The pressing issue facing Angell in Turkey was the protection of American missionaries during the unrest following the massacre of Armenians that had been carried out over the previous two years, as well as compensation for damage to their properties they claimed were caused by both the deliberate actions and the inaction of Turkish forces. He was mostly unsuccessful on this front, except for negotiating a $50,000 surcharge on a warship the Ottoman Empire was purchasing from an American firm, with the understanding that this would be used to resolve the claims of damages (and which was eventually paid in 1901). Angell blamed this failure in part on the outbreak of the Spanish–American War causing American naval ships to leave the area and remove pressure on the Sultan.