Our War with Spain for Cuba's FreedomWhite, Trumbull
History
Our War with Spain for Cuba's Freedom
White, Trumbull
Cuba -- History; Spain -- Foreign relations -- United States; Spanish-American War, 1898; United States -- Foreign relations -- Spain
never forgotten the barbarities to which their parents were
subjected in that trying year.
The most notable outbreak of Cuban insurrectionary forces prior to
that of the Ten Years' war, which began in 1868, was that known as
the conspiracy of Lopez.
As early as May, 1847, Narcisso Lopez and a number of his
associates who had planned an insurrection in the central part of
the island, were pursued to the United States by Spanish agents,
who had kept track of their conspiracy. The Lone Star Society was
in close sympathy with these refugees, and to a certain extent the
two were co-existent. Lopez, in 1849, organized a military
expedition to invade Cuba. By the exertions of the officers of the
United States government the sailing of the expedition was
prevented. Notwithstanding the activity of the government,
however, Lopez, in the following year, got together a force of 600
men outside of the United States, shipped arms and ammunition to
them from this country, and on May 19, 1850, made a landing at
Cardenas.
The United States authorities had put the Spanish government in
Cuba on the alert for this expedition. President Taylor had issued
a proclamation warning all citizens of the United States not to
take part in such an expedition or to assist it in any way. The
expedition was driven out to sea from Cardenas a few days after it
landed, sailed for Key West, and there disbanded. Meantime there
were a number of uprisings in the island between groups of unhappy
natives who had not the wisdom to co-operate in the effort to
resist the oppressive hand of the Spaniards.
In August of 1851, Lopez eluded the United States authorities at
the port of New Orleans, and sailed out into the Gulf of Mexico
with an expedition 450 strong. His lieutenant on this expedition
was a Colonel Crittenden, a native of the State of Kentucky. They
landed near Bahia Honda, about thirty miles west of Havana, and
found the government forces waiting for them. Colonel Crittenden,
with a subdivision of 150 men, was compelled to surrender, and the
rest were scattered. Lopez, with fifty others, was captured, taken
to Havana, and there executed.
The circumstances attending the Lopez failure, and several Spanish
outrages against American citizens and vessels, aroused deep
feeling in the United States, and the sentiment was growing
rapidly that it was a national duty to our own peace, to do
something that would make the troublesome neighbor a pleasant one.
It was fifty years before action was taken, but, once begun, it
was well done.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account