Two days later, on the 15th, the USS "Maine" exploded. As the Spanish–American War took shape into April, the artist returned to Cuba to see military action for the first time. It was the "most wrenching, disillusioning experience of Remington's life." As he witnessed the assault on San Juan Hill by American forces, including those led by Roosevelt, his heroic conception of war was shattered by the actual horror of jungle fighting and the deprivations he faced in camp. His reports and illustrations upon his return focused not on heroic generals but also on the troops, as in his "Scream of the Shrapnel" (1899), which depicts a deadly ambush on American troops by an unseen enemy.