Virginius Affair facts for kids
The "Virginius", with portraits of General Barnabe de Varona, and General Washington Ryan, executed by Cuban volunteers at Santiago de Cuba. The Graphic, 1873.
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| Date | October 30 – November 8, 1873 |
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| Location | Santiago de Cuba |
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| Outcome | Peace negotiation |
| Deaths | 53 |
The Virginius Affair was a diplomatic dispute that occurred from October 1873 to February 1875 between the United States, the United Kingdom, and Spain (then in control of Cuba), during the Ten Years' War. Virginius was a fast American ship hired by Cuban insurrectionists to land men and munitions in Cuba to attack the Spanish regime there. It 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 of the men but stopped when the British government intervened.
Throughout the ordeal there was loose talk that the U.S. might declare war on Spain. During the lengthy negotiations the Spanish government had undergone several changes in leadership. US consul Caleb Cushing ended the episode by negotiating $80,000 in reparations to be paid to the families of the Americans who were executed. British families were compensated by the Spanish government through negotiation prior to American compensation. The incident was remarkable for the use of international diplomacy for a peaceful settlement implemented by US Secretary of State Hamilton Fish, rather than opting for a costly war between the United States and Spain. The Virginius Affair started a resurgence in the US Navy following the American Civil War; its fleet had been heretofore inferior to the warships of Spain.
Ten Years' War
After the American Civil War, the island country of Cuba under Spanish rule was one of the few Western Hemisphere countries in which slavery remained legal and was widely practiced. On October 10, 1868 a revolution broke out, known as the Ten Years' War, by Cuban landowners, led by Carlos Manuel de Céspedes. The Spanish, led initially by Francisco Lersundi, used the military to suppress the rebellion. In 1870, Secretary of State Hamilton Fish persuaded President Grant not to recognize Cuban belligerency, and the United States maintained an unstable peace with Spain.
As the Cuban war continued, international patriotic insurgency began to arise in support of the Cuban rebellion, and war bonds were sold in the US to support the Cuban resistance. One of the US Cuban patriots was John F. Patterson, who bought a former Confederate steamer, Virgin, at the Washington Navy Yard, renaming her Virginius. The legality of Patterson's purchase of Virginius would later come to national and international attention. The Cuban rebellion ended in an 1878 armistice after Spanish general Arsenio Martínez-Campos pardoned all Cuban rebels.
Virginius
Virginius was a small, high-speed side-wheel steamer built to serve as a blockade runner between Havana and Mobile, Alabama, for the Confederacy during the Civil War. Originally built as Virgin by Aitken & Mansel of Whiteinch, Glasgow in 1864, she became a prize of the United States when captured on April 12, 1865. In August 1870, Virginius was purchased by an American, John F. Patterson, acting secretly as an agent for Cuban insurgent Manuel Quesada and two US citizens, Marshall O. Roberts and J.K. Roberts. 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. Patterson took a required oath that he was the sole owner of Virginius. The secret purpose for the purchase of Virginius was to transport men, munitions, and supplies to aid the Cuban rebellion. For three years the ship aided the Cuban rebellion and was protected by US naval ships, including USS Kansas and USS Canandaigua. The Spanish said that it was an outlaw ship and aggressively sought to capture it.
US public reaction
The initial press reaction to the capture of Virginius was conservative, but as news of executions poured into the nation, certain newspapers became more aggressive in promoting Cuban intervention and war. The New York Times stated that if the executions of Americans from Virginius were illegal, war needed to be declared. The New York Tribune asserted that actions of Burriel and the Cuban Volunteers necessitated "the death knell of Spanish power in America." The New York Herald demanded Secretary Hamilton Fish's resignation and the recognition by the US of the Cuban belligerency. The National Republican, believing the threat of war with Spain to be imminent, encouraged the sale of Cuban bonds. The American public considered the executions as a national insult and rallied for intervention. Protest rallies took place across the nation in New Orleans, St. Louis, and Georgia, encouraging intervention in Cuba and vengeance on Spain.
The British Minister to the United States, Sir Edward Thornton, believed the American public was ready for war with Spain. A large rally in New York's Steinway Hall on November 17, 1873, led by future Secretary of State William 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...."
Aftermath
When the Virginius affair first broke out, a Spanish ironclad—the Arapiles—happened to be anchored in New 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. US Secretary of War George M. Robeson believed a US naval resurgence was necessary. Congress hastily issued contracts for the construction of five new ironclads, and accelerated its existing repair program for several more. USS Puritan and the four Amphitrite-class monitors were subsequently built as a result of the Virginius war scare. All five vessels would later take part in the Spanish–American War of 1898.
See also
In Spanish: Asunto del Virginius para niños
