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The Pursuit of Pacification: Banditry and the United States' Occupation of Cuba, 1889–1902

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 February 2009

Louis A. Perez Jr
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Extract

On 1 January, 1899, the noon ceremony in Havana was brief but solemn. The Spanish flag was lowered, the United States flag raised. Officers of both countries exchanged formal salutes and informal salutations, whereupon the official ceremony came to an end. After nearly a century of covetous preoccupation with the island, the Unites States assumed formal possession of Cuba.

Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Latin American Studies , Volume 18 , Issue 2 , November 1986 , pp. 313 - 332
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1986

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References

1 Of nearly three million head of cattle grazing on Cuban pastures in 1895, less than 200,000 remained in 1898. In some districts the loss of breeding stock and work cattle was almost complete. Horned cattle in Matanzas declined from approximately 300,000 to 9,000 and in Las Villas from 967,000 to 66,000. The 50,000 yoke of cattle in Matanzas and the 150,000 in Las Villas were reduced to 5,500 and 15,000 respectively. See Great Britain, Foreign Office. Diplomatic and Consular Reports, Report for year 1899 on the Trade and Commerce of the Island of Cuba (London, 1900), p. 14Google Scholar; See Wilson, General James H., ‘Special Report of Brigadier General James H.Wilson, U.S.V., Commanding the Department of Matanzas and Santa Clara, on the Industrial, Economic, and Social Conditions Existing in the Department at the Time of the American Occupation and at the Present Time’, 7 09 1899Google Scholar, in Brooke, John R., Civil Report of Major-General John R. Brooke, U.S. Army, Military Governor, Island of Cuba (Washington. D.C., 1900), pp. 334, 337Google Scholar; Buell, Raymond Leslie et al. , Problems of the New Cuba (New York, 1935), p. 43.Google Scholar

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22 The State, 11 April, 1899.

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26 See Major J. L. Fowler, Holguín, to Assistant Adjutant General, Santiago de Cuba, 18, 20, 21 June 1899, File 1589, AOOC/RG 395; Vaillant, Lieutenant Colonel Juan, ‘Reseña para la hoja de servicios de teniente coronel Juan Vaillant, Jefe de la Provincia de Santiago de Cuba’, 11 02 1902Google Scholar, File 1902/1201, MGC/RG 140 and Lieutenant Colonel Juan Vaillant, Jefe Guardia Rural, Provincia de Santiago de Cuba, ‘Novedades ocurridos en esta provincia in los años 1899 a 1900 con motivo del bandolerismo’, 11 February 1902, File 1902/1201, MGC/RG 140.

27 See Gastón, Luis, ‘Report of Associate Justice Gastón Concerning his Visit to the Court of “Instructión” of Holguín’, 19 10, 1899Google Scholar, John R. Brooke Papers, Historical Society of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

28 The State, 10 January, 1899.

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35 John C. Bates to Adjutant General, Division of Cuba, 28 January, 1899, File 196, Santa Clara, AOOC/RG 395.

36 Washington Evening Star, 25 January, 1899. At a McKinley cabinet meeting, Secretary of War Russell A. Alger made a strong case for a constabulary as a source of employment: ‘Honorable and profitable employment would be given to a considerable proportion of the Cuban soldiers, who might otherwise in the absence of individual employment, drift into evil courses or become a dissatisfied and dangerous element in the community.’ See Washington Evening Star, 1 November, 1898.

37 John A. Logan to Adjutant General, Department of Santa Clara, 3 February, 1899. File 294/11, Records of the Bureau of Insular Affairs, Record Group 350, National Archives, Washington, D.C.

38 Leonard Wood to William McKinley, 27 October 1899, Wood Papers. See also Leonard Wood to Adjutant General, Washington, D.C. 11 November, 1899, File 2594, MGC/RG 140. See also Steinhart, Frank, ‘Memorandum’, 28 12, 1928Google Scholar, Correspondence, 1928–31, Hermann Hagedorn Papers, Library of Congress, Manuscript Division, Washington, D.C.

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45 See Sergio Navarro to John R. Brooke, 8 September, 1899, File 1899/6968, MGC/RG 140.

46 See Major V. Harvard to Leonard Wood, 21 September 1899, Wood Papers.

47 Lieutenant R. S. Paxton to Adjutant General, Santiago de Cuba, 12 September, 1899, File 1589, AOOC/RG 395.

48 Major V. Harvard to Leonard Wood, 21 September, 1899, Wood Papers.

49 Captain Wilfredo Betancourt to Leonard Wood, 27 January, 1902, File 1902/1201, MGC/RG 140.

50 Captain Wilfredo Betancourt to Leonard Wood, 27 January, 1902, File 1902/1201, MGC/RG 140.

51 Vaillant, Juan, ‘Reseña para la hoja de servicios del teniente coronel Juan Vaillant, Jefe de la Provincia de Santiago de Cuba’, 11 02, 1902, File 1902/1201, MGC/RG 140.Google Scholar

52 Herbert J. Slocum to Adjutant General, 2 July 1901. MGC/RG 140. For complete enlistment requirements see Cuba, Camagüey, Reglamento para el gobierno interior del Cuerpo de la Guardia Rural (Camagüey, 1899).Google Scholar

53 Hugh L. Scott to C. B. Hoppin, 6 December 1900, File 1900/5165, MGC/RG 140.

54 See Eduardo Usabiega to Leonard Wood, 26 May, 1901, File 194, MGC/RG 140; Pío Domínguez to Leonard Wood, 16 May, 1901, File 1901/194, MGC/RG 140; García, Liana and Company to Leonard Wood, 18 January, 1901, File 1901/138, MGC/RG 140.

55 See Commandante B. Peña to C. A. P. Hatfield, 3 February, 1901, File 1901/879, MGC/140; J. F. Craig, President, Francisco Sugar Company, to Leonard Wood, 2 February, 1901, File 1901/879, MGC/RG 140; W. I. Consuegra, Acting Chief, Rural Guard, ‘Monthly Report for November, 1900’, File 1900/6105, MGC/RG 140, José de Jesús Monteagudo, Chief, Rural Guard, to Fitzhugh Lee, 31 October, 1900, File 1900/138 MGC/RG 140.

56 See Cuba, Guardia Rural, Memoria explicativa de los trabajos realizados por el cuerpo durante el año fiscal 1906 (Havana, 1906), pp. 89–95.Google Scholar

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62 The State, 10 January 1899.

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65 J. L. Fowley to Assistant Adjutant General, 21 June, 1899, File 1487. AOOC/RG 395. The inability to execute captured bandits often embarrassed commanders. Reported one rural guard officer in 1907: ‘I am still pushing the pursuit of the Mayari gang. We have now captured six and killed one. I am sorry to report the capture of so many, but they were encountered under such circumstances that we would not kill them without raising a row. Hope to have better luck with some of the four leaders who are still out.’ In E. Wittenmyer to F. S. Foltz, 22 October 1907, File 146/20, Records of the Provisional Government of Cuba, Record Group 199, National Archives, Washington, D.C.

66 See Francis Moore to Adjutant General, Santiago de Cuba, 11 July, 1899, File 1806, AOOC/RG 395.

67 Captain M. Evans to Adjutant General, Department of Cuba, 16 September, 1901, File 1901/194, MGC/RG 140.

68 Antonio Rivero, Court of the First Instance, Holguín, to Chief Justice of Audiencia, 10 July, 1901, in ‘Report of the Chief Justice of the Audiencia of Santiago de Cuba’, November 1901, File 1901/4852, MGC/RG 140. This sentiment was also expressed by municipal officials. ‘The people here’, complained the mayor of Calabazar, in Santa Clara province, ‘hold the opinion that the rural police body is anti-democratic for it's not depending directly on the municipal authorities.’ See Leopoldo Ramos, ‘Informe’, 30 August, 1900, File 1900/3589, MGC/RG 140.

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71 John R. Brooke to Adjutant General, 14 November, 1899, Brooke Papers.