Thursday, March 25, 2021

A Black (Filipino) General?

 StrategyPage has a book review:

The US Volunteers in the Southern Philippines: Counterinsurgency, Pacification, and Collaboration, 1899-1901

a nasty war that caused many civilian casualties via malnutrition and disease, and not one remembered much in the USA.

Two of the 25 regiments in these volunteers were African American but alas, the book doesn't cover them because there was little written about them at the time, but the reviewer does note a strange problem with the black soldiers:

Although due to the nature of the regiments selected – all white – we do not get see the experiences of the African American troops (some of whom reportedly deserted to the insurgents)

Why yes. This story is known here in the Philippines, which brings us to General David Fagan:

 

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a more scholarly discussion can be heard here:....

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not every American backed the American repression of Filipino independence: Mark Twain is one who opposed it when he saw that the US would not let the Philippines become independent (as they did with Cuba) and the "humanitarian" war soon became a war with atrocities on both sides.

Sigh.

This wasn't the first time that American soldiers figured out that their "enemies" had more in common with them than those on the American side in wars of aggression. The desertion of the Irish soldiers during the Mexican American war is another little known chapter of American history, and was partly due to the anti Catholic bigotry of the American side.

as for the Philippines: things are a bit more complicated than the simplistic "bad American" meme that the antifa types are pushing. Either way, the oligarchy would have ruled, as they do today: But the Americans did allow some self government, and did establish rule of law and schools for the non elites and the legacy of the Thomasite teachers is one reason for the "love hate" relationship with the USA, and one reason that many Filipinos  like those in our family, who were essentially anti American in their desire for independence nevertheless fought the Japanese takeover, just as they fought previous Chinese, British, Dutch and Spanish invaders.



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