77. WAR & DISSENT EXHIBIT: The Forgotten Philippine-American War

Last July 2009, Bayanihan Collectors Club was invited by the National Museum of the Philippines to exhibit some of our member's Philippine - American war memorabilia.  The exhibit titled  War & Dissent (The U.S. In The Philippines, 1898-1915) was presented by the Lopez of Balayan, Batangas Foundation and in partnership with the National Museum of the Philippines and Fundación Santiago.  This exhibition was produced by the Presidio Trust, Presidio of San Francisco, California, and Golden Gate National Parks.   

Below are some of the items we loaned for the exhibit  

George Dewey's New York Program

George Dewey's flagship Olympia and Admiral Montojo's flagship Reina Christina

Ruins of the Reina Christina, Montojo's flagship

Gift of the nation to Admiral Dewey in memory of the Victory at Manila Bay

Admiral George Dewey planted the Star-Spangled Banner in the Orient

Photos of Dewey in Manila and the American forces

About the Making of War & Dissent

Randolph Delehanty, of Presidio Trust, historian and curator said that it was a great honor for the Presidio Trust to present this exhibition at the National Museum of the Philippines. This exhibit began with a gift and a question. Mr. Allan Harlow, the grandson of Sgt. Hiram Lewis Harlow of the 51st Iowa Volunteer U.S. Infantry gave his grandfather’s war diary to the Presidio Trust Library because Sgt. Harlow trained in San Francisco. Mr. Harlow wanted to know why his grandfather was in the Philippines.

The Philippine War, also known as the War of Philippine Independence, was destructive and divisive. Perhaps this is why most Americans, and many Filipinos, know so little about it. Sharp dissent erupted in the U.S. when President McKinley decided to make the Philippines an American colony. For the Philippine Republic, the war for independence from Spain became a war against the United States. Thus the double theme of this exhibit: war & dissent.

The exhibit examined that tragic conflict from both U.S. and Filipino points of view. The Filipino American National Historical Society in the Bay Area was important in the exhibit’s creation, lending materials and providing perspectives. There is much more that could have been saying about this war. It was a conflict that, though now almost forgotten, forever linked the U.S. and the Philippines.

Katipunan form signed in blood by the revolutionist Joaquin Bautista.

1899 Photo of Emilio Aguinaldo

1897 Original Biak-na-Bato photo

Officers of Aguinaldo's Revolutionary Army

Photo of Gen. Antonio Luna

Anti-Aguinaldo cartoon blaming him for the death of Andres Bonifacio and Juan Luna.

Aguinaldo's stationary

Calling cards of Gen. Emilio Aguinaldo and Jose P. Santos

Printed speech delivered by Pres. Emilio Aguinaldo at the opening of Malolos Congress on Sept 15, 1898

Swiss chocolate card featuring Gen. Aguinaldo and his Revolutionary forces

Malolos Constitution of 1899

Battle of Zapote Bridge on June 3, 1898

THE FORGOTTEN WAR by Ambeth Ocampo

Manila and San Francisco are linked by history and a Sister City Agreement. Both are linked by the Spanish-American War and the subsequent Philippine-American War at the turn of the twentieth century. One of San Francisco’s landmarks on Union Square is a slender column crowned by the image of a woman depicting “Victory,” carrying a trident. This monument commemorates George Dewey’s victory in the Battle of Manila Bay on May 1, 1898. The bayside street where the U.S. Embassy now stands in Manila used to be known as “Dewey Boulevard” and is the backdrop for postcard-pretty sunsets. Both monuments link us to a shared, but often forgotten history.

The first shot in the Spanish-American War did not occur anywhere near Washington or Madrid, that shot was heard half a world away in Manila Bay. While Dewey held Manila hostage from the sea, he did not have land troops to take and occupy the city. Shortly thereafter, Emilio Aguinaldo was brought back from exile in Hong Kong on a U.S. vessel to resume the Philippine revolution against Spain. On June 12, 1898, the Filipinos declared their independence from Spain from a window of Aguinaldo’s home in Kawit Cavite. Dewey was absent from this historic event because he had been instructed by Washington not to make promises to the Filipinos or to recognize their independence. On August 13, 1898, Dewey bombarded the Spaniards in Fort San Antonio Abad (inside the present Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas complex along Roxas Boulevard). As secretly agreed, Spanish Manila was surrendered to the Americans and not to Filipinos.

On the evening of February 4, 1899, a sentry named Grayson was in a blockhouse in Sta. Mesa, on the outskirts of Manila shot and killed a Filipino whose name is forever lost in history. That shot began the Philippine-American War. While Aguinaldo established the First Philippine Republic in Malolos, Bulacan in the same year, the U.S. had not recognized it. In 1999, the U.S. Library of Congress updated its bibliographic classification by changing the subject heading “Philippine Insurrection” to “Philippine-American War.” While an insurrection is a revolt against an established government, a war is an armed conflict between two nations: a simple change in words that has the power to transform the way in which Filipinos- and Americans- see their past, understand their present, and see the future.

Source: WAR & DISSENT 

Photos of Gen. Aguinaldo's army

Photos of Biak-na-Bato and Aguinaldo's Inaguration

Aguinaldo's headquarter in Malolos / Igorote insurgents.

Surrender of Gen. Vicente Lukban and his army in Samar

Revolutionary Certificate of Citizenship

Miniature Flag was distributed on the occasion of the proclamation of the First Philippine Republic

Katipunan Anting-Anting

Sun faced Philippine revolutionary flag.

Aguinaldo stamps

Patriotic cigarette wrappers

Patriotic cigarette wrappers

Patriotic cigarette wrappers

 

 

Photographs during the Opening of the WAR & DISSENT Exhibit at the National Museum of the Philippines

photos of the exhibit.