American Military History, Volume 1 by Richard W. Stewart

While economic and strategic motives contributed significantly to the new manifest destiny, it was concern for the oppressed peoples of Cuba that ultimately launched the United States on an imperialistic course at the turn of the century. Cuba's proximity to the United States and strategic location had long attracted the interest of American expansionists. Yet they were a small minority, and only when the Cubans rebelled against the repressive colonial policies of Spain did the general public turn its attention to the Caribbean island. This was true in 1868, when the Cubans initiated a decade-long rebellion, and again in 1895, when they rose up once more against continuing repression by the mother country. Many Americans soon favored some kind of intervention, but President Grover Cleveland was determined that the United States should adhere to a policy of strict neutrality. Events in Cuba increasingly made this difficult.

When after almost a year of costly fighting the Spanish had failed to suppress the rebellion, they turned to harsher measures. A new Captain-General in Cuba, Valeriano Weyler, attempted to isolate the rebels from the population by herding women, children, and old people from the countryside into detention camps and garrisoned towns. This poorly executed reconcentrado policy led to the death of thousands of civilians from disease and starvation. Weyler's methods gave newspapers in the United States an opportunity to make sensationalistic attacks on Spanish policies. They portrayed the war in Cuba as a struggle between the "butcher" Weyler and high-minded patriots struggling bravely for freedom from Old World authoritarianism.