The siege of Santiago, also known as the siege of Santiago de Cuba, was the last major operation of the

Spanish–American War , partof = the Philippine Revolution, the decolonization of the Americas, and the Cuban War of Independence , image = Collage infobox for Spanish-American War.jpg , image_size = 300px , caption = (clock ...

on the island of

Cuba Cuba ( , ), officially the Republic of Cuba ( es, República de Cuba, links=no ), is an island country comprising the island of Cuba, as well as Isla de la Juventud and several minor archipelagos. Cuba is located where the northern Caribb ...

Santiago campaign

The primary objective of the American Fifth Army Corps' invasion of Cuba was the capture of the city of

Santiago de Cuba Santiago de Cuba is the second-largest city in Cuba and the capital city of Santiago de Cuba Province. It lies in the southeastern area of the island, some southeast of the Cuban capital of Havana. The municipality extends over , and contains ...

. U.S. forces had driven back the Spaniards' first line of defense at the Battle of Las Guasimas, after which General

Arsenio Linares Arsenio Linares y Pombo (22 October 1848 – 7 August 1914) was a Spanish military officer and government official. Born in Valencia, he earned the rank of lieutenant in 1868 and participated in operations against rebellions in Cuba, and in t ...

pulled his troops back to the main line of defense against Santiago along San Juan Heights. In the charge at the

Battle of San Juan Hill The Battle of San Juan Hill, also known as the Battle for the San Juan Heights, was a major battle of the Spanish–American War fought between an American force under the command of William Rufus Shafter and Joseph Wheeler against a Spanish fo ...

U.S. forces captured the Spanish position. At the

Battle of El Caney The Battle of El Caney was fought on July 1, 1898, during the Spanish-American War. 600 Spanish soldiers held for twelve hours, until they ran out of ammunition, against Henry W. Lawton's 5th US Division, made up of 6,899 men. This action tempor ...

the same day, U.S. forces took the fortified Spanish position and were then able to extend the U.S. flank on San Juan Hill. The destruction of the Spanish fleet at the Battle of Santiago de Cuba allowed U.S. forces to safely besiege the city.

Siege

On July 3, 1898, the same day as the naval battle,

Major General Major general (abbreviated MG, maj. gen. and similar) is a military rank used in many countries. It is derived from the older rank of sergeant major general. The disappearance of the "sergeant" in the title explains the apparent confusion of ...

William "Pecos Bill" Shafter began the siege of Santiago. Shafter fortified his position on San Juan Heights. General

Henry W. Lawton Henry Ware Lawton (March 17, 1843 – December 19, 1899) was a U.S. Army officer who served with distinction in the Civil War, the Apache Wars, and the Spanish–American War. He was the only U.S. general officer to be killed during the Philippi ...

's division moved up from

El Caney El Caney (also Caney) is a small village six kilometers (four miles) to the northeast of Santiago, Cuba. "Caney" means longhouse in Taíno. Overview It was known in centuries past as the site where Hernán Cortés received a vision supposedly orde ...

extending the U.S. right flank to the north. To the northwest, Cuban rebels under the command of Calixto Garcia extended the U.S. line to the bay. General

had been severely wounded at the

and was replaced by General

José Toral y Velázquez José Toral y Velázquez (August 18, 1832 – July 10, 1904) was a Spanish Army general who was a divisional commander of IV Corps in Cuba during the Spanish–American War. He surrendered the city of Santiago de Cuba on July 17, 1898, after th ...

. The Spanish also had German military advisors helping to man and operate their artillery. Toral had a good defensive position and Shafter knew he would sustain severe casualties from a frontal assault. All Spanish ships were destroyed bringing forth the reason for surrender. The Americans began their siege of the city. U.S. artillery sited on the heights pounded the city, while U.S. forces supported by Cuban rebels choked off all water and food supplies to the city. On July 3, a relief column was able to fight its way through Garcia's rebels and into the city bringing Toral's force to a total of 13,500.Nofi, A.A., 1996, ''The Spanish–American War, 1898'', Pennsylvania: Combined Books, On July 4, a cease fire was enacted to evacuate roughly 20,000 citizens from the city. Also, on July 4, four

.30 Army The .30-40 Krag (also known as .30 U.S. and .30 Army) was a cartridge developed in the early 1890s to provide the U.S. armed forces with a smokeless powder cartridge suited for use with modern small-bore repeating rifles to be selected in the 1 ...

Gatling The Gatling gun is a rapid-firing multiple-barrel firearm invented in 1861 by Richard Jordan Gatling. It is an early machine gun and a forerunner of the modern electric motor-driven rotary cannon. The Gatling gun's operation centered on a ...

s from Lt. John Parker's Gatling Gun Detachment were moved to Fort Canosa in support of the siege, as was a

dynamite gun A dynamite gun is any of a class of artillery pieces that use compressed air to propel an explosive projectile (such as one containing dynamite). Dynamite guns were in use for a brief period from the 1880s to the beginning of the twentieth century. ...

and sixteen field guns. Over the next thirteen days, the Gatlings were used to fire 6,000 to 7,000 rounds into the city of Santiago, causing many casualties.Parker, John H. (Lt.), ''The Gatlings At Santiago'', p. 68 On July 8, Toral proposed to surrender Santiago if his troops could be evacuated to Holguin.

Washington Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered o ...

officials would not accept Toral's proposal and the truce ended on July 10. Shafter was now pressed for time as

Yellow fever Yellow fever is a viral disease of typically short duration. In most cases, symptoms include fever, chills, loss of appetite, nausea, muscle pains – particularly in the back – and headaches. Symptoms typically improve within five days. ...

appeared. Shafter and the

U.S. Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage o ...

under William T. Sampson continued to bomb the city with little effect militarily. General Miles arrived on July 11 along with several regiments, eight field guns and eight light mortars.

Surrender

Everyone involved wanted a quick end to the campaign, and at 0900 on July 13, Toral, Shafter, Miles and

Joseph Wheeler Joseph "Fighting Joe" Wheeler (September 10, 1836 – January 25, 1906) was an American military commander and politician. He was a cavalry general in the Confederate States Army in the 1860s during the American Civil War, and then a general in ...

met under a large tree between lines to discuss surrender terms. The Americans proposed Secretary of War Russell A. Alger's offer to repatriate the Spanish garrison to Spain. Shafter relied on his friend Dr.

George E. Goodfellow George Emory Goodfellow (December 23, 1855 – December 7, 1910) was a physician and naturalist in the 19th- and early 20th-century American Old West who developed a reputation as the United States' foremost expert in treating ...

's excellent knowledge of Spanish to help negotiate the final surrender after the

. Goodfellow attributed part of his success to a bottle of " ol' barleycorn" he kept handy in his medical kit which he properly prescribed to himself and Spanish General Toral, lending a more convivial atmosphere to the conference. On July 16, after both governments agreed to the terms of capitulation ("surrender" was avoided), in which Toral surrendered his garrison and all troops in the Division of Santiago, an additional 9,000 soldiers. The Spanish also ceded Guantanamo City and San Luis. The Spanish troops marched out of Santiago on July 17.

Aftermath

The siege effectively ended the major fighting on Cuba, but the war was not yet over.

had spread through the U.S. Army before the surrender had taken place, and some 4,000 U.S. soldiers were ill with

malaria Malaria is a mosquito-borne infectious disease that affects humans and other animals. Malaria causes symptoms that typically include fever, tiredness, vomiting, and headaches. In severe cases, it can cause jaundice, seizures, coma, or death. ...

, yellow fever, and

dysentery Dysentery (UK pronunciation: , US: ), historically known as the bloody flux, is a type of gastroenteritis that results in bloody diarrhea. Other symptoms may include fever, abdominal pain, and a feeling of incomplete defecation. Complications ...

by July 28. Many officers, notably

Theodore Roosevelt Theodore Roosevelt Jr. ( ; October 27, 1858 – January 6, 1919), often referred to as Teddy or by his initials, T. R., was an American politician, statesman, soldier, conservationist, naturalist, historian, and writer who served as the 26t ...

, fought for the removal of the army from Cuba, writing the Round Robin, which was leaked to the press. The Fifth Army Corps was recalled and sent to

Camp Wikoff Montauk County Park, formerly known as Theodore Roosevelt County Park, is located approximately east of Montauk, New York. The park is in size, running from Montauk Highway north to Block Island Sound and is bordered on the east by Montauk Poi ...

, where of the 20,000 men sent there, only 257 died from yellow fever or malaria. The

Red Cross The International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement is a Humanitarianism, humanitarian movement with approximately 97 million Volunteering, volunteers, members and staff worldwide. It was founded to protect human life and health, to ensure re ...

ship, ''City of Texas'', with

Clara Barton Clarissa Harlowe Barton (December 25, 1821 – April 12, 1912) was an American nurse who founded the American Red Cross. She was a hospital nurse in the American Civil War, a teacher, and a patent clerk. Since nursing education was not then very ...

aboard, was the first ship into Santiago harbor. Plans were made for a major assault on

Havana Havana (; Spanish: ''La Habana'' ) is the capital and largest city of Cuba. The heart of the La Habana Province, Havana is the country's main port and commercial center.

, but the next major campaign of the war came on

Puerto Rico Puerto Rico (; abbreviated PR; tnq, Boriken, ''Borinquen''), officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico ( es, link=yes, Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico, lit=Free Associated State of Puerto Rico), is a Caribbean island and unincorporated ...

, led by General Miles.

Notes

References

* Konstam, Angus ''San Juan Hill 1898: America's Emergence as a World Power'' (1998) * Marrin, Albert ''The Spanish–American War'' (1991) * Parker, John H. (Lt.), ''The Gatlings At Santiago'', Middlesex, U.K.: Echo Library (reprinted 2006) {{DEFAULTSORT:Santiago de Cuba, Siege

Santiago Santiago (, ; ), also known as Santiago de Chile, is the capital and largest city of Chile as well as one of the largest cities in the Americas. It is the center of Chile's most densely populated region, the Santiago Metropolitan Region, whos ...