Spanish American War Stereoviews: Philippine Campaigns, Camp Alger, and the USS Maine, 1898 to 1899

Spanish American War Photo Archive

Photograph

Spanish American War stereoview archive depicting American mobilization, naval power, embarkation, and combat across the United States and the Philippines, 1898 to 1899, documenting a war that carried the United States from intervention in Cuba into sustained overseas military rule. The views move from volunteer camps in Virginia and Florida and troops departing San Francisco to the wreck of the USS Maine, American warships, and fighting in the Philippines. Several Philippine views extend beyond the Spanish American War itself into the Philippine American War, which began in 1899 after the United States took sovereignty over the Philippines under the Treaty of Paris and Filipino forces resisted American rule. Contemporary Underwood & Underwood negatives preserved by the Smithsonian confirm that the firm's Philippine series included combat and occupation subjects from 1899, including American troops at Pasig and battle sites around Manila. Smithsonian Institution
Photo archive of 17 stereographic photographs, approximately 7 x 3.5 inches each, United States and Philippines, circa 1898 to 1899. The cards show the Army of Volunteers assembled at Camp Alger, Virginia; the Third New York Volunteers standing in formation there; Troop B of the Third U.S. Cavalry at Camp Alger preparing for the Cuban invasion; Troop I of the Sixth U.S. Cavalry mounted at Camp Tampa, Florida; U.S. Regulars eating their last meal at Fortress Monroe before leaving for Cuba; and a large formation captioned "Reinforcements for Dewey, leaving San Francisco, Cal., U.S.A." Naval subjects include the battleship Oregon, captioned "Old Glory flies proudly on the noble 'Oregon'"; a "General view of the wrecked battleship Maine"; and sailors beside the aft turret and 12 inch guns of the double turret monitor Puritan. The Philippine material includes Washington Volunteers firing from a defensive position, cavalry and field formations, and soldiers lying prone along a wooded firing line in a view captioned "On the firing line at dead man's bend, Imus road, P.I." The latter subjects belong to the transition from war against Spain to armed conflict between the United States and the Philippine Republic. Smithsonian holdings document Underwood & Underwood photographing American troops, Filipino prisoners, ruined positions, military encampments, and battle sites in the Philippines during 1899. Smithsonian Institution Printed captions appear on the rectos and substantial descriptive texts on several versos, including multilingual explanations of Camp Alger and the departure from Fortress Monroe. A verso devoted to the Maine recounts its destruction in Havana harbor on February 15, 1898 and lists the ship's dimensions, armament, complement, and cost, while another supplies technical specifications for the Puritan.
The Spanish American War began in April 1898 amid the Cuban struggle for independence from Spain and mounting American intervention, with the February destruction of the Maine becoming one of the defining public events preceding the declaration of war. The conflict lasted only months, but its territorial consequences placed Puerto Rico, Guam, and the Philippines under American control and established the United States as an overseas imperial power. After Spain ceded the islands to the United States, fighting between American and Filipino forces began in February 1899. The surviving 1899 negatives include subjects under the Philippine American War, among them trenches, captured Filipino soldiers, American military positions, and the aftermath of fighting around Manila and Malolos. Smithsonian Institution The archive therefore records both the mobilization for the short war with Spain and the longer colonial conflict that followed it, while the publishers' captions preserve the language through which American viewers were taught to understand troops, battlefields, conquered territory, and overseas rule. Mounts show moderate toning, edge and corner wear, scattered staining and rubbing, some images faded but sharp and legible. Overall in very good condition. A concentrated visual record of the military mobilization and popular photographic culture that accompanied the United States' emergence as an overseas imperial power in 1898 and its subsequent war in the Philippines.

Item #23936

Price: $485.00