This document provides a timeline and overview of key events during the Philippine-American War from 1899-1902. It details the surrender of Spanish forces in Manila Bay in 1898, the U.S. decision to occupy the Philippines, Aguinaldo's proclamation of Philippine independence, and the outbreak of conflict between U.S. and Filipino forces in February 1899 marking the beginning of the Philippine-American War. The timeline then covers major battles, resistance efforts, and the eventual U.S. declaration of victory in 1902, though Filipino resistance continued until 1910.

1. The Philippine–American War
(1899–1902)
Prepared By:
Loro, Carlito Jr.
Sanciano, Mary Grace
Presented to:
AB History 4

3. TIMELINE
May 1, 1898
• Admiral Dewey launches surprise attack against a
handful of Spanish war vessels in Manila Bay.
Commander of Spain’s Asian naval fleet
surrenders.
May 19, 1898
• President McKinley instructs his cabinet to make
preparations for the occupation the Philippines.
June 12, 1898
• Generalissimo Emilio Aguinaldo, along with other
Filipino leaders, sign the Proclamation of
Independence.

4. Summer, 1898
• Volunteers soldiers from many Midwestern states
enlist to fight Spanish.
• U.S. soldiers defeat Spanish troops in Cuba
August 13, 1898
• Volunteers from the 13th Minnesota take part in
invasion of Manila.
• Filipino Army (who control suburbs) kept out of
city by U.S. soldiers.
• Spanish Commander quickly surrenders
(surrender had been arranged prior to battle,
unbeknownst to rank and file soldiers). This is the
final battle of the Spanish American War.

5. September 15, 1898
• The Malolos Congress is convened to lay the legal
and constitutional foundations for what is to
become the First Philippine Republic.
December 12, 1898
• U.S. and Spanish negotiators sign the Treaty of
Paris, officially ending the Spanish-American War
and ceding the Philippines to the U.S. for $20
million. However, perhaps mindful of the yet
unfinished build-up of its ground forces, the U.S.
refuses to dispel Filipino suppositions that the
Americans might yet recognize Philippine
independence.

6. January 23, 1899
• Generalissimo Emilio Aguinaldo formally
proclaims the establishment of the First
Philippine Republic at Malolos in Bulacan
province.
February 4, 1899
• U.S. sentries shoot and kill 4 Filipino troops at
Santa Mesa bridge. This incident marks the
beginning of the Philippine-American War. Out of
a population of about 6 million, Filipinos lost an
estimated 400,000 to 600,000 lives in the conflict.
American losses were approximately10,000.

7. February 6, 1899
• With one vote to spare beyond the required
two-thirds majority, the U.S. Senate votes to
annex the Philippines.
March, 1899
• Protestant missionaries begin arriving in the
Philippines.

8. • Spring & Summer, 1899
• U.S. soldiers, who had volunteered to fight the
Spaniards, become disaffected with the war,
horrified that they have been ordered to wage
war with Filipinos. Letters sent to their families
back home turn the tide of American sentiment
against the war. Filipino soldiers wage a dogged
guerilla war despite a shortage of weapons, but
American troops easily conquer village after
village. In the remote countryside, popular
resistance continues.
July 4, 1902
• U.S. declares victory in Philippine-American War.
Filipino resistance continues until 1910.

9. October 12, 1899
• Minnesota Governor John Lind, even on the
occasion of welcoming the volunteer soldiers
back to Minnesota, offered praise that rang
hollow with the horror of what the men had
discovered in their tour of duty: "The mission
of the American volunteer soldier has come to
an end. For purposes of conquest he is unfit,
since he carries a conscience as well as a gun.
The volunteer soldier has always stood for
self-government, liberty and justice. With your
generation he will pass from the stage of our
national life.

10. July 4, 1902
• The war officially ended.
However, some groups led by veterans of
the Katipunan continued to battle the
American forces. Among those leaders was
General Macario Sacay, a veteran Katipunan
member who assumed the presidency of the
proclaimed Tagalog Republic, formed in 1902
after the capture of President Aguinaldo.

11. 1942
• Japan takes control of the Philippines in World
War II.
October 20, 1944
• U.S. forces return to the Philippines.
MacArthur lands in the island of Leyte.
Philippine government is re-established three
days later.
July 4, 1946
• The Philippines is granted political
independence by the U.S.

12. Philippine–American War
known as the Philippine
War of Independence or
the Digmaang Pilipino-Amerikano
(1899–1902), was an armed conflict
between the United States and
Filipino revolutionaries.

13. On February 4, 1899, an American soldier,
Private William Grayson, shot a Filipino soldier
at the bridge of San Juan, Manila. The fatal
shot was followed by an immediate U.S.
offensive on the Filipino lines. This marked the
beginning of the Philippine-American War,
which lasted for three years until the
establishment of the civilian colonial
government of Governor-General William
Howard Taft on July 4, 1902. The timing of the
San Juan incident is suspect since it happened
only two days before the U.S.

14. Congress was scheduled to ratify the Treaty
of Paris on February 6, 1899. Under the treaty,
Spain officially ceded the Philippines, Guam, and
Puerto Rico to the United States in exchange for
$20 million. Since the U.S. Congress, like the
American public, was evenly split between the
anti-imperialists and pro-annexationists, the
treaty was expected to experience rough sailing
when submitted to the Chamber for ratification.
The San Juan incident and the outbreak of the
Philippine American War tilted sentiment in favor
of acquiring the Philippines, and thus the treaty
was ratified by the U.S. Congress.

15. • Opposition in the United States to the war
inspired the founding of the Anti-Imperialist
League on Jun e 15, 1898
• Fighting erupted between U.S. and Filipino
revolutionary forces on February 4, 1899, and
quickly escalated into the 1899 Battle of
Manila.
• On June 2, 1899, the First Philippine Republic
officially declared war against the United
States..

16. Philippine Revolution
• On July 7, 1892, Andrés Bonifacio,
a warehouseman and clerk from Manila, established
the Katipunan, a revolutionary 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, calledKatipuneros. Fighters
in Cavite province won early victories. One of the most
influential and popular Cavite leaders was Emilio
Aguinaldo, mayor of Cavite El Viejo (modern-
day Kawit), who gained control of much of eastern
Cavite. Eventually Aguinaldo and his faction gained
control of the leadership of the movement.

17. Aguinaldo's exile and return
Emilio Aguinaldo in the field
In 1897, Aguinaldo was
elected president of an
insurgent government while
the
“outmaneuvered” Bonifacio
was executed for
treason. Aguinaldo is officially
considered the first president
of the Philippines.

18. December 21, 1898, President
McKinley issued a Proclamation
of Benevolent assimilation. General Otis
delayed its publication until January 4,
1899, then publishing an amended
version edited so as not to convey the
meanings of the terms "sovereignty",
"protection", and "right of cessation"
which were present in the unabridged
version.

19. Aguinaldo wrote retrospectively in 1899
that he had met with U.S. Consuls E. Spencer
Pratt and Rounceville Wildman in Singapore in
1898 between April 22 and 25 and that they
persuaded him to again take up the mantle of
leadership in the revolution, with Pratt
communicating with Admiral George
Dewey (the U.S. Navy's Asiatic Squadron
commander) by telegram, passing assurances
from Dewey to Aguinaldo that the United
States -

20. -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 honor.

21. Aguinaldo reports agreeing to return to
the Philippines, travelling from Singapore to
Hong Kong aboard the steamship Malacca,
onwards from Hong Kong on American
dispatch-boat McCulloch, and arriving in
Cavite on May 19.
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.

22. African American soldiers of Troop E, 9th
Cavalry Regiment before shipping out to
the Philippines

23. 9th Cavalry soldiers on
foot, somewhere in
Luzon Island.

24. The U.S. Army viewed its "Buffalo
soldiers" as having an extra advantage in
fighting in tropical locations. There was
an unfounded belief that African-
Americans were immune to tropical
diseases. Based on this belief the U.S.
congress authorized the raising of ten
regiments of "persons possessing
immunity to tropical diseases." These
regiments would later be called "Immune
Regiments".

25. Jan. 7, 1900: Battle of Imus, Cavite Province

26. Four soldiers of Company M, 28th Infantry
Regiment of US Volunteers. Photo was taken
in 1900. The regiment arrived in the
Philippines on Nov. 22 and 23, 1899. It was
commanded by Col. William E. Birkhimer.

27. January 14-15, 1900: Battle of Mt.
Bimmuaya in Ilocos Sur
the only artillery duel of the war was fought
in Mount Bimmuaya, a summit 1,000 meters
above the Cabugao River, northwest of Cabugao,
Ilocos Sur Province. It is a place with an
unobstructed view of the coastal plain from Vigan
to Laoag. The Americans -- from the 33rd Infantry
Regiment USV, and the 3rd US Cavalry Regiment -
- also employed Gatling guns and
prevailed mainly because their locations were
concealed by their use of smokeless gunpowder
so that Filipino aim was wide off the mark.

28. The Battle of Mt. Bimmuaya diverted and
delayed US troops from their chase of
President Emilio Aguinaldo as the latter
escaped through Abra and the mountain
provinces. After the two-day battle, 28
unidentified fighters from Cabugao were
found buried in unmarked fresh graves in
the camposanto (cemetery). General Tinio
switched to guerilla warfare and harassed the
American garrisons in the different towns
of the Ilocos for almost 1½ years.

29. January 20, 1900: Americans invade
the Bicol Region
In early 1900,
during their successful
operations in the
northern half of Luzon
Island, the Americans
decided to open the
large hemp ports
situated in the
southeastern Luzon
provinces of Sorsogon,
Albay and Camarines,
all in the Bicol region.

30. On January 20, the
Americans entered
Sorsogon Bay and took
possession, without
opposition, of the town of
Sorsogon, where
Kobbe left a small
garrison. They proceeded
to the small hemp ports
of Bulan and Donsol, at
each of which a company
of the 43rd Infantry was
placed. The
expedition then sailed
through the San
Bernardino Strait to
confront the Filipinos
at Albay Province.
The main street and cathedral in
Legaspi, Albay Province. PHOTO
was taken in 1899.

31. Major Paua, Col.
Agapito Bonzon
On April 26, 1897, then-Major Paua, Col.
Agapito Bonzon and their men attacked and
arrested Katipunan Supremo Andres Bonifacio and his
brother Procopio inbarrio Limbon, Indang, Cavite
Province; Andres was shot in the left arm and his other
brother, Ciriaco, was killed. Paua jumped and stabbed
Andres in the left side of the neck. From Indang, a half-
starved and wounded Bonifacio was carried by
hammock to Naik, Cavite, which had become Emilio
Aguinaldo’s headquarters. The Bonifacio brothers were
executed on May 10, 1897.
was the only foreigner who signed the
1897 Biyak-na-Bato Constitution. He was
among 36 Filipino rebel leaders who went in
exile to Hong Kong by virtue of the Dec. 14,
1897 Peace Pact of Biyak-na-bato.

32. February 5, 1900: Ambush at
Hermosa, Bataan Province
On Feb. 5, 1900, a supply train of Company G, 32nd
Infantry Regiment of U.S. Volunteers, was ambushed
near Hermosa, Bataan Province. The 11-man detail was
commanded by Sgt. Clarence D. Wallace. It was sent from
Dinalupihan by the Company Commander, Capt. Frank M.
Rumbold, to escort Capt. William H. Cook, regimental
assistant surgeon, to Orani. On arrival, the soldiers would
report to the commissary officer for rations, which they
were to escort back to Dinalupihan. It was while on their
return trip that the party was ambushed; 6 Americans
were killed. It was one of the deadliest ambuscades of
U.S. troops in the war.

33. Forty-eight hours before this occurrence,
detachments of the 32nd Infantry Regiment
scouted the country south of Orani, west to
Bagac, north to Dinalupihan, and west to
Olongapo, without finding any trace of Filipino
guerillas. Following the ambush, all American
units in the province were directed to exercise
extraordinary vigilance on escort and similar
duty.

34. Execution of Filipinos, circa 1900-1901
Four doomed Filipinos --- in leg irons --- are
photographed moments before their execution
by hanging, circa 1900-1901

35. The Filipinos were hanged one at a
time

36. War in Bohol, March 17, 1900 - Dec.
23, 1901
On March 17, 1900, 200 troops of the 1st
Battalion, 44th Infantry Regiment of U.S.
Volunteers (USV), led by Maj. Harry C. Hale,
arrived in Tagbilaran. Bohol was one of the last
major islands in the Philippines to be invaded by
American troops. Bernabe Reyes, "President" of
the "Republic of Bohol" established on June 11,
1899, separate from Emilio Aguinaldo's national
government, did not resist. Major Hale hired and
outfitted Pedro Samson to build an insular police
force. In late August, he took off and emerged a
week later as the island's leading guerilla.

37. Soldiers of the 44th U.S. Volunteer
Infantry Regiment at Tubigon, Bohol,
1900.
Company C of the
44th U.S. Volunteers
encountered Samson on
Aug. 31, 1900 near
Carmen. The guerillas
were armed with bolos,
a few antique muskets
and "anting-anting" or
amulets. More than 100
guerillas died. The
Americans lost only one
man.

38. Guerilla Resistance On Mindanao
Island, 1900-1902
BATTLE OF CAGAYAN DE MISAMIS, APRIL 7, 1900.
When the Treaty of Paris ended the Spanish-
American War on Dec. 10, 1898, the Spanish governor
of Misamis Province turned over his authority to two
Filipinos appointed by Emilio Aguinaldo: Jose Roa, who
became the first Filipino governor of Misamis; and
Toribio Chavez, who served as the first Filipino mayor
of Cagayan de Misamis (now Cagayan de Oro City). On
Nov. 2, 1929, Misamis Province was divided into
Misamis Occidental and Misamis Oriental.

39. BATTLE OF AGUSAN HILL, MAY 14, 1900.
Capt. Walter B. Elliott, CO of Company I,
40th Infantry Regiment USV, with 80 men
proceeded to the village of Agusan, about 16
kilometers west of Cagayan de Misamis town
proper, to dislodge about 500 guerillas who
were entrenched on a hill with 200 rifles and
shotguns. The attack was successful; 2
Americans were killed and 3 wounded; the
Filipinos suffered 38 killed, including their
commander, Capt. Vicente Roa. The
Americans also captured 35 Remington rifles.

40. BATTLE OF MACAHAMBUS
GORGE, JUNE 4, 1900.
On Macahambus Gorge,
located 14 kilometers south
of Cagayan de
Misamis (present-day
Cagayan de Oro
City), Mindanao
Island, Filipino guerillas led by
Col. Apolinar Velez routed an
American force. It is the only
known major victory of
Filipinos over the
Americans on Mindanao
Island.
Macahambus Gorge

41. April 15, 1900: Battle of Jaro, Leyte
The American barracks at Jaro, Leyte,
occupied by a detachment of Company B,
43rd Infantry Regiment of U.S.
Volunteers, was attacked at 4:00 a.m. by
about 1,000 Filipino guerillas. The
detachment commander was 2Lt. Charles
C. Estes. [The Company Commander was
Capt. Linwood E. Hanson].

42. April 25, 1900: Marinduque
Marinduque was the first island to have
American concentration camps. An American,
Andrew Birtle, wrote in 1972: "The pacification
of Marinduque was characterized by extensive
devastation and marked one of the earliest
employments of population concentration in the
Philippine War, techniques that would eventually
be used on a much larger scale in the two most
famous campaigns of the war, those of Brigadier
Generals J. Franklin Bell in Batangas and Jacob H.
Smith in Samar."

43. May 5, 1900: General MacArthur
becomes VIII Army Corps Commander
and Military Governor of the
Philippines
On May 5,
1900 Maj. Gen.
Arthur C.
MacArthur, Jr.
replaced Maj. Gen.
Elwell S. Otis
as VIII Army Corps
Commander and
Military Governor of
the Philippines.

44. Oct. 14, 1900: Battle of Ormoc, Leyte
Island
On Oct. 14, 1900, Company D of the 44th
Infantry Regiment USV, commanded by 1Lt
Richard W. Buchanan, clashed with Filipino
guerillas in Ormoc, Leyte Island. The
Americans suffered no casualties, while 116
Filipinos were killed.

45. June, 1902. Manila. American
military rule ends. An American
civil government is established to
rule over the American colony of
the Philippines.

46. End of our show!!!