Klow's Kollection

U.S.S. Maine

A terrible explosion rocked Havana Harbor on February 15, 1898. The American pre-dreadnought battleship, U.S.S. Maine, which arrived on January 25 to protect Americans during Cuba's revolt against their Spanish leaders, was destoyed killing 260 crewmen. After a four-week investigation, a naval panel concluded a mine was the most probable cause but did not directly point the blame at Spain. Most Americans however thought Spain was indeed responsible.

 U.S.S. Maine from U.S. Navy site

Even before U.S.S. Maine was destroyed, American "yellow" journalists as well as Assistant Secretary of the Navy Theodore Roosevelt (who was anxious to test the modernized American Navy in a war) instantly assumed Spain was responsible as did the general public. President McKinley reluctantly prepared for war as did Spain when diplomatic efforts failed. The result was The Spanish-American War, an unnecessary conflict that propelled America to the ranks of a world power.

Spain's power was already in decline. Many American war hawks wanted to further expand America's influence and saw this as an opportunity beyond the West Coast. The U.S. Navy would be the instrument for America's new colonial enterprise. By the war's end, Cuba and the Philippines were in American hands, paving the way to occupy other islands in the Pacific. This began a chain of events that would lead to Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941.

The 1898 investigation panel lacked the proper technology to assess the exact reason for the Maine's destruction. Some questioned the findings that a mine detonated the ship's magazine. In 1976, a new investigation was conducted. New evidence found the damage was inconsistent with a mine explosion; the most probable cause was that the ship's boiler combusted. A 1998 investigation disputed this finding but also did not fully prove a mine was involved.

Brownsville, Texas 1906

Special Order 266:

By direction of the President, the following named enlisted men [in] Companies B,C, and D 25th Infantry, certain members of which organizations participated in the riotous disturbance which occurred in Brownsville, [Texas], on the night of August 13, 1906, will be discharged without honor from the Army by their respective commanding officers debarred from reenlisting in the Army or Navy of the United States, as well as from employment in any civil capacity under the Government.

(Edmund Morris, Theodore Rex, p 467)

This Presidential Order was in response to allegations and biased evidence that black soldiers of the Twenty-Fifth United States Colored Infantry fired upon the citizens of Brownsville, TX without reason or provocation. Though an investigation was held, the soldiers were never tried nor allowed to present their case. The biased report was instantly taken as proof of the soldiers' guilt and President Theodore Roosevelt quickly ordered the dishonorable discharge of 167 black infantrymen, including First Sergeant Mingo Sanders who met then Col. Roosevelt in Cuba in 1898 after the Battle of Las Guasimas and shared rations. When further evidence was shown that the solders were in fact innocent, Roosevelt could not bring himself to apologize to the disgraced solders or repeal the Special Order. Instead, he simply swept the issue under the rug and stated that any soldier who could prove he was not involved can present evidence and will be excused. But at this period of heightened racial prejudice, who would believe them?

The President, despite his sense of fair play and wanting a "Square Deal" for Americans, had failed to extend this to blacks. While he solely was not to blame for this mistake (Senate panel took the words of the racist Brownsville residents over the fact that the solders were indeed in the barracks at the time of the riots), it was a shameful episode of his otherwise stellar career. Then again, the President did seem to dodge the issue of race in America, making a few token gestures but nothing substantial.

This is an historical example of how civilian leadership can fail the military, especially in the face of dramatic social reform. Political pressures, both past and present, seem to make even great people shrink from doing heroic changes in the military social fabric.

Oh yes...a new investigation in 1970 proved the soldiers of the 25th were indeed innocent and in 1972, the 1906 Special Order was reversed, exonerating the soldiers.