no special privileges or leadership roles. As a result, both sides struggled to train and prepare soldiers for combat, a fact that undoubtedly increased casualties on both sides. The frontier experience produced surprisingly strong and courageous recruits who were fantastic fighters if not good soldiers.4 Then, just as quickly as they appeared, the militias dissolved once the war ended. The Union army included more than a million men in 1865. Congress reduced it to 54,000 by the next year. The atrophy continued over the following decade. By 1874, only 25,000 enlisted men and 2,151 officers remained.5
Then, on May 1, 1898, the American navy played a critical part in placing the American army onto that path that led it inexorably into becoming a part of America’s external state. On that day, the American Asiatic fleet, headed by Commodore George Dewey, engaged the Spanish fleet in Manila Bay, Philippines. The first major event in the Spanish-American War, few people anticipated the one-sided outcome. Dewey’s cable announcing the victory dramatically understated his accomplishment: he listed the Spanish ships destroyed (ten in all) and then added simply, “[American] Squadron is uninjured.”6 American newspapers showed less restraint. “As a naval battle it stands alone in history,” wrote the Independent, “the glory of the achievement can never be dimmed or diminished.”7 Hundreds of other papers echoed the praise, and within days, Congress promoted Dewey to rear admiral.
The naval battle essentially sealed the fate of the Spanish garrison inside Manila, which had become surrounded by thousands of Filipino insurrectionists. With no fleet to protect it and no hope of resupply or reinforcement getting through the American naval blockade, the garrison lay trapped within its own walls. The end came on August 13, in the “Battle” of Manila.8 Historians place quotation marks around the word “battle” because the whole affair involved no genuine fighting. It had been choreographed by prior agreement. General Fermín Jáudenes y Álvarez sent word through intermediaries that he would surrender the city, provided he could plausibly preserve Spanish honor. He suggested each side fire near but not at the other. The Spanish soldiers would make an orderly retreat into the city, abandoning their posts in succession as the American soldiers advanced. Eventually, the city would “fall” to the Americans, who could raise the American flag and take the Spanish soldiers prisoner. American guards (not Filipino insurrectionists) could then safely escort the Spanish from the city for their journey back to Spain.9 The “battle” went as choreographed, and the garrison surrendered the city without the knowledge, input, or involvement of the Filipino rebels. As the Filipino insurrectionists looked on, the Americans advanced and the Spanish retreated. By the end of the day, American troops controlled the city, which they sealed off from the Filipinos.10
Military strategy in the Philippines followed President William McKinley’s interest in keeping his options open. With Manila in American control, he had flexibility in negotiating peace with Spain and could also deal with the Filipinos from a position of strength. If it worked out that the United States ended up annexing some part of the archipelago, then possession avoided the problem of “retaking” the city. While not using those words exactly, McKinley ordered the military to “use any means in your judgment necessary” to maintain American authority over Manila, its bay, and the surrounding area against the Filipinos.11
The fateful decision to take Manila, however, created a genuine dilemma as to what to do with it along with the entire archipelago. McKinley might have simply freed the Philippines. But he worried the islands might be gobbled up by a growing German or Japanese empire (both seemed interested). He also wanted to open Asian trade and markets, and the Philippines provided a strong foothold in the Western Pacific. Finally, in an age when to the victor went the spoils, he feared a political backlash if he simply walked away from a great military victory “empty-handed.” Certainly race played a part in his thinking. Whatever the motivation, in the end he decided to make the entire archipelago an American colony. The Spanish had stalled the peace negotiations in the hopes that the American people would repudiate the acquisition of the Philippines in the 1898 midterm election. They didn’t. Once the election returns became known, Spanish negotiators conceded. The final treaty, signed on December 10, 1898, ceded the Philippines to the United States for a payment of $20 million. It also made Cuba independent (although still under American supervision) and added Guam and Puerto Rico to the American empire.12
Despite the election returns, an imperial project remained controversial if for no other reason than it seemed contrary to an American identity born out of a revolution against an imperial power.13 Perhaps to finesse this uncomfortable historical fact, McKinley argued that Americans should take hold of the Philippines in the interest of the Filipinos. The Filipinos would become “Christian” and “civilized” under the supervision of their more experienced older brothers. “Bear in mind that the government which they are establishing is designed not for our satisfaction or for the expression of our theoretical views, but for the happiness, peace, and prosperity of the people of the Philippine Islands,” McKinley explained.14 American rule would be temporary and benevolent, which would distinguish it from the permanent subservience demanded by European empires.15 More to the point, “Every step taken was in obedience to the requirements of the Constitution,” McKinley liked to say of his foray into imperialism.16 But his concern with the American Constitution and interest in distinguishing American empire from its European alternative meant that he had made little preparation for governing the Philippines once they became an American possession. In short, what entity would do the actual job of governing the Filipinos and how would that entity fit within the broader institutional framework of American governance?
The army became the default answer—at least to the question of which entity would do the actual job of governing abroad. The logic of the situation dictated as much. The army was already there, in large numbers, with clear lines of communication and a functioning command structure. No other branch of the federal government possessed these capabilities in a form that allowed for extension outside of the continental United States. In a scenario that would repeat itself in future conflicts, the army was always “there” wherever “there” happened to be.
As it turned out, in the Philippines the job of military governor fell to Arthur MacArthur, Douglas MacArthur’s father. Arthur MacArthur was a career soldier and decorated veteran of the Civil War. After the treaty with Spain, he stood at the center of McKinley’s effort to remake the Filipinos in an American image. Arthur MacArthur initially took this to mean using the army to restore basic services: fixing sewers and roads, sponsoring schools and markets, and generally pursuing the basic aims of “normal” civic life.17 At the same time, he had the obligation to put down a growing insurrection as Filipinos realized the war had largely traded one colonial overlord for another. Already armed and practiced at fighting an empire, the Filipinos proved a formidable antagonist.18 Thus, Arthur MacArthur had to make effective on the ground the contradictory orders to subdue the Filipinos in their own interest. At the same time, he had the practical task of retooling what the army does best (organized violence) for the purpose of establishing a legitimate governing authority among a conquered people.
In general, Arthur MacArthur took the position that aggressive violence would, over the long run, undermine American legitimacy. As a result, he issued orders offering amnesty to any Filipino willing to lay down arms and swear loyalty to the American government. He also prohibited his troops from using torture to gain information from captured guerillas (an order often difficult to enforce in practice). When a daring raid captured the rebel leader Emilio Aguinaldo alive, Arthur MacArthur spent weeks convincing him to use his influence to encourage an end to the insurrection. When Aguinaldo finally relented and agreed that the insurrection should end, Arthur MacArthur wanted to release all Filipino political prisoners and send Aguinaldo on a tour of the United States, treating him as an honored diplomat. McKinley recoiled at the thought. In general, Arthur MacArthur showed a surprising lack of racism as well as a willingness to use the promise of American freedom and prosperity to pacify the Filipinos. Mostly, he wanted to get the military out of the job of governing a foreign people as quickly as possible.19
Perhaps
