Michigan troops and the Spanish-American War

A U.S. Navy diving crew works at the site of the destroyed USS Maine, seen from aft looking forward. The sinking was blamed on the Spanish, who had governed Cuba as a colony for 400 years. The U.S. public saw Spain as a tyrannical colonial oppressor and strongly backed the Cuban independence movement.

The funeral procession for crewmen killed when the USS Maine exploded fills the streets of Havana, Cuba, shortly after the disaster.

Gen. Valeriano Weyler y Nicolau was Spain's governor of Cuba. Weyler was known as "the butcher" with his ill-fated plan of moving civilians to central locations where they would be under the control of the Spanish army. Americans were outraged as they read reports of tens of thousands of Cubans starving and dying of disease.

William McKinley was president during the Spanish-American War. He preferred to maintain friendly relations with Spain, but Congress approved three resolutions tantamount to a declaration of war for the liberation and independence of Cuba. His hand forced, McKinley formally declared war on April 25, 1898.

Detroit crowds line the street as soldiers from the Michigan National Guard march to Union Depot for their departure to Camp Eaton at Island Lake, Michigan, near Brighton, to train for the Spanish-American War in 1898.

Visitors were allowed in Island Lake's Camp Eaton. Fretting mothers and fathers came to check on their sons; many demanded to retrieve them or insisted -- to no avail -- that their son get better accommodations.

Michigan Gov. Hazen Pingree tours Camp Eaton in Island Lake, Michigan. Pingree was a regular visitor, following Michigan soldiers even as they shipped to other parts of the U.S., and buying them better boots and uniforms.

Men wash dishes outside a mess tent at Camp Eaton.

Gov. Pingree is seen with soldiers of the Spanish-American War in 1898. He was an avid supporter of all soldiers and veterans.

A train arrives at Island Lake to take the Michigan soldiers to the South, and then on to Cuba for some regiments. Nearly 7,000 Michigan men served during the war.

Michigan's National Guard regiments were reorganized into volunteer regiments: the Michigan 31st, top image, 32nd, 33rd, 34th and 35th, whose bugle corps is seen in the bottom image. The 31st would be sent to Cuba after the fighting to help maintain order; the 35th did not leave the U.S. during the war.

Maj. Gen. William Rufus Shafter, front row center, commander of the Fifth Army Corp., was from Galesburg, Michigan. He was a Civil War hero, but by the time of the Spanish-American War, he was 63, overweight and plagued by gout. Above, he's surrounded by his staff at a Tampa Bay, Florida, hotel.

The roads of the Cuban inland were narrow and mud-clogged. Many Michigan soldiers from the Michigan 33rd and 34th regiments were used to build up and widen roads in Cuba.

More than 200 Michigan Naval Militia sailors served among the 285-man crew of the USS Yosemite, a 389-foot auxiliary cruiser. On June 28, 1898, while on blockade duty at San Juan, Puerto Rico, the Yosemite entered an hours-long battle with the Spanish ship SS Antonio Lopez that was attempting to run the blockade. The Yosemite won what became known as the Third Battle of San Juan and the blockade was maintained.

The captain of the Yosemite was Cmdr. William H. Emory, a former Michigan Naval Militiaman now in the regular Navy. Only four regular Navy sailors were on the Yosemite in 1898.

Two members of the Michigan Naval Militia who served on the Yosemite later would become Secretary of the Navy: Edwin C. Denby, left (for whom Detroit's Denby High School was named) and Truman H. Newberry of Detroit. Both also would serve in Congress representing Michigan -- Denby in the House and Newberry in the Senate.

Members of a gun crew are seen on the Yosemite, date unknown. The ship remained in service after the war and was lost in a storm off Guam in 1912.

Brig. Gen. Henry Martyn Duffield, seen here with his staff, was from a prominent family in Detroit. In Cuba, he led Michigan soldiers in a skirmish at Aguadores. He contracted yellow fever while in command and nearly died, but was able to return to Detroit after the war.

The hospital ship Relief, anchored in Cuban waters, received the sick and wounded U.S. troops. Michigan's 31st-35th regiments during the war -- some of whom never left the U.S. -- suffered 182 casualties due to sickness. Just two were killed in action, one later died of his wounds and one drowned.

Gen. William Shafter enters Santiago, Cuba, on horseback with the Fifth Corps during the Spanish-American War. Shafter struggled on horseback so he spent a lot of time commanding from ships off Cuba.

The USS Detroit was one of the new cruisers the U.S. Navy launched in 1891. During the Spanish-American War, the Detroit was part of a naval squadron that shelled Fort San Cristobal, Castillo San Felipe del Morro, and several shore batteries as part of the bombardment of Cuba on May 12, 1898.

Members of Company E, 9th U.S. Infantry, relax and read in Camp Tampa, Florida, in June 1898. The newspaper the soldier is reading is the Watertown Daily Standard.

During the Battle of Santiago de Cuba, the Spanish cruiser Vizcaya, left, took two 8-inch shells from the USS Brooklyn, right. One detonated a torpedo in Vizcaya's forward tube; the other knocked down the bridge and set a fire.

The Vizcaya struck its battle ensign and limped to shore. Some sailors survived. The starboard bow shows the effects of the internal explosion in this photo, taken shortly after the battle.

One survivor of the Viscaya was a pig, petted here by sailors from the USS Oregon, seen in the background.

Captured Spanish prisoners are seen aboard a U.S. vessel in Guantanamo Bay on June 14, 1898. The Americans were said to have treated the prisoners with fairness and respect.

Secretary of War Russell Alger was a wealthy lumber baron from Michigan who was blamed for many of the problems with supplies and logistics encountered during the 10-week war.

Lt. Col. Theodore Roosevelt and his "Rough Riders" are seen at the battle of San Juan Hill. After taking the hill, the cavalry regiment seized the heights overlooking the city of Santiago. The American victory led to the Spanish surrender two weeks later.

Front row, from left, Gen. Nelson Miles, Gen. William Shafter and Gen. Joseph Wheeler return from a conference with Spanish Gen. José Toral y Vázquez which resulted in Spain's surrender of the city of Santiago de Cuba.

Secretary of State John Hay signs the Treaty of Paris on Dec. 10, 1898, ending the Spanish-American War. Spain relinquished Cuba and ceded Puerto Rico, Guam and the Philippine islands to the United States.

The Michigan 31st Volunteers, Company A, are photographed at Island Lake. The 31st would be sent to Cuba after the fighting to help maintain order.

The fighting in Cuba ended in August, 1898, but American troops stayed to keep order. Spanish Gen. Adolfo Jimenez Castellanos handed over the island on Jan. 1, 1899. American troops march through Havana after the evacuation of the Spanish.

The Morro Castle Mortar, a memorial to the 576 University of Michigan students and faculty who served in the Spanish-American War, was erected by the Class of 1899. It still remains on the Ann Arbor campus.

A captured canon from the Spanish-American war is a source of pride for the Village of Three Oaks in southwestern Michigan. President McKinley traveled to Three Oaks for the dedication in 1899. The town contributed the most per capita of any U.S. community to the war effort.

Veterans of the Civil War and the Spanish-American War march in the Memorial Day parade in Detroit in 1920s.

Spanish-American War veterans hold a reunion in 1927 aboard the Yantic, a Naval Reserve training ship for the Michigan Naval Militia.

A memorial to the 2,500 who served in the Spanish-American War from Wayne County was installed on Belle Isle in 1932 and was refurbished in 1999. The granite memorial is flanked by bronze figures of a soldier and a sailor.