Battles of the Spanish-American War

The following are known Battles of the Spanish-American War. This list includes all major engagements and most reported skirmishes. Some items, such as the claim by Puerto Ricans that Spanish guns in San Juan fired the first shots of the war, cannot be confirmed by official records.

Therefore, the list includes only those battles and skirmishes that can officially be documented after the official declarations of war on April 23rd (Spain) and April 25th (United States).

This list is very much a work in progress as new skirmishes and battles are discovered over the course of reading and research.

Battles of the Spanish-American War

Key: (A) - U.S. Victory; (S) - Spanish Victory; (I) - Inconclusive.

• APRIL, 1898
  • 4/25 - Bombardment of Matanzas, Cuba[?] by US Navy (I)

• MAY,1898
  • 5/1 - Battle of Manila Bay; U.S. forces destroy Spanish Pacific Squadron (A)
  • 5/11- First Battle of Cardenas[?]; Spanish gunboats defeat American gunboats (S)
  • 5/11 - Battle of Cinfuegos[?]; U.S. cuts telegraph cable at Cienfuegos after two failed attempts (A)
  • 5/12 - Admiral William T. Sampson[?] bombards San Juan, Puerto Rico (I)
  • 5/31 - U.S. Fleet skirmishes with Cristobal Colon and the fortifications of Santiago, Cuba (I)

• JUNE,1898
  • 6/3 - Failed effort to block harbor mouth at Santiago with scuttling of collier Merrimack (S)
  • 6/10 - U.S. Marines land at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba[?] (A)
  • 6/21 - Guam "captured" by U.S. forces; Wake island soon follows.(A)
  • 6/21 - Cuban guerillas land at Sigua, Cuba (A)
  • 6/22 - U.S. troops land at Daiquiri, Cuba; they find Spanish positions abandoned (A)
  • 6/23 - Skirmish at Las Guasimas, Cuba, Cuban rebels driven back (S)
  • 6/24 - Battle of Las Guasimas[?]; Spanish ambush U.S. troops (I)

• JULY,1898
  • 7/1 - Battles of the Santiago Hieghts: El Caney (I) and San Juan Hill (A); fierce fighting for capital of Santiago Province in Cuba
  • 7/3 - Battle of Santiago de Cuba; Cervera's squadron destroyed (A)
  • 7/10- Santiago, Cuba bombarded by U.S. Navy (A)
  • 7/17- Spanish garrison of Santiago surrenders after weeks of siege (A)
  • 7/25- U.S. troops begin invasion of Puerto Rico
  • 7/28- U.S. troops defeated at Battle of Fajardo[?] (S)
  • 7/31- Night attack by Spanish on U.S. lines outside Manila, Philippines

• AUGUST, 1898
  • 8/9 - Battle of Coamo[?] in Philippine Islands.
  • 8/11- U.S. Troops enter Mayaguez, Puerto Rico; Spanish troops encircle the city to fight a battle that never occurs.
  • 8/13- U.S. Troops capture Manila, Philippines in battle now believed to have been staged.(A)

1899-1913

• Continued struggles in the Filipino-American War involving Filipinos and Spanish soldiers who refuse to give up fighting. The struggle is called America's first Vietnam by late twentieth-century historians.

REFERENCES

• Bagosy, A. The Dirty Little War
• Nofi, A. The Spanish-American War, 1898
• Spanish American War Centennial Website: www.spanamwar.com