An Honorable War

by Robert N. Macomber

  Chapter Forty-Three—Briefing “The Liberators”

  —There are no records anywhere of anyone named Ruben Ramon Armando Zaldivar de Aviles y Vega, or of a unit titled Batallón Nacional Orgullo de Cuba. I think Wake fictionalized the name and title.

  Chapter Forty-Six—Assuming the Worst

  —A Quaker mine is a version of the sailor’s old ruse known as a Quaker gun, a wooden replica meant to represent a real cannon to deter an enemy. It cannot be used to hurt anyone, hence the name.

  —Fougasse is a centuries old defensive technique using explosives or flammables. In World War I and World War II, fougasse was refined by the British military as a tactic to help defend Britain from invasion. Flame throwers evolved from that effort. The term fougasse is still used for such devices. Modern napalm is an aerial version of fougasse.

  —Caltrops have been used against infantry and cavalry since Alexander the Great in Persia. The word comes from the Latin calcitrapa, “foot-trap.” In ancient times, camels were the most susceptible, due to their soft feet, but even war elephants could be stopped by caltrops. In their spike-strip form, they are widely used today by law enforcement to deflate the tires of recklessly driving criminals.

  —Cheval de Frise means “Frisian horse” in French and comes from a coastal area of Holland that used the devices to strengthen their defensive works. Benjamin Franklin designed under water chevals de frise for the Delaware River defenses in the 1770s. It was used extensively from the 1500s until World War I, when barbed wire was proven more effective.

  —Trou de loup is French for “wolf hole.” Julius Caesar used them in 52 B.C. and they have been commonly used for defense ever since. The British Army in 19th century India used the local term “punji pits,” for the type of stake along the sides which was inverted downward to hinder escape. In the Vietnam War, punji pits were used extensively against American troops.

  Chapter Forty-Seven—They That Go Down to the Sea in Ships

  —The 107th Psalm was written as a song of thanksgiving to God by King David around 970 B.C.

  —The 38th Leon Regiment had a long and proud history. It began in 1694 as the Tercio Provincial Nuevo de León and was stationed in Pamplona, Barcelona, and León. In 1704, its title changed to the Regimiento Provincial de León, variations of which it retained. It received the numerical designation in1847. In 1895, two-thirds of the regiment, just under a thousand men, were sent to Cuba to fight the revolutionaries.

  Chapter Forty-Eight—Time Dwindles

  —The Navy Colt machine gun fired 400 six-millimeter rounds per minute and was used by sailors and Marines in many engagements. Onboard, it was mounted on a pedestal. Ashore, it used a tripod. The army still used the much heavier Gatling gun. The exception was Theodore Roosevelt’s 1st Volunteer Cavalry, which bought two seven-millimeter Colt machine guns with their own money and used them at the Battle of San Juan Hill.

  Chapter Fifty-One—Let the Games Begin

  —Colonel Michael Woodgerd and Wake first met in 1874 at an Italian train station, after Woodgerd killed a man for abusing a stray dog. They remained friends ever since. Read An Affair of Honor to learn why Woodgerd left the army, and Honor Bound for how he saved Wake’s life at Haiti in 1888.

  Chapter Fifty-Three—The Confession

  —The prefix “Don” would have been a powerful incentive to the laborers recruited into Zaldivar’s battalion. It is still considered an honor in the Spanish-speaking world. The female counterpart to it is “Doña.”

  Chapter Fifty-Six—The Main Performance

  —The Lee rifle used by the U.S. Navy in the Spanish-American War was an 1895 Model six-millimeter (.236-inch caliber), manufactured by the Winchester Repeating Arms Company. It had a muzzle velocity of 2,560 feet per second and fired semi-jacketed bullets from smokeless cartridges in a five-round en bloc clip. The maximum range was one mile, effective was 300 yards.

  —Barida’s British 12-pounder field pieces were breech-loading, 76.2-millimeter (3-inch), rifled guns with a muzzle velocity of 1,710 feet per second and a maximum range of two and a half miles. It was not a favorite with the British Army due to its weight and malfunctions and went out of service in 1895. Several were sold off to other militaries.

  —The six-pounder quick-firing guns to which Wake refers are Driggs-Schroeder (named for the naval officers who designed them) guns, manufactured by the American Ordnance Company. They were almost identical to the Hotchkiss six-pounder. The breech-loading guns fired a 57-millimeter (2.24-inch) round at 1,818 feet per second and had a range of about two miles. A well-trained gun crew could fire twenty-five rounds a minute. Designed in the mid-1880s, it was the standard secondary gun for American battleships and cruisers until 1900, and versions of this gun were used in various large navies all the way up to 1945. To see one in detail, visit U.S.S. Olympia, the only Spanish-American War vessel still afloat, at Philadelphia.

  —Veteran cavalry units of the 19th century could charge at twenty to thirty miles an hour, but because of equipment weight were limited to a mile at that speed, at most.

  Chapter Sixty-Four—Heaven and the Angel

  —The massive Tampa Bay Hotel still exists and has been restored to its original opulent condition. It is now part of the University of Tampa and much of it is open to the public. The building, museum, and grounds are very well worth the visit. During the Spanish-American War, the hotel was the center of military and social activity for the senior army officers.

  Chapter Sixty-Five—Family

  —After José Martí’s death in combat in May of 1895, Tomás Estrada Palma (1835–1908) took over as leader of the Cuban government in exile, which was headquartered in New York City and commonly known as “the Cuban Junta.” When Cuba became an independent nation after four years of U.S. occupation, Estrada served as the first president, from 1902 to 1906.

  —Horatio Rubens was an American lawyer who fervently supported the cause of Cuban freedom and served as legal counsel to the Cuban Junta.

  —U.S.S. Oregon, a 10,000-ton battleship with 13-inch guns, was commissioned in 1896. She made the 14,000-mile voyage from San Francisco to Florida (the Panama Canal wasn’t completed until 1914) in a record setting sixty-six days, arriving on 24 May 1898. She fought at the Battle of Santiago on 3 July 1898.

  Chapter Sixty-Six—For the Duration

  —William Rufus Shafter (1835–1906) was a former teacher who joined the U.S. Army at the beginning of the Civil War as a second lieutenant in a Michigan regiment. He was awarded the Medal of Honor for bravery in combat and over the next four years rose to the rank of brevet brigadier general. After the Civil War, he stayed in the army, earning the nickname “Pecos Bill” during the Indian wars. His career lasted until 1901.

  Prior to the Spanish-American War, Shafter commanded the Department of California as a regular brigadier general. He arrived in Tampa in mid-May, 1898. Shafter’s decisions and leadership style during the Cuban campaign, which have been criticized ever since, were greatly influenced by his debilitated physical condition. In addition, he inherited an inefficient logistics system, had no experience in overseas military operations, and was under immense political pressure. The invasion of Cuba was nearly a disaster and was saved only by the incredible will power of the American soldiers themselves.

  The next novel in the Honor Series, Honoring the Enemy, will cover that phase of the war.

  Acknowledgments

  The research for this novel began many years ago and, as always, entailed two major categories: academic research for the facts of history, and field investigation (“eyeball recon”) to learn the flavor of history. Combined, they provide an in-depth view of events in Cuba, Spain, and the United States at the beginning of the Spanish-American War.

  In addition to the research materials listed in the bibliography, I want to thank some special people who have helped me for years in gathering informati
on about Cuba, Key West, Tampa, Washington, and New York: Randy Briggs (now retired) and his team of biblio-sleuths at the Pine Island Library; Tom Hambright and the legendary vault of the Monroe County Library in Key West; Ela Ugarte Lopez, Editor-in-Chief of the Centro Estudiantes Martíanos in Havana, Cuba, and foremost Martí scholar in the world; Chaz Mena, Martí scholar and actor/writer/director; Mario Cano, student of Spanish and Cuban history; Elizabeth McCoy and Carl St. Meyer of the Ybor City State Museum; Dave Parsons of the Hillsborough County Public Library in Tampa; and Vickie Jewett of the Port Tampa Library.

  Some organizations get special mention for their difficult work in preserving historical materials which were of great help to me: the United States Naval Institute, the National Security Agency, the Theodore Roosevelt Association, the Office of Coast Survey, the Smathers Library of the University of Florida, the National Security Agency, the Vincent Voice Library of Michigan State University, and the New York Times.

  Thanks go to a dear friend, Reverend Ann McLemore of the Episcopal Church, who was so kind as to give me the 1863 Danish New Testament Bible used in the novel. At the other end of that spectrum, thanks go to Mike Woodgerd, a man with an interesting past, for his professional acumen concerning brutally effective defensive tactics against overwhelming odds.

  Arnold Gibbs, another friend with an interesting past, gets my appreciation for sharing tales from his childhood at Congo Town, on the island of Andros, in the Bahamas.

  For in depth discussions on Cuban history and culture, I thank my father Robert Charles Macomber in Fort Myers, Uncle Raul Laffitte in Cape Coral, dear friend Roberto Giraudy and many others in Havana, Mario Cano and Chaz Mena in Miami, and the gentlemen of the Grand Masonic Lodge of Cuba.

  With gratitude I recognize Rich Rolfe as my go-to man for German historical research and translations. He and Ron Kemper also helped me understand the fascinating world of cryptic communications.

  On the subject of ship handling, thanks go to some real masters whom I’ve observed performing that difficult art, which can go dreadfully wrong in a heartbeat: Captain Paul Welling, U.S.C.G. (USCGC Eagle); Captain Chuck Nygaard, U.S.N. (USS Spruance, USS Vicksburg); Commodore Ronald Warwick, R.N.R. (RMS Queen Mary 2); and Captain Ullrich Nuber (MV Hamburgo), German Merchant Marine. They all made it look easy. It isn’t.

  Nancy Ann Glickman is the one who gets the biggest thank you. In addition to doing the ornithological and celestial research for my novels, she manages the business end of the operation. She is also the steady hand at the wheel of my personal life. Like Peter Wake and his Maria, I am nothing without Nancy.

  And then there are the Wakians. Without these loyal supporters enthusiastically spreading the word, Peter Wake would have faded away years ago. Thank you all for being the best readers a writer could ever hope for. I am continually grateful.

  Onward and upward, toward those distant horizons…

  Robert N. Macomber

  The Boat House,

  St. James, Pine Island, Florida

  Bibliography of Research Materials

  About New York City:

  The Epicurean, Charles Ranhofer (1894)

  Repast, Dining Out at the Dawn of the New American Century 1900–1910, Michael Lesy and Lisa Stoffer (2013)

  Ephemeral New York, Historical New York City articles (website & blog), The Word Press http://ephemeralnewyork.wordpress.com/?s=1897

  New York Songlines—Historical Walking Tours of New York City (website), Jim Naureckas www.nysonglines.com

  About Theodore Roosevelt:

  The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt, Edmund Morris (1979)

  Theodore Rex, Edmund Morris (2001)

  Colonel Roosevelt, Edmund Morris (2010)

  The Autobiography of Theodore Roosevelt, (1920 edition) Theodore Roosevelt (1913)

  Theodore Roosevelt’s Naval Diplomacy, Henry J. Hendrix (2009)

  The Bully Pulpit, Theodore Roosevelt, William Howard Taft, and the Golden Age of Journalism, Doris Kearns Goodwin (2013)

  New York Times 1897 and 1898 newspaper articles (website) http://spiderbites.nytimes.com/free_1897/articles_1897_02_00001.html

  William McKinley: The American Presidents Series: The 25th President 1897–1901, Kevin Phillip and Arthur M. Schlesinger (2003)

  Grover Cleveland, The American Presidents Series: The 24th President 1893–1897, Henry F. Graff (2002)

  “The Right of the People to Rule,” 1912 Roosevelt campaign speech recording (recorded by Thomas Edison), Vincent Voice Library, Michigan State University

  The Arena, Volume 95, Issue 2, Newsletter of the Theodore Roosevelt Association, March/April, 2015

  About Washington D.C.:

  Everyday Life in Washington, Charles M. Pepper (1900)

  The Cosmos Club on Lafayette Square, Thomas M. Spaulding (1949)

  Victorian America, Transformations in Everyday Life 1876–1915, Thomas J. Schlereth (1991)

  About the U.S. Office of Naval Intelligence:

  A Century of Naval Intelligence, Captain Wyman Packard U.S.N. (Ret) (1996)

  The Office of Naval Intelligence, The Birth of America’s First Intelligence Agency 1865–1918, Jeffry M. Dorwart (1979)

  United States Cryptologic History, The Friedman Legacy: A Tribute to William and Elizebeth Freidman, National Security Agency (1992)

  Masked Dispatches: Cryptograms and Cryptology in American History, 1775–1900, (Series I, Pre-World War I, Volume I) Ralph Weber, National Security Agency (1993)

  The Archaeologist was a Spy, Sylvanius G. Morley and the Office of Naval Intelligence, Charles H. Harris III and Louis R. Sadler (2003)

  The Spanish American War: Blockades and Coast Defense, Captain Severo Gómez Núñez (Spanish Army), compiled by the Office of Naval Intelligence (1899)

  War Notes (1 to 8) from Abroad (German and Spanish reports), Spanish-American War, compiled by Office of Naval Intelligence (1900)

  Characteristics of Principal Foreign Ships of War: Prepared for the Board on Fortifications, Etc., Office of Naval Intelligence (1885)

  Coaling, Docking, and Repair Facilities of the Ports of the World, Office of Naval Intelligence (1909)

  Bible used in Roosevelt-Wake fictional coded messages: The New Testament (translated from the original Greek into Danish and English), The American Bible Society, 1863

  About the United States Navy in general in 1898:

  Conway’s All the World’s Fighting Ships 1860–1905, Editorial Director Robert Gardiner (1979)

  The American Steel Navy, CDR John D. Alden U.S.N. (Ret) (1972)

  U.S. Cruisers 1883–1904, Lawrence Burr (2008)

  The Naval Aristocracy, The Golden Age of Annapolis and the Emergence of Modern American Navalism, Peter Karsten (1972)

  Navalism and the Emergence of American Sea Power 1882–1893, Mark Russell Shulman (1995)

  Admirals and Empire, The United States Navy and the Caribbean 1898–1945, Donald A. Yerxa (1991)

  With Sampson through the War, William A.M. Goode (1899)

  The Fate of the Maine, John Edward Weems (1958)

  John P. Holland (1841–1914) Inventor of the Modern Submarine, Richard Knowles Morris (1966)

  Remembering the Maine in Key West, Robert E. Cray, Naval History Magazine, United States Naval Institute (February 2015)

  Naval Customs, Traditions, and Usage, LCDR Leland P. Lovette U.S.N. (1939)

  The Naval Officer’s Guide, CDR Arthur A. Ageton U.S.N. (2nd edition, 1944)

  The Naval Officer’s Guide, VADM William P. Mack U.S.N. (Ret) and Captain Thomas D. Paulsen U.S.N. (9th Edition, 1983)

  Watch Officer’s Guide, ADM James Stavridis U.S.N. and Captain Robert Girrier U.S.N. (15th Edition, 2007)

  Naval Shiphandling, Captain R.S. Crenshaw U.S.N. (Ret) (4th Edition, 1975)

  About Cuba, her thirty-year struggle for independence, and t
he Spanish-American War:

  Cuba, or the Pursuit of Freedom, Hugh Thomas (1971)

  History of Cuba, the Challenge of the Yoke and the Star, Professor Jose Canton Navarro (2001)

  Insurgent Cuba, Race, Nation, and Revolution, 1868–1898, Ada Ferrar (1999)

  Commercial Cuba, William J. Clark (1898)

  War Map and History of Cuba, Ebenezer Hannaford (1898)

  Marching with Gomez, Grover Flint (1898)

  Under Three Flags in Cuba, George Clarke Musgrave (1898)

  A Message to Garcia, Elbert Hubbard (1899)

  Kuba und der Krieg—Eine Darstellung de Spanish-Amerikanischen Kreiges Nach Eigener Anschaung des Verfassers (Cuba and the War—The Spanish-American War based on personal observations of the author), Joseph Herrings (1899)

  In Darkest Cuba, Two Months Service under Gomez along the Trocha from the Caribbean to the Bahama Channel, N.G. Gonzalez (1927)

  The Naval Annual of 1891, T.A. Brassey (1891)

  Maps, Charts, and Sailing Guides:

  Upper Caribbean Sea and Gulf of Mexico, American privately published chart with U.S., British, French, and Spanish survey data (1860)

  Gulf Stream—Caribbean, Gulf of Mexico, Atlantic Ocean, Lt. Mathew Fontaine Maury, U.S.N., U.S. Office of Coast Survey (1852)

  Hudson and East Rivers, New York, U.S. Office of Coast Survey #369(4) (1890)

  Washington D.C., Sanborn Fire Insurance Map (1888)

  Key West, Sanborn Fire Insurance Map (1892)

  Key West Harbor and Approaches, U.S. Office of Coast Survey #469 (1896)

  Map of Cuba and the Provinces, within Commercial Cuba (1898)

  Map of Havana, within Commercial Cuba (1898)

  Map of Santa Clara Province, within Commercial Cuba (1898)

  Straits of Florida and Northern Cuba Coast, U.S. Office of Coast Survey (1895)

  Approaches and Channel to Isabela Sagua, NGA chart# 27062 (1995)

  Cuba, a Cruising Guide, Nigel Calder (1997)

  A Cruising Guide to the Caribbean and the Bahamas, Jerrems C. Hart and William T. Stone (1976)