| 25 January | USS Maine sent from Key West to Havana to help protect American citizens |
| 15 February | USS Maine blows up in Havana harbour: 266 die |
| 9 March | Senate approves a ‘War Fund’ of $50 million |
| 25 March | President McKinley announces USS Maine blown up by a mine |
| 19 April | Congress supports a call for Cuban independence, and the use of US force to help achieve it |
| 21 April | US navy leaves Key West to commence blockade of Cuba |
| 23 April | Spain declares war on the United States; President McKinley calls for 125,000 volunteers |
| 25 April | United States formally declares war on Spain |
| 1 May | Commodore Dewey destroys Spanish Asiatic Fleet at Manila Bay |
| 12 June | Gen. Shafter’s V Corps embark at Tampa, bound for Santiago |
| 22 June | US V Corps lands at Daiquiri |
| 23 June | Siboney occupied and forward supply base established |
| 24 June | Skirmish at Las Guasimas |
| 26 June | Americans occupy Sevilla |
| 27 June | Gen. Shafter lands and establishes headquarters at Sevilla |
| 30 June | Army moves forward to El Pozo and Marianage |
| 1 July | Battles of El Caney and San Juan Hill |
| 4:00am | Kent and Sumner’s divisions march towards San Juan Heights |
| 6:35am | Capron’s battery opens fire on El Caney |
| 8:20am | Grimes’s battery opens fire on San Juan blockhouse |
| 8:25am | Spanish on San Juan Heights fire on Grimes’s battery position |
| 9:00am | Major firefight ensues around El Caney |
| 9:15am | Spanish start firing on main US column on Camino Real |
| 10:50am | US column reaches Bloody Ford. Troops deploy along riverbank |
| 11:00am | Lull in fighting at El Caney |
| Noon | Gen. Shafter orders Gen. Lawton to rejoin main force |
| 12:15pm | Waiting US troops along San Juan River take heavy casualties |
| 1:00pm | Firing begins again at El Caney: assault on San Juan Hill ordered |
| 1:05pm | Roosevelt and assorted cavalrymen launch attack on Kettle Hill |
| 1:10pm | Main assault on San Juan Hill – immediately pinned down |
| 1:15pm | Kettle Hill captured: Gatling gun battery opens up on San Juan Hill |
| 1:20pm | Fresh assault on San Juan Hill launched |
| 1:30pm | San Juan blockhouse in US hands: assault on El Viso Fort is launched |
| 1:35pm | Roosevelt’s fresh assault on northern section of the Heights |
| 1:45pm | El Viso captured: San Juan Heights in US hands |
| 2:00pm | Spanish withdraw to final defence line at El Caney: US troops on San Juan Heights subjected to heavy Spanish fire |
| 3:00pm | Final Spanish resistance at El Caney is overcome: Kent and Sumner’s divisions dig-in along San Juan Heights |
| 3 July | Naval battle of Santiago: Spanish squadron destroyed |
| 17 July | Gen. Toral surrenders all Spanish forces in Santiago Province |
| 25 July | American troops land on Puerto Rico |
| 12 August | Armistice signed and blockade of Cuba lifted |
| 18 October | United States annexes Puerto Rico |
| 2 November | Spain agrees to cede the Philippines to the United States |
| 10 December | Peace treaty signed in Paris |
American troops in the trenches lining San Juan Heights. The blockhouse is in the background, and Santiago is off to the right. The shallow trenches indicate that the photograph was taken within days of the capture of the Heights. (National Archives)