CLARA BARTON IN CUBA
For many years before the outbreak of the war with Spain, Clara Barton
had been interested in the situation in Cuba. In a letter written from
Washington, February 8, 1874, twenty-four years before the outbreak of
the war with Spain, she said:
Spain is still fighting her only or almost sole remaining colony,
Cuba. Spain had once immense colonies, but she has been so tyrannical
and so careless of their welfare that she has lost nearly all. And
Cuba, you know, “has an insurgent army,” of so-called rebels fighting
for their freedom. If she ever gets free, she must come to the
United States, as she is too small to stand alone against the greed
of great powers which will try to gobble her up for her riches in
soil and products. The Spanish authorities have just published a new
list of orders, very stringent, and they hope to crush out the Cuban
insurrection in six months. You must keep watch of that, too, and see
how it ends. It will be history by and by to whom Cuba belongs, and,
while one has to study so hard to learn past history, it is not worth
the while to let slip that which all the time is making in our own day
and generation. Comprenez vous?
Her forecast of events proved to be reliable. The relations between
Spain and Cuba grew more and more strained. A part of the Spanish
policy for stamping out the rebellion in Cuba was the concentration
of that portion of the civilian population believed to be hostile to
the Spanish Government, in concentration camps, from which the cry
of distress was continuous. Sympathy in America grew more and more
pronounced, but for a long time there appeared no way in which the
United States could offer relief. The difficulties of the situation
were the greater because the Spanish Government believed, with some
reason, that a considerable part of the American sentiment favorable
to relief in Cuba was intermixed with political designs. There were,
indeed, two groups of people demanding relief for Cuba. Clara Barton
thus describes them:
They might have properly been classed under two distinct heads. The
one, merely the friends of humanity in its simple sense; the other,
friends of humanity also, but what seemed to them a broader and deeper
sense, far more complex. They sought to remove a cause as well as an
effect, and the muffled cry of “Cuba Libre” became their watchword.
Naturally, any general movement by the people in favor of the former
must have the effect to diminish the contributions of the latter,
too small at best for their purpose, and must be wisely discouraged.
Thus, whenever an unsuspecting movement was set on foot by some
good-hearted, unsophisticated body of people, and began to gain
favor with the public and the press, immediately would appear most
convincing counter-paragraphs to the effect that it would be useless
to send relief, especially by the Red Cross:
First, it would not be permitted to land.
Next, whatever it took would be either seized outright, or “wheedled”
out of hand by the Spanish authorities in Havana.
That the Spaniards would be only too glad to have the United States
send food and money for the use of Havana.
Again, that the Red Cross, being international, would affiliate with
Spain, and ignore the “Cuban Red Cross” already working there and
here. As if poor Cuba, with no national government or treaty-making
power, could have a legitimate Red Cross that other nations could
recognize or work with.
Miss Barton had but recently returned from Armenia. Her experience with
the Turkish Government made her keenly aware of all the obstructions
which an unsympathetic government can put in the way of philanthropic
relief. It was useless to attempt any assistance for the sufferers
in Cuba unless Miss Barton had the full approval of the American
Government, and in addition the sympathetic coöperation of the Spanish
Government. But if she secured the consent of the Government of Spain,
there was real danger that her work of relief would result less in the
succor of the distressed people of Cuba than in the aid and comfort of
the armies of their oppressors. Spain could not be expected to look
with favor upon any kind of relief which promised to strengthen the
Cuban rebellion. At length, however, the situation grew intolerable;
it became evident that the United States must go into Cuba either with
an army of occupation or an agency for the relief of suffering. As a
matter of fact, the United States went in both capacities, but the Red
Cross went in before the Stars and Stripes. Miss Barton herself has
told the story of the invasion:
This state of things continued through the year of 1897, but as the
present year of ’98 opened the reports of suffering that came were not
to be borne quietly, and I decided to confer with our Government and
learn if it had objections to the Red Cross taking steps of its own
in direct touch with the people of the country, and proposing their
coöperation in the work of relief. I beg pardon for the personality of
the statement which follows, but it is history I am asked to write.
Deciding to refer my inquiry to the Secretary of State, I called at
his department to see him, but learned that he was with the President.
This suiting my purpose, I followed to the Executive Mansion, was
kindly informed that the President and Secretary were engaged on a
very important matter, and had given orders not to be interrupted. As
I turned to leave I was recalled with, “Wait a moment, Miss Barton,
and let me present your card.” Returning immediately, I entered the
President’s room to find these two men in a perplexed study over the
very matter which had called me. Distressed by the reports of the
terrible condition of things so new to us, they were seeking some
remedy, and, producing their notes just taken, revealed the fact that
they had decided to call me into conference.
The conference was then held. It was decided to form a committee
in New York, to ask money and material of the people at large to
be shipped to Cuba for the relief of the _reconcentrados_ on that
island. The call would be made in the name of the President, and the
committee naturally known as the “President’s Committee for Cuban
Relief.” I was courteously asked if I would go to New York and assume
the oversight of that committee. I declined in favor of Mr. Stephen
E. Barton, second vice-president of the National Red Cross, who, on
being immediately called, accepted; and with Mr. Charles Schieren as
treasurer and Mr. Louis Klopsch, of the “Christian Herald,” as the
third member, the committee was at once established; since known as
the “Central Cuban Relief Committee.”
The committee was to solicit aid in money and material for the
suffering _reconcentrados_ in Cuba, and forward the same to the
Consul-General at Havana for distribution. My consent was then
asked by all parties to go to Cuba and aid in the distribution of
the shipments of food as they should arrive. After all I had so
long offered, I could not decline, and hoping my going would not be
misunderstood by our authorities there, who would regard me simply
as a willing assistant, I accepted. The Consul-General had asked the
New York Committee to send to him an assistant to take charge of the
warehouse and supplies in Havana. This request was also referred to
me, and recommending Mr. J. K. Elwell, nephew of General J. J. Elwell,
of Cleveland, Ohio, a gentleman who had resided six years in Santiago
in connection with its large shipping interests, a fine business man
and speaking Spanish, I decided to accompany him, taking no member of
my own staff, but going simply in the capacity of an individual helper
in a work already assigned.
On Saturday, February 6, we left Washington for Cuba _via_
Jacksonville, Tampa, and Key West.
Thus, with that simple beginning, with no thought on the part of any
person but to do unobtrusively the little that could be done for
the lessening of the woes of a small island of people, whom adverse
circumstances, racial differences, the inevitable results of a
struggle for freedom, the fate of war, and the terrible features of
a system of subjugation of a people, which, if true, is too dark to
name, was commenced the relief movement of 1898 which has spread
not alone over the entire United States of America from Maine to
California, from Vancouver to the Gulf of Mexico, but from the Indias
on the west, to the Indias on the east, and uniting in its free-will
offerings the gifts of one third of the best nations in the world.
Miss Barton with her cargo of supplies reached Havana on February 9,
1898. Her supplies were unloaded and stored in a convenient warehouse.
She began her work of visitation and found scenes beside which, as she
wrote, some which she had witnessed in Armenia seemed humane. Six days
after her arrival the _Maine_ was blown up. The appalling news reached
the United States and brought with it the practical certainty of war.
The one cheering message that came as an echo of the explosion was
Clara Barton’s telegram, “I am with the wounded.” The comfort of these
words found expression in a little poem by James Clarence Harvey, which
was published immediately in the “Christian Herald” and widely copied:
“I am with the wounded,” flashed along the wire
From the isle of Cuba, swept with sword and fire.
Angel sweet of mercy, may your cross of red
Cheer the wounded living; bless the wounded dead.
“I am with the starving,” let the message run
From this stricken island, when this task is done;
Food and money plenty wait at your command,
Give in generous measure; fill each outstretched hand.
“I am with the happy,” this we long to hear
From the isle of Cuba, trembling now in fear:
May the great disaster touch the hearts of men,
And, in God’s great mercy, bring back peace again.
Miss Barton thus related the story of the sinking of the _Maine_, and
of the work that followed:
The heavy clerical work of that fifteenth day of February held not
only myself, but Mr. Elwell as well, busy at our writing-tables until
late at night. The house had grown still; the noises on the streets
were dying away, when suddenly the table shook from under our hands,
the great glass door opening on to the veranda, facing the sea, flew
open; everything in the room was in motion or out of place--the
deafening roar of such a burst of thunder as perhaps one never heard
before, and off to the right, out over the bay, the air was filled
with a blaze of light, and this in turn filled with black specks like
huge specters flying in all directions. Then it faded away. The bells
rang; the whistles blew; and voices in the street were heard for a
moment; then all was quiet again. I supposed it to be the bursting of
some mammoth mortar or explosion of some magazine. A few hours later
came the terrible news of the _Maine_.
Mr. Elwell was early among the wreckage, and returned to give me news.
She is destroyed. There is no room for comment, only who is lost, who
has escaped, and what can be done for them? They tell us that most of
the officers were dining out, and thus saved; that Captain Sigsbee is
saved. It is thought that two hundred and fifty men are lost, that one
hundred are wounded, but still living, some in hospital, some on small
boats as picked up. The chief engineer, a quiet, resolute man, and the
second officer met me as I passed out of the hotel for the hospital.
The latter stopped me saying, “Miss Barton, do you remember you told
me on board the _Maine_ that the Red Cross was at our service; for
whenever anything took place with that ship, either in naval action or
otherwise, _some one_ would be hurt; that she was not of a structure
to take misfortune lightly?” I recalled the conversation and the
impression which led to it,--such strength would never go out easily.
We proceeded to the Spanish hospital San Ambrosia, to find thirty to
forty wounded--bruised, cut, burned; they had been crushed by timbers,
cut by iron, scorched by fire, and blown sometimes high in the air,
sometimes driven down through the red-hot furnace room and out into
the water, senseless, to be picked up by some boat and gotten ashore.
Their wounds are all over them--heads and faces terribly cut, internal
wounds, arms, legs, feet, and hands burned to the live flesh. The hair
and beards are singed, showing that the burns were from fire and not
steam; besides further evidence shows that the burns are where the
parts were uncovered. If burned by steam, the clothing would have held
the steam and burned all the deeper. As it is, it protected from the
heat and the fire and saved their limbs, whilst the faces, hands, and
arms are terribly burned. Both men and officers are very reticent in
regard to the cause, but all declare it could not have been the result
of an internal explosion. That the boilers were at the two ends of
the ship, and these were the places from which all escaped who did
escape. The trouble was evidently from the center of the ship, where
no explosive machinery was located.
I thought to take the names as I passed among them, and, drawing near
to the first in the long line, I asked his name. He gave it with his
address; then peering out from among the bandages and cotton about
his breast and face, he looked earnestly at me and asked: “Isn’t this
Miss Barton?” “Yes.” “I thought it must be. I knew you were here, and
thought you would come to us. I am so thankful for us all.”
I asked if he wanted anything. “Yes. There is a lady to whom I was to
be married. The time is up. She will be frantic if she hears of this
accident and nothing more. Could you telegraph her?” “Certainly!” The
dispatch went at once: “Wounded, but saved.” Alas, it was only for a
little; two days later, and it was all over.
I passed on from one to another, till twelve had been spoken to
and the names taken. There were only two of the number who did not
recognize me. Their expressions of grateful thanks, spoken under such
conditions, were too much. I passed the pencil to another hand and
stepped aside.
I am glad to say that every kindness was extended to them. Miss Mary
Wilberforce had been at once installed as nurse, and faithful work
she performed. The Spanish hospital attendants were tireless in
their attentions. Still, there was boundless room for luxuries and
comforts, delicate foods, grapes, oranges, wines, cordials, anything
that could soothe or interest; and no opportunity was lost, or cost or
pains spared, and when two days later the streets filled with hearses
bearing reverently the bodies of martyred heroes; and the crape and
the flowers mingled in their tributes of tenderness and beauty, and
the muffled drums and tolling bells spoke all that inanimate substance
could speak of sorrow and respect; and the silent marching tread of
armies fell upon the listening ear,--the heart grew sick in the midst
of all this pageant, and the thoughts turned away to the far land,
smitten with horror, and the homes wailing in bitter grief for these,
so lone, so lost; and one saw only the
Nodding plumes over their bier to wave,
And God’s own hand in that lonely land
To lay them in their grave.
In the days after the sinking of the _Maine_, Miss Barton led an active
life. She journeyed through the nearer provinces, established bases of
supplies and returned to Havana, not only unmolested, but with every
evidence of appreciation on the part of the Spanish authorities and
the Cuban people. The Red Cross supplies were distributed, though in
places their distribution was impeded. Miss Barton tells of a delayed
distribution at Matanzas, the delay apparently having been accomplished
with intent, and how well-meant private philanthropy undertook direct
action:
It is not strange that from this event went out the cry of “starving
Matanzas,” although at that moment, in addition to our four tons of
goods previously sent, the _Fern_ lay in the harbor under the American
flag, with fifty tons of American supplies, and fifty rods away lay
the _Bergen_, under the same colors, bearing a cargo of fifty-two tons
from the Philadelphia Red Cross, faithfully sent through the New York
Committee, by request. So uncontrollable a thing is human excitement
that these facts could not be taken in, and the charities of our
whole country were called afresh to arms over “starving Matanzas,”
which was at that moment by far the best provided city in Cuba. The
result of this was an entire train of supplies from Kansas, which,
remaining there after the blockade, not being consigned to the Red
Cross, was, we were informed, distributed among the Spanish soldiery
by the Spanish officials. Goods bearing the mark of the Red Cross were
everywhere respected, and we have no record of any of _our_ goods
having been appropriated by the Spanish authorities.
When the methods of relief had been well organized, the work of
distribution went mainly to others while Clara Barton devoted her
own energy to the maintenance of pleasant relations with the Spanish
authorities. This she was able to do until the very end; but events
far beyond her control were inevitably driving the two nations into
war. Miss Barton tells the story in the following record based upon the
entries in her own diary:
I met the Spanish authorities, not merely as a bearer of relief, but
as the president of the American National Red Cross, with all the
principles of neutrality which that implied, and received in return
the unfailing courtesy which the conditions demanded. From our first
interview to the last sad day when we decided that it was better to
withdraw, giving up all efforts at relief, and leave those thousands
of poor, dying wretches to their fate, there was never any change in
the attitude of the Spanish authorities, General Blanco, or his staff,
toward myself or any member of my staff. One of my last visits before
the blockade was to the palace. The same kindly spirit prevailed;
I was begged not to leave the island through fear of them; every
protection in their power would be given, but there was no guarantee
for what might occur in the exigencies of war. I recall an incident
of that day: General Blanco led me to the large salon, the walls of
which are covered with the portraits of the Spanish officials for
generations past, and, pointing to the Spanish authorities under date
of 1776, said, with a look of sadness, “When your country was in
trouble, Spain was the friend of America. Now Spain is in trouble,
America is her enemy.” I knew no answer for this but silence, and
we passed out through the corridor of guards, he handing me to my
carriage with a farewell and a blessing. I could but recall my
experience with the Turkish officials and Government, where I entered
with such apprehension and left with such marks of cordiality.
During this interval of time important business had called me to
Washington, and I only returned to Cuba sometime during the second
week of April.
On April 25, 1898, Congress declared war against Spain. For two weeks
it had been apparent that such a declaration was to come. American
citizens were ordered by the United States Government to leave Havana
some days before the outbreak of hostilities. This situation sent
Miss Barton out of Cuba and quickly sent her back again. She was not,
however, permitted at once to continue her relief for the distressed
Cubans. The military and naval authorities of the United States were as
anxious not to aid Spain as the Spanish authorities were anxious that
she should not aid the rebellious Cubans. Miss Barton tells the story
of her departure and return:
The order was for all American citizens to leave Havana, and the order
was obeyed, but not without having laid the matter formally in council
before my staff of assistants and taking their opinion and advice,
which was to the effect that, while personally they would prefer to
remain for the chance of the little good that might be accomplished,
in view of the distress which we should give our friends at home,
and, in fact, the whole country, when it should be known that we
were inside that wall of fire that would confront us, with no way of
extricating or reaching us, it seemed both wiser and more humane to
leave. And the 9th of April saw us again on shipboard, a party of
twenty, bound for Tampa. We would not, however, go beyond, but made
headquarters there, remaining within easy call of any need there might
be for us. Here follow the few weeks of impending war. Do we need to
live them over? Do we even want to recall them? Days when the elder
men of thought and memory pondered deeply and questioned much! When
the mother, patriot though she were, uttered her sentiments through
choking voice and tender, trembling words, and the young men, caring
nothing, fearing nothing, rushed gallantly on to doom and to death!
To how many households, alas, these days recall themselves in tones
never to be forgotten!
Notwithstanding all this excitement and confusion and all the
pressure that weighed upon him, our good President still remembered
the suffering, dying _reconcentrados_, and requested that a ship be
provided as quickly as possible, loaded from the warerooms of the
indefatigable Cuban Relief Committee in New York, and be sent for the
relief of the sufferers in Cuba whenever they could be reached. One
need not say with what promptness this committee acted, and I was
informed that the _State of Texas_, laden with fourteen hundred tons
of food, would shortly leave New York _en route_ for Key West, and
it was the desire of that committee and the Government that I take
command of the ship, and, with my staff and such assistants as I would
select, undertake the getting of that food to its destination.
Some members of the staff were in New York, and with Dr. Hubbell in
charge sailed from that port on Saturday, the 23d of April. A hasty
trip from Washington, gathering up the waiting staff at Tampa, and
pushing on by the earliest train brought us to Key West in time to
meet the _State of Texas_ as she arrived, board her and take charge of
the snug little ship that was henceforth to take its place in American
history. She was well built, but by no means new, nor handsome. Her
dull black hull could in no way compare with the snow-white, green and
red striped hospital ships, those heralds of relief that afterwards
graced the waters of that bay. Still she was firm, sound, heavy-laden,
and gave promise of some good to some one at some future day, that day
being only when the great war monsters should have pealed out to the
world that an entrance was made on the coast of Cuba, and we would be
invited to follow.
By the authorities at Washington, the _State of Texas_ had been
consigned to the protection of the navy, and accordingly we must
report our arrival. This was done to the senior officer, representing
Admiral Sampson, in the port, Captain Harrington, of the monitor
_Puritan_. This brought at once a personal call from the captain
with an invitation to our entire staff to visit his beautiful ship
the following day. The launch of the _Puritan_ was sent to take us,
and not only was the ship inspected, but the dainties of his elegant
tea-table as well.
When all was over, the graceful launch returned us safely to our
ship, with grateful memories on the part of the younger members of
our company, who had never chanced to form an intimate acquaintance
with a piece of shipping at once so beautiful and so terrible as that
death-dealing engine of destruction. I record this visit and courtesy
on the part of Captain Harrington as the first of an unfailing series
of kindnesses extended by the navy to the Red Cross from first to
last. There was no favor too great, no courtesy too high to be
cheerfully rendered on every occasion.
The memories of pitiful Cuba would not leave us, and, knowing that
under our decks were fourteen hundred tons of food, for the want of
which its people were dying, the impulse to reach them grew very
strong, and a letter was addressed to Admiral Sampson.
This brought immediately the launch of the _New York_ to the side
of our ship, and Captain Chadwick, the gallant officer whom no one
forgets, stepped lightly on board to deliver the written message from
the admiral, or rather to take me to the _New York_. Nothing could
have exceeded the courtesy of the admiral, but we were acting from
entirely opposite standpoints. I had been requested to take a ship,
and by every means in my power get food into Cuba. He, on the other
hand, had been commanded to take a fleet, and by every means in his
power keep food out of Cuba. When one compared the two ships lying
side by side and thought of a contest of effort between them, the
situation was ludicrous, and yet the admiral did not absolutely refuse
to give me a flag of truce and attempt an entrance into Havana; but he
disapproved it, feared the results for me, and, acting in accordance
with _his_ highest wisdom and best judgment, I felt it to be my place
to wait.
The delay which resulted was annoying but not wholly unprofitable, and
there came a time when the army and navy were glad enough to have the
American Red Cross in Cuba. On June 20th the _State of Texas_ sailed
from Key West with orders to find Admiral Sampson and report to him.
They found him a few days later off Santiago, in time for their share
in the stirring events which accompanied and followed the destruction
of Cervera’s fleet, the battle of San Juan Hill, and the surrender on
July 17th of the harbor and city of Santiago.
When the city had been formally surrendered and a sufficient number
of mines had been removed from the harbor to permit American vessels
to enter, a very gracious compliment was paid to Clara Barton by the
victorious United States Navy. The first vessel to enter the harbor was
not the flagship of either of the Admirals Sampson or Schley, but the
_State of Texas_ under command of Clara Barton.
Perhaps that may be called the crowning moment of her life. Clara
Barton was more than seventy-eight years old, but she stood erect on
the deck of her vessel, modestly appreciative and quietly thankful, not
so much for the honor that had come to her as for the opportunity of
serving.
Miss Barton returned to Washington in November, 1898. The work
which she went to Cuba to perform, that of relieving the Cuban
_reconcentrados_, was never wholly accomplished. That relief came
with the freedom of Cuba, and for this she was profoundly thankful;
but she never ceased to feel sad when she thought of the people who
suffered during those weeks of waiting while her vessel was packed
with the supplies which the people so sorely needed. “Cuba was a hard
field, full of heartbreaking memories,” she wrote. “It gave the first
opportunity to test the first cooperation between the United States and
its supplemental hand-maiden the Red Cross.”
While this coöperation was incomplete, its results were most
beneficial, as many an American soldier and surgeon can testify.
At the close of the war, the Congress of the United States tendered
the thanks of the Nation to Clara Barton in the following resolution
which was introduced in the Senate by the venerable Senator Hoar, and
unanimously adopted:
Resolved, That the thanks of Congress be presented to Clara Barton, of
Massachusetts, founder of the institution of the Red Cross, and to the
officers and agents of the Society of the Red Cross for their humane
and beneficent service to humanity in relieving the distress of the
Armenians and other suffering persons in Turkey, and in ministering
to the sufferings caused by pestilence in the United States, and for
the like ministration and relief given by them to both sides in the
Spanish West Indies during the present war.
An even higher mark of appreciation was contained in the annual message
of President McKinley:
In this connection it is a pleasure for me to mention in terms of
cordial appreciation the timely and useful work of the American
National Red Cross both in relief measures preparatory to the
campaigns, in sanitary assistance at several of the camps of
assemblage, and later, under the able and experienced leadership
of the president of the society, Miss Clara Barton, on the fields
of battle and in the hospitals at the front in Cuba. Working in
conjunction with the governmental authorities and under their sanction
and approval, and with the enthusiastic coöperation of many patriotic
women and societies in the various States, the Red Cross has fully
maintained its already high reputation for intense earnestness
and ability to exercise the noble purposes of its international
organization, thus justifying the confidence and support which it
has received at the hands of the American people. To the members and
officers of this society and all who aided them in their philanthropic
work, the sincere and lasting gratitude of the soldiers and the public
is due and is freely accorded.
In tracing these events we are constantly reminded of our obligations
to the Divine Master for his watchful care over us and his safe
guidance, for which the nation makes reverent acknowledgment and
offers humble prayer for the continuance of his favor.