 The "Virginius", with portraits of General Bernabé Varona and General William A.C. Ryan, executed by the Spanish Governor at Santiago de Cuba.The Graphic, 1873. | |
| Date | October 30 – November 8, 1873 (1873-10-30 –1873-11-08) |
|---|---|
| Location | Santiago de Cuba |
| Participants |
|
| Outcome | Peace negotiation |
| Deaths | 53 |
TheVirginius Affair was a diplomatic dispute that played out between October 1873 and February 1875 between theUnited States,Great Britain, andSpain.Virginius was a fast American ship that had been hired by Cuban insurrectionists to land men and munitions in Cuba during theTen Years' War, the first of three late-19th century uprisings againstSpanish rule in Cuba. The ship was captured by the Spanish, who wanted to try the men onboard (many of whom were American and British citizens) as pirates and execute them. The Spanish executed 53 men inSantiago de Cuba, but stopped when the British government intervened.
Through the first month of the affair there was agitation for war in both the United States and Spain, but as more was learned tensions faded on both sides, and the threat of war had largely evaporated by the end of December. However, it took more than a year after that for the final details to be settled, largely because of the ineffectiveness of the original American envoy to Spain,Daniel Sickles, and two turnovers of the Spanish government. In the end the Spanish government compensated British families for the deaths of British citizens, and subsequently newly appointed US consulCaleb Cushing ended the episode by negotiating for reparations to be paid to the families of the remainder of the executed men, American or otherwise. The settlement of the issue through diplomacy represented a major achievement forUS Secretary of StateHamilton Fish.
After theAmerican Civil War, the island country of Cuba under Spanish rule was one of the few Western Hemisphere countries where slavery remained legal and was widely practiced.[1] On October 10, 1868, an uprising by Cuban landowners that became known as theTen Years' War began, withCarlos Manuel de Céspedes claiming the title of President of Cuba in Arms..[2] The Spanish, led initially by the Captain-General of Cuba,Francisco de Lersundi y Hormaechea, used the military to try to suppress the rebellion.[3] In 1870, American Secretary of StateHamilton Fish persuaded President Grant not to recognize Cuban belligerency, and the United States maintained an unstable peace with Spain.[4]
As the Cuban war continued, international support for the insurgency began to arise, with war bonds being sold in the US to support the rebellion.[5] One of the Cubans' American supporters was John F. Patterson, who, in 1870, bought a former Confederate blockade runner, theVirgin, that was laid up at theWashington Navy Yard, and renamed herVirginius.[6] The legality of Patterson's purchase ofVirginius would later come to national and international attention.[7] The Cuban rebellion ended in an 1878 armistice after Spanish generalArsenio Martínez-Campos pardoned all Cuban rebels.[8]
Virginius was a small, high-speed side-wheel steamer built to serve as ablockade runner, operating between Havana and Mobile, Alabama, for the Confederacy during the Civil War.[9][10] Originally built asVirgin by Aitken & Mansel ofWhiteinch,Glasgow in 1864, she became a prize of the United States when captured on April 12, 1865.[9] In August 1870,Virginius was purchased by an American, John F. Patterson, acting secretly as an agent for Cuban insurgentManuel de Quesada and two US citizens, Marshall O. Roberts and J.K. Roberts.[9] The ship was originally captained by Francis Sheppherd. Both Patterson and Shepphard immediately registered the ship in the New York Custom House, having paid $2,000 to be bonded. However, no sureties were listed.[11] Patterson took a required oath attesting that he was the sole owner ofVirginius. The secret purpose of purchasingVirginius was to transport men, munitions, and supplies to aid the Cuban rebellion. She operated in this role for three years under the protection of US naval ships, includingUSS Kansas andUSS Canandaigua.[10] The Spanish said that it was an outlaw ship and aggressively sought to capture it.[10][11]
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CaptainJoseph Fry was made the new captain ofVirginius in October 1873.[12] Fry had served in the US Navy for 15 years before joining theConfederacy during the Civil War. Fry rose to the rank of Commodore in theConfederate Navy. With the war's end in 1865, Fry found himself underemployed. He took charge ofVirginius while she was moored atKingston, Jamaica. By this time she was badly in need of repair, with boilers that were breaking down.[13] As most of the previous crew had deserted, Fry recruited a new crew of 52 American and British men, many of them inexperienced (three being under 13 years of age[12]) and not aware thatVirginius was supporting the Cuban rebellion. The ship took on 103 native Cuban soldiers who had arrived on a steamer from New York. The US Consul at Kingston, Thomas H. Pearne, had warned Fry that he would be shot if captured. However, Fry did not believe the Spanish would shoot a blockade runner.[14] In mid-October, Captain Fry, accompanied by his four most prominent passengers,Pedro de Céspedes (brother ofCarlos Manuel de Céspedes),Bernabé Varona,Jesús del Sol, andWilliam A.C. Ryan, tookVirginius to Haiti and loaded the ship with munitions.[15] On October 30,Virginius sailed to Comito to pick up more weapons and then, on the same day, started toward Cuba. The Spanish had been warned whenVirginius left Jamaica and sent out the warshipTornado to capture the vessel.[12]
On October 30, 1873Tornado spottedVirginius on open water 6 miles (9.7 km) from Cuba and gave chase.Virginius was heavily weighted, and the stress from the boilers caused the ship to take on water, significantly slowing any progress.[16] As the chase continued,Tornado, a fast warship, fired onVirginius several times, damaging the top deck. Captain Fry surrenderedVirginius, knowing that, with his ship's overworked boilers and leaking hull, he could not outrunTornado on the open sea. The Spanish quickly boarded and secured the ship, taking the crew and its passengers prisoner and sailing the ship toSantiago de Cuba.[17]
The Spanish immediately ordered all aboard to be put on trial as pirates.[19] The entireVirginius crew, both American and British citizens, as well as the Cuban insurgents, were found guilty by a court martial and were sentenced to death. The Spanish ignored the protest of the US vice-consul, who attempted to give American citizens legal aid. On November 4, 1873, the four insurgent leaders aboard were executed by firing squad without trial, having already been condemned as a pirates. After the executions, the British vice-consul at Santiago, concerned by the fact that one of the individuals killed, George Washington Ryan, claimed British citizenship, wired Jamaica to ask for aid from the Royal Navy to stop further executions.[20] Hearing news of the ship's capture and the executions, Altamont de Cordova, a Jamaican resident, was able to get British Commodore A.F.R. de Horsey to send the sloopHMS Niobe underSir Lambton Loraine, 11th Baronet to Santiago to stop further executions.[21] On November 7, an additional 37 men, including Captain Fry, were executed by firing squad.[22] The executioners' aim was said to have been bad, so they finished the job in a grisly fashion, decapitating them and trampling their bodies with horses. On November 8, twelve more crew members were executed; but at this point theUSSWyoming, under the command of Civil War Naval hero William Cushing, and HMSNiobe both reached Santiago.[23] The carnage stopped on the same day, as Cushing (and possibly the British Captain Lorraine) warned local commanderJuan N. Burriel that he would bombard Santiago if there were any more executions, leaving the final death toll at 53. In an interview that Burriel requested with Sir Lambton Lorraine, he attempted to shake hands with the English captain, who stood straight and exclaimed, "I will not shake hands with a butcher".
The initial press reaction to the capture ofVirginius was muted, but as news of executions poured into the nation, certain newspapers became aggressive in promoting war, or at least formal recognition of Cuban belligerency.[24] TheNew York Times opined that if the executions of Americans fromVirginius were illegal, war needed to be declared.[25] TheNew York Tribune asserted that actions of Burriel and the Cuban Volunteers necessitated "the death knell of Spanish power in America."[25] TheNew York Herald demanded SecretaryHamilton Fish's resignation and the recognition by the US of Cuban belligerency.[25]The National Republican, believing that war with Spain was imminent, encouraged the sale of Cuban bonds.[26] The American public considered the executions to be a national insult and rallied for intervention. Protest rallies took place across the nation inNew Orleans,St. Louis, andGeorgia, encouraging intervention in Cuba and vengeance against Spain.[27]
The British Minister to the United States, SirEdward Thornton, believed the American public was ready for war with Spain.[28] A large rally in New York'sSteinway Hall on November 17, 1873, led by future Secretary of StateWilliam Evarts, took a moderate position, and the meeting adopted a resolution that war would be necessary, yet regrettable, if Spain chose to "consider our defense against savage butchery as a cause of war...."[29]
On Wednesday, November 5, 1873, the US Consul-General inHavana,Henry C. Hall, informed the US State Department thatVirginius had been captured.[30] Secretary of State Hamilton Fish believed theVirginius was just another ship captured aiding the Cuban rebellion; no one in the American administration was yet aware of the first four executions[30] However, with Cuba heading the agenda of the November 7 meeting of the American cabinet, news came in during the meeting of the deaths of Ryan and the three Cubans.[31] The Cabinet agreed that the executions would be "regarded as an inhuman act not in accordance with the spirit of the civilization of the nineteenth century."[32] On November 8, Fish met with Spanish minister DonJosé Polo de Bernabé and discussed the legality of the capture ofVirginius.[33]
On November 11, Grant's Cabinet decided that war with Spain was not desirable, but intervention in the rebellion on the side of Cuba remained possible.[34] On November 12, five days after the event, Fish received the devastating news that 37 additional men had been executed.[35] Fish ordered US Minister to SpainDaniel Sickles to protest the executions and demand reparations for any persons considered US citizens who were killed.[35] On November 13, Fish formally protested to Polo and stated that the US had a free hand on Cuba because of theVirginius Affair.[35] On November 14, Grant's cabinet agreed that if US reparation demands were not met, the Spanish legation would be closed. That day a report came into the White House that more crew members had been shot, but it turned out that "only" twelve additional people had been executed.[36] On November 15, Polo visited Fish and stated thatVirginius was a pirate ship and that her crew had been a hostile threat to Cuba.[37] Fish, although doubtful that the ship really represented US territory because of questions about its ownership, was determined to stand up for the nation's honor by demanding reparations from Spain.[38]
On the same day, a cable was sent to Sickles by Fish, ordering the envoy to demand the return ofVirginius to the US, the release of all survivors into American custody, a salute from Spain to the US flag, punishment for the perpetrators, and reparations for families.[39]
Negotiations in Spain between Sickles and Minister of State José de Carvajal became heated, and progress towards a settlement became unlikely.[40] The Spanish press, as belligerent as its American counterparts, openly attacked Sickles, the US, and Britain, hoping to precipitate war between the three countries.[41] While the Sickles-Carvajal negotiations were breaking down, PresidentEmilio Castelar decided to bypass this channel and allow Fish and Polo, in Washington, to take the lead in settling the dispute.[42] OnThanksgiving Day, November 27, Polo proposed to Fish that Spain would give up theVirginius and the remaining crew if the US would investigate the legal status of its ownership.[43] Both Fish and Grant agreed to Polo's suggestion, and that the Spanish salute to the US flag could be dispensed with ifVirginius was found not to have legal US private citizen ownership.[43] On November 28, Polo and Fish met at the State Department and signed a formal agreement that required the return ofVirginius and crew, an investigation by both governments of the legal ownership ofVirginius, and any crimes committed by the Spanish Volunteers.[44]
The threat of war between the two countries had been averted through negotiations, but the time and place of the surrender of theVirginius and the remaining crew remained undetermined for several days.[45] On December 5, Fish and Polo signed an agreement thatVirginius, with the US flag flying, would be turned over to the US Navy on December 16 at the port ofBahía Honda.[46] Sickles, having lost the confidence of Grant and Fish, resigned on December 20, 1873.[47] On January 6, 1874, after advice from Fish on a replacement for Sickles, Grant appointed eminent attorney and Spanish scholarCaleb Cushing as Minister to Spain.[48]
On December 16,Virginius, now in complete disrepair and taking on water, was towed out to open sea with the US flag flying to be turned over to the US Navy. US Captain W.D. Whiting on boardUSS Despatch agreed with Spanish CommanderManuel de la Cámara to turn overVirginius the following day.[49] On December 17, at exactly 9:00 a.m.,Virginius was formally turned over to the US Navy without incident.[50] The same day, after an investigation, US Attorney GeneralGeorge H. Williams ruled that the US ownership ofVirginius had been fraudulent and that she had no right to fly the US flag; however, Spain had no right to captureVirginius and her crew on the open sea.[51]
At 4:17 a.m., on December 26, while under tow byUSS Ossipee,Virginiusfoundered offCape Fear[52] en route to the United States.[53] Her 91 remaining crewmen, who had been held as prisoners under harsh conditions, were handed over to Captain D.L. Braine ofJuanita and were taken safely toNew York City.[54]
On January 3, 1874, Spanish PresidentEmilio Castelar was voted out of office and replaced byFrancisco Serrano.[55] Cushing, who had replaced Sickles as US Consul to Spain, stated that the US had been fortunate that Castelar, a university scholar, had been President of Spain, given that his replacement, Serrano, might have been more apt to go to war over the affair.[56] Cushing's primary duty was to get Spanish reparations forVirginius family victims and punishment of Burriel for the 53 Santiago executions.[57] Cushing met with Serrano in May on June 26, and on July 5 he wrote to Fish that Spain was ready to make reparations.[58] In October, Cushing was informed that President Castelar had secretly negotiated reparations between Spain and Britain that totaled £7,700, but black British citizen families were given less money.[59] On November 7, Grant and Fish demanded $2,500 from Spain for each US citizen shot, regardless of race.[59] On November 28, 1874, Fish instructed Cushing that allVirginius crew members not considered British would, for the purpose of reparations, be considered American.[60]
Spanish Consul Antonio Mantilla, Polo's replacement, agreed with the reparations. Grant's 1875 State of the Union Address announced that reparations were near, quieting anger over theVirginius affair.[60] Payment of reparations, however, was put on hold as Spain changed governments on December 28,from a republic back to a monarchy.Alfonso XII became King of Spain on January 11, 1875.[60]
On January 16, Cushing met with the new Spanish state ministerCastro, urged settlement before the US Congress adjourned, and noted that reparations would be a minor matter compared to an all-out war between Spain and the US.[61]
Under an agreement of February 7, 1875, signed on March 5, the Spanish government paid the US an indemnity of $80,000 for the execution of the Americans.[62] Burriel's Santiago executions were acknowledged as illegal by Spain, and President Serrano and King Alfonso condemned him.[63] The case against Burriel was taken up by the Spanish Tribunal of the Navy in June 1876. However, Burriel died on December 24, 1877, before any trial could occur.[64]
In addition to the reparations, a private indemnity was given to Captain Fry's financially troubled family in St. Louis, who had been unable to pay rent and had no permanent place to live.[65]
When theVirginius affair first broke out, a Spanishironclad—theArapiles—happened to be anchored inNew York Harbor for repairs, leading to the uncomfortable realization on the part of the US Navy that it had no ship capable of defeating such a vessel. The weakness of the US Navy was further emphasized by the scandalously poor showing of an American fleet that had been assembled in response to the crisis during maneuvers conducted in Florida waters in February and March of 1874, after the worst of the crisis had passed.[66] US Secretary of the NavyGeorge M. Robeson had, since coming into office in 1869, pushed for the construction of at least some up-to-date ships, but had been rebuffed by Congress, and even now, in the wake of theVirginius crisis, monies for new construction were denied. Robeson therefore took it upon himself to order the construction of five new twin-turreted monitors without Congressional approval, paying for them, at first, using money allocated for the refurbishing of numerous ships, and disguising this act by turning five deteriorating Civil War-era monitors--USSPuritan, and four ships of the Miantonomoh class--over to the builders. The new ships were given the same names as the old ones, but were represented to Congress and the public as actually being the old vessels, thoroughly overhauled. As supplemental payment the shipbuilders were allowed to scrap the five old vessels and keep the proceeds from the sale of the scrap metal; later dozens of additional ships that had been deemed beyond repair were also turned over to the shipbuilders for scrapping, as further payment.[67] This duplicitous effort to strengthen the navy did not, in the end, pay off: after Robeson left office in 1877 his successor, upon learning about what Robeson had done, halted construction of the new ships. They were, ultimately, completed, but not until the 1890s, by which time they were thoroughly obsolete. TheVirginius war scare had not led to any sort of naval resurgence--no such resurgence would occur for another decade--but the five new ironclads would be completed in time to take part in theSpanish–American War of 1898.