1898-1901 Spanish Philippine Filipino-American War Soldier's Letters & Drawings

Description

1898-1901 Spanish Philippine Filipino-American War Soldier's Letters & Drawings
1898-1901 Spanish Philippine Filipino-American War Soldier's Letters & Drawings
~ IMPORTANT / UNIQUE / HISTORIC / MUSEUM QUALITY ~
Complete collection of Philippine-American Infantry Soldier's
Original War Time
Letters and Drawings describing and illustrating his tour of duty from enlistment, transfer to the theatre, front line battles & victories through to his discharge at the end of the war. While in combat, some of his illustrations and writings were published* in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch newspaper. This desirable collection should be of interest to war historians, military enthusiasts and museums.
~ COLLECTION CONTENTS ~
Aug 22, 1898 US Solder's letter on Camp Cuba Libre illustrated stationery, before his deployment to Philippines
Sept 1898 8-page letter written by Ward L Normandeau from the Manhattan State Hospital, Wards Island, New York City
Sept 16, 1898 soldier's illustrations of soldier standing on sailboat and sleeping in tent, with letter and cover with pressed plant clippings sent on New York City Army Navy YMCA stationery
Oct 4, 1898 Soldier's letter and cover on patriotic flag stationery sent from Jacksonville, Florida
1898 Post-Dispatch newspaper clipping with photos of soldiers, tents, drills at Springfield Missouri Camp
Sept 2, 1898 letter with soldier's self portrait and Illustration of Philippine drug store house with pig in doorway
Feb 26, 1899 letter and cover sent from New York City
Feb 27, 1899 letter with quill pen drawing of dove flying with inset view of a sailboat on the water
Oct 1899 6-page letter and cover sent from San Francisco
1900 6-page letter with illustration of oxen driven Philippine rickshaw wagon
Jan 1900 6-page letter from Batangas, Philippines Island of Luzon
February 18, 1900 4-page letter from Batangas, Philippines Island of Luzon
March 8, 1900 illustration of soldier sitting on log as he writes letters from Philippines to his mother back home, her sitting by a window, as birds deliver letters back and forth across the ocean between them. Includes cover, sent from Batangas
April 8, 1900 St Louis newspaper clipping of article publishing Breiling's battlefield illustration, self portrait and front line description from original letter, also included*
April 12, 1900 Letter w/ Cover from Batangas
May 1900 Letter w/ portrait illustration from Batangas
June 1, 1900 Covers (one with OLD GLORY FLAG) and Note from Manila, Philippines
July 16, 1900 elaborate illustration of crossed USA flags, bald eagle on world globe, holding arrows, with ribbon in beak, 13 colonial stars, berried branches and inset of fighting and shot American soldiers near bamboo hut in Batangas "JUST AS THE SUN WENT DOWN" on letter
Nov 1900 10-page letter from Batangas, Philippines Island of Luzon
Feb 27, 1901 letter with hand colored Illustration of soldier cooking at campfire near tents, palm trees, mountains set in gold frame against US flag, sent from Manila
Note with chip cut from dead Insurgent's bole handle
May 1, 1901 letter with hand colored "NO MORE WAR" illustration of Bald Eagle flying with US flag wrapped around arrow quivers in its beak, and HOME SWEET HOME banner, and soldiers leaving the Philippine tropics. Includes original postal cover which also has a flag illustration, sent from the Presidio of San Francisco, California
May 11, 1901 letter with hand colored illustration of Bald Eagle flying with wheat, ribbon and US flag, sent from the Presidio of San Francisco, California
May 23, 1901 letter with hand colored illustration of US flag and a portrait of ISAAC SILVERSTEIN, sent from the Presidio of San Francisco, California
June 3, 1901 letter (and cover) with hand colored illustration of US flag, sent from the Presidio of San Francisco, California
Discharge Notes
June 30 & July 3, 1901 Western Union Telegraphs announcing train departure back home
July 7, 1901 letter and cover sent from the Presidio of San Francisco, California
Solder's note and Illustration of STL & SF Railroad Train heading from San Francisco to St. Louis
* April 8, 1900, St. Louis Post-Dispatch newspaper article titled SKETCHED ON THE FIRING LINE, Remarkable Picture from the Far Philippines, ST LOUIS SOLDIER'S ART WORK, Used His Pencil While Under Fire, At Night He Finished the Drawing and Wrote His St. Louis Relatives a Lengthy Letter Under the Illustration.
When the war in the Philippines from present of today into the past of a coming generation and the big things in the foreground of the picture fade away like a cloud vision revealing the details in the background, and when men are far enough away from the horrors of it all to appreciate the sidelights the name of FRANK BRIEDING may find its way into the pages of history.
Just now he is only a soldier, a scarecrow in blue to be shot at by reapers of a harvest of human lives. He is known as often by a number as by name. He is often 1, 2, 3 or 4 in the line and if the man next to him is killed he moves up one and waits for the bullet that bears his billet.
Yet this St. Louisan has a soldiery spirit of which a brigadier might well feel proud. This boy, for he is only 20, has done this thing: On Jan. 16, last, a detachment of Thirty-Eight Infantry, including the company to watch young Brieding, was in close quarters. Before them lay the town of Batangas filled with bamboo huts filled with insurgents armed with bolos and rifles with the madness of beasts.
Between the soldiers and their rebel enemies stretched an open plain unobstructed save for a dense growth of chaparral, the grass of tropical countries. Marching forward on foot was out of the question. In every crack of every hut on the hill was a resting barrel of a rifle. Stealthy, but steady, the boys in blue crawled through the tangled grass. Gilding along on their stomachs and rising now and then to fire a volley, the little battalion was making a typical American advance under trying odds. First one file then another would fire a volley. Sometimes the waits between these were long. While the files lay prone on the ground during a lull in the battle the soldier boys felt the agony of inaction which is never so depressing as on the battlefield - all but one of them. Young Brieding, an artist of instinct, and somewhat so by training, was scrawling something on a crumpled piece of paper. Lying at full length with his gunstock he was rapidly sketching the scene which came within his range of vision as he peered through the undergrowth. His pencil moved rapidly, for there was not time to lose. Now and then a bullet whined over his head and sped onward to find a mark in one of the rear files. The hand on the pencil never faltered. Then came the command to resume firing. The file ahead of young Breiding's rose and fired. He saw it in a splendid foreground for his picture. With a few rapid strokes he caught the poses of the men in front and a few moments later was scrambling to his feet and bringing his gun on his shoulder. Soldiers like that cannot lose. Batanga was taken and the rebels routed. That night when most of the boys were resting in their tents the St. Louis artist soldier was bent over a cracker box on which he lay his precious sketch. He carefully retraced the lines with ink. Beneath the picture he wrote a long letter to his parents who live at 1516 Wash Street. The picture is reproduced here. In conception it is far from amateurish and the execution is described by artists to be above average. When the conditions under which it was made are considered, it is marvelous. In his letter, young Breiding describes the battle of which made this sketch while in action.
Portion of letter written to relatives:
This is a "partial description of my experience in the wild and isolated Island of Luzon. The 20th Regiment landed in Manilla Dec. 27th after 36 days sailing on the Pacific Ocean and quite a ways on the China Sea we went into camp for 5 days then were ordered out to reinforce the 28th which was in battle with the insurgents in a town called Imus. We hiked out of Manila at 8 o'clock and next morning found ourselves at about 31 miles from Manila and it was in this fight that an American soldier was killed as an Insurgent to the USA. He deserted the 6th Cavalry Co. and for taking the oath to fight against the USA, he received Major's Commission [from the rebel forces]. This fight was Jan. 7th. Then, we started out for a town on the lake which we reached next morning and had a fight which lasted about one hour, this doing no harm on our side. Not knowing what the results were on the other side, we camped here overnight then started for Lepa, a distance of 40 miles. After hiking for two days we came within a distance of three miles from Lepa where we ran into an Army of Insurgents. They were well entrenched. This fight was hard and resulted in the killing of two American soldiers and 70 Insurgents were killed or wounded. We defeated the enemy and went into town of Lepa. It is a wall city and town of military importance. It was the stopping place for Aguinaldo. He had just left town about an hour ahead of us. After camping three days and nights here we hiked out under Major Muir to attack Batangas which we done on Jan 16th which ended in the wounding of a few Insurgents and capturing of about 50. We also captured 60 rifles and several bolos. We marched in the city firing several shots up the streets to clear them. Then the next battle was fought at a place named Taal, a place of 800 Insurgents who were deeply entrenched. Taal was strongly fortified which made it a hard fight. Though we taken the town, we never lost a man except for the wounding of six, while killing quite a few Insurgents. This fight was done on Jan. 22nd. The next was Feb 2nd resulting in capturing two brass cannons and one repeating fire gun and one Insurgent. We lost 4 men who had fallen out to rest. They were from my Company (Co. A). Our Company went out the next day looking for them but could find not trace of them. We brought in one Insurgent that we captured along the way. The next day we went out again and succeeded. We found them in an old Spanish church in a town named Tieson. They were surrounded by the Insurgents who tried to come in after them. They had only 35 rounds of ammunition left when we found them. General Lawton was a man who rose the ranks and was in sympathy with the common class and he was slain while in the performance of the highest duty that comes to man. I hope that we will be able to take the lives of a thousand blood thirsty Philippines for each of our men who died from the United States, a land of the free and home of the brave which the stars and stripes will ever wave." - Fred Breiding, Co. A, 38th US Infantry, Batangas, Philippine Islands."
~ ADDITIONAL ORIGINAL PENCIL ILLUSTRATIONS BY BREIDING ~
Soldier's illustration depicting his mother saying "Where is my wonderful boy tonight"
Soldier's illustration depicting himself in uniform with woman walking past an ICE CREAM, SODA, CANDIES store and Street Car in downtown St. Louis, which he titled "What he would like to be doing"
Soldier's illustration depicting his mother sitting in front of wood burning stove, petting cat with HOME SWEET HOME sign on wall, which he titled "Oh, How Charming"
Soldier's illustration depicting appearance of Infantry fighters in uniform as they appeared on the front line
Soldier's illustration depicting appearance of a "Typical Philippine Beauty" man wearing loin cloth smoking cigarette
Soldier's illustration depicting appearance of a "Philippine Belle" woman wearing dress and smoking cigarette
Soldier's illustration depicting appearance of a tropical pig
Soldier's illustration depicting American soldiers laying on ground with Major giving orders to fire at Philippine insurgents
Soldier's crossed out illustration of train conductor in coat
Soldier's illustration depicting American soldier after filling uniform shirt with oranges from grove, walking with rifle and water canteen
~ PROVENANCE ~
Frederick William “Fred” Breiding
(1881-1959) was born in Lebanon, Illinois, USA on 21 Aug 1881 to George Breiding (born in Hesse, Cassel, Ahrweiler, Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany in 1833) and Louisa Getschel (born in Missouri in 1854). Starting age 17, Fred fought in Company A, 38th US Infantry during the
Spanish / Philippine-American War
in multiple battles before being honorably discharged. After returning to St. Louis, Frederick W. Breiding married Rose Theresa Mueller. The couple had 2 children. Fred passed away on May 6, 1959 in St. Louis where he was buried in Gatewood Gardens Cemetery.
At age 17, Fred W. Breiding fought in multiple battles against Philippine insurrectionists to secure the territory under rule of America rather than allowing the former nation to be self ruled. Following his service, he was discharged in 1901.
After combat, he returned home to St. Louis, Missouri, were he became a police patrolman. In one incident in Dec. 1920, he disarmed and arrested a man who drew a revolver in a saloon, killed another and identified a third as a fugitive. He surprised the three career criminals as they held up they attempted a robbery. Frank Bianski, the proprietary of the saloon, as well as several of his customers were robbed by the three men and locked in an ice box. Breiding received a Police Medal for Efficiency for his bravery, the most coveted medal bestowed by the department at the time. Officer Breidling arrived at the saloon just 30 seconds before the thieves arrived. His intent was to arrest all persons with police records who were found idling. When the thieves walked in they didn't immediately notice Breiding and drew their weapons to announce a robbery. Breiding took charge of the situation by shooting Frank Hartney as he threatened to shoot Breiding. The other two holdup men were identified as Jerry Ford and John Gregory. Fred's wife, Rose, passed away in 1959.
Fred & Rose' decendents include sons, Frederick Herbert Breiding (1905 - 1988) and George F. Breiding (1903 - 1973).
Frederick Herbert Breiding married Elima Emilee Jobs (1908-1976) in 1925 and they had two children, Frederick Herbert, III (1926-2011) and Robert G. (1932-2014).
Like his grandfather, Fred III proudly served in the military as a Marine during World War II and the Korean War. He was survived by his wife, Dorothy R. (Dieckmann) Breiding, children Elise (George) McCoubrie, Fredrick H. (Norma) Breiding IV, Tim Breiding and Valerie (Patrick) Barclay; grandchildren, Jason (Noelle), Timothy, Philip (Jessica), Allison, Joshua, and the late Sarah Barclay; as well as a greatgrandson, Jacob.
Robert G. “Bob” Breiding Sr. also served as a Marine in the Korean War. He survived his son, Stephen, and was survived by his wife, Betty Breiding; daughter, Sandra Ferguson; son, Leonard Breiding; daughter, Pam Holland; son, Robert Breiding, Jr. and several grandchildren and great grandchildren.
~ WIKI ~
The Spanish–American War
(April 21 – August 13, 1898) ended Spain’s colonial empire in the Western Hemisphere and secured the position of the United States as a Pacific power. U.S. victory in the war produced a peace treaty that compelled the Spanish to relinquish claims on Cuba, and to cede sovereignty over Guam, Puerto Rico, and the Philippines to the United States. The United States also annexed the independent state of Hawaii during the conflict. Thus, the war enabled the United States to establish its predominance in the Caribbean region and to pursue its strategic and economic interests in Asia.
The Philippine-American War (
1899–1902) after its defeat in the Spanish-American War of 1898, Spain ceded its longstanding colony of the Philippines to the United States in the Treaty of Paris. On February 4, 1899, just two days before the U.S. Senate ratified the treaty, fighting broke out between American forces and Filipino nationalists led by Emilio Aguinaldo who sought independence rather than a change in colonial rulers. The ensuing Philippine-American War lasted three years and resulted in the death of over 4,200 American and over 20,000 Filipino combatants.
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