"Kill everyone over ten..."

[Beau]

On September 28, 1901, Filipinos under the command of Gen. Vincente Lukban launched a surprise attack on U.S. soldiers stationed in the town of Balangiga on the island of Samar. Many had maneuvered into position by disguising themselves as women. The ringing of a church bell signalled the moment for the attack, and Filipinos armed with bolos rushed the unprepared troops of Company C, eventually killing 59 and wounding 23. The battle sent shock waves through American residences in the Philippines, and throughout the United States. It occured seven months after Gen. Emilio Aguinaldo, the leader of the Philippine Revolution, was captured by Frederick Funston, and most Americans believed that Filipino resistance to U.S. rule was near its end. Instead, they were faced with the U.S. military's worst defeat of the war. Americans would be even more shocked by the U.S. military's response to its defeat at Balangiga. The U.S. military used it as an excuse to wage extremely brutal campaigns in Samar and Batangas that lasted into 1902.

In October, U.S. Brig. Gen. Jacob H. Smith was put in charge of the "pacification" of Samar, and he gave orders that led to widespread atrocities. "I want no prisoners. I wish you to kill and burn, the more you kill and burn the better you will please me. I want all persons killed who are capable of bearing arms in actual hostilities against the United States," he told Major Littleton W. T. Waller. When Waller asked for clarification, Smith specified that everyone ten years of age or older should be killed. He later sent Waller a written order "that the interior of Samar must be made a howling wilderness." It is estimated that as many as 50,000 Filipinos died from the ensuing campaign of extermination and devastation on Samar.

When they became known in the United States, Smith's orders and the atrocities carried out in Samar under Waller's direction led to widespread denunciations of U.S. atrocities in the Philippines. The events on Samar were revealed along with evidence of other atrocities during U.S. Senate hearings on the Philippines in the spring and early summer of 1902. On April 28, 1902, officers of the Anti-Imperialist League formed a separate Philippine Investigating Committee to independently gather and publicize information about U.S. atrocities. Less than a week after the conclusion of the embarrassing hearings, President Theodore Roosevelt declared that the war in the Philippines was over. His announcement had more influence on the domestic political situation than on conditions in the Philippines. Warfare continued in the Philippines until 1913.

U.S. troops took three church bells from Balangiga as war booty after they recaptured the town. Two are now housed at F.E. Warren Air Force Base outside Cheyenne, Wyoming, and, in 1997, a third bell was held by the 9th U.S. Infantry Regiment stationed near Tongduchon in South Korea. The Bells of Balangiga became an international issue in 1997 when their return to the Philippines was demanded by the Philippine government as it prepared for the 1998 centennial of the declaration of Philippine independence from Spain and the creation of the Philippine Republic. The bells have still not been returned to the Philippines.

The Balangiga Massacres
The History of Samar
By Moorfield Storey and Julian Codman, a chapter about Balangiga and the brutal campaign on Samar that followed, from their book, Secretary Root's Record: "Marked Severities" in Philippine Warfare. Includes a good discussion of how American troops treated the residents of Balangiga before the surprise attack.
The Balangiga Massacre: Getting Even
By Victor Nebrida, at the Philippine History Group of Los Angeles.

The Outlook on Balangiga
Contemporary editorials about the massacre and the U.S. response from a prominent New York-based weekly magazine that compares it with what "might have occurred in our former wars with the Indians of the Far West."

The Awful Tragedy of Balangiga
By Helen H. Taft, the wife of Governor-General William H. Taft, a brief account of the effect the battle at Balangiga had upon American residents in Manila.

Balangiga Massacre
A collection of articles by Rolando O. Borrinaga of the University of the Philippines about the massacre, the U.S. response throughout Samar, and recent efforts to have the Bells of Balangiga returned to the Philippines.

Balangiga
A site by Bob Couttie with articles and primary texts.


Anti-Imperialist Responses to Atrocities
To the Senate of the United States
By the American Anti-Imperialist League, Feb. 4, 1902, quotes one of the earliest reports on atrocities in Samar published in the United States.
The Philippine War: Two Ethical Questions
By Felix Adler, April 1902.

A Defence of General Funston
By Mark Twain, May 1902, mentions Gen. Smith's orders in Samar and concludes with a footnote aluding to the revelations during the Senate hearings about use of the water cure.

Kill Every One Over Ten
Political cartoon by Homer C. Davenport published in William Randolph Hearst's New York Evening Journal on May 5, 1902, showing U.S. troops shooting Filipino children.

Ministers' Meeting of Protest Against the Atrocities in the Philippines
Proceedings of a mass meeting held in Boston on May 22, 1902, discussing a range of atrocities, from use of the "water cure" to the situation in Samar.

Uncle Sam's Solo in the Concert of Powers
Poem by C. E. S. Wood inspired by Gen. Smith's orders in Samar, May 31, 1902.

Philippine Casuistry
By William Dean Howells, June 7, 1902, on the Waller court-martial and what it says about official reactions to atrocities in the Philippines.

To the President of the United States
By the Philippine Investigating Committee, July 22, 1902.

Secretary Root's Record: Marked Severities in Philippine Warfare
By Moorfield Storey and Julian Codman, Sept. 20, 1902, their report for the anti-imperialist Philippine Investigating Committee on U.S. military atrocities during the Philippine-American War, including the use of torture, killing of prisoners, detaining populations in concentration camps, and the brutal campaigns on Samar and in Batangas. Also includes chapters on the Waller and Smith court-martials.


The Bells of Balangiga
The Bells of Balangiga: Send Them Home
By Rodel E. Rodis, San Francisco Examiner (Dec. 23, 1997).
The Bells of Balangiga
By Alexandra A. Seno and Antonio Lopez, Asiaweek (Jan. 9, 1998), on Manila's request that they be returned from Wyoming.

The Bells of Balangiga
At Revolutionary Worker (Jan. 11, 1998), a short article about the history and movement to return the bells that begins with a discussion of the musical The Bells of Balangiga performed by the Pintig Cultural Group of Chicago in 1998.

Return the Bells of Balangiga
By Doug Bandow, Christian Science Monitor (May 29, 1998), an op-ed piece urging return of the bells.

VFA and the Bells of Balangiga
By Rolando O. Borrinaga, Philippine Daily Inquirer (Aug. 7, 1998), on the use of the potential return of the Bells as a bargaining chip during the negotiations for the Visiting Forces Agreement.

Filipinos Fight for Return of Two Bells
By Julie Chao, San Francisco Examiner (Sept. 13, 1998).

Historical Markers and Their Omissions
By Rolando O. Borrinaga, on how the fighting at Balangiga in 1901 is remembered there today (1998).

Archbishop McCarrick Supports a Just Resolution Concerning Bells of Balangiga Controversy
June 22, 1999, report at the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops.

Remembering Balangiga
By Jean Wall, daughter of an American survivor of the fighting at Balangiga, written for the 99th Balangiga Encounter Day on Sept. 28, 2000.

The Return of the Bells of Balangiga
House Joint Resolution 17 of the Maryland House of Delegates urging President Bush to return the bells, introduced in February 2001 and reported unfavorably by the Committee on Commerce and Government Matters in March with no action taken.

Balangiga History Not Clear as Bell
By Rolando Borrinaga, Philippine Inquirer (Aug. 4, 2001), a good review of the incident and the current state of efforts to have the bells returned.