Henry Ware Lawton - Spanish-American War

Spanish-American War

In May 1898, he was appointed brigadier general of rvolunteers and assumed command of the 2nd Division, V Corps serving under General William Rufus Shafter which was being sent to Cuba. Lawton's forces spearheaded the invasion of Cuba, at Daiquiri, a shallow beach area eighteen miles east of Santiago. The landing of American forces took place on June 22, 1898.

Lawton's force of 6,000 troops moved inland as Spanish forces retreated and he reached Siboney June 23. General Joseph Wheeler took it upon himself to jump ahead of plan and found himself in a fierce fire fight with the Spanish at the Battle of Las Guasimas. Wheeler elected to send word back to Lawton for help and Lawton's unit rushed forward to extricate Wheeler from his difficulties. The fact that the Spanish did not put up a prolonged resistance gave the Americans the impression they would be easy to defeat. This resulted in some miscalculations regarding the Spanish capabilities in planning future engagements

Lawton's division was sent to take the Spanish fortress at El Caney. Preparation for the Cuban campaign had been helter-skelter and Shafter failed to disembark his siege guns. Moreover, he did not have mounted cavalry, necessary for a thorough reconnaissance of the terrain prior to engaging the Spanish forces. Generals Chaffee, Kent, and Wheeler all did independent recon prior to the El Caney and San Juan hill engagements but they provided an overly optimistic assessment of the difficulties ahead. Chaffee submitted his battle plan to Lawton who read and signed it without change. In the pre-battle meeting, Shafter and his generals agreed that El Caney would require no more than two hours to take.

In the following Battle of El Caney, Lawton's division suffered heavy casualties but eventually took the city and linked up with the rest of the U.S. forces on San Juan Hill for the Siege of Santiago. Once Santiago fell, Lawton served as military governor between early August and early October 1898. Lawton had preferred to be returned to the U.S. along with General Shafter and the V Corps however, the War Department selected him as Military Governor of Santiago de Cuba province. A number of problems faced Lawton and Leonard Wood. A major problem involved the health of the American troops and there was the priority of returning many of them home for medical treatment.

Then there was the problem of sanitation in the city of Santiago itself. Many of the residents were under nourished, ill and in need of medical attention. Civil disorder had to be settled down and unruly Cuban soldiers, still bearing arms, were ordered to remain outside the city. Conflicts with the police occurred as they were holdovers from the Spanish regime and continued to treat the citizens in an oppressive fashion. Naturally, bars and saloons were closed for a period of time and basic law enforcement became one of the duties of Lawton and his men. Lawton had a penchant for hands-on involvement alongside his troops and no doubt was personally engaged in the day-to-day post war activity. There are news reports of Lawton personally removing insurgent flags from public buildings and working alongside his troops to maintain order.

Lawton immediately tackled the problem of law enforcement, ridding the police of tyrannical Spanish officers and replacing them with Cubans. By the end of summer, he had re-established a mounted police unit made up of Cubans to maintain order in Santiago. Eventually, taverns were re-opened and the locals were once again allowed to pursue their social pastimes.

Lawton also re-established commerce in the city and outlying areas, all the way to Havana. He worked with the Customs Bureau to create an equitable system of collections and was praised by the bureau head in Cuba for his work in raising and protecting a substantial amount of money. Disgruntled Cuban generals who early had taken their troops into the interior and posed a threat to the U.S. presence were invited by Lawton to participate in local government and in fact, became quite instrumental in establishing and protecting the peace.

Lawton suffered from a fever, possibly malaria, on and off between July and October. This fact was detected by only a few correspondents. For his part, Lawton did not make light of the illness except to a few close friends with whom he corresponded. His real condition may have been 'recurring' malarial fever since he had been diagnosed with the illness, as well as dysentery in 1876. According to National Archive records, the army surgeon who diagnosed his condition at that time recommended a six-months leave in a different climate from the one in which he was stationed. His illness forced him to take a medical leave of absence on October 6, 1898. He returned to the States on October 13 and shortly thereafter, began his preparation for the assignment that would take him to the Philippines.

It has been speculated that Lawton may have been relieved due to drinking, yet, no evidence has surfaced to confirm that rumor. One source for the information was a 'phantom' (unnamed) correspondent for the New York Evening Sun and the second was Leonard Wood, a "moralistically intolerant" person who was later believed by many in the Army to have stabbed his friend Lawton in the back. Considering the number of correspondents in Santiago on the prowl for news, or possibly a scoop, any misbehavior on the part of a senior American general would have been detected and reported. Not one irregularity showed up about Lawton over the course of three months and hundreds of news reports.

Private letters to close personal friends in the U.S. from Lawton revealed that he was concerned with the number of his troops suffering from disease, the fact that he, Lawton was experiencing a fever and perhaps malaria, and his own dislike of assignment to a desk job. He was already looking ahead to a role in the Philippine campaign.

Whatever reason for his return to the states, he came back as a major-general of volunteers, having been promoted within a week or so of his landing in Cuba. When Lawton returned, he joined General Shafter for a short period of time and then went on to Washington, D.C., where he was in conference with President William McKinley, Adjutant General Henry C. Corbin, and Secretary of War Russell A. Alger concerning conditions in Cuba. He also testified before the commission investigating the Santiago campaign and was given temporary command of the IVth Corps in Huntsville on December 22. On December 29, Secretary Alger announced to the press that Lawton was being placed in command of the Army field forces in the Philippines and would be reporting to General Elwell Stephen Otis, the 'military governor', within a short time. Lawton also toured the country with President McKinley, and other dignitaries during the Peace Jubilee.