The Spanish American War: Philippines War Tour

Soldiers heading off to war.

To many, the Spanish American War is only a faint memory from scant discussion in some distant American History course. If you were living in America in the late 1890s, you would be reading newspaper articles and editorials, particularly in William Randolf Hearst's papers in San Francisco and New York, declaring the Spanish mistreatment of colonial subjects and encouraging the country to go to war to liberate the oppressed Cubans and other Spanish colonies. Although these articles were often based on accounts of doubtful accuracy, they convinced many that a war with Spain was the right thing to do.

After the battleship Maine mysteriously blew up in Havana Harbor on February 15, 1898, and a naval court of inquiry and newspapers proclaimed it the result of a bomb, it did not take much convincing for Congress to declare war on Spain on April 19. By May, troops began pouring into the Presidio, preparing to fight the Spanish in the Philippines. Over the next two years, the Presidio was bustling with activity as over 80,000 men and their gear passed through the post during the seven-month Spanish War and the following three year Philippine War. Afterwards, troops continued to circulate through the Presidio on their way to and from the Philippine Islands for more than a decade.

Many of the soldiers were volunteers who joined the army in their home states - like Utah, Iowa, Tennessee, New York, Kansas, and Nebraska. They came to the Presidio by train, stopping here for several weeks or months before shipping out to the Philippines. On returning from war, many of these same volunteers made their last stop here before leaving the army and returning home.