The Congressional Philippine Insurrection Medal of 1899

At the beginning of the First World War in 1914, the United States was still a minor player on the world stage. The country’s growing industrial base made it a desirable ally, but the country had not been tested militarily on a large scale since the Civil War. There were numerous minor conflicts between 1865 and 1914, including the Siege of Mexico City (1867), ‘expeditions’ to Formosa (1867), Korea (1871), the Second Samoan Civil War (1898-1899) – which involved Germany and saw the US acquire American Samoa, the Boxer Rebellion (1899-1901), numerous – and often infamous conflicts that fit under the ‘Indian Wars’ umbrella, and of course the Spanish-American War (1898-1899).

Regarding the latter conflict, US Navy Commodore George Dewey had defeated the Spanish fleet in Manila bay on May 1, 1898, but could not occupy the city for three months until a sufficient amount of troops arrived – and after a stage-managed defeat and surrender arranged by Spanish Gov. Fermín Jáudenes, designed to salvage his honor. Meanwhile the wider ‘Span-Am War’ continued until Treaty of Paris was signed December 10, 1898, transferring authority over the Philippines to the United States.

The war was to have far-reaching consequences for the two main combatants. Spain’s loss of territories like Cuba, the ceding of Puerto Rico and Guam to the US, and selling sovereignty over the Philippine Islands for $20,000,000 turned the country inward to address domestic issues. Of course all of this had the opposite effect on the United States. Suddenly the US was a player on the world stage, complete with overseas possessions – as minor as these considerations were.

While the Treaty of Paris transferred authority over the Philippines to the US officially, it was not welcomed by Filipino leaders, i.e. those with true control over the country outside Manila. They simply elected to continue their ‘revolutionary’ struggle against their new governors, the United States, which in time came to be called an insurrection. On the American home front, notables from the American Anti-Imperialist League like William Jennings Bryan, Mark Twain, Andrew Carnegie, opposed annexation of the Philippines.

Nonetheless fighting began on February 4, 1899 and soon broke down into a relentless guerilla war, complete with civilian and military massacres, as well as reports of atrocities by all sides. While history regards the conflict concluded in 1902, resistance and sporadic fighting continued until 1906. In the end, 200,000 civilians are estimated to have perished, 20,000 Filipino troops, and 4,300 Americans – though nearly 3000 were lost to disease, leaving around 1,500 killed in action.

The 59^th Congress established a medal for ‘those who followed the flag’ by public law 360 on June 29, 1906, and implemented through War Department order 124 of July 9, 1906. 

The medal was struck in bronze, 1-1/4 inches in diameter, and with an oxidized finish.The obverse relief depicts a color guard carrying the US flag, and surrounded by ‘PHILIPPINE INSURRECTION’ and exergue 1899. The reverse shows a symbolic wreath composed half of palm, representing the Philippines, and half of pine, representing self-determination. Centered is the phrase ‘FOR PATRIOTISM, FORTITUDE, AND LOYALTY.’ Mil. Spec. numbered MIL-DTL-3943/196.

Identifying numbers were stamped on the rim, this particular example bearing ‘No. 6336.’

Ribbons were 1-3/8 inches wide, with the colors ‘Old Glory’ red, white and ‘ultramarine’ blue representing the colors of both the United States and Philippine flags, and were often mounted on ‘full wrap’ brooches. Mil. Spec. numbered MIL-DTL-11589/118.

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1918: Joseph Pennell's Fourth Liberty Loan Poster and a YMCA Postcard

I was recently researching a group of items that included an eye-catching World War I postcard, published by the YMCA’s Department of Reception for Returning Troops. What compelled me to interrupt this important research project and scribble these lines was the second full-length album by my own band, Ares Kingdom, entitled “Incendiary” (2010, NWN! Productions), featured a famous illustration by American artist Joseph Pennell (1857-1926), and the postcard image seemed very familiar.

Pennell's work had been a promotional poster for the USA’s Forth Liberty Loan campaign of 1918, originally entered by him into a competition sponsored by the Pictorial Division of the Committee on Public Information. Pennell had originally wanted to title the poster, “Buy Liberty Bonds or You Will See This,” but was overruled by the governing committee whose choice was, “That Liberty Shall Not Perish from the Earth.” The printing run would reach half a million.

By early 1918, the war had been raging for three and a half years. The dazzling speed with which winged flight had evolved since the Wright brothers’ first success in 1903 had effectively abolished distance in the minds of many, and reports of its military applications filled newspapers with tales of both heroism and terror.

It was to the latter of these that Pennell now appealed. In stark shades of red, orange and black, Pennell depicted Lady Liberty strafed by, we presume, a squadron of German biplanes on their way to bomb New York City into submission. Liberty's torch, the symbolic light of freedom, lies severed at the foot of the pedestal, while the waters of the Hudson lap against half her face which has been blasted away. German submarines – another source of technological terror brought about by the war, are seen cruising toward Manhattan Island, while merchant ships - noticeably out of scale, lie broken on the shore or sinking in the distance.

Not long after the poster's publication in 1918, Pennell published an account of the poster's creation in Joseph Pennell's Liberty Loan Poster - A Text Book for Artists and Amateurs [...] with notes, an introduction and essay on the Poster by the Artist, and Associate Chairman of the Committee on Public Information, Division of Pictorial Publicity, (J.B. Lippincott Co.). In addition to describing the complex and frustrating printing process, Pennell states that the illustration's form “came into my head, and I jotted it down in my sketchbook, on the train, with a lithographic pencil, and though the bridges are in the air the design otherwise has scarcely been changed.”

Not being entirely sure which came first - the poster or the postcard - it seems unlikely to me that Pennell glossed over or purposely omitted mentioning this postcard if it was indeed the inspiration for his iconic poster. What seems more likely to me is that the YMCA, knowing how familiar Americans would be with the poster, published this photo composite in tribute.

Of course now that the war had ended in Allied victory and American troops were returning home to a grateful nation, the attitude and perspective are altogether different. This time the view is away from the city, toward the calm waters of the Atlantic Ocean. A vigilant battleship lies in the distance, helping keep the world “safe for democracy.” Lady Liberty stands whole – her crown now retouched and given a distinct glow, as a solitary pre-war Curtiss Golden Flyer biplane soars gracefully above.

It was now time to unleash the Roaring Twenties!