December 17, 1899 - More than a Year After The Sinking of the Maine, Bodies of Victims Were Recovered By the Military - a podcast by 43 Keys Media

The night seemed like any other. It was February 15th and the crew of the battleship Maine had been dispatched to Havana. In the evening, they were riding quietly at anchor in the Havana Harbor, everyone going about their duties and minding their own business, when suddenly at 9:40pm out of nowhere an explosion happened and tore out the bottom of the ship and sank the entire ship, killing 260 of nearly 400 men on board.

By the time the sun rose the next morning, only the twisted parts of the superstructure were visible above the water. Small boats were called in to examine the damage and try to rescue any of the injured. When the Maine had approached Cuba, it was flying the flag of Cuba. This was during a time when the Spanish regime was resisting the uprising of the nationalist guerillas in Cuba. We're not for sure what happened and what actually caused the blast that killed 260 men and destroyed the battleship Maine, but we believe from all evidence that it was the consequence of a mine explosion. No one's ever taken responsibility for it, but after that it did start the brief Spanish American War of 1898.

The United States was pushing for Cuban independence, the Spaniards were trying to crush the uprising. After the incident, the United States declared war on Spain on April 25, and Congress authorized the official declaration of war against the Spaniards. By the time May 1, had rolled around an American fleet in Manila Bay in the Philippines had annihilated an entire Spanish fleet in short order. We lost no men and only had seven wounded soldiers from this conflict, but we handily declared victory.

It was in June of 1898, that the American expeditionary forces landed in Santiago, Cuba. Our troops were sweating in their heavy woollen uniforms, which were thoughtfully issued to help protect them from the cold. It was in that year that the soldiers were also eating what was called "embalmed beef" out of the tin cans. You know, we may have lost more soldiers to "embalmed beef" than we actually did to war.

On July 1 of that year, Teddy Roosevelt's Rough Riders also were able to capture the city of Santiago, which surrendered on the 17th, the Spanish Cuban fleet was hunted down by the American battleships and completely destroyed within four hours. After that, American troops sailed off to Puerto Rico, and the Spanish government called for peace.

It was during those years that far more Americans were killed by "embalmed beef" or tropical diseases like typhoid, yellow fever, and malaria, than were actually killed in the course of battle. It was December of that year that a peace treaty between the United States and Spain was finally signed, Spain lost all of its colonies in the new world. The United States took control of the Philippines, Puerto Rico and Guam. Cuba gained independence and Theodore Roosevelt who was then the Secretary of the Navy earned a heroes reputation and it was that "embalmed beef" in the tin that also inspired the first Food and Drug Act.

So mind you, this was all happening at the end of the year in 1898. Upon further investigation, it was determined that the commander of the Maine, Captain Charles D. Sigsbee did no wrong in the loss of life and the subsequent explosion that cost him all of his men and the ship that night in Havana harbor.

And even though all of this happened in 1898, it wasn't until today, December 17, 1899, that the USS Texas captained by Charles D. Sigsbee, be who is the same commander that lost the Maine sailed back into Havana harbor to claim the bodies of the victims of the Maine disaster and bring them back to Arlington National Cemetery for a proper military burial.

And that's what happened today in Key West history.

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