2023 marks the 125th anniversary of the Spanish-American War, the brief but pivotal 1898 conflict that garnered the United States an overseas empire and solidified its position as an emerging global power. Following the explosion and sinking of the USS Maine in Havana Harbor on 15 February 1898, the United States declared war on Spain a little over two months later on 25 April. Soon, Regular Army units, bolstered by dozens of volunteer units raised for the war, began organizing for battle.
The major theater of war was in Cuba, some ninety miles from the southern tip of Florida. After embarking from Tampa, Army forces landed in Cuba on 22 June and quickly advanced inland. During fighting at Las Guasimas, El Caney, and San Juan Heights, American soldiers, including African American units of “Buffalo Soldiers” and Lieutenant Colonel Theodore Rosevelt’s “Rough Riders” of the 1st U.S. Volunteer Cavalry, distinguished themselves in battle and forever cemented themselves in the annals of Army history. Spanish forces in Cuba soon capitulated. Campaigns in Puerto Rico and the Philippines also proved successful with minimal fighting and combat casualties. All hostilities ended by 12 August; the Treaty of Paris that officially ended the war was signed on 10 December 1898 and ratified by the Senate two months later.
Victory over Spain resulted in the United States acquiring Cuba, Puerto Rico, the Phillipines, and Guam. While brief, the war was not without costs. The number of combat deaths was relatively low—369. However, over 2,000 perished from diseases, such as typhoid, malaria, and yellow fever.
Most of the Spanish-American War artwork shown here was created by Charles Johnson Post, a newspaper cartoonist from New York who enlisted with the 71st New York Volunteers and set off for Cuba with his sketchbooks. Many years later, he used the sketches to produce some eighty paintings depicting scenes from his experiences in Florida and Cuba, sixteen of which were published posthumously in 1960 in The Little War of Private Post. The paintings depict various scenes from the war, including the disorganized embarkation from Cuba, combat action at San Juan Heights, and ragged, exhausted soldiers ready to return home.
The U.S. Army Center of Military History acquired eleven of Post’s paintings in 1976. Several other pieces are in the collections of the Smithsonian Institution and the U.S. Naval Academy. One piece, Florida Camp Scene, is currently on display at the National Museum of the U.S. Army’s The Art of Soldiering exhibition.
