User:Wtmitchell/Work1

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I'm currently using this as a work page for collecting references to the shooting incident which precipitated the onset of general hostilities in the Philippine-American War. I've been trying to confirm this independently and have had problems finding sources (I'm working from Boracay island, and am limited to online sources and what books I happen to personally have handy). The incident occurred on 4 Feb 1899. Dean Worcester's detailed history written in 1914 mentions it, but does not name Grayson. Aguinaldo's history does not name Grayson. I'm particularly interested in where and when the first mention of Grayson's name appeared, and what supporting sources there were for mentioning him, and I have not been able to track that down.

***

Worcester writes that General Otis' account of the opening of active hostilities was as follows:

"On the night of February 2 they sent in a strong detachment to draw the fire of our outposts, which took up a position immediately in front and within a few yards of the same. The outpost was strengthened by a few of our men, who silently bore their taunts and abuse the entire night. This was reported to me by General MacArthur, whom I directed to communicate with the officer in command of the insurgent troops concerned. His prepared letter was shown me and approved, and the reply received was all that could be desired. However, the agreement was ignored by the insurgents and on the evening of February 4 another demonstration was made on one of our small outposts, which occupied a retired position at least 150 yards within the line which had been mutually agreed upon, an insurgent approaching the picket and refusing to halt or answer when challenged. The result was that our picket discharged his piece, when the insurgent troops near Santa Mesa opened a spirited fire on our troops there stationed.

"The insurgents had thus succeeded in drawing the fire of a small outpost, which they had evidently labored with all their ingenuity to accomplish, in order to justify in some way their premeditated attack. It is not believed that the chief insurgent leaders wished to open hostilities at this time, as they were not completely prepared to assume the initiative. They desired two or three days more to perfect their arrangements, but the zeal of their army brought on the crisis which anticipated their premeditated action. They could not have delayed long, however, for it was their object to force an issue before American troops, then en route, could arrive in Manila."

Thus began the Insurgent attack, so long and so carefully planned for. We learn from the Insurgent records that the shot of the American sentry missed its mark. There was no reason why it should have provoked a hot return fire, but it did.

The result of the ensuing combat was not at all what the Insurgents had anticipated. The Americans did not drive very well. It was but a short time before they themselves were routed and driven from their positions.

Aguinaldo of course promptly advanced the claim that his troops had been wantonly attacked. The plain fact is that the Insurgent patrol in question deliberately drew the fire of the American sentry, and this was just as much an act of war as was the firing of the shot. Whether the patrol was acting under proper orders from higher authority is not definitely known."

(click on the page number. For context, go back a few pages)
(Not mentioned here are earlier incidents involving American fatalities -- e.g., [1], [2], [3], [4])

***

"Though McKinley had directed the troops to preserve the peace, Otis authorized his troops to use force if necessary for self-defense. On the evening of February 4, 1899, while on a routine patrol, Private William Grayson of Beatrice, Nebraska stumbled upon four drunk, unarmed Filipinos. When he ordered them to halt, the Filipinos mocked him. Grayson repeated the order and again the response was mocking. Grayson fired and one man was felled. Grayson's partner, Orville Miller, shot another while Grayson reloaded and shot a third Filipino. Miller and Grayson then rushed back to camp to inform the other Nebraskins. Within minutes, war exploded along the ten-mile front separating the United States and Filipino forces near Manila. "The ball had begun" yelled one Major Wilder Metcalf of Kansas.[2] Two days later, the U.S. Congress narrowly voted to ratify the Paris Treaty, as war to subdue the filipino nationalists raged."

  • Blitz, Amy, The Contested State: American Foreign Policy and Regime Change in the Philippines, p. 32, ISBN 0847699358 

Note: the Google Books books does not make the referenced footnote [2] visible.

***

"Private William Walter Grayson was typical, a youth of 23 from Beatrice, a small Nebraska market town on the Big Blue River, worked at a local inn until adventure inspired him to volunteer to fight against Spain, latter sent to the Philippines. General Otis deploy the Nebraskan unit from Malate to Sta. Mesa and the night of February 4,1899 a Saturday, at the foot of the San Juan del Monte bridge, Pvt. Grayson and Pvt. Orville Miller, started out on a routine patrol of their camp perimeter. They discerned the shadow of four unarmed certainly natives. "HALT !" shouted Grayson, raising his cocked rifle. "ALTO !" echoed one of the figures. Again Grayson shouted and got the same answer, Grayson fired. The man crumpled, others came out of the dark. Miller shot one as Grayson reloading quickly, raced back to their camp crying "Line up fellows, the niggers are in here !!!" Major Wilder Metcalf of the Kansas detachment awoke his sleeping commander Colonel Fredrick Funston, yelling "Come on out here colonel. The ball has began !" And the Philippine-American War begins. Elihu Root, secretary of war by McKinley, asserted a version of the initial outbreak that the natives "under the leadership of Gen. Aquinaldo, attacked in vastly superior numbers our little army." Gen. Arthur McArthur, conceding that the Americans fired first, testified "Our soldiers were under great provocation." Otis similarly explained "The Filipinos violated the line that had been mutually agreed upon." Nor did Pvt. William Grayson ever deny his role. After his service, Grayson came back to the Presidio, in San Francisco (where most of the American troops/volunteers were stationed before being shipped to the Philippines) and decided to live in the Bay Area. The house he used to stay and rent is still standing untouch to this day on Fulton St. and then on Madison Avenue, in San Francisco (I did a research about him, his service life in the Philippines, his life after the war, in the Bay Area. I went to the house where he used to stay and died, and took lots of photos). William Grayson, proud of having ignited the conflict, he afterward petitioned the War Department in Washington for a cash bonus -only to be told that "no pecuniary rewards are made by the government for extraordinary bravery in action"

***

"On February 4, 1899, two American privates, William Walter Grayson and Orville Miller, were stationed in a suburb of Manila. In a patrol of their camp they shot three Filipino soldiers from a nearby barracks who failed to respond to their challenge. private Grayson described it this way:

I yelled "Halt!" The man moved. I challenged him with another "Halt." Then he immediately shouted "Halto" to me. Well I thought the best thing to do was to shoot him. He dropped. Then two Filipinos sprang out of the gateway about fifteen feet from us. I called "Halt" and Miller fired and dropped one. I saw that another was left. Well, I think I got my second Filipino that time. We retreated to where our six other fellows were and I said "Line up fellows, the niggers are in here all through these yards." We then retreated to the pipe line and got behind the water work main and stayed there all night. It was some minutes after our second shots before Filipinos began firing.[5]"

Aguinaldo sent a ranking member of his staff to General Otis the next day to tell him that the firing had been against his orders and that he wished to stop future hostilities. According to Aguinaldo, Otis replied, "The fighting, having begun, mist go on to the grim end.President McKinley took the position that the firing was started by the Filipinos: "They assailed our sovereignty, and there will be no useless parley, no pause until the insurrection is suppressed and American authority is acknowledged and established. Said Aguinaldo, "Armageddon was loose—against our desires and in spite of our earnest and sincere efforts to befriend America."[8]

  • Blanchard, William H., Neocolonialism American Style, 1960-2000

http://books.google.com.ph/books?id=d42R23Jq6SMC&pg=PA130&lpg=PA130&dq=william+grayson+orville+miller+philippines&source=web&ots=DgeyolnncC&sig=7HrJn34Fe19vBvZKgUEDx9Zl34I&hl=en#PPA130,M1, p. 130  Citing E. Aguinaldo, America's Empire in the Philippines (New York: Random house, 1989) [5]: pp.93-94, [8]: p.94

***

"About eight o’clock, Miller and I were cautiously pacing our district. We came to a fence and were trying to see what the Filipinos were up to. Suddenly, near at hand, on our left, there was a low but unmistakable Filipino outpost signal whistle. It was immediately answered by a similar whistle about twenty-five yards to the right. Then a red lantern flashed a signal from blockhouse number 7. We had never seen such a sign used before. In a moment, something rose up slowly in front of us. It was a Filipino. I yelled “Halt!” and made it pretty loud, for I was accustomed to challenging the officer of the guard in approved military style. I challenged him with another loud “halt!” Then he shouted “halto!” to me. Well, I thought the best thing to do was to shoot him. He dropped. If I didn’t kill him, I guess he died of fright. Two Filipinos sprang out of the gateway about 15 feet from us. I called “halt!” and Miller fired and dropped one. I saw that another was left. Well, I think I got my second Filipino that time..."--Private William W. Grayson, with another soldier, encountered three armed Filipinos on a bridge in San Juan del Monte near Manila.[2]"

***

"We are all familiar with the story. Private William Grayson (1876-1941) shot at Filipino soldiers and with this act ignited a night of gunfire that has since come to be known as the "First Shot in the Philippine-American War." It is unfortunate that we do not have the name and rank of the Filipino who was shot at. We are not even sure if he died or not, although Grayson, in an interview given months after the event, proudly claimed he shot not one but two Filipinos that evening. A later account even gives the rank of the unnamed Filipino as a lieutenant. Advertisement Contrary to popular belief, Grayson was not an American, though he was with Company D of the first Nebraska Infantry Regiment. He was actually an Englishman. Previous to serving in the Philippines, he was an immigrant and a hotel worker who acquired US citizenship only in 1900. Thus, the first shot in the Philippine-American War was actually fired by an Englishman, not an American.

We must thank Dr. Benito Legarda for further research on Grayson. Legarda found out that upon his return to the United States from the Philippines, Grayson settled in San Francisco and got married in October 1899. "He worked as a house painter or an undertaker, and spent many years convincing Army doctors that his ulcers and malaria were service-related." In history books we h ave two pictures of him, one standing and facing the camera, the other crouching and aiming his rifle.

His own account of the event goes:

"That night, about 8 o'clock, [Orville] Miller and I -- there were two of us -- were cautiously pacing our district. We came to a fence and were trying to see what the Filipinos were up to. Suddenly, near at hand, on our left, there was a low unmistakable Filipino outpost signal whistle. [This] was immediately answered by a similar whistle, about 25 yards to the right. Then a red lantern flashed its signal from Blockhouse No. 7. We had never seen such a sign before. In a moment something rose slowly up not 20 feet in front of us. It was a Filipino. I yelled, 'Halt!' and made it pretty loud, for I was accustomed to challenging the officer of the guard in approved military style. The man moved. I challenged him with another 'Halt!' Then he imprudently shouted, 'Alto!' at me. Well, I thought the best thing to do was to shoot him. He dropped. If I didn't kill him, I guess he died of fright.

"Then two Filipinos sprang out of the gateway about 15 feet from us. I called 'Halt!' and Miller fired and dropped one. I saw another was left. Well, I think I got my second Filipino that time. We retreated to where our six other fellows were and I said: 'Line up, fellows, the niggers are in here all through these yards.' We then retreated to the pipeline and got behind the water main and stayed there all night. It was some minutes after our second shots before the Filipinos began firing."

There is no mention of the San Juan Bridge in Grayson's narrative. We are described as "niggers" and the account does not state that a few days before the shooting, there was friction between the American and Filipino troops because the latter would cross a road from Blockhouse 7 to Blockhouse 6 and in so doing passed American lines. One also wonders whether the Filipino soldier knew what "Halt!" meant. In the darkness, I imagine that when the Filipino answered back "Alto!" he was probably smiling and waving his hand in a friendly gesture but was met with a bullet. This is a part of our history we know so well, but when studied in school we are not made to imagine or reconstruct what actually happened and why it led to the Philippine-American War."

Photo

***

"Around 8 PM, 4 February 1899, two American soldiers fired upon three Filipino soldiers. One of the Americans, Private William W. Grayson described the event:

...Miller and I were cautiously pacing our district. We came to a fence to see what the Filipinos were up to.... In a moment, something rose up slowly in front of us. It was a Filipino. I yelled "Halt!" and made it pretty loud, for I was accustomed to challenging the officer of the guard in approved army style. I challenged him with another loud "halt!" Then he shouted "halto!" to me. Well, I thought the best thing to do was to shoot him. He dropped. If it didn't kill, I guess he died of fright. Two Filipinos sprang out of the gateway about 15 feet from us. I called "halt!" and Miller fired and dropped one. I saw that another was left. Well, I think I got my second Filipino that time....

Filipinos began returning fire and morning found casualties on both sides as the war had begun. Aguinaldo did not want war and even attempted defusing the situation with military governor Major-General Elwell S. Otis. The response was that the "fighting, having begun, must go on to the grim end." Even after the beginning of the war, Aguinaldo made intimations that they might sue for peace but Otis required unconditional surrender (which would mean certain loss of any chance for independence), something that the Filipinos refused to accept."

***

The tension between the Americans and the Filipinos was so great that it was easy to precipitate a war. On the night of February 4, 1899, as described in Aguinaldo: A Narrative of Filipino Ambitions, (E. Wildman 1901, Norwood Press, Norwood, MA) an American sentry, Private William W. Grayson, with another soldier, encountered three armed Filipinos on a bridge in San Juan del Monte near Manila.

Recalling the incident, Grayson said:

About eight o’clock, Miller and I were cautiously pacing our district. We came to a fence and were trying to see what the Filipinos were up to.

Suddenly, near at hand, on our left, there was a low but unmistakable Filipino outpost signal whistle. It was immediately answered by a similar whistle about twenty-five yards to the right. Then a red lantern flashed a signal from blockhouse number 7. We had never seen such a sign used before. In a moment, something rose up slowly in front of us. It was a Filipino. I yelled “Halt!” and made it pretty loud, for I was accustomed to challenging the officer of the guard in approved military style. I challenged him with another loud “halt!” Then he shouted “halto!” to me. Well, I thought the best thing to do was to shoot him. He dropped. If I didn’t kill him, I guess he died of fright. Two Filipinos sprang out of the gateway about 15 feet from us. I called “halt!” and Miller fired and dropped one. I saw that another was left. Well, I think I got my second Filipino that time....

The Filipino troops fired back at the American lines and before the night was over, fighting had broken out between Filipino and American forces. Most of the Filipino commanders at that time were attending a dance in Malolos, Bulacan Province. When told of the outbreak of hostilities, they rushed back to their units, which were already shooting it out with American troops."

***

"Pvt. William Grayson started the shooting the night of Feb. 4, 1899. One of two men on guard duty at an outpost of the Nebraska regiment, Grayson reported when a Filipino approached him "I yelled 'Halt.' The man moved, I challenged him with another 'Halt.' Then he immediately shouted 'Halto' to me. "Well, I thought the best thing to do was to shoot him." Firing broke out all along the line around Manila. Two battalions of the 20th reinforced their left flank outpost and a third battalion patrolled in town. Pvt. Elmer E. Urie, one of the latter, wrote, "sharpshooters soon began to make a mark of the patrols. Before morning had passed there were several less insurgents." Attacking next day, the 20th advanced northward along Luzon's only railroad line so fast it nearly came under fire from a U.S. cruiser. Funston said "one shell barely missed cutting through a company in column. We had to run for it.""

***

The book Nebraska History has a chapter titled William Grayson's War in the Philippines 1899\\ Nebraska History, vol. v.61, University of California, 1980, <http://books.google.com/books?id=nfQ7AAAAIAAJ>  |page=355}}

****

Another book, America at War: The Philippines, 1898-1913, by A. B. Feuer, provides lengthy quotes from an American Sergeant who witnessed the events:

In January 1899 several minor incidents occurred when Americans strayed across the insurgent lines. And, in order to avoid further happenings of this kind, General Otis ordered that no soldiers were allowed to go outside the territory bordered by U.S. outposts.

Meanwhile, American defenses were also strengthened. Four guns of Battery A, Utah Artillery, under Lieutenant William C. Webb, were assigned to the Nebraska camp. In his memoirs Sergeant Charles R. Mabey of Battery A recalled: "There were repeated war alarms, and men not on duty were restricted to barracks. The insurgents, who controlled the Manila pumping station, often shut off the city's water supply. It was an insolent challenge, and an indication of what they could do. The Filipinos also were observed constructing new entrenchments and reinforcing the old ones.

"The Santa Mesa Road was looked upon by the insurgents as the gateway to Manila. It was at the San Juan Del Monte bridge crossing that they had fought many a battle against the Spanish. In fact, one of our artillery pieces now occupied the very gun-pit used by the Spaniards.

"The Filipinos seemed anxious to provoke us into a hostile act, and strict orders were issued to prevent any action on our part. Night after night they would cluster at the east end ofthe bridge and shout curses at our silent outpost.

"One insurgent officer was particularly abusive. He would gather a crowd of drunken natives, and they would march down to the bridge for the purpose of harassing and scoffing at us. They were encouraged by the apparently submissive attitude of the Americans,whom they had begun to look upon as cowards.

"On the evening of 4 February, Private Willy Grayson, Nebraska Regiment, was on guard duty at the bridge. At 8:30 P.M., the obnoxious officer and his pals, shouting the usual insults, assembled on the riverbank and proceeded to cross the span. Grayson called for the Filipinos to halt, but they kept advancing. Once again Grayson shouted, 'Halt!' The demand fell on deaf ears. The unruly mob pushe4d forward—all the while screaming drunken tirades at the lone sentry.

"Willie nervously pointed his rifle at the inciting officer. He never heard the gun go off. The sound of the shot cracked the air like broken glass, and gunfire immediately erupted all along the line. "The sound of the first shot had barely ceased to echo across the hills, when a large group of Filipinos, screaming at the top of their lungs, began a dash across the bridge. Their onrush was met and stopped by heavy volley fire from the Nebraskans.

"Trouble had been anticipated, and every officer knew what section of the American line his unit had been assigned to defend. But, every Filipino dwelling had suddenly become a fort. Our troops and wagons were continually fired on from huts and buildings.

Ten minutes after news of the outbreak reached Manila Headquarters, the Utah Artillery was split up and ordered to different parts of the field. Three pieces, under Major Frank A. Grant, rushed outand immediately came under vigorous fire from the woods near Caloocan. Captain E.A. Wedgewood, with two pieces, hurried to his assignment near Sampaloc. Lieutenant George A. seaman and one gun covered the Caloocan Road. Lieutenant Webb's unit took a position on a hill overlooking the Santa Mesa Road. and the San Juan del Monte Bridge. Lieutenant George W. Gibbs and two pieces were held in reserve at the Nebraska camp.

Sergeant Mabey stated: "In the darkness, it was impossible for the Utah detachments to accomplish anything, as the location of our infantry and the Filipinos, could not be exactly determined. Throughout the night, we struggled to get our pieces correctly positioned, so that they could participate in any dawn action.

Upon hearing the news of the attack on his troops by the Americans, Emilio Aguinaldo immediately issued a declaration of war against the United States. "It is my duty to maintain the integrity of our national honor, and that of the army so unjustly attacked by those, who posing as our friends, attempt to dominate us in place of the Spaniards.

"Therefore, for the defense of the nation entrusted to me, I hereby order and command: Peace and friendly relations between the Philippine Republic and the American army of occupation are broken—and the latter will be treated as enemies with the limits prescribed by the laws of War."

A. B. Feuer (2002), America at War: The Philippines, 1898-1913, Greenwood Publishing Group, p. 89, <http://books.google.com/books?id=pg-SZanwnuIC>