Today in Labor History February 4, 1899: A U.S. sentry shot Filipino soldiers, leading to the Battle of Manila, the first and largest battle of the Philippine-American war. 55 Americans and 238 Filipinos died in the battle. The war, as a whole, was essentially a revolt against the U.S. occupation. After 14 years, the Americans were in control and the Philippines had become a de facto territory of the U.S. Up to 6,000 Americans and 12,000-20,000 Filipinos died in the war. However, as many as 1 million civilians died from famine and disease during the genocidal U.S. occupation. The Manila correspondent for the Philadelphia Ledger wrote in 1901, “Our men have been relentless, have killed to exterminate men, women, children, prisoners and captives, active insurgents and suspected people from lads of ten up.”

Mark Twain wrote the following: “I have read carefully the treaty of Paris and I have seen that we do not intend to free, but to subjugate the people of the Philippines. We have gone there to conquer, not to redeem… And so I am an anti-imperialist. I am opposed to having the eagle put its talons on any other land.”

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