1794 Letter from Prisoner-of-War in Cuba

Since 2002, Guantanamo Bay in Cuba has been the location of various combatants captured in Afganistan.

When was the start of Cuba’s association with prisoners-of-war? Go back 104 years to 1898. Cuba was the scene of the Spanish-American War. A few items of mail from prisoners-of-war in this conflict have survived, and have been described by Yamil Kouri.

Go back another 104 years. The year is 1794. France and Spain were at war. The letter described in this article was written on behalf of French prisoners-of-war at Havana.

The Contents of the Letter
This letter gives a list of 300 French military prisoners in Havana. There are 232 soldiers, and the letter lists the number of men of each rank in each Regiment. There are also 68 sailors aboard a French ship. The writer says that there could be 130 to 140 further prisoners in the prison. No individual names are given. Not even the writer’s name appears – however it appears that the letter may have been trimmed, removing the signature.

The letter is written to the senior representatives of the French Government in the United States of America. These representatives were situated in Philadelphia, then the capital.

I have translated from French the first few sentences, which convey the mood of the whole letter.

Being the representative of 25 million people, let us make leave.

We represent to you, the prisoners held in Havana, who are without doubt being ignored. You should demand their exchange, or you should act for their interest s to the General of these places to obtain their release.

1793-95 War Between Spain and France
Spain and France declared war on each other in 1793, shortly after the execution of French King Louis XVI. Initially, Spain seized territory in France near the two countries’ Mediterranean border. In 1794, the French Armies regained its territory and invaded Spain taking Bilbao, San Sebastian and parts of Catalonia. The War ended in 1795.

Both Spain and France had colonies in the Caribbean. I have so far been unable to find any reference that there was any fighting in the Caribbean as part of this war. Possibly the Spanish authorities in Cuba took into custody any French service personnel as a precaution. The large number detained could be due to the fact that the uprising in St Domingue (Haiti) began in August 1791.

The writer of the letter fears that their plight has been ignored, even at the time. It is little wonder that this detention has not found its way into the history books.

Sending the Letter
The writer was obviously desperate to get this message to any representative of the French Government. The ship that carried this letter was sailing to Philadelphia, the capital of the United States.

In Philadelphia the letter was rated as a ship letter addressed to the port of arrival. Under the U.S. Act of 1792, the addressee was charged 4 cents.

Note the hand-struck 4, which is struck horizontally. I describe the color as blackish-brown. This is the earliest ship letter handst amp from the United States, although earlier examples of this marking are known.

Action
Th is letter appears to have generated a favourable response. At the top the letter, someone has written
a notation in French. It translates to:

Send this to the Consul-General, with a plea to follow up the demands of these citizens with the Spanish.

Address
The address is typical for an educated Frenchman in the Revolution.

To the Citizen.
Citizen Jean Fauchet,
Officer General of the French Republic,
at the United States of North America,
At Philadelphia.

Dateline
La Avanne, le 26 8bre 1794

I have not seen this French spelling of Havana.

The date is interesting for two reasons.

In letters of this age from France, Spain or Italy, 8bre refers to October. Similarly Xbre refers to December.
Secondly, the writer has failed to express the date using the new French revolutionary calendar. The
start date for this new system was 24 October 1793. This gives some indication as to when the writer left France.

(This article first appeared in The Cuban Philatelist, First Third, 2004.)

References

Encyclopaedia Britannica

Kouri, Yamil H, Jr. “Spanish Prisoner-of-War Mail during the Spanish-American War.” The
Cuban Philatelist , Second Third, 2002.

Wierenga, Theron J. “United States Incoming Steamship Mail, 1847-1875.” 2nd Edition, 2000.

This article was originally published in The Journal of the Philatelic Society of NSW (February 2004) and is republished here by kind permission of the editor.