From Access Genealogy:

History of the Negro Soldier in the Spanish American War

By Edward A. Johnson

Finally The Attention Of The United States was forcibly attracted to Cuba by the Virginius affair, which consisted in the wanton murder of fifty American sailors, officers and crew of the Virginius, which was captured by the Spanish off Santiago bay, bearing arms and ammunition to the insurgents, Captain Fry, a West Point graduate, in command.