A History of the Philippines

by David P. Barrows

On the night of November 11th, the Filipino generals held their last council of war at Bayambang on the Rio Agno, and resolved upon dispersal. Meanwhile, Wheaton had landed at San Fabian, upon the southern Ilocano coast, but his force was insufficient to establish an effective cordon, and on the night of November 15th Aguinaldo, with a small party of ministers and officers, closely pursued by the cavalry of Lawton under the command of General Young, slipped past, through the mountains of Pozorubio and Rosario, and escaped up the Ilocano coast.

Then began one of the most exciting pursuits in recent wars. The chase never slackened, except in those repeated instances when for the moment the trail of the Filipino general was lost. From Candon, Aguinaldo turned eastward through the comandancias of Lepanto and Bontoc, into the wild Igorrote country of the Cordillera Central. The trail into Lepanto leads over the lofty mountains through the precipitous Tila Pass. On the summit, in what was regarded as an impregnable position, Gregorio del Pilar, little more than a boy, but a brigadier-general, with a small force of soldiers, the remnant of his command, attempted to cover the retreat of his president. But a battalion of the 33d Infantry, under Major March, carried the pass, with the total destruction of Pilar’s command, he himself falling amid the slain.

General Pilar.

Capture of Aguinaldo.—Major March then pursued Aguinaldo into Bontoc and thence southward into the wild and mountainous territory of Quiangan. On Christmas night, 1899, the American soldiers camped on the crest of the Cordillera, within a few miles of the Igorrote village where the Filipino force was sleeping. Both parties were broken down and in dire distress through the fierceness of the flight and pursuit, but for several weeks longer Aguinaldo’s party was able to remain in these mountains and elude its pursuers. A month later, his trail was finally lost in the valley of the Cagayan. He and his small party had passed over the exceedingly difficult trail through the Sierra Madre Mountains, to the little Tagálog town of Palanan near the Pacific coast. Here, almost entirely cut off from active participation in the insurrection, Aguinaldo remained until June of 1901, when he was captured by the party of General Funston.

For some weeks following the disintegration of the Filipino army, the country appeared to be pacified and the insurrection over. The new regiments arriving from the United States, an expedition was formed under General Schwan, which in December and January marched southward through Cavite and Laguna provinces and occupied Batangas, Tayabas, and the Camarines. Other regiments were sent to the Bisayas and to northern Luzon, until every portion of the archipelago, except the islands of Mindoro and Palawan, contained large forces of American troops.

Reorganization of the Filipino Army.—The Filipinos had, by no means, however, abandoned the contest, and this period of quiet was simply a calm while the insurgent forces were perfecting their organization and preparing for a renewal of the conflict under a different form. It being found impossible for a Filipino army to keep the field, there was effected a secret organization for the purpose of maintaining irregular warfare through every portion of the archipelago. The Islands were partitioned into a great number of districts or “zones.” At the head of each was a zone commander, usually with the rank of general. The operations of these men were, to a certain extent, guided by the counsel or directions of the secret revolutionary juntas in Manila or Hongkong, but, in fact, they were practically absolute and independent, and they exercised extraordinary powers. They recruited their own forces and commissioned subordinate commanders. They levied “contributions” upon towns, owners of haciendas, and individuals of every class, and there was a secret civil or municipal organization for collecting these revenues. The zone commanders, moreover, exercised the terrible power of execution by administrative order.

Assassination of Filipinos.—Many of the Filipino leaders were necessarily not well instructed in those rules for the conduct of warfare which civilized peoples have agreed upon as being humane and honorable. Many of them tried, especially in the latter months of the war, when understanding was more widely diffused, to make their conduct conform to international usage; but the revolutionary junta had committed the great crime of ordering the punishment by assassination of all Filipinos who failed to support the insurgent cause. No possible justification, in the light of modern morality, can be found for such a step as this. The very worst passions were let loose in carrying out this policy. Scores of unfortunate men were assassinated, many of them as the results of private enmity. Endless blackmail was extorted and communities were terrorized from one end of the archipelago to the other.

Irregular Warfare of the Filipinos.—Through the surrender of Spanish forces, the capture of the arsenals of Cavite and Olongapo, and by purchase through Hongkong, the revolutionary government possessed between thirty thousand and forty thousand rifles. These arms were distributed to the different military zones, and the secret organization which existed in each municipality received its proportion. These guns were secreted by the different members of the command, except when occasion arose for effecting a surprise or making an attack. There were no general engagements, but in some towns there was almost nightly shooting. Pickets and small detachments were cut off, and roads became so unsafe throughout most of the archipelago that there was no travel by Americans except under heavy escort. For a long time, also, the orders of the commanding general were so lenient that it was impossible to punish properly this conduct when it was discovered.

Death of General Lawton.—The American army, in its attempt to garrison every important town in the Islands, was cut up into as many as 550 small detachments of post garrisons. Thus, while there were eventually sixty thousand American soldiers in the Islands, it was rare for as many as five hundred to take the field, and most of the engagements of the year 1900 were by small detachments of fifty to one hundred men.