Map of the City of Manila Showing Operations of Second Division, 8th Army Corps [with report]

Reporting on the beginnings of the Philippine-American War.

“The disaffected element of the population…contend that the United States has given nothing substantial as yet in response to its administrative promises. The archbishop, they declare, still holds political sway, the friars have not been driven out nor killed, the Spaniards have been continued in office, the chief representative of the United States authority here is an ardent Romanist and draws inspirations from the droppings of the Roman Catholic sanctuary as set up in the Philippines. Remove these abominations, they say, and we will willingly accept United States protection and supremacy.” – pg 164.

After victory in the 1898 Spanish-American War, the United States acquired control of the Philippines from the defeated Spanish in exchange for about $20 million. Inconveniently for both powers, native Filipinos had been fighting for independence for several years and controlled most of the nation, with the exception of Manila, at the outbreak of the war. Neither Spain nor the U.S. recognized the declaration, and the First Philippine Republic was forced underground and into a conflict with its new imperial overseers that became known as the Philippine–American War, or the Philippine Insurrection. Heavy fighting continued into 1902, though scattered guerilla actions and isolated pockets of resistance persisted throughout the period of American rule, until 1946.

This fascinating volume was published at the outbreak of the fighting, in 1899, by the Government Printing Office in Washington, D.C. Its 550+ pages provide a wealth of contemporary information about American military operations across the Philippines during the prior year; including a carefully selected timeline of events, narrative report by Major-General E.S. Otis (excerpt above), numerous photographic plates, tables of statistics, copies of correspondence, and a large folding map of Manila and its surroundings.

The map, prepared by 1st Lieutenant W.G. Haan under the direction of Major General Arthur MacArthur, shows the operations of 8th Army Corps’ Second Division during the month of February 1899. The period included the official outbreak of war and subsequent Battle of Manila (Feb. 4-5), as well as follow-up actions in the city’s outskirts. Transportation routes, military installations, geographic features, and other obstacles are noted according to the key in the upper center. Two smaller folding maps, still bound in the volume, show additional detail on the northern and southern suburbs.

Source: Bill of Rights Institute