Sunday, August 29, 1999
Tuesday, August 29, 1899. Volunteers back in the U.S.
Today In Wyoming's History: August 29: 1899 Wyoming volunteers returned from service in the Philippines, via the Port of San Francisco. Attribution: On This Day.
Friday, August 27, 1999
Sunday, August 27, 1899. A bridge over the Nile.
US engineers and Sudanese workmen completed the installation of the prefabricated Atbara railroad bridge over the Nile River near Khartoum.
Lord Kitchener remarked:
As Englishmen failed, I am delighted that our cousins across the Atlantic stepped in. This bridge is due to their energy, ability and power to turn out work of magnitude in less time than anybody else. I congratulate the Americans on their success in the erection of a bridge in the heart to Africa.
Last edition:
Sunday, August 20, 1899. The Bates Treaty.
Friday, August 20, 1999
Sunday, August 20, 1899. The Bates Treaty.
On this day, the U.S. in the Philippines treated with the Moros.
Agreement Between Brig. General John C. Bates, Representing the United States, and the Sultan of Sulu
Signed at Jolo, August 20, 1899
Between Brigadier-General John C. Bates, representing the United States, of the one part; and his Highness, the Sultan of Jolo, the Dato Rajah Muda, the Dato Attik, The Dato Calbi, and the Dato Joakanain, of the other part: it being understood that this agreement will be in full force only when approved by the Governor-General of the Philippine Islands and confirmed by the President of the United States, and will be subject to future modifications by the mutual consent of the parties in interest.
Article I. The sovereignty of the United States over the whole Archipelago of Jolo, and its dependencies, is declared and acknowledged.
Article II. The United States flag will be used in the Archipelago of Jolo, and its dependencies, on land and sea.
Article III. The rights and dignities of His Highness the Sultan, and his Datos, shall be fully respected; the Moros are not to be interfered with on account of their religion; all religious customs are to be respected, and no one is to be persecuted on account of his religion.
Article IV. While the United States government may occupy and control such points in the Archipelago of Jolo as the public interests demand, encroachment will not be made upon the lands immediately about the residence of His Highness the Sultan, unless military necessity requires such occupation in case of war with a foreign power; and, where the property of individuals is taken, due compensation will be made in each case. Any person can purchase land in the Archipelago of Jolo and hold the same by obtaining the consent of the Sultan and coming to satisfactory agreement with the owner of the land, and such purchase shall immediately be registered in the proper office of the United States Government.
Article V. All trade in domestic products of the Arrchipelago of Jolo, when carried on by the Sultan and his people with any part of the Philippine Islands, and when conducted under the American flag, shall be free, unlimited, and undutiable.
Article VI. The Sultan of Jolo shall be allowed to communicate direct with the Governor-General of the Philippine Islands in making complaint against the Commanding Officer of Jolo or against any Naval Commander.
Article VII. The introduction of firearms and war material is forbidden, except under specific authority of the Governor-General of the Philippine Islands.
Article VIII. Piracy must be suppressed and the Sultan and his Datos agree to heartily cooperate with the United States authorities to that end, and to make every possible effort to arrest and bring to justice all persons engaged in piracy.
Article IX. Where crimes and offenses are committed by Moros against Moros, the government of the Sultan will bring to trial and punishment the criminals and offenders, who will be delivered to the government of the Sultan by the United States authorities if in their possession. In all other cases persons charged with crimes or offenses will be delivered to the United States authorities for trial and punishment.
Article X. Any slave in the Archipelago of Jolo shall have the right to purchase freedom by paying to the master the usual market value.
Article XI. In case of any trouble with subjects of the Sultan, the American authorities in the islands will be instructed to make careful investigation before resorting to harsh measures, as in most cases serious trouble can thus be avoided.
Article XII. At present, American or foreigners wishing to go into the country should state their wishes to the Moro authorities and ask for an escort, but it is hoped that this will become unnecessary as we know each other better.
Article XIII. The United States will give full protection to the Sultan and his subjects in case any foreign nation should attempt to impose upon them.
Article XIV. The United States will not sell the island of Jolo or any other island of the Jolo Archipelago to any foreign nation without the consent of the Sultan of Jolo.
Article XV. The United States government will pay the following monthly salaries: To the Sultan $250.00 (Mexican dollars) To Dato Rajah Muda $ 75.00 To Dato Attik $ 60.00 To Dato Calbi $ 75.00 To Dato Joakanain $ 75.00 To Dato Amin Hussin $ 60.00 To Dato Puyo $ 60.00 To Hadji Butu $ 50.00 To Hadji Mura $ 10.00 To Serif Saguin $ 15.00
Signed in triplicate, in English and Sulu, at Jolo, this 20th day of August, A.D. 1899 (13 Arabmil Ahil 1317).
(Signed) John C. Bates, Brigadier General, United States Volunteers
(Signed) Hadji Mohammed Jamalol Kiram Sultan of Jolo
(Signed) Datu Rajah Muda Datu Attik Datu Kalbi Datu Joakanain
(Signed) Dato Raja Muta
(Signed) Dato Attik
(Signed) Dato Calbi
(Signed) Dato Joakanain
Last edition:
Wednesday, August 16, 1899. Death of Robert Bunsen.
Monday, August 16, 1999
Wednesday, August 16, 1899. Death of Robert Bunsen.
Brilliant Westphalian chemist Robert Bunsen died in Heidelberg at the age of 88. Bunsen was a co-discoverer of rubidium and caesium, and is also known for his work with Gustav Kirchhoff on the observation that each element emits a light of a characteristic wavelength. He had never married, and lived for, and was loved by, his students.
Last edition:
Tuesday, August 15, 1899. Ford leaves Edison.
Sunday, August 15, 1999
Tuesday, August 15, 1899. Ford leaves Edison.
Henry Ford resigned his position as chief engineer at Edison Illuminating Company in order to concentrate on automobiles.
He had no formal engineering education.
Last edition:
Sunday, August 13, 1899. Alfred Hitchcock presented.
Friday, August 13, 1999
Sunday, August 13, 1899. Alfred Hitchcock presented.
Alfred Hitchcock was born in Essex.
Worth noting, the remarkable British film maker was a lifelong Catholic.
Last edition:
Tuesday, August 8, 1899. Landfall in Puerto Rico.
Sunday, August 8, 1999
Tuesday, August 8, 1899. Landfall in Puerto Rico.
The 1899 San Ciriaco Hurricane made landfall in Puerto Rico, leaving 250,000 people homeless.
Last edition:
Thursday, August 3, 1899. The San Ciraco Hurricane first observed.
Tuesday, August 3, 1999
Thursday, August 3, 1899. The San Ciraco Hurricane first observed.
The San Ciraco Hurrican, the longest lived Atlantic hurricane of all time and the third longest lived tropical storm in recorded history, was first observed.
It would soon prove to be highly deadly.
Last edition:
Wednesday, August 2, 1899. Newsboy strike ends.
Monday, August 2, 1999
Saturday, July 31, 1999
Monday, July 31, 1899. Homeward bound.
Today In Wyoming's History: July 31: 1899 The Wyoming Battalion, having been in the Philippines for exactly one year, embarked on the Grant at Manila and started their journey home. Attribution: On This D
Thursday, July 29, 1999
Saturday, July 29, 1899. The results of the Hague Convention.
Final Act of the International Peace Conference; July 29, 1899
The International Peace Conference, convoked in the best interests of humanity by His Majesty the Emperor of All the Russias, assembled, on the invitation of the Government of Her Majesty the Queen of the Netherlands, in the Royal House in the Wood at The Hague on the 18th May, 1899.
The Powers enumerated in the following list took part in the Conference, to which they appointed the Delegates named below:
In a series of meetings, between the 18th May and the 29th July, 1899, in which the constant desire of the Delegates above mentioned has been to realize, in the fullest manner possible, the generous views of the August Initiator of the Conference and the intentions of their Governments, the Conference has agreed, for submission for signature by the Plenipotentiaries, on the text of the Conventions and Declarations enumerated below and annexed to the present Act:
I. Convention for the peaceful adjustment of international differences.
II. Convention regarding the laws and customs of war by land.
III. Convention for the adaptation to maritime warfare of the principles of the Geneva Convention of the 22d August, 1864.
IV. Three Declarations:
1. To prohibit the launching of projectiles and explosives from balloons or by other similar new methods.
2. To prohibit the use of projectiles the only object of which is the diffusion of asphyxiating or deleterious gases.
3. To prohibit the use of bullets which expand or flatten easily in the human body, such as bullets with a hard envelope, of which the envelope does not entirely cover the core, or is pierced with incisions.
These Conventions and Declarations shall form so many separate Acts. These Acts shall be dated this day, and may be signed up to the 31st December, 1899, by the Plenipotentiaries of the Powers represented at the International Peace Conference at The Hague.
Guided by the same sentiments, the Conference has adopted unanimously the following Resolution:
" The Conference is of opinion that the restriction of military charges, which are at present a heavy burden on the world, is extremely desirable for the increase of the material and moral welfare of mankind."
It has, besides, formulated the following wishes:
1. The Conference, taking into consideration the preliminary step taken by the Swiss Federal Government for the revision of the Geneva Convention, expresses the wish that steps may be shortly taken for the assembly of a Special Conference having for its object the revision of that convention.
This wish was voted unanimously.
2. The Conference expresses the wish that the questions of the rights and duties of neutrals may be inserted in the programme of a Conference in the near future.
3. The Conference expresses the wish that the questions with regard to rifles and naval guns, as considered by it, may be studied by the Governments with the object of coming to an agreement respecting the employment of new types and calibers.
4. The Conference expresses the wish that the Governments, taking into consideration the proposals made at the Conference, may examine the possibility of an agreement as to the limitation of armed forces by land and sea, and of war budgets.
5. The Conference expresses the wish that the proposal, which contemplates the declaration of the inviolability of private property in naval warfare, may be referred to a subsequent Conference for consideration.
6. The Conference expresses the wish that the proposal to settle the question of the bombardment of posts, towns, and villages by a naval force may be referred to a subsequent Conference for consideration.
The last five wishes were voted unanimously, saving some abstentions.
In faith of which, the Plenipotentiaries have signed the present Act, and have affixed their seals thereto.
Done at The Hague, 29th July, 1899, in one copy only, which shall be deposited in the Ministry for Foreign Affairs, and of which copies, duly certified, shall be delivered to all the Powers represented at the Conference.
Last edition:
Wednesday, July 26, 1899. Newsboy Leader Quits.
Monday, July 26, 1999
Sunday, July 25, 1999
Tuesday, July 25, 1899. The Great Meet of the Newboys.
I haven't been covering it, but the summer of 1899 featured the Newsboy Strike in New York City, which was directed at the Hearst newspapers.
July 25, 1899: “Great Meet of Newsboys”
It was not the only newsboy strike in US history, but it is remarkable as a youth lead labor strike.
Last edition:
Friday, July 21, 1899. Ernest Hemingway born.
Wednesday, July 21, 1999
Friday, July 21, 1899. Ernest Hemingway born.
Ernest Hemingway was born in Oak Park, Illinois to Clarence Edmonds Hemingway, a physician, and Grace Hall Hemingway, a musician.
Last edition:
Thursday, July 6, 1899 Ordered home.
Tuesday, July 6, 1999
Thursday, July 6, 1899 Ordered home.
Today In Wyoming's History: July 6: 1899 The Wyoming Battalion received its orders in the Philippines to return to the U.S. Attribution: On This Day.
Kansas state infantry, February 1899.
They were undoubtedly mighty glad to receive them as well.
The Philippine Insurrection is all but forgotten by 99% of Americans. Those who do remember it have some particular connection with it or are students of history.
They Wyoming Battalion was a battalion of infantry augmented by a battery of artillery. The infantry was drawn from volunteers from Buffalo, Douglas, Sheridan and Evanston, commanded by Maj. Frank M. Foote of Evanston. The artillery came from Cheyenne. They had volunteered for action in Cuba, not the Philippines, but the U.S. Army was so small, there was no way to exploit the Navy's defeat of the Spanish Navy in the Far East other than through using volunteer troops who had not been committed to Cuba. During their service the unit suffered high causalities, losing 3 men in combat, 12 died of disease, and 75 men became unfit for service due to wounds, illnesses and injuries. As with the remainder of the U.S. Army during the Spanish American War, many more soldiers from Wyoming died of disease and illness caused by poor sanitation and diet and inadequate medical care, and from numerous tropical diseases, than were ever felled by a foe’s bullet.
Coming before the Dick Act, these units fit into an odd category between the Regular Army, which they were not part of, and existing state militia units, which they were also not part of. State raised, they are regarded as National Guard units today, which makes sense in that their history more closely aligns with the National Guard, and the Guard found itself doing recruiting to fill out its ranks for the Punitive Expedition, World War One, and even in the lead up to World War Two.
The Philippine Insurrection, indeed the US presence in the Philippines in general, was controversial from the onset. A strong anti-colonial impulse in the US, natural for a nation which had once been a foreign colony, had operated against going to war with Spain in the first place, as members of Congress feared that Cuba would be annexed to the US as a colony. Preventing that from occurring had been a condition of the declaration of war, but other Spanish possessions had been omitted as they were completely out of mind. To naval strategists, including the Assistant Secretary of the Navy Theodore Roosevelt, striking at Spanish possession is the Pacific and Far East made perfect sense, but to most Americans it simply wasn't something that was likely to occur. As a result of this, nothing had addressed Spain's Far Eastern territories.
Given this, the war was not universally popular from the start. The use of state troops contributed to that, as the troops had not enlisted for service in a colonial enterprise. To address some of this, the Army, now freed of combat in Cuba, began to replace state units with regular troops. This did not address all the problems, however, particularly as the Army began to increasingly resort to harsh measures, giving rise to atrocities. The war was officially declared over on July 4, 1902, although in reality it continued on at least until 1915.
A good argument can be made that the Spanish American War as the US's first modern war. It came about rapidly and haphazardly, like many wars following it did. The long range implications of the war were not foreseen, including that the war would give rise to a long, unexpected war following it. The initial war was popular, but as the implications of it lingered on, the war succeeding it was not.
Last edition:
Thursday, July 1, 1999
Saturday, July 1, 1899. "Birth" of Indiana Jones.
According to George Lucas, this is the birthdate for his fictional character, Henry Walton "Indiana" Jones, Jr.
Last edition:
Friday, June 30, 1899. Safe passage for Spanish troops at Baler.
Labels: 1890s, 1898, 1899, 1900, 1900s, Army, Philippine Insurrection, Philippines, Prisoners of War, Spanish American War, Spanish Army, U.S. Navy
Wednesday, June 30, 1999
Friday, June 30, 1899. Safe passage for Spanish troops at Baler.
In a somewhat bizarre episode of the Spanish American War/Philippine Insurrection, on this day in 1899, the Spanish soldiers at Baler, who had held out for a year in a fortified church, were recognized as friend of the Filipino people and granted safe conduct.
A film about this event was earlier reviewed by us here:
1898: Our Last Men In the Philippines
Baler had been under siege from June 26, 1898, until June 2, 1899, which exceeded the period of time during which Spain was at war with the United States. The troops under siege had not realized that Spain had departed, and when informed, they refused to believe it and kept fighting. Ultimately, the besieging Filipinos became concerned for the garrison and began to supply it with food, beverages and cigarettes. An American expedition to relieve the garrison was launched and failed.
Finally, on June 2, 1899, the garrison surrendered.
The surviving Spanish troops upon their return to Spain.
The Spanish troops were lauded by Aguinaldo, but two Franciscan Priests who had been at the church, Fr. Félix Minaya and Fr. Juan López, plus a captured Yorktown seaman, George Arthur Venville, were kept as prisoners. The priests were freed when the US occupied the town on June 3, 1900 but Venville was executed by Filipino tribesmen.
Last edition
Monday, June 26, 1899. Birth of Duchess Maria Nikolaevna of Russia.
Labels: 1890s, 1899, 1910s, 1918, Christianity, Communism, Monarchy, Orthodox, Personalities, Protestant, religion, Russia, Russian Civil War, Russian Revolution
Saturday, June 26, 1999
Monday, June 26, 1899. Birth of Duchess Maria Nikolaevna of Russia.
Duchess Maria Nikolaevna of Russia (Maria Nikolaevna Romanova) born. She was the third child of Czar Nicholas II of Russia and Czarina Alexandra Feodorovna and was murdered with the rest of her family on July 17, 1918. She was 19 years old at the time. She was canonized as a Passion Bearer by the Russian Orthodox Church as a result.
Of some interest, her parents were second cousins, and her mother, who was a Lutheran German, initially did not want to marry her father due to religious reasons. Her mother was ultimately persuaded to change her mind partially due to it being represented that she did not have to renounce Lutheranism in order to convert to Orthodoxy, although she ultimately became quite devout.
Last prior edition:
Sunday, June 25, 1899. The Great Wall of China Hoax.
Friday, June 25, 1999
Sunday, June 25, 1899. The Great Wall of China Hoax.
Four reporters in Denver concocted a tale about American businesses that had a contract to demolish the Great Wall of China to construct a road. The reporters were Al Stevens, Jack Tournay, John Lewis, and Hal Wilshire, of the Post, the Republican, the Times, and the Rocky Mountain News. The plot was hatched due to a chance meeting while hoping to catch a legitimate news story.
The fable has proven to have been legs, and has occasionally been revived as a supposedly true story.
Last prior edition:
Wednesday, June 21, 1899. Treaty No. 8.
Monday, June 21, 1999
Wednesday, June 21, 1899. Treaty No. 8.
The Crown and various First Nations of the Lesser Slave Lake area signed a treaty regarding 320,000 sq miles of territory in Western Canada.
Last prior edition
Saturday, June 17, 1899. It's flooding down in Texas*
Thursday, June 17, 1999
Saturday, June 17, 1899. It's flooding down in Texas*
Terrible floods occured in Texas after 8.9 inches of rain fell over 66,000 square miles. The Brazos flooded, and 284 people lost their lives.
Footnotes:
The title today is taken from Texan Stevie Ray Vaughn's blues song of that name.
Last prior edition:
Tuesday, June 13, 1899. The Battle of Zapote River
Labels: 1890s, 1899, 1920s, 1922, Army, Douglas MacArthur, Ft. D.A. Russell, Personalities, Philippine Insurrection, Philippines, U.S. Navy, Wyoming
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