Our War with Spain for Cuba's Freedom

by Trumbull White

BUCCANEERING AND THE WARFARE IN THE SPANISH MAIN.

Spain's Stolen Treasures from Mexico and Peru Tempt Her European
Rivals—The Spanish Main the Scene of Piratical Plundering for
Many Years—Havana and Other Cities Threatened—Great Britain
Takes Santo Domingo—American Troops from the British Colonies
Capture Havana—Victory on Land and Sea Is Saddened by Many
Deaths of Brave Americans from Fever—Lessons of the First Capture
of Havana.

After the acquisition of rich and populous countries in the western hemisphere had begun, Spain discovered that her new-found wealth was not to be hers without a struggle. From the harbors of Mexico and Peru, Spanish galleons sailed with their loads of treasure, stolen from the Montezumas and the Incas. Year after year, rich argosies, laden with gold and silver to replenish the extravagant treasury of the Spanish crown, crossed the seas. The Atlantic ocean, the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean sea were furrowed with the keels of Spanish fleets, at a time when the European nations scarcely maintained the pretense of friendship with one another.

It was hardly to be expected that these rich prizes should go unmolested. England and France knew quite well that they were plundered from the native treasuries of the new world, and no reason appeared why Spain in turn should not be robbed of her plunder. So the Spanish Main, the Caribbean sea, the Gulf of Mexico, and the adjacent waters, became the haunt of buccaneers and pirates, some under flags of European nations, and others under the black flag. Desperate fights were the lot of almost every Spanish galleon that sailed those seas, and fabulous prizes sometimes were taken under the skull and crossbones. Spanish men of war sailed back and forth to convoy the merchant fleets, but their protection was not always sufficient. Pirates could obtain frigates with guns as good as those of Spain, and with the temptation of wealth before them they braved conflict whenever it was necessary.

The harbors of Key West, the Dry Tortugas and others along the Florida keys, as well as many of those in the Bahamas, the West Indies and the Antilles, were the haunts of buccaneers and privateers who careened their ships on shore for repairs, or held high revel on the beaches after their triumph over some Spanish treasure fleet. Those were bloody days, full of dramatic excitement. From them some of the most notable writers of fiction have drawn their tales, which entertain readers of to-day.

What was done with all the gold thus garnered in sea fights before it reached the ports of Spain, is hard to know. Sometimes mysterious strangers appeared in the seaport towns of France and England and even the American colonies in their younger days, to spend money lavishly for a short time and then disappear as mysteriously as they came. These men were reputed to be pirate chiefs seeking relaxation from their customary life. Others of the buccaneers hoarded their wealth in hiding places known only to themselves, the secret of which must have died with them, while the gold remains undiscovered. All through the Florida keys and the West India islands, as well as along the coasts of Georgia and the Carolinas, traditions still exist in relation to these treasure hoards. Sanguine people are still digging in the sands of these beaches, in the hope that some day they will unearth a sea chest full of Spanish doubloons, or the golden ornaments stripped from Aztec idols. Some finds indeed have been made, but those who make them are not apt to reveal the secret which might guide another to a successful search.

PIRATICAL RAIDS TROUBLE HAVANA.

Having discovered the wealth that could be obtained by attacks upon the Spanish fleets, the pirates began to think of the cities which were themselves the source of much of this wealth. The result of this was that they began to make descents upon the coasts, not only of Cuba, but of the neighboring islands of Jamaica and Santo Domingo. The expense occasioned by the attempts to suppress these incursions became so great toward the end of the sixteenth century, that it became necessary to impose a special tax to cover it.

Fortresses at all the fortified harbors were improved, and the power of the military officials increased as their importance increased, and that of the civil governors diminished. It was as a direct result of these conditions that the office of Captain General was created, in which the governor shared military and civil authority alike. Havana fortifications were hastened to completion and the preparations for defense began, which never have been materially improved to this day. The three fortresses of El Morro, La Punta and La Cabana were built before the end of the sixteenth century and still were standing as the most effective defenses of Havana when our war with Spain began.

It was during the same period, that African negroes were first introduced into Cuba. Slavery had proved so severe upon the aborigines, that their numbers had almost reached the vanishing point, and there was a lack of sufficient labor for the cultivation of tobacco and sugar cane, the chief products of Spanish agriculture in the island. It was to promote the production of these new luxuries that the African slave trade was begun. A royal license from the King of Spain was obtained to guarantee the privilege of importing negroes.