This monument commemorates those who perished in the U.S.S. Maine in 1898, killing three-quarters of the men on board. The battleship exploded and sank off the coast of Havana, Cuba, during the Spanish-American War of 1898 for reasons still unknown. The inscription reads: To The Valient Seamen Who Perished In The Maine By Fate Unwarned In Death Unafraid.In 1913, the monument was placed at the Columbus Circle and 59th Street entrance to Central Park in New York City.
William Randolph Hearst, Days after the tragedy, newspaper tycoon William Randolph Hearst started a campaign for a memorial to honor the lost sailors. He used his newspaper, the New York Morning Journal, as a platform for the effort. Large and small donations poured in from across the City.