skip to page content - The Spanish-American War of 1898, in
which the United States wrested Cuba, the Philippines, Guam, and
Puerto Rico from Spain, was one of the first wars to be captured
by the motion picture camera. Fighting in the Philippines
between Spanish and U.S. forces ended in August 1898. On January
1, 1899, a constitutional convention declared the establishment
of a new Philippine Republic, with Emilio Aguinaldo, the leader
of Philippine resistance to Spanish rule, as president. The
United States refused to recognize the new government, and in
February 1900 fighting broke out between Aguinaldo’s forces and
U.S. troops. The American Mutoscope & Biograph Company sent two
expeditions to cover the Philippine Campaign, as the war and its
aftermath were called in the company catalog. This film, which
was shot on February 18, 1900, shows a large number of Filipino
boats on the Pasig River near Manila. Aguinaldo eventually was
captured and declared his allegiance to the United States, but
sporadic fighti