1895-02-24

Second Cuban Insurrection begins.

1895-04

General Gomez, General Antonio Maceo, Jose Maceo, Cebreco, Crombet, Guerra, Jose Marti and Borrero land in Cuba.

1896-02-16

General Weyler issues first of reconcentrado orders.

1896-08-26

Philippine Revolution begins.

1897-03-04

William McKinley inaugurated as president of the United States.

1897-08-08

Spanish Prime Minister Canovas assassinated.

1897-10-04

Prime Minister Sagasta takes office in Spain.

1897-10-31

Prime Minister Sagasta recalls General Weyler from Cuba.

1898-01-01

Spain institutes limited political autonomy in Cuba.

1898-01-12

Spanish in Cuba riot against autonomy-supporting newspaper offices. Consul-General Lee takes this as threat against Americans.

1898-01-17

Consul-General Lee asked for warship to be sent to Havana.

1898-01-21

Esperanza, the Cuban rebel stronghold is invaded.

1898-01-24

Battleship USS Maine sent to Havana.

1898-01-25

Battleship USS Maine arrives in Havana.

1898-01-27

Cuban Brig. Gen. Aranguren ambushed and killed.

1898-02-09

The DeLome letter is printed, critical of McKinley, causing the Spanish diplomat to be recalled.

1898-02-15

Battleship USS Maine explodes, 266 crewmen killed.

1898-02-16

DeLome leaves the U.S. for Spain.

1898-02-17

Naval Board of Inquiry convenes to investigate the loss of USS Maine created ("the Sampson Board").

1898-02-18

Spanish cruiser Vizcaya arrives in New York in reciprocal visit for the USS Maine, unaware that the Maine had been lost.

1898-02-21

The Naval Court of Inquiry into the loss of the USS Maine begins.

1898-02-25

Vizcaya leaves New York for Havana.

1898-03-06

Spain requests, unofficially, that Consul-General Lee be recalled.

1898-03-08

Congress authorizes $50 million for a war fund.

1898-03-12

Battleship USS Oregon, under Capt. Charles Clark leaves San Francisco for Florida, by way of Tierra del Fuego on its famous dash.

1898-03-14

Admiral Cervera's squadron steams  for the Cape Verde Islands.

1898-03-21

Board of Inquiry Report completed. States USS Maine lost to a mine.

1898-03-25

McKinley receives Board of Inquiry Report.

1898-03-26

McKinley sends note to Spain demanding an end to war in Cuba, as well as a note indicating the findings of the Naval Board of Inquiry.

1898-03-28

Naval Court of Inquiry report presented to Congress. On the same day, the report of the Spanish Board of Inquiry into the loss of USS Maine is received in Washington. This reports states that the loss was the result of an internal accident.

1898-03-30

U.S. minister to Spain, Woodford, conveys request that war in Cuba end and that Cuba be given independence.

1898-03-31

Spain turns down demands of Cuban independence.

1898-04-01

U.S. House of Representatives authorizes $22.6 million for naval vessels.

1898-04-06

Pope asked McKinley to not declare war pending the Pope's negotiations with Spain.

1898-04-07

Ambassadors of England, Germany, France, Italy, Austria and Russia appeal to McKinley for peace.

1898-04-09

Spain orders General Blanco to declare armistice in Cuba.  Consul-General Lee and other U.S. citizens leave Cuba.

1898-04-11

McKinley asks Congress for war.

1898-04-16

Army begins mobilization. Teller Amendment passes in U.S. Congress, stating that the U.S. would not annex Cuba.

1898-04-19

U.S. Congress declares Cuba independent.

1898-04-22

Blockade of Cuba commenced by US Navy. First Spanish ship taken.

1898-04-23

McKinley issues call for 125,000 volunteers. Spain declares war.

1898-04-24

Four Cuban-based Spanish zeppelins bomb the port facilities at Key West, Fla., with incendiary devices.  The U.S. lacks any anti-aircraft artillery in the area, and there are no flyers present to contest the raid. The harbor is destroyed, but unfortunately Key West is made up mostly of wooden buildings.  The fire spreads and destroys most of the town. Dozens of civilians and military personnel are killed, and hundreds of others are injured. Panic ensues all along the Eastern Seaboard with numerous plans proposed to thwart this new menace.   Many guns are emplaced on improvised mountings.  A number of aerodynamic flyers are requested from civilian sources where they had been used for airmail and racing/barnstorming, by both the Army and the Navy.

1898-04-25

U.S. declares war, but makes the declaration retroactive to April 22. Matanzas, Cuba bombarded by the US Navy.

1898-04-26

U.S. Army aerodynes, operating out of Key West, catch and sink the Spanish zeppelin tender Dedalo as she transits to Cuba.

1898-04-27

Commodore Dewey's squadron leaves Mirs Bay, China for the Philippines.

1898-04-30

Ten Spanish zeppelins raid Charleston, S.C., using the same incendiary devices used upon Key West.  The resulting firestorm destroys most of the port facilities and kills hundreds of civilians and military personnel.  Fortunately, the fire does not spread to the rest of the city this time.  Screened by this raid, Admiral Cervera's Spanish squadron leaves the Cape Verde Islands for the Caribbean.

1898-05-01

U.S. Navy's Asiatic Squadron under Commodore Dewey defeats the Spanish Pacific Squadron at the Battle of Manila Bay.   The U.S. Pacific squadron does not have any liftwood flyers attached to it, but Dewey makes use of a seaplane to scout the harbor's defenses before making his assault.

1898-05-10

A Spanish zeppelin raid against the marshalling U.S. fleet in Norfolk, Va., results in the near destruction of the Spanish force.  Six zeppelins from Spain rendezvous with two zeppelins coming up from Cuba to stage the raid.  Plans are for the entire force to resupply in Cuba on its return flight.  The U.S., however, is prepared, as a combined force of flyers and aerodynes tangles with the zeppelins over Hampton Roads.  Six of the zeppelins crash in flames with the loss of their entire crews; two of the smaller, faster zeppelins manage to break off and flee to Cuba.

1898-05-11

Dewey promoted to rear admiral. USS Winslow attacks Cienfuegos, resulting in the death of Ensign Bagley and five crewmen. Bagley was the only U.S. naval officer to die in the war. Cervera's squadron appears off Martinique.

1898-05-12

Admiral Sampson bombards San Juan, Puerto Rico, without warning.   A combined U.S. Army/Navy aerial strike force of torpedo boats and rocket sloops raids Havana harbor, sinking several older, obsolete Spanish ships, and destroying several gun batteries and their associated fire control equipment before they could be emplaced to add to Havana's formidable harbor defenses.

1898-05-13

Commodore Schley's "Flying Squadron" leaves Hampton Roads for the vicinity of Cuba.

1898-05-15

Theodore Roosevelt begins training with Rough Riders.

1898-05-17

Cervera's squadron arrives in Santiago, Cuba.

1898-05-22

USS Oregon arrives off Florida after the 14,700 nautical mile dash from the U.S.'s west coast.

1898-05-25

McKinley issues a call for 75,000 more volunteers. The first army expedition leaves San Francisco for Manila, P.I.

1898-05-29

U.S. Navy blockades Spanish fleet in Santiago harbor.

1898-05-31

Schley and the blockading squadron skirmish with Cristobal Colon and the forts at Santiago.

1898-06-03

Hobson sinks the Merrimac at the entrance to Santiago harbor.

1898-06-10

U.S. Marines land at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba.

1898-06-14

Maj. Gen. Shafter's V Corps embarks at Tampa.  The United States Expeditionary Force is held up by Spanish submarines off shore.  Several troopships are sunk, with very heavy casualties.  The Cape Hatteras lighthouse is shelled by a submarine's deck gun.  The cruiser USS Albany is sunk while patrolling.  The invasion of Cuba is postponed.

1898-06-15

Spanish squadron leaves Spain for the Philippines.

1898-06-16

V Corps re-embarks for Cuba.  This time, escorted by Army flyers carrying improvised depth bombs in place of their Whitehead Torpedoes, the convoy engages the Spanish submarines. Three of the four Spanish submarines are lost.  The last one scuttles itself at Santiago.

1898-06-21

Guam "captured" by US forces.

1898-06-22

V Corps of 16,000 men land at Daiquiri in Cuba. After the beachhead has been secured by a forced landed by Tripoli class boarding sloops and supported by Eagles the main invasion takes place.

1898-06-24

Battle of Las Guasimas.

1898-07-01

Battles of El Caney and San Juan Hill.  The attempt to take San Juan Hill using airborne forces fails because guns salvaged from the wreckage of several Spanish Navy ships have been emplaced there.  The Eagles and Tripolis take heavy damage.  Three flyers are lost and the landing never takes place.  San Juan hill is taken the old fashioned way, by the 24th Infantry.   Roosevelt and his "Rough Riders" play an ancillary role, but the stateside newspapers make him the hero of the day.

1898-07-03

The Spanish fleet sorties from Santiago but all its ships are destroyed at the naval Battle of Santiago.

1898-07-04

A soldier of the 4th Massachusetts, while guarding Spanish prisoners of war aboard USS Harvard, fire at a prisoner he thought was trying to escape (the man may actually have only wanted some fresh air, having been kept below decks in the tropical heat all day).  As the man went down, his comrades surged forward; the guards panicked and volleyed into the mass of prisoners, killing six and wounding 13.

1898-07-06

Hobson and his crew exchanged.

1898-07-08

Spanish squadron heading for the Philippines is forced to turn around to protect the Spanish coastline.

1898-07-10

Santiago bombarded by the U.S. Navy.

1898-07-17

Spanish Santiago garrison surrenders.

1898-07-25

U.S. Army invades Puerto Rico.

1898-07-26

Spanish ask for terms of peace through the French ambassador.

1898-07-31

Night attack by the Spanish on the American lines at Manila, P.I.

1898-08-09

Battle of Coamo, Puerto Rico results in U.S. victory; Spain accepts McKinley's terms of peace.

1898-08-12

Peace protocol is signed (truce).

1898-08-13

U.S. Forces take Manila with a minor fight.

1898-08-20

Great naval review in New York harbor.

1898-08-23

General Merritt appointed governor of Manila. Command of 8^th Corps in P.I. given to General Otis.

1898-08-25

General Shafter leaves Cuba.

1898-08-29

Efforts to raise Maria Teresa and Cristobal Colon begun by Hobson.

1898-09-10

Spanish Cortes approves peace protocol.

1898-09-12

Admiral Cevera leaves U.S. to return to Spain.

1898-09-13

"Rough Riders" mustered out of service; Spanish senate approves peace protocol.

1898-09-14

U.S. troops begin leaving Puerto Rico; Queen Regent of Spain signs peace protocol.

1898-09-20

First U.S. flag raised in Havana, Cuba.

1898-09-24

Leonard Wood made military governor of Cuba.

1898-09-25

Maria Teresa raised by Hobson.

1898-09-29

Spanish and American peace commissioners meet for the first time.

1898-10-12

Oregon and Iowa leave New York for Manila, P.I.

1898-10-18

U.S. takes formal possession of Puerto Rico.

1898-11-05

Maria Teresa lost near Cat Island.

1898-11-28

Spain agrees to cede Philippines Islands.

1898-11-30

General Blanco leaves Cuba for Spain.

1898-12-10

Treaty of Paris ends war.

1898-12-23

Aguinaldo's cabinet resigns in the Philippines.

1899-02-04

Philippine Insurrection begins.

1901-03-04

McKinley's 2nd inauguration. Roosevelt is vice-president.

1901-03-23

Philippine Revolutionary leader General Aguinaldo captured.

1901-09-14

McKinley dies after being shot on September 6, Theodore Roosevelt becomes President.

1902-07-04

Roosevelt declares the Philippines pacified.