1898 In The United States

Events from the year 1898 in the United States.

Incumbents

Federal government

* President: William McKinley ( R-Ohio)
* Vice President: Garret Hobart ( R-New Jersey)
* Chief Justice: Melville Fuller (Illinois)
* Speaker of the House of Representatives: Thomas Brackett Reed ( R-Maine)
* Congress: 55th

Events

January–March

* January 1 – New York City annexes land from surrounding counties, creating the City of Greater New York. The city is geographically divided into five boroughs: Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, The Bronx, and Staten Island.
* January 8 – Seminole burning: Lynching by burning of two Seminole boys near Maud, Oklahoma; 6 of the lynch mob are convicted and imprisoned, the first successful prosecution of lynching in the Southwest.
* February 15 – explodes and sinks in Havana, killing 266 men. Popular opinion blames Spain and helps precipitate the Spanish–American War.
* February 22 – Naoum Mokarzel establishes '' Al-Hoda'' which will become the longest-running Arabic newspaper in the U.S.
* March 24 – Robert Allison of Port Carbon, Pennsylvania becomes the first person to buy an American-built automobile when he buys a Winton automobile that has been advertised in ''Scientific American''.
* March 28 – After an investigation, the U.S. Navy publicly concludes that was sunk by a mine, further pushing sentiment towards war.
* March 30 – The 5.8–6.4 Mare Island earthquake shook the San Francisco Bay Area with a maximum Mercalli intensity of VIII (''Severe''), causing $350,000 in damage.

April–June

* April 5 – Annie Oakley promotes the service of women in combat situations with the United States military. On this day, she writes a letter to President McKinley "offering the government the services of a company of 50 'lady sharpshooters' who would provide their own arms and ammunition should war break out with Spain." In the history of women in the military, there are records of female U.S. Revolutionary and Civil War soldiers who enlisted using male pseudonyms, but Oakley's letter represents possibly the earliest political move towards women's rights for combat service in the United States military.
* April 20 – President William McKinley signs a Joint Resolution with Cuba and a declaration of War against Spain, beginning the Spanish–American War. The declaration is accepted five days later.
* April 21 – Spanish–American War: The United States Navy begins a blockade of Cuban ports and captures a Spanish merchant ship.
* April 25 – Spanish–American War: The United States declares war on Spain; the U.S. Congress announces that a state of war has existed since April 21 (later backdating this one more day to April 20).
* April 29 – Union Razor Company, which today is known as KA-BAR Knives, founded in Tidioute, Pennsylvania.
* May 1 – Spanish–American War – Battle of Manila Bay: Commodore Dewey destroys the Spanish squadron. The first battle of the war, as well as the first battle in the Philippines Campaign.
* May 10 – Prescott National Forest is established.
* May 12 – Bombardment of San Juan, the first major battle of the Puerto Rico Campaign during the Spanish–American War.
* June 1 – The Trans-Mississippi Exposition World's Fair opens in Omaha, Nebraska.

July–September

* July 1 – Spanish–American War: Battle of San Juan Hill – American forces capture the San Juan Heights near Santiago de Cuba. Theodore Roosevelt memorably leads the charge of the Rough Riders.
* July 3
** Spanish–American War: Battle of Santiago de Cuba – The United States Navy destroys the Spanish Navy's Caribbean Squadron.
** Joshua Slocum completes a 3-year solo circumnavigation of the world.
* July 7 – The United States annexes the Hawaiian Islands.
* July 17 – Spanish–American War: – Battle of Santiago Bay: Troops under United States General William R. Shafter take the city of Santiago de Cuba from the Spanish.
* July 25 – Spanish–American War: The United States invasion of Puerto Rico begins with a landing at Guánica Bay.
* August 1 – Joseph F. Johnston is reelected the 30th governor of Alabama defeating Gilbert B. Dean.
* August 13 – Spanish–American War: Hostilities end between American and Spanish forces in Cuba.

October–December

* October 3 – Battle of Sugar Point: Ojibwe tribesmen defeat U.S. government troops in northern Minnesota.
* October 6 – The Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia fraternity (then the Sinfonia Club) is founded at the New England Conservatory in Boston.
* November 10 – The Wilmington Insurrection of 1898: A coup d'état by white supremacists.
* November 26 – A 2-day blizzard known as the Portland Gale piles snow in Boston, Massachusetts, and severely impacts the Massachusetts fishing industry and several coastal New England towns.
* December 10 – The Treaty of Paris is signed, ending the Spanish–American War.
* December 23 – Guam transferred to the United States Navy control on December 23, 1898, by Executive Order 108-A from President William McKinley

Undated

* H. W. Perlman, American piano manufacturer is founded.
* Wakita is founded in the Cherokee Strip, Oklahoma.
* As a result of the merger of several small oil companies, John D. Rockefeller's Standard Oil Company controls 84% of the United States's oil and most American pipelines.
* Henry Adams Consulting Engineers founded by Henry Adams in Baltimore, Maryland.

Ongoing

* Gay Nineties (1890–1899)
* Progressive Era (1890s–1920s)
* Lochner era (c. 1897–c. 1937)

Births

* January 1 – Tony DeMarco, dancer (died 1965)
* January 7 – Robert LeGendre, pentathlete and dentist (died 1931)
* January 18 – Margaret Irving, actress (died 1988)
* January 23 – Randolph Scott, film actor (died 1987)
* February 2 – Billy Costello, voice actor, the original voice of Popeye

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