Some of you might not realize it but the U.S. has had a naval base in Cuba since the Spanish-American War. This action involves U.S. Marines and makes a good smaller wargame battle or a skirmish game.

Historical Background

When the Spanish-American war began, a Spanish naval Squadron left for Cuba from their base in the Canary Islands. A U.S. squadron under Admiral Sampson tried to find them with no luck. The Spanish Ships eventually showed up in Santiago Harbor. For more detail, may I recommend The Spanish War by G.J.A. O'Toole. It is one of the better, short, one volume accounts on the war. The U.S. quickly set up a blockade outside Santiago. This created a problem; How would the U.S. recoal their fleet. Florida was too far away. The best closest harbor was at Guantonamo Bay which was 40 miles away.

The navy decided that a marine battalion, training at Key West Florida would be landed. This marine force was composed of troops that were stripped from barracks in several cities including New York, Philadelphia and Washington. The final force had 627 officers and men formed into five rifle companies plus an artillery company. Lieutenant Colonel Robert Huntington was selected to command.

On June 7th, the marine force left for Guantanomo bay in the U.S.S. Panther. The warships Yankee and Marblehead escorted. On June 10th the marines landed and secured a 150 foot hill which they called McCalla Hill named for one of the commanders. The Spanish didn't oppose the landing.

Over the next few days, the Spanish attacked but didn't have their heart in it. It mostly ammounted to sniping which killed a few marines. This action would make a good scenario.

On June 12th, a number of Cuban Insurrectos showed up. Later that day, they started patols. The Cubans on June 13th reported that the Spanish were preparing to attack. The only Spanish source of water was seven miles away at Cuzco Well. The marines decided to attack and gain the initiative.

At 9:00 AM on June 14th, the marines set out with 160 men from companies C and D plus 50 Cubans. The Spanish begin to appear about 2.5 miles from the well but quickly retreated back. The marines began to climb a tall horseshoe ridge. At the same time, the main Spanish force that was in the valley by the well begin to climb it too.

The Cubans reached the top and fired at the Spanish in the valley some 800 yards from the crest. Marine Company C that was in the valley and moved to the ridge to pour crossfire on the Spanish. At 1:00 PM, Captain Elliot decided more firepower was needed and called for fire support from the gunboat the Dolphin.

However, the first rounds landed on top of marine company C instead of the Spanish. The marines made a crude flag and signaled the Dolphin to lift the barrage. The barrage was adjusted and started affecting the Spanish. The Dolphin continued to provide fire support. The Spanish begin to retreat. The marines formed a skirmish line and started to advance through the valley toward the well.

The marines accepted the surrender of a Spanish lieutenant and 18 men. The marines found only 58 Spanish bodies in the valley. There were probably some wounded but probably not that bad since the battle was fought at extreme ranges, most of the wounds were light. There were only nine Marine causalties. There were more from the heat with 23 Marines falling out of the march. A further 12 fell out when the Marines reached the valley. When the Marines questioned the prisoners, roughly 500 Spanish had resisted the marines. The result of this action was that there no further Spanish attacks.

Order of Battle

American Marines

C Rifle Company, 1st Lt L. C. Lucas, 4 Rifle Platoons
D Rifle Company: Captain W.F. Spicer, 4 Rifle Platoons

Spanish Force

1st Company, Barcelona Regiment with leader, 4 Rifle Platoons
2nd Company, Barcelona Regiment with leader, 4 Rifle Platoons
3rd Company, Barcelona Regiment with leader, 4 Rifle Platoons
Cuban Inserrectos

Wargaming the Scenario

I have never seen a map of the action. I based the setup on my reading. I setup a block house and a building for the well on one edge of my table along with the Spanish Infantry. I put a long hill on the opposite edge and put the U.S. marines on it. A road leads from the hill to the well. To simulate jungle, I use pieces of felt to represent clear areas. Everything else is jungle. I put a bunch of lichen and trees down to simulate it. To keep things simple, all the figures are on the table. You could try hidden movement with dummy units and sighting rolls.

To handle fire from the gunboat the Dolphin, I lay a square on the table within sighting distance of a commander. The commander can see into any clear area from the hill. Otherwise, the leader needs a line of sight. The round will land on a D6 die roll of 1 the first turn, 1 or 2 the second turn and so on. I don't roll for deviation when the round lands though you might want to do it. The round affects everything in the target area and counts as heavy artillery with a strength of ten using PoW rules.

For rules, I use Principles of War (PoW). These rules were reviewed sometime ago in the Heliograph and available from On Military's Matters. All troops have an RR (Repeating Rifle Weapon). I thought that the Marine Remington Rifle was equal to the Spanish Mauser unlike the Krag that U.S. infantry carried. I like bloodier, quicker melees so I made the melee modifier a 2 instead of .5. All Spanish leaders are rated as POOR in PoW terms. I made the American leaders AVERAGE. Rules like Fire and Fury could be used using a bad column on the command table. I like to use the PoW variable unit strength rule where the strength of the unit is unknown until combat. I gave all Spanish units a D6+4 strength and American units a D10+6 strength. If another ruleset is used, I would give the Spanish bad morale so they rout a lot. The marine units would have good morale.

For the marines, I used my U.S. Infantry figures of the period from Friekorps 15. The marines wore a different uniform which featured a kepi like hat but I didn't want to bother up marine troops. Friekorps has naval landing party figures available. The Spanish are available from Friekorps too. Frontier miniatures from Modeller's Mart have some 15 mm figures. For 25 mm, the Old Glory Figures should be available. I didn't have any figures for the Cubans so I didn't use them. They would probably be armed with shotguns and other assorted weapons. Finally, for victory objectives, if the marines take the well and lose less than four units, they win a strategic victory. Otherwise, the marines win a tatical victory. Obviously, the Spanish win if they still control the well. Conclusion

When I played this scenario, the marines achieved only a tactical victory since they lost five units. PoW rules really show quality (the marines) verses quantity (the Spanish). The Spanish American war has numerous small actions and skirmishes. I only wish that more maps and details were available.

Finally, for victory objectives, if the marines take the well and lose less than four units, they win a strategic victory. Otherwise, the marines win a tatical victory. Obviously, the Spanish win if they still control the well.

I derived the scenario and account from Paul Hinson's excellent article in Savage and Soldier magazine, volume 18, number 2 (April-June, 1986).

[ed. note: My appologies to Scott if the article is not exactly as he wrote it. It did not translate well to my Mac and instead of just a couple of pages it came out about 70 odd pages filled with garbage letters and symbols and lots of repetitions.]