Spanish-American War and Philippine-American War
Edmund Rice served as U.S. Military Attaché at Tokyo, Japan from May 1897 through April 1898. At the outbreak of the Spanish American War, he asked to be relieved from diplomatic duty and to be given active field command. In May, 1898 he was appointed inspector general with the rank of lieutenant colonel on the staff of General Nelson A. Miles. Later upon the recommendation of Miles, Rice was promoted to colonel and placed in command of the 6th Massachusetts Volunteer Regiment that saw active service in both Puerto Rico and Cuba.
In July 1898, Colonel Rice was appointed by President William McKinley to be the senior colonel of all U.S. Volunteers in the Philippines. He commanded the 26th Infantry Regiment, a New England regiment, that was involved in skirmishes against the insurgents and Moros. In 1899, he was appointed as Military Governor of the Island of Panay. In that capacity following recommendations of the First Philippine Commission, he established public schools, took the census, and administered the oath of allegiance to over 60,000 Filipinos. He served until Filipino General Martin Delgado was appointed first Civil Governor of Panay on April 11, 1901.
He returned to the United States in July 1901 after suffering from fever and heart disease brought on by the harsh tropical climate. The Philippine-American War was Rice's last war. He served until his retirement in command of the 19th U.S. Infantry at the Presidio of San Francisco.
Read more about this topic: Edmund Rice (Medal Of Honor)
Famous quotes containing the words spanish-american war and/or war:
“The last time we used battleships was in the Spanish-American War. And what did we get out of that? Cuba. And we gave that back.”
—Robert Riskin (1897–1955)
“The funny part of it all is that relatively few people seem to go crazy, relatively few even a little crazy or even a little weird, relatively few, and those few because they have nothing to do that is to say they have nothing to do or they do not do anything that has anything to do with the war only with food and cold and little things like that.”
—Gertrude Stein (1874–1946)