LI. The Invasion of Puerto Rico
LII. The Surrender of Manila
LIII. Victorious Close of the War
LIV. Personal Reminiscences





INTRODUCTION.


When, on the 22d day of April, 1898, Michael Mallia, gun-captain
of the United States cruiser Nashville, sent a shell across the
bows of the Spanish ship Buena Ventura, he gave the signal shot
that ushered in a war for liberty for the slaves of Spain.

The world has never seen a contest like it. Nations have fought
for territory and for gold, but they have not fought for the
happiness of others. Nations have resisted the encroachments of
barbarism, but until the nineteenth century they have not fought
to uproot barbarism and cast it out of its established place.
Nations have fought to preserve the integrity of their own empire,
but they have not fought a foreign foe to set others free. Men
have gone on crusades to fight for holy tombs and symbols, but
armies have not been put in motion to overthrow vicious political
systems and regenerate iniquitous governments for other peoples.

For more than four centuries Spain has held the island of Cuba as
her chattel, and there she has revelled in corruption, and