Battle of Santiago de Cuba Cuba, leaving civil order to the military government that the United States established. The U.S. Army under the overall administration of General Leonard Wood governed the island for some time afterwards and, with help, removed many of the mines laid in the bay. The immediate effect of the Battle of Santiago and the larger Spanish–American War, then, was the end of any noteworthy Spanish naval presence in the New World. In the imperial vacuum left by Spain's New World empire, the United States now exerted considerable influence both in annexing formal territories such as Puerto Rico, Guam, and the Philippines
USS Santiago de Cuba (1861) covered them as they reluctantly reembarked the next day, under orders of General Benjamin F. Butler, the army commander. Porter immediately began work organizing a new invasion force. The union warships and Army transports returned to the vicinity of Wilmington in mid-January 1865. After a bloody three-day fight, Fort Fisher fell on the 15th. The next day, "Santiago de Cuba" embarked men wounded in the battle and sailed for Norfolk, Virginia. During the Civil War, the following crewmen of the USS "Santiago de Cuba" were awarded the Medal of Honor: Before the war ended, "Santiago de Cuba" was the steamship