''A Message to Garcia'' is a widely distributed essay written by
Elbert Hubbard in 1899, expressing the value of individual initiative and conscientiousness in work. The essay's primary example is a dramatized version of a daring escapade performed by an American soldier,
First Lieutenant
First lieutenant is a commissioned officer military rank in many armed forces; in some forces, it is an appointment.
The rank of lieutenant has different meanings in different military formations, but in most forces it is sub-divided into a s ...
Andrew S. Rowan, just before the
Spanish–American War
, partof = the Philippine Revolution, the decolonization of the Americas, and the Cuban War of Independence
, image = Collage infobox for Spanish-American War.jpg
, image_size = 300px
, caption = (clock ...
. The essay describes Rowan carrying a message from President
William McKinley
William McKinley (January 29, 1843September 14, 1901) was the 25th president of the United States, serving from 1897 until his assassination in 1901. As a politician he led a realignment that made his Republican Party largely dominant in ...
to "Gen.
Calixto García, a leader of the Cuban insurgents somewhere in the mountain fastnesses of
Cuba
Cuba ( , ), officially the Republic of Cuba ( es, República de Cuba, links=no ), is an island country comprising the island of Cuba, as well as Isla de la Juventud and several minor archipelagos. Cuba is located where the northern Caribbea ...
—no one knew where". The essay contrasts Rowan's self-driven effort against "the imbecility of the average man—the inability or unwillingness to concentrate on a thing and do it".
[Elbert Hubbard, ''A Message to Garcia''. East Aurora, N.Y.: The Roycrofters, 1914]
Publication history
''A Message to Garcia'' was originally published as filler without a title in the March 1899 issue of ''
The Philistine
''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things that are already or about to be mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in En ...
'', a periodical which, at that time, was written entirely by Hubbard. His complaints about lazy and incompetent workers struck a chord with many corporate executives. One of these was
George H. Daniels, a promotion-minded executive with the
New York Central Railroad
The New York Central Railroad was a railroad primarily operating in the Great Lakes and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The railroad primarily connected greater New York and Boston in the east with Chicago and St. Louis in the Midw ...
. Daniels reprinted the essay hundreds of thousands of times as part of the railroad's Four-Track Series of pamphlets. Hubbard's Roycroft Press, the publishing arm of an
arts and crafts community he founded in
East Aurora, New York, reprinted and sold the essay in a variety of bindings—suede, embossed, paperback, and so on—and as paid promotional literature for organizations as disparate as
Wanamaker's department store, the
Boy Scouts of America
The Boy Scouts of America (BSA, colloquially the Boy Scouts) is one of the largest scouting organizations and one of the largest youth organizations in the United States, with about 1.2 million youth participants. The BSA was founded i ...
, and the
United States Navy
The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...
.
It was also reprinted in many anthologies of inspirational literature. Modern editions are readily available today on the Internet.
Historical accuracy
In Hubbard's version of Rowan's journey, President McKinley needed to communicate with Gen. Calixto Garcia, a leader of the Cuban insurgents.
In fact, the only true statement Hubbard wrote was that Rowan "landed...off the coast of Cuba from an open boat". All the rest, including McKinley's need to communicate with Garcia and Rowan's delivery of a letter to the general, was false.
It was Maj.
Arthur L. Wagner, head of the
Military Information Division, who successfully petitioned Adj. Gen.
Henry Clark Corbin for permission to send spies to Cuba and Puerto Rico to gather military information. Wagner selected 40-year-old 1st Lt. Andrew S. Rowan to join García, who led of the rebel forces in eastern Cuba. On April 9, Rowan, posing as a civilian, boarded a steamer in New York bound for
Kingston, Jamaica
Kingston is the capital and largest city of Jamaica, located on the southeastern coast of the island. It faces a natural harbour protected by the Palisadoes, a long sand spit which connects the town of Port Royal and the Norman Manley Inter ...
. With the help of the U.S. consul in Kingston, he connected with the
Cuban Revolutionary Junta, some of whose members transported him by open boat during one of their trips to the southeastern coast of Cuba.
[Charles V. Kirchman, "The Message to Garcia: The Anatomy of a Famous Mission", ''Mankind: The Magazine of Popular History'' 4, no. 9 (1974).] They went ashore the morning of April 25.
Following an eight-day horseback journey with rebels through the
Sierra Maestra
The Sierra Maestra is a mountain range that runs westward across the south of the old Oriente Province in southeast Cuba, rising abruptly from the coast. The range falls mainly within the Santiago de Cuba and in Granma Provinces. Some view it a ...
Mountains, Rowan met with García in the city of
Bayamo
Bayamo is the capital city of the Granma Province of Cuba and one of the largest cities in the Oriente region.
Overview
The community of Bayamo lies on a plain by the Bayamo River. It is affected by the violent Bayamo wind.
One of the most ...
on May 1. Rowan's assignment was to keep the
War Department informed as to "the strength, efficiency, movements and general military situation". His orders were to stay in Cuba, to "accompany the Insurgent Forces, and to send back dispatches". Disregarding his orders, Rowan said he was there to learn what García needed to cooperate with the U.S. armed forces during a possible invasion. He added that he was eager to return to the U.S. García, seeing an opportunity, sent him back to the U.S. within hours of his arrival. Traveling with him were members of García's staff to confer with U.S. officials. After a five-day horseback journey to
Manatí Bay on Cuba's north coast, they "drew a little cockle-shell of a boat from under a mangrove bush" and set sail for Florida. A passing sponging steamer carried them to Nassau, and from there they eventually sailed to Tampa, arriving on May 13.
Rowan had no sooner landed in Cuba on April 25 than details of his secret mission were splashed across the pages of America's newspapers. It was learned that, while in Jamaica, Rowan had revealed this information to an
Associated Press
The Associated Press (AP) is an American non-profit news agency headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association. It produces news reports that are distributed to its members, U.S. newspa ...
correspondent named
Elmer Roberts.
[ This was not what Adj. Gen. Corbin anticipated. Had the news reports not made Rowan a popular hero, however falsely, Corbin might have had him ]court-martial
A court-martial or court martial (plural ''courts-martial'' or ''courts martial'', as "martial" is a postpositive adjective) is a military court or a trial conducted in such a court. A court-martial is empowered to determine the guilt of memb ...
ed.[ Instead he was deemed as popular as ]Buffalo Bill
William Frederick Cody (February 26, 1846January 10, 1917), known as "Buffalo Bill", was an American soldier, Bison hunting, bison hunter, and showman. He was born in Le Claire, Iowa, Le Claire, Iowa Territory (now the U.S. state of Iowa), but ...
, lauded by Maj. Gen Nelson A. Miles
Nelson Appleton Miles (August 8, 1839 – May 15, 1925) was an American military general who served in the American Civil War, the American Indian Wars, and the Spanish–American War.
From 1895 to 1903, Miles served as the last Commanding Gen ...
, commanding general of the army, and temporarily promoted to lieutenant-colonel
Lieutenant colonel ( , ) is a rank of commissioned officers in the armies, most marine forces and some air forces of the world, above a major and below a colonel. Several police forces in the United States use the rank of lieutenant colonel. ...
in the 6th Regiment Volunteer Infantry.
Exaggerated circulation claims
In 1914, Hubbard claimed the essay had been reprinted over 40 million times. His son Bert later reported 80 million times, and in a 1926 bill to promote Andrew Summers Rowan to major general, retired, it was stated there were 225 million copies printed. In their 1977 survey of best sellers, Alice Hackett and James H. Burke estimated a circulation of four million. Since then there has been an uncounted—and uncountable—number of copies, particularly if every digital copy is included, but no one has yet been able to prove a circulation of 40 million. In an oft-repeated story, Hubbard wrote that when "Mr. Daniels f the NY Centralwas distributing the ''Message to Garcia'', Prince Hilakoff (Mikhail Khilkov
Prince Mikhail Ivanovich Khilkov (also spelled Chilkoff, Chilkov, Khilkoff, Hilkof and other variants) (russian: Михаил Иванович Хилков) (18 December .S. 6 December 1834 - 8 March 1909) was a Russian railroad executive. He was ...
), Director of Russian Railways, was in this country...and made a tour of the country under the personal direction of Mr. Daniels....When he got home he had the ''Message to Garcia'' translated into Russian, and a copy of the booklet given to every railroad employee in Russia," apparently unaware that at that time a large percentage of Russian railroad workers were illiterate. Hubbard further claimed that " ring the Russo-Japanese War
The Russo-Japanese War ( ja, 日露戦争, Nichiro sensō, Japanese-Russian War; russian: Ру́сско-япóнская войнá, Rússko-yapónskaya voyná) was fought between the Empire of Japan and the Russian Empire during 1904 and 1 ...
, every soldier who went to the front was given a copy." The Japanese found the pamphlet on Russian prisoners of war, had it translated, and the "Mikado
Mikado may refer to:
* Emperor of Japan or
Arts and entertainment
* ''The Mikado'', an 1885 comic opera by Gilbert and Sullivan
* ''The Mikado'' (1939 film), an adaptation of the opera, directed by Victor Schertzinger
* ''The Mikado'' (1967 f ...
" ordered a copy given "to every man in the employ of the Japanese government, soldier or civilian". The narrative is false: Khilkov was in the U.S. in October 1896, long before the essay was written, and only occasionally was he in the company of Daniels. Not a single copy of the purported Russian or Japanese government-issued pamphlets has been found. When Hubbard was writing about the Russian and Japanese translations, he also declared that the pamphlet traveled from Russia to "Germany, France, Spain, Turkey, Hindustan, and China", and claimed that the essay had been translated into "all written languages". That has yet to be demonstrated; however, it can today be found in many recent translations: Czech, German, Romanian, Chinese, Korean, and other languages.
In popular culture
The phrase "to carry a message to Garcia" was in common use for years to indicate taking initiative when carrying out a difficult assignment. Richard Nixon
Richard Milhous Nixon (January 9, 1913April 22, 1994) was the 37th president of the United States, serving from 1969 to 1974. A member of the Republican Party, he previously served as a representative and senator from California and was ...
can be heard using it on the Watergate tapes during conversations with Henry Kissinger
Henry Alfred Kissinger (; ; born Heinz Alfred Kissinger, May 27, 1923) is a German-born American politician, diplomat, and geopolitical consultant who served as United States Secretary of State and National Security Advisor under the presid ...
and John Ehrlichman.; It has also been used as the title of children's games and dramatized on radio shows, and it was tailor-made for the Boy Scouts of America. A passage in the 1917 ''Boy Scouts Yearbook'' emphasizes the connection: "If you give Boy Scouta 'Message to Garcia' you know that message will be delivered, although the mountains, the wilderness, the desert, the torrents, the broad lagoons or the sea itself, separate him from 'Garcia'."
There have been two movies based on the essay, both titled ''A Message to Garcia''. The first, a silent movie made in 1916 by Thomas A. Edison, Inc.
Thomas A. Edison, Incorporated (originally the National Phonograph Company) was the main holding company for the various manufacturing companies established by the inventor and entrepreneur Thomas Edison. It was a successor to Edison Manufacturin ...
, was directed by Richard Ridgely
Richard Ridgely (1869–1949) was an American actor and film director active during the silent era.Gmür p.22
Selected filmography
* '' Ranson's Folly'' (1915)
* ''Eugene Aram'' (1915)
* ''Olive's Greatest Opportunity'' (1915)
* '' The Martyrdom ...
and featured Robert Conness
Robert Conness (1867/68 – 1941) was an American stage and film actor. Born in 1867 or 1868 he began in the theatre in 1894 and performed in vaudeville and on Broadway. He began in silent film in 1910 and made his last film appearance in 1918. He ...
, Mabel Trunnelle
Mabel Trunnelle (November 8, 1879 – April 20, 1981) was an American actress who appeared in 194 films between 1908 and 1923.
Biography
Trunnelle was born in Dwight, Illinois and died in Glendale, California.
''Photoplay'' magazine argued t ...
, and Charles Sutton. As noted on the Turner Classic Movie
Turner Classic Movies (TCM) is an American movie channel, movie-oriented pay television, pay-TV television network, network owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. Launched in 1994, Turner Classic Movies is headquartered at Turner's Techwood broadcasti ...
site, "accuracy was not really a concern". The second film was produced in 1936 by Twentieth Century Fox
20th Century Studios, Inc. (previously known as 20th Century Fox) is an American film studio, film production company headquartered at the Fox Studio Lot in the Century City area of Los Angeles. As of 2019, it serves as a film production arm o ...
and directed by George Marshall. It featured John Boles as Andrew Rowan, Wallace Beery, Barbara Stanwyck
Barbara Stanwyck (; born Ruby Catherine Stevens; July 16, 1907 – January 20, 1990) was an American actress, model and dancer. A stage, film, and television star, during her 60-year professional career she was known for her strong, realistic sc ...
, Alan Hale, Herbert Mundin
Herbert Thomas Mundin (21 August 1898 – 5 March 1939) was an English character actor. He was frequently typecast in 1930s Hollywood films like ''The Adventures of Robin Hood'' as an older cheeky eccentric, a type helped by his jowled feature ...
, Mona Barrie, and Enrique Acosta
Enrique Acosta was a Mexican American movie actor. He appeared in multiple films from 1925 to 1947, such as "Don Q, Son of Zorro" (1925) and "A Message to Garcia" (1936).
Early life
Acosta emigrated with his family to Los Angeles, California, ...
as Garcia—an "agreeable embroidery" according to Leslie Halliwell.
'' Up the Down Staircase'', the 1965 book by Bel Kaufman
Bella Kaufman (May 10, 1911 – July 25, 2014) was an American teacher and author, well known for writing the bestselling 1964 novel ''Up the Down Staircase.''
Early life
Bella's father, Michael Kaufman (Mikhail Y. Koyfman) and her mother, Lal ...
, has a chapter titled "A Message to Garcia".
Further reading
* Hulme, Peter, ''Cuba's Wild East: A Literary Geography of Oriente''. Liverpool: Liverpool University Press, 2011.
* Rice, Donald Tunnicliff. ''Cast in Deathless Bronze: Andrew Rowan, the Spanish–American War, and the Origins of American Empire''. Morgantown: West Virginia University Press, 2016.
References
*
External links
* Elbert Hubbard
''A Message to Garcia''
* Andrew Summers Rowan
{{DEFAULTSORT:Message to Garcia, A
1916 films
American black-and-white films
1936 films
Spanish–American War
1899 essays
Works originally published in American magazines