Balangiga Massacre was an incident in 1901 in the town of the same name during the Philippine–American War. It initially referred to the killing of about 48 members of the US 9th Infantry by the townspeople allegedly augmented by guerrillas in the town of Balangiga on Samar Island during an attack on September 28 of that year.

1. Balangiga Massacre
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2. Balangiga Massacre
• An incident in September 28, 1901 in the town
of Balangiga on Samar Island during
the Philippine–American War.
• It initially referred to the killing of about 48
members of the US 9th Infantry by the
townspeople allegedly augmented
by guerrillas.

3. • This incident
was described
as the United
States Army's
worst defeat
since the Battle
of the Little
Bighorn in 1876.

4. Filipinos regard the
attack as one of their
bravest acts in the
war.

5. Prelude of the Massacre
• On Aug 11, 1901,
Company C, 9th US
Infantry Regiment,
arrived in Balangiga on
the southern coast of
Samar island, to close
its port and prevent
supplies reaching
Filipino guerillas in the
interior.

6. Samar
Major centre for the production
of Manila hemp, the trade of
which was financing Filipino
forces on the island.
United States interests were
eager to secure control of
the hemp trade, which was a
vital material both for the
United States Navy and
American agro-industries
such as cotton.
Manila Hemp
a type of buff-colored fiber
obtained from a relative of
edible bananas also called as
abacá. It is mostly used for
speciality papers and was once
used mainly to make manila rope
but this is now of minor
importance. Manila envelopes
and manila paper take their
name from this fibre.

7. Filipino historian, Prof. Rolando O.
Borrinaga, tells the story of the
massacre in an article entitled
"Vintage View: The Balangiga Incident
and Its Aftermath":

8. • "The first month of Company C’s presence in
Balangiga was marked by extensive fraternization
between the Americans and the local residents.
The friendly activities included tuba (native wine)
drinking among the soldiers and native males,
baseball games and arnis (stick fighting)
demonstrations in the town plaza, and even a
romantic link between an American
sergeant, Frank Betron, and a native woman
church leader, Casiana “Geronima” Nacionales.

9. • "Tensions rose when on September 22, at
a tuba store, two drunken American soldiers
tried to molest the girl tending the store. The
girl was rescued by her two brothers, who
mauled the soldiers.

10. • In retaliation, the Company Commander,
Capt. Thomas W. Connell, West Point class of
1894, rounded up 143 male residents for
forced labor to clean up the town in
preparation for an official visit by his superior
officers.

11. • They were detained overnight without food
under two conical Sibley tents in the town
plaza, each of which could only accommodate
16 persons; 78 of the detainees remained the
next morning, after 65 others were released
due to age and physical infirmity.

12. • Finally, Connell ordered the confiscation from
their houses of all sharp bolos, and the
confiscation and destruction of stored rice.
Feeling aggrieved, the townspeople plotted to
attack the U.S. Army garrison.

13. • The mastermind was Valeriano
Abanador, a Letran dropout and
the local chief of police; he was
assisted by five locals and two
guerilla officers under the
command of Brig. Gen. Vicente
Lukban: Capt. Eugenio Daza and
Sgt. Pedro Duran, Sr. The lone
woman plotter was Casiana
“Geronima” Nacionales. Lukban
played no role in the planning of
the attack; he only learned
about it a week later. About 500
men in seven attack units would
take part.

14. • On September 27, Friday, the natives sought
divine help and intervention for the success of
their plot through an afternoon procession
and marathon evening novena prayers to their
protector saints inside the church.

15. • They also ensured the safety of the women
and children by having them leave the town
after midnight, hours before the attack. Pvt.
Adolph Gamlin observed women and children
evacuating the town and reported it, but he
was ignored.

16. • To mask the disappearance of the women
from the dawn service inside the church, 34
attackers from Barrio Lawaan cross-dressed as
women worshippers.

17. Then the Balangiga Massacre
happened. This is how Joseph Schott
describes it in his book, The Ordeal of
Samar:

18. • On the night of September 27, the American
sentries on the guard posts were surprised by
the unusual number of women hurrying to
church. They were all heavily clothed, which
was unusual, and many carried small coffins.

19. • A sergeant, vaguely suspicious, stopped one
woman and pried open her coffin with his
bayonet. Inside he found the body of a child.
The woman hysterically cried, "El Colera!"

20. • The sergeant nailed the coffin again and let
the woman pass. He concluded that the
cholera and fever were in epidemic stage and
carrying off children in great numbers.

21. • But it was strange that no news of any such
epidemic had reached the garrison. If the
sergeant had been less abashed and had
searched beneath the child's body, he would
have found the keen blades of cane cutting
bolo knives. All the coffins were loaded with
them.

22. The Massacre
• At 6:20 that morning, Valeriano Abanador, the
native chief of police, lined up around 80
native laborers to start their daily cleanup of
the town. The entire Company C, comprising
of seventy one men and three officers, was
already awake, having breakfast at the mess
tents.

23. • There were now only three armed Americans
out in the town- the sentries walking their
posts. In the church, scores of bolomen
quietly honed their gleaming blades and
awaited a signal.

24. • Valeriano Abanador walked behind a sentry
and with casual swiftness, he grabbed the
sentry's rifle and brought the butt down in a
smashing blow on his head. Then Abanador
fired the rifle, yelled out a signal and all hell
broke loose.

25. • The church bell ding-donged crazily and conch
shell whistles blew shrilly from the edge of the
jungle. The doors of the church burst open
and out streamed the mob of bolomen who
had been waiting inside. The native laborers
working about the town plaza suddenly
turned on the soldiers and began chopping at
them with bolos, picks and shovels.

26. • The mess tents, filled with soldiers peacefully
at breakfast, had been one of the prime
targets of the bolomen. They burst in
screaming and slashing. A bolo swished
through the air, made a sodden chunking
sound against the back of a sergeant's neck,
severing his head.

27. • As the soldiers rose up and began fighting
with chairs and kitchen utensils, the Filipinos
outside cut the tent ropes, causing the tents
to collapse on the struggling men. The
Filipinos then ran in all directions to slash with
bolos and axes at the forms struggling under
the canvas.

28. • The men seemingly detained in the Sibley
tents broke out and made their way to the
municipal hall. Simultaneously, the attackers
hidden in the church broke through to the
convent and killed the officers there.

29. • The attackers initially occupied the convent
and the municipal hall; however, the attack at
the mess tents and the barracks failed, with
Pvt. Gamlin recovering consciousness and
managing to secure another rifle, causing
considerable casualties among the Filipinos.

30. • With the initial surprise wearing off and the
attack degrading, Abanador called for the
attackers to break off and retreat. The
surviving Company C soldiers, led by Sergeant
Frank Betron, escaped by sea to Basey and
Tanauan, Leyte. The townspeople buried their
dead and abandoned the town.

31. • Of the 74 men in Company C, 36 were killed in
action, including all its commissioned officers;
Captain Thomas W. Connell, First Lieutenant
Edward A. Bumpus and Major Richard S.
Griswold. Twenty-two were wounded in
action and four were missing in action. Eight died
later of wounds received in combat; only four
escaped unscathed.
• The villagers captured about 100 rifles and
25,000 rounds of ammunition and suffered 28
dead and 22 wounded.

35. America’s Retaliation
• Major General Adna R.
Chaffee, military
governor of the
Philippines, received
orders from US
President Theodore
Roosevelt to pacify
Samar. To this end,
Chaffee appointed
Brigadier General Jacob
H. Smith to Samar to
accomplish the task.

36. • General Smith instructed Major Littleton
Waller, commanding officer of a battalion of
315 US Marines assigned to bolster his forces
in Samar, regarding the conduct of
pacification:

37. “I want no prisoners. I wish you to kill and burn; the more you kill and burn,
the better it will please me... The interior of Samar must be made a howling
wilderness...”

38. Major Littleton Waller
American Soldiers riding the boat on the way to
Balangiga
American soldiers lined up, preparing for shootout

39. Burning of houses, garrisons and
churches at the town of Balangiga

42. An Interview from an American
Soldier as he witness
America’s Retaliation over the
Balangiga Massacre