Filipino Resistance to American Occupation: Batangas, 1899-1902

Abstract

THE PHILIPPINE-AMERICAN WAR was a major event in American history. By defeating the Filipino armies, the United States secured control over a sprawling Pacific colony and became thereby a significant participant in the Asian balance of power. Four times as many soldiers fought in the Philippines during the Philippine-American War as fought in Cuba during the Spanish-American War. The war with the Filipinos lasted more than three years-the war with Spain only a few months. Yet curiously, historians have paid little attention to those campaigns in the Philippines. In John Garraty's popular textbook survey of American history, the Philippine-American War receives only a one-paragraph treatment, while the Spanish-American War merits four double-column pages. Most other textbooks provide an equally skimpy account of the Philippine-American War.1 The lack of textbook coverage reflects, in part, a dearth of monographic studies of the war.