Based on the journal of John Clifford Brown, a veteran of the 
Philippine-American War, Gentleman Soldier reveals the inner 
workings of a young man seduced by adventure. Educated as an 
engineer at M.I.T., Brown enjoyed the life of a typical New England 
gentleman until the Spanish-American War broke out in 1898. 
Brown then enlisted in a volunteer regiment with a commission as a 
captain, but his outfit never made it to Cuba.

    The experience heightened his desire for excitement, however, 
and in 1899 he re-enlisted in the military—this time without an 
officer’s commission—and was deployed to the Philippines where, 
as a wealthy man, he both hobnobbed with the officers and drank 
with other enlisted soldiers. Brown wrote a series of letters to his 
mother and numerous journal entries, which he mailed home for 
safe-keeping. After his death in 1901 from typhoid fever, fifty copies 
of his journal were published and distributed by his family.

    Through his introduction and annotation of Brown’s journal 
entries, Joseph P. McCallus elucidates the U.S. annexation of the 
Philippines and the development of the country as an American 
colony, producing a unique account of the war. This narrative will 
appeal to those interested in travel stories, military history, and Asia 
and the Philippines.

_________________________________________________________

JOSEPH P. McCALLUS currently teaches language and literature 
at Columbus State University in Columbus, Georgia.


Number Eighty-nine: Texas A&M University Military History Series


What people are saying about this book

“. . . sometimes spellbinding, never boring, and usually thought-
provoking ruminations.”—Robert E. May, Purdue University