Balangiga Massacre - Factual Inaccuracies in Literature

Factual Inaccuracies in Literature

Several factual inaccuracies in early published accounts have surfaced over the years as historians continue to re-investigate the Balangiga incident. These include:

• In Joseph L. Schott’s book, The Ordeal of Samar, the police chief of Balangiga is identified as Pedro Sanchez, when in fact he was Valeriano Abanador.
• Schott gives the number of Filipino dead at 250 and that their bodies were burned by Bookmiller. However, when Bookmiller entered the town, he found the town abandoned and that the townspeople had already buried their dead. He estimated the number of Filipino dead at 50, judging from the size of the mass grave. Eugenio Daza who gave his account of the incident, gave a total, with names, of fewer than 30.
• Schott and Rey Imperial assert that Company C of the 9th US Infantry was sent to Balangiga in response to a request by its then-Mayor Pedro Abayan. This is based solely on a claim by George Meyer, a Company C survivor, in support of efforts to secure the Medal of Honor. The American unit was sent there to close Balangiga's port.
• James Taylor's account inspired another author, William T. Sexton, to write that the American soldiers were "butchered like hogs" in Soldiers in the Sun. However, Eugenio Daza wrote, "The Filipino believes that the profanation of the dead necessarily brings bad luck and misfortune ... there was no time to lose for such acts ."