Balangiga massacre: Difference between revisions

The Battle of Balangiga
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
Date	September 28, 1901; 122 years ago
Location	Balangiga, Samar, Philippines11°06′34″N 125°23′09″E / 11.10944°N 125.38583°E
Result	Philippine guerilla victory
Belligerents
Philippines	United States
Commanders and leaders
Valeriano Abanador; Eugenio Daza	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	Philippine attack: 74 men; American attack: 400 men
Casualties and losses
28 killed[citation needed]22 wounded	54 killed; 18 wounded

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The Balangiga massacre was an incident during the latter stages of the Philippine–American War 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.^[5]^[6]^[7] The incident is also known as the Balangiga Encounter, Balangiga Incident,^[8] or Balangiga Conflict,^[1] Some Filipino historians have asserted that the term Balangiga Massacre more appropriately refers to the March across Samar, a subsequent action on the island that resulted in an estimated 2,000 Filipino civilians killed and over 200 homes burned, which they see as retaliation by American soldiers.^[9]^[10]

Background

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.^[c] The attack was led by Valeriano Abanador the Jefe de la Policía (Chief of Police).^[12]

The operation

The operation took place in the town of Balangiga on Samar Island on September 28, 1901, wherein 70 members of the US 9th Infantry were ambushed by irregular forces made up of the Chief of Police, local police officers, local government officials, villagers.^[13]^{[page needed]} all officers were killed and many soldiers wounded. 48 men remained having 3 die later on shore including Cornelius F. Donahue Sr. of Massachussettes.

Aftermath

This was described as the "worst defeat of United States Army soldiers since the Battle of the Little Bighorn in 1876".^[14]^[15]^[16]

Legacy

The attack and subsequent actions on Samar remain some of the longest-running and most controversial issues between the Philippines and the United States.^[14] 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.^[9] Other Philippine sources also employ this usage.^[10] In U.S. sources, however, the term massacre is used to refer to this attack.^[10]

Prelude

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.^[17] 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.

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.^[18] Aguinaldo had been captured by American forces on March 23, 1901.^[19]^[20] 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.^[21]^[22]

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."^[23]

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,^[24] Abaya's letter to Lukban had been among papers captured by American troops on August 18; it read, in traslation:

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, 1901
P. ABAYAN, Local President^[25]

However, this information never reached the American troops in Balangiga.^[25]

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.^[26]

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.^[26]

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.^[27] 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.^[26] 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.^[2]

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.^[28]

Attack on American soldiers

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.^[29]^[30]

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.^[31] 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.^[30] 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.^[3] Twenty-two were wounded in action and four were missing in action. Eight died later of wounds received in combat; only four escaped unscathed.^[32] The villagers captured about 100 rifles and 25,000 rounds of ammunition and suffered 28 dead and 22 wounded.

Factual disputes

Several factual inaccuracies in early published accounts have surfaced over the years as historians continue to re-investigate the Balangiga incident. These include:^[2]

Schott and Rey Imperial assert that Company C of the 9th US Infantry was sent to Balangiga in response to a request by its then-Mayor Pedro Abayan. This is based solely on a claim by George Meyer, a Company C survivor, in support of efforts to secure the Medal of Honor. Author Bob Couttie asserts that the American unit was sent there to close Balangiga's port.^[24]

James Taylor's account inspired another author, William T. Sexton, to write that the American soldiers were "butchered like hogs" in Soldiers in the Sun.^[34] However, Eugenio Daza wrote, "The Filipino believes that the profanation of the dead necessarily brings bad luck and misfortune ... there was no time to lose for such acts [after the Balangiga attack]."^[3]

Gallery

Battle of Balangiga monument
Battle of Balangiga memorial marker
Statue of Valeriano Abanador, Balangiga police chief during the Battle of Balangiga
Historical marker at the foot of Abanador statue

Cultural references

Apostol, G. (2018). Insurrecto. Soho Press. ISBN 978-1-61695-945-6.

Notes

^ ^a ^b
Two participants^[who?] in the attack named the following persons as the chief organizers of the military operation:
- Pedro Abayan, Mayor of Balangiga
- Adronico Balais, Vice Mayor
- Valeriano Abanador, Chief of Police
- Mariano Valdenor, Assistant Chief of Police
- Captain Eugenio Daza, Area Commander of General Vicente Lukban's forces for Southeastern Samar
- Pedro Duran, a Sergeant under Diaz
- Juan Salazar
- Evangelista Gabornes, Councilor
- Paulo Gavan Gacho
Other sources showed that, while General Lukban viewed Daza as the overall commander, Daza acknowledged Abanador's operational command of the attack.^[1]
^ There are no reliable documentary records regarding the number of Filipino casualties.
^ Both Lukban and Gaza had beenofficers in the Philippine Revolutionary Army before that organization was dispersed on November 13, 1899 in favor of guerilla warfare.^[11]

References

^ ^a ^b Borrinaga, Rolando O. (2003). The Balangiga Conflict Revisited. New Day Publishers. pp. 80–81. ISBN 978-971-10-1090-4.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d Bautista, Veltisezar. "The Balangiga, Samar, Massacre". Archived from the original on February 26, 2008. Retrieved March 20, 2008.
^ ^a ^b ^c Borrinaga, Rolando. "100 Years of Balangiga Literature: A Review". Archived from the original on October 22, 2009. Retrieved March 24, 2008.
^ ^a ^b "The Balangiga Massacre". opmanong.ssc.hawaii.edu.
^ Taylor, James O. (1931). The Massacre of Balangiga: Being an Authentic Account by Several of the Few Survivors. McCarn Printing Company.
^ Borrinaga, Rolando O. (2003). The Balangiga Conflict Revisited. New Day Publishers. pp. 114, 194, 197. ISBN 978-971-10-1090-4.
^ Linn, Brian McAllister (2000), "Samar", The Philippine War, 1899-1902, University Press of Kansasdoi=10.2307, pp. 306–321, doi:10.2307/j.ctvgs0c6m, ISBN 9780700612253, JSTOR j.ctvgs0c6m – via Jstor
^ "The Balangiga Incident: A Rare Filipino Victory During the Philippine-American War". ABS-CBN News. December 12, 2018.
^ ^a ^b Agoncillo, Teodoro C. (1990) [1960], History of the Filipino People (8th ed.), Quezon City: Garotech Publishing, p. 228, ISBN 971-8711-06-6
^ ^a ^b ^c Karim, Wazir Jahan (2019). Global Nexus, The: Political Economies, Connectivity, And The Social Sciences. World Scientific Publishing Company. p. 110. ISBN 978-981-323-245-7.
^ Linn, B.M.A. (2000). The Philippine War, 1899–1902. Modern War Studies. University Press of Kansas. p. 148. ISBN 978-0-7006-1225-3.
^ Tucker, Spencer (2020). The Encyclopedia of the Spanish-American and Philippine-American Wars: A Political, Social, and Military History. ABC-CLIO. pp. 345. ISBN 978-1-85109-951-1. On September 28, 1901
^ Anderson, B.R.O.G. (2005). Under Three Flags: Anarchism and the Anti-colonial Imagination. Verso. ISBN 978-1-84467-037-6. Retrieved January 2, 2023.
^ ^a ^b Brooke, James (December 1, 1997). "U.S.-Philippines History Entwined in War Booty". The New York Times. Retrieved March 21, 2008.
^ Snodgrass, Tom. "Counterinsurgency and the US Military". Archived from the original on November 20, 2008. Retrieved March 23, 2008.
^ Galang, Reynaldo. "The Burning of Samar". Archived from the original on September 5, 2008. Retrieved March 23, 2008.
^ Bruno, Thomas A (February 2011). "The Violent End of Insurgency on Samar 1901–1902" (PDF). Army Center of Military History. p. 34. Retrieved December 10, 2011.
^ "A Philippine Newslink Interview with Bob Couttie, Author of: Hang the Dogs, The True and Tragic History of the Balangiga Massacre". Philippine Newslink. December 15, 2004. p. 2. Retrieved March 24, 2008.
^ Birtle, Andrew J. (1998). U.S. Army counterinsurgency and contingency operations doctrine 1860–1941. Washington, D.C.: United States Government Publishing Office. pp. 116–118.
^ Keenan, Jerry (2001). Encyclopedia of the Spanish–American & Philippine–American wars. Santa Barbara, California: ABC-CLIO. pp. 211–212. ISBN 978-1-57607-093-2.
^ Aguinaldo y Famy, Don Emilio (April 19, 1901). "Aguinaldo's Proclamation of Formal Surrender to the United States". The Philippine-American War Documents. Pasig, Philippines: Kabayan Central Net Works Inc. Retrieved December 25, 2016.
^ Brands, Henry William (1992). Bound to Empire: The United States and the Philippines. Oxford: Oxford University Press. p. 59. ISBN 0-19-507104-2. [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.
^ As quoted in Jones, Gregg (2013). Honor in the Dust: Theodore Roosevelt, War in the Philippines, and the Rise and Fall of America's Imperial Dream. New American Library. pp. 230, 407. ISBN 978-0-451-23918-1. (citing Taylor, John Rodgers Meigs (1971). The Philippine Insurrection Against the United States: A Compilation of Documents with Notes and Introduction. Eugenio Lopez Foundation.)
^ ^a ^b "A Philippine Newslink Interview with Bob Couttie, Author of:Hang the Dogs, The True and Tragic History of the Balangiga Massacre". Philippine Newslink. December 15, 2004. p. 1. Archived from the original on February 28, 2008. Retrieved March 24, 2008.
^ ^a ^b "The 'Massacre' and the Aftermath : Remembering Balangiga and The War in the Philippines". ushistoryscene.com. Retrieved June 13, 2023.
^ ^a ^b ^c Borrinaga, Rolando. "The Balangiga Conflict:Its Causes, Impact and Meaning". Archived from the original on October 22, 2009. Retrieved March 25, 2008.
^ Labro, Vicente. "106 years of fervor, and still burning". Archived from the original on May 13, 2008. Retrieved March 29, 2008.
^ Couttie, Bob (2004) [2004], Hang The Dogs: The True Tragic History Of The Balangiga Massacre (1st ed.), Quezon City: New Day Publishing, p. 146, ISBN 971-10-1124-7
^ "Jungle Patrol 2: Remember Balangiga". Archived from the original on May 10, 2008. Retrieved March 29, 2008.
^ ^a ^b Dumindin, Arnaldo. "Philippine-American War, 1899–1902". Retrieved March 30, 2008.
^ John Foreman (F.R.G.S.) (1906). The Philippine Islands: A Political, Geographical, Ethnographical, Social and Commercial History of the Philippine Archipelago, Embracing the Whole Period of Spanish Rule, with an Account of the Succeeding American Insular Government. C. Scribner's sons. p. 526.
^ The Official report War Department 1901 reports casualties as 3 officers and 33 NCOs and enlisted ranks dead; 3 died of wounds; 7 members of Company C 9th Infantry and 1 Hospital Corps Private missing [the report acknowledges several bodies were cremated when the barracks were burned]; 21 wounded; 16 present not wounded. See Annual Reports of the War Department, Volume 9 p.629 Report of Captain Bookmiller, 9th Infantry
^ Borrinaga, Rolando O. "100 Years of Balangiga Literature: A Review". Retrieved April 3, 2019.
^ Sexton, William Thaddeus (2015). Soldiers in the Sun. Creative Media Partners, LLC. pp. 40–41. ISBN 978-1-296-58088-9.^[33]

@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
+{{userspace draft|date=June 2020}}
 {{Short description|1901 incident in the Philippine-American War}}
 {{Use Philippine English|date=May 2023}}
 {{Use mdy dates|date=May 2023}}
 {{Infobox military conflict
-| conflict          = Balangiga massacre
+| conflict          = Balangiga Massacre
 | partof            = the [[Philippine–American War]]
 | image             = Balangiga_photo_of_Company_C_with_Valeriano_Abanador.jpg
@@ Line 41: / Line 43: @@
 The battle was a military operation planned by [[Eugenio Daza|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.{{efn|Both Lukban and Gaza had beenofficers in the [[Philippine Revolutionary Army]] before that organization was dispersed on November 13, 1899 in favor of [[guerilla warfare]].<ref>{{cite book | last=Linn | first=B.M.A. | title=The Philippine War, 1899–1902 | publisher=University Press of Kansas | series=Modern War Studies | year=2000 | isbn=978-0-7006-1225-3 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3xmsEAAAQBAJ | page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=3xmsEAAAQBAJ&pg=PA148 148]}}</ref>}} The attack was led by Valeriano Abanador the ''Jefe de la Policía'' (Chief of Police).<ref>Tucker, Spencer (2020). The Encyclopedia of the Spanish-American and Philippine-American Wars: A Political, Social, and Military History. ABC-CLIO. pp. 345. {{ISBN|978-1-85109-951-1}}. On September 28, 1901</ref>
-===The Battle===
+===The operation===
 {{unreferenced|section|date=June 2023}}
-The Battle of Balangiga took place in the town of [[Balangiga, Eastern Samar|Balangiga]] on [[Samar Island]] on September 28, 1901, wherein 70 members of the US 9th Infantry were [[ambush]]ed by [[Irregular military|irregular forces]] made up of the [[Chief of Police]], [[local police]] officers, [[local government]] officials, [[village]]rs.<ref>{{cite book | last=Anderson | first=B.R.O.G. | title=Under Three Flags: Anarchism and the Anti-colonial Imagination | publisher=Verso | year=2005 | isbn=978-1-84467-037-6 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=V_yqWb1Ba30C | access-date=January 2, 2023}}
+The operation took place in the town of [[Balangiga, Eastern Samar|Balangiga]] on [[Samar Island]] on September 28, 1901, wherein 70 members of the US 9th Infantry were [[ambush]]ed by [[Irregular military|irregular forces]] made up of the [[Chief of Police]], [[local police]] officers, [[local government]] officials, [[village]]rs.<ref>{{cite book | last=Anderson | first=B.R.O.G. | title=Under Three Flags: Anarchism and the Anti-colonial Imagination | publisher=Verso | year=2005 | isbn=978-1-84467-037-6 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=V_yqWb1Ba30C | access-date=January 2, 2023}}
 </ref>{{pageno|date=June 2021}} all officers were killed and many soldiers wounded. 48 men remained having 3 die later on shore including Cornelius F. Donahue Sr. of Massachussettes.
 ===Aftermath===
-This battle was described as the ''"worst defeat of [[United States Army]] soldiers since the [[Battle of the Little Bighorn]] in 1876"''.<ref name="brooke">{{cite news | last =Brooke | first =James | title =  U.S.-Philippines History Entwined in War Booty| work=[[The New York Times]] | date = December 1, 1997 | url = https://www.nytimes.com/1997/12/01/us/us-philippines-history-entwined-in-war-booty.html| access-date = March 21, 2008}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|last=Snodgrass |first=Tom |title=Counterinsurgency and the US Military |url=http://www.intellectualconservative.com/2007/01/31/counterinsurgency-and-the-us-military/ |access-date=March 23, 2008 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081120041915/http://www.intellectualconservative.com/2007/01/31/counterinsurgency-and-the-us-military/ |archive-date=November 20, 2008 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|last=Galang |first=Reynaldo |title=The Burning of Samar |url=http://www.bakbakan.com/samarall.htm |access-date=March 23, 2008 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080905232526/http://bakbakan.com/samarall.htm |archive-date=September 5, 2008 }}</ref>
+This was described as the ''"worst defeat of [[United States Army]] soldiers since the [[Battle of the Little Bighorn]] in 1876"''.<ref name="brooke">{{cite news | last =Brooke | first =James | title =  U.S.-Philippines History Entwined in War Booty| work=[[The New York Times]] | date = December 1, 1997 | url = https://www.nytimes.com/1997/12/01/us/us-philippines-history-entwined-in-war-booty.html| access-date = March 21, 2008}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|last=Snodgrass |first=Tom |title=Counterinsurgency and the US Military |url=http://www.intellectualconservative.com/2007/01/31/counterinsurgency-and-the-us-military/ |access-date=March 23, 2008 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081120041915/http://www.intellectualconservative.com/2007/01/31/counterinsurgency-and-the-us-military/ |archive-date=November 20, 2008 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|last=Galang |first=Reynaldo |title=The Burning of Samar |url=http://www.bakbakan.com/samarall.htm |access-date=March 23, 2008 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080905232526/http://bakbakan.com/samarall.htm |archive-date=September 5, 2008 }}</ref>
 ===Legacy===
@@ Line 126: / Line 128: @@
 ==Further reading==
-{{portal|Philippines}}
-*{{cite book | author=Schott, Joseph L.| title=The Ordeal of Samar | publisher=Bobbs-Merrill  | year=1965 | asin= B0006BLRF0}}
-*{{cite book | author=Taylor, James O.| title=The Massacre of Balangiga: Being an Authentic Account By Several of the Few Survivors | location=Joplin, MO|publisher=McCarn Printing Co | year=1931 | oclc=1838646}}, {{OCLC|680173529}} (e-book)
-*{{cite book | title= US Senate Committee Hearings on "Affairs in the Philippine Islands", February 2, 1902 to October 13, 1903, three volumes }}
-*{{cite journal|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3-laHwL3GDsC&pg=PA147|title=Historical Sketches of the 9th Infantry|journal=Infantry Journal|year=1921|publisher=United States Infantry Association|at=[https://books.google.com/books?id=3-laHwL3GDsC&dq=%22service+in+philippines%22&pg=RA2-PA150 Service in the Philippines]|volume=28|issue=3}}
-[[Category:1901 in the Philippines]]
-[[Category:Battles involving the United States]]
-[[Category:Battles of the Philippine–American War]]
-[[Category:Events that led to courts-martial]]
-[[Category:History of Eastern Samar]]
-[[Category:Massacres committed by the United States]]
-[[Category:September 1901 events]]
-[[Category:Visayan history]]
-[[Category:War crimes in the Philippines]]
-[[Category:United States war crimes]]
-[[Category:Massacres in 1901]]
-[[Category:Mass murder in 1901]]
-[[Category:Mass murder in the Philippines]]
-[[Category:Anti-Americanism]]
-==Background==
-The battle was a military operation planned by [[Eugenio Daza|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.{{efn|Both Lukban and Gaza had beenofficers in the [[Philippine Revolutionary Army]] before that organization was dispersed on November 13, 1899 in favor of [[guerilla warfare]].<ref>{{cite book | last=Linn | first=B.M.A. | title=The Philippine War, 1899–1902 | publisher=University Press of Kansas | series=Modern War Studies | year=2000 | isbn=978-0-7006-1225-3 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3xmsEAAAQBAJ | page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=3xmsEAAAQBAJ&pg=PA148 148]}}</ref>}} The attack was led by Valeriano Abanador the ''Jefe de la Policía'' (Chief of Police).<ref>Tucker, Spencer (2020). The Encyclopedia of the Spanish-American and Philippine-American Wars: A Political, Social, and Military History. ABC-CLIO. pp. 345. {{ISBN|978-1-85109-951-1}}. On September 28, 1901</ref>
-===The Battle===
-The Battle of Balangiga took place in the town of [[Balangiga, Eastern Samar|Balangiga]] on [[Samar Island]] on September 28, 1901, wherein 70 members of the US 9th Infantry were [[ambush]]ed by [[Irregular military|irregular forces]] made up of the [[Chief of Police]], [[local police]] officers, [[local government]] officials, [[village]]rs.<ref>{{cite book | last=Anderson | first=B.R.O.G. | title=Under Three Flags: Anarchism and the Anti-colonial Imagination | publisher=Verso | year=2005 | isbn=978-1-84467-037-6 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=V_yqWb1Ba30C | access-date=January 2, 2023}}
-</ref>{{pageno|date=June 2021}} all officers were killed and many soldiers wounded. 48 men remained having 3 die later on shore including Cornelius F. Donahue Sr. of Massachussettes.
-===Aftermath===
-This battle was described as the ''"worst defeat of [[United States Army]] soldiers since the [[Battle of the Little Bighorn]] in 1876"''.<ref name="brooke">{{cite news | last =Brooke | first =James | title =  U.S.-Philippines History Entwined in War Booty| work=[[The New York Times]] | date = December 1, 1997 | url = https://www.nytimes.com/1997/12/01/us/us-philippines-history-entwined-in-war-booty.html| access-date = March 21, 2008}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|last=Snodgrass |first=Tom |title=Counterinsurgency and the US Military |url=http://www.intellectualconservative.com/2007/01/31/counterinsurgency-and-the-us-military/ |access-date=March 23, 2008 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081120041915/http://www.intellectualconservative.com/2007/01/31/counterinsurgency-and-the-us-military/ |archive-date=November 20, 2008 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|last=Galang |first=Reynaldo |title=The Burning of Samar |url=http://www.bakbakan.com/samarall.htm |access-date=March 23, 2008 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080905232526/http://bakbakan.com/samarall.htm |archive-date=September 5, 2008 }}</ref>
-===Legacy===
-The attack and the subsequent retaliation remains one of the longest-running and most controversial issues between the [[Philippines]] and the [[United States]].<ref name="brooke"/> 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]]''.<ref name="Teodoro1960p228" /> Other Philippine sources also employ this usage.<ref name=karim2019p110 /> In U.S. sources, however, the term ''massacre'' is used to refer to this attack.<ref name=karim2019p110>{{cite book|last=Karim|first=Wazir Jahan|title=Global Nexus, The: Political Economies, Connectivity, And The Social Sciences|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rO60DwAAQBAJ|year=2019|publisher=World Scientific Publishing Company|isbn=978-981-323-245-7|page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=rO60DwAAQBAJ&dq=%22balangiga+massacre%22&pg=PA110 110]}}</ref>
-==Prelude==
-[[File:Balangiga photo of Company C with Valeriano Abanador.jpg|300px|thumb|Soldiers of Company C, 9th US Infantry Regiment with Valeriano Abanador (standing, sixth from right) in Balangiga in August 1901.]]
-In the summer of 1901, Brigadier General [[Robert Patterson Hughes|Robert P. Hughes]], who commanded the Department of the Visayas and was responsible for Samar, instigated an aggressive policy of [[Starvation|food deprivation]] and [[destruction of property|property destruction]] on the island.<ref>{{cite news |last=Bruno |first= Thomas A |title=The Violent End of Insurgency on Samar 1901–1902 |page= 34 |publisher=Army Center of Military History |date=Feb 2011 |url =http://www.history.army.mil/armyhistory/AH79(W)r.pdf |access-date= December 10, 2011}}</ref> 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.
-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.{{cn|date=June 2023}}
-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]].<ref name="couttie2">{{cite news | title =A Philippine Newslink Interview with Bob Couttie, Author of: Hang the Dogs, The True and Tragic History of the Balangiga Massacre | page =2 | publisher =Philippine Newslink | date = December 15, 2004 | url =http://www.philnews.com/2005/da2.html | access-date = March 24, 2008}}</ref> Aguinaldo had been captured by American forces on March 23, 1901.<ref>{{cite book|last=Birtle|first=Andrew J.|title=U.S. Army counterinsurgency and contingency operations doctrine 1860–1941|publisher=United States Government Publishing Office|location=Washington, D.C.|year=1998|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fW_aeCJJ9J0C|pages=[https://books.google.com/books?id=fW_aeCJJ9J0C&pg=PA116 116–118]|isbn=9780160613241 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Keenan|first=Jerry|title=Encyclopedia of the Spanish–American & Philippine–American wars|publisher=ABC-CLIO|location=Santa Barbara, California|year=2001|isbn=978-1-57607-093-2|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JMRwK4ng_zYC|pages=[https://books.google.com/books?id=JMRwK4ng_zYC&pg=PA211 211–212]}}</ref> 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.<ref>{{cite web|last=Aguinaldo y Famy|first=Don Emilio|author-link=Emilio Aguinaldo|title=Aguinaldo's Proclamation of Formal Surrender to the United States|work=The Philippine-American War Documents|publisher=Kabayan Central Net Works Inc.|location=Pasig, Philippines|date=April 19, 1901|url=http://filipino.biz.ph/history/ag010419.html|access-date=December 25, 2016}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Brands|first=Henry William|author-link=H. W. Brands|title=Bound to Empire: The United States and the Philippines|publisher=Oxford University Press|location=Oxford|year=1992|isbn=0-19-507104-2|url=https://archive.org/details/boundtoempireuni00bran|page=[https://archive.org/details/boundtoempireuni0000bran/page/59/mode/1up 59]}}</ref>
-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."<ref>As quoted in {{cite book|last=Jones|first=Gregg|title=Honor in the Dust: Theodore Roosevelt, War in the Philippines, and the Rise and Fall of America's Imperial Dream|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jVooDgAAQBAJ|year=2013|publisher=New American Library|isbn=978-0-451-23918-1|pages=230, 407}} (citing {{cite book|last=Taylor|first=John Rodgers Meigs|title=The Philippine Insurrection Against the United States: A Compilation of Documents with Notes and Introduction|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gmZwAAAAMAAJ|year=1971|publisher=Eugenio Lopez Foundation}})</ref>
-On August 11, 1901, [[9th Infantry Regiment (United States)|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,<ref name="couttie1">{{cite news | title =A Philippine Newslink Interview with Bob Couttie, Author of:Hang the Dogs, The True and Tragic History of the Balangiga Massacre | page =1 | publisher =Philippine Newslink | date = December 15, 2004 | url =http://www.philnews.com/2005/da1.html | access-date = March 24, 2008| archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20080228064520/http://www.philnews.com/2005/da1.html| archive-date= February 28, 2008 | url-status= live}}</ref> Abaya's letter to Lukban had been among papers captured by American troops on August 18; it read:
-{{blockquote|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,<br />
-Balangiga, 30th of May, 1901
-P. ABAYAN, Local President<ref name=akiboh>{{cite web|url=https://ushistoryscene.com/article/balangiga/|title=The 'Massacre' and the Aftermath : Remembering Balangiga and The War in the Philippines|website=ushistoryscene.com|accessdate=June 13, 2023}}</ref>}}
-However, this information never reached the American troops in Balangiga.<ref name=akiboh />
-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 ''[[Palm wine|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.<ref name="borr">{{cite web | last =Borrinaga | first =Rolando | title =The Balangiga Conflict:Its Causes, Impact and Meaning | url=http://www.geocities.com/rolborr/balconsum.html | access-date = March 25, 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091022070336/http://geocities.com/rolborr/balconsum.html|archive-date=October 22, 2009}}</ref>
-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 tent]]s unfed overnight. In addition, Connell had the men's [[Bolo knife|bolos]] and the stored [[rice]] for their tables confiscated. These events sufficiently insulted and angered the townspeople, and they planned revenge against the Americans.<ref name="borr"/>
-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.<ref name="labro">{{cite web | last=Labro | first=Vicente | title=106 years of fervor, and still burning | url=http://blogs.inquirer.net/beingfilipino/2007/10/15/106-years-of-fervor-and-still-burning/ | access-date=March 29, 2008 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080513142910/http://blogs.inquirer.net/beingfilipino/2007/10/15/106-years-of-fervor-and-still-burning/ | archive-date=May 13, 2008 | url-status=dead }}</ref> 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 ''[[Festival|fiesta]]'' which, incidentally, also served to address Connell's preparations for his superior's visit. Abanador also brought in a group of "[[Tax evasion|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 [[Lawaan, Eastern Samar|Barrio Lawaan]] [[cross-dressing|cross-dressed]] as women worshippers.<ref name="borr"/> These "women", carrying small [[coffin]]s, 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.<ref name="bautista"/>
-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 [[Holy Week in the Philippines|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.<ref>{{citation|last=Couttie|first=Bob|author-link=Bob Couttie|title=Hang The Dogs: The True Tragic History Of The Balangiga Massacre|orig-year=2004|edition=1st |year=2004 |publisher=New Day Publishing |location=Quezon City |isbn=971-10-1124-7|page=146}}</ref>
-==Attack on American soldiers==
-[[File:US 9th Infantry Regiment in the Philippines 1899.jpg|400px|thumb|right|The US 9th Infantry Regiment in the Philippines, 1899]]
-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 [[Balangiga bells|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.<ref>{{cite web| title= Jungle Patrol 2: Remember Balangiga| url= http://bakbakan.com/junglep/jp-2.html| access-date= March 29, 2008| archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20080510141323/http://www.bakbakan.com/junglep/jp-2.html| archive-date= May 10, 2008| url-status= dead}}</ref><ref name="dumindin">{{cite web | last =Dumindin | first =Arnaldo | title =Philippine-American War, 1899–1902 | url=http://www.freewebs.com/philippineamericanwar/balangigamassacre1901.htm | access-date = March 30, 2008}}</ref>
-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.<ref>{{cite book|author=John Foreman (F.R.G.S.)|title=The Philippine Islands: A Political, Geographical, Ethnographical, Social and Commercial History of the Philippine Archipelago, Embracing the Whole Period of Spanish Rule, with an Account of the Succeeding American Insular Government|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=W2crAAAAYAAJ|year=1906|publisher=C. Scribner's sons|page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=W2crAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA526 526]}}</ref> 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, Samar|Basey]] and [[Tanauan, Leyte]].<ref name="dumindin"/> 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.<ref name="hunyrs"/> Twenty-two were [[wounded in action]] and four were [[missing in action]]. Eight died later of wounds received in combat; only four escaped unscathed.<ref>The Official report War Department 1901 reports casualties as 3 officers and 33 NCOs and enlisted ranks dead; 3 died of wounds; 7 members of Company C 9th Infantry and 1 Hospital Corps Private missing [the report acknowledges several bodies were cremated when the barracks were burned]; 21 wounded; 16 present not wounded. See [https://books.google.com/books?id=VDxMn9JOi-QC&q=Company+C+9th+Infantry&pg=PA593 Annual Reports of the War Department, Volume 9 p.629 Report of Captain Bookmiller, 9th Infantry]</ref>  The villagers captured about 100 rifles and 25,000 rounds of ammunition and suffered 28 dead and 22 wounded.
-==Retaliation==
-{{main|March across Samar}}
-{{further|Jacob H. Smith#Samar campaign}}
-[[File:Editorial cartoon about Jacob Smith's retaliation for Balangiga.PNG|thumb|upright=1.7|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 caption at the bottom proclaimed, "Criminals Because They Were Born Ten Years Before We Took the Philippines"]]
-Captain Edwin Victor Bookmiller, the commander in Basey, sailed immediately with Company G, 9th Infantry Regiment for Balangiga aboard a commandeered coastal steamer, the SS ''Pittsburgh''.<ref name="nebrida">{{cite web|last=Nebrida |first=Victor |title=The Balangiga Massacre: Getting Even |url=http://www.bibingka.com/phg/balangiga/default.htm |access-date=March 29, 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080402103747/http://www.bibingka.com/phg/balangiga/default.htm |archive-date=April 2, 2008 |url-status=dead }}</ref> Finding the town abandoned, they buried the American dead and set fire to the town.<ref name="bautista"/>
-Coming at a time when it was believed Filipino resistance to American rule had collapsed, the Balangiga attack had a powerful impact on Americans living in Manila. Men started to wear sidearms openly and [[Helen Herron Taft]], wife of the American [[Governor-General of the Philippines]] [[William Howard Taft]], was so distraught she required evacuation to Hong Kong.<ref name= "herrontaft">Taft, Helen Herron, ''Recollections of Full Years'', Butterick Publishing, New York (1914), p. 225</ref>
-The Balangiga incident provoked shock in the US public, too, with newspapers equating the defeat to [[George Armstrong Custer]]'s last stand at the [[Battle of the Little Bighorn]] in 1876. Major General [[Adna Chaffee|Adna R. Chaffee]], military governor of the Philippines, received orders from US President [[Theodore Roosevelt]] to pacify Samar. To this end, Chaffee appointed Brigadier General [[Jacob H. Smith]] to Samar to accomplish the task.
-General Smith instructed Major [[Littleton Waller]], commanding officer of a battalion of 315 [[United States Marine Corps|US Marines]] assigned to bolster his forces in Samar, regarding the conduct of pacification:
-{{quote|I want no prisoners. I wish you to kill and burn; the more you kill and burn, the better it will please me... The interior of Samar must be made a howling wilderness...<ref name="nyt">{{cite news | title =President Retires Gen. Jacob H. Smith | work=The New York Times | date = 1902-07-17 |
-url =https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1902/07/17/101959147.pdf | access-date = 2008-03-30}}</ref><ref name="melshen">{{cite web | last =Melshen | first =Paul | title =Littleton Waller Tazewell Waller | url=http://www.arlingtoncemetery.net/lwwaller.htm | access-date = March 30, 2008| archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20080421003005/http://www.arlingtoncemetery.net/lwwaller.htm| archive-date= April 21, 2008 | url-status= live}}</ref>|Gen. Jacob H. Smith}}
-As a consequence of this order, Smith became known as "Howling Wilderness Smith";  he was also dubbed "Hell Roaring Jake" Smith, "The Monster", and "Howling Jake" by the press as a result.<ref>{{cite web | last =Karnow | first =Stanley | title =Two Nations | website =[[PBS]] | url=https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/bataan/sfeature/sf_philippines.html | access-date = March 31, 2008| archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20080404203956/http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/bataan/sfeature/sf_philippines.html| archive-date= April 4, 2008 | url-status= live}}</ref> He further ordered Waller to kill all persons who were capable of bearing arms and in actual hostilities against the United States forces. When queried by Waller regarding the age limit of these persons, Smith replied that the limit was ten years of age.<ref name="howling">{{cite web|last=Bautista |first=Veltisezar |title=The Balangiga, Samar, Massacre |url=http://www.filipinoamericans.net/balangiga_massacre.shtml |access-date=March 20, 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080226150445/http://www.filipinoamericans.net/balangiga_massacre.shtml |archive-date=February 26, 2008 |url-status=dead }}</ref>
-Food and trade to Samar were cut off, intended to starve the revolutionaries into submission. Smith's strategy on Samar involved widespread destruction to force the inhabitants to stop 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 Lukbán]], but he 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. Littleton Waller, in a report, stated that over an eleven-day period his men burned 255 dwellings, shot 13 [[carabao]]s and killed 39 people.<ref name="nebrida"/>
-The [[Judge Advocate General's Corps, U.S. Army|Judge Advocate General]] of the Army observed that only the good sense and restraint of the majority of Smith's subordinates prevented a complete reign of terror in Samar. The abuses outraged [[Anti-imperialism|anti-Imperialist]] groups in the United States when these became known in March 1902.
-The exact number of Filipinos killed by US troops will never be known. A population shortfall of about 15,000 is apparent between the Spanish census of 1887 and the American census of 1903, but how much of the shortfall is due to a disease epidemic and known natural disasters and how many due to combat is difficult to determine. Population growth in 19th century Samar was amplified by an influx of workers for the booming hemp industry, an influx which certainly ceased during the Samar campaign.<ref>{{cite web | last =Bob | first =Couttie | title =Searching For Death In Samar | url=https://www.scribd.com/doc/75512279/samardeaths | access-date = December 11, 2011}}</ref>
-Exhaustive research in the 1990s made by British writer Bob Couttie as part of a ten-year study of the Balangiga massacre tentatively put the figure at about 2,500; David Fritz used population ageing techniques and suggested a figure of just more than 2,000 losses in males of combat age but nothing to support widespread killing of women and children.<ref name= "young">Fritz, David L, Before "The Howling Wilderness": The Military Career of Jacob Heard Smith, ''Military Affairs'', November–December (1979), p. 186</ref> Some American and Filipino historians believe it to be around 50,000,<ref name=autogenerated1>Young, Kenneth Ray, "Guerrilla Warfare Revisited", ''Leyte Samar Studies'', XI:1 (1977), pp. 21–31</ref><ref name="dumindin"/>  but those high estimates are thought to have resulted from typographical errors and misreading of documents.<ref>{{cite book | last1=Bartrop | first1=P.R. | last2=Jacobs | first2=S.L. | title=Modern Genocide: The Definitive Resource and Document Collection [4 volumes]: The Definitive Resource and Document Collection | publisher=ABC-CLIO | year=2014 | isbn=978-1-61069-364-6 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JB4UBgAAQBAJ | page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=JB4UBgAAQBAJ&pg=PA1983 1983]}}</ref> The rate of Samar's population growth slowed as refugees fled from Samar to Leyte,<ref name="US Senate Hearings">US Senate Committee Hearings "Affairs in the Philippine Islands" February 3, 1902, Vol. 3, p. 2341</ref> yet still the population of Samar increased by 21,456 during the war.
-American military historians' opinions on the Samar campaign are echoed in the February 2011 edition of the US Army's official historical magazine, ''Army History Bulletin'': "...the indiscriminate violence and punishment that U.S. Army and Marine forces under Brig. Gen. Jacob Smith are alleged to have unleashed on Samar have long stained the memory of the United States’ pacification of the Philippine Islands".<ref name= "hendricks">Hendricks, Charles, Editor's Journal, ''Army History Bulletin'', PB 20-11-2 (No. 79), p. 2</ref>
-==Commanding officers' courts-martial==
-[[File:Balangiga Bells.jpg|thumb|260px|American soldiers in [[Calbayog, Samar]] pose with a [[Balangiga bells|church bell]] taken from Balangiga as [[war trophy]].]]
-Events in Samar resulted in prompt investigations. On April 15, 1902, the [[United States Secretary of War|Secretary of War]] [[Elihu Root]] sent orders to relieve officers of duty and to court-martial General Smith. "The President (Theodore Roosevelt) desires to know and in the most circumstantial manner all facts, nothing being concealed, and no man being for any reason favored or shielded.  For the very reason that the President intends to back up the Army in the heartiest fashion in every lawful and legitimate method of doing its work, he also intends to see that the most rigorous care is exercised to detect and prevent any cruelty or brutality, and that men who are guilty thereof are punished".<ref name="US Senate Committee Hearings">"Affairs in the Philippine Islands", Vol. II, p. 1549</ref>
-Jacob H. Smith and Littleton Waller faced courts martial as a result of their heavy-handed treatment of Filipinos; Waller specifically for the execution of twelve Filipino bearers and guides. Waller was found not guilty, a finding that senior military officials did not accept. Smith was found guilty, admonished and forced to retire.<ref name="nyt"/>
-A third officer, Captain [[Edwin Forbes Glenn]], was court-martialled for torturing Filipinos and was found guilty.<ref>{{cite news|last=Lariosa |first=Joseph |title=As nation marks 103rd anniversary of infamous Balangiga Massacre Book reveals wrong Balangiga Massacre death toll |publisher=The Manila Bulletin |year=2001 |url=http://www.mb.com.ph/issues/2004/09/27/MTNN2004092719295.html |access-date=March 24, 2008 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050503232955/http://www.mb.com.ph/issues/2004/09/27/MTNN2004092719295.html |archive-date=May 3, 2005 }}</ref>
-==Factual disputes==
-Several factual inaccuracies in early published accounts have surfaced over the years as historians continue to re-investigate the Balangiga incident. These include:<ref name="bautista"/>
-*Schott and Rey Imperial assert that Company C of the 9th US Infantry was sent to Balangiga in response to a request by its then-Mayor Pedro Abayan. This is based solely on a claim by George Meyer, a Company C survivor, in support of efforts to secure the [[Medal of Honor]]. Author Bob Couttie asserts that the American unit was sent there to close Balangiga's port.<ref name="couttie1"/>
-*James Taylor's account inspired another author, [[William T. Sexton]], to write that the American soldiers were "butchered like hogs" in ''Soldiers in the Sun''.{{refn|{{cite book|last=Sexton|first=William Thaddeus|title=Soldiers in the Sun|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=X640jgEACAAJ|year=2015|publisher=Creative Media Partners, LLC|isbn=978-1-296-58088-9|pages=40–41}}<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.oocities.org/rolborr/ballit100years.html|title=100 Years of Balangiga Literature: A Review|first=Rolando O.|last=Borrinaga|access-date=April 3, 2019}}</ref>}} However, [[Eugenio Daza]] wrote, "The Filipino believes that the profanation of the dead necessarily brings bad luck and misfortune ... there was no time to lose for such acts [after the Balangiga attack]."<ref name="hunyrs"/>
-==Gallery==
-<gallery mode="packed" heights="200px">
-File:Balangiga Massacre Monument.jpg|Battle of Balangiga monument
-Balangiga massacre memorial marker.JPG|Battle of Balangiga memorial marker
-Statue of Valeriano Abanador.JPG|Statue of Valeriano Abanador, Balangiga police chief during the Battle of Balangiga
-Historical marker at the foot of Valeriano Abanador statue.JPG|Historical marker at the foot of Abanador statue{{efn|Translation: In this town, on September 20, 1901, Filipinos armed with muskets ambushed company "C", E.U. infantry. [sic: U.S.] they killed almost all the American soldiers. In response, the Americans launched a six-day "killing and burning" that turned the town into a "howling forest", Brig. Gen. Jacob H. Smith and Major Littleton W T. Waller were tried by court martial and dismissed.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://translate.google.com/?sl=tl&tl=en&text=Sa%20bayang%20ito%2C%20huong%20ika-20%20Setyembre%201901%2C%20nilusod%20ng%20mga%20Pilipponong%20nasasandatahan%20ng%20gulok%20ang%20kumpanya%20%22C%22%2C%20ika-%20na%20impanteriya%20ng%20E.U.%20%5Bsic%3A%20U.S.%5D%20napatay%20nila%20halos%20ang%20lahat%20ng%20mga%20sundalong%20Amerikano.%20Bilang%20ganti%20ay%20naglunsad%20ang%20mga%20Amerikano%20ng%20may%20anim%20na%20duwang%20%22pagpatay%20at%20passunog%22%20ang%20bayan%20ay%20nagmistulang%20%22humahagulgol%20na%20kagubatan%22%2C%20sina%20Brig.%20Hen.%20Jacob%20H.%20Smith%20at%20Medyor%20Littleton%20W%20T.%20Waller%20ay%20nilitis%20ng%20hukulang%20militar%20at%20liniwalag.&op=translate|title=Translation|website=translate.google.com|accessdate=June 19, 2023}}</ref>}}
-</gallery>
-==Cultural references==
-* {{cite book | last=Apostol | first=G. | authorlink=Gina Apostol | title=Insurrecto | publisher=Soho Press | year=2018 | isbn=978-1-61695-945-6 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MsFMDwAAQBAJ }}
-==See also==
-{{wikiquote|Philippine–American War}}
-{{Commons category|Balangiga massacre}}
-*[[Balangiga bells]], on the bells seized as spoils of war and returned to the Philippines in 2018
-*[[Eugenio Daza]]
-*[[Vicente Lukban]]
-*[[History of the Philippines (1898–1946)]]
-*[[Timeline of the Philippine–American War]]
-*[[Campaigns of the Philippine–American War]]
-==Notes==
-{{notelist}}
-==References==
-{{reflist}}
-==Further==
 {{portal|Philippines}}
 *{{cite book | author=Schott, Joseph L.| title=The Ordeal of Samar | publisher=Bobbs-Merrill  | year=1965 | asin= B0006BLRF0}}