inner bay, some five statute miles (8 km) from the sea.
Spanish positions
Despite the nominal offensive position of the insurgents in the vicinity of Guantánamo Bay, Spanish regularsMilitary
A military is an organization authorized by its greater society to use lethal force, usually including use of weapons, in defending its country by combating actual or perceived threats. The military may have additional functions of use to its greater society, such as advancing a political agenda e.g...
and guerrillas
Guerrilla warfare
Guerrilla warfare is a form of irregular warfare and refers to conflicts in which a small group of combatants including, but not limited to, armed civilians use military tactics, such as ambushes, sabotage, raids, the element of surprise, and extraordinary mobility to harass a larger and...
held Guantánamo City, the port of Caimanera and the railroad connecting the two cities, the large sugar mills, and other outlying strong points. The Guantánamo garrison consisted of some 5,000 men under the command of General Felix Pareja. A Spanish blockhouse stood on the hill overlooking the village on Fisherman's Point near the entrance to the bay, and a fort on Cayo del Toro commanded the relatively narrow channel
Channel (geography)
In physical geography, a channel is the physical confine of a river, slough or ocean strait consisting of a bed and banks.A channel is also the natural or human-made deeper course through a reef, sand bar, bay, or any shallow body of water...
leading from outer to inner bay. The Spanish gunboat
Gunboat
A gunboat is a naval watercraft designed for the express purpose of carrying one or more guns to bombard coastal targets, as opposed to those military craft designed for naval warfare, or for ferrying troops or supplies.-History:...
Sandoval was based at Caimanera on the inner bay, and a string of blockhouses defended the railroad to Guantánamo City, 14 mi (22.5 km) inland.
The Cuban insurgents maintained coastal outposts from the mouth of the Yateras River, east of the bay, to a point 15 mi (24.1 km) west of Santiago, and were in undisputed possession of the western point at the entrance to the bay.
Naval battle of Guantánamo Bay
The first successful U.S. foray against Guantánamo Bay occurred on 6 June, with the arrival of the light cruiserLight cruiser
A light cruiser is a type of small- or medium-sized warship. The term is a shortening of the phrase "light armored cruiser", describing a small ship that carried armor in the same way as an armored cruiser: a protective belt and deck...
, captained by Commander
Commander
Commander is a naval rank which is also sometimes used as a military title depending on the individual customs of a given military service. Commander is also used as a rank or title in some organizations outside of the armed forces, particularly in police and law enforcement.-Commander as a naval...
Bowman H. McCalla
Bowman H. McCalla
Rear Admiral Bowman H. McCalla was an officer in the United States Navy, who was noted for his roles in the Spanish-American War and putting down the Boxer Rebellion.-Biography:...
, and the auxiliary cruisers and , commanded by Willard H. Brownson
Willard H. Brownson
Rear Admiral Willard Herbert Brownson, USN was a United States Navy officer whose career included service against pirates in Mexico, and service during the Spanish-American War. He also served a term as Superintendent of the United States Naval Academy.-Early Life and Career:A native of Lyons, New...
. Commander McCalla had been detached by Admiral Sampson from the blockading fleet at Santiago and ordered to reconnoiter the bay for a naval base. The captain of St. Louis was to cut the cables which had their terminus in a small station on Fisherman's Point, and connected Cuba with Haiti
Haiti
Haiti , officially the Republic of Haiti , is a Caribbean country. It occupies the western, smaller portion of the island of Hispaniola, in the Greater Antillean archipelago, which it shares with the Dominican Republic. Ayiti was the indigenous Taíno or Amerindian name for the island...
and the outside world.
On a previous occasion, St. Louis, on a similar mission, had been driven from the bay by the Spanish gunboat Sandoval. This time, as the three warships came into the bay at dawn, Spanish soldiers clustered about the blockhouse on the hill known today as McCalla Hill. The blockhouse and the village were speedily cleared by fire from Marbleheads six-pounder gun, along with a single 5 in (127 mm) shell
Shell (projectile)
A shell is a payload-carrying projectile, which, as opposed to shot, contains an explosive or other filling, though modern usage sometimes includes large solid projectiles properly termed shot . Solid shot may contain a pyrotechnic compound if a tracer or spotting charge is used...
. The Spanish gunboats Alvarado and Sandoval came down the channel from Caimanera to meet the attack but retired precipitately on discovering the caliber of guns against them. The one cannon of the fort on Cayo del Toro opened fire on Marblehead without effect until it was silenced.
The telegraph cables leading east to Cap-Haïtien
Cap-Haïtien
Cap-Haïtien is a city of about 190,000 people on the north coast of Haiti and capital of the Department of Nord...
, west to Santiago, and the small cable in the bay connecting Caimanera and Guantánamo City with Cap-Haïtien were all successfully cut, and from 7 June-5 July the town of Guantánamo had no communication with the outside world.
Upon returning to the blockading fleet from the reconnaissance, Marblehead carried two Cuban officers who had been brought off to the ship from Leeward Point (the western side) of Guantánamo Bay. They had been sent to Admiral Sampson by General Calixto Garcia
Calixto García
Calixto García e Iñiguez was a general in three Cuban uprisings, part of the Cuban War for Independence: Ten Years' War, the Little War and the War of 1895, itself sometimes called the Cuban War for Independence, which bled into the Spanish-American War, ultimately resulting in national...
(the same who figured with U.S. Lieutenant
Lieutenant
A lieutenant is a junior commissioned officer in many nations' armed forces. Typically, the rank of lieutenant in naval usage, while still a junior officer rank, is senior to the army rank...
Rowan in the famous "A Message to Garcia
A Message to Garcia
A Message to Garcia is a best-selling inspirational essay written in 1899 by Elbert Hubbard that has been made into two motion pictures.Felix Shay, Hubbard's personal assistant, wrote:...
") to report that the Cuban forces, whose outposts occupied positions on the coast from the mouth of the Yateras to a point 15 mi (24.1 km) west of Santiago were at the disposition of the U.S. Commander-in-Chief
Commander-in-Chief
A commander-in-chief is the commander of a nation's military forces or significant element of those forces. In the latter case, the force element may be defined as those forces within a particular region or those forces which are associated by function. As a practical term it refers to the military...
. Commander McCalla thereafter maintained close liaison with General Pedro Pérez
Pedro Pérez
Pedro Pérez Dueñas is a retired triple jumper from Cuba. He set the world record in the men's triple jump event on August 5, 1971, jumping 17.40 metres in the final of the Pan American Games.-Achievements:-References:* *...
, commanding the Cuban forces around Guantánamo City, through the latter's Chief of Staff
Chief of Staff
The title, chief of staff, identifies the leader of a complex organization, institution, or body of persons and it also may identify a Principal Staff Officer , who is the coordinator of the supporting staff or a primary aide to an important individual, such as a president.In general, a chief of...
, Colonel
Colonel
Colonel , abbreviated Col or COL, is a military rank of a senior commissioned officer. It or a corresponding rank exists in most armies and in many air forces; the naval equivalent rank is generally "Captain". It is also used in some police forces and other paramilitary rank structures...
Vieta, and thus received valuable advice and assistance.
Marine Assault Landing
Battalion
A battalion is a military unit of around 300–1,200 soldiers usually consisting of between two and seven companies and typically commanded by either a Lieutenant Colonel or a Colonel...
of Marines
United States Marine Corps
The United States Marine Corps is a branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for providing power projection from the sea, using the mobility of the United States Navy to deliver combined-arms task forces rapidly. It is one of seven uniformed services of the United States...
, consisting of six companies of around 650 men (four infantry and one artillery company), was ordered to proceed in the converted transport USS Panther
USS Panther (1889)
The first USS Panther , the former SS Venezuela, was an auxiliary cruiser and naval troop transport in the United States Navy.Panther was built by William Cramp and Sons, Philadelphia, Pa. in 1889. As the SS Venezuela, a merchant steamship, it was used for several years as a cargo freighter...
, and join the fleet off Santiago. The First Battalion, under the command of Lt. Col. Robert W. Huntington USMC, had been undergoing battalion exercises while awaiting orders at Key West. The Panther reached Santiago on 9 June 1898. That same day, in advance of the battalion landing, Navy Commander Bowman H. McCalla of the USS Marblehead
USS Marblehead
Three ships of the United States Navy have been named USS Marblehead after the port of Marblehead, Massachusetts., launched in 1861, was a gunboat that served in the American Civil War and sold in 1868...
, the officer in command of the landings, approved a camp site selected for the Marines by Lt. Col. Huntington. The site selected was a flat ridge on top of a hill, above the village on Fisherman's Point, and designated Camp McCalla. In addition to an artillery company equipped with a battery of four 3-inch rapid-firing artillery pieces and a Model 1895 Colt-Browning
M1895 Colt-Browning machine gun
The Colt-Browning M1895, nicknamed potato digger due to its unusual operating mechanism, is an air-cooled, belt-fed, gas-operated machine gun that fires from a closed bolt with a cyclic rate of 450 rounds per minute...
machine gun, each marine was equipped with the Navy's new rapid-firing magazine rifle, the Model 1895 Lee Navy
M1895 Lee Navy
The Lee Model 1895 was a straight-pull, cam-action magazine rifle adopted in limited numbers by the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps in 1895 as a first-line infantry rifle...
. Both the Colt machine gun and the Lee rifles used a new high-velocity smokeless powder cartridge, the 6 mm Lee Navy
6mm Lee Navy
The 6mm Lee Navy aka 6mm U.S.N. is an obsolete American rifle cartridge. It was the service cartridge of the United States Navy and Marine Corps from 1895, officially replacing the .45-70 Government round, and was the first small-bore high-velocity smokeless powder cartridge to be adopted by...
.
The Marine battalion landed unopposed on 10 June with five of its six companies, leaving the artillery company aboard to unload the ship, as Commander Reiter, the captain of the Panther, had refused to authorize the use of ship's personnel for unloading duties. Reiter also refused to permit the unloading of the remainder of the Marines' small arms ammunition, claiming that it was needed as ship's ballast. Lt. Col. Huntington sought assistance from Commander McCalla, who ordered Reiter to release the Marine's ammunition at once: "Sir, break out immediately and land with the crew of the Panther, 50,000 rounds of 6-mm. ammunition," McCalla ordered. "In the future, do not require Colonel Huntington to break out or land his stores with members of his command. Use your own officers and men for this purpose, and supply the Commanding Officer of Marines promptly with anything he may desire."
The Marines burned crude huts of the village and the remains of the blockhouse
Blockhouse
In military science, a blockhouse is a small, isolated fort in the form of a single building. It serves as a defensive strong point against any enemy that does not possess siege equipment or, in modern times, artillery...
with all their contents to avoid the possibility of yellow fever
Yellow fever
Yellow fever is an acute viral hemorrhagic disease. The virus is a 40 to 50 nm enveloped RNA virus with positive sense of the Flaviviridae family....
. The Spanish had fled in such a hurry that clothing, money, jewelry and weapons had been left behind. The battalion raised the American flag, the first U.S. military unit to do so on Cuban soil, and sent out detachments for outpost duty.
Lt. Col. Huntington ordered Company C to occupy a 150-ft tall hill located some distance from the main Marine position, and which could not be supported by the main body at Camp McCalla. Two forward outposts were established, one at a road junction located several hundred yards ahead of the camp and known as the "Crossroads", and one called "The Bridge" placed across a road a mile and a half from the American camp, where Spanish forces bringing artillery from Caimanera were expected. With the sea at their backs, a lack of mutual support between outposts, and the thorny scrub
Deserts and xeric shrublands
Deserts and xeric shrublands is a biome characterized by, relating to, or requiring only a small amount of moisture.-Definition and occurrence:...
and cacti
Cactus
A cactus is a member of the plant family Cactaceae. Their distinctive appearance is a result of adaptations to conserve water in dry and/or hot environments. In most species, the stem has evolved to become photosynthetic and succulent, while the leaves have evolved into spines...
of the arid hills stretching in a dense tangle before them, the Marines had a less-than-ideal tactical position. Commander McCalla pointed out to Lt. Col. Huntington that his outposts were too far forward and could not be seen or supported in the dense undergrowth between the outposts and the main camp. Three of the companies stacked arms and returned to the ship to help with unloading operations. Shortly after sundown, the Marines had their first meal of coffee and hardtack
Hardtack
Hardtack is a simple type of cracker or biscuit, made from flour, water, and sometimes salt. Inexpensive and long-lasting, it was and is used for sustenance in the absence of perishable foods, commonly during long sea voyages and military campaigns. The name derives from the British sailor slang...
. Soon afterwards the first alarm came. Voices were heard and lights seen in the thicket, but no attack came that night. Spanish forces defending the area were desperately short of food, and delayed attacking until the Marines had completed unloading their stores in hopes of seizing the American supplies.
By daybreak, the Marines had completed unloading their stores and equipment, though the artillery pieces and their ammunition were left aboard ship. The remaining companies of the battalion came ashore, and Company C was withdrawn from its isolated hill outpost. The only sound in the thickets was the cooing of mourning dove
Mourning Dove
The Mourning Dove is a member of the dove family . The bird is also called the Turtle Dove or the American Mourning Dove or Rain Dove, and formerly was known as the Carolina Pigeon or Carolina Turtledove. It is one of the most abundant and widespread of all North American birds...
s, a sound which Marines would later learn was a favorite signal call used by Spanish loyalist guerrilla forces.
Lt. Col. Huntington was joined in the afternoon by Colonel Laborde of the Cuban army, who for several days had been with Commander McCalla as pilot on Marblehead, and now had been sent ashore to assist the Marines and provide intelligence about the enemy.
Laborde reported the major Spanish force in the area had its headquarters at the "Well of Cuzco", 2 mi (3.2 km) southeast of Fisherman's Point. The well
Water well
A water well is an excavation or structure created in the ground by digging, driving, boring or drilling to access groundwater in underground aquifers. The well water is drawn by an electric submersible pump, a trash pump, a vertical turbine pump, a handpump or a mechanical pump...
provided the only fresh water in the area. This occupying force of about 500 soldiers and guerrillas, joined by the troops driven from the blockhouse on the bay, constituted the gravest threat to the U.S. base of operations. Laborde noted that seizing Cuzco Well and destroying it would inevitably force Spanish forces to retreat to all the way Ciudad Guantánamo (Guantánamo City).
As they spoke, firing began in the thicket in front of their position. Lt. Col. Huntington led most of his command forward. However, the thorny tangle of trees, underbrush, and cactus forced him to proceed with only one company.
Battle of Camp McCalla
Although Huntington was now assured of naval gunfire support, Camp McCalla was tactically unsound. No attack had been expected, so no trenches were dug. The Marines' artillery had not even been sent ashore. Located on the sands of the open beach, the Marine campsite proved an ideal target for snipers concealed in the brush.At daybreak (0500) on Saturday, 11 June, Spanish guerrillas opened fire on the Marines at Camp McCalla from the surrounding brush. Firing a fusillade from their rapid-firing Mauser rifles, the guerrillas advanced towards the camp. After heavy fighting, and supported by the reserve company (Company C) the Marines drove the enemy back into the bush, pursuing the enemy until the chase was abandoned at dark. Two pickets on outpost duty, Privates William Dumphy and James McColgan, who were posted as a early-warning patrol 100 yards ahead of the "Crossroads" forward outpost were later found dead, shot and cut numerous times in the face and body. Their weapons, shoes, belts, and part of their clothing had been taken.
This was the beginning of what Huntington's executive officer, Major Henry Clay Cochrane, later called "its 100 hours of fighting". At Camp McCalla, the Marines dug in and began firing at the concealed Spaniards, aided by three 3-inch field pieces and two additional 6 mm Colt-Browning machine guns which had been landed on 12 June by the . Gunfire from Marblehead passed overhead and impacted in the nearby hills. Wearing large palm leaves tied to their uniforms for camouflage, and firing smokeless powder cartridges, the Spanish forces were difficult to locate as they moved from bush to bush in the dense undergrowth.
On the evening of 12 June, enemy forces came within fifty yards of Camp McCalla, and a desperate firefight began. Marines responded with their Lee straight-pull
M1895 Lee Navy
The Lee Model 1895 was a straight-pull, cam-action magazine rifle adopted in limited numbers by the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps in 1895 as a first-line infantry rifle...
rifles, along with machine gun and artillery fire from the Marine 3-inch field pieces. Perhaps deterred by the intense artillery and machine gun fire, the Spanish did not attempt to overrun the camp. Acting Assistant Surgeon
Surgery
Surgery is an ancient medical specialty that uses operative manual and instrumental techniques on a patient to investigate and/or treat a pathological condition such as disease or injury, or to help improve bodily function or appearance.An act of performing surgery may be called a surgical...
John Blair Gibbs and Sergeant
Sergeant
Sergeant is a rank used in some form by most militaries, police forces, and other uniformed organizations around the world. Its origins are the Latin serviens, "one who serves", through the French term Sergent....
Charles H. Smith were both killed in this exchange of fire. Marines later found several blood trails, but no bodies, as the guerrillas removed their wounded and dead to conceal their casualty figures.
The next day, the Marines were reinforced by about 60 Cubans under Lieutenant Colonel
Lieutenant colonel
Lieutenant colonel is a rank of commissioned officer in the armies and most marine forces and some air forces of the world, typically ranking above a major and below a colonel. The rank of lieutenant colonel is often shortened to simply "colonel" in conversation and in unofficial correspondence...
Enrique Thomas. The Cubans had been equipped with rifles and white duck sailor uniforms by Commander McCalla from the USS Marblehead. Familiar with guerrilla tactics, the Cuban insurgents deployed in pairs in front of the camp, burning the brush and undergrowth as they advanced, thus denying to the enemy of cover. The USS Marblehead, which had provided shore bombardment on several occasions, steamed down the coast and shelled the well at Cuzco. Nevertheless, the Spanish attack was resumed at dusk, and two more Marines—acting Sergeant Major
Sergeant Major
Sergeants major is a senior non-commissioned rank or appointment in many militaries around the world. In Commonwealth countries, Sergeants Major are usually appointments held by senior non-commissioned officers or warrant officers...
Henry Good and Private
Private (rank)
A Private is a soldier of the lowest military rank .In modern military parlance, 'Private' is shortened to 'Pte' in the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth countries and to 'Pvt.' in the United States.Notably both Sir Fitzroy MacLean and Enoch Powell are examples of, rare, rapid career...
Goode Taurman—were killed.
By nightfall on 13 June, the Marines were exhausted. They had not slept nor rested for 100 hours. Relief or reinforcements was impossible, since U.S. Army troops had yet to leave the U.S. The fighting continued for two more days.
Battle of Cuzco Wells
Lt Col. Thomas of the Cuban rebel forces advised Colonel Huntington to attack the Spanish garrison at Cuzco Wells, consisting of four companies of Spanish infantry and two companies of loyalist guerrilla forces totaling some 500 men. By capturing and destroying the only nearby source of fresh water, it was hoped that the defending Spanish forces would be forced to leave the area. Commander McCalla approved the plans, and the attack was scheduled for 08:00 the next day.Marine companies C and D, about 160 men, under Captain George F. Elliott
George F. Elliott
George Frank Elliott was a United States Marine Corps major general. He was the tenth Commandant of the Marine Corps between 1903 and 1910.-Biography:...
, a future Commandant of the Marine Corps
Commandant of the Marine Corps
The Commandant of the Marine Corps is normally the highest ranking officer in the United States Marine Corps and is a member of the Joint Chiefs of Staff...
, joined by the fifty Cubans under Lt. Col. Thomas, would approach Cuzco along the cliffs by the sea. A smaller Marine force would advance by an inland valley, holding a picket line for the main force, with men in reserve to assist if necessary. The gunboat was assigned to support the attack from sea.
The day was already hot when the combined U.S.-Cuban force began its march on 14 June. Colonel Laborde guided the main force, and a Cuban scout named Polycarpio guided a smaller force led by 2nd Lt. Magill. The march was slowed by rough terrain, vicious undergrowth, and increasing heat; at one point, the captains of Companies C and D in the main column had fallen behind owing to heat exhaustion. It was almost 11:00 when the main force reached the steep, horse-shoe shaped hill around Cuzco valley; the commanders of Companies C and D rejoined their units fifteen minutes later.
About the same time, the Cubans, who were marching ahead of the Marine companies, were spotted by the enemy. A race for the crest of the hill began. The Marines and the Cubans reached the summit first, under heavy fire from the Spanish and guerrillas. The smaller Marine force approached on the double, using their 6 mm (0.236-inch) Lee rifle
M1895 Lee Navy
The Lee Model 1895 was a straight-pull, cam-action magazine rifle adopted in limited numbers by the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps in 1895 as a first-line infantry rifle...
s to pour a deadly crossfire
Crossfire
A crossfire is a military term for the siting of weapons so that their arcs of fire overlap. This tactic came to prominence in World War I....
on the enemy flank
Flanking maneuver
In military tactics, a flanking maneuver, also called a flank attack, is an attack on the sides of an opposing force. If a flanking maneuver succeeds, the opposing force would be surrounded from two or more directions, which significantly reduces the maneuverability of the outflanked force and its...
. Three of the four M1895 Colt-Browning machine gun
M1895 Colt-Browning machine gun
The Colt-Browning M1895, nicknamed potato digger due to its unusual operating mechanism, is an air-cooled, belt-fed, gas-operated machine gun that fires from a closed bolt with a cyclic rate of 450 rounds per minute...
s accompanying the Marines were used by Company C in the fighting. According to Pvt. John Clifford of Company D, the machine guns were instrumental in supporting the Marine assault. This was the first known tactical use of machine gun fire for mobile fire support in offensive combat.
The light weight of the Marines' new 6 mm Lee cartridge proved to be of considerable benefit, allowing each Marine and machine gun crew to transport large amounts of ammunition over the mountainous, jungled terrain. Midway through the battle, the Cuban rebel forces ran out of 6 mm cartridges, and were resupplied with an additional six clips (30 cartridges) from the belts of individual Marines, yet none of the Americans ran short of ammunition, despite firing some sixty shots apiece in the battle.
During this portion of the fighting, Captain Elliott had requested that Dolphin provide fire support to the Marines by shelling the Spanish blockhouse and nearby positions with her naval guns. Through a miscommunication of signals, however, the gunboat began unknowingly dropping shells in the direct path of a small force of fifty marines and ten Cuban irregulars led by 2nd Lt. Magill, who was attempting to flank the Spanish position and potentially cut off any avenue of retreat. Affixing his handkerchief to a long stick and braving the Spanish fire, Sergeant John H. Quick
John H. Quick
John Henry Quick was a United States Marine who received the Medal of Honor for his actions at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba in 1898 during the Spanish-American War...
took up an exposed position on the ridge to immediately wigwag a flag signal to Dolphin to adjust her gunfire. War Correspondent Stephen Crane
Stephen Crane
Stephen Crane was an American novelist, short story writer, poet and journalist. Prolific throughout his short life, he wrote notable works in the Realist tradition as well as early examples of American Naturalism and Impressionism...
, who had accompanied the Marines, later described the scene in his war tale "Marines Signaling Under Fire at Guantanamo":
"Sergeant Quick arose, and announced that he was a signalman. He produced from somewhere a blue polka-dot neckerchief as large as a quilt. He tied it on a long, crooked stick. Then he went to the top of the ridge, and turning his back to the Spanish fire, began to signal to the Dolphin. Again we gave a man sole possession of a particular part of the ridge. We didn't want it. He could have it and welcome. If the young sergeant had had the smallpox, the cholera, and the yellow fever, we could not have slid out with more celerity.
As men have said often, it seemed as if there was in this war a God of Battles who held His mighty hand before the Americans. As I looked at Sergeant Quick wig-wagging there against the sky, I would not have given a tin tobacco-tag for his life. Escape for him seemed impossible. It seemed absurd to hope that he would not be hit; I only hoped that he would be hit just a little, in the arm, the shoulder, or the leg.
I watched his face, and it was as grave and serene as that of a man writing in his own library. He was the very embodiment of tranquillity in occupation. He stood there amid the animal-like babble of the Cubans, the crack of rifles, and the whistling snarl of the bullets, and wig-wagged whatever he had to wig-wag without heeding anything but his business. There was not a single trace of nervousness or haste.
To say the least, a fight at close range is absorbing as a spectacle. No man wants to take his eyes from it until that time comes when he makes up his mind to run away. To deliberately stand up and turn your back to a battle is in itself hard work. To deliberately stand up and turn your back to a battle and hear immediate evidences of the boundless enthusiasm with which a large company of the enemy shoot at you from an adjacent thicket is, to my mind at least, a very great feat. One need not dwell upon the detail of keeping the mind carefully upon a slow spelling of an important code message.
I saw Quick betray only one sign of emotion. As he swung his clumsy flag to and fro, an end of it once caught on a cactus pillar, and he looked sharply over his shoulder to see what had it. He gave the flag an impatient jerk. He looked annoyed."
When Sergeant Quick finished this message, the ship answered. Quick then picked up his Lee rifle and resumed his place on the firing line. For his gallant and selfless conduct during this action, Quick would later receive the Medal of Honor
Medal of Honor
The Medal of Honor is the highest military decoration awarded by the United States government. It is bestowed by the President, in the name of Congress, upon members of the United States Armed Forces who distinguish themselves through "conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his or her...
.
Dolphin shifted her fire onto the enemy camp and blockhouse, and by 14:00, the Spanish had broken and fled the blockhouse. Unfortunately, 2nd Lt. Magill's men were delayed sufficiently to prevent them from cutting off a Spanish retreat, though his men did capture the Spanish signaling station and its heliograph
Heliograph
A heliograph is a wireless solar telegraph that signals by flashes of sunlight reflected by a mirror. The flashes are produced by momentarily pivoting the mirror, or by interrupting the beam with a shutter...
equipment. As the Spanish forces withdrew through a gully on the other side of the valley, Marines opened fire at a distance of 1,200 yards, firing volley after volley. The Spanish were unable to accurately return fire, allowing Marine Company B and the Cuban rebels to close the distance, firing as they advanced. The Spanish to first attempted to concentrate their fires on the Cubans and managed to kill two of them, but were forced back by marine rifle fire once again, at which point the remaining enemy, which up to that point had been withdrawing in good order, broke and scattered.
Spanish Retreat
By 15:30, the enemy had abandoned the battlefield, and all firing had ceased. Most of the Spanish had escaped, but a lieutenant and 17 enlisted men were captured, and the enemy suffered casualties of 60 killed and 150 wounded. They had left behind 30 modern 7mm Mauser riflesGewehr 98
The Gewehr 98 is a German bolt action Mauser rifle firing the 8x57mm cartridge from a 5 round internal clip-loaded magazine that was the German service rifle from 1898 to 1935, when it was replaced by the Karabiner 98k. It was hence the main rifle of the German infantry during World War I...
and ammunition. Two Marines and two Cuban rebels had been wounded, and two Cuban rebels killed, who were buried where they fell. The most serious casualties suffered by the Marines were from heat exhaustion, which disabled one officer and 22 men. Gunboat Dolphin took these aboard after the fighting was over for the trip back to Camp McCalla. The Spanish headquarters building (blockhouse) was burned, and the freshwater well at Cuzco was destroyed, thus ending its immediate usefulness, including to the Marines, whose officers would not let them drink from it prior to its destruction. Water was eventually brought up from the USS Dolphin after a wait of two hours.
Spanish forces retreated in small groups of stragglers to Guantánamo, via Cayo del Toro and Caimanera. Apparently expecting the U.S. forces to follow up the victory, they fortified Dos Caminos, a small settlement at the crossing of two roads, and added several blockhouses to the number already erected on the rail line. The Spanish soldiers were apparently impressed by marine firepower; upon arrival at Ciudad Guantánamo (Guantánamo City), the surviving members of the Cuzco Wells garrison informed General Pareja that they had been attacked by 10,000 Americans.
Camp McCalla saw no further attacks by Spanish or guerilla forces, and was disestablished on August 5, 1898.
Meanwhile attention was soon focused on other areas of the bay. The Spanish were adding to their earthworks on Cayo del Toro, where they had three bronze 6.4 in (162.6 mm) guns and a modern 3.5 in (88.9 mm) Krupp gun. At Caimanera, on the bluff
Hill
A hill is a landform that extends above the surrounding terrain. Hills often have a distinct summit, although in areas with scarp/dip topography a hill may refer to a particular section of flat terrain without a massive summit A hill is a landform that extends above the surrounding terrain. Hills...
south of the village, were mounted three more of the 6.4 in (162.6 mm) guns, and the small gunboat
Gunboat
A gunboat is a naval watercraft designed for the express purpose of carrying one or more guns to bombard coastal targets, as opposed to those military craft designed for naval warfare, or for ferrying troops or supplies.-History:...
Sandoval had a battery of one six-pounder and an automatic one-pounder Maxim gun
Maxim gun
The Maxim gun was the first self-powered machine gun, invented by the American-born British inventor Sir Hiram Maxim in 1884. It has been called "the weapon most associated with [British] imperial conquest".-Functionality:...
.
Bombardment of Fort Toro
Admiral Sampson decided to shell the fort of Cayo del Toro, and on 16 June he sent USS Texas and Yankee to join with USS Marblehead in this plan. Fire from the three ships temporarily dismounted two of the enemy's big guns, destroyed the buildings on the Cay, and drove the troops from all guns and trenches. Their combined firepower had reduced the Spanish fort to impotency within 15 minutes of initially engaging it. One enemy shell landed near the bow of the Marblehead, sinking within ten yards of the ship, but no hits were scored. Disaster jostled the U.S. ships as they steamed up the bay past Caracoles Point.As the Americans proceeded slowly, a lookout on Marblehead reported that the starboard propeller was foul of a buoy. The engine was stopped, and the propeller was cleared of the "buoy", which turned out to be a contact mine
Naval mine
A naval mine is a self-contained explosive device placed in water to destroy surface ships or submarines. Unlike depth charges, mines are deposited and left to wait until they are triggered by the approach of, or contact with, an enemy vessel...
. The mine was successfully disarmed. Afterward, it was learned that the ships had passed through a field of 18 such mines, or torpedoes, on the trip up the bay and through the same field on the return trip, without injury of any kind. A few days after the attack on Cayo del Toro, the mine field was thoroughly explored, and 14 mines were recovered. Their failure to explode on contact was attributed to mechanical faults, plus a healthy growth of barnacles on the contact levers.
The minesweeping operation, carried out without specialized equipment, involved two steam launches and two whaleboat
Whaleboat
A whaleboat is a type of open boat that is relatively narrow and pointed at both ends, enabling it to move either forwards or backwards equally well. It was originally developed for whaling, and later became popular for work along beaches, since it does not need to be turned around for beaching or...
s from Marblehead and Dolphin. A launch and whaleboat side by side, connected to the other launch and whaleboat by a rope with a chain drag in the center, swept the channel. When the drag met an obstruction, the boats came together and crossed the ends of the drag. The boats were then hauled carefully up to the mine, which was brought to the surface and disarmed. Twice the drag brought up two mines together.
While sweeping for mines, the boats had been fired on from Hicacal Beach, where 250 Spanish infantry were posted to guard the mine field. It was determined to rout the last enemy force remaining in the vicinity of the bay, and on 25 June Lt. Col. Huntington led two companies of Marines and 40 Cubans in an amphibious assault
Amphibious warfare
Amphibious warfare is the use of naval firepower, logistics and strategy to project military power ashore. In previous eras it stood as the primary method of delivering troops to non-contiguous enemy-held terrain...
on Hicacal Beach. It proved to be a bloodless encounter, since the Spanish had left a day or two earlier.
Santiago Campaign
With Guantánamo Bay successfully occupied, U.S. interest centered on operations at Santiago. An American expeditionary force of 17,000 officers and men under Major General William R. Shafter was landed east of the city at the small ports of DaiquiríDaiquirí
Daiquirí is a small village, 14 miles east of Santiago de Cuba. It became a focal point of the United States invasion of Cuba in the Spanish-American War....
and Siboney
Siboney, Cuba
Siboney is a town in Cuba east of the city of Santiago de Cuba. In 1898 Siboney and the nearby village of Daiquirí were locations where American forces came ashore in the Spanish-American War...
between 22 and 25 June, without opposition. A week later, on 1 July, the historic battles of El Caney
Battle of El Caney
The Battle of El Caney was fought on July 1, 1898, during the Spanish-American War.-Background:At El Caney, Cuba, 514 Spanish regular soldiers, together with approximately 100 armed Spanish loyalists under the command of General Joaquín Vara de Rey were instructed to hold the northwest flank of...
and San Juan Hill
Battle of San Juan Hill
The Battle of San Juan Hill , also known as the battle for the San Juan Heights, was a decisive battle of the Spanish-American War. The San Juan heights was a north-south running elevation about two kilometers east of Santiago de Cuba. The names San Juan Hill and Kettle Hill were names given by the...
ended in victory for U.S. forces, opening up the approaches to Santiago itself. On the morning of 3 July, a demand was sent to the Spanish commander, General Arsenio Linares, to surrender or suffer bombardment
Bombardment
A bombardment is an attack by artillery fire directed against fortifications, troops or towns and buildings.Prior to World War I the term term was only applied to the bombardment of defenceless or undefended objects, houses, public buildings, it was only loosely employed to describe artillery...
of the city as an alternative. On the same morning, the Spanish fleet under Admiral
Admiral
Admiral is the rank, or part of the name of the ranks, of the highest naval officers. It is usually considered a full admiral and above vice admiral and below admiral of the fleet . It is usually abbreviated to "Adm" or "ADM"...
Pascual Cervera sallied forth from Santiago Bay, only to meet with complete destruction at the hands of the U.S. fleet. Major Spanish resistance at Santiago was at an end, although it was not until 15 July that a preliminary agreement was signed. U.S. forces occupied the city on 17 July.
The 7,000 Spanish troops at the city of Guantánamo — only 40 mi (64.4 km) away — did not march to the aid of Linares' besieged army, because prior to the cutting of his communications, General Pareja had been directed by his superiors to hold the city of Guantánamo
Guantánamo
Guantánamo is a municipality and city in southeast Cuba and capital of Guantánamo Province.Guantánamo is served by the Caimanera port and the site of a famous U.S. Naval base. The area produces sugarcane and cotton wool...
at all costs. This was so ordered because the Spanish feared that the Guantánamo valley might be used as an invasion route by U.S. forces, as the English had once used it to advance on Santiago. After the Navy cut the cables and established a base at Guantánamo Bay, General Pareja remained in complete ignorance concerning the course of the war because the Cuban insurgents maintained such a tight ring about the city that not one messenger got through their lines. Fifteen were caught and executed as spies. None of General Linares' frantic requests for aid reached Pareja.
The threat posed by U.S. Naval forces and a battalion of Marines at Guantánamo Bay, plus the stranglehold on land communications by 1,000 Cuban insurgents, effectively pinned down an army of 7,000 men which might have changed the outcome of the fighting at Santiago. Less than a week after the surrender of Santiago, the base at Guantánamo Bay was used to launch the invasion of Puerto Rico, 500 mi (804.7 km) to the east. Three thousand five hundred troops under General Miles sailed from the Bay on 21 July. This was the last important event in the Spanish-American War phase of Guantánamo Bay; on August 12, the war ended with the signing of the peace protocol
Treaty of Paris (1898)
The Treaty of Paris of 1898 was signed on December 10, 1898, at the end of the Spanish-American War, and came into effect on April 11, 1899, when the ratifications were exchanged....
and an armistice
Armistice
An armistice is a situation in a war where the warring parties agree to stop fighting. It is not necessarily the end of a war, but may be just a cessation of hostilities while an attempt is made to negotiate a lasting peace...
.
The new U.S. Naval Base was not formalized by lease agreement between the U.S. and Cuba until five years later, when in 1903 it was acquired as a "coaling and Naval station", but its worth was already proven.
Lt. Col. Huntington's Marine First Battalion, which had reembarked aboard the USS Resolute
USS Resolute (1894)
The second USS Resolute was an auxiliary cruiser and transport that served in the United States Navy in 1898-1899. She served during the Spanish-American War.-Construction, acquisition, and commissioning:...
during the siege and surrender of Santiago, sailed for the United States, and after a stop at New York, arrived at Portsmouth Harbor, disembarking her marines on the evening of 24 August 1898.
See also
- Platt AmendmentPlatt AmendmentThe Platt Amendment of 1901 was a rider appended to the Army Appropriations Act presented to the U.S. Senate by Connecticut Republican Senator Orville H. Platt replacing the earlier Teller Amendment. Approved on May 22, 1903, it stipulated the conditions for the withdrawal of United States troops...
- Timeline of Guantánamo BayTimeline of Guantánamo BayNoteworthy Events of Guantánamo Bay.-Timeline:*30 April 1494 — Christopher Columbus, on his second voyage of exploration, sailed into Guantánamo Bay and remained overnight...
- Battles of the Spanish-American WarBattles of the Spanish-American WarThe following are known Battles of the Spanish–American War...This list includes all major engagements and most reported skirmishes of the Spanish–American War. Some items, such as the claim by Puerto Ricans that Spanish guns in San Juan fired the first shots of the war, cannot be confirmed by...
- Henry Clay CochraneHenry Clay CochraneHenry Clay Cochrane was an officer in the United States Marine Corps during the latter half of the 19th Century and early 20th Century...
External links
- http://www.ccds.charlotte.nc.us/arutyun/World%20Cultures/Featured%20Articles/Guantanamo%20Bay.htm The History of Guantanamo Bay, Volume I U.S. Naval Station, Guantánamo Bay, Cuba.