Courts and corregidors erst at thy bidding
Banished or butchered Moresco and Jew;
Ghosts from all Christendom, shades of the Martyrs
Flock from the sepulchre thee to pursue.
Wrath of retributive Justice o'ertakes thee!
Brand of time's malison blisters thy brow:
Armed cabelleros and crowned kings of Bourbon,
All are unable to succor thee now.
El Emplazado, the Summoned, the Doomed One!
God's Inquisition condemns thee to-day!
Earth-shaking cannon-bolts thunder thy sentence,—
Heaven reëchoes the auto-da-fé.
William Henry Venable.
On April 19, 1898, Congress adopted a resolution declaring that Spanish rule in Cuba must cease, recognizing the independence of the Cubans, and empowering the President to use the entire land and naval forces of the United States to drive Spain from the island. It was, in effect, a declaration of war.
BATTLE SONG
When the vengeance wakes, when the battle breaks,
And the ships sweep out to sea;
When the foe is neared, when the decks are cleared,
And the colors floating free;
When the squadrons meet, when it's fleet to fleet
And front to front with Spain,
From ship to ship, from lip to lip,
Pass on the quick refrain,
"Remember, remember the Maine!"
When the flag shall sign, "Advance in line;
Train ships on an even keel;"
When the guns shall flash and the shot shall crash
And bound on the ringing steel;
When the rattling blasts from the armored masts
Are hurling their deadliest rain,
Let their voices loud, through the blinding cloud,
Cry ever the fierce refrain,
"Remember, remember the Maine!"
God's sky and sea in that storm shall be
Fate's chaos of smoke and flame,
But across that hell every shot shall tell,
Not a gun can miss its aim;
Not a blow shall fail on the crumbling mail,
And the waves that engulf the slain
Shall sweep the decks of the blackened wrecks,
With the thundering, dread refrain,
"Remember, remember the Maine!"
Robert Burns Wilson.