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Consists of correspondences and despatches sent from American soldiers fighting in Puerto Rico during the Spanish-American War, 1898. Includes several sent from the beachhead that was established in Ponce, then notes from the immediate aftermath of the Spanish surrender in August, including details about the treatment of Spanish prisoners and American discontent at conditions in Puerto Rico (including health/safety and food quality). Many American troops evacuated from Puerto Rico very shortly after arrival. USS Maine, Puerto Rico campaign, Battle of Yauco, Battle of Guayama, Battle of Coamo, 1898 Blockade of Cuba, soldiers' letters, sailors' letters, military strategy and operations, guerrilla warfare, Monroe Doctrine, yellow fever, Spanish prisoners of war, American occupation of Puerto Rico. Partial geographical list: San Juan (Puerto Rico), Guernica (Puerto Rico), Yauco (Puerto Rico), Ponce (Puerto Rico), Guánica (Puerto Rico), Coamo (Puerto Rico), Guayama (Puerto Rico), Caribbean Sea, USS St. Louis, Tampa (Fla.), Earlville (Ill.), Pontiac (Mich.), Springfield (Oh.), Mellen (Wis.), Long Island (N.Y.), Aurora (Ill.), Philadelphia (Pa.), South Charleston (Ohio), Amesbury (Mass.), Falls Church (Camp Alger, Va.).

Includes letters, telegraphs, and other documents pertaining to American involvement in Cuba and the Caribbean during the active phase of the Spanish-American War in 1898. Letter from a representative of the De Lane Company, in the business of bulletproof vests and shields, to (U.S. consul to Cuba) Fitzhugh Lee's wife suggesting she purchase one for Fitzhugh in the aftermath of the Maine explosion (suggesting that the French president was quite satisfied with his own bulletproof vest); several military telegrams (including some translated from cyphers) pertaining to the issuance of orders and the establishment of bulk purchases from suppliers (such as clothing and grooming supplies); and descriptions of military conditions in the training camps and during the initial phases of deployment by several enlisted men and officers, particularly to relatives back home. One letter, sent by a Cavalry officer named Bill to a female relative or acquaintance in Denver, was written during the Battle of Santiago. The tone of the end of the letter differs markedly from the beginning, as news of the surrender reached Bill during the letter-writing. Several other army letters make note of training camp and military conditions, including volunteer Wallace Downs's glowing self-assessment of his own 71st New York Infantry as well as both complimentary and derogatory references to training camp life. Includes letters sent by soldiers and sailors to friends, acquaintances, and relatives in the aftermath of the Battle of Santiago and afterwards. In summer 1898, diseases such as yellow fever and typhoid spread through many U.S. military camps as well as in Cuba and on ships stationed in the Caribbean. Several letters make reference to the theatre of war moving towards the Pacific, and one makes reference to an episode of racial violence that erupted at Camp Poland in Tennessee that required a military police detachment to stand between white and African American regiments to prevent a "battle." Included is a copy of a telegraph sent to U.S. consul to Cuba announcing an end to hostilities in Cuba after the surrender of Santiago, but hostilities in Luzon continued after the war in the Caribbean ended. Also included are a membership and recruitment letter for the Rough Riders, a 1900 letter from the deceased soldier Harvey Knight's chaplain to Harvey's mother in San Francisco concerning the circumstances of Harvey's death and the loss of a ring on his hand in the Philippines; confirmation of the death of soldier Richard Eisenach in the Philippines to his family in Wisconsin; a note between two doctors concerning wartime wounds sustained by their patients in the Philippines; and a list of tickets for a charity event held by the United Spanish War Veterans on Memorial Day 1917. Partial geographical list: New York, Havana/Habana (Cuba), Santo Domingo (Dominican Republic), Port-au-Prince (Haiti), Tipton (Iowa), Iowa City, Gaffney (S.C.), Columbia (S.C.), Philadelphia (Pa.), Key West, Washington (D.C.), New Orleans (La.), Lakeland (Fla.), Columbus (Ohio), Massillon (Ohio), Denver (Colo.), San Francisco (Calif.), Augusta (Maine), Tampa (Fla.), Port Tampa (Fla.), Steubenville, Nappanee (Ind.), Albany (N.Y.), Lytle (Ga.), Saxville (Wis.), Garrettsville (Ohio), Monmouth (Ill.), Falls Church, Jacksonville, Fort Myers (Va.), San Francisco (Calif.), Pierre (S.D.), Fort Monroe (Va.), Hart (Mich.), Key West, Chicago (Ill.), Argentine (Kansas City, Kan.), Chickamauga Park (Ga.), Litchfield (Conn.), Ripon (Wis.), Fort Leavenworth (Kan.), Atchison (Kan.), Edgemont Key (Fla.), Traverse City (Mich.), Fernandina (Fla.), Camp Thomas (Ga.), Cumberland (Iowa), St. Louis (Mo.), Hampton Roads (Va.), Indianapolis (Ind.), Fort Wayne (Ind.), Colorado Springs (Colo.), Norwalk (Conn.), Jerry City (Ohio), Knoxville (Camp Poland), Fort McPherson (Ga.), St. Petersburg (Fla.), Morgan Park (Ill.), Oakville (Tex.), Racine (Wisc.), Cincinnati (Ohio), Reinbeck (Iowa), Savannah (Ga.), Ponce (Puerto Rico), San Juan (Puerto Rico), Los Angeles (Calif.), Luzon (Philippines), West Springfield (Mass.).

Includes portraits of U.S. soldiers in the Spanish-American War, as well as a letter containing photographic portraits of each member of the Spanish-American War Peace Commission despatched to Paris in October 1898. The photographs of the Peace Commission include an attached letter expressing gratitude for water supplied during the trans-Atlantic voyage. The military photograph of a soldier named Woodward includes an example of pre-1933 swastika symbolism. Diplomats, diplomacy. Partial geographical list: Havana/Habana (Cuba), Chicago (Ill.), Jacksonville (Fla.), San Jose (Calif.), Boston (Mass.), Paris, other locations not specified.

Includes propaganda pieces meant for American soldiers and civilians during the Spanish-American War, including the lyrics to a repurposed minstrel song. Also includes directives concerning the establishment of postal services in U.S.-occupied Cuba, with a complete list of postal stations attached to each U.S. unit serving in Cuba. Partial geographical list: Havana/Habana (Cuba), Columbus (Ohio), Washington (D.C.), Chattanooga (Tenn.), Haverhill (Mass.).

Includes several ephemera such as menus for dinners held in honour of military regiments, song lyrics, poetry, fake money, cigar labels, clothing advertisements referencing the war, an intricate drawing of the U.S. Navy logo, an 1899 calendar, a painting of two officers, an invitation to a dinner in honour of the Peace Commission held in Philadelphia, the program to a jubilee dinner to commemorate the signing of peace, and several sketches of naval and army officers. Fin-de-siècle American cuisine, William McKinley, Fitzhugh Lee, Spanish-American War Peace Commission, military art. Wooden Souvenir off the Ship Oregon, accompanied by a manuscript description, Santiago (Cuba), Key West. Partial geographical list: New York, Northampton (Mass.), Fulton (Mo.), Philadelphia (Pa.), Havana/Habana (Cuba), Chicago (Ill.), other locations across the United States.

Orderly book from November 1897 to September 1898, from when Lt. Col. Antolin Martínez Cambón took control of the Cuban Revolutionary Army 1st Division's "Cárdenas" Infantry Regiment in the regions between Matanzas and Sancti Spíritus until when that regiment was merged into the "Clotilde García" Regiment. Descriptions are included of military movements, the construction of fortifications, skirmishes with Spanish troops (including providing covering fire for other regiments), and coordination with other Cuban Revolutionary Army regiments (particularly the "Clotilde García") and later the US military. In September 1898, the Cárdenas was camped on the northern coast at the mouth of the Camarioca, where sixty years later the US would organize a large boatlift of Cuban exiles, and it was at the Camarioca that the Cárdenas was merged into the Clotilde García. Partial geographical list: Cárdenas (Matanzas), Hoyo Colorado (Matanzas), Itabo (Matanzas), Santa Clara Bay/Bahía de Sta. Clara, Peña (Matanzas?), Cairo (Matanzas?), Santiaguillo (Matanzas), Ojo de Agua (Cienfuegos?), Congojas/Conjoga (Cienfuegos), Ponce, Morla, Janeté, Diamante, Morla/Morlan?, Tierras Negras (Matanzas), Santa Marta (Matanzas), Jesús María (Matanzas?), Camarioca (Matanzas), Boca de Camarioca (Matanzas).

Includes three items issued by Filipino revolutionary Emilio Aguinaldo during the latter phases of the Philippine Revolution and the escalating war with the United States: one, in Tagalog, an order for the recipient to post an attached decree within three days of receipt--and to report back after having done so; another, in Spanish, deputizing Mariano Trías as presidential delegate of the revolutionary government; and a letter to Licerio Geronimo (a military commander loyal to Aguinaldo) issuing certain orders for the implementation of anti-American resistance; and a blank infantry commission from the offices of Geronimo and Aguinaldo from sometime after 1899. Guerrilla warfare, Philippine Liberation Army, Philippine Revolutionary Government. Partial geographical list: Philippines, Mount Puray/Purag (Montalban/Rizan, Philippines).

Includes a photograph of a man labelled as "Aguinaldo's Adj[utant]-Gen[eral]." A note scrawled by Gen. Artemio Ricarte Vibora to Mariano Trías on one of Ricarte's cards recommending José Pilar as clerk, "8/1/99." A note by Adriano Hernández dated December 28, 1898, to the War Commissioner/Commissar(?) of the Northern Military Zone sending a service record [NB: not present]. A note by General Pío del Pilar dated July [14?], 1898, in [Manila?] to someone he calls his "dear mother" (though he signs this off with a highly formal "Q[ue] S[us] M[anos] B[esa]" salutation unusual for immediate relatives, and the recipient, seemingly named Sur Consuelo, does not share Pío's mother's name of Antonia Castañeda-- it could be to his mother-in-law, an abbess, etc.). A brief correspondence between Miguel de los Santos and Mariano Trías, September 28-29, 1899, concerning Miguel de los Santos's military career. Also includes two partial 2-cent red revolutionary stamps issued by Philippines Post (Correas Filipinas). Philippine Liberation Army. Partial geographical list: Philippines, Northern Military Zone (Philippines), Santa Ana (Cagayan, Philippines), San Francisco (Cebu, Philippines).