---
title: '"A Sacrifice to Aguinaldo''s Ambition" (commercial stereograph, 1899)'
url: https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/sacrifice-to-aguinaldos-ambition-1899/
description: A commercial stereograph sold to American households shows two dead Filipino soldiers behind their trenches at Malabon, captioned as a sacrifice to one…
section: Collection
---

[Collection](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/)

**Content note:** Photograph of two dead Filipino soldiers. This object is shown as it was published. [Why](https://propagandaarchive.org/about/#as-it-was)

[!["A Sacrifice to Aguinaldo's Ambition" (commercial stereograph, 1899)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/sacrifice-to-aguinaldos-ambition-1899.jpg)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/sacrifice-to-aguinaldos-ambition-1899.jpg)

# "A Sacrifice to Aguinaldo's Ambition" (commercial stereograph, 1899)

A commercial stereograph sold to American households shows two dead Filipino soldiers behind their trenches at Malabon, captioned as a sacrifice to one man's ambition rather than a battlefield loss in a war both sides were fighting.

- **Date:** 1899
- **Period:** [Pre-1914](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#era=pre-1914)
- **Made by:** Underwood & Underwood (Strohmeyer & Wyman, publishers)
- **Region:** [North America](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#region=north-america)
- **Country:** [United States](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#country=united-states)
- **Medium:** [Photograph](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#medium=photograph)
- **Issuer type:** [Corporation](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#actor=corporation)
- **Regime:** [Mckinley Administration](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#regime=mckinley-administration)
- **Leader:** [William Mckinley](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#leader=william-mckinley)
- **Audience:** [Domestic public](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#audience=domestic-public)
- **Purpose:** [Persuade or win support](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#purpose=persuade-support)
- **Themes:** [War and the military](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#theme=war-military), [Empire and colonialism](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#theme=empire-colonialism), [Media and information](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#theme=media-information)
- **Event:** [Philippine American War](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#event=philippine-american-war)
- **Techniques:** [Card stacking](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/card-stacking/) [Name-calling](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/name-calling/)
- **Source:** Unidentified Source blurred: contractors, cutouts, buried disclosure
- **Source:** [Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division](https://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/2004682813/), retrieved September 27, 2026
- **Rights:** Public domain (published in the U.S. in 1899; LOC: no known restrictions on publication) Underwood & Underwood (Strohmeyer & Wyman, publishers), "A Sacrifice to Aguinaldo's Ambition - Behind the Filipino Trenches after the Battle of Malabon, P.I.", stereograph, 1899; LC-DIG-stereo-1s48247

## Text on the object

Original (English) · read from the image, not independently checked

```
Strohmeyer & Wyman, Publishers, New York, N.Y.

Sold only by Underwood & Underwood, New York, London, Toronto Canada, Ottawa Kansas.

A Sacrifice to Aguinaldo's Ambition—Behind the Filipino Trenches after the Battle of Malabon, P. I.   Copyright 1899 by Underwood & Underwood.
```

The card is a stereograph (two near-identical side-by-side photographs); the printed publisher/distributor lines run in cursive type along the left and right card margins, and the descriptive caption runs along the bottom, all transcribed once rather than duplicated per panel.

[← Pears' Soap: "The first step towards lightening the White Man's Burden" (Cosmopolitan advertisement, 1899)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/pears-soap-white-mans-burden-1899/) ["School Begins" (Puck, 1899) →](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/school-begins-puck-1899/)

## Using the same techniques

- [Bayeux Tapestry, scene 23: UBI HAROLD SACRAMENTVM FECIT VVILLELMO DVCI](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/bayeux-tapestry-harold-oath-to-william-1070/) (1070 · Transfer, Card stacking)
- [Passional Christi und Antichristi: the emperor kisses the pope's foot (leaf 'Antichristus')](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/passional-christi-antichristi-emperor-kisses-pope-1521/) (1521 · Name-calling, Card stacking)
- [The Bloody Massacre perpetrated in King Street Boston on March 5th 1770 by a party of the 29th Regt.](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/revere-bloody-massacre-king-street-1770/) (Mar 1770 · Name-calling, Card stacking)
- [La paz según el Perú – La paz según los chilenos (Peace According to Peru, Peace According to the Chileans)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/la-paz-segun-el-peru-el-banquillo-1880/) (Jun 12, 1880 · Card stacking)
- [Remember the Maine! And Don't Forget the Starving Cubans! (Judge)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/remember-the-maine-starving-cubans-judge-1898/) (May 7, 1898 · Card stacking)
- ["England and the War in South Africa" (Der wahre Jacob, 1899)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/war-and-capitalism-der-wahre-jacob-1899/) (Dec 5, 1899 · Card stacking, Scapegoating)
- ["Kill Every One Over Ten" (New York Evening Journal, 1902)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/kill-every-one-over-ten-1902/) (May 5, 1902 · Name-calling, Card stacking). Content note: Blindfolded Filipino children before a firing squad.
- [Irrévocablement. Ouverture 15 avril. Marseille. Exposition coloniale (1906)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/marseille-exposition-coloniale-irrevocablement-1906/) (1906 · Card stacking)