538 



PHILIPPINE ISLANDS. 



snatch away his rifle; so savage as to mutilate 

 and defile corpses and torture prisoners with fire; 

 so well informed, active, and secret that he could 

 attack by surprise at the most favorable place 

 and moment. Prisoners that small columns of 

 tired and sickly Americans could not take with 

 them, prepared when released fresh attacks from 

 front and rear; so there were battalions that 

 took no prisoners. The rebels often raised a 

 white flag to facilitate retreat or a hostile move- 

 ment, and the white flag had with them no other 

 purpose, hence there were officers who disregarded 

 it. In a few regiments squads were detailed to 

 get information of the enemy by the only means 

 the Spaniards formerly found effective, the inflic- 

 tion of bodily pain and mental terror. When it 

 was suspected at headquarters that the Maca- 

 bebes and even American soldiers resorted to 

 forms of torture, such practises were expressly 

 forbidden in orders; yet soldiers at the front did 

 not always obey. The Military Governor-Gen- 

 eral and his staff were convinced that sharp and 

 decisive means must be applied to crush out the 

 rebellion, lest it should spread anew. The Civil 

 Governor-General and his staff were of the same 

 mind. The continued impoverishment of the peo- 

 ple, aggravated by the blackmail levied by the 

 rebel leaders, rendered the situation dangerous, 

 and it was known that some of the leading men 

 in Manila and many of the officials in the prov- 

 inces were doing their best to keep the embers of 

 rebellion alive in hope of a fresh conflagration. 

 Gen. Smith was sent to clear Samar, and his 

 order, when by Lucban's order the people left 

 the coast towns, that they should return or be 

 regarded as rebels, was approved. A blockade 

 was declared in all the ports of the insurgent 

 districts. Gen. Wheaton adopted the plan of con- 

 centration camps in the insurrectionary centers 

 in Luzon to prevent Malvar from getting provi- 

 sions and recruits, and this also was approved. 

 As soon as the report reached Manila of the 

 massacre and horrible mutilation of 50 unarmed 

 American soldiers at Balangiga by their pretend- 

 ed friends, Gen. Chaffee ordered Col. de Hussy and 

 other officers having troops within striking dis- 

 tance to send out punitive expeditions to chas- 

 tise the savages. Before Gen. Smith arrived to 

 occupy the island, which had become the strong- 

 hold of the rebellion since the pacification of Lu- 

 zon, these expeditions burned many towns in 

 southern Samar and destroyed all boats and all 

 supplies they could lay hands on. Gen. Smith 

 divided the island into districts, and the com- 

 mander of each district under his instructions 

 ordered the concentration of all the inhabitants 

 at places designated for their residence, warning 

 those who remained out in the hills with the rebel 

 bands that they would after a delay of fifteen 

 days be regarded as insurgents. In the swamps 

 and jungles of the southern end, the forest and 

 river gorges of the middle and northern plateau, 

 and the precipitous mountains and deep valleys 

 of the coast districts the American columns 

 found Samar the most difficult country to march 

 through they had known, and, weakened by fever 

 and dysentery and the leeches with which the is- 

 land is infested, they had to meet at every stage 

 an ambush of bolomen, whose weapons in the 

 spots they chose to fight were more effective than 

 their own. The soldiers fell into concealed pit- 

 falls upon poisoned spearheads; they were trans- 

 fixed by spears fastened to bent saplings to be re- 

 leased by tripping against a trailing vine; they 

 were drowned by boulders rolled from cliffs upon 

 their boats. When the Samarites attacked they 

 fought desperately, expecting no quarter, as by 



Lucban's orders they were to give none. Capt. 

 Preston's detachment of the Forty-third United 

 States Volunteers and Major Waller's marines 

 crossed the island with a heavy sacrifice of men. 

 Every other column had to turn back. Lieut. 

 Downs and most of his detachment fell in a hand- 

 to-hand encounter after their provisions had given 

 out and two-fifths of the men in his small column 

 were already incapacitated by wounds and dis- 

 ease. Capt. Francis Schoeffel's party, surprised 

 by bolomen two to one, had not a man unscathed 

 when Lieut. Lang came to the rescue. Lieut. 

 Wallace's post of 25 men on the Gandara river, 

 while the commander himself was absent, was 

 rushed at daybreak by 200 bolomen, but they 

 had room to use their rifles, and when reduced 

 to 10 men these had one part of the savages 

 helpless on a point of land and craving mercy 

 while the main body kept up the attack from the 

 jungle. The men, who killed 84 of the enemy 

 during the fight, were exonerated by Gen. Smith 

 for not granting quarter under the circumstances. 



Gen. Chaffee chose energetic and incisive officers 

 to conduct the operations and warned them that 

 they were dealing with a people whose character 

 is deceitful, who are absolutely hostile to the white 

 race, who regard life as of little value, and who 

 would not submit to American control until abso- 

 lutely defeated; hence every male should be 

 suspected unless he proved his loyalty by action 

 that could not be misunderstood, and every hostile 

 motion of any inhabitant should be quickly and 

 severely punished so as to inspire a wholesome fear 

 of the army, and any means taken to disarm the 

 people and keep them disarmed would be approved. 

 Gen. Smith in Samar and Gen. Bell in southern 

 Luzon, convinced that the insurrection was sup- 

 ported by wealthy people living in the pueblos 

 and enjoying American protection, adopted meth- 

 ods calculated to create in all the people an in- 

 terested desire for peace, and gave orders to 

 treat as an enemy every native, whether in arms 

 or living in the pueblos or barrios, until he con- 

 clusively showed that he was a friend by positive 

 acts committing himself openly to the American 

 side, as neutrality would no longer be tolerated, 

 and natives must demonstrate their loyalty by 

 devoting themselves in earnest to bringing about 

 a real peace. 



The vigorous campaign of Gen. Smith in Samar 

 and the increased severity of the military in deal- 

 ing with insurfcctos and their supporters and 

 spies, although this harsh and often misdirected 

 treatment of the natives estranged many who be- 

 fore were friendly, crushed out the rebellion effec- 

 tually by making the secret friends of the insur- 

 gent leaders afraid to help them and ready to in- 

 form against them. To extract information from 

 the unwilling some of the officers resorted to prac- 

 tises contrary to general orders that shocked the 

 public conscience when revealed in the United 

 States. The chief offense of this nature was a form 

 of torture, formerly employed by the Spaniards, 

 that the American soldiers called the "water-cure." 

 It consisted in forcing a man, bound and lying on 

 his back, to swallow rapidly a great quantity of 

 water poured into his mouth until in fear and dis- 

 tress he was willing to confess. Gen. Chaffee or- 

 dered all military commanders to cooperate in 

 every way with the civil authorities without re- 

 laxing their rigorous methods when dealing with 

 active insurgents. The insurgent leaders in Lu- 

 zon and Samar were forced at last to surrender 

 with the handful of followers they had kept to- 

 gether to the last. Before the end of April the 

 rebellion was entirely extinguished. Civil gov- 

 ernment was extended over the whole Christian- 



