Balangiga massacre

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The "Balangiga massacre" was an incident in 1901 during the Philippine-American War (or "Philippine Insurrection", according to older US terminology) where many American soldiers were killed in a surprise guerilla attack in the town of Balangiga on Samar island. This incident was described the United States Army's worst defeat since the Custer massacre in 1876. For Filipinos, the attack is regarded as one of the bravest acts in the war.

The subsequent retaliation by American troops resulted in the killing of thousands of Filipinos on Samar, the majority of whom were probably innocent civilians. The heavy-handed reprisal earned a court-martial for Gen. Jake "Howling Wilderness" Smith, who had ordered the killing of everyone ten years old and over. Reprimanded but not formally punished, Smith was forced into retirement from the Army because of his conduct.

The attack and the subsequent retaliation remains one of the longest-running and most controversial issues between the Philippines and the United States. Conflicting records from both American and Filipino historians have muddled the issue. Demands for the return of the bells of the church at Balangiga, taken by Americans as war booty and collectively known as the Balangiga Bells, remain an outstanding issue of contention related to the war. To this day, one church bell remains in the possession of the 9th Infantry Regiment at their base in South Korea, while two others are on a former base of the 11th Infantry Regiment at Warren Air Force Base in Cheyenne, Wyoming.

According to some nationalist Filipino historians, the true "Balangiga massacre" was the subsequent American retaliation against the Samar population.

[edit] The Battle

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On August 11, 1901, Company C, 9th U. S. Infantry Regiment, arrived in Balangiga - the third largest town on the southern coast of Samar island - to close its port and prevent supplies reaching Filipino forces in the interior. Several months earlier, the town's principals allegedly wrote a letter to Brigadier General Vicente Lukban assuring him that should American forces arrive, they would pretend to be friendly and then attack the Americans at a strategic moment. However, doubt has been expressed over the authenticity of the letter.

Initially, relations between the soldiers and the townspeople were good. Tensions increased due to what the traditionally conservative townspeople viewed as inappropriate behaviour towards their women. Later, the company commander, Captain Thomas W. Connell ordered the rounding up of able-bodied townsmen to clean the town in preparation for an official visit by his superior officers. It is also claimed that a private soldier had raped a young village girl. {[fact]} Furthermoe, Connell ordered the destruction of all of the food stored in the town to prevent its falling into the hands of the Filipino forces. {[fact]}

Fearing they would starve in the coming rainy season, the townspeople decided to attack the U.S. Army garrison.

At 6:45 a.m., on Saturday, 28 September 1901, the villagers made their move. After the killing the few armed military sentries, the Balangiga police chief, Valeriano Abanador, gave the signal to attack. About 200 men armed with bolos or axes burst out of concealment, some of them dressed as women, and caught the Americans totally by surprise. The garrison was at breakfast, with their rifles stacked in the municipal hall some twenty yards away. Most of the soldiers were hacked to death with the heavy bolos before they could reach their firearms. Captain Connell led a few men into the street, before he was encircled and cut down. The few soldiers who escaped the main attack fought with kitchen utensils, steak knives, and chairs. One private even fought off many of the attackers with a baseball bat before he too was overwhelmed. A handful of surviving soldiers managed to secure their weapons and drove off their attackers. Few in numbers and fearing that the rebels would attack again, they escaped from the village by boat to a nearby American garrison.

Of the original 78 men in Company C, 54 were killed or missing, 20 were severely wounded, and only 4 escaped unscathed. The guerillas captured about 100 rifles and 25,000 rounds of ammunition. Around 20 to 25 of the guerillas had died in the attack.

[edit] The burning of Samar

The consequence of the attack was a brutal retaliation against all of the inhabitants of Samar Island by the U.S. Army occupation forces. The day after the attack, two 9th Infantry companies, with some of the Company C survivors, went to Balangiga aboard a commandeered coastal steamer, the S.S. Pittsburg. They found the town abandoned. They buried the American dead and set fire to the town.

General Jacob H. Smith's infamous order "KILL EVERYONE OVER TEN" was the caption in the New York Journal cartoon on May 5, 1902. The Old Glory draped an American shield on which a vulture replaced the bald eagle. The bottom caption exclaimed, "Criminals Because They Were Born Ten Years Before We Took the Philippines."

General Jacob H. Smith instructed Major Littleton "Tony" Waller, commanding officer of the Marines assigned to clean up the island of Samar, what methods he was to use: "I want no prisoners. I wish you to kill and burn; the more you kill and burn the better it will please me." He directed that Samar be converted into a "howling wilderness." All Filipinos who did not surrender and were capable of carrying arms were to be shot, and this meant anyone over ten years of age. Because of this order, he became known as Jacob "Howling Wilderness" Smith.

What followed was a sustained and widespread massacre of Filipino civilians. The basic elements of Smith's policy were brutal. Food and trade to Samar were cut off to starve the revolutionaries into submission. He instructed his officers to regard all Filipinos as enemies and treat them accordingly, unless they showed conclusively that they were friendly by actions such as providing information on the location of revolutionaries or arms, working as guides or spies, or trying actively to obtain the surrender of guerrillas in the field. He gave his subordinates carte blanche authority in the application of General Order 100. (Abraham Lincoln’s 1863 General Orders No. 100, in brief, authorized the shooting on sight of all persons not in uniform acting as soldiers and those committing, or seeking to commit, sabotage.)

Smith's strategy on Samar involved the use of widespread destruction to force the inhabitants to cease supporting the guerrillas and turn to the Americans from fear and starvation. He used his troops in sweeps of the interior in search for guerrilla bands and in attempts to capture Philippine General Vicente Lukban, but did nothing to prevent contact between the guerrillas and the townspeople. American columns marched across the island. destroying homes and shooting people and draft animals.

Waller, for example, reported that in an eleven-day span his men burned 255 dwellings, shot 13 carabaos and killed 39 people. Other officers reported similar activity.

As the Judge Advocate General of the army observed, only the good sense and restraint of the majority of Smith's subordinates prevented a complete reign of terror in Samar. Still, the abuses were sufficient to cause outrage in the United States when they became known near the end of March 1902.

After receiving his orders from Smith, Waller issued his own written orders to his men regarding their conduct, what they were to seize and destroy, and matters of similar nature. Toward the ends, he wrote, "We have also to avenge our late comrades in North China, the murdered men of the Ninth U.S. Infantry." This added more to the rage. The Chinese and the Filipinos were, to him, of the same nature, and stock, and even ideology. There was no difference among "Asiatics."

Waller was later accused of ordering the execution of eleven Philippine guides because, during a long march, they had found edible roots and had allegedly conspired to keep this knowledge from the famished American troops.

[edit] See also

• Philippine-American War
• Battles of the Philippine-American War
• History of the Philippines
• Timeline of Philippine-American War
• Little Brown Brother, by Leon Wolfe

[edit] Further reading

• Borrinaga, Rolando O. (2003). The Balangiga Conflict Revisited. New Day Publishers. ISBN 971-10-1090-9.
• Couttie, Bob (**). Hang the Dogs, The True and Tragic History of the Balangiga Massacre. **. ISBN **.
• Schott, Joseph L (1965). The ordeal of Samar. Bobbs-Merrill. ISBN B0006BLRF0.
• Taylor, James O (1931). The massacre of Balangiga : being an authentic account by several of the few survivors. McCarn Printing Co. ISBN B00085UHX2.

[edit] External links

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to:

Philippine-American War

• Philippine NewsLink interview with Bob Couttie author of "Hang the Dogs, The True and Tragic History of the Balangiga Massacre
• Philippine History Group of Los Angeles The Balangiga Massacre: Getting Even
• Historic church of Balangiga in Eastern Samar: Cebu Living