First American Flag Flown over the Philippines

Description

Floating Christian Endeavor flag presented to Clark by Chaplain Steele at the Denver Convention in 1903. According to the documentation it is the first American flag flown over the Philippines on May 3, 1898.

After speaking about the Floating Christian Endeavor Societies at the Denver convention in 1903, ex-chaplain Robert E. Steele of the U.S. Navy presented Francis Clark with the first American flag flown over the Philippines from the Christian Endeavorers in the Navy. The account reads:

  • After the battle of Manila, when the Spanish force had surrendered, Admiral Dewey sent a squad of marines under a lieutenant to hoist an American flag over Cavite, the first fortress to fall. Two of these men were Christian Endeavorers. One of them climbed the battlements of the fort and raised the flag. When it was lowered to be replaced by a larger flag, it came into possession of himself and his comrade. He was killed in a skirmish battle a few months later and the comrade gave the flag to Chaplain Steele to be presented to the Christian Endeavorers, as a sign of their need for the work of the Society in the Navy. (Anonymous, “Floating Endeavor as an Evangelistic Agency,” 66-67.)

This image has been withdrawn.