1898 Boston Sunday Herald War Map Board Game, Spanish-American War

A curious relic of the Spanish-American War, this 1898 map and game board was published by the Boston Sunday Herald in 1899. Focusing on Cuba, the Philippines, and Puerto Rico, it allowed readers to track the course of the war using cut-out flags in the margins.

Cuba

Cuba occupies most of the sheet, with cities and towns are labeled throughout the island. Several railroads are also illustrated, and provinces are shaded. The Isle of Pines is identified along with several groups of smaller islands along the coast.

The Philippines

The Philippines are illustrated in an inset in the upper right. Many of the archipelago's islands are labeled, including Luzon, Mindoro, Panay, Samar, Leyte, and Mindanao. Cities are also identified, with Manila highlighted in bold. Bays and straits around the archipelago are also labeled.

Puerto Rico

A second inset featuring Puerto Rico is situated in the lower left next to the title. Puerto Rico is detailed much the same as Cuba and the Philippines, with cities labeled and the few railroad lines illustrated.

War Games

In the margins are flags of the United States, Spain, and Cuban revolutionaries fighting for independence from Spain. Readers are enjoined to cut out the flags, follow the course of the war (in The Boston Herald, of course), and move the flags around to correspond to the developing war situation.

The Spanish-American War

The Spanish-American War was fought between Spain and the United States between April 21, 1898, and August 13, 1898. The war started after the USS Maine suffered a massive explosion and sank in Havana Harbor. Tensions had been rising between the two countries for some time, with the U.S. showing support for Cuban independence while Spain claimed Cuba to be a province of Spain. The Spanish were quickly outgunned and outnumbered by the U.S. forces and surrendered after minimal conflict. After the fighting ended, the U.S. received the Philippines, Guam, and Puerto Rico along with Cuba as a U.S. protectorate.

Publication History and Census

This sheet was published as a supplement to the Boston Sunday Herald on Sunday, May 8, 1898. The map portion was designed by Gustav Buek and was published almost simultaneously in Philadelphia's Public Ledger (sold by us as CubaPhilippines-publicledger-1898), and possibly in other papers, but that edition does not include the flag game pieces. Since the title of both printings is the same, it is difficult to know which is held in institutional collections, but in any event the map is listed among the holdings of Harvard University, the American Antiquarian Society, the Boston Public Library, the Peabody Essex Museum, the University of Florida, and the Kentucky Historical Society.