David Fagen

David Fagen or David Fagin (1875–?) was an African-American soldier who defected during the Philippine–American War. He acquired the rank of captain in the Philippine Republican Army.

Early life A native of Tampa, Florida, Fagen's mother, Sylvia, died in 1883. Conflicting accounts exist regarding his father, Sam, though he was likely a laborer. Marrying Maggie Washington at age 19, they moved into the so-called "Scrub" slum, and Fagen would work for the Hull Phosphate Company dredging up phosphate rock from riverbeds. Shifts were 10 hours a day for a pay of $1. Conditions for the company's laborers at the time, which sometimes included leased convicts, were poor. This experience left him toughened and scarred in multiple places.

By contrast, the native Filipinos generally got along well with the African-American soldiers. There is also the chance Fagen had read signposts written specifically for the 24th by the Philippine revolutionaries which encouraged defection and cited multiple prominent lynchings of the time. he defected to the Filipino army, taking with him a stack of sackful of revolvers. His exact reasoning is debated, likely a mix of general exhaustion, conscious political action, and newfound love for a local young woman he met in San Isidro. Regardless, he soon became a guerrilla leader.

The first mention of Fagen in U.S. army reports after this was on March 20, 1900, where Major Joe Wheeler Jr. indicates he was sighted fighting with the forces of Colonel Padilla. There, Fagen taught marksmanship and tactics to the insurgents. He regularly taunted his former unit with his presence before slipping away unscathed, and the American forces kept his actions a secret from the public for as long as they were able to avoid negative press. Still, fear of his actions inspiring further desertions was high, and as a result, relations between white and black enlisted men in the Philippines soured further. There are multiple conflicting versions of his fate: one is that his was the partially decomposed head for which the reward was claimed, presented along with a number of his personal effects. This version is disputed due to the lack of Fagen's identifiable facial scars on the head, and the account of a former member of the 25th infantry regiment who later housed him briefly in Manila. According to Fagen's biographer, Michael Morey, Fagen was killed in the summer of 1906 by scouts in Nueva Ecija. Another version is supported by Major Edwin Price Ramsey, who fought the Japanese in the Philippines during World War II. Ramsey met a man in the jungles of Mindoro who matched Fagen's age and description, introducing himself under a false name. This man had married multiple times and lived peacefully in the mountains.

Media portrayals Portrayed by Quester Hannah, an American theater actor, in the 2013 indie film, David F.