Our Man in Havana: Fitzhugh Lee

Abstract

TN the final days before the United States went to war with Spain in April 1898, Fitzhugh returned home to hero's welcome after serving two years in Havana as consul general for the United States. Newspapers announced Lee 's Triumphal Progress North, Fitz the Hero, and Honor to Fitz Lee, as special train hurried him from Florida to the nation's capital. Admiring crowds gathered to cheer him in Southern towns along his route. Whistles blew, bells rang, and muskets and cannon fired in salute. Hastily assembled committees showered praise and compliments on him at every stop. Ten thousand persons, including the governor of Virginia, his staff, and the Light Infantry Blues, gathered to honor him at Richmond. In Washington, Lee's train was met by a large crowd of enthusiastic admirers. Well-wishers cheered and serenaded him; reporters interviewed him; and the Senate Foreign Relations Committee respectfully listened to his views on the sinking of the Maine. President William McKinley gave him hearty reception at the White House. Newspapers speculated that would be put in command of the forces soon to liberate the island of Cuba. Throughout the popular demonstrations one sentiment rang out: as consul general in Havana, had been The Right Man in the Right Place at the Right Time. ' Certainly Lee's alert, zealous patriotism and his decisiveness had made him strong defender of American citizens who ran afoul of Spanish authorities in Cuba. In retrospect his convictions that Spain was decadent, that Cuba would never surrender to Spanish rule, and that the United States must guide the political and economic development of the island made many of his reports prophetic. But