Encyclopedia of U.S.-Latin American Relations

Sample Article

Baltimore Affair

On October 16, 1891, 120 sailors from the U.S.S. Baltimore received shore leave in Valparaiso, Chile. Instead of a relaxing day in Chile's main port, they became involved in bar brawls and street violence that resulted in the death of two Americans, the wounding of seventeen, and the imprisonment of thirty-six. When the ship's captain, W. S. Schley convened a board of inquiry and blamed the Chileans for the fights, the United States demanded a Chilean apology and reparations. The Chileans balked and conducted their own investigation that blamed drunken American sailors for provoking the fights and demanded that several sailors stand trial for their involvement while commending the police for their professional behavior.

In the days that followed the incident, the State Department complained to the Chilean government about its delay in acknowledging responsibility. In his annual message to Congress in December 1891 President Benjamin Harrison threatened to seek congressional approval for U.S. intervention if the matter was not quickly resolved. Harrison reflected the jingoistic American public that demanded the punishment of the responsible Chileans.

The Chileans were equally bellicose and their emotions were further stirred when the U.S. minister to Chile, Patrick Egan withheld key information from the Chilean investigators. The infuriated Chilean foreign minister, Manuel Matta, described President Benjamin Harrison's statements about the events as erroneous and deliberately incorrect. Matta also demanded Egan's recall. The Chileans added insult to injury by staging mock torpedo attacks on the U.S.S. Yorktown anchored in Valparaiso harbor. Before the year's end the Chileans tried to defuse the situation by agreeing to submit the dispute to arbitration by a third party, but support within the Chilean government disappeared as most government officials left Santiago to escape the summer heat (December to March in the southern hemisphere).

When the attempts at arbitration failed, the United States prepared for war. On January 21, 1892 the State Department threatened to sever diplomatic relations with Chile unless it capitulated. And on January 25, President Harrison sent congress a summation of the incident with the implication that he wanted the legislature to declare war on Chile. The U.S. Navy began stockpiling weapons, and U.S. officials sought to the support of the Peruvians and Bolivians who wanted revenge for their defeat in the War of the Pacific (1879-1884).

Under such pressure, the Chileans caved in. They paid $75,000 in reparations to the wounded sailors and families of the deceased, refuted Matta's charges against Harrison and, withdrew the request for the recall of Egan. Urged on by the House Foreign Affairs Committee, President Harrison accepted the Chilean offer.

While most Americans soon forgot the incident to focus on emerging issues in Venezuela and Cuba, the Baltimore affair caused much antipathy toward the United States among Chileans. In the broader, the Baltimore Affair highlighted the continued American drive to challenge all competitors, both foreign and regional, in Latin America. The incident also stood as another in a long list of U.S. injustices to all Latin Americans.

Kyle Longley
Arizona State University

See Also: Chile: Relations with the United States; War of the Pacific; James G. Blaine, Benjamin Harrison

References:
Armstrong, William M., E.L. Godkin and American Foreign Policy, 1865-1900, Greenwood Press, 1977
Eselle, Patricio, "La controversia chileno-americano de 1891 a 1892," Estudios de la Historia de las Instituciónes Politicas y Sociales, 1 (1967): pp.149-277
Goldberg, Joyce, The Baltimore Affair, University of Nebraska Press, 1986.