How they celebrated the Fourth during the 'Splendid Little War'

A young Whitman County in 1898 marked a unique celebration when it marked the Fourth of July during what was later called "The Spendid Little War." When the big day arrived that year, the United States and Spain were in the final weeks of a war in which Spain lost control of Cuba, the Philippines, Guam and Puerto Rico.

Young men from the county had answered the call as war fever mounted and was fueled in part by yellow journalism in which this publication took a small part.

The path to war was fueled by the explosion which sank the U.S.S. Maine in Havana Harbor Feb. 15. The Maine had been disp...