LibGuides: Primary Sources: America (U.S.A.) History: Spanish-American War

The Spanish-American War fought in 1898, was a brief but pivotal conflict between the United States and Spain, primarily over Spanish colonial rule in Cuba. Sparked by sensationalist journalism and public outrage over Spain's brutal suppression of Cuban independence movements, the war saw significant battles like the naval engagement in Manila Bay and the decisive Battle of San Juan Hill. The Treaty of Paris ended the conflict, granting Cuba independence while ceding Puerto Rico, Guam, and the Philippines to the United States. The war marked America's emergence as a global power and intensified debates over imperialism and interventionism.

The Spanish-American Primary Source Subject Guide offers a curated selection of original documents, letters, and accounts, providing insight into the historical events and cultural exchanges between Spain and the United States. Through firsthand sources, readers explore the complexities and impacts of this pivotal period in transatlantic relations.

Book Sources on the Spanish-American War

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The correspondents' war; journalists in the Spanish-American War by Brown, Charles H. (Charles Henry), 1910-1993.; Spanish-American War Collection.
Call Number: Boca Raton General Collection E717 .B7
Publication Date: 1967
Diary of a Dirty Little War by Harvey Rosenfeld
Call Number: Boca Raton General Collection E715 .R75 2000
ISBN: 0275966739
Publication Date: 2000-02-28
The Encyclopedia of the Spanish-American and Philippine-American Wars [3 Volumes] by Spencer C. Tucker (Editor)
Call Number: Reference (Non-circulating) E715 .E53 2009 Holdings: v.1-v.3
ISBN: 1851099514
Publication Date: 2009-05-20
The Great American-Spanish War Scenes by Edgar Johnson
Call Number: Online - free - HathiTrust
Publication Date: 1898
with official photographs by United States naval photographer, E. H. Hart
History of Negro Soldiers in the Spanish-American War by Edward A. Johnson
Call Number: Online - free - HathiTrust
Publication Date: 1899
and other items of interest
History of the Spanish-American war; embracing a complete review of our relations with Spain by Watterson, Henry, 1840-1921.; Spanish-American War Collection.
Call Number: View Online HathiTrust & Special Collections (Non-circulating) E715 .W34 1898
Publication Date: 1898
How I carried the Message to Garcia by Andrew Summers Rowan
Call Number: Online - free - HathiTrust
Letters of a Volunteer in the Spanish-American War by George G. King
Call Number: Online - free - HathiTrust
Publication Date: 1929
The Maine An Account of her Destruction in Havana Harbor by Charles D. Sigsbee
Call Number: Call Number: Online - free - HathiTrust
Marines in the Spanish-American war, 1895-1899 : anthology and annotated bibliography by Shulimson, Jack.
Call Number: View Online HathiTrust & GOVDOC : D 214.13:SP 2
Publication Date: 1998
Message from the President of the United States : transmitting the report of the Naval Court of Inquiry upon the Destruction of the United States Battle Ship Maine in Havana Harbor, February 15, 1898, together with the testimony taken before the court.
Call Number: View Online HathiTrust & Special Collections, Weiner Early American Collection (Non-circulating) E721.6 .L55 1898
Publication Date: 1898
A Message to Garcia by Elbert Hubbard
Call Number: Online - free - HathiTrust
Photographic History of the War with Spain by Joseph Wheeler
Call Number: Online - free - HathiTrust
Publication Date: 1898
Report of the Commission Appointed by the President to Investigate the Conduct of the War Department in the War with Spain by United States
Call Number: Call Number: Online - free - HathiTrust
Publication Date: 1899
Reprint of a letter by Rev. Luke V. McCabe ... by Luke V. McCabe by Rev. Luke V. McCabe
Call Number: Call Number: Online - free - HathiTrust
Publication Date: 1911
Smoked Yankees; and the Struggle for Empire by Willard Gatewood
Call Number: Jupiter General Collection E725.5.N3 S55 1987
ISBN: 0938626884
Publication Date: 1987-07-01
Some Letters of Augustus Peabody Gardner by Constance Gardner
Call Number: Online - free - HathiTrust
Publication Date: 1920
Covers the Spanish - American War and World War I.
Theodore Roosevelt: the Rough Riders, an Autobiography by Theodore Roosevelt; Louis Auchincloss (Editor)
Call Number: E725.45 1st .R64 2004
ISBN: 1931082650
Publication Date: 2004-10-07
A treaty of peace between the United States and Spain by United States
Call Number: Call Number: Online - free - HathiTrust
Publication Date: 1898
Two Rough riders; letters from F. Allen McCurdy and J. Kirk McCurdy by Frank Allen And John Kirk McCurdy
Call Number: Call Number: Online - free - HathiTrust
Publication Date: 1902
War correspondence (Hispano-American war) letters from Dr. Nicholas Senn by Senn, Nicholas, 1844-1908.
Call Number: Call Number: Online - free - HathiTrust
Publication Date: 1899

Online Resources - Spanish-American War

"A Perfect Hailstorm of Bullets”: A Black Sergeant Remembers the Battle of San Juan Hill in 1899 The best-known image of the Spanish-American War is that of Teddy Roosevelt on horseback charging with his Rough Riders up San Juan Hill in Cuba. But not only was the role of the Rough Riders exaggerated, it also displaced attention from the black soldiers who made up almost 25 percent of the U. S. force in Cuba. Indeed, the Spanish troops, who called the black soldiers “smoked Yankees,” were often more respectful of the black troops than were the white officers who commanded them. Here Sergeant-Major Frank W. Pullen, Jr. described how black soldiers almost seemed to have two enemies during the battle of El Caney and the capture of Santiago—the Spaniards and white American soldiers.
"Shameful Treachery": Hearst’s Journal Blames Spain On February 15, 1898, an explosion ripped through the American battleship Maine, sinking the ship and killing 260 sailors. Americans responded with outrage, assuming that Spain, which controlled Cuba as a colony, had sunk the ship. Two months later, the slogan "Remember the Maine" carried the U.S. into war with Spain. In the midst of the hysteria, few Americans paid much attention to the report issued two weeks before the U.S. entry into the war by a Court of Inquiry appointed by President McKinley. The report stated that the committee could not definitively assign blame to Spain for the sinking of the Maine. Many historians have focused on the role of the “yellow press” (sensationalist newspapers so named because they waged cutthroat circulation battles over comic strips like the popular “Yellow Kid”) in stirring up sentiment that propelled the U.S. into its first imperialist war. This editorial in William Randolph Hearst’s New York Journal, from February 17, 1898, pointedly blamed Spain for the sinking of the Maine, providing an example of how the “yellow press” covered the incident.
"Suspended Judgment": A Times Editorial on the Maine Tragedy "On February 15, 1898, an explosion ripped through the American battleship Maine, anchored in Havana harbor, sinking the ship and killing 260 sailors. Americans responded with outrage, assuming that Spain, which controlled Cuba as a colony, had sunk the ship. By April, 1898, the slogan "Remember the Maine" carried the U.S. into war with Spain. In the midst of the hysteria, few Americans paid much attention to the report issued two weeks before the U.S. entry into the war by a Court of Inquiry appointed by President McKinley. The report stated that the committee could not definitively assign blame to Spain for the sinking of the Maine. Most historians have focused on the role of sensationalist newspapers in fomenting public support for U.S. entry into war with Spain, and perhaps even causing it by deliberately misleading the American public about the Maine explosion. But not all newspapers engaged in sensationalist coverage of the incident. This New York Times editorial, dated February 17, 1898, sounded a note of caution about blaming the Spanish government for the explosion."
American Imperialism: The Spanish American War One of the earliest examples is US intervention in Cuba’s struggle for independence from Spain, which led to the Spanish-American War in 1898. Encouraged by sensationalist American journalism about the Cuban conflict and the mysterious sinking of the US Navy battleship Maine in Havana harbor, the United States declared war against Spain in late April. After only months of fighting the under-resourced Spanish military in Cuba and Philippines, the US emerged victorious as a new world power with a stake in international politics. In the December 1898 Treaty of Paris, Spain renounced all claim to Cuba, ceded Guam and Puerto Rico to the United States, and transferred sovereignty over the Philippines to the United States for $20 million. What motivated America to take on a superpower like Spain? Review the sources in this set to gain insight into the motivations for US engagement in the Spanish-American War.
Date With Destiny: The Gonzales Diary The best-known image of America’s 1898 war with Spain is that of Teddy Roosevelt on horseback charging with his Rough Riders up San Juan Hill in Cuba. While the Rough Riders fired the first shot in the war and were the first to raise the U.S. flag in Cuba, their exploits were greatly mythologized.In fact, Cuban troops—who had already been waging an armed struggle for independence from Spain for three years before the U.S. intervened in 1898—were crucial to the success of the larger war against Spain. Some sense of their importance can be gleaned from this account by N. G. Gonzales, the American editor of a pro-Cuban newspaper. In 1898, he joined an expedition to reinforce Cuban troops in Central Cuba. Cuban cigarmakers from Key West and Tampa (centers of Cuban-American trade union and socialist sentiment) dominated the expedition, though at least fifty black troops from the 10th Cavalry also participated. Gonzales later described the conditions faced by Cuban troops fighting with General Máximo Gómez in his diary—a section of which is included here.
De Lome letter, 1897 This letter, written by the Spanish Ambassador to the United States, Enrique Dupuy de Lôme, criticized American President William McKinley by calling him weak and concerned only with gaining the favor of the crowd. Publication of the letter helped generate public support for a war with Spain over the issue of independence for the Spanish colony of Cuba.
The Disaster to the "Maine" Literary Digest February 26, 1898, page 241.
George Percival Scriven: An American in Bohol, the Philippines, 1899-1901 About George Percival Scriven. George Scriven was born in Philadelphia on February 21, 1854. He attended the University of Chicago and Rensselaer Polytechnical Institute before entering the U.S. Military Academy, where he graduated 5th in his class. In 1878 he became a 2nd lt. in the 8th Infantry and was later transferred to the Signal Corps in 1890. By 1913 he was a brigadier general and the chief signal officer of the U.S. Army. He served at various foreign posts during his military career. He was the military attache to Mexico City in 1894 and in Rome from 1894-97. In 1898 he served as the chief signal officer of the department of the Gulf in the Spanish-American War, and then with the 4th Philippine expedition where he served on the staff of General Welsley Merritt and was part of the occupying force of Bohol Island under the command of Major Hale. His other military posts and roles included: Cuba, 1899; chief signal officer China Relief Expedition, August-November 1900; St. Louis Expedition, 1904; chief signal officer, Department of the East, 1904-1909, of the Philippines division, 1909-1911; cited for "gallantry in action" against Chinese Boxer forces at Yang-Tsun, August 6, 1900, and at Peking, August 14-15, 1900; badges for service with or during: Spanish-American War, Philippine Invasion, Army of Cuban Occupation, China Relief Expedition, Mexican Expedition, the Great War (WWI).
Guide to the Spanish American War (Library of Congress) The digital collections of the Library of Congress contain a wide variety of material associated with the Spanish-American War, including manuscripts, maps, broadsides, photographs, prints, sheet music, and films. This guide compiles links to digital materials related to the Spanish-American War that are available throughout the Library of Congress Web site. In addition, it provides links to external Web sites focusing on the Spanish-American War and a bibliography containing selections for both general and younger readers.
Library of Congress: Images: Spanish-American War 617 prints & photographs
Major Events of the Spanish-American War (Topics in Chronicling America) (Library of Congress) A guide for researching the topic of the "Spanish American War," which took place from April 25 until December 10,1898, in the Chronicling America digital collection of historic newspapers.
Papers relating to the foreign relations of the United States, with the annual message of the president transmitted to Congress December 5, 1898 This digital facsimile of Foreign Relations of the United States, is a project of the University of Wisconsin-Madison Libraries in collaboration with the University of Illinois at Chicago Libraries. The Foreign Relations of the United States series is the official documentary historical record of major U.S. foreign policy decisions that have been declassified and edited for publication. The series is produced by the State Department's Office of the Historian; printed volumes are available from the Government Printing Office. FRUS begins with the administration of Abraham Lincoln in 1861. Many volumes published since 1945 are available online on the State Department website.
Personal Narrative of the Maine Century Magazine, November 1898. Pages 74-96
Puerto Rico at the Dawn of the Modern Age: Nineteenth- and Early-Twentieth-Century Perspectives The digital collection Puerto Rico at the Dawn of the Modern Age: Nineteenth- and Early-Twentieth-Century Perspectives is one component of a collaborative project undertaken by the Library of Congress Hispanic Division and the National Digital Library Program to recognize the centennial of the Spanish-American War (1898). The first product of this collaboration, The World of 1898: The Spanish-American War, came online in 1998. Puerto Rico at the Dawn of the Modern Age now joins it, while also expanding the Library of Congress's continuing commitment to highlighting the histories of distinctive American regions through the online presentation of materials selected from a number of divisions.
Report of the Commission Appointed by the President to Investigate the Conduct of the War Department in the War with Spain (1900), v. 1 United States. Commission Appointed by the President to Investigate the Conduct of the War Dept. in the War with Spain; United States. Congress (56th, 1st session : 1899-1900). Senate
Report of the Commission Appointed by the President to Investigate the Conduct of the War Department in the War with Spain (1900), v. 2 United States. Commission Appointed by the President to Investigate the Conduct of the War Dept. in the War with Spain; United States. Congress (56th, 1st session : 1899-1900). Senate
Report of the Commission Appointed by the President to Investigate the Conduct of the War Department in the War with Spain (1900), v. 3 United States. Commission Appointed by the President to Investigate the Conduct of the War Dept. in the War with Spain; United States. Congress (56th, 1st session : 1899-1900). Senate
Report of the Commission Appointed by the President to Investigate the Conduct of the War Department in the War with Spain (1900), v. 4 United States. Commission Appointed by the President to Investigate the Conduct of the War Dept. in the War with Spain; United States. Congress (56th, 1st session : 1899-1900). Senate
Report of the Commission Appointed by the President to Investigate the Conduct of the War Department in the War with Spain (1900), v. 5 United States. Commission Appointed by the President to Investigate the Conduct of the War Dept. in the War with Spain; United States. Congress (56th, 1st session : 1899-1900). Senate
Report of the Commission Appointed by the President to Investigate the Conduct of the War Department in the War with Spain (1900), v. 6 United States. Commission Appointed by the President to Investigate the Conduct of the War Dept. in the War with Spain; United States. Congress (56th, 1st session : 1899-1900). Senate
Report of the Commission Appointed by the President to Investigate the Conduct of the War Department in the War with Spain (1900), v. 7 United States. Commission Appointed by the President to Investigate the Conduct of the War Dept. in the War with Spain; United States. Congress (56th, 1st session : 1899-1900). Senate
Report of the Commission Appointed by the President to Investigate the Conduct of the War Department in the War with Spain (1900), v. 8 United States. Commission Appointed by the President to Investigate the Conduct of the War Dept. in the War with Spain; United States. Congress (56th, 1st session : 1899-1900). Senate
South Carolina and the Spanish American War Although the Spanish-American War was of short duration, South Carolina found itself involved through the raising of volunteer regiments and hosting of military camps. Soldiers at Camp Fornance in Columbia, S.C. saw service in Cuba and in the Philippines, and the camp became headquarters for the Third Brigade of Second Division of the Second Army Corps. Other camps located in Columbia served primarily as mustering camps: Camp Ellerbe, Camp Dewey (also known as Geiger and Fuller), Camp Fitzhugh Lee, and Camp Prospect. Summerville, S.C. also hosted Camp Marion during 1898. Fort Moultrie at Charleston, S.C. was manned by South Carolina militia. President McKinley appointed South Carolinian Major General Matthew Calbraith Butler commander of the volunteer forces.
Spanish-American War - Photographs and Cartoons from the Graupner Family Papers - Through University of California The first scrapbook (BANC PIC 1964.026) was assembled by Graupner in 1899. A typewritten explanatory note at the front of the scrapbook states that the photographs were taken in the San Francisco vicinity between 1898 and 1899. The second scrapbook (BANC PIC 1964.066) was assembled in 1898. It is unclear if it too was assembled by Graupner. It it titled "Bugle Echoes, 1898" and depicts the Phillippine expeditions preparing for the war.
The Spanish-American War: The United States Becomes a World Power - Library of Congress Teacher's Guide part of their Digital Collection
The Spanish-American War in Motion Pictures - Library of Congress This presentation features 68 motion pictures, produced between 1898 and 1901, of the Spanish-American War and the subsequent Philippine Revolution. The Spanish-American War was the first U.S. war in which the motion picture camera played a role. These films were made by the Edison Manufacturing Company and the American Mutoscope & Biograph Company and consist of actualities filmed in the U.S., Cuba, and the Philippines, showing troops, ships, notable figures, and parades, as well as reenactments of battles and other war-time events. The Special Presentation presents the motion pictures in chronological order together with brief essays that provide a historical context for their filming.
Spanish American War: Topics in Chronicling America - Library of Congress A guide for researching the topic of the "Spanish American War," which took place from April 25 until December 10,1898, in the Chronicling America digital collection of historic newspaper
Spanish American War Diary of Clarence C. Childs Fremont, Ohio Sixteenth Ohio National Guard Spanish American War
Theodore Roosevelt Center: Spanish American War
Topics in Chronicling America - Major Events of the Spanish American War A guide for researching the topic of the "Spanish-American War," which took place from April 25 until December 10,1898, in the Chronicling America digital collection of historic newspapers.
The United States and Its Territories 1870-1925: The Age of Imperialism The United States and its Territories, drawn from the University of Michigan Library's Southeast Asia collection, comprises the full text of monographs and government documents published in the United States, Spain, and the Philippines between 1870 and 1925. The primary focus of the material is the Spanish-American war and subsequent American governance (approximately 1898-1910). The text collection is complemented by digitized images from key photograph collections drawn from the Special Collections Research Center.
USS Maine Explosion
A War in Perspective: 1898-1998 (New York Public Library) "A War in Perspective" is part of "1898–1998: A War Becomes History," a series of exhibitions and programs at eight cultural and academic institutions in the metropolitan New York area, organized--with the endorsement of the Consulate General of Spain in New York--to mark the centenary of the Spanish-American War.
William McKinley: War Message
World of 1898: The Spanish American War - Library of Congress This presentation provides resources and documents about the Spanish-American War, the period before the war, and some of the fascinating people who participated in the fighting or commented about it. Information about Cuba, Guam, the Philippines, Puerto Rico, Spain, and the United States is provided in chronologies, bibliographies, and a variety of pictorial and textual material from bilingual sources, supplemented by an overview essay about the war and the period. Among the participants and authors featured are such well-known figures as Presidents Grover Cleveland, William McKinley, and Theodore Roosevelt, as well as Admiral George Dewey and author Mark Twain (United States), together with other important figures such as Antonio Maceo and José Martí (Cuba), Román Baldorioty de Castro and Lola Rodríguez de Tió (Puerto Rico), José Rizal and Emilio Aguinaldo (Philippines), and Antonio Cánovas del Castillo and Ramón Blanco (Spain).
Treaty of Peace Between the United States and Spain; December 10, 1898 The United States of America and Her Majesty the Queen Regent of Spain, in the name of her august son Don Alfonso XIII, desiring to end the state of war now existing between the two countries, have for that purpose appointed as plenipotentiaries: The President of the United States, William R. Day, Cushman K. Davis, William P. Frye, George Gray, and Whitelaw Reid, citizens of the United States; And Her Majesty the Queen Regent of Spain, Don Eugenio Montero Rios, president of the senate, Don Buenaventura de Abarzuza, senator of the Kingdom and ex-minister of the Crown; Don Jose de Garnica, deputy of the Cortes and associate justice of the supreme court; Don Wenceslao Ramirez de Villa-Urrutia, envoy extraordinary and minister plenipotentiary at Brussels, and Don Rafael Cerero, general of division; Who, having assembled in Paris, and having exchanged their full powers, which were found to be in due and proper form, have, after discussion of the matters before them, agreed upon the following articles:
“A Message to García”: Elbert Hubbard’s Paean to Perseverance

The Spanish-American War. - Video

The Spanish-American War. - Academic Video Online Database

Crucible of Empire: The Spanish American War

The Spanish-American War | History Documentary