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Pages of History
The Philippine Islands might seem like an odd place to begin the fight to liberate Cuba, but wars have a funny way of ignoring geography.
After war was declared April 25, 1898, Commodore George Dewey sailed from Hong Kong. Under cover of darkness, six American warships steamed into Manila Bay, where, on the morning of May 1, they surprised and destroyed a 10-ship Spanish fleet.
Dewey had won a stunning victory, but he did not have enough men to take the islands. Reinforcements would have to come from the United States, nearly 10,000 miles away.
To speed men and materials across the Pacific, Congress rushed through a resolution annexing a convenient group of islands that could serve as a coaling and provisioning station.
On July 7, 1898, Hawaii became American territory. So, in a roundabout way, the road to Havana ran through Honolulu.
Manila was captured Aug. 13, 1898 — one day after the armistice was signed. Under international law, that meant the Philippines could not simply be claimed as spoils of war. A compromise was reached: the United States paid Spain $20 million for the islands.
That was considerably more than the $7.2 million paid for Alaska or the $15 million paid for the Louisiana Purchase. Not everyone thought it was a bargain. Former Speaker of the House Thomas Reed grumbled that the nation had acquired “a lot of Malays at three dollars a head in the bush.”
The Filipinos, however, did not wish to be purchased. Like the Cubans, they wanted freedom. When Congress decided to keep the islands, Filipino fighters melted into the jungle and began a guerrilla war.
In December 1898, Mr. and Mrs. H.B. Wheeler received a letter from their son, Fred: Dear Father and Mother. We were 31 days on the ocean and sailed 7,983 miles. It was a long journey but I stood it well. We were at Cavite two weeks. It is a fort and arsenal with a high stone wall around it. Nine Spanish gunboats were sunk there less than 400 yards from the shore. We moved to Manila and moved again to the bank of the Basiq river. Admiral Dewey and General Otis are quartered with us. Old Manila has a high wall around it. There are over 1400 prisoners inside the wall. There is a great deal of sickness in Manila; 2600 soldiers in the hospital. The death rate is seven per day. Malaria, typhoid fever, dysentery and smallpox are the troubles. All water has to be boiled. We have bought nice gravestones for the boys that died of our company. We expect to be here six or seven months. Goodbye with love to all — FRED.
Six or seven months proved optimistic. American forces would remain bogged down in the Philippines for years. On April 11, 1899, President McKinley officially declared the war with Spain over, although the armistice had been signed the previous August. The fighting had merely changed opponents.
On April 17, Mrs. Cecil Ward received word that her brother had been killed. That same week, the Wheelers received another letter from Fred. There had been heavy fighting, he wrote, and many casualties.
There were homecomings, too. On May 15, 1899, Corwin Wheeler and Claude Stimson stepped off the train at the Laurel depot after serving with the occupation forces in Cuba. Nearly 200 citizens and the Laurel Military Band greeted them. When the band struck up “Marching Through Georgia,” one old soldier said it reminded him of his own return from the Civil War in 1865.
But there were no such celebrations for the soldiers in the Far East. Their war was not going well, and they could not yet come home.
In April 1900, W.M. Martin received a letter from his nephew, Oliver Martin: It is thought by all the officers we will have no more fighting to do. All there is left are small bands of robbers which hide in the mountains. We hear nothing more of Aggie [Emilio Aguinaldo] and his army. I see in the paper McKinley is going to have us home in time to vote. If I keep my health as well as I have so far it will not make much difference with me. I am getting fat and weigh more than I ever did. I weigh 140 pounds and have not been sick since I have been on the islands. — OLIVER. One week later, Oliver Martin’s parents received an unopened letter returned to sender. Scribbled across the back was the news no family wanted: Oliver had been killed in action Feb. 6.
America’s first experience as a world policeman quickly became America’s first experience with guerrilla warfare in the jungles of Asia. Washington called it an insurrection rather than a war, but the name offered little comfort to the families who lost sons there.
The conflict cost more American lives than the Spanish- American War itself. Fighting continued into 1902, and American rule in the Philippines would be resisted, in one form or another, for much of the next century.
So much for a splendid little war.
