Archives West Finding Aid

The Philippine-American War

The defeat of the Spanish by the United States in the Spanish-American War in 1898 ended Spanish rule in the Philippines, Cuba, Guam and Puerto Rico. The Philippine Islands, along with Guam and Puerto Rico, were ceded to the United States by Spain at the end of the Spanish-American War as part of the Treaty of Paris. This transfer of sovereignty was not recognized by Filipino leaders, whose troops were actually in charge of the entire archipelago, with the exception of the capital city of Manila, where the Spanish had been defeated by George Dewey and the city was occupied by American troops.

The Philippine-American war began near Manila on February 4th, 1899. Emilio Aquinaldo’s army occupied a trench-line surrounding Manila, and shooting soon began along this ten mile line. United States troops quickly overwhelmed Filipino positions, pushing north into Central Luzon, the main Philippine Island. The conventional battle ended in 1899, but guerilla fighting continued, with ambushes, massacres and retaliations on both sides. From this point on, the war became particularly savage, with indiscriminate violence and the slaughter of civilians. The number of Filipino civilian deaths is estimated by some historians to be in the hundreds of thousands.