Visit 6

Monday when I went to the archive, I decided to call back the Archie Brown Papers and bring that inquiry to a kind of conclusion. Since I wasn't able to read the full sequence of letters in my last visit, I started at the chronological end of his civil war correspondence and worked backwards. First, I wanted to know when they actually left versus when he knew they would be leaving. Last time the letters that mentioned the Americans' departure were dated in October. This time I found that they actually left sometime after December 22. I don't know whether this has any special significance; whether it indicates anything. I do remember, however, Brown saying that the French government was particularly unhelpful, which he marked as ironic since one would think that the French would want American volunteers out of Spain, since that policy would line up with their policy of non-intervention.

Something that was prominent in Brown's letters was the scarcity of resources--not only military resources but ordinary resources for civilians like food and soap. On October 18th he describes the great new lodging they've been given: "At the present moment I'm living practically in the lap of luxury... [descriptive paragraph]... But you can't get a damn thing to eat." That last line is actually enjambed to a second paragraph for extra stress. These lines reminded me of a paragraph in a previous letter: "Bimbo along with others went out to work the fields. The peasants are elated--there has been such a lack of man power. It's a shame to see the way the countryside is ladened with food and cannot be picked and the cities and the people generally are rationed." This is an issue I hadn't thought about but it makes perfect sense. Men are resources. A country needs them to fight but also to work. When men are trained well but ill-equipped, the casualties are higher than they should be. Thus, the country lost men at too great a rate. The frustrating issue, however, is that this loss was not the Republicans' fault. How could they equip their soldiers without being able to buy weapons?

What continues to surprise me in these letters is the examples of optimism I find. The volunteers can be discouraged, but they cannot be completely disheartened. Brown says, "Well we are finally on our way. We're sorry that we had to leave Spain before the struggle has been settled--but since we can do more good on the outside--it is better to be home working than in the rearguard of Spain waiting." Thus, Brown assumes the fight will continue on and he will continue to fight, if not in Spain, at home.

I think many Americans thought the war would go on longer than it did. That's what I've found in most of the letters I've read, at least. Even in Hemingway's play the main character predicts the war will go on for much longer. I wonder why the Americans felt this way when most Spaniards seemed to know that the end was near.