696 



PHILIPPINE ISLANDS. 



unable or unwilling to define the aspirations of 

 their people, and the conference broke up with- 

 out results. Before they departed they were as- 

 sured that no hostile act would be inaugurated 

 by the United States troops. 



The moment for the projected attack was at 

 hand. Filipinos in the city who were on the 

 side of the revolutionists were secretly warned to 

 take refuge outside. At the same time the af- 

 fronts offered to the outposts became more fla- 

 grant. The insurgents laughed at the orders of 

 the sentries, menaced and insulted them, and 

 actually assaulted the soldiers of the Nebraska 

 regiment holding the east line, trying to push 

 them back by force, so as to advance their line. 

 On the evening of Feb. 4 an insurgent officer wit! 

 a detail of men attempted to pass the sentinel 

 guarding the west end of the San Juan bridge, 

 who drove them back without firing. Later a 

 considerable body of insurgents made an advance 

 on the South Dakota outposts, which fell back 

 rather than fire. About the same time the in- 

 surgents appeared in force at the east end of the 

 San Juan bridge in front of the Nebraska regi- 

 ment, and a lieutenant, who for several nights 

 had attempted to force back the outpost and 

 post his guard within the line, advanced with a 

 detail, paying no attention to the challenge of 

 the sentinel. Crayson, the sentinel, as they rushed 

 upon him in the dark, fired his weapon, killing 

 the officer, and the men returned the fire and 

 then retreated. Immediately rockets were sent 

 up, and the Filipinos began firing along the entire 

 line. 



As the result of the fighting of Feb. 5, when 

 the Americans attacked the insurgents along the 

 whole line and drove them out of their trenches 

 with great slaughter, the United States forces 

 within a few days occupied a line extending from 

 Pasai on the south to Caloocan on the north, and 

 extending far enough eastward to protect the 

 water supply of Manila. Then came the at- 

 tempted rising in the city on Feb. 22, when 500 

 insurgents entered and set fire to the district of 

 the city known as Tondo. It was planned that 

 the local militia should join in the attack. All 

 the whites were to have been massacred, and some 

 of the more fanatical of the revolutionists in- 

 cluded the Spanish mestizos in the list of the 

 proscribed. The prompt and vigorous action of 

 Gen. Hughes, the provost marshal, rendered abor- 

 tive the intended uprising, but for weeks a reign 

 of terror prevailed. Incendiary fires occurred 

 daily. The streets were almost deserted, the peo- 

 ple remaining shut up in their houses, except 

 those who had fled, comprising half the native 

 population. Very few Filipinos had the courage 

 to come out openly in favor of the Americans for 

 fear of assassination, but those who did included 

 among their number some of the best men of the 

 city. 



The American troops occupied only Manila 

 when the army of Aguinaldo, which invested the 

 city, began hostilities on Feb. 4, 1899. The Ameri- 

 cans immediately took the offensive, and after 

 clearing the vicinity of the rebels, killing about 

 500, wounding 1,000, and taking 500 prisoners in 

 several days' fighting, with a loss of 57 killed and 

 215 wounded on their side, they began a cam- 

 paign for the possession of the railroad line, car- 

 rying on at the same time desultory operations 

 against the rebels south of Manila, who were cut 

 off from Aguinaldo's army in the north when 

 American gunboats were placed in Laguna de 

 Bay and military posts stretched across the nar- 

 row part of the island. The Filipinos suffered 

 heavily in the battle of Caloocan on Feb. 10. 



Gen. MacArthur conducted a vigorous campaign 

 against Aguinaldo's main army, which contest, d 

 his advance from behind breastworks thrown up 

 in endless succession athwart the railroad tra<-k. 



Gen. Otis began the campaign with 13,000 men. 

 Re-enforcements soon brought up his force to 

 22,000, and later to 40,000; but the constant with- 

 drawal of regiments to be discharged and sent 

 home kept the available fighting force down to 

 about 30.000 on the average. Ihe commanding 

 general was handicapped by the fact that he had 

 to conduct the campaign with volunteers, whose 

 time expired during the operations. Neverthe- 

 less, his troops were uniformly successful in their 

 attacks, for the Filipinos, who in their rebellions 

 against Spain engaged readily in a hand-to-hand 

 conflict with the Spanish soldiery, had such re- 

 spect for the fighting qualities of the Americans- 

 that they made no attempts to break their lines,, 

 but invariably gave way after inflicting what 

 damage they could from their rifle pits. The 

 losses they inflicted were insignificant compared 

 with those that the Spanish armies had suffered 

 at their hands. On the other hand, their own 

 casualties, except in the first bloody battles, when 

 they dashed themselves recklessly against the 

 American lines, hoping to win a victory, as they 

 had occasionally over Spanish troops, were slight 

 compared with those they had suffered in their 

 campaigns with Spanish commanders, who aimed 

 to strike terror by giving no quarter, slaying even 

 the women and children, and who made their roar 

 secure from treacherous attacks by stripping the 

 country of inhabitants as they advanced or by 

 compelling them to remain in their villages, kill 

 ing all who w^re found on the roads without a 

 pass. The treachery of the Filipinos, who hid 

 their arms when the Americans occupied their 

 country, and afterward attacked small bodi 

 men and supply trains moving along the line of 

 communications, made the American soldiers 

 more ruthless, hut the orders to spare all non- 

 combatants subjected them to this constant dan 

 ger in the rear. The animosity of the TagaN. 

 who alone formed the strength of the revolution- 

 ary army, was greater against the Amcriean- 

 than it ever had been against the Spaniards, 

 who had ruled them and lived among them for 

 ages, and impressed their customs, habits, and 

 ideas upon the country. The report of the Philip- 

 pine commissioners vindicates the American sol- 

 diers: 



" We were fortunate in witnessing some of the 

 many brave deeds of our soldiers. All that skill, 

 courage, and patient endurance can do has been 

 done in the Philippines. We are aware that there 

 are those who have seen fit to accuse our troops 

 of desecrating churches, murdering prisoners, and 

 committing unmentionable crimes. To those wha 

 derive satisfaction from seizing on isolated oc- 

 currences, regrettable, indeed, but incident to every 

 war, and making them the basis of sweeping 

 accusations, this commission has noUiing to say. 

 Still less do we feel called upon to answer Hie 

 tales without foundation in fact. Bui, for the 

 satisfaction of those who have found it difficult 

 to understand why the transporting of American 

 citizens across the Pacific Ocean should chnn-je 

 their nature, we are glad to express the belief that 

 a war was never more humanely conducted. In- 

 surgent wounded were repeatedly succored on the 

 field by our men at the risk of their lives. Those 

 who had a chance for life were taken to Manila 

 and tenderly cared for in our hospitals. If 

 churches were occupied, it was only as a military 

 necessity, and frequently after their use aa forti 

 by the insurgents had made it necessary to train 



