The Battle of Guantánamo Bay was fought from June 6 to June 14, 1898, during the Spanish–American War, when American and Cuban forces seized the strategically and commercially important harbor of Guantánamo Bay, Cuba. Capturing the bay from the Spanish forces was instrumental in the following Battle of Santiago de Cuba and the subsequent invasion of Puerto Rico. Although overshadowed by the land and sea battles at Santiago, the establishment of the United States naval base at Guantánamo Bay and the rout of defending Spanish troops by American and Cuban forces was important in the final Spanish defeat.
Background
Cuba had been in rebellion against Spain since 1895. Soon after the rebellion began, two insurgent leaders – José Martí and General Máximo Gómez – had landed at the beach of Cajobabo, between Guantánamo Bay and Cape Maisí, but after three years of fighting throughout the island, the rebels had only been successful in two provinces – Oriente and Camagüey.
Following the explosion of the battleship USS Maine in Havana Harbor in February 1898, the U.S. declared war on Spain in support of the Cuban insurgents. Havana Harbor was blockaded, and by the end of May the Spanish fleet was bottled up in Santiago Bay, 40 mi (35 nmi; 64 km) west of Guantánamo Bay, by Rear Admiral William T. Sampson. In the U.S., an army expeditionary force was rapidly being readied at the same time for action in Cuba. Thus, America was allied with the Cuban insurgents. Guantánamo Bay had a measure of commercial importance because of the sugar port of Caimanera on the western shore of the inner bay, some five statute miles (8 km) from the sea.
Spanish positions
Despite the nominal offensive position of the insurgents in the vicinity of Guantánamo Bay, Spanish regulars and guerrillas held Guantánamo City, the port of Caimanera and the railroad connecting the two cities, the large sugar mills, and other outlying strong points. The Guantánamo garrison consisted of some 5,000 men under the command of General Felix Pareja. A Spanish blockhouse stood on the hill overlooking the village on Fisherman's Point near the entrance to the bay, and a fort on Cayo del Toro commanded the relatively narrow channel leading from outer to inner bay. The Spanish gunboat Sandoval was based at Caimanera on the inner bay, and a string of blockhouses defended the railroad to Guantánamo City, 14 mi (23 km) inland.
The Cuban insurgents maintained coastal outposts from the mouth of the Yateras River, east of the bay, to a point 15 mi (24 km) west of Santiago, and were in undisputed possession of the western point at the entrance to the bay.
Battle
Naval battle of Guantánamo Bay
The first successful U.S. foray against Guantánamo Bay occurred on 6 June, with the arrival of the unprotected cruiser USS Marblehead, captained by Commander Bowman H. McCalla, and the auxiliary cruisers USS St. Louis and Yankee, commanded by Willard H. Brownson. Commander McCalla had been detached by Admiral Sampson from the blockading fleet at Santiago and ordered to reconnoiter the bay for a naval base. The captain of St. Louis was to cut the cables which had their terminus in a small station on Fisherman's Point, and connected Cuba with Haiti and the outside world.
On a previous occasion, St. Louis, on a similar mission, had been driven from the bay by the Spanish gunboat Sandoval. This time, as the three warships came into the bay at dawn, Spanish soldiers clustered about the blockhouse on the hill known today as McCalla Hill. The blockhouse and the village were speedily cleared by fire from Marblehead's six-pounder gun, along with a single 5 in (130 mm) shell. The Spanish gunboats Alvarado and Sandoval came down the channel from Caimanera to meet the attack but retired precipitately on discovering the caliber of guns against them. The one cannon of the fort on Cayo del Toro opened fire on Marblehead without effect until it was silenced.
The telegraph cables leading east to Cap-Haïtien, west to Santiago, and the small cable in the bay connecting Caimanera and Guantánamo City with Cap-Haïtien were all successfully cut, and from 7 June to 5 July the town of Guantánamo had no communication with the outside world.
Upon returning to the blockading fleet from the reconnaissance, Marblehead carried two Cuban officers who had been brought off to the ship from Leeward Point (the western side) of Guantánamo Bay. They had been sent to Admiral Sampson by General Calixto García (the same who figured with U.S. Lieutenant Rowan in "A Message to Garcia") to report that the Cuban forces, whose outposts occupied positions on the coast from the mouth of the Yateras to a point 15 mi (24 km) west of Santiago were at the disposition of the U.S. Commander-in-Chief. Commander McCalla thereafter maintained close liaison with General Pedro Pérez, commanding the Cuban forces around Guantánamo City, through the latter's Chief of Staff, Colonel Vieta, and thus received valuable advice and assistance.
Marine assault landing
With the decision to establish a base at Guantánamo Bay, the First Battalion of Marines, consisting of six companies of around 650 men (four infantry and one artillery company), was ordered to proceed in the converted transport USS Panther, and join the fleet off Santiago. The First Battalion, under the command of Lt. Col. Robert W. Huntington USMC, had been undergoing battalion exercises while awaiting orders at Key West. USS Panther reached Santiago on 9 June 1898. That same day, in advance of the battalion landing, Navy Commander Bowman H. McCalla of the USS Marblehead, the officer in command of the landings, approved a camp site selected for the Marines by Lt. Col. Huntington. The site selected was a flat ridge on top of a hill, above the village on Fisherman's Point, and designated Camp McCalla. In addition to an artillery company equipped with a battery of four 3-inch rapid-firing artillery pieces and two Model 1895 Colt–Browning machine guns, each marine was equipped with the Navy's new rapid-firing magazine rifle, the Model 1895 Lee Navy. Both the Colt machine gun and the Lee rifles used a new high-velocity smokeless powder cartridge, the 6 mm Lee Navy.
The Marine battalion landed unopposed on 10 June with four of its six companies, leaving A company and F company (the artillery company) aboard to unload the ship, as Commander Reiter, the captain of the Panther, had refused to authorize the use of ship's personnel for unloading duties. Reiter also refused to permit the unloading of the remainder of the Marines' small arms ammunition, claiming that it was needed as ship's ballast. Lt. Col. Huntington sought assistance from Commander McCalla, who ordered Reiter to release the Marines' ammunition at once: "Sir, break out immediately and land with the crew of Panther, 50,000 rounds of 6-mm. ammunition," McCalla ordered. "In the future, do not require Colonel Huntington to break out or land his stores with members of his command. Use your own officers and men for this purpose, and supply the Commanding Officer of Marines promptly with anything he may desire."
The Marines burned crude huts of the village and the remains of the blockhouse with all their contents to avoid the possibility of yellow fever. The Spanish had fled in such a hurry that clothing, money, jewelry and weapons had been left behind. The battalion raised the American flag, the first U.S. military unit to do so on Cuban soil, and sent out detachments for outpost duty.
Lt. Col. Huntington ordered Company C to occupy a 150-ft tall hill located some distance from the main Marine position, and which could not be supported by the main body at Camp McCalla. Two forward outposts were established, one at a road junction located several hundred yards ahead of the camp and known as the "Crossroads", and one called "The Bridge" placed across a road a mile and a half from the American camp, where Spanish forces bringing artillery from Caimanera were expected. With the sea at their backs, a lack of mutual support between outposts, and the thorny scrub and cacti of the arid hills stretching in a dense tangle before them, the Marines had a less-than-ideal tactical position. Commander McCalla pointed out to Lt. Col. Huntington that his outposts were too far forward and could not be seen or supported in the dense undergrowth between the outposts and the main camp. Three of the companies stacked arms and returned to the ship to help with unloading operations. Shortly after sundown, the Marines had their first meal of coffee and hardtack. Soon afterwards the first alarm came. Voices were heard and lights seen in the thicket, but no attack came that night. Spanish forces defending the area were desperately short of food, and delayed attacking until the Marines had completed unloading their stores in hopes of seizing the American supplies.
By daybreak, the Marines had completed unloading their stores and equipment, though the artillery pieces and their ammunition were left aboard ship. The remaining companies of the battalion came ashore, and Company C was withdrawn from its isolated hill outpost. The only sound in the thickets was the cooing of mourning doves, a sound which Marines would later learn was a favorite signal call used by Spanish loyalist guerrilla forces.
Lt. Col. Huntington was joined in the afternoon by Colonel Laborde of the Cuban army, who for several days had been with Commander McCalla as pilot on Marblehead, and now had been sent ashore to assist the Marines and provide intelligence about the enemy.
Laborde reported the major Spanish force in the area had its headquarters at the "Well of Cuzco", 2 mi (3.2 km) southeast of Fisherman's Point. The well provided the only fresh water in the area. This occupying force of about 500 soldiers and guerrillas, joined by the troops driven from the blockhouse on the bay, constituted the gravest threat to the U.S. base of operations. Laborde noted that seizing Cuzco Well and destroying it would inevitably force Spanish forces to retreat all the way to Ciudad Guantánamo (Guantánamo City).
As they spoke, firing began in the thicket in front of their position. Lt. Col. Huntington led most of his command forward. However, the thorny tangle of trees, underbrush, and cactus forced him to proceed with only one company.
Battle of Camp McCalla
Although Huntington was now assured of naval gunfire support, Camp McCalla was tactically unsound. No attack had been expected, so no trenches were dug. The Marines' artillery had not even been sent ashore. Located on the sands of the open beach, the Marine campsite proved an ideal target for snipers concealed in the brush.
At daybreak (05:00) on Saturday, 11 June, Spanish guerrillas opened fire on the Marines at Camp McCalla from the surrounding brush. Firing a fusillade from their rapid-firing Mauser rifles, the guerrillas advanced towards the camp. After heavy fighting, and supported by the reserve company (Company C) the Marines drove the enemy back into the bush, pursuing the enemy until the chase was abandoned at dark. Two pickets on outpost duty, Privates William Dumphy and James McColgan, who were posted as an early-warning patrol 100 yards ahead of the "Crossroads" forward outpost were later found dead, shot and cut numerous times in the face and body. Their weapons, shoes, belts, and part of their clothing had been taken.
This was the beginning of what Huntington's executive officer, Major Henry Clay Cochrane, later called "its 100 hours of fighting". At Camp McCalla, the Marines dug in and began firing at the concealed Spaniards, aided by three 3-inch field pieces and two additional 6 mm Colt–Browning machine guns which had been landed on 12 June by the USS Texas. Gunfire from Marblehead passed overhead and impacted in the nearby hills. Wearing large palm leaves tied to their uniforms for camouflage, and firing smokeless powder cartridges, the Spanish forces were difficult to locate as they moved from bush to bush in the dense undergrowth.