Was the Spanish-American conflict indeed a "splendid little war"? What was splendid about it? What was not so splendid?

The term was coined by U. S ambassador in UK John Hay. Splendid part of that war that lasted two months was unity of American people where Northerners, Southerners, Blacks and Whites fought toghether side by side as one, it is symbolic end of distrusts that last even longer than reconstruction era. The not splendid part of war was number of casualties with 10 thousand Cuban and both American and Spanish 3000 dead.