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Sgt. Henry T. Bradford, Company F, 6th U.S. Infantry Regiment. Wounded in Action on 1 July 1898 at the Battle of San Juan Hill, Cuba during the Santiago Campaign when he was shot in the chest with the bullet exiting his back. Born on 18 November 1872 in Pendleton County, Kentucky, he enlisted in the Army on 4 May 1897 and was discharged on 22 January 1899 because of his wounds.
Sgt. Bradford was wounded in one of the most famous battles in American history. The Battle of San Juan Hill has been immortalized by the actions of future President Teddy Roosevelt's "Rough Riders." The 6th U.S. Infantry was part of the 1st Brigade of the 1st Division when it landed in Cuba. The 1st Division began moving towards San Juan Hill at 4:45 AM on 1 July 1898 and by 10 AM the entire Division crossed the Aguadores River under heavy Spanish Mauser fire at "Bloody Ford." The Division lost almost 100 men at this point.
The 6th U.S. Infantry Regiment began an unsupported attack from the South-East of the Spanish positions on San Juan Hill. The Regiment took up a firing line about 400 yards from the Spanish positions and remained unsupported for over an hour before the 16th U.S. Infantry deployed on their left flank. Spanish fire was so heavy that the U.S. 3rd Brigade, which was attempting to move behind the 6th Infantry Regiment and deploy further to the left, lost 3 commander before they were finally able to get on line.
During this time, the 6th U.S. Infantry continued to fire steadily on the Spanish positions. Companies E and F, where Sgt. Bradford served, were sent forward as skirmishers, only to be driven back. With the U.S. attack plan in tatters, the Commanders decided to attack rather then withdraw. Lt. Jules Ord volunteered to lead the attack and Company A, of the 6th Infantry suddenly surged forward while the other Companies were attempting to reform. With the company commanders screaming for the men to move forward, the regulars of the 6th and 16th U.S. Infantry Regiments ran across the open field at the base of San Juan Hill. The men of the two regiments became intermingled and then mixed the men from the 13th Infantry Regiment attacking from farther to the left. The heat was so great that many men collapsed from heat stroke as they moved up the slope. At around 1:15 PM, the regulars tore at the Spanish barbed wire with their hands and fell into the Spanish trenches, fighting hand to hand. Most of the Spanish fell back in good order, but about 3 dozen stubbornly defended the Block House on the top of the hill. Men from the 6th, 13th and 16th Regiments, climbed onto the roof and broke through the roof tiles with their rifles before 15 of them jumped into the Block House and fought hand to hand with the remaining Spanish defenders. At the end of the battle, the 6th U.S. Infantry Regiment had suffered 105 wounded and 17 killed of its original 464 officers and men.
Sgt. Bradford received his Purple Heart on 27 June 1939.
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.
