Philippine–American War: A Visual History

The Philippine-American War (1899-1902) began on 4 February 1899 when fighting broke out in Manila between American troops and the forces of Emilio Aguinaldo's Philippine Republic, which had declared independence from Spain in June 1898 only to see the islands sold to the United States at Paris. American armies took Malolos and Luzon's plains; Aguinaldo turned to guerrilla war in late 1899, and the US responded with reconcentration, burning and torture (the water cure) in campaigns in Batangas and Samar, where General Smith ordered 'a howling wilderness'. Aguinaldo was captured by a ruse in March 1901 and swore allegiance; Theodore Roosevelt declared the war over on 4 July 1902, though Moro and other resistance continued for a decade. About 4,200 Americans, 16,000 to 20,000 Filipino soldiers and 200,000 or more civilians died.

When it was fought: the era ribbon

The bold bar is Philippine-American War. The lighter bars are empires and wars from the same era and the same part of the world. Click any bar to jump to its page.

US troops in the Philippines

Timeline of the Philippine-American War

1. 1898
   Philippine independence declared; Manila taken; Treaty of Paris
2. 1899
   War begins; Malolos falls; Luna murdered; guerrilla war; Tirad Pass
3. 1901
   Aguinaldo captured; Balangiga; Samar campaign
4. 1902
   Malvar surrenders; Roosevelt declares war over4 July.
5. 1906
   Bud Dajo massacre; Sakay executed
6. 1913
   Bud Bagsak; Moro resistance ends

From allies to enemies

Aguinaldo, brought back from exile by Dewey, declared independence at Kawit on 12 June 1898 and besieged Manila with the Americans, who then took the city in a staged battle without him. The Treaty of Paris in December sold the Philippines to the US for 20 million dollars; McKinley proclaimed 'benevolent assimilation'. On the night of 4 February 1899 a US sentry fired on Filipino soldiers at San Juan del Monte; the war began, and the Senate ratified the treaty two days later by one vote. Anti-imperialists like Mark Twain and Carnegie protested.

Conventional and guerrilla war

US forces took Malolos, Aguinaldo's capital, in March 1899 and drove north; General Antonio Luna, the republic's best commander, was murdered by rival Filipino troops in June. In November Aguinaldo dissolved the regular army for guerrilla war; Gregorio del Pilar died covering his retreat at Tirad Pass. Guerrillas ambushed patrols and were sheltered by villages; Americans burned crops and homes, applied the water cure and, after the Balangiga massacre of 48 US soldiers on Samar in September 1901, General Smith ordered everyone over ten killed; Bell's reconcentration in Batangas killed thousands by disease.

Capture and pacification

Frederick Funston, posing as a prisoner of Macabebe scouts disguised as rebels, captured Aguinaldo at Palanan on 23 March 1901; Aguinaldo swore allegiance and called for surrender. Malvar gave up in April 1902; Roosevelt declared amnesty and victory on 4 July 1902. The Moros of Mindanao and Sulu fought until 1913 (Bud Dajo, Bud Bagsak); Macario Sakay's republic in Luzon lasted to 1906. The US built schools and roads, promised eventual independence in 1916 and granted it in 1946.

American historians long minimised the war; Filipino accounts and modern studies put civilian deaths at 200,000 or more, mostly from famine and cholera in 1902.

Related empires and wars

Chosen automatically by overlap in time and geography, plus a few hand picked connections.

Empires of the same era and region

• Spanish Empire (1492 to 1976)
• United States (1776 to present)
• Empire of Japan (1868 to 1947)
• Second French colonial empire (1830 to 1980)
• British Empire (1583 to 1997)
• German colonial empire (1884 to 1919)

Wars of the same era and region

• Cuban wars of independence and Spanish-American War (1868 to 1898)
• Civil conflict in the Philippines (1969 to present)
• World War II (1939 to 1945)
• Burmese-Siamese wars (1547 to 1855)
• First Indochina War (1946 to 1954)
• Myanmar conflict (1948 to present)

8 surprising things about the Philippine-American War

1. The Senate ratified the Treaty of Paris annexing the Philippines by a single vote two days after the war began.
2. The 'water cure', forcing gallons of water down a prisoner's throat, was investigated by a Senate committee in 1902.
3. Mark Twain proposed the US flag for the Philippines have the stripes painted black and the stars replaced by skulls.
4. General Jacob Smith's order to make Samar 'a howling wilderness' got him court-martialled and retired.
5. Filipino soldiers were called 'insurrectos' and the war 'the Philippine Insurrection' in US usage until the Library of Congress renamed it in 1998.
6. The Balangiga church bells taken as trophies were returned by the US in 2018.
7. The .45 calibre Colt pistol was adopted by the US Army partly because .38 revolvers failed to stop charging Moro fighters.
8. Aguinaldo lived to see Philippine independence in 1946 and died in 1964 aged 94.

Sources

• Philippine-American War Encyclopaedia Britannica
• Philippine-American War Wikipedia
• The Philippine-American War, 1899-1902 US State Department Office of the Historian
• Brian McAllister Linn, The Philippine War 1899-1902 (2000) University Press of Kansas

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