YOUNG PEOPLES' HISTORY OF THE WAR WITH SPAIN

CHAPTER I.

THE CAUSE OF THE WAR.

[Illustration: (Battle at sea)]

On April 21st, 1898, a war began between the United States and Spain.
All the other countries of the world felt an interest in it, but did
not take any part in it. They were what we call "neutral"--that is,
they did not help either side.

As soon as the war was proclaimed a great wave of excitement swept
through the United States, from shore to shore. Flags were hung out in
every city and town; thousands of men offered to serve in the
army--volunteers they were called; and many persons offered to help in
other ways. The people were not glad that war had begun, but they felt
that their country was doing right, and that they ought to support her
efforts.

And what was the cause of the war? Spain, a large country across the
Atlantic Ocean, in the southwestern part of Europe, owned some of the
islands, called "West Indies," near the United States. Spain had been
unjust and cruel to the people living in one of these islands, for
many years. Several times the unhappy islanders tried to drive the
Spanish from the island, and set up a government of their own, but
Spain sent so many soldiers there that they could not get their

freedom. They fought bravely, however, but matters kept getting worse
and worse, and at last Spain sent a very cruel general to take charge
of affairs in the island. His name was Weyler, and he determined to
conquer the islanders. After a while he found he could not do it by
fighting them, so he sent his soldiers to drive those who were not
fighting away from their homes and farms and make them live in or near
the large cities. When he had done this, the people had no way to earn
money to buy food for themselves and their families, and soon they
began to get sick and to die of starvation. The cruel Weyler would not
give them anything to eat, and so they died by thousands.

[Illustration: Cuban Flag.]

When this dreadful state of affairs became known in the United
States, kind people sent several ship-loads of food and medicines and
clothing to the sufferers. This did a great deal of good, but all the
poor people could not be reached and they continued to die. Finally,
the United States told Spain that she ought not to have such a cruel
man at the head of affairs, and after a while Spain sent another
general to take his place. This new governor's name was Blanco, and he
really tried to help the poor people, but Spain had very little money
to send him to buy food for them, and so they went on dying. The
soldiers, too, were in a very bad condition; they had not been paid
for a great many months; they did not have enough to eat, and so they
too sickened and died by thousands. You can see that unless something
was done to help the poor people, they would all die and their
beautiful island would become a wilderness.

Besides being very proud, Spain was very poor. She had spent millions
of dollars trying to conquer the islanders, and had no money to buy
food for the sufferers that she had driven from their homes and
huddled like cattle in yards and gloomy inclosures. So she asked the
United States to help feed them, and the Red Cross Society, of which I
will tell you later, sent hundreds of tons of food, medicines and
clothing to them. These supplies were distributed by competent
persons, and the relief was very great, but very soon some of the
Spaniards began to say that the United States had no business to
interfere in the affairs of the island, and to stir up the people.
The feeling became so strong that our representative, Consul-General
Lee, notified the authorities in the United States that, the lives and
property of American citizens living in the island were not safe. It
was for this reason that the battleship Maine was sent to Havana, the
chief city of the island. I will tell you about this ship later.

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YOUNG PEOPLES' HISTORY OF THE WAR WITH SPAIN