Memorial Day 2012

Spanish American War Memorial

Arlington Cemetary

September 14, 1901: President William McKinley Dead; Theodore Roosevelt Sworn In

William McKinley, January 29, 1843 - September 14, 1901

25th President of The United States, 1897 - 1901

Shot on September 6, 1901, died 109 Years Ago Today

Theodore Roosevelt, a hero of the Spanish American War and McKinley's second-term Vice President, succeeded McKinley in office

Many of the stamp taxes imposed to pay for the Spanish American War would expire the 1901, many of the rest would expire in 1902

Theodore Roosevelt

Sworn in as President of the United States, September 14, 1901

July 1 1898, The Spanish American War: The Rough Riders Storm San Juan Hill

The first day of the revenue tax supporting the Spanish American War was also the date of the best known battle of the war.  The Rough Rider's charge up San Juan Hill, Frederic Remington's famous depiction of the scene, and Teddy Roosevelt's role in the charge have made the event almost as well known as the explosion and sinking of the battleship Maine.

Frederic Remington's famous painting of the charge

San Juan Hill and Kettle Hill (which is the subject of the title art of this blog) are part of the San Juan Heights.

The battle on this day made the career of Teddy Roosevelt.  When he returned to the United States he was soon elected Governor of New York, and soon after that, nominated to be McKinley's running mate. 

June 22, 1898: The Spanish American War - The US Invasion of Cuba

The US military landing at Daiquiri, Cuba, June 22, 1898, 

from Harper's Pictorial History of the War with Spain, 1899.

United States troops landed in Cuba on this day in 1898 at sites near the city of Santiago.  The main force landed at Daiquiri while a smaller contingent went ashore at Siboney.  US citizens and businesses would not begin to pay documentary and proprietary taxes to pay for the military actions until July 1, 1898.

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From the 1980 movie Airplane!:

Ted Striker: My orders came through. My squadron ships out tomorrow. We're bombing the storage depots at Daiquiri at 1800 hours. We're coming in from the north, below their radar.

Elaine Dickinson: When will you be back?

Ted Striker: I can't tell you that. It's classified.

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When I was a kid my dad made the best frozen daiquiris.  Lime only - never strawberry or banana or anything too fruity.  And being that we lived in New Orleans, I always had a little "taste."  And if my dad would turn his head I might have another taste, and another...  The Caribbean and Cuba have given us some great things, like rum, daiquiris, Cuba Libres, and great cigars. 

The Spanish American War: February 15, 1898 - Battleship Maine Explodes and Sinks in Havana Harbour

The 1898 series of US revenue stamps entered use on July 1, 1898 after passage of the tax act a few weeks earlier.  But a major cause of the war, the destruction of the Battleship Maine, happened months earlier on February 15, setting in motion a growing war cry across the United States.

Wreck of the Battleship Maine

On February 15, 1898, the key event that set in motion the Spanish American war took place in Havana Harbour.   The sudden explosion of the Maine killed 260 American sailors and officers and sank the battleship.  The destruction of the Maine created an uproar in America, which, influenced by newspaper publicher William Randolph Hearst, immediately held Spain responsible.  Hearst's New York Journal published a story with the headline, "The Warship Maine Was Split In Two By An Enemy's Secret Infernal Machine!''