The American Occupation of the Philippines 1898-1912Blount, James H. (James Henderson)
History
The American Occupation of the Philippines 1898-1912
Blount, James H. (James Henderson)
Philippines -- History -- 1898-1946; Philippines -- Politics and government -- 1898-1935
The brief incident over, Quinlan hurried on, rejoined the column,
and resumed the work of Benevolent Assimilation and the war
against Home Rule with all the dauntless ardor of his impetuous
Irish nature. Whatever the ultimate analysis of the ethics of this
scene--Quinlan at the grave of Pilar--clearly the Second Lieutenant
Quinlan of 1899 would hardly have agreed with the vice-presidential
candidate of 1900, Colonel Roosevelt, that granting self-government
to the Filipinos would be like granting self-government to an Apache
reservation under some local chief.
The territory occupied and finally "pacified" by General Young,
with the effective assistance of the officers heretofore mentioned,
and many other good men and true, was ultimately organized into
a military district, which was called the First District of the
Department of Northern Luzon. As territory was fought over, occupied,
and finally reduced to submission, that territory would be organized
into a military district by the commanding general or colonel of the
invading column, under the direction of the division commander. The
military "Division of the Philippines," which was succeeded by the
Civil Government of the Philippines under Governor Taft in 1901,
of course covered all the territory ceded by the Treaty of Paris. It
was divided into four "Departments," the Department of Northern Luzon,
the Department of Southern Luzon, the Department of the Visayas, [273]
and the Department of Mindanao and Jolo. General Young commanded the
First District of the Department of Northern Luzon--which included
the three west coast provinces north of Lingayen Gulf, and the three
adjacent mountain provinces--from the time he led his brigade into
that region in pursuit of Aguinaldo until shortly before Governor
Taft's inauguration in the summer of 1901. Many were the combats,
great and small, of General Young's brigade, in compassing the task
of crushing the resistance in that part of Luzon into which he led
the first American troops in the winter of 1899-1900. The resistance
was obstinate, desperate, and long drawn out, but when he finally
reported the territory under his command "pacified," it was pacified.
A soldier's task had been performed in a soldierly manner. The work
had been done thoroughly. General Young gave the Ilocano country a
lesson it never forgot, before politics had time to interfere. We
have never had any trouble in that region from that day to this.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account