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From the book Teddy Roosevelt at San Juan: The Making of a President
The Second Hero
The commanding officer of the Cavalry Division was Gen. "Fightin'
Joe" Wheeler, a small man with a white beard. Roosevelt
called him a "gamecock" who was eager for battle.
General Lawton of the regular infantry, who led the disembarka-
tion, was soldierly and conservative while the volunteer Wheeler had
a flair for the dramatic. He landed in Daiquiri on the heels of the first
Rough Riders and at once noticed the empty flagstaff still standing
alongside the Spanish blockhouse on Mount Losiltires. He instructed
Wood, as the first cavalry colonel ashore, to have the Rough Riders'
regimental flag flown from the pole.
The Rough Riders had not been in one place long enought ot pos-
sess an official standard. The Arizona troops, though, had a silk
American flag that had been hand sewn by the women of Phoenix.
Wood ordered Color Bearer Sgt. Albert Wright and Chief Trumpeter
Clay Platt to climb the hill and raise the silken banner ceremoniously.
The Rough Riders' chief surgeion, Maj. Henry LaMotte, went along as
a lark.
When the Stars and STrips were run up the Spanish flagpole,
everyone in the cove and on the shore could see the national colors
and hear the trumpet. The American soldiers and sailors and the
Cubans cheered. Ships joined in with blasts from their steam whistles.
Inside the deserted blockhouse, the three Rough Riders found an
abandoned bag of rice flour and a partly consumed bottle of Spanish
wine. Wright and Platt were about to drink the wine when LaMotte
grabbed the bottle from their hands. To their disgust, he smashed it
against a rock. He maintained that hte wine had been poisoned, al-
though there was no way to know if he was correct.
The flag-raising incident was featured in the press along with
O'Neill's exploit. Surgeon LaMotte received credit as the second celeb-
rity of the day. The episode annoyed Roosevelt and illogically embit-
tered him against LaMotte. To Roosevelt, the regiment was his. Wood
should have asked him to lead the ceremonial party. Raising the flag
over the beachhead was exactly the type of ritual he would have
relished. Instead, LaMotte had seized the glorious moment, adding
prestige to the Rough Riders but usurping the role Roosevelt desired.
From the book Leonard Wood: Rough Rider, Surgeon, Architect of American Imperialism
Shafter had planned for Lawton's Second Infantry Division and
four Gatling guns to be the first on the beach, followed by Bates's
brigade with Wheeler's dismounted cavalry (includidng Wood's troops)
last ashore. The landing started at 9:40 in the morning and, to the de-
light and surprise of the toops watching from ships, was entirely un-
opposed. Wood decided not to wait for his regiment to land. He stole a
boat and sent Albert Wright, the oversized ergeant; Henry La Motte,
the regimental surgeon; and Clay Platt, the unit's trumpeter ashore with
the Arizona squadron's flag. They climbed to a blockhouse on Mount
Losiltires which overlooked the harbor from the east where they en-
countered reported Edward Marshall who intended to raise "a small
flag belonging to the New York Journal" in the same place. Marshall
bowed to military precedence and, after several failed attempts at
climbing the roof, the Rought Riders' flag went up. There followed, "A
quarter of an hour of whistle shrieks, cheers, yells, drum flares, bugle
calls and patriotic songs."
Other Comments:
Sources:
Samuels, Peggy and Samuels, Harold; Teddy Roosevelt at San Juan: The Making of a President; 1997; Texas A&M Military History Series; pp. 106 - 107
McCallum, Jack; Leonard Wood: Rough Rider, Surgeon, Architect of American Imperialism; New York University Press; 2006; p. 82
MEDAL OF HONOR, WITH DIPLOMA OF SILVER MEDAL OR THIRD CLASS.
Spanish-American War
From Month/Year
April / 1898
To Month/Year
August / 1898
Description The Spanish–American War (Spanish: Guerra hispano-estadounidense or Guerra hispano-americana; Filipino: Digmaang Espanyol-Amerikano) was a conflict fought between Spain and the United States in 1898. Hostilities began in the aftermath of the internal explosion of the USS Maine in Havana harbor in Cuba leading to United States intervention in the Cuban War of Independence. American acquisition of Spain's Pacific possessions led to its involvement in the Philippine Revolution and ultimately in the Philippine–American War.
Revolts had been occurring for some years in Cuba against Spanish rule. The U.S. later backed these revolts upon entering the Spanish–American War. There had been war scares before, as in the Virginius Affair in 1873. In the late 1890s, US public opinion was agitated by anti-Spanish propaganda led by newspaper publishers such as Joseph Pulitzer and William Randolph Hearst which used yellow journalism to call for war. The business community across the United States had just recovered from a deep depression, and feared that a war would reverse the gains. They lobbied vigorously against going to war.
The US Navy battleship Maine was mysteriously sunk in Havana harbor; political pressures from the Democratic Party pushed the administration of Republican President William McKinley into a war that he had wished to avoid.[9] Spain promised time and time again that it would reform, but never delivered. The United States sent an ultimatum to Spain demanding that it surrender control of Cuba. First Madrid declared war, and Washington then followed suit.
The main issue was Cuban independence; the ten-week war was fought in both the Caribbean and the Pacific. US naval power proved decisive, allowing expeditionary forces to disembark in Cuba against a Spanish garrison already facing nationwide Cuban insurgent attacks and further wasted by yellow fever. Numerically superior Cuban, Philippine, and US forces obtained the surrender of Santiago de Cuba and Manila despite the good performance of some Spanish infantry units and fierce fighting for positions such as San Juan Hill. Madrid sued for peace with two obsolete Spanish squadrons sunk in Santiago de Cuba and Manila Bay and a third, more modern fleet recalled home to protect the Spanish coasts.
The result was the 1898 Treaty of Paris, negotiated on terms favorable to the US which allowed it temporary control of Cuba and ceded ownership of Puerto Rico, Guam, and the Philippine islands. The cession of the Philippines involved payment of $20 million ($575,760,000 today) to Spain by the US to cover infrastructure owned by Spain.
The defeat and collapse of the Spanish Empire was a profound shock to Spain's national psyche, and provoked a thorough philosophical and artistic revaluation of Spanish society known as the Generation of '98.[ The United States gained several island possessions spanning the globe and a rancorous new debate over the wisdom of expansionism. It was one of only five US wars (against a total of eleven sovereign states) to have been formally declared by Congress.
