Beginning of Essay
Over 100 years ago, 1898, Cubans fought for independence from Spain and Americans sought to gain greater world power, wealth and to become a more prominent nation. Both Cuba and the Americas could gain from this war if they played it right, and that's exactly wh ....

Middle of Essay
.... so it was, the short war which was to only last for a couple of months had begun, the Spanish-American War. One account of the explosion on the Maine comes from Capt. Charles D. Sigsbee, he said: I laid down my pen and listened to the notes of the bugle, which were singularly beautiful in the oppressive stillness of the night. . . . I was enclosing my letter in its envelope when the explosion came. It was a bursting, rending, and crashing roar of immense volume, largely metallic in character. It was followed by heavy, ominous metallic sounds. There was a trembling and lurching motion of the vessel, a list to port. The electric lights went out. Then ....