eleven o'clock
And then , finally , came the _ Maine _ incident . This last had its origin in certain serious military riots which occurred in Havana on the 12th and 13th of January , 1898 , due to the opposition of the Spaniards , military and civil , to General Blanco in his character as pacificator ; the pacification of the island otherwise than by military operations being very unpopular with the resident Spaniards , and especially with the army . In consequence of these riots , and in view of the danger to American citizens arising out of the disorderly state generally of the city , the battleship _ Maine _ was sent to Havana by the United States Government . She arrived in Havana harbour at eleven o'clock in the forenoon of January 25 , 1898 , and was duly saluted by the forts and the Spanish ships of war , whose salutes she as duly returned ; after which , under the direction of the port authorities , she was moored in the man-o ' - war anchorage . Nothing that could , even by the most hypersensitive , be construed into an act of discourteous behaviour was shown to either the officers or men of the ship ; on the contrary , the Spaniards , no doubt shrewdly suspecting that the eye of the United States , quickened by recent events to a state of preternaturally acute perception , was suspiciously watching their every action , were at the greatest pains to exhibit the utmost courtesy , not only official but also non-official , to their visitors , to whom the officials and residents alike extended the most generous hospitality , in return for which several receptions were held on board the ship by Captain Sigsbee and his officers . Now it happened that on February 15th -- which fell on a Tuesday -- Don Hermoso Montijo , his son Carlos , and Jack Singleton , completely worn out by many months of campaigning among the mountains , and several sharp attacks of fever , having amalgamated their considerably augmented band with that of another insurgent leader , and turned the command over to him , succeeded in entering the city of Havana unrecognised , and made their way on board the _ Thetis _ -- which had then been for some time lying idle in the harbour -- with the intention of recruiting their health by running across the Atlantic for the purpose of procuring a further supply of arms and ammunition , which the continual accessions to the revolutionary ranks caused to be most urgently needed . They were most enthusiastically welcomed by Milsom , who , having heard nothing from any of them for more than three months , was beginning very seriously to fear that , like many others of the revolutionaries , they had been `` wiped out '' in one or another of the countless skirmishes that were constantly occurring with the Spanish troops .