Part 51 (1/2)

The Americans resumed the aggressive against the insurgents, and an expedition of 1,509 men and two mountain-guns was fitted out under the command of General Lawton to proceed up the Pasig River into the Lake of Bay in order to capture Santa Cruz at the eastern extremity. The expedition presented a curious sight; it comprised 15 native barges or ”cascoes” towed by seven tugs. Some of the craft ran aground at Napindan, the entrance to the lake, and delayed the little flotilla until daylight. The barges ahead had to wait for the vessels lagging behind. Then a mist came over the sh.o.r.e, and there was another halt. A couple of miles off an insurgent steamer was sighted, but it pa.s.sed on. Finally Santa Cruz was reached; 200 sharpshooters were landed under cover of the launch guns, and fighting continued all the afternoon until nightfall. Early in the morning the town was attacked, the church situated in the centre was captured, and the American loss was only six men wounded; the insurgents were driven far away, leaving 68 dead on the field, and a large number of wounded, whilst hundreds were taken prisoners.

On April 12, at the request of the Spanish General Rios, [210] the gunboat _Yorktown_ was despatched to Baler, on the east coast of Luzon, to endeavour to rescue a party of 80 Spanish soldiers, three officers, and two priests who were holding out against 400 insurgents. These natives, who were all armed with Mauser rifles, laid in ambush, and surprised the landing-party under Lieutenant Gilmore. The whole party was captured by the insurgents, who were afterwards ordered to release them all. General Aguinaldo was always as humanely disposed as the circ.u.mstances of war would permit, and, at the request of the commissioners for the liberation of the Spanish prisoners, he gave this little band of 83 heroes and two priests their liberty under a decree so characteristic of Philippine imitative genius in its pompous allusion to the Spanish glorious past that it is well worth recording. [211]

General Lawton a.s.serted that 100,000 men would be required to conquer the Philippines, but they were never sent, because there was always an influential group of optimists who expected an early collapse of the insurgent movement. General Otis sent frequent cablegrams to Was.h.i.+ngton expressing his belief that the war would soon come to an end. However, in April, 1899, 14,000 regular troops were despatched to the Islands to reinforce the Volunteer regiments. It was a wise measure taken not too soon, for it was clear that a certain amount of discontent had manifested itself among the Volunteers. Moreover, the whole management of the Philippine problem was much hampered by an anti-annexation movement in America which did not fail to have its influence on the Volunteers, many of whom were anxious to return home if they could. Senator h.o.a.r and his partisans persistently opposed the retention of the Islands, claiming that it was contrary to the spirit of the American Const.i.tution to impose a government upon a people against its will. American sentiment was indeed becoming more and more opposed to expansion of territorial possession beyond the continent, in view of the unsatisfactory operations in the Philippines--a feeling which was, however, greatly counterbalanced by a recognition of the political necessity of finis.h.i.+ng an unpleasant task already begun, for the sake of national dignity.

About this time the Philippine envoy, Felipe Agoncillo, was in Paris as president of a _junta_ of his compatriots. Some of the members were of opinion that they ought to negotiate for peace directly with the American Secretary of State, but Agoncillo so tenaciously opposed anything short of sovereign Philippine independence that some of the members withdrew and returned to the Islands. A year later I found Agoncillo of exactly the same intransigent persuasion.

At the end of April the Americans suffered a severe reverse at Guingua (Bulacan), where Major Bell, with 40 cavalrymen, came across a strong outpost from which the enemy fired, killing one and wounding five men. With great difficulty the dead and wounded were carried back under fire, and it was found that the enemy occupied a big trench encircling three sides of a paddy-field bordering on a wood. As the Americans retreated, the insurgents crept up, aided by a mist, to within short range and fired another volley. Major Bell sent for reinforcements, and a battalion of infantry was soon on the scene, but their advance was checked by the continuous firing from the trenches. Artillery was on the way, but the insurgents were not disposed to charge the Americans, who lay for two hours under cover of a rice-field embankment in a broiling hot sun. One man died of sunstroke. Finally a second battalion of infantry arrived under the command of Colonel Stotsenberg, who was very popular with his men. He was received with cheers, and immediately ordered a charge against the enemy in the trenches; but whilst leading the attack he was shot in the breast, and died immediately. Within short range of the trenches Lieutenant Sisson fell, shot through the heart. By this time the artillery had arrived, and sh.e.l.led the trenches. The insurgents, however, held their position well for a time, until the infantry was close up to them, when, following their usual tactics, they ran off to another trench a mile or so away. The total American losses that day were two officers and four privates killed, and three officers and 40 men wounded.

Spanish prisoners released by the Filipinos declared that the insurgents had 50,000 rifles and 200 pieces of artillery captured from the Spaniards, ample ammunition manufactured at two large factories up country, and occasional fresh supplies of war-material s.h.i.+pped from China by Chinese, European, and American merchants. The preparations made to dislodge Aguinaldo and his main army, entrenched and sheltered by fortifications at Calumpit, were now completed, and General McArthur's division steadily advanced. The flower of the insurgent army was there, well armed and supplied with artillery and shrapnel sh.e.l.l. Commanded by General Antonio Luna, they were evidently prepared to make at Calumpit the bold stand which was expected of them at Malolos. The transport difficulties were very great, and as General McArthur approached, every foot of ground was disputed by the enemy. Bridges had been broken down, and the guns had to be hauled through jungle and woods under a scorching sun. Many buffaloes succ.u.mbed to the fatigue, and hundreds of Chinamen were employed to do their work. The Bagbag River was reached, but it had to be crossed, and the pa.s.sage cost the Americans six men killed and 28 wounded. The Bagbag River was well fortified, and the Americans had to attack its defenders from an open s.p.a.ce. There were trenches at every approach; enormous pieces of rock had been dislodged and hauled down towards the breastworks of the trenches to form cover. The armoured train, pushed along the railway by Chinamen, then came into action, and its quick-firing guns opened the a.s.sault on the enemy's position. Six-pounders were also brought into play; the insurgents were gradually receding; artillery was wheeled up to the river bank and a regular bombardment of the bridge ensued. The trenches were sh.e.l.led, and the insurgents were firing their guns in the direction of the armoured train, but they failed to get the range. Meantime, a company of the Kansas Regiment made a bold charge across a paddy-field and found shelter in a ditch, whence they kept up a constant fire to divert the enemy's attention whilst Colonel Eunston, the commander of the regiment, with a lieutenant and four men, crept along the girders of the bridge. The enemy, however, got the range and bullets were flying all around them, so they slid down the bridge-supports, dropped into the river, and swam to the opposite sh.o.r.e. Scrambling up the bank, revolvers in hand, they reached the trenches just as the insurgents were hurriedly evacuating them. Indeed, the Filipinos' defence of their trenches was extremely feeble during the whole battle. On the other hand, for the first time, the insurgents ventured out into the open against the Americans. General Antonio Luna, the Commander-in-Chief, could be seen galloping furiously along the lines exhorting his men to hold their ground, and he succeeded in deploying them into an extended line of battle to receive the enemy's onslaught. The insurgents kept up a desultory fire whilst the troops forded the river, and then they were pursued and driven off to the outskirts of the town. The flames rising from several buildings appeared to indicate an intention on the part of the insurgents to abandon their stronghold. Simultaneously, Generals Hale and Wheaton were coming forward with their columns, each having had some hard fighting on the way. The junction of forces was effected; a fierce fire was poured into the trenches; General Hale and his men made a dash across a stream, up to their waists in water; the Utah men followed with their batteries, cheering and dragging their field-pieces with desperate energy to the opposite bank; the enemy gave way, and the armoured train crossed the bridge. The total American loss that day did not exceed nine in killed and wounded, whilst the insurgent losses were at least 70. During the night the engineers repaired the Bagbag bridge for the rest of the troops to pa.s.s, and fighting was resumed at six o'clock in the morning. The deserted trenches were occupied by the Americans to pick off any insurgents who might venture out into the open. A general a.s.sault by the combined columns was then made on the town, which was captured, whilst the bulk of the insurgents fled in great confusion towards the hills. The few who lingered in the trenches in the northern suburbs of the town were sh.e.l.led out of them by the American artillery placed near the church, and the survivors decamped, hotly pursued for some distance by cavalry. So great was the slaughter that the insurgents'

total losses are unknown. The trenches were choked with dead bodies, and piles of them were found in many places. When nightfall came and the Americans were resting in Calumpit after their two days'

hard fighting, the whole district was illuminated for miles around by the flames from the burning villages and groups of huts, whilst the snapping of the burning bamboos echoed through the stillness like volleys of rifle-shots.

Aguinaldo and his Government had hastened north towards Tarlac, and on April 28 he instructed General Antonio Luna to discuss terms of peace. Ostensibly with this object the general sent Colonel Manuel Arguelles with his aide-de-camp and an orderly to the American camp at Apalit (Pampanga). These men were seen coming down the railway-track carrying a white flag. An officer was sent out to meet them, and after handing their credentials to him they were forthwith conducted to General Wheaton's headquarters. General Wheaton sent them on to General McArthur, the chief commander of the Northern Division, and General McArthur commissioned Major Mallory to escort them to General Otis in Manila. They explained that they were empowered to ask for an armistice for a few days as it was proposed to summon their Congress for May 1 to discuss the question of peace or war. General Otis replied that he did not recognize the Philippine Republic, and that there would be no cessation of hostilities until his only terms were complied with, namely, unconditional surrender. The negotiations were resumed the next day, and Arguelles seemed personally inclined to meet the American view of the situation; but as his powers were limited to asking for an armistice, he and his companions returned to the insurgent camp with General Otis's negative answer. On his return to the camp Colonel Arguelles was accused of being an ”Americanista”

in favour of surrender, for which offence a court-martial pa.s.sed sentence upon him of expulsion from the insurgent army and 12 years'

imprisonment. Whatever Arguelles' personal conviction may have been matters little, but in the light of subsequent events and considering the impetuous, intransigent character of General Antonio Luna, it is probable that Arguelles was really only sent as a spy.

On May 5 General McArthur's division advanced to Pampanga Province, and Santo Tomas and San Fernando were taken without loss. A portion of the latter place had been burnt by the retreating insurgents, and the townspeople fled leaving their household goods behind them. Generals Hale and Lawton were following up, and on the way Baliuag (Bulacan) was occupied and immense stores of foodstuffs were seized from the insurgents and private owners. The booty consisted of about 150,000 bushels of rice and over 250 tons of sugar. In other places on the way large deposits of food fell into American hands. The men of the Nebraska Regiment considered they had had sufficient hard work for the present in long marching, continual fighting, and outpost duty. They therefore pet.i.tioned General McArthur to relieve them temporarily from duty to recuperate their strength. There was no doubting their bravery, of which they had given ample proof; they had simply reached the limit of physical endurance. The hospitals were already full of soldiers suffering as much from sunstroke as from wounds received in battle. Consequently some of the regular regiments who had been doing guard duty in the capital were despatched to the front. In the following July the Nebraska Volunteer Regiment was one of those sent back to the United States.

On May 19 another party of insurgent officers presented themselves to the military authorities alleging that they had fuller powers than Arguelles possessed and were prepared to make peace proposals. Everything was discussed over again; but as General Otis's unalterable demand for unconditional surrender was already well known, one can only conclude that the insurgent commissioners were also spies sent to gauge the power and feeling of the Americans, for they promised to return within three weeks and then disappeared indefinitely.

On May 22 more peace commissioners were sent by Aguinaldo. They were received by the Schurman Commission of Inquest, who communicated to them a scheme of government which they had had under consideration in agreement with President McKinley. The proposed plan embodied the appointment of a Gov.-General, who would nominate a Cabinet to act with him. The President of the United States was to appoint the judges. The Cabinet members and the judges might be all Americans, or all Filipinos, or both. Moreover, there was to be an Advisory Council elected by popular vote. This liberal scheme was, however, abandoned, as its proposal seemed to have no effect in bringing the war to an end, and the negotiations terminated with the Commissioners and the insurgent delegates lunching together on board the U.S. battles.h.i.+p _Oregon_, whilst the blood of both parties continued to flow on the battlefield.

General Lawton's brigade was still operating in the Provinces of Bulacan and north of Manila (now called Rizal). The fighting was so severe and the exposure to sun so disastrous that about the beginning of June he had to send back to Manila 500 wounded and heat-stricken men. It was found impossible to follow up the ever-retreating insurgents, who again escaped still farther north. Along the Manila Bay sh.o.r.e detachments of insurgents pa.s.sed from time to time, driving women and children before them, so that the Americans would not care to fire on them. Some, however, were picked off from the wars.h.i.+ps when the insurgents omitted their precautionary measure. It was impossible to ”round up” the enemy and bring him into a combat to the finish. His movements were so alert that he would fight, vanish in a trice, conceal his arms and uniform, and mingle with the Americans with an air of perfect innocence. With wonderful dexterity he would change from soldier to civilian, lounging one day in the market-place and the next day fall into the insurgent ranks. These tactics, which led to nothing whatever in a purely military sense, were evidently adopted in the vain hope of wearying the Americans into an abandonment of their enterprise.

In the middle of June General Lawton's brigade operated to the south of Manila and in the Cavite province, where the natives gave battle at the Zapote River, famous for a great Spanish defeat during the rebellion. The insurgents were under cover the whole time, and their a.s.sembled thousands could hardly be seen by the attacking columns. They were also in great force and strongly entrenched near Las Pinas and at Bacoor. [212] From the former place they worked one large and two small guns with much effect, firing canister loaded with nails. One canister shattered the legs of a private. American infantry, skirmis.h.i.+ng along the beach, came across a posse of insurgents who at once retreated, pursued by the Americans until the latter found themselves surrounded on three sides by hidden sharpshooters, who poured in a raking fire upon them. The skirmishers withdrew, but were rallied by General Lawton and other officers, who themselves picked off some of the enemy with rifle-shots. Encouraged by this example, the skirmishers, with one cry, suddenly rushed towards the insurgents, scattering them in all directions, and safely reached the main body of the brigade with their wounded comrades.

The only bridge across the Zapote River was strongly defended by the insurgents, who had trenches forming two sides of an angle. By noon their battery was silenced, and the Americans then attempted to ford the river, whilst others went knee-deep in mire across the paddy-mud flats. Then a deep stream was the only boundary between the contending parties. The Filipinos were hardly visible, being under shelter of thickets, whilst the Americans were wading through mud under a broiling sun for over two hours to reach them, keeping up a constant fusillade. The whole time there was an incessant din from a thousand rifles and the roar of cannon from the gunboats which bombarded the enemy's position near Las Pinas and Bacoor. The strain on the Americans was tremendous when the insurgents made a flanking movement and fired upon them as they were floundering in the mud. The 14th Infantry eventually swam across the Zapote River, and under cover of artillery charged the insurgents, who retreated into the woods. The Filipinos displayed a rare intelligence in the construction of their defences near the Zapote River and its neighbourhood, and but for the employment of artillery their dislodgement therefrom would have been extremely difficult. After the battle was over General Lawton declared that it was the toughest contest they had yet undertaken in this war.

At Perez Dasmarinas, in the east of Cavite Province, a battalion of infantry narrowly escaped annihilation. News had been brought to the American camp that the insurgents had evacuated that town, and that the native mayor was disposed to make a formal surrender of it to the Americans. The battalion forthwith went there to take possession, but before reaching the place the enemy closed in on all sides, and a heavy fire was mutually sustained for four hours. The Americans had only just saved themselves from destruction by a desperate bayonet-charge when they were rescued by General Wheaton, who arrived with reinforcements.

Three months of warfare had wrought dissension in the insurgent camp. Organization was Aguinaldo's peculiar talent, without the exercise of which the movement would have failed at the outset. But the value of this gift was not fully appreciated by his people. A certain section of the fighting ma.s.ses had far greater admiration for Antonio Luna's visible prowess than for the unseen astuteness of Aguinaldo's manoeuvres. It was characteristic of the Filipinos to split into factions, but the encouragement given to General Antonio Luna's aspiration to supersede his supreme chief was unfortunate, for Aguinaldo was not the man to tolerate a rival. He had rid himself of Andres Bonifacio (_vide_ p. 371) in 1896, and now another disturber of that unity which is strength had to be disposed of. The point of dispute between these two men was of public knowledge. It has already been shown how fully cognizant Antonio Luna was of the proposals made to the Americans for an armistice, for the express purpose of taking the vote of the Revolutionary Congress, for peace or war, on May 1. Aguinaldo was no longer a military dictator, but President of the so-called Philippine Republic (_vide_ p. 486), by whose will he was disposed loyally to abide. Antonio Luna's elastic conscience urged him to duplicity; he pretended to submit to the will of the majority, expressed through the Congress, with the reserved intention of carrying on the war at all hazards, as military dictator, if the vote were for peace. Congress met, and during the debate on the momentous question--peace or war--the hitherto compact group of intransigents weakened. No agreement could be arrived at in the first session. There was, however, a strong tendency to accept American sovereignty. Luna feared that Aguinaldo's acceptance of the vote of the majority (if a division were taken) might deprive him of the opportunity of rising to supreme eminence. Luna's violence at this time was intolerable, up to the point of smacking deputy F.B. in the face. His attempted coercion of the will of others brought about his own downfall. His impetuosity called forth the expression, ”He is a fanatic who will lead us to a precipice.” In his imagination, all who did not conform to his dominant will were conspirators against him. Hence, at Cavite (Aguinaldo's native province), he disarmed all the troops of that locality, and subst.i.tuted Ilocanos of his own province, whilst he vented his ferocity in numerous executions of Tagalogs. Had he lived he would probably have created a tribal feud between Ilocanos and Tagalogs.

On June 3, 1899, accompanied by his aide-de-camp, Captain Roman, and an escort, Luna entered the official residence of President Aguinaldo at Cabanatuan (Nueva Ecija). The guard, composed of a company of Cavite men from Canit (Aguinaldo's native town), under the command of Captain Pedro Janolino, saluted him on his entry. As Luna and Roman ascended the staircase to seek Aguinaldo a revolver-shot was heard. Luna rushed down the stairs in a furious rage and insulted Captain Janolino in the presence of his troops. This was too much for Janolino, who drew a dagger and thrust it violently into Luna's head. In the scuffle Luna was knocked down and shot several times. He was able to reach the roadway, and, after shouting ”Cowards!” fell down dead. In the meantime, whilst Captain Roman was running towards a house he was shot dead by a bullet in his breast. The Insurgent Government pa.s.sed a vote of regret at the occurrence, and the two officers were buried with military honours. As subsequent events proved, Aguinaldo had no personal wish to give up the struggle, or to influence a peace vote, but to execute the will of the people, as expressed through the revolutionary congressmen.

The situation was becoming so serious for the Americans that a call for 25,000 more volunteers was earnestly discussed at Was.h.i.+ngton. It was thought that the levy should be made at once, believing that General Otis really required them, but that he was reluctant to admit an under-estimate of the enemy's strength. The insurgents, finding they were not followed up (the rainy season was commencing), were beginning to take the offensive with greater boldness, attacking the Americans in the rear. The War Department, however, hesitated to make the levy owing to the friction which existed between the volunteers and the regulars, but the case was so urgent that at the end of June it was decided to raise the total forces in the Philippines to 40,000 men.

On June 12, the anniversary of the proclamation at Cavite of Philippine Independence, Aguinaldo, from his northern retreat, issued a _Manifiesto_ to his countrymen reminding them of the importance of that event. This doc.u.ment, abundant in grandiloquent phrases, is too lengthy for full citation here, but the following paragraph in it is interesting as a recognition that, after all, there was a bright side to Spanish dominion:--

Filipinas! Beloved daughter of the ardent sun of the tropics, commended by Providence to the care of n.o.ble Spain, be thou not ungrateful; acknowledge her, salute her who warmed thee with the breath of her own culture and civility. Thou hast longed for independence, and thine emanc.i.p.ation from Spain has come; but preserve in thine heart the remembrance of the more than three centuries which thou hast lived with her usages, her language, and her customs. It is true she sought to crush thine aspiration for independence, just as a loving mother resists the lifelong separation from the daughter of her bosom; it only proved the excess of affection, the love Spain feels for thee. But thou, Filipinas, flower of the ocean, delicate flower of the East, still weak, scarce eight months weaned from thy mother's breast, hast dared to brave a great and powerful nation such as is the United States, with thy little army barely disciplined and shaped. Ah, beloved brethren, all this is true; and still we say we will be slaves to none, nor let ourselves be duped by gentle words.

Certainly Aguinaldo could not have been the author of the above composition published in his name.

By the middle of July the censors.h.i.+p of Press cablegrams from Manila had become so rigid that the public in America and Europe could get very little reliable telegraphic news of what was going on in the Islands. The American newspaper correspondents therefore signed a ”round robin” setting forth their complaints to General Otis, who took little heed of it. It was well known that the hospitals were crowded with American soldiers, a great many of whom were suffering solely from their persistence in habits contracted at home which were incompatible with good health in a tropical climate. Many volunteers, wearied of the war, were urging to be sent back to the States, and there was a marked lack of cordiality between the volunteer and the regular regiments. In the field the former might well compare with the smartest and the bravest men who ever carried arms; off active service there was a difference between them and the disciplined regulars perceptible to any civilian. The natives particularly resented the volunteers' habit of entering their dwellings and tampering, in a free and easy manner, with their goods and the modesty of their women. They were specially disgusted with the coloured regiments, whose conduct was such that the authorities saw the desirability of s.h.i.+pping them all back to the United States as soon as other troops were available to replace them, for their lawlessness was bringing discredit on the nation.