The Ramblings of Historian
The Spanish American War Centennial
Website Blog
By Patrick McSherry
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American War
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General:
I generally will not have a lot to say, but, from time to time I
will add something to this blog as the mood or conditions warrant!
June 17, 2020: Iconoclasm
There have been waves of iconoclasm
throughout history. Each time, later generations mourn the history that
was lost. We are experiencing one of those waves now, in 2020.
In the 16th Century, the Reformation
hit and reformers attacked religious imagery as being idolatrous,
though the purpose of the imagery was actually for religious
instruction of the illiterate masses. The iconoclasts of that period
shattered statues, destroyed paintings and took a particular dislike to
the stained glass windows. Only a few examples of early stained glass
survived, and a great cultural heritage was destroyed by a people
believing that they were doing the right thing. Society has mourned the
loss ever since.
During the French Revolution, there
was another round of attacks by iconoclasts – those who considered
themselves rationalists - who again attacked religious items, as well
as anything related to the deposed autocratic regime. There was a
tremendous loss of religious art again with statues being torn down and
defaced. Many irreplaceable religious relics were also lost and
destroyed. Again there was a great loss in cultural heritage decried to
the present day, even by those who recognize the failures of the
religions involved and who certainly would not support the autocratic
regime.
More
recently, we have seen the Talaban and Isis destroying icons such as
the tomb of Noah, and the Buddha statues of Bamiyan dating from the 4th
to 5th century. The world deplored these actions.
What about today? It is occurring
again. The cause is noble and important – equality. However the action
is to remove statues and monuments. At times, the decision is
warranted. Other times it does not seem warranted. Confederate Nathan
Bedford Forrest was a slave trader and a leader of the Ku Klux Klan,
which is a bonified terrorist group that exists to the current time.
Honoring him never seemed logical, and always has been odd. It would
always make me cringe. But the removal of monuments to George
Washington, Abraham Lincoln and Theodore Roosevelt are far more
problematic.
Historical figures have to be viewed
in context of their times. No one in history – except Jesus – was
without sin. Everyone has baggage and actions in their history that
could not be held up as an example of what we would consider a hero
today. Washington was a slave owner. No
doubt about that. He was also one of the reasons why the United States
exists and, quite frankly, why people have the right to protest and
speak their minds today. Today we can condemn him for owning slaves,
but also realize it was not a situation he created, but one that he
could have acted to end with the founding of the new country. However,
had he tried to do so, the country probably would not exist. He must be
viewed in the context of his time. If we condemn him for not acting
radically against what we know today was injustice, we have to also
condemn everyone in his time period for the same thing. We must look at
people who took the incremental steps toward freedom that were unusual
in their day and recognize them as being courageous steps. Washington
can still be seen as an
example as his actions did allow us to get to the point of being able
to have the current discussion on race through gaining freedom of
speech. Instead of tearing down his statues, perhaps community leaders
on all sides should decide to place educational plaques at his statues
to explain his good points and bad points. We need to recognize that he
was an imperfect person, as are all of us to this day.
Abraham Lincoln’s statues have been
targeted, which is rather interesting. He was the author of the
Emancipation Proclamation, and had a career built on opposition to
slavery. Did he believe in equality for people of color? At the very
end of his life, he advocated for suffrage for men of color, riling
John Wilkes Booth and basically making himself a martyr to this cause
(see “Lincoln’s Evolving Racial Views” by Edna Medford, Ph.D,
Rutherford B. Hayes Presidential Library, February 14, 2010). He guided
the nation through its worst period in history. It is true that the
Emancipation Proclamation was, in part, a political instrument in that
it would
deter nations like England from openly allying with the Confederacy and
did not free slaves in the Union itself. Issuing the Proclamation
was also a risk as it would change the thrust of the war from a war
against secession and over states’ rights to a war also against
slavery (yes...the war began as a war over states rights, primarily the
right to secede from the Union...not as a war over slavery. Those who
argue that the war started over slavery have to explain that, if that
was the case, why did we not have the Emancipation Proclamation of
April of 1861). Lincoln knew that there were many in the North - yes,
there
were many racists in the north too - who would fight against secession,
but would
not fight to end slavery. He knew issuing the Proclamation would impact
recruiting for the northern
armies and spur on recruitment for the Southern armies, although most
of those in the wouth who were of age to enlist and able to do so had
already done so.
Was
Lincoln perfect? Certainly not. He was human and a man to be viewed in
the context of his time. His views on race evolved, and he was very
progressive on race for his time. In view of Lincoln’s views, his
efforts to end slavery, and his very progressive actions, it is very
hard to understand why statues of Lincoln are being subject to attack
at the present time.
Lincoln and Roosevelt in 1906
That brings us to Theodore Roosevelt,
a dynamic and complex figure if there ever was one. He was an unhealthy
child who became the most robust of men through his own efforts. He was
an early conservationist who traveled to kill large game in the name of
conservation. He was a kind-hearted and peace-loving man who eagerly
wanted to go to war and see action, ordering men to their deaths.
People know that he helped lead the charge up San Juan Hill ridgeline.
Most people don’t realize that it was only one of three charges he led
that day. Most people also do not realize that the main charge was
actually against orders, and was led by Roosevelt and several others
along the battle line in an effort to save their pinned-down men. He
was no stranger to taking action when he saw it necessary. He
had fought against police corruption successfully in New York as Police
Commissioner. He helped to prepare the U.S. Navy for the Spanish
American War as Assistant Secretary of the Navy. During his presidency,
the U.S. truly became a world power for the first time. He is the only
U.S. president to be awarded both the Medal of Honor and the Nobel
Peace Prize, and he actually deserved them. He was a bonified explorer,
helping to map an uncharted
river in the Amazon basin, an action which he nearly did not survive.
He was the first president to go up in an airplane, and to dive in a
submarine. He was the first president to go abroad during his time in
office, traveling to Panama to view the canal he championed. He was no
shrinking violet.
So, how was Roosevelt on the subject
of race relations, which is the issue today? He was a man of the 19th
century, and even of southern heritage (James Dunwoody Bulloch, his
uncle, was the primary naval agent of the Confederacy in Europe), but
he was actually quite progressive on race relations. Roosevelt was the
first president to invite a man of color – Booker T. Washington, a
friend – to the White House for dinner. This had never been done
before. Both Roosevelt and Washington knew the move was dramatic and
would draw ire – and did it ever! The backlash, especially in the south
was horrific. However, he still had the courage to do it (as did Booker
T. Washington). Roosevelt reached out for advice to men of color, such
as George Washington Carver. He publicly warned that “the debasement of
the blacks will, in the end, carry with it debasement of whites.” He
favored slow changes in government policy to bring about gradual
changes in attitudes on the subject of race, knowing that more rapid
efforts were likely to fail. He was very progressive on race in the
context of his day. Was he “fully there” yet? Most certainly not! In
some of his writings he makes statements that reflect stereotypes of
his day. He made many public statements on race that we would consider
wrong
– with a hundred years of hindsight and hard-fought racial gains.
Again, he was not perfect, but he carried the banner forward, not
backward as did Woodrow Wilson. He must be judged based on the context
of his time, not ours, and on the actions he took.
We must realize that no historic
figure – other than Jesus – was perfect. None of us are perfect
today. Our most progressive leaders of today will, in the future, be
decried
for their failings. For instance, someone may have made great strides
in race relations but failed to act to end abortion. In
the future, should we tear down their statues?
Let us consider for a moment Oskar
Schindler. We honor him today as a great humanitarian who gave up his
fortune to save over a thousand Jewish men, women and children from
certain death. This is truly something to be honored. If a statue is
erected to honor and remember him, should we then tear it down because,
in fact, he was also a member of the Nazi party, a member of the Abwehr
(a Nazi secret intelligence group), a spy against the Czechs, the man
who supplied the fake Polish uniforms and documents used to in the fake
attack used a pretext to attack Poland and begin World War Two? No, he
was far from perfect, but had taken some actions at a critical moment
saving humans from death at the possible loss of his own life, and that
IS worthy of honor. His previous actions actually made him able to
perform the actions for which he is remembered.
There is a lot to be discussed about
these figures. It is an educational moment for all sides. Perhaps if we
would talk to one another rather than yell and scream, maybe we would
actually get somewhere. Tearing down all of the past will not solve
anything, really. Taking the time to understand each other’s view, true
grievances, etc., will allow us to chart a path forward for the common
good of all people, and allow us to live together, in peace, as equals.
June 17, 2020:
Work is still ongoing on a article on how the U.S. funded the
Spanish American War. I had next planned to write on the military
intelligence and diplomatic negotiation aspect of the war, specifically
on how the U.S. worked to keep the Spanish government from threatening Dewey's
toehold in the Philippines. This portion of the war centered on Egypt
and the Suez Canal. That said, in view of the state of affairs in the
country, I think I may put that on hold briefly to write on the men of
color who received the Medal of Honor for their actions during the war.
If memory serves, six men of color received the Medal of Honor for
service during the war, four of them in one action.
Another topic that will follow on the heels of the above articles will
be an article on the efforts of the Pope to negotiate a peaceful
resolution to the rising tension between U.S. and Spain. Needless to
say, history shows that this effort was not successful.
I am also glad to report that we were able to add General Weyler's first Reconcentration
order. In the future we have a number of Spanish eye witness
accounts of the immediate aftermath of the sinking of the MAINE which we hope to add.
In the meantime, with the help of John Sims of the Sons of Spanish
American War Veterans, the National Spanish
American War Veterans Gravesite Recording Project
has been moving ahead at an even faster pace, and will continue to do
so. This month we have passed the 15,500 mark in number of grave
recorded.
May 23, 2020:
In the past month, we have updated almost every page of the website
(about 1231 pages,...whew!), looking for broken links, and updating
titles and descriptions. We found that that when Yahoo migrated all of
its websites to a third party, that migration wiped out the page titles
and description. This is one of the reasons why the website dropped a
bit in visibility. We also updated meta words to help the search
engines locate articles. During the updates we added some google
analytics coding so we can see what pages get more hits, which will
help us to plan a bit. Lastly, we added the coding to allow ads to
show. Since ad placement is handled through artificial intelliegnce
through Google, We cannot control the size or the number too well. We
did set a control that only allows the ads to be at 50% of the volume
the ad company would prefer. We may cut that back.
As far as ads go, we are not allowing political ads. Also, we are not
allowing any risque ads either, nor alcohol-related ads. Again, I
am sorry for the ads, but the website needs to be self-supporting. We
have supported it for nearly a quarter of a century...it needs to stand
on its own. Yes...we do go waaaay back as a website.
We are looking down the road to adding some more research articles. We
added a basic article on the causes of the war,
and a new article on theories on the
sinking of the MAINE.
We realized that we do not have a basic article giving a general
summary the war, which we are now presently working on. That will be
followed by an article on the financing of the war (no...not a big bake
sale. It took more than that). That will be followed by an article on
the Admiral Camara's Relief Expedition, which we have not yet covered.
After that we may add some lesson plans for teachers. In the mean time,
we have continued to add veterans' graves to the National
Spanish American War Gravesite Recording Project
at a rate of about 100 a month. We usually get a large influ around
Memorial Day, but with many people on Covid-19 lockdown, people may not
be out honoring their ancestors and stumbling across more Spanish
American War vets as much as usual.
April 24, 2020:
Just to let you know, ads are on the way. I am not thrilled about
that, but it has to be. Ad placement will be determined using smart
technology from Google. I will not be choosing the locations...so
hopefully they will be OK. I did block vignette ads, which are the full
page ads.
On an unrelated note, I recently did and article on the mass burial of Spanish American War vets
in 1899.
Interetingly I have been comparing the list with Arlington National
Cemetery records, and not all show in the records. In fact many do not.
Of those that do, the gravestone are in bad shape. Darn marble and acid
rain combnation! Those that do appear I have been adding the to Virginia Graves Page of the National Spanish American War Veterans Gravesite
Recording Project.
April 20, 2020:
I made a command decision. This website costs money to operate
between URl registration, hosting fees, software, etc. Also it takes a
lot of time. Sooo...if I am going to continue to do this, I have to
break down and add some ads. I alwys resisted ads, but, after 24 years,
it is time. I will will to make them no too annoying. The ads will be
from Google Adsense, and the ads shown will be based on your searh
history elsewhere. That means that the ads will be for something you
had some sort of interest in. Sorry about this!
April 16, 2020:
The news has had a bit of Spanish American War
irony to it
about which I felt the need to commemorate!
The coronavirus, covid-19, has been raging around
the world.
It is not at all surprising to read that the virus has struck the
military. The
most notable case is that of the crew of the aircraft carrier, THEODORE
ROOSEVELT. The ship’s crew members began to show symptoms of the virus.
In the crowded
decks of this five thousand man floating city, there is no real way to
stem the
spread. Widespread quarantine and isolation is not practical, and the
crew is still
needed to allow the ship to function to fulfill its defensive role.
Apparently, the rapid pace of the situation
outpaced the ability
of the command structure to respond to the ship’s needs. The commanding
officer,
Brett E. Crozier sent a letter via email to other naval personnel in
the Pacific
fleet, as well as the entities such as the acting secretary of the
navy, trying
to enlist their aid in combatting the situation. Reportedly Crozier
knew that the
unclassified letter, passing outside of the naval command structure,
could end
his career. The letter, and the growing plight of the crew was shared
beyond
the original addressees, eventually made it into the San Francisco
Chronicle.
The navy brass and the administration were embarrassed by the situation
and how
it was exposed.
The letter had the desired impact. The shipped was
docked,
and the crew was partially removed and quarantined. By this time,
hundreds of
the crew had the virus. Though the crew is generally young and quite
physically
fit, some of the crewmen were hit hard, and so far, with the situation
ongoing,
one has died. Crozier himself now has the virus. As Crozier expected he
was
relieved of command, but cheered heavily by his devoted crewmen. The
acting secretary
of the navy travelled to the ship and in a speech castigated Crozier
for being “stupid”
and “naïve” for not believing that the text of his letter would not get
out. In
an ironic twist, the acting secretary was apparently too stupid and
naïve to realize
that his own comments would get out…and when it did, he was forced to
resign!
The whole situation took me back to an important
event
during the Spanish American War. In Cuba, after the naval Battle of
Santiago
and the battle of the San Juan ridge (“San Juan Hill”…but it was
actually a
series of ridges), the fighting basically came to an end. The troops in
Cuba
now faced a new enemy – disease! Yellow fever had been a great fear,
and it
began to infect the troops. As time went on, many companies were
reduced to a handful
of men able to stand for duty, and the number of men impacted rose into
the
thousands. Major General Shafter’s efforts
only brought suggestions
from the
administration in Washington that the troops be moved into the
mountains in an
effort to allay the illness, a pointless suggestion given the actual
terrain
and the positions that the troops needed to occupy. The administration
was
loathe to bring the men home for fear of spreading the disease in the
U.S. and exposing
the true condition of the troops themselves.
The officers of various regiments knew something
had to be
done, but they knew that trying anything different than making requests
through
the chain of command would bring repercussions. The officers requested
a
meeting with Shafter, but knew that the situation had to be addressed
in
writing and would likely have to move outside of the normal chain of
command.
The officers knew that whoever would write such a letter likely see
their
career ended.
With generals unwilling to risk their careers, a
colonel of
volunteers (not a career soldier) took up the task. He explained the
situation,
made suggestions about where the troops could be placed in the U.S. The
colonel
signed the letter. The other officers signed off on the letter,
basically attesting
to it, but not taking responsibility. The letter became known as
the "round robin" letter. When the
colonel handed the
letter to Major General Shafter,
Shafter did not accept it, but
instead directed it to
a
reporter, something that was rather expected, if not planned. The
letter soon
appeared in newspapers across the country, and the deplorable condition
of the
troops could not be denied. The administration was forced to bring the
troops
back to the U.S., and replace them with new troops, mistakenly thought
to be
immune to yellow fever. The troops came home to a camp on Long Island,
New York,
which was named “Camp Wickoff.”
The move possibly saved thousands of lives, but
the colonel had
embarrassed the administration in Washington, especially Secretary of
War Alger.
Since the colonel was not a career officer and was soon being mustered
out,
there was not much retribution that could be exacted – except one
thing. The
colonel had deservedly been nominated for the Medal of Honor. The
secretary of
war refused to authorize the medal.
That colonel, by the way, was Colonel Theodore
Roosevelt,
future president and the namesake of the aircraft carrier under
Crozier’s
command. The two men are joined not only by the ship’s name, but by
their
actions to save their men.
Incidentally, Roosevelt
eventually received his
Medal of Honor
but not until 2001, about eighty-five years after the old colonel’s
death.
February, 2020:
This website started back in 1996, two years before the
centennial of the Spanish American War. That was twenty-four years ago.
We're now actually looking toward the 125th anniverary of the war. It
is still a generally overlooked and forgotten event in the United
States, but we will continue to try to educate the public about the
war's importance
Anyhow, from 1996 until about 2010 - 2011 I managed to keep up
fairly well with all of the data submitted. People geneerally do not
realize the amount of time it takes to add things to the website and
maintain is organization. The National Spanish
American War Veterans' Gravesite Recording Project is particularly
time consuming, but of imporantance in that the data has not ben
brought together anywhere else. Because of the amount of unique
information that people pull out of their basements and attics and send
in, the Library of Congress chose this site as one of the first to be
backed up as part of its "Minerva Project."
Of course, in about 2008 the Great Recession started. By 2011,
the Recession was wreaking havoc with my business, and also Yahoo made
a series of changes internally, and I suddenly found myself with no
time to work on the website, let alone overcome the obstacles presented
by Yahoo's changes. I continued to collect the data that came in.
Recently I was forced to delve back into the website when a
reader reported that a website that this website had linked to had been
hacked and was quite foul. I had to overcome various technical issues
and regain site access to correct that situation. With this
accomplished I was able to begin making other various updates. Now,
with the coronavirus shutdown, and a reduction in my work hours to a
normal 40 hour week, I have had some additional time to begin adding
data collected over the past few years.
Though I will not be able to do as much as I used to do, I
will
continue working to add and update the site.
Thanks for your patience!
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