Chilean Crisis
Chilean Crisis (1891).The Chilean Crisis (or Baltimore Affair) was one in a string of late nineteenth‐century naval crises. Despite U.S. efforts to support the old regime, a Chilean revolution succeeded in the summer of 1891. U.S. antipathy to the new regime notwithstanding, the new, light (protected) cruiser USS Baltimore remained in the Chilean port of Valparaiso, near Santiago. On 16 October, Cdr. Winfield S. Schley permitted some of his crew long‐overdue leave, and several became involved in a saloon brawl. An ensuing riot left two U.S. sailors dead and seventeen injured.
The Navy Department ordered the Baltimore replaced by the Yorktown under Robley D. “Fighting Bob” Evans, who waited impatiently for negotiations on restitution—or war. Secretary of State James Blaine and Timothy Egan, U.S. minister in Santiago, evinced little interest in peaceful reconciliation. President Benjamin Harrison...
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