The Philippine–American War(1899–1902)

Prepared By:Loro, Carlito Jr.Sanciano, Mary Grace

Presented to: AB History 4

TIMELINEMay 1, 1898• Admiral Dewey launches surprise attack against a

handful of Spanish war vessels in Manila Bay. Commander of Spain’s Asian naval fleet surrenders.

May 19, 1898• President McKinley instructs his cabinet to make

preparations for the occupation the Philippines.June 12, 1898• Generalissimo Emilio Aguinaldo, along with other

Filipino leaders, sign the Proclamation of Independence.

Summer, 1898• Volunteers soldiers from many Midwestern states enlist

to fight Spanish.• U.S. soldiers defeat Spanish troops in CubaAugust 13, 1898• Volunteers from the 13th Minnesota take part in

invasion of Manila.• Filipino Army (who control suburbs) kept out of city by

U.S. soldiers.• Spanish Commander quickly surrenders (surrender had

been arranged prior to battle, unbeknownst to rank and file soldiers). This is the final battle of the Spanish American War.

September 15, 1898• The Malolos Congress is convened to lay the

legal and constitutional foundations for what is to become the First Philippine Republic.

December 12, 1898• U.S. and Spanish negotiators sign the Treaty of

Paris, officially ending the Spanish-American War and ceding the Philippines to the U.S. for $20 million. However, perhaps mindful of the yet unfinished build-up of its ground forces, the U.S. refuses to dispel Filipino suppositions that the Americans might yet recognize Philippine independence.

January 23, 1899• Generalissimo Emilio Aguinaldo formally

proclaims the establishment of the First Philippine Republic at Malolos in Bulacan province.

February 4, 1899• U.S. sentries shoot and kill 4 Filipino troops at

Santa Mesa bridge. This incident marks the beginning of the Philippine-American War. Out of a population of about 6 million, Filipinos lost an estimated 400,000 to 600,000 lives in the conflict. American losses were approximately10,000.

February 6, 1899• With one vote to spare beyond the required

two-thirds majority, the U.S. Senate votes to annex the Philippines.

March, 1899• Protestant missionaries begin arriving in the

Philippines.

• Spring & Summer, 1899• U.S. soldiers, who had volunteered to fight the

Spaniards, become disaffected with the war, horrified that they have been ordered to wage war with Filipinos. Letters sent to their families back home turn the tide of American sentiment against the war. Filipino soldiers wage a dogged guerilla war despite a shortage of weapons, but American troops easily conquer village after village. In the remote countryside, popular resistance continues.

July 4, 1902• U.S. declares victory in Philippine-American War.

Filipino resistance continues until 1910.

October 12, 1899• Minnesota Governor John Lind, even on the

occasion of welcoming the volunteer soldiers back to Minnesota, offered praise that rang hollow with the horror of what the men had discovered in their tour of duty: "The mission of the American volunteer soldier has come to an end. For purposes of conquest he is unfit, since he carries a conscience as well as a gun. The volunteer soldier has always stood for self-government, liberty and justice. With your generation he will pass from the stage of our national life.

July 4, 1902• The war officially ended.

However, some groups led by veterans of the Katipunan continued to battle the American forces. Among those leaders was General Macario  Sacay, a veteran Katipunan member who assumed the presidency of the proclaimed Tagalog Republic, formed in 1902 after the capture of President Aguinaldo.

1942• Japan takes control of the Philippines in World

War II.October 20, 1944• U.S. forces return to the Philippines. MacArthur

lands in the island of Leyte. Philippine government is re-established three days later.

July 4, 1946• The Philippines is granted political

independence by the U.S.

Philippine–American War

known as the Philippine War  of  Independence or the Digmaang  Pilipino-Amerikano (1899–1902), was an armed conflict between the United States and Filipino revolutionaries.

On February 4, 1899, an American soldier, Private William Grayson, shot a Filipino soldier at the bridge of San Juan, Manila. The fatal shot was followed by an immediate U.S. offensive on the Filipino lines. This marked the beginning of the Philippine-American War, which lasted for three years until the establishment of the civilian colonial government of Governor-General William Howard Taft on July 4, 1902. The timing of the San Juan incident is suspect since it happened only two days before the U.S.

Congress was scheduled to ratify the Treaty of  Paris on February 6, 1899. Under the treaty, Spain officially ceded the Philippines, Guam, and Puerto Rico to the United States in exchange for $20 million. Since the U.S. Congress, like the American public, was evenly split between the anti-imperialists and pro-annexationists, the treaty was expected to experience rough sailing when submitted to the Chamber for ratification. The San Juan incident and the outbreak of the Philippine American War tilted sentiment in favor of acquiring the Philippines, and thus the treaty was ratified by the U.S. Congress.

• Opposition in the United States to the war inspired the founding of the Anti-Imperialist League on Jun e 15, 1898

• Fighting erupted between U.S. and Filipino revolutionary forces on February 4, 1899, and quickly escalated into the 1899 Battle  of Manila.

• On June 2, 1899, the First Philippine Republic officially declared war against the United States..

Philippine Revolution

• On July 7, 1892, Andrés Bonifacio, a warehouseman and clerk from Manila, established the Katipunan, a revolutionary organization which aimed to gain independence from Spanish colonial rule by armed revolt.

The Katipunan spread throughout the provinces, and the Philippine Revolution of 1896 was led by its members, calledKatipuneros. Fighters in Cavite province won early victories. One of the most influential and popular Cavite leaders was Emilio Aguinaldo, mayor of Cavite El Viejo (modern-day Kawit), who gained control of much of eastern Cavite. Eventually Aguinaldo and his faction gained control of the leadership of the movement.

Aguinaldo's exile and return

Emilio Aguinaldo in the field

In 1897, Aguinaldo was elected president of an insurgent government while the “outmaneuvered” Bonifacio was executed for treason. Aguinaldo is officially considered the first president of the Philippines.

December 21, 1898, President McKinley issued a Proclamation of Benevolent assimilation. General Otis delayed its publication until January 4, 1899, then publishing an amended version edited so as not to convey the meanings of the terms "sovereignty", "protection", and "right of cessation" which were present in the unabridged version.

Aguinaldo wrote retrospectively in 1899 that he had met with U.S. Consuls E. Spencer Pratt and Rounceville Wildman in Singapore in 1898 between April 22 and 25 and that they persuaded him to again take up the mantle of leadership in the revolution, with Pratt communicating with Admiral George Dewey (the U.S. Navy's Asiatic Squadron commander) by telegram, passing assurances from Dewey to Aguinaldo that the United States -

-would at least recognize the independence of the Philippines under the protection of the United States Navy, and adding that there was no necessity for entering into a formal written agreement because the word of the Admiral and of the United States Consul were in fact equivalent to the most solemn pledge that their verbal promises and assurance would be fulfilled to the letter and were not to be classed with Spanish promises or Spanish ideas of a man’s word of honor.

Aguinaldo reports agreeing to return to the Philippines, travelling from Singapore to Hong Kong aboard the steamship Malacca, onwards from Hong Kong on American dispatch-boat McCulloch, and arriving in Cavite on May 19.

The Times reports the court ruling to uphold Mr. Pratt's position that he had "no dealings of a political character" with Aguinaldo and the book publisher withdrew from publication statements to the contrary.

African American soldiers of Troop E, 9th Cavalry Regiment before shipping out to 

the Philippines

9th Cavalry soldiers on foot, somewhere in 

Luzon Island.

The U.S. Army viewed its "Buffalo soldiers" as having an extra advantage in fighting in tropical locations. There was an unfounded belief that African-Americans were immune to tropical diseases. Based on this belief the U.S. congress authorized the raising of ten regiments of "persons possessing immunity to tropical diseases." These regiments would later be called "Immune Regiments".

Jan. 7, 1900: Battle of Imus, Cavite Province

Four soldiers of Company M, 28th Infantry Regiment of US Volunteers. Photo was taken 

in 1900. The regiment arrived in the Philippines on Nov. 22 and 23, 1899. It was commanded by Col. William E. Birkhimer.

January 14-15, 1900: Battle of Mt. Bimmuaya in Ilocos Sur

the only artillery duel of the war was fought in Mount Bimmuaya, a summit 1,000 meters above the Cabugao River, northwest of Cabugao, Ilocos Sur Province. It is a place with an unobstructed view of the coastal plain from Vigan to Laoag. The Americans -- from the 33rd Infantry Regiment USV, and the 3rd US Cavalry Regiment -- also employed Gatling guns and prevailed mainly because their locations were concealed by their use of smokeless gunpowder so that Filipino aim was wide off the mark.

The Battle of Mt. Bimmuaya diverted and delayed US troops from their chase of President Emilio Aguinaldo as the latter escaped through Abra and the mountain provinces. After the two-day battle, 28 unidentified fighters from Cabugao were found buried in unmarked fresh graves in the camposanto (cemetery). General Tinio switched to guerilla warfare and harassed the American garrisons in the different towns of the Ilocos for almost 1½ years.

January 20, 1900: Americans invade the Bicol Region

In early 1900, during their successful operations in the northern half of Luzon Island, the Americans decided to open the large hemp ports situated in the southeastern Luzon provinces of Sorsogon, Albay and Camarines, all in the Bicol region.

On January 20, the Americans entered Sorsogon Bay and took possession, without opposition, of the town of Sorsogon, where Kobbe left a small garrison. They proceeded to the small hemp ports of Bulan and Donsol, at each of which a company of the 43rd Infantry was placed. The expedition then sailed through the San Bernardino Strait to confront the Filipinos at Albay Province.

The main street and cathedral in Legaspi, Albay Province. PHOTO 

was taken in 1899.  

Major Paua, Col. Agapito Bonzon 

On  April  26,  1897,  then-Major  Paua,  Col. Agapito  Bonzon  and  their  men  attacked  and arrested Katipunan  Supremo Andres  Bonifacio  and  his brother  Procopio  inbarrio Limbon,  Indang,  Cavite Province; Andres was shot in the left arm and his other brother,  Ciriaco, was  killed.  Paua  jumped  and  stabbed Andres in the left side of the neck. From Indang, a half-starved  and  wounded  Bonifacio  was  carried  by hammock  to  Naik,  Cavite,  which  had  become Emilio Aguinaldo’s headquarters. The Bonifacio brothers were executed on May 10, 1897.

was  the only  foreigner who  signed  the 1897  Biyak-na-Bato  Constitution. He was among  36  Filipino  rebel  leaders  who  went  in exile  to  Hong  Kong  by  virtue  of  the Dec.  14, 1897 Peace Pact of Biyak-na-bato.

February 5, 1900: Ambush at Hermosa, Bataan Province

On Feb. 5, 1900, a supply train of Company G, 32nd Infantry Regiment of U.S. Volunteers, was ambushed near Hermosa, Bataan Province. The 11-man detail was commanded by Sgt. Clarence D. Wallace. It was sent from Dinalupihan by the Company Commander, Capt. Frank M. Rumbold, to escort Capt. William H. Cook, regimental assistant surgeon, to Orani. On arrival, the soldiers would report to the commissary officer for rations, which they were to escort back to Dinalupihan. It was while on their return trip that the party was ambushed; 6 Americans were killed. It was one of the deadliest ambuscades of U.S. troops in the war.

Forty-eight hours before this occurrence, detachments of the 32nd Infantry Regiment scouted the country south of Orani, west to Bagac, north to Dinalupihan, and west to Olongapo, without finding any trace of Filipino guerillas. Following the ambush, all American units in the province were directed to exercise extraordinary vigilance on escort and similar duty.

Execution of Filipinos, circa 1900-1901

Four doomed Filipinos --- in leg irons --- are photographed moments before their execution 

by hanging, circa 1900-1901

The Filipinos were hanged one at a time

War in Bohol, March 17, 1900 - Dec. 23, 1901

On March 17, 1900, 200 troops of the 1st Battalion, 44th Infantry Regiment of U.S. Volunteers (USV), led by Maj. Harry C. Hale, arrived in Tagbilaran. Bohol was one of the last major islands in the Philippines to be invaded by American troops. Bernabe Reyes, "President" of the "Republic of Bohol" established on June 11, 1899, separate from Emilio Aguinaldo's national government, did not resist. Major Hale hired and outfitted Pedro Samson to build an insular police force. In late August, he took off and emerged a week later as the island's leading guerilla.

Soldiers of the 44th U.S. Volunteer Infantry Regiment at Tubigon, Bohol, 

1900.

Company C of the 44th U.S. Volunteers encountered Samson on Aug. 31, 1900 near Carmen. The guerillas were armed with bolos, a few antique muskets and "anting-anting" or amulets. More than 100 guerillas died. The Americans lost only one man.

Guerilla Resistance On Mindanao Island, 1900-1902

BATTLE OF CAGAYAN DE MISAMIS, APRIL 7, 1900.

When the Treaty of Paris ended the Spanish-American War on Dec. 10, 1898, the Spanish governor of Misamis Province turned over his authority to two Filipinos appointed by Emilio Aguinaldo: Jose Roa, who became the first Filipino governor of Misamis; and Toribio Chavez, who served as the first Filipino mayor of Cagayan de Misamis (now Cagayan de Oro City). On Nov. 2, 1929, Misamis Province was divided into Misamis Occidental and Misamis Oriental.

BATTLE OF AGUSAN HILL, MAY 14, 1900. Capt. Walter B. Elliott, CO of Company I,

40th Infantry Regiment USV, with 80 men proceeded to the village of Agusan, about 16 kilometers west of Cagayan de Misamis town proper, to dislodge about 500 guerillas who were entrenched on a hill with 200 rifles and shotguns. The attack was successful; 2 Americans were killed and 3 wounded; the Filipinos suffered 38 killed, including their commander, Capt. Vicente Roa. The Americans also captured 35 Remington rifles.

BATTLE OF MACAHAMBUS GORGE, JUNE 4, 1900.

On Macahambus Gorge, located 14 kilometers south of Cagayan de Misamis (present-day Cagayan de Oro City), Mindanao Island, Filipino guerillas led by Col. Apolinar Velez routed an American force. It is the only known major victory of Filipinos over the Americans on Mindanao Island.

Macahambus Gorge

April 15, 1900: Battle of Jaro, Leyte

The American barracks at Jaro, Leyte, occupied by a detachment of Company B, 43rd Infantry Regiment of U.S. Volunteers, was attacked at 4:00 a.m. by about 1,000 Filipino guerillas. The detachment commander was 2Lt. Charles C. Estes. [The Company Commander was Capt. Linwood E. Hanson].

April 25, 1900: Marinduque

Marinduque was the first island to have American concentration camps. An American, Andrew Birtle, wrote in 1972: "The pacification of Marinduque was characterized by extensive devastation and marked one of the earliest employments of population concentration in the Philippine War, techniques that would eventually be used on a much larger scale in the two most famous campaigns of the war, those of Brigadier Generals J. Franklin Bell in Batangas and Jacob H. Smith in Samar."

May 5, 1900: General MacArthur becomes VIII Army Corps Commander and Military Governor of the Philippines

On  May  5, 1900 Maj. Gen. Arthur C.  MacArthur,  Jr. replaced  Maj.  Gen. Elwell  S.  Otis as VIII Army  Corps Commander and Military  Governor  of the Philippines. 

Oct. 14, 1900: Battle of Ormoc, Leyte Island

On Oct. 14, 1900, Company D of the 44th Infantry Regiment USV, commanded by 1Lt Richard W. Buchanan, clashed with Filipino guerillas in Ormoc, Leyte Island. The Americans suffered no casualties, while 116 Filipinos were killed.

June, 1902. Manila. American military rule ends. An American

civil government is established to rule over the American colony of

the Philippines.

End of our show!!!