by Virginia Parker
Village of Spencerport Historian
2023 marks the 125th anniversary of the Spanish American War. “A splendid little war.” This partial quote, attributed to John Hay, sums it up. Splendid because the US was victorious without consuming a large number of American lives. Little because it happened in a place about the size of Tennessee, it lasted for only 10 weeks, and today, it’s little remembered.
Nineteen young men from Ogden/Spencerport enlisted to fight in the Spanish American War. Not all left the country to fight. Some died from disease. After the war, most returned home, others moved away. Veterans from other communities settled in Ogden/Spencerport. Our cemeteries hold eighteen Spanish American War Veterans. Each has a story to tell.
SETTING THE STAGE
The end of the 19th century is nostalgically referred to as the Gay Nineties. The Robber Barons may have been living the high life, but the rest of America was not. During this time, lynching had reached an all-time high in the Jim Crow south. Northern cities, the new home to immigrants from countless diverse places, were filthy, teeming with poverty and corruption. They had become stuffed to the brim with exploited factory workers.
The 1890s had a bumpy start. The economic growth and expansion of the Gilded Age (1870–1890) had led to an economic crisis and the Panic of 1893. The resulting depression lasted until 1896.
Everyday Americans had had enough of political corruption and unchecked industrial monopoly. They stood up and took action. Social and political reform was on the horizon. The time had come for the Progressive Era (1896–1917).
The Progressives believed they had an obligation to do better because they could do better. They started their war of transformation locally, drawing support from their communities. Their goal was improvement in every aspect of life, including the natural world. Their weapons would be education and a firm belief in science and technology.
Teddy Roosevelt is a prime example of an 1890s progressive. The strict Victorian Era was getting pushed aside by the steady march of change.
1890s USE OF NEWSPAPERS – PRIMING THE COUNTRY FOR THE SPANISH AMERICAN WAR
News reports of the day were spread by the written word. 1890s newspapers were explicit and sensational, gaspworthy, and voraciously read by everyone. They allowed the entire country to follow along as the first prospectors reached Seattle to seek instant wealth in the Klondike Gold Rush or share in the thrill of reaching the summit of Mount Saint Elias in the Yukon.
Cities like Nashville, which was hosting a Centennial Exposition lit by countless electric lights, or Boston, having completed the first North American underground metro system, could promote their events and accomplishments to attract more visitors.
It was from the newspapers of 1897 we learned that “Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus” and the report of Mark Twain’s death was “an exaggeration.” The newspaper was a powerful tool with multiple functions, all of which could manipulate feelings, shape public opinion, or shift their focus regardless of the facts. Investigative journalists or “Muckrakers” used the paper to expose the worst mankind had to offer.
It’s all about the money. There was a fierce competition between newspaper tycoons for readers. Supporting staff was known to switch sides. Named after a popular cartoon, “yellow journalism” was born.
WHY CUBA WAS IMPORTANT
Cuba, claimed for Spain by Christopher Columbus in 1492, had been occupied as a Spanish Colony since 1511. Situated on the slave trade route, it was easy for planters, using the sweat and blood of enslaved peoples, to grew sugar, tobacco, rice, and coffee. By the mid 1800s Cubans became dissatisfied with the lack of political representation and high taxes from the distant and corrupt Spanish government. At the same time in the US, because of the surge in northern manufacturing, states in the American South were losing their economic position and political influence. It was proposed that the purchase or, if that failed, seizure of Cuba by the U.S. as a slave state, would improve the South’s status and prevent other powerful countries, such as Britain or France, from acquiring such a valuable asset and deny them a strategic foothold in North America. In 1854, the U.S. tried to purchase Cuba from Spain for “national security” reasons. This plan, when made public, was condemned by abolitionists in both the U.S. and Europe. Cuba remained under Spanish control.
In 1868, Cuba rebelled against Spain to seek their economic and political independence. This war ended ten years later with no clear winner. Spain agreed to amnesty for the rebels and freedom for the slaves. Cubans would have representation in the Spanish parliament. Slavery wasn’t abolished until 1886. Other promised improvements never materialized.
During the ten-year war, American businessmen bought large quantities of land in Cuba to grow sugar. By the 1890s Cuba was exporting 90% of their goods to the U.S. In 1894, Spain raised Cuban taxes and imposed trade restrictions; they could no longer export to the U.S. Again, Cubans had had enough and began a war for independence.
A REVOLUTION OCCURRING JUST 90 MILES SOUTH OF THE UNITED STATES
By January 1896, rebel forces controlled most of the island. Spain responded with brutality. General Weyler, known as the Butcher, reconcentrated as many Cubans as possible into fortified camps away from the countryside, limiting aid to the rebels. Reconcentration ended in 1897. None the less, because of the abysmal camp conditions, approximately 170,000 Cubans died of starvation or disease.
American newspapers sensationalized Cuba’s torment. Sympathetic Americans called for action.
President Cleveland, in his second term (1893–1897), held fast to his policy of neutrality. Congress, hearing the voice of the people, felt otherwise. Spain rejected American interference.
