Combat
Philippine-American War
The Corps' part in the long, bitter war to suppress the Filipino independence movement after the United States took the islands from Spain.
A Marine battalion reached Cavite in 1899, and Marine operations fell into three areas: the Cavite peninsula on Luzon, where the Marines defended the navy yard and supported the army, fighting their chief set-piece action at Novaleta; the Olongapo and Subic Bay region, where they destroyed an insurgent gun, established a civil government, and waged small-unit counter-guerrilla warfare; and the island of Samar, where Major Waller's battalion conducted the harsh campaign of 1901–02 against Lukban's forces, including the Sohoton fights and the disastrous march across the island. The Marine cost was thirteen dead, most of them lost to fever and exhaustion on the Samar march, and the campaign ended in the notoriety of Waller's court-martial. Six Marines won the Medal of Honor.
Engagements in this conflict (8) Podcast episodes on Philippine-American War
Record no. 483