Campaigning In The Philippines (Annotated)

*NOTE: From this Public Domain work, the original publication was, scanned, assembled, proofed, with additional historic photographs and text added as appropriate by the editor. – Galen C. Dukes, 2011.

The definitive book for the Spanish-American war, written with information and details found nowhere else. When the U.S. decided to go to war with Spain, the Federal Army was small and ill-equipped. So the War Department put out orders for each state to form its own volunteer regiment (equal to today’s National Guard) to fight the war.
Officers of these volunteer regiments of the Western states got together and thought it would be a great idea to have a writer and photographer accompany them to document the war in the Philippines and their participation in it. The writer would have access to all reports and information from the various units, and all photographs taken by members of the units. The resultant book would be made available for public sale, however, special editions would be assembled for each participating state, with the final chapter of each being specific to that state. All the members, officers, casualties, battles and photographs for that state would be included.
The result of these efforts is without equal. The book documents the circumstances leading to the war; the preparation for war; Commodore Dewey’s defeat of the Spanish Navy in Manila Bay; the troop transport to the Philippines; and the circumstances and battles fought there from 1898 through 1899. This version had been prepared for the volunteers of the state of Washington, and a portion of their record is included in this edition. A final chapter has been added by the editor to explain occurrences and situations that politically could not have been included in the original.
When the U.S. military reached the Philippines, the Filipinos had the Spanish almost defeated, with the Spanish only controlling part of Manila and a few fortified towns. When the Spanish “surrendered” to the U.S., due to the terms of that surrender and the cash settlement, Spain walked away the winner.
The Filipinos thought the U.S. was there to free them, and when they realized that only the masters had changed, masters that imposed Martial Law and would stand for no resistance, the Filipinos declared war on their new oppressors, a bloody and deadly war which would last for years to come.
This is not the Spanish American war you learned about in school, this is how it all really came about.