Our War With Spain For Cubas Freedom | Page 4

ARMY AND NAVY, FIGHTING
STRENGTH, COAST DEFENSES, AND OUR RELATIONS WITH
OTHER NATIONS, ETC., ETC.
BY TRUMBULL WHITE,
THE WELL KNOWN AND POPULAR AUTHOR, HISTORIAN
AND WAR CORRESPONDENT.
ELABORATELY ILLUSTRATED WITH PHOTOGRAPHS AND

DRAWINGS OF BATTLES, ON SEA AND LAND, WAR SHIPS,
ETC., FROM LIFE.
FREEDOM PUBLISHING CO.
Dedicated To Our American Volunteers

PREFACE.
Information concerning the island of Cuba has been of an exceedingly
unsatisfactory character until the search-light of American inquiry was
thrown upon it from the beginning of the war for Cuban liberty early in
1895. Although our next-door neighbor to the south, with a perfect
winter climate and a host of interesting and picturesque attractions for
travelers, tourists had been comparatively few, measured by the
numbers that might have been expected. All of the reasons for this were
those which naturally followed the characteristic Spanish rule of the
island. Publicity was not welcomed, inquiry was not welcomed,
travelers were not welcomed. The cities and the accommodations they
offered were in many ways far behind those of like age and size in the
other countries of the globe. Railway construction and the making of
highways had lagged disgracefully, because the exorbitant taxes
collected were looted by the officers of the government as their own
spoils. No other country so near to the highways of ocean commerce
and so accessible from the United States was so little known.
A few travelers had journeyed to Cuba and had written books
descriptive of their experiences, which were read with interest by those
who had access to them. But these books were usually simply
descriptive of the people, the manner of life, the scenery, and the things
of surface interest. It is proverbial that Spanish rule conceals the
resources of a country instead of exploiting them. The person of
inquiring mind had no way in Cuba to obtain prompt information
concerning the material facts of the island's wealth of resource, because
the Spanish authorities themselves knew nothing about it. Spanish
statistics are notoriously unreliable and incomplete. No census of Cuba
worthy the name ever has been taken, and there are few schools and
few sources of accurate information. With all this handicap it was a
foregone conclusion that the casual traveler should confine himself to
the things that were visible and that were near to the usual paths of
travelers. So until the beginning of the Cuban war for liberty no books

could be obtained which told the things which one really cares to know.
Picturesque descriptions there were, more than one, of considerable
interest, but the information was scattered.
Demand always creates supply, even if material is scant. When the war
began, the people of the United States wanted to know something of
the people who were striving for their freedom, of their characteristics,
their conditions and their personality. Moreover, it was an immediate
necessity to know the geography of Cuba, its history, its natural
conditions, its material resources, and a host of things that unite to
make a comprehensive knowledge of any country. There were men
who knew Cuba from years of residence there in industrial and
commercial enterprises. They were drawn upon for their knowledge.
Then the newspapers of the United States gave another demonstration
of their unvarying enterprise and covered the points of interest in the
insurrection most exhaustively. Their correspondents shared the camps
of insurgent chiefs, witnessed the daring machete charges of the
Cubans, saw every detail of armed life in the field. Others kept close
watch of the movements of the Spanish forces in Havana and the
fortified towns, as well as in the field. One was shot in action. Another
was macheted to death after his capture, by a Spanish officer who
waited only to be sure that the prisoner was an American before
ordering him to death. Others were incarcerated in Morro and Cabanas
fortresses and in the other Spanish prisons in Cuba because they
insisted on telling the truth to America and the world. They were the
ones who told of the horrors of reconcentration under that infamous
order of Captain General Weyler. They have been the real historians of
Cuba.
It is to all of these sources and others that the information contained in
the present volume is owed. The writer takes pleasure in
acknowledging the courteous permission to use salient facts contained
in some volumes of merit published prior to this time. But more than all
the obligation is to the newspaper correspondents who worked with
him in Cuba in the days when the war was but an insurrection and
afterward when the insurrection became our own war against Spain for
the liberty of Cuba. They are the ones who have gathered the most
exhaustive information on the whole subject of Cuban affairs. They
have been able by virtue of their