About the author: William R. Johnson (December 5, 1880 — March 18, 1952). Originally Corporal, Company K of the Twenty Second Regiment of the United States Infantry as of January 3, 1899, arriving in the Philippines March 4, 1899, and serving as such until he resigned in July, 1899 (he was reappointed to the same rank one year later); made Quartermaster Sergeant in October, 1901 until mustered out in December of that year.
About the diary: Published as Three Years in the Orient: The Diary of William R. Johnson, 1898-1902, edited by Donald F. Carmony and Karen Tannenbaum, contributed by Bess Sellers Johnson, Indiana Magazine of History, Vol. 63, No. 4 (December 1967), pp. 263-298.
The Philippine Diary Project includes his entries from March 4, 1899, upon spotting Luzon, to December 11, 1901, departure from the Philippines.