PHILIPPINE AMERICAN WAR COVER
Cover sent by Private Walter Mangus of
Troop K, 4th US Cavalry on 4 FEB 1899
at the outbreak of the Battle of Manila.
US Scott #279 with very early use of Manila A-6 type cancel,
of which this is a new time/date variety (ref. GOODALE).
VERY IMPORTANT COVER!
After almost half a year of negotiations, minor incidents, shootings, alarms, and unremitting tension, the impasse at Manila erupted into open hostilities on the night of 4 February 1899.
The Philippine Army of Liberation, whose numbers have been estimated at anywhere from 15,000 to 40,000 men, had maintained a loose envelope around American positions in the city.
At the beginning of February, the U.S. Army forces in the Philippines numbered some 800 officers and 20,000 men, of which about 11,000 were in a pentagonal defensive line which extended some sixteen miles around Manila.
From Blockhouse 12 to Fort Malate on Manila Bay was Brig. Gen. Samuel Overshine's 2nd Brigade of ten companies of the 14th US Infantry, the 1st North Dakota, and six troops of the 4th US Cavalry.
(adapted from The Philippine War, 1899-1902, by Brian McAllister Linn, 2000)
