Balangiga Massacre | |||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Part of the Philippine–American War | |||||||
Members of Company C, 9th US Infantry Regiment posing with Mayor Valeriano Abanador and another town official | |||||||
| |||||||
Belligerents | |||||||
Irregular military forces in Samar [lower-alpha 1] | United States | ||||||
Commanders and leaders | |||||||
Vicente Lukban, Eugenio Daza, Valeriano Abanador. [lower-alpha 2] | Thomas W. Connell † | ||||||
Units involved | |||||||
Philippine Republican Army, irregular military forces | Company C (9th Infantry Regiment) | ||||||
Strength | |||||||
500 irregular military forces bolo troops in seven attack units [4] [5] | Philippine attack: 74 men | ||||||
Casualties and losses | |||||||
28 killed[ citation needed ] [lower-alpha 3] 22 wounded [4] | 54 killed 18 wounded [6] |
The Balangiga massacre was an incident in which the residents of the town of Balangiga on the island of Samar conducted a surprise attack on an occupying unit of the U.S. 9th Infantry, killing 54. [7] [8] [9] The incident is also known as the Balangiga Encounter, Balangiga Incident, [10] or Balangiga Conflict, [3] The incident occurred on September 28, 1901, over five months after the April 19 publication of a "Peace Manifesto" by Emilio Aguinaldo acknowledging and accepting the sovereignty of the United States throughout the Philippines. [lower-alpha 1] Some Filipino historians have asserted that the term Balangiga Massacre more appropriately refers to actions ordered in retaliation by American General Jacob H. Smith that resulted in an estimated 2,000 Filipino civilians killed and over 200 homes burned. [11] [12]
The battle was a military operation planned by Captain Eugenio Daza of Area Commander of Vicente Lukbán's forces for Southeastern Samar, that took place in Balangiga in 1901 during the Philippine–American War. [lower-alpha 4] The attack was led by Valeriano Abanador the Jefe de la Policía (Chief of Police). [14]
Samar was a major centre for the production of Manila hemp, the trade of which was financing Philippine forces on the island. At the same time United States interests were eager to secure control of the hemp trade, which was a vital material both for the United States Navy and American agro-industries such as cotton.[ citation needed ]
Filipino forces in the area were under the command of General Vicente Lukbán who had been sent there in December 1898 to govern the island on behalf of the First Philippine Republic under Emilio Aguinaldo. [15] Aguinaldo had been captured by American forces on March 23, 1901. [16] [17] On April 1, he had sworn allegiance to the U.S. and told his followers to lay down their arms and give up the fight. [18] [19]
On May 30, 1901, prior to the stationing of any Americans in Balangiga, town mayor Pedro Abayan had written to Lukban pledging to "observe a deceptive policy with [Americans] doing whatever they may like, and when a favorable opportunity arises, the people will strategically rise against them." [20]
In the summer of 1901, Brigadier General Robert P. Hughes, who commanded the Department of the Visayas and was responsible for Samar, instigated an aggressive policy of food deprivation and property destruction on the island. [21] The objective was to force the end of Philippine resistance. Part of his strategy was to close three key ports on the southern coast, Basey, Balangiga and Guiuan prevent supplies from reaching Lukban's forces in the interior. Company C was to cclose the port at Balangiga. [22]
On August 11, 1901, Company C of the 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 Philippine forces in the interior, [23] Abaya's letter to Lukban had been among papers captured by American troops on August 18; it read, in translation:
As a representative of this town of Balangiga I have the honor to let you know, after having conferred with the principals of the town about the policy to be pursued with the enemy in case they come in, we have agreed to have a fictitious policy with them, doing whatever they may like, and when the occasion comes the people will strategically rise against them.
This I communicate to you for your superior knowledge, begging of you to make known all the army your favorable approval of the same, if you think it convenient.
May God preserve you many years,
Balangiga, 30th of May, 1901P. ABAYAN, Local President [24]
However, this information never reached the American troops in Balangiga. [24]
Relations between the soldiers and the townspeople seemed amicable for the first month of the American presence in the town; indeed it was marked by extensive fraternization between the two parties. This took the form of tuba (palm wine) drinking among the soldiers and male villagers, baseball games and arnis demonstrations. However, tensions rose due to several reasons: Captain Thomas W. Connell, commanding officer of the American unit in Balangiga, ordered the town cleaned up in preparation for a visit by the U.S. Army's inspector-general. However, in complying with his directive, the townspeople inadvertently cut down vegetation with food value, in violation of Lukbán's policies regarding food security. As a consequence, on September 18, 1901, around 400 guerrillas sent by Lukbán appeared in the vicinity of Balangiga. They were to mete sanctions upon the town officials and local residents for violating Lukbán's orders regarding food security and for fraternizing with the Americans. The threat was probably defused by Captain Eugenio Daza, a member of Lukbán's staff, and by the parish priest, Father Donato Guimbaolibot. [25]
A few days later, Connell had the town's male residents rounded up and detained for the purpose of hastening his clean-up operations. Around 80 men were kept in two Sibley tents unfed overnight. In addition, Connell had the men's bolos and the stored rice for their tables confiscated. These events sufficiently insulted and angered the townspeople, and they planned revenge against the Americans. [25]
A few days before the attack, Valeriano Abanador, the town's police chief, and Captain Daza met to plan the attack on the American unit. [26] To address the issue of sufficient manpower to offset the Americans' advantage in firepower, Abanador and Daza disguised the congregation of men as a work force aimed at preparing the town for a local fiesta which, incidentally, also served to address Connell's preparations for his superior's visit. Abanador also brought in a group of "tax evaders" to bolster their numbers. Much palm wine was brought in to ensure that the American soldiers would be drunk the day after the fiesta. Hours before the attack, women and children were sent away to safety. To mask the disappearance of the women from the dawn service in the church, 34 men from Barrio Lawaan cross-dressed as women worshippers. [25] These "women", carrying small coffins, were challenged by Sergeant Scharer of the sentry post about the town plaza near the church. Opening one of the coffins with his bayonet, he saw the body of a dead child who, he was told, was a victim of a cholera epidemic. Abashed, he let the women pass on. Unbeknownst to the sentries, the other coffins hid the bolos and other weapons of the attackers. [4]
There is much conflict between accounts by members of Company C. That day, the 27th, was the 52nd anniversary of the founding of the parish, an occasion on which an image of a recumbent Christ known as a Santo Entierro would have been carried around the parish. In modern times these Santo Entierros are enclosed in a glass case but at the time were commonly enclosed in a wooden box. [27]
Between 6:20 and 6:45 in the morning of September 28, 1901, the villagers made their move. Abanador, who had been supervising the prisoners' communal labor in the town plaza, grabbed the rifle of Private Adolph Gamlin, one of the American sentries, and stunned him with a blow to the head. This served as the signal for the rest of the communal laborers in the plaza to rush the other sentries and soldiers of Company C, who were mostly having breakfast in the mess area. Abanador then gave a shout, signaling the other Philippine men to the attack and fired Gamlin's rifle at the mess tent, hitting one of the soldiers. The pealing of the church bells and the sounds from conch shells being blown followed seconds later. Some of the Company C troopers were attacked and hacked to death before they could grab their rifles; the few who survived the initial onslaught fought almost bare-handed, using kitchen utensils, steak knives, and chairs. One private used a baseball bat to fend off the attackers before being overwhelmed. [28] [29]
The men detained in the Sibley tents broke out and made their way to the municipal hall. Simultaneously, the attackers hidden in the church broke into the parish house and killed the three American officers there. [30] An unarmed Company C soldier was ignored, as was Captain Connell's Philippine houseboy. The attackers initially occupied the parish house and the municipal hall; however, the attack at the mess tents and the barracks failed, with Pvt. Gamlin, recovering consciousness and managing to secure another rifle, caused considerable casualties among the Philippine forces. With the initial surprise wearing off and the attack degrading, Abanador called for the attackers to break off and retreat. The surviving Company C soldiers, led by Sergeant Frank Betron, escaped by sea to Basey and Tanauan, Leyte. [29] The townspeople buried their dead and abandoned the town.
Of the 74 men in Company C, 36 were killed in action, including all its commissioned officers: Captain Thomas W. Connell, First Lieutenant Edward A. Bumpus and Major Richard S. Griswold. [5] Twenty-two were wounded in action and four were missing in action. Eight died later of wounds received in combat; only four escaped unscathed. [31] The villagers captured about 100 rifles and 25,000 rounds of ammunition and suffered 28 dead and 22 wounded.
This was described as the "worst defeat of United States Army soldiers since the Battle of the Little Bighorn in 1876". [32] [33] [34]
The attack and subsequent actions on Samar have been some of the longest-running and most controversial issues between the Philippines and the United States. [32] Conflicting interpretations by American and Philippine historians have confused the issue. The attack has been termed Balangiga Massacre in many English language sources. However, Philippine historian Teodoro Agoncillo has asserted that the term Balangiga massacre properly refers to the burning of the town by U.S. forces following the attack and to retaliatory acts during the March across Samar . [11] Other Philippine sources also employ this usage. [12] In U.S. sources, however, the term massacre is used to refer to this attack. [12]
Mutilation of the bodies of the Americans who were killed was reported in testimony before the U.S. Senate Committee on the Philippines the and information about that has appeared elsewhere.. [35] [36] [37] The asserted mutilations have been disputed by historiat George Borrinaga with a counter-assertion to the effect that Filipinos have respect for the dead, he says, and would do no such thing. [38]
Several factual inaccuracies in early published accounts have surfaced over the years as historians continue to re-investigate the Balangiga incident. These include: [4]
The Philippine Scouts (Filipino: Maghahanap ng Pilipinas/Hukbong Maghahanap ng Pilipinas) was a military organization of the United States Army from 1901 until after the end of World War II. These troops were generally Filipinos and Filipino-Americans assigned to the United States Army Philippine Department, under the command of American commissioned officers (though a handful of Filipino Americans received commissions from the United States Military Academy). Philippine Scout units were given the suffix "(PS)", to distinguish them from other U.S. Army units.
The Philippine Revolutionary Army, later renamed Philippine Republican Army, was the army of the First Philippine Republic from its formation in March 1897 to its dissolution in November of 1899 in favor of guerrilla operations in the Philippine–American War.
The Philippine–American War, known alternatively as the Philippine Insurrection, Filipino–American War, or Tagalog Insurgency, emerged following the conclusion of the Spanish–American War in December 1898 when the United States annexed the Philippine Islands under the Treaty of Paris. Philippine nationalists constituted the First Philippine Republic in January 1899, seven months after signing the Philippine Declaration of Independence. The United States did not recognize either event as legitimate, and tensions escalated until fighting commenced on February 4, 1899 in the Battle of Manila.
Eastern Samar, officially the Province of Eastern Samar, is a province in the Philippines located in the Eastern Visayas region. Its capital is the city of Borongan, which is the most populous. Eastern Samar occupies the eastern portion of the island of Samar. Bordering the province to the north is the province of Northern Samar and to the west is Samar province. To the east lies the Philippine Sea, part of the vast Pacific Ocean, while to the south lies Leyte Gulf.
Samar is the third-largest and seventh-most populous island in the Philippines, with a total population of 1,909,537 as of the 2020 census. It is located in the eastern Visayas, which are in the central Philippines. The island is divided into three provinces: Samar, Northern Samar, and Eastern Samar. These three provinces, along with the provinces on the nearby islands of Leyte and Biliran, are part of the Eastern Visayas region.
Balangiga, officially the Municipality of Balangiga, is a 4th class municipality in the province of Eastern Samar, Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it has a population of 14,341 people.
The siege of Catubig was a long and bloody engagement fought during the Philippine–American War, in which Filipino guerrillas launched a surprise attack against a detachment of U.S. infantry, and then forced them to abandon the town after a four-day siege. It began on April 15, 1900, and lasted four days before the survivors were rescued. The attack was very similar to the Balangiga Massacre south of Catubig a year later.
Vicente Lukbán y Rilles or Vicente Lucbán Rilles was a Philippine General in the Philippine Republican Army and politician who served as Governor of Tayabas from 1912 to 1916.
The Pulahan, also known as dios-dios, were the members of a religious revival of Philippine beliefs that developed in the Visayas prior to the Philippine Revolution. At its peak, it numbered around 10,000–15,000 adherents. The movement was severely crippled during the Philippine Revolution after the Philippine Constabulary took over patrols in Samar, when the U.S. military declared the island as "pacified".
The Philippine–American War, also known as the Philippine War of Independence or the Philippine Insurrection (1899–1902), was an armed conflict between Filipino revolutionaries and the government of the United States which arose from the struggle of the First Philippine Republic to gain independence following the Philippines being acquired by the United States from Spain. This article lists significant events from before, during, and after that war, with links to other articles containing more detail.
General Jacob Hurd Smith was a U.S. Army officer notorious for ordering indiscriminate retaliation on the island of Samar in response to what is called the Balangiga massacre during the Philippine–American War.
The Balangiga bells are three church bells that were taken by the United States Army from the Church of San Lorenzo de Martir in Balangiga, Eastern Samar, Philippines, as war trophies after reprisals following the Battle of Balangiga in 1901 during the Philippine–American War. One church bell was in the possession of the 9th Infantry Regiment at Camp Red Cloud, their base in South Korea, while two others were on a former base of the 11th Infantry Regiment at Francis E. Warren Air Force Base in Cheyenne, Wyoming.
The march across Samar, or Waller's March across the island of Samar, was a failed attempt made in 1901 by a U.S. Marine unit commanded by Major Littleton W. T. Waller to traverse the Philippine island of Samar from Lanang to Basey, Samar, a distance of some 35 miles (56 km). Waller had proposed the expedition in October 1901 to Brigadier General Jacob H. Smith, commander of the military district, as a prelude to the establishment of outposts stretching across the island and thereby stop the flow of supplies to rebels in the north and to isolate rebels in the south. Smith was receptive because he thought that the march might identify the best route for a telegraph line to connect Samar's east and west coasts. The expedition proved disastrous due to the unexpected harsh conditions as well as a mutiny of many of the Filipino porters. Ten Marines died during the attempt and eleven Filipinos were subsequently executed for their role in the mutiny.
Fighting erupted between forces of the United States and those of the Philippine Republic on February 4, 1899, in what became known as the 1899 Battle of Manila. On June 2, 1899, the First Philippine Republic officially declared war against the United States. The war officially ended on July 2, 1902, with a victory for the United States. However, some Philippine groups—led by veterans of the Katipunan, a Philippine revolutionary society—continued to battle the American forces for several more years. Among those leaders was General Macario Sakay, a veteran Katipunan member who assumed the presidency of the proclaimed Tagalog Republic, formed in 1902 after the capture of President Emilio Aguinaldo. Other groups, including the Moro, Bicol and Pulahan peoples, continued hostilities in remote areas and islands, until their final defeat at the Battle of Bud Bagsak on June 15, 1913.
Florentino Peñaranda was a Filipino educator, legislator and politician in the province of Leyte. He was also an officer of the revolutionary forces in Samar and Leyte who fought for Philippine independence against the Americans. During peacetime, Peñaranda ran for elections and won a seat representing the 3rd district of Leyte in the First Philippine Assembly from 1907 to 1909.
Camp General Vicente Lukban (CGVL) is a military headquarters of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) located in Catbalogan, Samar. It is situated along the Pan-Philippine Highway in Barangay Maulong. The military base is named after the Filipino Military General, Vicente Lukbán, a Filipino officer in Emilio Aguinaldo's staff during the Philippine Revolution and the politico-military chief of Samar and Leyte during the Philippine–American War.
1901 in the Philippines details events of note that happened in the Philippines in 1901
Don Eugenio Daza y Salazar is a Filipino principale (nobleman) recognized by the National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA) as the first maestro (teacher) in the Samar province. He was both an infantry major and procurement officer in the Philippine Republican Army during the Philippine-American War. He was area commander of General Lukbán's forces for Southeastern Samar and overall commander and tactician of the Battle of Balangiga.
Narciso Abuke was an Lieutenant Colonel in the Philippine Revolutionary Army during the Philippine-American War. He was Area Commander of General Lukbán's forces for Northern Samar. After the war, he helped establish peace and order in Samar, in the transition to American governance. Abuke is credited for killing Pedro de la Cruz, the fighting leader of the Pulahan. He was Mayor of Catarman, Northern Samar.
[L]et there be an end to tears and desolation, [...] the complete termination of hostilities and a lasting peace are not only desirable but also absolutely essential for the well-being of the Philippines.