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7 Havana, 1900–1902 DAWN BROKE over Cuba clear and cool on December 20, 1899, as the steamer Mexico finished a “pleasant and uneventful” four-day voyage from New York and entered Havana harbor.1 Alaunch brought the pilot and an assortment of dignitaries to the ship before it slipped past the imposing Castillo de Los Tres Reyes del Morro (El Moro), the ancient symbol of Cuban nationalism guarding the harbor’s eastern entrance. Like Santiago, Havana was attractive from a distance, but, like Santiago , it was scarred by four centuries of administrative neglect and indifferent sanitation. The gaily colored flags in the Mexico’s rigging were just visible from the shore as the sun broke over El Moro. Wood’s appointment had been announced only five days earlier leaving scant time to organize a proper welcome, but the city put its heart into the reception. As the steamer slowed and entered the 1,400-yard neck of the bay, Wood was greeted with a major general’s thirteen-gun salute from the Americans at Cabanas Fortress followed by a twenty-one-gun governor general’s salute from the Cubans at La Punta. The pilot gingerly steered the ship past the Maine’s ghostly superstructure, still breaking the surface in midchannel, and turned to drop anchor. As the chain clanked from the hawse hole and the anchor bit, the Mexico swung into the wind to be surrounded by a swarm of ferries, barges, launches, and rowboats hung with brightly colored bunting. In spite of the short notice and the early hour, virtually every craft in Havana harbor turned out. Three bands played for over an hour as Wood impatiently paced the deck.2 Finally, twenty-one rockets bearing Cuban and American flags were fired and the newly minted major general went ashore in a line of boats led by Colonel Estes Rathbone. The young general was about to become absolute ruler of 1.5 million Cubans. Although Wood’s party was met at Machina wharf by a large enthusiastic crowd of Cubans, only a few Americans came and Brooke 147 was conspicuously absent. The outgoing general had held a farewell ball the night before and the reception committee, concerned that a quayside ceremony “might show a want of proper respect for Brooke,” left the official welcome to the natives.3 Brooke had no inclination to greet the man who had engineered his removal, and his staff was in full agreement. In many ways Wood had rather an easy time of it in Santiago. He had minimal supervision and his subordinates, mostly from the volunteer army, harbored little professional jealousy. His main tasks—restoring order, relieving starvation, and controlling infectious diseases—had been difficult but straightforward, and Wood had had the resources necessary to do the job. The Cubans of Oriente were mostly rural, had little taste for political intrigue, and were too exhausted by five years of fighting to cause much trouble. Wood brought peace and food, and the natives had responded with gratitude and obedience. Havana was a venerable, densely populated urban capital whose upper class considered itself culturally and intellectually superior to the Yankee interlopers. The Americans in Havana, unlike Wood’s Santiago volunteers, were career officers and civil servants, many of whom had decades more experience than the parvenu physician who had vaulted over them on the promotion list. Murmurs of discontent had circulated since word first leaked of Wood’s appointment. Early rumors had it that, since the new governor was not a member of the regular army, McKinley planned to change his title from military governor to civil governor, a modification with ominous implications of permanency. Worse, a change from military to civil authority might open Cuba to plunder by a flood of commercial concessions.4 In the end the president pleased both Wood and the Cubans by retaining the military title. To give Wood the best chance of a propitious start, Root sent Horatio Rubens, the New York Junta’s long-time legal advisor, to Havana to smooth the way. Rubens, who had known the revolutionary leaders for years, was charged with convincing the rebels to cooperate with the new governor. After ten days of hard negotiation, Rubens convinced the Cuban generals to be at least cordial, but their soldiers, not always willing followers, remained a potential problem.5 In 1899, the Cuban power structure, such as it was, was divided into three parts: the émigr és of the New...

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