General shafter biography

U.s. navy during spanish-american war

W illiam Shafter was the commanding officer of the U. His obesity and medical problems forced Shafter to direct military operations from miles behind the front lines. Hundreds of men died in the fighting, and thousands more died from diseases they contracted during Cuba's steamy summer season. Yet Shafter's troops worked with the U. Navy to force Spain to surrender an entire region of Cuba just twenty-five days after landing on the island.

This led to a negotiated cease-fire, Cuba's freedom from Spain, and American military control of the island. The oldest of four children, Shafter had a large physique that grew strong as he worked on his family's pioneer farm. Shafter also did well in school, winning many spelling bees. In , Shafter became a country schoolteacher in Galesburg, Michigan, where he had attended school as a boy.

Four years later, he landed a teaching job in Athens, Michigan. He married one of his pupils, Harriet Grimes, in Shafter fought in many Civil War battles, including those at Ball's Bluff and Nashville, and he also spent time as a prisoner of war. Several years after the war, on April 14, , he became lieutenant colonel of the 24th United States Infantry.

Shafter spent the next three decades as a career man in the army, serving mostly in frontier situations and rising to the rank of brigadier general by , just before the outbreak of the Spanish-American War. The United States declared war on Spain on April 25,