Naval action followed almost at once, Captain W. T. Sampson bombarding Matanzas on April 27. Meanwhile Com modore Dewey, stationed at Hongkong, received orders to proceed to the Philip pine Islands and commence operations at once against the Spanish fleet, capturing or destroying the vessels. The order had been sent on the day of the declaration of war and five days later he approached under cover of darkness Manila harbor, having under his command 9 vessels and 131 guns. The fight that followed in the early morning after his entry was an unequal one. It lasted four hours and resulted in the destruction of the Spanish fleet, consisting of 10 vessels, 120 guns, and 1,796 men, as it lay at anchor in Cavite Bay, and the local fortifications. The loss on the American side included only six wounded. Meanwhile the por tion of the Spanish fleet located in Cuban waters was locked up in Santiago Bay by the fleet under Captain Sampson, and worldwide interest was aroused by the attempt of Lieut. R. P. Hobson to make escape impossible by the sinking of the collier "Merrimac" at the harbor mouth. Finally the Spanish fleet under Admiral Cervera put out to sea on July 3. In the conflict that followed, the Spanish ships were either destroyed or driven ashore, with a loss of 350 men killed and 1,700 captured. The loss on the American side was 1 killed and 10 wounded.
The battles on land were less unequal. On June 20 Gen. W. R. Shafter landed at Daiguiri with 815 officers and 16,072 men, the Spaniards withdrawing to their intrenchments near Santiago. At Las Guasimas American troops under Gen eral Wheeler dislodged the Spanish troops with a loss of 68 men, killed and wounded, the Spanish losing 28. In July United States troops aided by Cubans attacked the Spanish front at El Caney and San Juan. On July 16, following a siege, Santiago capitulated, under an agreement by which Spanish soldiers were to be taken to Spain. Meanwhile a brief campaign of over two weeks (July 25-Aug. 13), under Gen. Nelson A. Miles in Porto Rico, ended with an armistice. On Aug. 13 the city of Ma nila surrendered to Admiral Dewey and General Merritt, and 13,000 soldiers sur rendered. Then after less than four months of fighting peace preliminaries were begun through the French Ambas sador and on Aug. 12 the peace protocol was concluded. The subsequent pourpar lers endured till Dec. 10, when the treaty was signed in Paris, under which Spain withdrew from Cuba, Porto Rico, Guam and the Philippines, the United States paying $20,000,000. The political status of the inhabitants of the ceded countries was to be determined between them and the United States Govern ment.