The Capture of URDANETA

                                     TODAY IN NAVAL HISTORY                                              25 SEPTEMBER 1899                                      THE CAPTURE OF URDANETA The autumn of 1898 saw the end of the Spanish-American war and the ceding of the Philippine Islands from Spain to the United States.  Militant Filipinos who had been Read More

Fort Jefferson–Gibraltar of the Gulf

                                                   SPRING 1898                        FORT JEFFERSON–GIBRALTAR OF THE GULF Sixty-eight miles west of Key West, Florida, lies a cluster of small islands named for the turtles early sailors harvested there.  The Dry Tortugas were notable in the 19th century because they lay athwart Read More

Sampson-Schley Controversy

                        13 DECEMBER 1901                    SAMPSON-SCHLEY CONTROVERSY The naval battle of Santiago on 3 July 1898 had been a pivotal victory in the Spanish-American war, despite some initial miscues.  The overall commander, Acting RADM William T. Sampson, had gone ashore hours before the Read More

Battle of Cuzco Well

                                                   14 JUNE 1898                                         BATTLE OF CUZCO WELL On this morning, LCOL Robert W. Huntington dispatched CPT George Fielding Elliott with two rifle companies and 50 Cuban scouts on a 6-mile circuitous march along the shore to the Cuzco Well.  They were Read More

Capture of Guantanamo Bay

                                                   10 JUNE 1898                                 CAPTURE OF GUANTANAMO BAY Much of the Spanish-American War was fought in Cuba, where American intervention hoped to end oppression of local Cubans by their Spanish overlords.  Spain answered with a squadron of four cruisers and three destroyers Read More