Spanish-American War Memorials
in the Pacific Northwest U.S.
Photos by Larry Neilson - Official BBB Photographer
INDEX TO SITES
Yakima
Yakima's Spanish-American War Memorial with its cannon was originally located in front of the old Yakima County courthouse at North Second and B streets. The statue of John Jacob Weisenberger was originally dedicated and placed on Yakima Avenue of July 4, 1902. It was moved to North Second Street in 1908 and remained there until it was moved to its current location on Naches Avenue, south of Yakima Avenue. The statue was erected in memory of the fallen of Company E, I Washington U.S. Voluntary Infantry, 1898-1899. Weisenberger, former mayor of Whatcom, commanded the First Battalion, including Company E from North Yakima. (Photo courtesy of Yakima Valley Regional Library.)
Seattle and the Spanish-American War:
Augur of Destiny or Random Coincidence?
The Spanish-American War came at just the time Seattle was on the rise, with its railroad connection and steamer lines to the Yukon goldfields -- or at least, to Skagway. Seattle's resurgence after the fire of 1889 hence would be conflated with the late-90s boomtimes fueled by the gold rush, and with the deft, successful war that closed out decade and century. Coming as it did in the same year as the gold strike and the first surge of prosperity that flooded in soon after, the war took on distinctly secondary importance when viewed from Seattle. Inasmuch as it expressed the expansive, go-for-broke spirit of the times and seemed to mark Americans as a favored breed, the "splendid little war" was remembered as fitting right in.
It is noteworthy that the resultant conflicts smoldered on long after peace was concluded with Spain in late 1898. The inscription on the Seattle statue rightly includes those fallen in putting down the Philippine Insurrection. Although the main Filipino leaders had surrendered by 1903, fighting continued to flare up as recently as ten years later. Casualties from the U.S. reconquest of the Philippines were many times those in the 1898 conflict with Spain. The inclusion of the 1900 Boxer Rebellion relief expedition might appear to be a chronological curiosity, happening at about the same time; but no, participation in the Boxer revenge expedition, in concert with the European Powers and Japan, was a conscious extension of American imperial strategy. It was not the last time American policy would be dictated by a small but influential clique of single-issue maniacs: in this case the missionary lobby and the business lobby.
It should not be neglected that a number of the "New Navy" ships that participated were west coast creations. The Olympia, built at San Francisco's Union Iron Works, celebrated the capital of Washington State and destination of the Oregon Trail followed by many settlers. Washington was admitted to the union in 1890; while the Oregon came from the same yard a couple of years later, and was named for that great state, admitted to statehood in 1859. With the proliferation of multiple continental railroads and the thickening of white settlement, the frontier had only been pronounced closed in 1890. Now the proud names of new cities of the golden west were on everyone's lips as the news of Manila Bay and Santiago circulated, and Americans -- including many new to these shores -- cheered their country's vigor in victory.
With the tides of bygone years, many bits and pieces of Spanish War memorabilia were deposited on the log-strewn shores of the Pacific Northwest. Certainly, Seattle is unusually well endowed with Manila Bay objects.
Herewith, some of the principal memorials to that long-ago conflict in the Pacific Northwest.
Hamlin Park
Shoreline, Washington
Photo copyright © 2010 by Larry Neilson.
These two 8"/35 calibre guns (254 mm) fought the Battle of Manila Bay, May 1, 1898, on the cruiser Boston, and both scored important hits, as noted in small plaques attached to the firing-chamber ends of the guns. These early model 8-in guns were built up with successive layers of banding around the tube: The Mark 1 consisted of A tube, jacket, 19 hoops and an elevating band with integral trunnions. The Mark 2 was similar, but had a different arrangement of hoops, did not have integral trunnions, and had its rear sights controlled by worm and miter gears.
These impressive weapons are displayed at Hamlin Park, just off 15th Ave. NE in Shoreline, Washington (map). This location is 15-20 minutes from downtown Seattle in favorable traffic.
A reasonably accurate illustration of the Battle of Manila Bay, May 1, 1898. The Spanish fleet (left) was surprised at dawn, anchored at Cavite. The U.S. line, led by the Olympia, steamed back and forth along the 5-fathom line opposite Cavite waterfront, deliberately bombarding the Spanish fleet, forts, and naval asenal starting from a range of 5,000 yards; Boston was third in line. Enlarge After a hiatus for breakfast, the smaller ships Concord and Petrel returned to bombard the remaining Spanish units from close range, using their light draft to advantage. Not a single Spanish vessel was left afloat, although a number of the gunboats were salvaged for use in U.S. service.
Boston some five years after Manila Bay, around 1903 during her service with the Asiatic Squadron. After hard combat experience with the Filipino nationalists, armored shields had been installed over the 8" barbettes. These are the guns that kids play on in Shoreline now.
Woodland Park
Seattle, Washington
One of the two 6"/30 (15.2 cm) Mark 1 guns from the gunboat Concord on display at this site.
The original 1891 guns of the USS Concord were retined when the ship was deactivated in 1909, and in 1911 two were bestowed upon the park as part of a new Spanish-American War memorial section, formally known as the War Garden. It lies at the southwest corner of the park adjoining N. 51st St. and Phinney Ave. N (map). At one time there were a couple of Civil War field pieces here as well. These 6"/30 (152 mm) weapons were installed in an Armstrong proprietary mount, a one-piece shield that made the mount more than half a turret, at least if your gun crew could work well stooped over behind the shield. One or two crewmen could train the mount by means of a cog on the carriage that engaged in a toothed track embedded in the deck; a series of heavy casters took the weight. As for the effectiveness of this shield, there are no written records; but the complete lack of fatalities from shrapnel in the Asiatic Squadron is suggestive. These two guns were in the thick of the fighting at Manila Bay and later.
The guns today present a shabby appearance, beset with chalk and chewing gum. Overt vandalism is limited to littering and some mild graffiti -- your critic would rate it PG-13 -- but weather and age are taking their toll. Although the breech blocks are missing, the mechanism of each gun is sufficiently well preserved that its secrets soon become apparent on inspection. The two guns are installed on concrete pads containing their shipboard training tracks, facing east over a walk with benches placed and pointing across a downward slope bordering a motor access road to the Woodland Park Zoo, which adjoins the memorial to the north. Luxuriant bushes that were no doubt less obtrusive when placed by Frederick Law Olmsted's firm a century ago, now visually overpower the view of the guns from the east. The entire greensward given over to the memorial is about 160 feet by 330 feet (50m x 100m); the guns stand vigil on the eastern edge of the area, pointing outward.
Below is a photo of one such mounting being installed on the USS Charleston at the builder's yard, c. 1889, that makes the style of shielding apparent; also included is a picture of the Concord showing the guns' disposition on this, a small ship, but in every way an over-achiever.
Swinging across a 6"/30 gun mounted in Armstrong demi-turret, most likely at Union Iron Works' fitting-out slip.
USS Concord, seen here at Manila Bay after the battle, carried six Armstrong-mounted 6-in guns in sponsons.
USS Concord (PG-3) partial specifications:
Dimensions: 230' x 36' x 14' (70.1m x 11m x 4.27m). Draft deep laden: 16'8" (5.1m) Displacement: 1,710 tons. Armament: (6) 6"/30 (152 mm) Mark 1 and numerous smaller guns. Armor: 3/8" deck (9.4 mm). Sail rig: 3-mast schooner. Propulsion: 2-shaft horizontal triple expansion engines developing 3,405 hp. Speed: 16.8 knots (31.1 km/hr). Crew: 13 officers, 181 men. Cost: $490,000 at 1890 valuation.
Chronology:
Laid down: 1888 Launched: 1890 Completed: 1891 Battle: 1898 4 Tours of Asiatic duty * Founder of the Yangtze Patrol Disarmed: 1909 * On loan to N.Y. State Militia until 1929 * Scrapped: 1929.
Photo copyright © 2010 by Larry Neilson.
In 1924 a bronze statue, titled "The Hiker" and portraying a Spanish-American War infantryman in expeditionary dress, made its appearance in the war memorial section. It is positioned about one-half of the way into the space, or 75 feet from the guns, on the same axis (see map). The smaller-than-life-size figure benefits from a tall granite pedestal; copies of the same statue are seen in many communities that put up "stock" memorials many years after the war (Chelsea, MA for one). Chiseled in the polished face of the granite monolith is this inscription: "1898-1902: To the memory of the soldiers, sailors, and Marines who gave their lives in defense of our flag in the war with Spain, the Philippine Insurrection, and the China Relief Expedition."
Affixed to the rear of the pedestal is a bronze plaque made from metal findings salvaged from the wreck of the Maine, and commemorating the demise of that ship. The statue is enhanced by the planting of 4 smallish cedars at a respectful distance, framing figure and pedestal. Otherwise this section of the park is open grass with benches. As this section of the park borders on a busy road, and it is easy to find quieter spaces in the large park, utilization of this area is rather low; however, the abundant trees in the park and the 130' distance to the road muffle traffic sounds and smells during the summer and fall. This is a pleasant spot to visit on any sunny afternoon.
Photo copyright © 2010 by Larry Neilson.This relief, cast of metal salvaged from the wreck, shows an allegory of the ship's doom and the nation's mourning. Inscription reads: "In Memoriam U.S.S. Maine, Destroyed in Havana Harbor February 15, 1898". This photograph shows the plaque at Woodland Park, Seattle on the back of the statue pedestal; it is absolutely identical to hundreds of other plaques issued and proudly displayed from Ft. Lauderdale to Fairbanks, from Santa Barbara to Bar Harbor -- from Honolulu to Hilton Head, and choice locales in between. This resembles the Hiker statue's marketing strategy on steroids, with a far smaller and easier-to-manufacture product.
Volunteer Park
Seattle, Washington
Photo copyright © 2011 by Larry Neilson.
Marker at Volunteer Park on Seattle's Capitol Hill. Note profile of a bald eagle incised in the stone. Inscription reads:Volunteer Park - Renamed 1902
In Tribute to the Volunteer Services of
Spanish-American War Veterans
Who Liberated The Oppressed Peoples
of Cuba, Puerto Rico and the Philippine Islands
April 1898 - July 1902
"Lord God of hosts
Be with us yet
Lest we forget
Lest we forget"
Erected 1953
The park has long been a home to picnics, concerts, and anti-war demonstrations. Period gems on display include a splendid Victorian conservatory and a 101-year-old, life-size bronze statue of William Henry Seward. A long-time New York politician, Seward was a chief rival of Abraham Lincoln for the presidency, later the first among equals in Lincoln's Cabinet as Secretary of State from 1861 to 1869. Seward and a number of his family and servants were attacked on the night of Lincoln's assassination, as part of the same plot; all survived, although the Secretary bore deep scars from his multiple stab wounds all his remaining days. Seward's best-remembered feat while in office was the purchase of Alaska from the Russian tsar.
Photo copyright © 2011 by Larry Neilson.
Photo copyright © 2011 by Larry Neilson.
Statue of W.H. Seward (1801-1872) at Volunteer Park. The plaque on the front reads:William Henry Seward
Patriot and Statesman
As Governor of New York, United States Senator,
and Secretary of State, gave to the people of
this country a long and useful life
culminating in his purchase for them of the
Territory of Alaska on March 30, 1867.
Erected by Citizens of Seattle, 1909
Other features of the park include an amphitheatre, a small reservoir and a 1906 water tower, two koi ponds, and the Seattle Asian Art Museum.
American eagle on the pedestal of the Seward statue.
Photo copyright © 2011 by Larry Neilson.
Puget Sound Navy Museum
Formerly the Bremerton Naval Museum
First and Farragut, by the Ferry Dock * Bremerton, Washington 98337
Battleship Oregon (BB-3) in Bremerton's Dock No. 1, 1913. EnlargeHoused in Building 50, the 1896 Commandant's House of the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard, the Navy-sponsored Puget Sound Navy Museum concentrates on the history of the shipyard and Cold War/post-Cold War carrier and submarine operations. In its former location at 402 Pacific Street, the small but selective Bremerton Naval Museum had several "wow" pieces, including a huge builder's model of the USS Omaha, 4-funnel cruiser designed in 1917 and commissioned in 1923; and a terrific model of the battleship USS Oregon. The Oregon's most famous exploit was to navigate from Bremerton all the way around the Horn to reach Cuban waters, where blockade and battle were to be had. What's 14,700 miles on the power plant when all that is at stake? Evidently that was the thinking of the Navy Department, which ordered the deployment. In a smoothly coordinated operation, the gunboat Marietta ran interference a few days ahead of the battleship, arranging coaling and reprovisioning stops along both coasts of South America. There was no time for sightseeing; the crew was on fire to get to the war and the ship quivered to obey their will. Oregon's odyssey ended on May 26 with one battleship safely delivered and crew hardened by their time at sea.
But all ships of that era are swept away in the new format of the Museum. Much remains to titillate the coal-burner buff nonetheless. The Puget Sound Naval Station was founded in 1891, originally headquartered aboard the 1863 wooden gunboat USS Nipsic, several relics of which are on display. The Navy's first large drydock in the Pacific Northwest, Dock No. 1, opened at Bremerton in 1896, its first customer being the monitor USS Monterey which steamed into and bisected a blue ribbon to open the facility on April 24 of that year. The Monterey was a frequent visitor, being stationed at Bremerton-Seattle for many years. Under commandant William T. Burwell the yard grew steadily, from 27 Marines and nine civilians in 1894 to more than 1,000 employees in 1903, making it by far the largest employer in the Puget Sound region at the time. It was a major staging area for the voyage of the Great White Fleet, and sepia murals of the cruiser squadron -- gathered under the treeless hills of a frontier Bremerton -- can be seen today in the lobby of the Roxy Theater (left).
The Puget Sound Naval Shipyard, or PSNS (as it was renamed) continued to grow with the opening of the 827-foot Dock No. 2 in 1913, largest in the USN -- and large enough to accommodate any U.S. Navy ship built up until 1943. Production reached a dizzy peak during 1917-18, as well documented in a temporary exhibit on women workers at the Shipyard in the Naval Museum. Battleships, cruisers, and destroyers were built, and all manner of vessels repaired at PSNS during the Twenties and Thirties. This period also saw the erection of the 250-ton Hammerhead Crane on the south end of Pier 6 -- a Bremerton landmark since 1933 (below). Seldom used today, the huge crane stands 250 feet tall and 80 feet wide (76.2m tall x 24.4m wide).
The Shipyard's finest hour came during World War II, when round-the-clock shifts jammed production into overdrive. Five of the six battleships salvaged after the Pearl Harbor attack were reconditioned and modernized at Bremerton: the Tennessee, Maryland, West Virginia, California, and Nevada all returned to the fight. In addition, PSNS built 52 ships during the War, and overhauled or rebuilt more than 400. By this time the 354-acre complex had expanded to include six drydocks and all the facilities needed to produce modern warships from keel to truck.
In clear weather during wartime, smudge pots burned around the clock to obscure the base as a target for enemy aircraft. The only Japanese attack on Bremerton came from paper balloon bombs -- fusen bakudan in Japanese --, ten thousand of which were released in scattershot attacks on the western U.S. and Canada. No serious harm came to the shipyard by these means, although one of the crude devices killed a Sunday school teacher and five of her students picnicking on Gearhart Mountain near Bly, Oregon.
Tributes to the Shipyard's heritage may be found all around the city, including historic photo plaques at Memorial Park, just outside the gates to the Shipyard, and the Kitsap Historical Museum at Fourth and Pacific. Also of interest to naval scholars is the 1959 destroyer USS Turner Joy, beautifully preserved on the Bremerton waterfront steps from the ferry dock. This ship was one of the two U.S. destroyers involved in the 1964 Tonkin Gulf incident which led to stepped-up U.S. involvement in Vietnam. Gun turret, bridge, officer's country, messrooms, weather deck, crew berthing areas, engine and boiler rooms all are open to the public. Website Also of interest is the extensive Reserve Fleet (or "Mothball Fleet") division berthed at PSNS. In the past this included, at various times, the battleships Indiana, New Jersey, and Missouri. At this writing it consists primarily of five aircraft carriers, including the USS Ranger, Constellation, and Kitty Hawk.
Although the Shipyard has shed jobs and turned to dismantling rather than building ships -- becoming the nation's foremost center for breaking up nuclear vessels -- statues and slogans throughout the town trumpet its trademark trade. Uniforms abound in the streets; this remains an emphatically Navy town.
McCall Waterfront Park
Portland, Oregon
And speaking of the Oregon, her last remnants are on display in the City of Roses, where she spent many contented years as a war memorial, before being yanked into ill-advised emergency war service in WWII. Her fine fittings and historic accoutrements presumably went to wartime scrap iron drives. After serving as an ammo hulk in the Pacific, the old battleship went to the torch in Japan in the 1950s. Her bow shield, radio shack and mast are preserved at McCall Waterfront Park in Portland (above); her twin funnels in Liberty Ship Park, also in Portland. The shot of the mast makes an instructive comparison to the 1898 shot at the foot of this page.
Fort Casey State Park
Whidbey Island, Washington
A sense of military strategy like that espoused by naval strategist Alfred Thayer Mahan still lives in Washington's scenic state parks. A series of interlocking forts was built between 1897-1902 protecting the approaches to Seattle and Tacoma against all comers, particularly the Japanese. Those old forts are all state parks today, and in overgrown and semi-ruinous state, except for Fort Casey. Casey is located on Admiralty Head (map), Whidbey Island, near Coupeville and the Keystone ferry stop. Overlooking Admiralty Inlet from the east -- the main deepwater channel to Seattle, Tacoma, and Olympia --, this site faces Port Townsend, site of Ft. Worden, whose fields of fire interlocked with Casey's. A walk on the parapets on a clear day demonstrates the complete command of the narrows by the two forts; a position strengthened by Fort Flagler on Marrowstone Island, just SE and sharing some of Casey's field of fire. Together the three forts developed a "Triangle of Fire" into which it would be suicide to steam -- at least in theory.
However, the rapid development of military aviation made the fort system obsolete within a few years of its construction. These guns were never fired in anger during their time in the Triangle Forts. Casey's original ordnance was redistributed to Asia and later to various fronts in WWII. Today Ft. Casey has two 10" disappearing guns of the original type displayed in two batteries plus several 3" guns. The guns shown today were retrieved from old U.S. forts protecting Subic Bay in the Philippines, built contemporaneously with the Washington State forts and bearing shrapnel damage from the 1941-42 Japanese onslaught. The Puget Sound forts were rearmed with modern weapons including many dual-use 3" AA mounts. The battery bunkers of Casey were manned through WWII, but later were abandoned by the military and reverted to Washington State. Today, Fort Casey State Park features terrific walks on the 500-acre grounds, kite flying, and a classic lighthouse, Admiralty Head Light. A short jaunt across the Puget Sound in Port Townsend, the Coast Artillery Museum at Ft. Worden State Park has a collection relating to life in these forts, including movies of the guns being fired in practice. It bears repeating, this is as fine a place as any to fly a kite!
Coast artillerymen fire a 10" disappearing gun in practice at Fort Worden, Washington, c. 1908.
We'll say goodbye to this happy chapter of patriotic good feeling with a vintage photo of the Oregon at Bremerton, WA on the eve of her world-famous voyage. In the morning her men will weigh anchor and be off around the Horn, relying on their machinery, seamanship, and knowhow -- and on the skillful advance work of the gunboat Marietta which arranged for coal and supplies at Latin ports on the Oregon's globe-girdling route. Men and ship will prove equal to the test, making a precedent-shattering run. And once arrived in theatre, Oregon will prove one of the most aggressive and persistent American blockaders. When the Spaniards make their break for it at Santiago, Oregon will be one of the few American ships with steam up when the Spanish come out; for her performance that day she will be called "the bulldog of the American navy." She will fire the closing shots of that battle: A series of ranging shots culminating with two 13-inch shell splashes bracketing the fleeing Colón, forcing her to surrender. And when a task force will be formed to deter the remaining Spanish naval power in the Mediterranean, it will be built around the Oregon.
