December 1899: Expansion of brutality during the Philippine-American War

This photo, taken in March 1901 during the Philippine-American War, shows General Emilio Aguinaldo on the USS Vicksburg as a prisoner of war. Photo from Wikipedia

When General Emilio Aguinaldo finally decided on Nov. 12, 1899, to change strategy and tactics on how to fight the United States military, the transition to guerrilla warfare was not immediate. The Dec. 2, 1899, Battle of Pasong Tirad, also known as the Tirad Pass, was a conventional battle between Philippine revolutionaries and the American army.

Shortly after the Battle of Tirad Pass on Dec. 2,1899, all the fighting shifted to unconventional or guerrilla warfare. The guerrilla phase of the Philippine-American War lasted longer than two years.

The last Philippine revolutionary holdouts were General Vicente Lukban in Samar and General Miguel Malvar in Batangas. Lukban was captured by American forces in February 1902. Malvar surrendered to the Americans on April 16, 1902.

The official end date of the Philippine-American War was July 4, 1902. The president of the United States, Theodore Roosevelt, declared that the war was over. The new focus was civilian control, under the Philippine Commission, during this ongoing annexation of the Philippines.

Although President Roosevelt said that the war was concluded, there was still fighting against some Muslim areas of the Philippine Islands for years.

There was brutality and inhumanity on both sides during the guerrilla phase of the war. American brutality has been documented more extensively.  There were many letters sent home by American soldiers which detailed the inhumane treatment against Philippine guerrillas and civilians.

Allegations of American abuses were also documented in the 1902 Lodge Committee. The committee was chaired by Senator Henry Cabot Lodge, a Republican from Massachusetts.

One of the common forms of inhumanity during the war was the “water cure.”  Today, the term is water boarding. The origins of the “water cure” abuse dated to Spanish colonialism.

In using this type of interrogation, a prisoner of war was placed on a hard flat surface and held down. A cloth was places over his face. A tremendous quantity of water was poured into the prisoner’s mouth and nose which feels like the prisoner was drowning. The interrogator thinks that a prisoner would provide actionable intelligence, but the prisoner might say anything to end the torture.

During the guerrilla phase of the Philippine-American War, the Americans initially made many mistakes in tactics. In theory, the Americans controlled the towns and cities, whereas the guerrillas controlled the countryside.

The Americans would venture from their safe and comfortable fortification into villages and the countryside to locate and capture a few guerrillas. After a few hours, the soldiers returned to their safe and comfortable fortification. This type of military tourism failed during unconventional warfare.

To defeat a guerrilla movement, the Americans needed to live and interact with the inhabitants in the boondocks. In the short term, there could be more casualties. In the long term, it would be safer. The word boondocks originated form the Tagalog word, bundok, which means mountains and remote areas.

The inhabitants in the boondocks needed to trust the Americans living in their communities. The villages had to believe that the Americans would not cut and run. The villages wanted protection from guerrilla demands and pressure.

In short order, the Americans provided public health, education, sanitation, and aid which greatly benefitted the villages. The goal was to win the hearts and minds of the Filipinos.

The Americans proved to be successful against an unconventional war in the Philippines.  Why was the United States successful in defeating the guerrilla movement?  The senior American officers were veterans of the Native American wars in the western part of the United States. When they were junior officers, they had to be flexible and innovative in their tactics to defeat the Native Americans.  This experience allowed the senior officers to be adaptable and variable in the Philippines. One size and one thought does not fit all situations.

An example of this flexibility occurred in early March 1901. After 13 months since Tirad Pass, the Americans had not been able to capture General Aguinaldo. The Americans knew that General Aguinaldo moved his hiding place frequently.

In early March 1901, a guerrilla agent working directly for Aguinaldo was captured. He was taken to the office of Colonel Fredrick Funston in San Fernando, Pampanga. The agent was carrying a letter from Aguinaldo to the president’s cousin. The letter was decoded. Aguinaldo was requesting additional troops. The agent was interrogated on the location of Aguinaldo. After duress, the agent provided the location of Aguinaldo at Palanan, Isabela Province.

Colonel Funston proposed an elaborate and bold stratagem to capture Aguinaldo. The United States commanders approved the plan.  Funston picked 81 Macabebe Scouts who wore dirty revolutionary uniforms and were fluent in Tagalog. They pretend to be the requested reinforcements. Several American officers accompanied the scouts including Funston pretending to be captured American officers.

The covert group embarked on the USS Vicksburg for transportation to Isabela Province. The group landed on March 14, 1901. The path to Palanan was risky and rough, but the motley crew made it to Palanan. With much drama, they captured the surprised General Aguinaldo on March 23, 1901.

After General Aguinaldo’s capture and transport to a jail in Manila, he took an oath of allegiance to the United States on April 1, 1901. He proclaimed on April 19, 1901, that all Filipinos should accept American rule of the Philippines. Most of the guerrilla war ended throughout the Philippines except in Batangas, Samar and Muslim areas in the south.

Dennis Edward Flake is the author of three books on Philippine-American history. He is a Public Historian and a former park ranger in interpretation for the National Park Service at the Eisenhower National Historic Site in Gettysburg, PA. He can be contacted at: [email protected]