USS Maine exploded and sank in Havana Harbour, Cuba, on 15 February 1898, killing more than 260 men. The cause remained disputed, but sensational American reporting blamed Spain. Public anger over the loss contributed to the outbreak of the Spanish-American War.

The cry Remember the Maine appeared in patriotic poems, songs and recitations that helped convert uncertain evidence into emotional certainty. Anti-imperialist poets later challenged this rhetoric, exposing how elegy and martial verse could be used to mobilise a nation for war.