Historical Romance of the American Negro

by Charles Henry Fowler

As our own nation had had a fearful war with England, in the days of George Washington—a war that lasted over seven years—all citizens of the United States felt a great deal of sympathy for the Cuban leaders, and for all the Cuban people—"a people who now devoted their lives unto death on the high places of the field"—and myself, my own family, and all my beloved race, felt very, very deeply for them.

And not only did the people of the United States, but all lovers of freedom throughout the world felt the greatest sympathy for the Cubans. Thus long, weary months came and went, and poor, proud, decrepit old Spain, in her antiquated way, continued to borrow many millions of money at home and abroad, till at last "Pobre Espagna" (poor Spain) was hardly able to pay the mere interest upon the money she had borrowed, let alone the principal. The patriotic Cubans fought long, well and nobly; so did the Spaniards, but no real advantage was ever gained upon either side, because the Cubans had neither seaport nor fleet, and were never able to get the Spaniards out of their ancient and powerful fortifications, whilst the Spaniards were never able to beat the Cubans off the field, get them out of their strongholds among the mountains, and their inaccessible retreats amidst their grand, primeval forests.

The Cubans of the United States, assisted by many of our own people, gathered money, and loaded filibustering vessels that ran the feeble Spanish blockade off the island, and safely landed an untold number of cargoes of arms and ammunition for the struggling patriots, while our own national feeling against Spain still increased as the days went by. It is very true that the Government of the United States did all that it was able to preserve neutrality, and to keep the peace with Spain—nay, more than that—we were at last obliged even to police the seas around the Southern States to prevent those blockade-runners from slipping away from our parts with their loads of arms and ammunition for that devoted island, and we were hardly able to stop them when we had done our best. Thus we were put to endless trouble to watch the seas for a foreign and cruel country, and that country was always laying complaints at our doors because we could watch no better!

THE DEFENSE OF SANTIAGO.

When Campos was Captain-General of Cuba, the war for independence in that unhappy island was conducted with some regard to decency and civilized ways; but the Spanish arms made no progress, and the mother country sent over the cruel General Weyler, usually called "The Butcher," and gave him a free hand in putting down the islanders in any way he saw fit. The mind of this bad man seems to have been imbued with all the old Spanish cruelties of the dark ages, and all that tiger-like love for cruelty and bloodshed for which Spain and the Spaniards have always been so notorious. The readers of the public press are no doubt well aware already of the treacherous acts, cruelties and medieval deeds of barbarism to which that monster and his soldiers resorted for the purpose of suppressing the Cuban rebellion. The worst of them all was his gathering the country people into seacoast towns and cities—mainly women, children and old men—where they subsequently died by tens of thousands; and thus the poor, oppressed Cuban nation was weakened at last to the number of at least 200,000, if not more; and by such cold-blooded deeds, and others on a smaller scale, quite as cruel, did that black-hearted Spanish butcher wear down the population of Cuba. He made war upon nature, and shocked the moral sense of the whole world. And yet, this Weyler had the entire approval of the mother country while he thus caused the non-combatant part of the Cubans to perish, when they had the unblushing impudence to carry on the barbarities of the dark ages all over the Island of Cuba, and right before our front door! The false and wilfully-lying messages that even this butcher sent home to Spain from day to day about victories that he had gained over the insurgents were usually contradicted by the American, and other foreign presses next day. Weyler excelled in nothing but writing false dispatches, while the hatred against him increased, both in Congress, and all over the United States. So great, indeed, was the outcry against the Spaniards, that the proud and scornful Dons kept sending more and more soldiers over the Atlantic, to give us to understand by that, that if we Americans dared to interfere between her and what she called "The Ever-Faithful Isle," she would there fight Uncle Sam to the death, and never surrender Cuba!

Captain-General Weyler's want of success, his cruelties and countless false reports were at last so revolting to the feelings of Uncle Sam that Spain decided to withdraw her faithful butcher, and send another Captain-General over, and his name was General Blanco. He was admonished to bring the Cuban leaders and the Cubans to terms by wiles, bribes and flattery; but the patriotic Cubans refused to swallow any such baits, and war went on the same as before—all our trade with Cuba being now destroyed, almost the whole island being reduced to the condition of a wilderness, while the silence of the grave seemed supreme everywhere. Spain continued to make more and more fresh promises from month to month, both to ourselves and to the Cubans—promises made in deceit and craft, which she never meant to fulfill.

It is calculated that at one time there were two hundred thousand Spanish soldiers in Cuba, when the Cuban troops became so numerous that they even threatened Havana, and whipped the Spanish outposts in the suburbs of the stronghold. Affairs at last became so unsafe and threatening for the numerous American colonists in Havana, and throughout Cuba, that the United States battleship "Maine" was sent to the island, by way of protection, and she was duly anchored by the direction of the port authorities, in a certain specified position within the harbor of Havana.

Alas, alas! we little knew what we were doing! And yet, for the very life of me, I cannot but see that the hand of Providence was in some way or other connected with the anchoring of the Maine in the harbor of Havana. It is true that we might at some time or other have interfered in the Island, and there put an end to the medieval and murderous practices of "Old Spain," carried on at our front door here in the end of the nineteenth century; but war, in its best state, is a serious business, and Spain might have succeeded for a long time in gulling us with fair-faced promises she never meant to fulfill. In the pride of her heart she regarded the poor Cuban patriots as nothing but a gang of rebels, who, had they laid down their arms at her request, would have been treated as so many footballs—as deserving less consideration than mere dogs and cats. Thus it appears to me very doubtful whether we would have embarked upon a war with that proud, haughty and impoverished nation, that loves to talk of her former grandeur, four hundred years ago. But the Spaniards viewed the coming of the Maine to Havana with hatred and disgust. Whispers in high places in the Cuban capital declared that she should be destroyed, and so in fact she was, for on Tuesday night, the 15th of February, 1898, the Spaniards blew her up with torpedoes planted underneath her in the water.

This destruction of a splendid American battleship, with the accompanying loss of 266 lives, brought much comfort and joy to the cruel Spanish heart; for the head gentlemen of Spain at Havana were known to laugh and be jolly, and to drink champagne wine over the destruction of our devoted vessel! But with us it was otherwise. We were overwhelmed with the most profound sorrow and grief. Every man, woman and child in all Uncle Sam's far-spreading Union was bowed down under this sudden blow that supplied so much comfort to the heart of the Spaniard. He looked upon us as his enemy because of our own sympathy for the Cubans; and so that ship was another "enemy" out of his way. His mirth did not prevent our national grief over the sudden murder of our 266 men, and the loss of the poor ship, so we sat down and cried real, sincere tears, while the naval commission were in session at Key West over the cause of the destruction of the unfortunate vessel. The finding of the court of inquiry was that the vessel was not blown up from within (as the Spaniards pretended), but was blown up from without, and that by the hands of the Spaniards, and done on purpose by them.