BGuthrie Photos: DC -- Natl Museum of American History -- Exhibit: Price of Freedom -- Expansion/Imperialism

DC -- Natl Museum of American History -- Exhibit: Price of Freedom -- Expansion/Imperialism:

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Specific picture descriptions: Photos above with "i" icons next to the bracketed sequence numbers (e.g. "[1] ") are described as follows:
1. SIPREX_150723_001.JPG: In 1803, the United States bought the Louisiana Territory, then sent a "Corps of Discovery" to explore it. The Louisiana Purchase. President Thomas Jefferson negotiated the purchase of Louisiana from France for $15 million, doubling the size of the country. When Jefferson became president in 1801, the United States extended to the Mississippi River. The Indian-occupied land that stretched westward to the Rocky Mountains was claimed by France and called Louisiana. In 1803, faced with losing the territory to rival Britain, Napoleon offered to sell it to the Americans. Jefferson jumped at the chance. The purchase gave the nation control over the continent's central waterways, kept Spanish-claimed territories to the west at a safe distance, and provided Jefferson a place to relocate eastern Indian tribes, thus opening their lands to white settlement.
2. SIPREX_150723_008.JPG: My View: Thomas Jefferson: "I know that the acquisition of Louisiana has been disapproved by some, from a candid apprehension that the enlargement of our territory would endanger its Union. But... it is not better that the opposite bank of the opposite bank of the Mississippi should be settled by our own brethren and children, than by strangers?" -- President Thomas Jefferson, 1802
3. SIPREX_150723_016.JPG: Jefferson Peace Medal: Lewis and Clark carried peace medals to give as gifts to the Indians. The medal is made form two die-struck pieces of silver, with Jefferson on the obverse and a peace symbol on the reverse. The Indians used the medals as passports when visiting Washington, DC.
4. SIPREX_150723_021.JPG: William Clark: Captain William Clark helped Lewis lead the expedition and saved it from disaster on numerous occasions. He later served as governor of the Missouri Territory.
5. SIPREX_150723_026.JPG: Meriwether Lewis: Captain Meriwether Lewis, President Jefferson's personal secretary and a US Army officer, led the army expedition into the Louisiana Territory. He departed Saint Louis, Missouri, in 1804 with some two dozen soldiers, a few interpreters, and a slave. They returned in 1806, failing to find a water route to the Pacific, but having made the first official overland expedition to the Pacific Coast and back.
6. SIPREX_150723_032.JPG: Wars of Expansion 1812-1902 Americans fought in North America and overseas to expand the nation's territory. Section Highlights: * Creek Indian War, 1813-1814 * Trail of Tears, 1838 * Mexican War, 1846-1848 * Bleeding Kansas, 1854-1856 * Battle of Little Bighorn, 1876 * Spanish-American War, 1898
7. SIPREX_150723_037.JPG: Texas Independence: Texas's struggle for independence from Mexico and its annexation to the United States led to the Mexican War. By the 1830's, American settlers in Mexico's Texas territory outnumbered native Mexicans. Americans felt oppressed by Mexican rule and, under the leadership of Stephen Austin and Sam Houston, declared independence in 1835. A Mexican army under General Antonio Santa Anna attacked and slaughtered Texas rebels at the Alamo, but Houston rallied support and crushed Santa Anna at San Jacinto. Struggling as an independent country, the Republic of Texas sought to become part of the United States. Although many in Congress opposed the move, the United States annexed Texas in 1845.
8. SIPREX_150723_042.JPG: Look Closely: Sam Houston's Rifle: This .36-caliber pill-lock hunting rifle was made by Seneca, Ohio, gunsmith Henry Gross and given to Sam Houston by an admirer. Note its unique sliding breechblock, also known as a harmonica lock, which allows for the loading and firing of five bullets.
9. SIPREX_150723_065.JPG: Manifest Destiny in Action: President James K. Polk came into office in 1845 determined to acquire additional territory from Mexico. Polk believed that obtaining the sparsely populated Mexican land that stretched from Texas to California was critical to the future of the United States. The president hoped to purchase, not conquer, the land but Mexico rebuffed his advanced. Polk ordered American troops under Zachary Taylor to march to the Rio Grande River. Violence erupted, and Polk, claiming that Mexico fired first, asked Congress to declare war. Many Americans, including Illinois congressmen Abraham Lincoln, opposed the war and questioned whether the fight began on American soil, but Polk prevailed.
10. SIPREX_150723_072.JPG: My View: John L. O'Sullivan "[It is] the right of our manifest destiny to over spread and to possess the whole of the continent which Providence has given us for the development of the great experiment of liberty." -- John L. O'Sullivan, journalist, 1845, who spread the idea of "manifest destiny"
11. SIPREX_150723_076.JPG: From 1846 and 1848, the United States fought Mexico to acquire land stretching from Texas to the Pacific Ocean.
12. SIPREX_150723_077.JPG: My View: James K. Polk: "The grievous wrongs perpetuated by Mexico upon our citizens throughout a long period of years remain unredressed... But now, Mexico has passed the boundary of the United States... and shed American blood upon the American soil. She has proclaimed that... the two nations are now at war." -- President James K. Polk, 1846
13. SIPREX_150723_087.JPG: My View: Horace Greeley: "People of the United States! Your Rulers are precipitating you into a fathomless abyss of crime and calamity! Why sleep your thoughtless on its verge, as though this was not your business... ? Awake and arrest the work of butchery ere it shall be too late to preserve your souls from the guilt of wholesale slaughter!" -- Horace Greeley, prominent war opponent and editor of the New York Tribune, 1846
14. SIPREX_150723_093.JPG: The Battle of Cerro Gordo, 1847: At Cerro Gordo, General Winfield Scott demonstrated his effective leadership. Instead of assaulting a larger Mexican force head-on, Scott had his engineers carefully survey and map the area. They helped him find high ground overlooking the enemy. He moved artillery there, attacked from two directions, and won the battle.
15. SIPREX_150723_098.JPG: Beginning the War: To fight Mexico, the United States had to mobilize, equip, and transport a large force, including both army and navy components. President Polk planned a complex campaign. He sent one army under Stephen Kearny to capture New Mexico and then march on to California. Commodore John D. Sloat assaulted California from the sea. Zachary Taylor attacked the main Mexican force from the north with a second army. Battles were hard and marches long. All three thrusts succeeded. Taylor won at Palo Alto and Saltillo. Kearny quickly captured Santa Fe, while the navy and army succeeded in California. Junior officers were of great importance -- many had trained at the Military Academy at West Point.
16. SIPREX_150723_101.JPG: Robert E. Lee and Ulysses S. Grant: The men who became the leaders of the opposing armies in the Civil War fought on the same side in Mexico. Both Lee (left) and Grant learned valuable lessons about strategy and tactics that they applied during the Civil War. After watching Lee in Mexico, General Winfield Scott concluded he was the best young officer in the army.
17. SIPREX_150723_109.JPG: Mexican War Campaigns: The Mexican War was a mix of land and sea campaigns.
18. SIPREX_150723_112.JPG: Defeating the Mexican Army: Despite losses in New Mexico, California, and on its northern front, Mexico refused to surrender. To finish the war, President Polk followed the advice of his general in chief, Winfield Scott, and sent an army to capture Mexico City. He chose Scott himself to make an amphibious landing at Veracruz and then follow the path Hernando Cortes took centuries earlier when he defeated the Aztecs. Scott planned and executed a brilliant campaign, in which he consistently defeated larger forces through superior tactics and bold maneuvers. The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo in 1848 ended the war.
19. SIPREX_150723_124.JPG: Gold medal presented to Winfield Scott by the US Congress in 1848 for his service in the Mexican War.
20. SIPREX_150723_141.JPG: General Santa Anna and General Scott: Although a shrewd national leader, Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna (left) was no match on the battlefield for Winfield Scott. Santa Anna did not contest the landing at Veracruz. At Cerro Gordo, he failed to foresee how Scott could outflank his larger force. And Scott outflanked him again in fierce fighting for Mexico City.
21. SIPREX_150723_146.JPG: My View: Pio Pico: "Inhabitants of California: .... Power to the nation and the whole world, that your difficult situation, and not your consent, make[s] you bear the oppressive chain of the usurper. Conserve ever in your bosoms the sacred fire of liberty, and without shame the glorious name of good Mexicans." -- Pio Pico, last Mexican governor of California, 1846
22. SIPREX_150723_153.JPG: Cultural Integration: After the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, Mexicans living in the new U.S. territory had to adapt to becoming Americans. Many Mexicans who lived in the territory lost to the United States decided to stay and become American citizens. Integration proved difficult. The U.S. government refused to accept land claims based on tradition or limited documentation, and many Mexicans lost their holdings. The California gold rush accelerated the growth of white settlement. Attitudes of the new arrivals conflicted with Mexican lifestyles and a strong Catholic faith. Still, earlier traditions survived and made the resulting culture of the West distinctly different from that of the eastern states.
23. SIPREX_150723_168.JPG: After the Mexican War, the United States absorbed not only new land, but also new peoples and cultures.
24. SIPREX_150723_186.JPG: My View: John Marshall: "[The laws of Georgia] are in direct hostility with treaties... which mark out the boundary that separates the Cherokee country from Georgia... [We] solemnly pledge the faith of the United States to restrain their citizens from trespassing on it; and recognize the pre-existing power of the nation to govern itself." -- John Marshall, chief justice of the United States, 1832 (President Jackson ignored his ruling)
25. SIPREX_150821_010.JPG: Trail of Tears: In 1838, General Winfield Scott and US Army troops began removing the remaining Cherokee in the South to present-day Oklahoma. Before the federal government began Indian removal, some Cherokee had gone west, but most had remained. Their forced removal, known ever since as the Trail of Tears, is among the most tragic episodes in American history. Men, women, and children were taken from their homes, herded into makeshift shelters, and forced to march or travel by boat over a thousand miles during a bitter winter. About 4,000 Cherokee died during the journey. They were one of five major tribes forced to move west.
26. SIPREX_150821_028.JPG: Georgia Gold: In 1829, prospectors discovered gold in north Georgia on land that the Cherokee had long controlled. By 1830, they were producing over 300 ounces of gold a day. The gold strike was a major reason for whites demanding the eviction of the Cherokee.
27. SIPREX_150821_037.JPG: A Civilized People: In the early 19th century, the Cherokee people adapted traditions of their white neighbors. Many white people believed that Indians were incapable of cultural change. The Cherokee proved them wrong. Their leaders saw value in the technology and culture of their white neighbors and successfully adopted their methods of farming, weaving, and home building. They created their own constitution and government. Some attended white schools. In 1821, Sequoyah developed a written version of the Cherokee language. In 1828, the tribe began publishing a newspaper, the Cherokee Phoenix. These dramatic develops won the admiration and support of many Americans, particularly in the Northeast.
28. SIPREX_150821_040.JPG: The Cherokee Constitution, July 1827: In 1827, the Cherokee drafted their own constitution, following the model of the United States. The constitution declared that they would never give up their ancestral homeland in the East. The Cherokee Phoenix, the first American Indian newspaper, is still published today as the Cherokee Phoenix and Indian Advocate.
29. SIPREX_150821_047.JPG: Indian Removal: After the War of 1812, the United States began systematic removal of many Indian tribes to western lands. Indian tribes no longer posed a serious military threat to white settlers. Still, most whites believed they could not live peacefully with the Indians. Indians who tried to assimilate often suffered severe discrimination. White settlers coveted Indian land, and conflicts were common. Federal and state governments were unable or unwilling to defend the terms of treaties. President Jackson decided that the best solution to the issue was moving the Indians to new lands in the West. Many opposed this position, but it became government policy.
30. SIPREX_150821_056.JPG: In the 1830s, the US government forced eastern Indian tribes to resettle in the West. "[Removal] will separate the Indians from immediate contact with settlements of whites; free them from the power of the States; enable them to pursue happiness in their own way and... to cast off their savage habits and became an interesting, civilized, and Christian community." -- President Andrew Jackson, 1830
31. SIPREX_150821_059.JPG: "Where today are the Pequot? Where are the Narragansett, the Mohican, the Pokanoket? Will we let ourselves be destroyed in our turn without a struggle, give up our homes, our country bequeathed to us by the Great Spirit, the graves of our dead and everything that is dear and sacred to us? I know you will cry with me, 'Never! Never!' " -- Tecumseh, Shawnee leader, 1811
32. SIPREX_150821_062.JPG: The Creek Indian War: During the War of 1812, Andrew Jackson led militia forces in a war against Creek Indians. One faction of the Creek sided with the British and fought the United States along the western frontier. This group, known as Red Sticks because of the bright red war clubs they carried, followed the teachings of the charismatic Shawnee, Tecumseh. They believed that Indians of many tribes needed to unit against the United States. On August 30, 1813, the Red Sticks attacked Fort Mims in the Mississippi Territory, where they killed between 300 and 400 people in a bloody massacre, including militiamen, women, and children. Andrew Jackson would soon avenge the loss in the battle of Horseshoe Bend.
33. SIPREX_150821_067.JPG: The Battle of Horseshoe Bend: On March 27, 1814, Andrew Jackson, with a force of Tennessee militia, army troops, Cherokee, and White Stick Creek, trapped the Red Stick faction of the Creek people at Horseshoe Bend and slaughtered them, ending the Creek War. In the treaty that followed, the Creek lost twenty million acres of land, half of all they claimed.
34. SIPREX_150821_071.JPG: .38-caliber flintlock pistol presented by Andrew Jackson to Major Lemuel P. Montgomery, who died at Horseshoe Bend. Hunting knife owned by militiaman Sam Houston.
35. SIPREX_150821_075.JPG: Trade tomahawks used for barter with Indians
36. SIPREX_150821_080.JPG: Settling in the West: After the Civil War, thousands of Americans headed west. The 1862 Homestead Act opened vast areas of government land for settlers to claim. Opportunities abounded for farming, ranching, and mining. In addition to easterners, the pioneers included numerous immigrants from Europe and freed men from the South. Wagons were the common mode of transportation, but they were increasingly supplemented by the growing network of railroads. The first transcontinental line opened in 1869. This rush of new settlers put great pressure on the Indian tribes in the West, threatening their land, their game, and their ways of life.
37. SIPREX_150821_083.JPG: Western Indian Wars: In the decades following the Civil War, the US Army fought dozens of engagements with Indians in the West. This map shows the most significant ones.
38. SIPREX_150821_089.JPG: My View: Sitting Bull: "Look at me and look at the earth. It was our fathers' and should be our children's after us.... If the white men take my country, where can I go? I have nowhere to go. I cannot spare it, and I love it very much. Let us alone." -- Sitting Bull, Lakota Indian chief, 1877
39. SIPREX_150821_090.JPG: George Custer's buckskin jacket
40. SIPREX_150821_096.JPG: Campaign hat worn by Indian scouts
41. SIPREX_150821_100.JPG: .45-caliber First Model Schofield Smith & Wesson revolver found on the battlefield at Little Bighorn.
42. SIPREX_150821_109.JPG: Broken Promises: This treaty between the United States and the Lokota Indians was signed in 1868. Designed to bring long-lasting peace, it promised the Lokota that the Black Hills, which they considered sacred, would become a permanent part of the Lakota Indian reservation. After gold was discovered in the hills, prospectors quickly began staking illegal claims, and then demanding that the army protect them from Indian attacks. This set the stage for another clash of arms.
43. SIPREX_150821_112.JPG: .45-caliber US Model 1873 Springfield carbine of the type carried by the Seventh Cavalry.
44. SIPREX_150821_116.JPG: Custer and Indian scouts
45. SIPREX_150821_130.JPG: Custer's Expedition to the Black Hills: In 1874, Lieutenant Colonel George Custer led an expedition of 1,000 men, 110 wagons, and a brass band to explore the Black Hills in Dakota Territory, which had never been surveyed by whites. His stated goal was finding a site for a fort to protect this Indian land. In fact, he was also interested in rumors that the Black Hills contained gold deposits.
46. SIPREX_150821_133.JPG: Lakota war club made with government-issued knives, man's skirt, metal-tipped arrows.
47. SIPREX_150821_144.JPG: Little Bighorn: At Little Bighorn (known to Indians as Greasy Grass), the US Army suffered its greatest loss during the western Indian Wars. On June 25, 1876, the army sent some 1,600 troops, including the Seventh Calvary, to trap a large group of roaming Lakota Indians and force them onto a reservation. The plan was to attack simultaneously from three sides. However, Lieutenant Colonel George Custer, who led one body of troops, thought he could defeat the Indians alone. He divided his 600 troops into thirds and attacked. The Indians greatly outnumbered Custer, and defeated each group in turn, killing Custer and more than 200 others. The loss so outraged the government that it mounted a new offensive that finally crushed armed Lakota resistance.
48. SIPREX_150821_148.JPG: Custer's Last Stand
49. SIPREX_150821_150.JPG: Geronimo: Geronimo and his band of Chiricahua Apache fought government domination longer than any other group of Indians. In the 1870s, the United States forcibly moved the Chiricahua to an arid reservation in eastern Arizona. Geronimo resisted at first, but was caught and seemingly became resigned to reservation life. In 1881, however, he and his band escaped and began raiding settlements in the United States and Mexico. Until his final surrender in 1886, Geronimo would at times agree to stay on the reservation, and then flee with marauding warriors. He became infamous in sensational press reports. In the final campaign against him, the army needed Apache scouts plus more than 5,000 soldiers to hunt him down.
50. SIPREX_150821_157.JPG: Buffalo Soldiers: In 1866 and 1867, the army recruited six regiments of African Americans for regular service, about 6,000 men. Organized as four infantry and two cavalry regiments, they participated in many actions against Indians. Because of their curly hair and fighting spirit, the Indians called them buffalo soldiers.
51. SIPREX_150821_162.JPG: Buffalo soldier dress-uniform coat and helmet
52. SIPREX_150821_168.JPG: Wounded Knee: Stirred by a spiritual revival centering on the "Ghost Dance," a group of Lakota left their reservation in South Dakota. On December 29, 1890, as they returned to surrender, a scuffle broke out. Hearing a shot, soldiers fired, killing more than 200 men, women, and children -- the last to die in the Indian Wars.
53. SIPREX_150821_174.JPG: Nelson A. Miles: General Nelson A. Miles led the force that finally captured Geronimo. Miles had served bravely in the Civil War, when he was wounded four times and accorded the Medal of Honor. He received the medal shown here for service in the Indian Wars, during which he defeated Crazy Horse of the Lakota and captured Chief Joseph of the Nez Perce.
54. SIPREX_150821_178.JPG: Reservation Meal Tickets: Many reservation Indians were reduced to a subsistence life, dependent on the federal government for food and supplies. They used tickets like these to claim their rations.
55. SIPREX_150821_182.JPG: Reservation Policy: In the late 19th century, federal policy changed from supporting separate Indian reservations to accelerating assimilation. The U.S. government wanted Indians to learn skills and attitudes needed for successful American citizenship. Indian children, seen as the key to assimilation, were forcibly taken from their homes and sent to school. In 1887, the government instituted the Dawes Act to accelerate assimilation by dissolving the reservations and allotting land to individual Indians. Most tribes resisted, refusing to give up their culture and unique ways of life.
56. SIPREX_150821_185.JPG: Land Rush: In 1889, the federal government opened unassigned lands in the Oklahoma Territory, formerly reserved for Indians, to white settlement, triggering a massive land grab.
57. SIPREX_150821_187.JPG: Education and Assimilation: As part of the policy to integrate Indians into the general population, many children were removed from the reservation and sent to Indian schools. There they were to learn fundamental skills of reading, writing, and arithmetic, and also new social attitudes that would make them successful "Americans."
58. SIPREX_150821_189.JPG: By 1890, the army had defeated armed resistance and resettled Indians on government-controlled reservations.
59. SIPREX_150821_205.JPG: Nameplate and bugle taken from the wreck of the battleship USS Maine
60. SIPREX_150821_213.JPG: America's New Navy: After the Civil War, the United States neglected its navy. By 1880, it ranked twelfth in the world. Although the United States had no overseas colonies to protect, business and government leaders realized that a strong navy was essential to defend trade and growing international interests. Beginning in 1881, Congress supported a modernization program that would make the American navy effective. The new ships would have steel hulls, steam engines, and large, rifled guns. At first, the ships used sails as a backup to steam power. But by the 1890's, the U.S. Navy had converted to all-steel and -steam, and ranked among the top five navies in the world.
61. SIPREX_150821_220.JPG: My Turn: Alfred Thayer Mahan: "Americans must now begin to look outward. The growing production of the country demands it... The position of the United States, between the two Old Worlds and the two great oceans[,] makes the same claim." -- Alfred Thayer Mahan, leading American naval strategist and professor at the US Naval War College, 1890
62. SIPREX_150821_224.JPG: A navy enlisted man's jumper, 1890s
63. SIPREX_150821_228.JPG: Nameplate and bugle taken from the wreck of the battleship USS Maine
64. SIPREX_150821_233.JPG: This Means War! On February 15, 1898, a mysterious explosion sank the battleship USS Maine in Havana Harbor, triggering a war between the United States and Spain. The Maine had come to Cuba to protect American citizens while Cuban revolutionaries were fighting to win independence from Spain. The United States supported their cause, and after the Maine exploded, demanded that Spain give Cuba freedom. Instead, Spain declared war, and American quickly followed suit. War fever was promoted by the press, particularly publishers Williams Randolph Hearst and Joseph Pulitzer. Although the United States claimed it had no designs on Cuba, many believed the war would be an opportunity to seize other overseas possessions and begin building an American empire.
65. SIPREX_150821_238.JPG: Understanding a Far-flung War: To help Americans follow the action in the Spanish-American War, publishers printed maps like this. Note that the names of the Spanish ships lost at Manila have already been scratched out.
66. SIPREX_150821_246.JPG: The Cuban Naval Campaign: To win in Cuba, the United States had to defeat the Spanish Navy. As the war began, Spanish admiral Pascual Cervera concentrated his small squadron in Santiago Bay to help protect the forts. The US Navy trapped the squadron when it blockaded Santiago along with other major Cuban ports. On July 1, 1898, American land forces began to attack the city from the north. Cervera was now ordered to try to break out of the harbor to save his ships. Although realizing this maneuver would probably fail, Cevera attempted it early on July 3. All of his ships were destroyed, one after the other.
67. SIPREX_150821_248.JPG: Model of USS Brooklyn: Commodore Schley's flagship. It led the attack on the Spanish squadron and lost the only crewman who died in the battle of Santiago.
68. SIPREX_150821_250.JPG: During the Spanish-American War, the United States entered an era of overseas expansion.
69. SIPREX_150821_251.JPG: Admiral Cervera and Commodore Schley: Admiral Pascual Cervera (left) commanded the Spanish squadron at Santiago Bay, Cuba, while Commodore Winfield Scott Schley commanded the American squadron that destroyed it. For years after, Schley and his superior, Admiral William Sampson, disagreed over who deserved credit for the victory.
70. SIPREX_150821_256.JPG: These Spanish coins melted together in the intense fire on board the Infanta Maria Teresa, flagship of the Spanish squadron, when it sank at Santiago Bay.
71. SIPREX_150821_261.JPG: Hat and field service coat belonging to Leonard Wood, commander of the Rough Riders
72. SIPREX_150821_267.JPG: Gatling Gun: Gatling guns like this defeated Spanish forces at Santiago. The guns had multiple barrels revolving around a central axis and were fired rapidly by turning a crank. The Spanish were not so well-equipped. Americans had first used Gatling guns near the end of the Civil War.
73. SIPREX_150821_270.JPG: Cuban Land Campaign Like the naval campaign, the land campaign in Cuba centered on Santiago. On July 1, 1898, General William Shafter attacked the San Juan heights that overlooked Santiago. In a series of fierce engagements, which included the decisive use of Gatling guns, the Americans pushed the Spanish off the hills. Having suffered heavy losses, the Americans now besieged the city rather than attack it further. The fall of Santiago on July 17 convinced Spain to concede defeat in Cuba. Following the victory, the person who attacked the greatest public attention was not General Shafter, but Theodore Roosevelt, a flamboyant "Rough Rider" who had raced up San Juan Hill.
74. SIPREX_150821_278.JPG: .30-caliber US Model 1896 Krag-Jorgensen carbine, the first bolt-action rifle accepted for service by the US Army.
75. SIPREX_150821_283.JPG: "You May Fire When You Are Ready, Gridley." With these words, Commodore George Dewey ordered Captain Charles V. Gridley (shown here) to fire on the Spanish fleet in Manila Bay. The Americans sank or captured every Spanish ship with no loss of American life. It was dramatic evidence that the United States was now a major naval power.
76. SIPREX_150821_287.JPG: Cap and coat worn by Captain Charles V. Gridley at the battle of Manila Bay.
77. SIPREX_150821_293.JPG: Spanish admiral's flag captured by the gunboat USS Petrel during the battle of Manila Bay
78. SIPREX_150821_297.JPG: Banner celebrating Commodore Dewey
79. SIPREX_150821_300.JPG: Chapeau bras (service hat) belonging to Commodore George Dewey
80. SIPREX_150821_304.JPG: Defeating Spain in the Philippines: The opening battle of the Spanish-American War took place in the Philippines. As soon as the United States declared war, George Dewey led his Asiatic squadron from Hong Kong to the Philippines. On May 1, 1898, the commodore decisively defeated the smaller Spanish squadron in Manila Bay. Winning on land took longer. The United States relied greatly on assistance from Filipino revolutionaries led by Emilio Aguinaldo, who already controlled much of the countryside and had proclaimed a Philippine republic. American troops did not arrive in large numbers until July. With the Filipinos, they negotiated Spain's surrender of Manila in August, as the war ended.
81. SIPREX_150821_306.JPG: Celebrating Dewey: Following his victory at Manila Bay, Commodore George Dewey became an overnight sensation in the United States. His picture appeared everywhere, and young people, like those seen here, honored and emulated him.
82. SIPREX_150821_313.JPG: My View: Emilio Aguinaldo: "General Otis is proclaimed Military Governor of the Philippines and I protest a thousand times and with all the force in my soul... I solemnly declare that neither in Singapore nor in Hong Kong nor in Manila did I agree to recognize verbally nor in writing, American domination over our beloved country." -- Emilio Aguinaldo, leader of the Philippine independence movement, 1899
83. SIPREX_150821_317.JPG: Philippine-American War: Although President Roosevelt officially declared war in the Philippines over in 1902, the campaign against the Filipino revolutionaries continued for more than a decade. During this campaign, the United States combined tactics of pacification and social improvement with brutal military strikes.
84. SIPREX_150821_328.JPG: Proclamation of Emilio Aguinaldo
85. SIPREX_150821_335.JPG: Filipino sultanate flag used by Muslim revolutionaries
86. SIPREX_150821_337.JPG: Becoming an International Power: Instead of liberating the Philippines from Spanish domination, the United States chose to annex the islands and begin building an American empire. Following the fall of Cuba, the army seized Puerto Rico. Samoa, Guam, and Wake Island also came into American possession, followed by Hawaii. Many Americans strongly opposed this new trend of imperialism. So did Philippine revolutionary Emilio Aguinaldo, who now turned from fighting Spain to resisting American domination. Defeating his guerrillas took longer than defeating the Spanish. Aguinaldo was captured in 1901, and in 1902 the Americans finally suppressed the insurgency in a ruthless campaign. In years to come, Americans would remain divided over the nation's imperial ambitions.
87. SIPREX_150821_341.JPG: Theodore Roosevelt's Big Stick: Theodore Roosevelt became the twenty-sixth president after the assassination of William McKinley in 1901. Roosevelt strong supported American expansionism, and increased the size of the military to implement it. His policy was epitomized in the phrase "Speak softly, but carry a big stick."
88. SIPREX_150821_347.JPG: The Great White Fleet: In 1907, President Theodore Roosevelt sent sixteen battleships around the world to impress other nations with America's growing sea power. Roosevelt, who had served as assistant secretary of the navy before becoming president in 1901, believed that the United States needed a strong navy to protect its international interests. He supported naval expansion through his administration. In December 1907, he sent the "great white fleet" on a fourteen-month cruise around the world. The battleships steamed 43,000 miles and made twenty ports of call. In addition to giving the navy valuable experience, the cruise demonstrated clearly to other nations -- most notably Japan -- that the United States could project power into the Pacific as well as the Atlantic.
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2015 photos: Equipment this year: I mostly used my Fuji XS-1 camera but, depending on the event, I also used a Nikon D7000. I retired from the US Census Bureau in god-forsaken Suitland, Maryland on my 58th birthday in May. Yee ha! Trips this year: a quick trip to Florida. two Civil War Trust conferences (Raleigh, NC and Richmond, VA), and my 10th consecutive San Diego Comic-Con trip (including Los Angeles). Ego Strokes: Carolyn Cerbin used a Kevin Costner photo in her USA Today article. Miss DC pictures were used a few times in the Washington Post. Number of photos taken this year: just over 550,000.
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