The Philippine Islands, 1493-1898, Volume 29 of 55, 1638–40 / Explorations by Early Navigators, Descriptions of the Islands and Their Peoples, Their History and Records of the Catholic Missions, as Related in Contemporaneous Books and Manuscripts, Showing the Political, Economic, Commercial and Religious Conditions of Those Islands from Their Earliest Relations with European Nations to the Close of the Nineteenth Century

by Unknown

The slain in both armies; the enemy’s weapons and mode of warfare; and the damage committed by them.

Those who make the most careful estimate of the deaths on both sides state that the number of Spaniards who died in the war, from its beginning to its end, were about forty or forty-five, and of Indians three hundred; and it was always the main care of the governor to watch over his men. On the side of the enemy, they make the number of deaths approximate twenty-two thousand to twenty-four thousand—including therein those who died in the provinces.[28] Thus is made very evident, by the unequal and disproportionate number [of deaths] on both sides, the special protection of our Lord over our army—a fact acknowledged even by the very infidels.

The weapons that the Sangleys collected, besides some few firearms, were: javelins and Japanese catanas, fastened to poles (and some were made in Manila), some of these weighing more than an arroba, which will indicate the force with which they could be used; sickles and pruning-hooks, also fastened to poles; iron tridents; and bamboos with sharp points hardened in fire, four or five brazas in length. They also carried away the iron from the houses and churches that they burned, and whenever they were left undisturbed in any encampment, they set up their forges and made weapons, in order that no one might he unprovided with them. The men were divided into tens, like [the Roman] decurias, so that the exact number of their men was known; and, of each ten, six fought, and four were responsible for their food, in order that the fighting men might be entirely relieved from that work.[29] They did not fight all at one time, but only three from each decuria, in order that while these were fighting the others might rest, and thus always they could have men who could enter the battle in fresh condition. They employed stratagems in fighting—in the beginning, when they had not so many arms, they made sham weapons, covering these with cloth, so that they looked like steel. In their camp near Sanpaloc,[30] in some towers that they built they placed straw figures of Sangleys, so that our infantry might fire at these and use up their bullets, and then the Sangleys could, without risk of being hit, rush to attack our men.

The damages which they committed throughout the period of the insurrection are very great. They made havoc among the sacred images and utensils, besides which they burned the village of Calamba and its church; the village of Taluco,[31] in charge of secular priests, with a wooden church and a stone clergy-house; houses and property in Viñan; the house of San Pedro, belonging to the Society of Jesus; the house and church at Meyhaligue and Santa Cruz; the village and church of Quiapo, belonging to the Society of Jesus; many houses in the villages of Tondo and Binondoc; the village of Sanpaloc, with a house and church of stone belonging to the fathers of St. Francis; the village of Taytay, with house and church of stone belonging to the Society of Jesus; the villages of Mahayhay, Santa Cruz, Antipolo, and Baras, belonging to the Society of Jesus; the villages and churches of San Mateo and Pasig, belonging to the fathers of St. Augustine; the villages of Santa Maria and Siniloan, and some visitas, belonging to the fathers of St. Francis. They also burned ranches and country houses belonging to [the fathers of] St. Augustine, the Society of Jesus, Captain Gastelu, General Don Juan Claudio, Alférez Medrano, General Azaldegui, Admiral Ezquerra, and Admiral Juan Alonso; besides other stone houses and property belonging to private persons.