Search

Includes letters and despatches written by American soldiers and officers with details of service in the Spanish-American War in the Philippines, including the conditions of the sham Battle of Manila (meant to preserve Spanish honour during their surrender). Some references are made to the growing guerrilla insurgency, but most letters relate to the circumstances of the Spanish withdrawal from Manila and rampant disease within the American barracks. Varied printed stationery includes letterhead for the 13th Minnesota Infantry, the 14th U.S. Regiment, the Hospital Corps, the United States Commission to the Philippine Islands, the office of the Spanish Lieutenant-Mayor (Teniente Alcalde) of the Santa Cruz District, the Army and General Captaincy of the Spanish Philippines, the YMCA's Honolulu branch, a Spanish ledger sheet, the Spanish Barracks (Cuartel de Espagna [sic.]), and the Headquarters of the Department of the Pacific (in which "Department of the Pacific" was struck through and replaced with handwritten "Provost Marshal General's Office"); however, despite the existence of Spanish stationery, correspondence and despatches contained herein are all from American soldiers, and the Spanish stationery was confiscated. Additional materials pertain to the escalating Philippine-American War on various stationery, including confiscated Spanish stationery. As the Spanish-American negotiations evolved into an American conquest of the Philippines, U.S. soldiers stationed there wrote about their boredom and still-rampant disease. By 1899 the patronizing language used to describe Filipinos was replaced with anger at the growing resistance, and by January 10, U.S. troops expecting to return home were instead being sent to reinforce strategic U.S. positions in the wake of the escalating guerrilla movement. This triggered fury and at least one planned mutiny when soldiers' payments were withheld. At least some of this anger was redirected at insurgents, with one extensive letter noting that American soldiers had gone rogue and begun to kill injured insurgents rather than allowing them to be transported to the hospital, and another letter noting despair at the length of the war and saying that "some of [the Filipinos] are brave and good men, but the majority are not" and that "I long to see white people again, someone besides soldiers." One letter from Caloocan (in Manila), immediately after the battles and massacre there but before the U.S. depositions and courts-martial, notes that the American soldiers still stationed there were restless and agitated. Additional keyword list: Battle of Manila (1898), guerrilla warfare, counterinsurgency, sham battle, typhoid, malaria, scurvy, yellow fever, war hospitals, mutiny, soldiers' payments, journalism. Partial geographical list: Manila and Manila Bay (Philippines), Iloilo [City] (Philippines), Cavite (Philippines), Caloocan (Manila), New Brighton (Pa.), San Fernando (Pampanga, Philippines), Washington (D.C.), Montgomery (Ala.), Minneapolis (Minn.), West Alexander (Pa.), Jefferson and De Smit (S.D.), Cavite (Philippines), Penn Yan and West Point (N.Y.), San Francisco (Calif.), Sandpoint and Boise City (Ida.), Malate (Manila), Colorado Springs (Colo.), Hartford (Conn.), Philadelphia (Pa.), East Pepperell (Mass.), Lincoln (Neb.), Portland and Hubbard (Ore.), Hudson and Saxeville (Wis.), Des Moines (Iowa), Virginia City (Mont.), Lisbon (Ohio), Knightstown (Ind.).

Includes several battle letters concerning the intensity of the American campaign in the Philippines, most of them extremely hostile to the Filipinos. However, one letter, from artilleryman Fred Brock, notes deep respect for the scale of Philippine resistance to the U.S. Army as well as admiration for individual Filipinos. One letter is written on a folded ammunition box. Separate letters make note of the peace negotiations between Henry Lawton and Emilio Aguinaldo, and a large surrender of Philippine resistance fighters near Manila. Multiple separate letters also make reference to Chinese labour in the U.S. military, with one letter stipulating that Chinese labourers receive prisoner-of-war rations rather than Army rations. The American soldiers and officers wrote letters to friends, family, in one case a Rochester-based newspaper editor, in another case a Masonic lodge. American soldiers almost uniformly described fear and hatred of guerrilla warfare and frustration at the ambush tactics employed by Filipino soldiers. One August 1899 letter, sent from George Wood to his friend Thomas Henn in Indiana, draws attention to poor health of the American soldiery and discusses George's growing hatred of the racialized Filipinos. Other letters point to boredom, with Malcolm Graham writing to his officer father William that "I know my letters are short but what in the world can a man write about when there is nothing doing." One letter, sent by one of Fitzhugh Lee's sons to his father (at that time the U.S. consul to Cuba), details the son's voyage through the Mediterranean en route to the Philippines and his experiences in the British post at Gibraltar. A listing of names of men serving in the 9th Infantry and the 12th Infantry is included. Also present is a detailed letter mentioning that Filipino anti-American orators depicted the U.S. military as "semi-barbarians" who "would take the country, rob them of their women and whatever wealth they possessed, would murder by the thousands and commit all sorts of unspeakable crimes." However, while this letter notes that this propaganda was having an impact, it also mentioned that the R.C. Archbishop of New Orleans was about to embark on a highly anticipated trip that the devout Filipinos were hoping would make redundant the continued presence of Spanish clergy on the islands (the clerical question would later resolve in the creation of the Aglipayan Church, officially the Philippine Independent Church). Additional keywords: Prisoners of war, Masonic lodges, guerrilla warfare, military deaths by disease, war crimes, counterinsurgency, Aglipayan Church, Chinese labour in the Philippine-American War, war crimes. Partial geographical list: Manila (Philippines), Norwich (Conn.), Cavite (Philippines), San Francisco (Calif.), Malolos (Philippines), Sioux Falls and De Smit (S.D.), Pierre (S.D.), Lake City (Iowa), Red Wing (Minn.), Luzon (Philippines), Willoughby (Ohio), Calumpit (Bulacan, Philippines), Fort Leavenworth (Kan.), Paisley and New Haven (Ind.), Iloilo [City] (Philippines), Bacolad (Philippines), Rochester (N.Y.), Seattle (Wash.), Chicago and Chicago Heights (Ill.), Bacoor (Cavite, Philippines), Cebu (Philippines), Angeles (Luzon, Philippines), Pittsburgh (Pa.), Gibraltar, Mediterranean Ocean, Milwaukee (Wis.), Panique (Paniqui, Tarlac, Philippines), Montgomery (Ala.), Zamboanga [City] (Philippines).

Includes letters, documents, and despatches from American soldiers in the Philippines during the Philippine-American War and revolutionary resistance. Some letters indicate that the soldiers felt the war was nearly over; others indicated a sense that the military campaign was interminable, with the length of marching posing morale and medical problems for soldiers. One soldier notes that Filipinos are spreading rumours that Americans cannibalize children, finding amusement when the adults pull their children into hiding when American troops arrive in a location. That letter continues, "It is a source of great pleasure at present for it affords us unlimited amusement but after the novelty wears off I don't guess it will be so amusing to be looked upon as a beast who satiates his hunger upon human flesh, and such [sic] flesh at that." Other letters express anxiety about being redeployed to China to fight the Boxer Rebellion, as well as frustration or fury at Filipino ambush attacks on flying columns and military bases. By 1901, racial and politicized epithets became common in the letters, more than one drawn from racial epithets used against African Americans in the U.S. Includes a letter written on a Spanish-language map of the Philippines, another letter written on captured paper sealed by the Spanish Royal Mint, and a detailed campaign map showing American military manoeuvres near Montalban, and a concert programme in honour of U.S. Gen. Elwell Otis's birthday. The American soldiers and officers stationed in the Philippines include content on the Moro Rebellion. Many letters refer to the particular form of ambush and guerrilla warfare practised by the resistance in the Philippine Islands, particularly the southern islands. A common sentiment in is a frustration with the military campaign. For example, "I am sick of the whole business; I want to get out and go home" (from a letter sent by Sgt. Anthony Springer, a Marseille-born New Yorker, to his wife Mary Walworth, about a month before he was killed in Luzon). As the Moro Rebellion grew more serious, so too did the American response, including violent actions taken in contravention of orders. Also of note are a 1901 letter that indicates that American soldiers were aware of (and many horrified by) massacres committed against Moros by the U.S. military in the southern islands, and a letter that notes the introduction of the Colt M-series of semiautomatic pistols in the Philippines. Included within these letters are a programme for a 6th Infantry Band concert (led by Frank W. Reed) in Bacolod; a memorial sheet for First Lieut. Morton Avery of the 43rd Infantry; a report by a Scout Sergeant who was guarding rations for the U.S. military; a warning note to the garrison at Montalban (Rizal) to avoid movement far from the American military base; a photograph of a Filipina teenager or young woman [NB: The letter in which this photograph is enclosed was written by Jacob Klein. The William L. Clements Library holds additional letters of Jacob Klein, which are described in the Jacob Klein Letters Finding Aid]; and a small photograph of an American woman. Additional keywords: guerrilla warfare, Moro Rebellion, war crimes, military bands, military scouts, baseball, Balangiga Massacre, marching, military maps, maps of the Philippine-American War, Royal Mint (Spain), Boxer Rebellion. Partial geographical list: Subic (Zambales, Philippines), Centralia (N.Y.), Manila (Philippines), Milwaukee and Green Bay (Wis.), Chicago (Ill.), Montalban (Rizan, Philippines), Binalonan (Pangasinan, Philippines), West Hartford (Conn.), Indan (now Vinzons, Camarines Norte, Philippines), Kokomo (Ind.), Naic (Cavite, Philippines), Potter County (Penn.), Camp Balamban (Sebu, Philippines), Poquetanuck (Preston, Conn.), Worcester (Mass.), Tabaco (Philippines), Ligao (Albay, Philippines), Donsol (Sorsagon, Philippines), Newark Valley (N.Y.), Auburn (N.Y.), San Mateo (Rizal, Philippines), Batangas (Philippines), Florence (Ind.), Baler (Principe, now Auroras, Luzon, Philippines), Lucban (Quizon, Philippines), Pinauran (near Montalban, Rizal, Philippines), Bangued (Abra, Philippines), Denver (Colo.), Tagbilaran (Bohol, Philippines), Monmouth (Ill.), New Haven (Conn.), Legaspi (Legazpi, Albay, Philippines), Bacolod (Negros Island, Philippines), Plattsburgh (N.Y.), Lipa (Batangas, Philippines), Aparri (Cagayan, Luzon, Philippines), Isabela (Philippines), Fort Myer (Arlington, Va.), Cabugao (Ilocos, Philippines), Park Ridge (Ill.), Tayabas (Quezon, Philippines), Asbury (N.Y.), Samar Island, San Mateo (Rizal, Philippines), Topeka (Kan.), Tanauan (Batangas, Philippines), Zamboanga (Mindanao, Philippines), Watertown (Mass.), Evansville (Ind.), Little Marsh (Penn.), Fort Sam Houston (San Antonio, Tex.), Fort William McKinley (Taguig, Manila region, Philippines), East Liverpool (Ohio).