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by Lori S. Stewart, USAICoE Command Historian
ANDREW ROWAN ARRIVES IN CUBA
On 23 April 1898, 1st Lt. (later Col.) Andrew S. Rowan arrived in Cuba on a secret mission to coordinate and exchange information with insurgents waging a fight for independence against Spain. His harrowing journey to meet with the Cuban leader became legend in Army history.
By 1898, tensions between the United States and the Spanish over control of Cuba had been growing for some time. This situation was exacerbated due to American interests in the sugar trade. As Cuban revolutionaries fought a war for independence, the U.S. sent the USS Maine to the Havana harbor to protect American interests on the island. On 15 February 1898, the Maine exploded under suspicious circumstances and became a catalyst for war.
President William McKinley, recognizing the importance of cooperation from the insurgent forces within Cuba, needed information about Spanish forces on the island. Taking a significant interest in pending military operations, the president wanted to know the forces’ strength, quality, condition, and morale; the quality of their leaders and their weapons; the conditions of the terrain and transportation routes in all types of weather; and what the insurgent forces needed to continue their resistance while American forces were mobilizing.
McKinley turned to his chief of the Military Information Division, Maj. (later Col.) Arthur Wagner, to find someone to travel to Cuba and communicate an urgent message to the insurgent leader, Gen. Calixto Garcia. Wagner recommended “a young officer here in Washington; a lieutenant named Rowan, who will carry it for you.” The president agreed to the mission, and Major Wagner ordered Rowan to take the next boat bound for Jamaica and then to Cuba. According to Rowan, Wagner said, “Young man, you have been selected by the President to communicate with—or rather, to carry a message to—General Garcia, who will be found somewhere in the eastern part of Cuba. …There must be no failure on your part; there must be no errors made in this case.” Wagner also admonished Rowan to forego any written communications that would reveal the nature of his mission: “History has furnished us with the record of too many tragedies to warrant taking risks.”
Lieutenant Rowan’s dangerous journey deep into Cuba started with his arrival on the island on 23 April 1898, two days before the U.S. declared war on Spain. The date also happened to be Rowan’s forty-first birthday. After a week of traveling, Rowan finally reached General Garcia on 1 May. Rowan later wrote, “The long and toilsome journey with its many risks, its chances of failure, its chances for death, was over. I had succeeded.” Rowan delivered the President’s message detailing arrangements for a meeting between the U.S. and rebel troops to coordinate strategy. Garcia, in turn, furnished Rowan with maps and intelligence on Spanish strength and vulnerabilities on the island. Rowan then made the difficult journey back to Washington. This time he was accompanied by two of Garcia’s officers to coordinate American military efforts.
The first American troops arrived in Cuba in June. Before the fighting ended two months later, the U.S. had spent $250 million and lost 3,000 lives, 90 percent of those to infectious diseases. Spain and the United States signed a peace treaty in Paris on 10 December 1898. The treaty established the independence of Cuba, ceded Puerto Rico and Guam to the U.S., and allowed the U.S. to purchase the Philippines Islands for $20 million.
Rowan, an 1881 graduate of West Point, retired from the Army in 1909 after thirty years of service. In 1922, he was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross for “extraordinary heroism in connection with the operation in Cuba in May 1898.” He was inducted into the MI Hall of Fame in 1988. Rowan’s own account, “How I Carried the Message to Garcia,” can be found at http://www.foundationsmag.com/rowan.html.
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| Date Taken: | 04.19.2024 |
| Date Posted: | 04.19.2024 14:12 |
| Story ID: | 468970 |
| Location: | US |
| Web Views: | 50 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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