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Philippine-American War
Filipino casualties on the first day of Philippine-American War. Original caption is 'Insurgent dead just as they fell in the trench near Santa Ana, February 5th. The trench was circular, and the picture shows but a small portion.'
Date late months of 1899–1902 or 1899–1913 (unofficial) Location Philippines Result United States victory. The Philippines becomes a U.S. territory.
Belligerents
United States	First Philippine Republic several groups post-1902
Commanders and leaders
William McKinley Theodore Roosevelt	Emilio Aguinaldo Miguel Malvar Pio del Pilar Manuel Tinio Gregorio del Pilar† Licerio Geronimo Vicente Lukban Juan Cailles Maximino Hizon several unofficial leaders post-1902
Strength
126,000 soldiers	First Philippine Republic: 80,000 soldiers
Casualties and losses
~5,000-7,000	~12,000-20,000 military, 200,000 to 1,500,000 civilians died through war, famine, or disease in the 15 years following the onset of the war.

The Philippine-American War was an armed military conflict between the United States of America and the First Philippine Republic, fought between 1899 to at least 1902, which arose from a Filipino political struggle against U.S. occupation of the Philippines.

While the conflict was officially declared over on July 4, 1902, American troops continued hostilities against remnants of the Philippine Army and other resistance groups until 1913, and some historians consider these unofficial extensions part of the war.

Background

Philippine Revolution

On July 7, 1892, Andrés Bonifacio, a warehouseman and clerk from Manila, founded the Katipunan, a secret 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.

While a charismatic and decisive figure, Bonifacio suffered defeats at the hands of the Spaniards in battles he personally led, including the very first major battle at San Juan del Monte, Manila (now Pinaglabanan). Some historians have thus considered him an ineffectual military leader, but others have argued the opposite by virtue of chain of command as other lower-ranking commanders whom he directed were successful.

Fighters in Cavite province won early victories. One of the most influential and popular Caviteño leaders was Emilio Aguinaldo, mayor of Cavite El Viejo (modern-day Kawit), who now controlled much of eastern Cavite. Eventually, Aguinaldo and his faction gained control of the movement. The Katipunan was superseded by a revolutionary government, of which Aguinaldo was elected president, and the “outmaneuvered” Bonifacio was executed for treason.

The conflict between Bonifacio and Aguinaldo has subsquently become a controversial matter among Filipino historians. At least one, Nick Joaquin, has opined that the Revolution of 1896 as led by the Caviteños is to be distinguished from Bonifacio's failed uprising in Manila. Others such as Teodoro Agoncillo and Milagros C. Guerrero have noted that Bonifacio organized the Katipunan into a government prior to the outbreak of hostilities, with him as president. This government was called Republika ng Katagalugan, after "Tagalog", the name of an ethnic group, used to refer to all natives. Regardless, Aguindalo's national government and presidency are usually considered the first in Philippine history.

Aguinaldo's exile and return

By December 1897, the futility of the struggle was becoming apparent on both sides and came to a stalemate. In August 1897, armistice negotiations were opened between Aguinaldo and the current Spanish governor-general, Fernando Primo de Rivera. By mid-December, an agreement was reached in which the governor would pay Aguinaldo a sum described in the agreement as "$800,000 (Mexican)" in three installments if Aguinaldo would go into exile. Aguinaldo then established himself in Hong Kong. Before leaving, Aguinaldo denounced the Revolution, exhorted Filipino combatants to disarm and declared those who continued hostilities to be bandits. However, some Filipino revolutionaries did continue armed struggle against the Spanish colonial government.

Aguinaldo wrote retrospectively in 1899 that he had met with U.S. Consuls E. Spencer Pratt and Rounceville Wildman in Singapore between 22 and 25 April, and that they persuaded him to again take up the mantle of leadership in the revolution, with Pratt communicating with Admiral Dewey 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 honour. Aguinaldo reports agreeing to return to the Philippines, traveling from Singapore to Hong Kong aboard the steamship Malacca, onwards from Hong Kong on American despatch-boat McCulloch, and arriving in Cavite on 19 May. The New York Times wrote on August 6, 1899 that Pratt had obtained a court order enjoining the publication of certain statements "... which might be regarded as showing a positive connection" between himself and Aguinaldo. 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.

In Cavite, Aguinaldo reports meeting with Admiral Dewey, and recalls: "I asked whether it was true that he had sent all the telegrams to the Consul at Singapore, Mr. Pratt, which that gentleman had told me he received in regard to myself. The Admiral replied in the affirmative, adding that the United States had come to the Philippines to protect the natives and free them from the yoke of Spain. He said, moreover, that America is exceedingly well off as regards territory, revenue, and resources and therefore needs no colonies, assuring me finally that there was no occasion for me to entertain any doubts whatever about the recognition of the Independence of the Philippines by the United States." By late May, Dewey had been ordered by the U.S. Department of the Navy to distance himself from Aguinaldo lest he make untoward commitments to the Philippine forces.

In a matter of months after Aguinaldo's return, the Philippine Army conquered nearly all of Spanish-held ground within the Philippines. With the exception of Manila, which was completely surrounded by the Philippine Army of 12,000, the Filipinos now controlled the Philippines. Aguinaldo also turned over 15,000 Spanish prisoners to the Americans, offering them valuable intelligence. On June 12, Aguinaldo declared independence at his house in Cavite El Viejo.

On August 13, with American commanders unaware that a peace protocol had been signed between Spain and the United States on the previous day, American forces captured the city of Manila from the Spanish. Governor-General Fermin Jaudenes had made a secret agreement with Dewey and General Wesley Merritt. Jaudenes specifically requested to surrender only to the Americans, not to the Filipino rebels. In order to save face, he proposed a mock battle with the Americans preceding the Spanish surrender; the Filipinos would not be allowed to enter the city. Dewey and Merritt agreed to this, and no one else in either camp knew about the agreement. On the eve of the mock battle, General Thomas M. Anderson telegraphed Aguinaldo, “Do not let your troops enter Manila without the permission of the American commander. On this side of the Pasig River you will be under fire”.

At the beginning of the war between Spain and America, Americans and Filipinos had been allies against Spain in all but name; now Spanish and Americans were in a partnership that excluded the Filipino insurgents. Fighting between American and Filipino troops almost broke out as the former moved in to dislodge the latter from strategic positions around Manila on the eve of the attack. Aguinaldo had been told bluntly by the Americans that his army could not participate and would be fired upon if it crossed into the city. The insurgents were infuriated at being denied triumphant entry into their own capital, but Aguinaldo bided his time. Relations continued to deteriorate, however, as it became clear to Filipinos that the Americans were in the islands to stay.

The June 12 declaration of Philippine independence had not been recognized by either the United States or Spain, and the Spanish government ceded the Philippines to the United States in the 1898 Treaty of Paris, which was signed on December 10 1898, in consideration for an indemnity for Spanish expenses and assets lost.

On January 1, 1899, Aguinaldo was declared President of the Philippines — the first and only president of what would be later called the First Philippine Republic. He later organized a Congress at Malolos, Bulacan to draft a constitution.

Admiral Dewey later argued that he had promised nothing regarding the future:

“From my observation of Aguinaldo and his advisers I decided that it would be unwise to co-operate with him or his adherents in an official manner… In short, my policy was to avoid any entangling alliance with the insurgents, while I appreciated that, pending the arrival of our troops, they might be of service.”

War against the United States

Conflict origins

The Philippine Declaration of Independence occurred on June 12, 1898, when Filipino revolutionary forces under Aguinaldo (later to become the Philippines' first Republican President) proclaimed the sovereignty and independence of the Philippine Islands from the colonial rule of Spain after the latter was defeated at the Battle of Manila Bay during the Spanish-American War.

The declaration, however, was not recognized by the United States or Spain, as the Spanish government ceded the Philippines to the United States in the 1898 Treaty of Paris, in consideration for an indemnity for Spanish expenses and assets lost.

Tensions between the Philippine and the American governments existed because of the conflicting movements for independence and colonization, aggravated by the feelings of betrayal on the part of Aguinaldo. The Malolos Congress declared war on the United States on June 2, 1899, with Pedro Paterno, President of Congress, issuing a Proclamation of War. The Philippine-American war ensued between 1899 and 1902.

First Philippine Commission

On January 20, 1899, President McKinley appointed the First Philippine Commission (the Schurman Commission), to investigate conditions in the islands and make recommendations. In the report that they issued to the president the following year, the commissioners acknowledged Filipino aspirations for independence; they declared, however, that the Philippines was not ready for it. Specific recommendations included the establishment of civilian government as rapidly as possible (the American chief executive in the islands at that time was the military governor), including establishment of a bicameral legislature, autonomous governments on the provincial and municipal levels, and a system of free public elementary schools.

First shots

The conflict began on February 4, 1899, due to a misunderstanding between the two nations. A Filipino soldier was shot by an American soldier, William W. Grayson, at now Silencio Street, Manila. Grayson's own account states:

In a moment, something rose up slowly in front of us. It was a Filipino. I yelled “Halt!” and made it pretty loud, for I was accustomed to challenging the officer of the guard in approved military style. I challenged him with another loud “halt!” Then he shouted “halto!” to me. Well, I thought the best thing to do was to shoot him.

According to Filipino nationalist historian Renato Constantino, it is believed that American aggression led to the first shot that sparked the war. McKinley himself encouraged his commanders to shoot first, ask later. Another view posits the shot Filipino soldier was probably drunk. Fighting soon erupted in Manila. It caused 2,000 casualties for Filipinos and 250 for the Americans.

According to Murat Halstead, official historian of the U.S. Philippine Expedition, Aguinaldo issued the following proclamation on February 4, 1899:

I order and command:

1. That peace and friendly relations with the Americans be broken and that the latter be treated as enemies, within the limits prescribed by the laws of war.

2. That the Americans captured be held as prisoners of war.

3. That this proclamation be communicated to the consuls and that congress order and accord a suspension of the constitutional guarantee,

resulting from the declaration of war.

The Malolos Congress declared war on the United States on June 2, 1899, with Pedro Paterno, President of Congress, issuing a Proclamation of War. The Philippine-American war ensued between 1899 and 1902.

According to Teodoro Agoncillo, Aguinaldo subsequently tried to stop the hostilities and sent emissaries to the Americans, but General Elwell Otis replied: "Fighting having begun, must go on to the grim end." U.S. President William McKinley later told reporters “that the insurgents had attacked Manila” in justifying war on the Philippines.

The McKinley administration subsequently declared Aguinaldo to be an “outlaw bandit”, and no formal declaration of war was ever issued. Two reasons have been suggested for this:

1. Calling the war the Philippine Insurrection made it appear to be a rebellion against a lawful government.
2. To enable the American government to avoid liability to claims by veterans of the action.

Second Philippine Commission

The Second Philippine Commission (the Taft Commission), appointed by McKinley on March 16, 1900, and headed by William Howard Taft, was granted legislative as well as limited executive powers. Between September 1900 and August 1902, it issued 499 laws. A judicial system was established, including a Supreme Court, and a legal code was drawn up to replace antiquated Spanish ordinances. A civil service was organized. The 1901 municipal code provided for popularly elected presidents, vice presidents, and councilors to serve on municipal boards. The municipal board members were responsible for collecting taxes, maintaining municipal properties, and undertaking necessary construction projects; they also elected provincial governors.

American escalation

An American military force of 126,000 soldiers was needed to conquer the country, and the force was regularly engaged in war against Filipino forces for another decade. Also, Macabebe Filipinos were recruited by the United States Army. Twenty-six of the 30 American generals who served in the Philippines from 1898 to 1902 had fought in the Indian Wars.

By the end of February 1899, the Americans had prevailed in the struggle for Manila, and the Philippine Army was forced to retreat north. Hard-fought American victories followed at Quingua (April), Zapote Bridge (June), and Tirad Pass (December). With the June assassination of General Antonio Luna by rivals in the Philippine leadership, conventional military leadership was weakened. Brigadier General Gregorio del Pilar fought a delaying action at Battle of Tirad Pass to allow Aguinaldo to escape, but del Pilar was killed in the final attack. For the Filipinos, this battle remains their Thermopylae. After this battle and the loss of two of their best generals, the Filipinos' ability to fight a conventional war rapidly diminished.

Philippine war strategy

Estimates of the Filipino forces vary between 80,000 and 100,000, with tens of thousands of auxiliaries. Lack of weapons and ammunitions was a significant impediment to the Filipinos. U.S. troop strength averaged 40,000 and peaked at 74,000. A total of 126,468 US soldiers served there.

The goal, or end-state, sought by the First Philippine Republic was a sovereign, independent, socially stable Philippines led by the ilustrado (intellectual) oligarchy. Local chieftains, landowners, and businessmen were the principales who controlled local politics. The war was strongest when illustrados, principales, and peasants were unified in opposition to annexation. The peasants, who provided the bulk of guerrilla manpower, had interests different from their illustrado leaders and the principales of their villages. Coupled with the ethnic and geographic fragmentation, unity was a daunting task. The challenge for Aguinaldo and his generals was to sustain unified Filipino public opposition; this was the revolutionaries' strategic center of gravity.

The Filipino operational center of gravity was the ability to sustain its force of 100,000 irregulars in the field. The Filipino general Francisco Makabulos described the Filipinos' war aim as, “not to vanquish the U.S. Army but to inflict on them constant losses.” They sought to initially use conventional tactics and an increasing toll of U.S. casualties to contribute to McKinley's defeat in the 1900 presidential election. Their hope was that as President the avowedly anti-imperialist William Jennings Bryan would withdraw from the Philippines. They pursued this short-term goal with guerilla tactics better suited to a protracted struggle. While targeting McKinley motivated the revolutionaries in the short term, his victory demoralized them and convinced many undecided Filipinos that the United States would not depart precipitately.

Guerrilla war phase

In 1900, Aguinaldo shifted from conventional to guerrilla warfare, a means of operation which better suited their disadvantaged situation and made American occupation of the Philippine archipelago all the more difficult over the next few years. In fact, during just the first four months of the guerrilla war, the Americans had nearly 500 casualties. The Philippine Army began staging bloody ambushes and raids, such as the guerrilla victories at Paye, Catubig, Makahambus, Pulang Lupa, Balangiga and Mabitac. At first, it even seemed as if the Filipinos would fight the Americans to a stalemate and force them to withdraw. This was even considered by President McKinley at the beginning of the phase.

The shift to guerrilla warfare, however, only angered the Americans into acting more ruthlessly than before. They began taking no prisoners, burning whole villages, and routinely shooting surrendering Filipino soldiers. Much worse were the concentration camps that civilians were forced into, after being suspected of being guerrilla sympathizers. Thousands of civilians died in these camps. In nearly all cases, the civilians suffered much more than the guerrillas.

The subsequent American oppression towards the population tremendously reduced the materials, men, and morale of many Filipino soldiers, compelling them in one way or another to surrender.

Decline and fall of the First Philippine Republic

The Philippine Army continued suffering defeats from the better armed American Army during the conventional warfare phase, forcing Aguinaldo to continuously change his base of operations, which he did for nearly the length of the entire war.

On March 23, 1901, General Frederick Funston and his troops captured Aguinaldo in Palanan, Isabela, with the help of some Filipinos (called the Macabebe Scouts after their home locale) who had joined the Americans' side. The Americans pretended to be captives of the Macabebes, who were dressed in Philippine Army uniforms. Once Funston and his “captors” entered Aguinaldo's camp, they immediately fell upon the guards and quickly overwhelmed them and the weary Aguinaldo.

On April 1, 1901, at the Malacañang Palace in Manila, Aguinaldo swore an oath accepting the authority of the United States over the Philippines and pledging his allegiance to the American government. Three weeks later he publicly called on his followers to lay down arms. “Let the stream of blood cease to flow; let there be an end to tears and desolation,” Aguinaldo said. “The lesson which the war holds out and the significance of which I realized only recently, leads me to the firm conviction that the complete termination of hostilities and a lasting peace are not only desirable but also absolutely essential for the well-being of the Philippines.”

The capture of Aguinaldo dealt a severe blow to the Filipino cause, but not as much as the Americans had hoped. The less competent General Mariano Trias succeeded him but surrendered shortly after. Command then fell to the highly regarded General Miguel Malvar, who originally had taken a defensive stance against the Americans, but now launched all-out offensives against the American-held towns in the Batangas region. Though his victories were small, they were a testament that the war was not yet over.

In response, General J. Franklin Bell performed tactics that countered Malvar's guerrilla strategy. Forcing civilians to live in hamlets, interrogating suspected guerrillas (and regular civilians alike), and his execution of scorched earth campaigns took a heavy toll on the Filipino revolutionaries.

Bell also relentlessly pursued Malvar and his men, breaking ranks, dropping morale, and forcing the surrender of many of the Filipino soldiers. Finally, in April 1902, after barely escaping capture, Malvar surrendered along with his sick wife and children and some of his most trusted officers who stood with him until the end. By the end of the month, nearly 3,000 of Malvar's men also surrendered.

With the surrender of Malvar, the last truly capable general of the Philippine Army, the Filipino fight began to dwindle even further. Command changed hands frequently, as each general, one after another, was killed, captured, or surrendered.

Official end to the war

The Philippine Organic Act of July 1902 approved, ratified, and confirmed McKinley's Executive Order establishing the Philippine Commission and stipulated that a legislature would be established composed of a lower house, the Philippine Assembly, which would be popularly elected, and an upper house consisting of the Philippine Commission. The act also provided for extending the United States Bill of Rights to Filipinos.

On July 2, the Secretary of War telegraphed that the insurrection against the sovereign authority of the U.S. having come to an end, and provincial civil governments having been established, the office of Military governor was terminated. On July 4, Theodore Roosevelt, who had succeeded to the U.S. Presidency after the assassination of President McKinley on September 5, 1901 proclaimed a full and complete pardon and amnesty to all persons in the Philippine archipelago who had participated in the conflict.

Post-1902 hostilities

Some Filipino nationalist historians like Renato Constantino have suggested that the war unofficially continued for nearly a decade, since bands of guerrillas, quasi-religious armed groups and other resistance groups continued to roam the countryside, still clashing with American Army or Philippine Constabulary patrols.

Simeon Ola of Guinobatan, Albay in the Bicol region has been suggested as the last Filipino general to surrender (on September 25, 1903) in place of Malvar.

In 1902, a veteran Katipunan member and self-proclaimed generalisimo named Macario Sakay attempted to form his own Republic, called Katagalugan after Bonifacio's, in southern Luzon. After years of resistance, he was captured and executed in 1907 after accepting an amnesty offer.

Quasi-religious armed groups included the pulajanes (so called because of their red garments), colorum (from a corruption of the Latin in saecula saeculorum, part of the Glory Be to the Father prayer), and Dios-Dios (literally "God-God") groups of assorted provinces . These groups were mostly composed of farmers and other poor people led by messianic leaders, and they subscribed to a blend of Roman Catholicism and folk beliefs. For example, they used amulets (called agimat or anting-anting), believing they would become bulletproof. One of these leaders was Dionisio Seguela, better known as Papa Isio (Pope Isio). The last of these groups were wiped out or had surrendered by 1913.

These resistance movements were all dismissed by the American government as banditry, fanaticism or cattle rustling.

American opposition to the war

Some Americans, notably William Jennings Bryan, Mark Twain, Andrew Carnegie, Ernest Crosby, and other members of the American Anti-Imperialist League, strongly objected to the annexation of the Philippines. Other Americans mistakenly thought that the Philippines wanted to become part of the United States. Anti-imperialist movements claimed that the United States had betrayed its lofty goals of the Spanish–American War by becoming a colonial power, merely replacing Spain in the Philippines. Other anti-imperialists opposed annexation on racist grounds. Among these was Senator Benjamin Tillman of South Carolina, who feared that annexation of the Philippines would lead to an influx of non-white immigrants. As news of atrocities committed in subduing the Philippines arrived in the United States, support for the war flagged.

Mark Twain famously opposed the war by using his influence in the press. He felt it betrayed the ideals of American democracy by not allowing the Filipino people to choose their own destiny.

“There is the case of the Philippines. I have tried hard, and yet I cannot for the life of me comprehend how we got into that mess. Perhaps we could not have avoided it — perhaps it was inevitable that we should come to be fighting the natives of those islands — but I cannot understand it, and have never been able to get at the bottom of the origin of our antagonism to the natives. I thought we should act as their protector — not try to get them under our heel. We were to relieve them from Spanish tyranny to enable them to set up a government of their own, and we were to stand by and see that it got a fair trial. It was not to be a government according to our ideas, but a government that represented the feeling of the majority of the Filipinos, a government according to Filipino ideas. That would have been a worthy mission for the United States. But now — why, we have got into a mess, a quagmire from which each fresh step renders the difficulty of extrication immensely greater. I'm sure I wish I could see what we were getting out of it, and all it means to us as a nation.”

In 1904 or 1905, Twain dictated the War Prayer in protest against the Philippine-American war. It was submitted to Harper's Bazaar for publication, but on March 22, 1905, the magazine rejected the story as "not quite suited to a woman's magazine." Because he had an exclusive contract with Harper & Brothers, Mark Twain could not publish The War Prayer elsewhere; it remained unpublished until 1923. According to one account, his illustrator Dan Beard asked him if he would publish it regardless, and Twain replied that "Only dead men can tell the truth in this world. It can be published after I am dead." Mindful of public reaction, he considered that he had a family to support, and did not want to be seen as a lunatic or fanatic. In a letter to his confidant Joseph Twichell, he wrote that he had "suppressed" the book for seven years, even though his conscience told him to publish it, because he was not "equal" to the task. The story was found in his manuscripts and published posthumously in 1923.

Some later historians, such as Howard Zinn and Daniel Boone Schirmer, cite the Philippine–American War as an example of American imperialism.

Casualties

During the war 4,324 American soldiers died, 1,000–1,500 of which were from actual combat; the remainder died of disease. 2,818 were wounded. There were also 2,000 casualties that the Philippine Constabulary suffered during the war, over one thousand of which were fatalities. Philippine military deaths are estimated at 20,000 with 16,000 actually counted, while civilian deaths numbered between 250,000 and 1,000,000 Filipinos. These numbers take into account those killed by war, malnutrition, and a cholera epidemic that raged during the war. The Philippine-American War Centennial Initiative gives an estimate of 510,000 civilian deaths, and 20,000 military deaths, excluding 100,000 deaths from the Moro Rebellion. The American military and Philippine Constabulary still suffered periodic losses combating small bands of Moro guerillas in the far south until 1913.

The high Filipino casualty figures were a combination of the superior arms and even more superior numbers of the Americans, who were equipped with the most modern, up-to-date weapons in the world, including superb Krag-Jørgensen bolt-action rifles and machine guns, and who were also well-led. Furthermore, U.S. warships stood ready to destroy Philippine positions when needed. In contrast, the Filipinos were armed with a motley collection of rifles such as Mausers and Remingtons, many which had been taken from dead enemy soldiers (including Spanish troops from the previous conflict) or smuggled into the country by their fellow Filipinos. Their artillery was not much better, consisting mostly of worn-out artillery pieces captured from the Spanish. Although they did have a few Maxim and Gatling machine guns, along with a few modern Krupp artillery pieces, these were highly prized and taken to the rear for fear of capture before they could play any decisive role. Ammunition and rifles became more scarce as the war dragged on, and Filipinos were forced to manufacture their own, like the homemade paltik. Still most did not even have firearms. Many used bolos, spears, and lances in fighting, which also contributed to high casualty figures when such obsolete weapons were used against the Americans' superior arms. However the Filipinos did have the advantage of knowing their own country and rough terrain well, in contrast to the Americans who were fighting on foreign terrain.

In recognition of United States military service during the Philippine-American War, the United States military created two service decorations which were known as the Philippine Campaign Medal and the Philippine Congressional Medal.

In 1916, the United States granted the Philippines self-government and promised eventual independence, which came in 1946.

War crimes

American atrocities

In 1908, Manuel Arellano Remondo, in a book entitled "General Geography of the Philippine Islands", wrote: “The population decreased due to the wars, in the five-year period from 1895 to 1900, since, at the start of the first insurrection, the population was estimated at 9,000,000, and at present (1908), the inhabitants of the Archipelago do not exceed 8,000,000 in number.”

U.S. attacks into the countryside often included scorched earth campaigns where entire villages were burned and destroyed, torture (water cure) and the concentration of civilians into “protected zones” (concentration camps). Many of the civilian casualties resulted from disease and famine.

American soldiers' letters and response

From almost the beginning of the war, soldiers wrote home describing, and usually bragging about, atrocities committed against Filipinos, soldiers and civilians alike. Increasingly, such personal letters, or portions of them, reached a national audience as anti-imperialist editors across the nation reproduced them.

Once these accounts were widely reproduced, the War Department was forced to demand that General Otis investigate their authenticity. For each press clipping, he forwarded it to the writer’s commanding officer, who would then convince the soldier to write a retraction.

Private Charles Brenner of the Kansas regiment resisted such pressure. He insisted that Colonel Funston had ordered that all prisoners be shot and that Major Metcalf and Captain Bishop enforced these orders. Otis was obliged to order the Northern Luzon sector commander, General MacArthur, to look into the charge. Brenner confronted MacArthur’s aide with a corroborating witness, Private Putman, who confessed to shooting two prisoners after Bishop or Metcalf ordered, “Kill them! Damn it, Kill them!” MacArthur sent his aide’s report on to Otis with no comment. Otis ordered Brenner court-martialed “for writing and conniving at the publication of an article which... contains willful falsehoods concerning himself and a false charge against Captain Bishop.” The judge advocate in Manila convinced Otis that such a trial could open a Pandora’s box because “facts would develop implicating many others.”

General Otis sent the Brenner case to Washington writing: “After mature deliberation, I doubt the wisdom of court-martial in this case, as it would give the insurgent authorities a knowledge of what was taking place and they would assert positively that our troops had practiced inhumanities, whether the charge should be proven or not, as they would use it as an excuse to defend their own barbarities;” and Otis went on, justifying the war crimes, “and it is not thought that his charge is very grievous under the circumstances then existing, as it was very early in the war, and the patience of our men was under great strain.”

Towards the end of 1899, General Otis attempted to repair his battered image. He began to work to win new friends among the journalists in Manila and bestowed favors on any journalist who gave him favorable press.

Concentration camps

As one historian wrote about Marinduque, the first island with concentration camps:

“The triple press of concentration (camps), devastation, and harassment led Abad (the Marinduque commander) …to request a truce to negotiate surrender terms… The Army pacified Marinduque not by winning the allegiance of the people, but by imposing coercive measures to control their behavior and separate them from the insurgents in the field. Ultimately, military and security measures proved to be the (essential element) of Philippine pacification.”

This assessment could probably be applied to all of the Philippines.

Filipino atrocities

To counter the bad press back in America, General Otis stated that insurgents tortured American prisoners in “fiendish fashion”, some of whom were buried alive, or worse, up to their necks in anthills to be slowly devoured. Others were castrated, had the removed parts stuffed into their mouths, and were then left to suffocate or bleed to death. It was also stated that some prisoners were deliberately infected with leprosy before being released to spread the disease among their comrades. Spanish priests were horribly mutilated before their congregations, and natives who refused to support Emilio Aguinaldo were slaughtered by the thousands. American newspaper headlines announced the “Murder and Rapine” by the “Fiendish Filipinos.” General “Fighting Joe” Wheeler insisted that it was the Filipinos who had mutilated their own dead, murdered women and children, and burned down villages, solely to discredit American soldiers.

Other events dubbed atrocities included those by General Vicente Lukban, the Filipino commander who masterminded the Balangiga Massacre in Samar province, a surprise attack that killed over fifty American soldiers. Media reports stated that many of the bodies were mutilated. The attack itself triggered American reprisals in Samar, ordered by General Jacob Hurd Smith, who said, "I want no prisoners. I wish you to kill and burn, the more you kill and burn the better it will please me. I want all persons killed who are capable of bearing arms in actual hostilities against the United States", and defined this as everyone over ten years old. To his credit, Major Littleton Waller countermanded it to his own men. Nevertheless, some of his men "undoubtedly" carried out atrocities.

Sergeant Hallock testified in the Lodge Committee that natives were given the water cure, “…in order to secure information of the murder of Private O'Herne of Company I, who had been not only killed, but roasted and otherwise tortured before death ensued.”

On the Filipino side, information regarding atrocities comes from the eyewitnesses and the participants themselves. In his History of the Filipino People Teodoro Agoncillo writes that the Filipino troops could match and even exceed the Americans' penchant for brutality regarding prisoners of war. Kicking, slapping, and spitting at faces were common. In some cases, ears and noses were cut off and salt applied to the wounds. In other cases, captives were buried alive. These atrocities occurred regardless of Aguinaldo's orders and circulars concerning the good treatment of prisoners.

Reporters and Red Cross accounts contradict Otis

During the closing months of 1899, Emilio Aguinaldo attempted to counter General Otis’s account by suggesting that neutral parties — foreign journalists or representatives of the International Red Cross — inspect his military operations. Otis refused, but Emilio Aguinaldo managed to smuggle in four reporters — two English, one Canadian, and a Japanese — into the Philippines. The correspondents returned to Manila to report that American captives were “treated more like guests than prisoners,” were “fed the best that the country affords, and everything is done to gain their favor.” The story went on to say that American prisoners were offered commissions in the Filipino army and that three had accepted. The four reporters were expelled from the Philippines as soon as their stories were printed.

Emilio Aguinaldo also released some American prisoners so they could tell their own stories. In a Boston Globe article entitled “With the Goo Goo’s” Paul Spillane described his fair treatment as a prisoner. Emilio Aguinaldo had even invited American captives to the christening of his baby and had given each a present of four dollars, Spillane recounted.

Naval Lieutenant J.C. Gilmore, whose release was forced by American cavalry pursuing Aguinaldo into the mountains, insisted that he had received “considerable treatment” and that he was no more starved than were his captors. Otis responded to these two articles by ordering the “capture” of the two authors, and that they be “investigated”, therefore questioning their loyalty.

When F.A. Blake of the International Red Cross arrived at Emilio Aguinaldo’s request, Otis kept him confined to Manila, where Otis’s staff explained all of the Filipinos' violations of civilized warfare. Blake managed to slip away from an escort and venture into the field. Blake never made it past American lines, but even within American lines he saw burned out villages and “horribly mutilated bodies, with stomachs slit open and occasionally decapitated.” Blake waited to return to San Francisco, where he told one reporter that “American soldiers are determined to kill every Filipino in sight.”

Ratio of Filipinos wounded

The most conclusive evidence that the enemy wounded were being killed, came from the official reports of Otis and his successor, General Arthur MacArthur, Jr., which claimed fifteen Filipinos killed for every one wounded. In the American Civil War, the ratio had been five wounded for every soldier killed, which is close to historical norm. Otis attempted to explain this anomaly by the superior marksmanship of rural southerners and westerners in the U.S. military, who had hunted all their lives. MacArthur added a racial twist, asserting that Anglo-Saxons do not succumb to wounds as easily as do men of “inferior races.”

Consequences

Muslims

In the south, Muslim Filipinos resisted until 1913— the so-called Moro rebellion. They were never part of Aguinaldo's movement but independently fought the Americans.

This section may contain material not related to the topic of the article and should be moved to M1911 pistol instead. Please help improve this section or discuss this issue on the talk page. (March 2008) (Learn how and when to remove this message)

During this conflict, the Americans realized a need to be able to stop a charging tribesman with a single shot. To fill this need, the M1911 pistol was later developed using larger caliber ammunition (.45 ACP), resulting in additional stopping power. In the interim the older Colt Single Action Army in .45 Colt was re-issued.

English education and the Catholic Church

The Roman Catholic Church was disestablished, and a considerable amount of church land was purchased and redistributed. However, the bulk of the land was quickly bought up by American companies with little going to Filipino peasants.

During the U.S. occupation, English was declared the official language, although the languages of the Philippine people were Spanish, Visayan, Tagalog, Ilokano, Pangasinan and other native languages. The English requirement barred many from political office and ensured a dependency on American administrators.

Also, five hundred and forty American teachers were imported aboard the USS Thomas. The first task of the Thomasites was to reform the education system to one that maintained an anti-Spanish curriculum but glossed over existing American atrocities. It also ensured that Philippine nationalism would rise no more as an important force..

Quotations

In the fall of 1899, MacArthur, who was still loyal to General Otis, said to reporter H. Irving Hannock:

When I first started in against these rebels, I believed that Aguinaldo’s troops represented only a faction. I did not like to believe that the whole population of Luzon — the native population that is — was opposed to us and our offers of aid and good government. But after having come this far, after having occupied several towns and cities in succession, and having been brought much into contact with both insurrectos and amigos, I have been reluctantly compelled to believe that the Filipino masses are loyal to Aguinaldo and the government which he heads.

See also

• List of Medal of Honor recipients for the Philippine-American War
• Battles of the Philippine-American War
• Black Legend
• Benevolent assimilation
• George Dewey
• Genocide
• History of the Philippines
• Katagalugan
• Lodge Committee
• Philippine Scouts
• Timeline of Philippine-American War
• Vicente Lukban
• The White Man's Burden, written in regard to the U.S. conquest of the Philippines and other former Spanish colonies

Notes

1. ^ Historian Paul Kramer revisits the Philippine-American War, vol. 35, Johns Hopkins University, April 10, 2006, retrieved 2008-03-18 {{citation}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); Unknown parameter |hournal= ignored (help)
2. ^ Boot 2003, p. 125, As many as 200,000 civilians also died, victims of disease and famine and the cruelties of both sides.;
   *Kumar, Amitava (October 29, 1999). Poetics/Politics: Radical Aesthetics for the Classroom. Palgrave. ISBN 0-312-21866-4. {{cite book}}: Check date values in: |date= (help) “In the fifteen years that followed the defeat of the Spanish in Manila Bay in 1898, more Filipinos were killed by U.S. forces than by the Spanish in 300 years of colonization. Over 1.5 million died out of a total population of 6 million.”
   *Painter, Nell Irvin (May 1, 1989). Standing at Armageddon: The United States, 1877–1919. W. W. Norton & Company. ISBN 0-393-30588-0. {{cite book}}: Check date values in: |date= (help) p. 154, Hundreds of thousands of Filipinos died in battle, of disease, or of other war-related causes.
   *Bayor, Ronald H (June 23, 2004). The Columbia Documentary History of Race and Ethnicity in America. Columbia University Press. ISBN 0-231-11994-1. {{cite book}}: Check date values in: |date= (help) p. 335, Some seven thousand Americans and twenty thousand Filipinos were killed or wounded in the war, and hundreds of thousands of Filipinos – some estimates are as high as 1 million – died of war-related disease or famine.
   *Guillermo, Emil (February 8, 2004). "A first taste of empire". Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: 03J. {{cite journal}}: Check date values in: |date= (help) The Philippines: 20,000 military dead; 200,000 civilian dead. Some historians, however, put the toll higher – closer to 1 million Filipinos because of the disease and starvation that ensued.
   *(author unknown) (November 1, 2003). "Kipling, the 'White Man's Burden,' and U.S. Imperialism". Monthly Review. 55: 1. {{cite journal}}: |author= has generic name (help); Check date values in: |date= (help) Although a quarter of the million is the “consensual” figure of historians, estimates of Filipino deaths from the war have ranged as high as one million, which would have meant depopulation of the islands by around one-sixth.
3. This conflict is also known as the 'Philippine Insurrection'. This name was historically the most commonly used in the U.S., but Filipinos and some American historians refer to these hostilities as the Philippine-American War, and, in 1999, the U.S. Library of Congress reclassified its references to use this term.
4. Delmendo, Sharon (2004), The Star-Entangled Banner: One Hundred Years of America in the Philippines, Rutgers University Press, p. 47, ISBN 0813534119, retrieved 2007-12-03 {{citation}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help).
5. ^ Agoncillo, Teodoro (1960 (Eighth edition 1990)). History of the Filipino People. ISBN 971-1024-15-2. {{cite book}}: Check date values in: |year= (help)CS1 maint: year (link)
6. ^ Constantino, Renato (1975). The Philippines: A Past Revisited. ISBN 971-8958-00-2.
7. ^ Milagros C. Guerrero (1996). "Andres Bonifacio and the 1896 Revolution". Sulyap Kultura. Retrieved 2007-09-13.
8. Joaquin, Nicomedes (1977). A Question of Heroes. ISBN 971-27-1545-0.
9. ^ Don Emilio Aguinaldo y Famy, "True Version of the Philippine Revolution", Authorama Public Domain Books, retrieved 2007-11-16 {{citation}}: |chapter= ignored (help)
10. Miller 1982, p. 34
11. Ocampo, Ambeth R. (2005). "The First Filipino Novel". Philippine Daily Inquirer. {{cite journal}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help); Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)
12. "Chronology of Significant Events Relating to the Career of Emilio Aguinaldo with Respect to the Various Imperialist and Anti-Imperialist Campaigns in the Philippines". randolf.bol.ucla.edu. Retrieved 2006-05-20. (from internet archive)
13. ^ Brands 1992, p. 46
14. Steinberg, David Joel (1972). "An Ambiguous Legacy: Years at War in the Philippines". Pacific Affairs. 45 (2): 167. {{cite journal}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help); Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help) Citing Kalaw, Maximo M. (1926). The Development of Philippine Politics, 1872–1920. Manila. {{cite book}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)p. 92–98 Miller states the amount was $800,000. Miller 1982, p. 35)
15. ^ Don Emilio Aguinaldo y Famy, "Chapter III. Negotiations", True Version of the Philippine Revolution, Authorama: Public Domain Books, retrieved 2007-12-26 {{citation}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help)
16. ^ Spencer-Pratt and Aguinaldo, The New York Times, August 26, 1899, retrieved 2007-12-26 {{citation}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= and |date= (help); Cite has empty unknown parameter: |1= (help)
17. ^ Seekins, Donald M. (1991), "Historical Setting—Outbreak of War, 1898", in Dolan, Ronald E. (ed.), Philippines: A Country Study, Washington: Library of Congress, retrieved 2007-12-25
18. The World of 1898: The Spanish-American War, U.S. Library of Congress, retrieved 2007-10-10
19. Pedro Paterno's Proclamation of War, MSC Schools, Philippines, June 2, 1899, retrieved 2007-10-17 {{citation}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
20. ^ "Philippines: United States Rule". U.S. Library of Congress. Retrieved 2007-07-04.
21. Chapter XI: The First Philippine Commission, in Worcester, Dean Conant (1914), The Philippines: Past and Present (vol. 1 of 2), Macmillan, retrieved 2008-01-21

    On November 2, 1900, Dr. Schurman signed the following statement: —

    "Should our power by any fatality be withdrawn, the commission believe that the government of the Philippines would speedily lapse into anarchy, which would excuse, if it did not necessitate, the intervention of other powers and the eventual division of the islands among them. Only through American occupation, therefore, is the idea of a free, self-governing, and united Philippine commonwealth at all conceivable. And the indispensable need from the Filipino point of view of maintaining American sovereignty over the archipelago is recognized by all intelligent Filipinos and even by those insurgents who desire an American protectorate. The latter, it is true, would take the revenues and leave us the responsibilities. Nevertheless, they recognize the indubitable fact that the Filipinos cannot stand alone. Thus the welfare of the Filipinos coincides with the dictates of national honour in forbidding our abandonment of the archipelago. We cannot from any point of view escape the responsibilities of government which our sovereignty entails; and the commission is strongly persuaded that the performance of our national duty will prove the greatest blessing to the peoples of the Philippine Islands."
    
    

    Report Philippine Commission, Vol. I, p. 183.

22. Wildman, E. Aguinaldo: A Narrative of Filipino Ambitions (1901). Norwood Press, Norwood, Massachusetts
23. "I. The Philippine American War", Excerpts from: The Filipino Americans (From 1763 to the Present), msc.edu.ph
    • Bautista, Veltisezar (1998), The Filipino Americans from 1763 to the Present: Their History, Culture, and Traditions, Bookhaus Publishers, ISBN 978-0931613142 {{citation}}: Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)
24. Karnow 1990, p. 
25. Halstead 1898, p. 318
26. Pedro Paterno's Proclamation of War, MSC Schools, Philippines, June 2, 1899, retrieved 2007-10-17 {{citation}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
27. Halstead 1898 ch.28
28. Karnow 1990, p. 
29. "The Philippine Bill of July 1902". Filipiniana.net online digital library. July 1, 1902. Retrieved 2008-01-07. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
30. Boot 2003, p. 127
31. ^ Deady 2005, p. 55
32. Deady 2005, p. 62
33. ^ Deady 2005, p. 57
34. ^ Deady 2005, p. 58
35. Brands 1992, p. 59
36. "The Philippine Bill of July 1902". Filipiniana.net online digital library. July 1, 1902. Retrieved 2008-01-07. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
37. Dean C. Worcester (2004), "IX, The conduct of the war", The Philippines Past and Present, Kessinger Publishing, p. 164, ISBN 141917715X
38. GENERAL AMNESTY FOR THE FILIPINOS; Proclamation Issued by the President, July 4, 1902, retrieved 2008-02-05 {{citation}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
39. Dy-Liacco, Leonor R. (1996). Sarung Dolot sa Satuyang Ina. J & R Printing Co. Inc.
40. Froles, Paul, Macario Sakay: Tulisán or Patriot?, Philippine History Group of Los Angeles
41. Twain, Mark (October 6, 1900). "Mark Twain, The Greatest American Humorist, Returning Home". New York World. {{cite journal}}: Check date values in: |date= (help) (from internet archive)
42. ^ Albert Bigelow Paine (1912). Mark Twain: A Biography : the Personal and Literary Life of Samuel Langhorne Clemens. Harper & Brothers.
43. Van Wyck Brooks (1920). Ordeal of Mark Twain. E.P. Dutton & Company.
44. The Popululist. 7 (18). October 15, 2001 http://www.populist.com/01.18.warprayer.html. Retrieved 2007-08-20. {{cite journal}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); Missing or empty |title= (help)
45. Twain, Mark (1904–1905). "The War Prayer". alibris. {{cite journal}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
46. Zinn 1999; Schirmer 1972
47. Smallman-Raynor 1998
48. Boot 2003, p. 125
49. Miller 1982, p. 88; *For a small sampling of some of the letters and statements see: Wikiquote: American Torture and Attrocities against Filipinos, Wikisource: Anti-Imperalist summary of the findings of the Lodge Committee, Misplaced Pages: Lodge Committee, particularly the testiony of: Charles S. Riley, Private William L Smith, Sergeant Edward J. Davis, and ex-Corporal Richard Thomas O'Brien
50. New York Sun March 10, 1902; p. 234–235. In 1902 Funston toured the United States speaking to increase public support for the war in the Philippines. He said: “I personally strung up thirty-five Filipinos without trial, so what was all the fuss over Waller's ‘dispatching’ a few ‘treacherous savages’? If there had been more Smiths and Wallers, the war would have been over long ago. Impromptu domestic hanging might also hasten the end of the war. For starters, all Americans who had recently petitioned Congress to sue for peace in the Philippines should be dragged out of their homes and lynched. — Colonel Frederick Funston at a banquet in Chicago.
51. Miller 1982, p. 89;
    • Storey, Moorfield and Codman, Julian. "Secretary Root's Record: "Marked Severities" in Philippine Warfare". Philippine Investigating Committee: 12–15.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
52. Miller 1982, p. 91
53. Birtle, Andrew J. (April 1997). "The U.S. Army's Pacification of Marinduque, Philippine Islands, April 1900 – April 1901". The Journal of Military History. 61: 255–282.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: year (link)
54. Miller 1982, pp. 92–93
55. Boot 2003, p. 102
56. Miller 1982, p. 91
57. ] New York Times May 4, 1902. p. 13
58. Miller 1982, p. 93;
    • "Ferocity Of The Filipinos. Massacre and Rapine Marked the Course of Their Biggest Warship Until It Fell Foul of a Typhoon". New York Times. August 7, 1899.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: year (link) p. 4;
    • Public Opinion volume 27 (1899), p. 291;
    • San Francisco Call February 14, 21, 23, March 30, 31, May 29, June 9, July 17, 1899
59. Miller 1982, p. 93;
    • Literary Digest Volume 18 (1899), p. 499
60. Miller 1982, p. 94;
    • Boston Globe June 27, 1900;
    • Literary Digest Volume 20 (1900), p. 25;
    • San Francisco Call December 8, 1899, February 16, 1900
61. Miller 1982, p. 189
    • Hector Santos, ed. (15 June, 1997), "The Balangiga Massacre: Getting Even", Philippine History and Culture Series, The Philippine History Group of Los Angeles, retrieved 2007-12-21 {{citation}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= and |date= (help); Unknown parameter |chapter-first= ignored (help); Unknown parameter |chapter-last= ignored (help)
62. Miller 1982, p. 94; San Francisco Call, March 31 – September 1, 1899

References

• Joaquin, Nicomedes (1977). A Question of Heroes. ISBN 971-27-1545-0.
• Agoncillo, Teodoro A (1997). Malolos: The crisis of the republic. University of the Philippines Press. ISBN 971-542-096-6.Kenton J. Clymer States “The book provides the best account to date of the inner dynamics of the Filipino side of the war.” — Review: Not so Benevolent Assimilation: The Philippine-American War, Reviews in American History Vol. 11, No. 4 (Dec., 1983), pp. 547–52
• Boot, Max (2003), The Savage Wars of Peace: Small Wars and the Rise of American Power, Basic Books, ISBN 0-465-00720-1
• Brands, H. W. (1992), Bound to Empire: The United States and the Philippines, Oxford University Press, ISBN 0195071042
• Deady, Timothy K. (2005), "Lessons from a Successful Counterinsurgency: The Philippines, 1899–1902" (PDF), Parameters', 35 (1): 53–68 {{citation}}: Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)
• Gates, John M. (1973). Schoolbooks and Krags: The United States Army in the Philippines, 1898–1902. Greenwood Press. ISBN 0-8371-5818-4.
• Gates, John. “War-Related Deaths in the Philippines, 1898–1902”, Pacific Historical Review 53:367+ (1983)
• Gates, John M., "Chapter 3: The Pacification of the Philippines", The US Army and Irregular Warfare, The College of Wooster
• Halstead, Murat (1898), "XXVIII. Battles with the Filipinos before Manila", The Story of the Philippines and Our New Possessions, Including the Ladrones, Hawaii, Cuba and Porto Rico
• Karnow, Stanley (1990), In Our Image: America's Empire in the Philippines, Ballantine Books, ISBN 0345328167
• Linn, Brian McAllister (2000). The U.S. Army and Counterinsurgency in the Philippine War, 1899–1902. University of North Carolina Press. ISBN 0-8078-4948-0.
• May, Glenn Anthony (1991). Battle for Batangas: A Philippine Province at War. Yale University Press. ISBN 0-300-04850-5.
• Miller, Stuart Creighton (1982), Benevolent Assimilation: The American Conquest of the Philippines, 1899–1903, Yale University Press, ISBN 0-300-02697-8 Kenton J. Clymer States “The War Miller describes is a more believable one than the one Gates pictures.”
• Schirmer, Daniel B. (1972). Republic or Empire: American Resistance to the Philippine War. Schenkman. ISBN 0-87073-105-X.
• Schirmer, Daniel B. Stephen Rosskamm Shalom (1987). The Philippines Reader: A History of Colonialism, Neocolonialism, Dictatorship, and Resistance. South End Press. ISBN 0-89608-275-X.
• Shaw, Angel Velasco (2002). Vestiges of War: The Philippine-American War and the Aftermath of an Imperial Dream, 1899–1999. New York University Press. ISBN 0-8147-9791-1.
• David J. Silbey A War of Frontier and Empire: The Philippine-American War, 1899-1902 (2007)

Schirmer, Daniel B. (1972), Republic or Empire: American Resistance to the Philippine War, Schenkman

• Smallman-Raynor, Matthew (1998), "The Philippines Insurrection and the 1902–4 cholera epidemic: Part I — Epidemiological diffusion processes in war", Journal of Historical Geography, 24 (1): 69–89 {{citation}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help); Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)
• T.A. Agoncillo/M.C. Guerrero, History of the Filipino People, Quezon City, 1987, p. 159
• Twain, Mark and Jim Zwick (1992). Mark Twain's Weapons of Satire: Anti-Imperialist Writings on the Philippine-American War. Syracuse University Press. ISBN 0-8156-0268-5.
• Wolff, Leon. (1960). Little Brown Brother: How the United States Purchased and Pacified the Philippine Islands at the Century's Turn. Doubleday & Company, Inc. Library of Congress Catalog Card Number 61-6528.
• Zinn, Howard (1999), A People’s History of the United States, Harper Collins Publishers
• Zwick, Jim. Friends of the Filipino People Bulletin
• Zwick, Jim (1982), Militarism and Repression in the Philippines, Centre for Developing-Area Studies, McGill University, ISBN 0888190549
• Zwick, Jim. “Prodigally Endowed with Sympathy for the Cause:” Mark Twain's Involvement with the Anti-Imperialist League” (Ephemera Society of America (January 1, 1992) ASIN B0006R8RJ8
• Young, Kenneth Ray; The General's General: The Life and Times of Arthur Macarthur Westview Press, 1994

Further reading

• The "Lodge Committee" (a.k.a. Philippine Investigating Committee) hearings and a great deal of documentation were published in three volumes (3000 pages) as S. Doc. 331, 57th Cong., 1st Session An abridged version of the oral testimony can be found in: American Imperialism and the Philippine Insurrection: Testimony Taken from Hearings on Affairs in the Philippine Islands before the Senate Committee on the Philippines—1902; edited by Henry F Graff; Publisher: Little, Brown; 1969. ASIN: B0006BYNI8
• Wilcox, Marrion. Harper's History of the War. Harper, New York and London 1900, reprinted 1979. . Also reprinted in the Philippines by Vera-Reyes.
• Secretary Root's Record:"Marked Severities" in Philippine Warfare — Wikisource

External links

• "Images from the Philippine-United States War". historicaltextarchive.com. Retrieved 2006-05-20.
• "The Philippine Centennial Celebration". MSC Computer Training Center. Retrieved 2006-05-20.
• A brief description of the war between the United States and the Philippines which began in 1899.
• A brief balance about the rate of casualties among Filipino rows.
• Philippine-American War on Everything2.
• "Aug. 13, 1898 and RP’s short-lived republic" by By Mariano "Anong" Santos, Pinoy Newsmagazine, August 2006
• "Imperial Amnesia" by John B. Judis, Foreign Policy, July/August 2004
• Amnesty Proclamation amnesty proclamation made by the American colonial government to induce Filipino soldiers to surrender
• Declaration of War Emilio Aguinaldo's declaration of a state of war between Filipinos and Americans.

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