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CLASS OF 1881
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Rowan’s army career was, for the most part, unremarkable: garrison duty at various posts in the United States;
some survey work in Central America; a Washington assignment in the Adjutant General’s Office; appointment as military attaché to Chile;
staff service in Puerto Rico and Cuba during the War with Spain; some time in the Philippines; a year teaching military science in Kansas;
and retirement as major after thirty years service.
There was one spectacular break in the routine. Early in 1898, Rowan was dispatched on a secret mission to obtain
information on the strength of rebel forces in Cuba from their leader, Gen. Calixto Garcia. Rowan landed on the island the day Spain declared war,
found Garcia, and returned with the information in eleven days. Rowan’s exploit inspired a much–reprinted and much–translated 1899 pamphlet by Elbert Hubbard,
Message to Garcia, that made the officer’s name world famous.
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Frank Ross McCoy
1874–1954
Class of 1897
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Andrew Summers Rowan
1857–1943
Class of 1881
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