This discussion impacts this article, the Wesley Merritt article, the Elwell Otis article and, almost certainly, other articles as well.
This article lists Wesley Merritt as the first Governor General of the Philippines. The Wesley Merritt article states, "[ Manila ] fell on August 13 and Merritt became the military governor of the Philippines." The Elwell Stephen Otis article says, "When he arrived, he assumed command of the VIII Corps, replacing Merritt who had become the military governor [...] ." I challenge the unsupported assertion that Merritt held the post of Governor General of the Philippines, and/or that he held the post of Military Governor of the Philippines, and I question the numbering in Wikipedia articles of the Governors General of the Philippines.
This article has Merritt serving as Governor General of the Philippines from August 14, 1898 to August 28, 1898. As of August 28, 1898, the Philippines was still under Spanish sovereignty, there was no American government in the Philippines, and the post of Military Governor, AFAICT, did not exist at that time. Even though a "Protocol of agreement between the United States and Spain, embodying the terms of a basis for the establishment of peace between the two countries" had been signed at Washington Aug. 12, 1898 (Halstead 1898, pp. 176-178). Deady 2005, p. 59 says, "As commanders, Otis and MacArthur headed both the army and the Office of the Military Governor.", not mentioning Merritt. McFerson 2002, p. 243 says, "... August 22: Merritt is replaced by Elwell S. Otis, who became the first Military Governor of the Philippines."
I have not looked further, but I imagine that additional sources supporting this refutation can be found. -- Boracay Bill (talk) 00:51, 19 February 2009 (UTC)
- References
- Deady, Timothy K. (2005), "Lessons from a Successful Counterinsurgency: The Philippines, 1899–1902" (PDF), Parameters', 35 (1) .
- Halstead, Murat (1898), The Story of the Philippines and Our New Possessions, Including the Ladrones, Hawaii, Cuba and Porto Rico.
- McFerson, Hazel M. (2002), Mixed Blessing: The Impact of the American Colonial Experience on Politics and Society in the Philippines, Greenwood Publishing Group, ISBN 0313307911, ISBN 9780313307911.
- I see that the article does cite a supporting source, World Statesmen - Philippines. I have conformed the info in the article to the info in that source and removed the {{dubious}} tag. Wtmitchell (talk) (earlier Boracay Bill) 02:50, 16 July 2009 (UTC)
