Philippine Revolution - Philippine-American War

Philippine-American War

On 4 February 1899, general hostilities between Filipino and American forces began when an American sentry patrolling near the border between the Filipino and American lines shot a Filipino soldier, after which Filipino forces returned fire, thus igniting a second battle for the city. Aguinaldo sent a ranking member of his staff to Ellwell Otis, the U.S. military commander, with the message that the firing had been against his orders. According to Aguinaldo, Otis replied, "The fighting, having begun, must go on to the grim end." The Philippines declared war against the United States on June 2, 1899, with Pedro Paterno, President of Congress, issuing a Proclamation of War. The Philippine–American War ensued between 1899, and 1902. The war officially ended in 1902 with the Philippine leaders accepting, for the most part, that the Americans had won, but not until over one million Filipinos had died in the American part of the conflict and occupation (200,000 men, women and children during the war itself), over 20% of the Filipino population had been killed, and in many cases exterminated.

American atrocities during the war and subsequent occupation included an episode on the island of Palawan in 1911, the commanding colonel noticed that Muslims go to great lengths to give a wide berth to avoid dogs – even small ones. This odd phenomenon, though he had seen frequently, never struck the colonel to investigate before. This time though, he made inquiries, and was informed that Muslims are not allowed to touch dogs. (The Hadith, details the reasons for this. Prophet Muhammad did not realize where the horrible stinking smell was coming from, until three days later, he saw his dead puppy dog decomposing under his bedstead. The Prophet decreed dogs were "Najis"(unclean), and from then on, Muslims are not allowed to touch dogs, especially its saliva around the mouth). The colonel then immediately ordered for as many dogs as he could get. As soon as 37 dogs were delivered, he sent his men armed with dogs into the local Muslims’ houses (bedrooms, kitchen, and all) in a ‘house to house’ search supposedly for Muslim resistance fighters. This type of ‘house to house’ searches terrified the local Muslims. The Muslim leaders immediately cooperated with the Americans by voluntarily and freely catching the resistance fighters (dead or alive) and handing them over to the Americans.

Soon after, an American General, John L. Hansen Jr. who was in charge of the larger southern Philippine Island of Mindanao was amused to know of the Palawan episode and had seven captured Muslim prisoners dig their own graves. The eighth prisoner was handcuffed and made to watch the American execution process. The seven prisoners were then tied to seven posts, but without blindfolds, so that they too could see the proceedings of their own execution. In Muslim belief if a pig contaminated their bodies, they would go direct to the fires of hell permanently. The soldiers then slaughtered a live pig in front of them. The prisoners’ clothes and body were smeared with the pig's blood and fat. The pig was cut into seven portions and placed in each grave. At sundown, the prisoners were shot and their bodies were placed in each grave, together with the chunk of pork. The eighth prisoner was ordered to fill up the seven graves and subsequently set free.

In November 1901, the Manila correspondent of the Philadelphia Ledger reported:

In Manila, a U.S. Marine named Littletown Waller, a major, was accused of shooting eleven defenseless Filipinos, without trial, on the island of Samar. Other marine officers described his testimony:

In the province of Batangas, the secretary of the province estimated that of the population of 300,000, one third had been killed by combat, famine, or disease.

American firepower was overwhelmingly superior to anything the Filipino rebels could put together. In the very first battle, Admiral Dewey steamed up the Pasig River and fired 500-pound shells into the Filipino trenches. Dead Filipinos were piled so high that the Americans used their bodies for breastworks.

A British witness said: