Before the bells return: correcting the myths on the Balangiga Massacre

As the Balangiga bells which signaled the attack on the Americans by Filipinos on 28 September 1901 and was taken by the Americans as a memorial to their dead are set to return, it is a good opportunity to clarify exaggerations made against the Americans in our version of that incident.

What was the “Balangiga Massacre?” Was it the attacks that the Filipinos initiated against the Americans while they were having breakfast in the small town of Balangiga? This was Samar’s retaliation to the actions of the American volunteers under Company C of the 9th U.S. Infantry Regiment, burning the crops, destroying their camote, their ill-treatment of women and the jailing of men.

Before the bells return: correcting the myths on the Balangiga Massacre 3 — American survivors of the Balangiga incident with one of the Balangiga bells which will now return from the US base in South Korea.

The attacks on the convent and the camp near the municipal hall were signaled by the tolling of a bell at 6:20 am, masterminded by Police Chief Valeriano Abanador. Out of the 74 American soldiers, 36 were killed in action before the rest were able to retaliate and drive away the attackers. 8 more died subsequently. There were 22 wounded, 4 missing. Only 4 people got out without wounds. Of the 500 Filipinos who participated in the attack, 28 died, 22 were wounded.

For the Americans, that “massacre” was the biggest defeat of the United States Army at that time since the Battle of the Little Bighorn in 1876.

But for some, the real “Balangiga Massacre” happened when General Jacob Smith told Major Littleton Waller, “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...” Those who can bear arms, 10 years old and above, must be shot. Some history books pegged the Filipinos dead to 50,000.

Until last year, I presented a story of the Balangiga Incident and the retaliation afterwards puppeting previous knowledge which contained myths and exaggerations in both versions of the event.

Before the bells return: correcting the myths on the Balangiga Massacre 4 — An artist's rendition of the Balangiga incident as one attack. There were actually two sites of attacks, the convent and the area near the municipal hall. *Courtesy of Filipino Heritage*

Apparently, there was no basis for the 50,000 people dead, not even the 2,500 number that was traced to Bob Couttie by an online encyclopedia. I checked his book Hang The Dogs: The True Tragic History of the Balangiga Massacre and the 2,500 number was from a different context, not on the retaliation. That book, together with Rolando Borrinaga’s The Balangiga Conflict Revisited state that although the soldiers followed the “burn” order, they “counter-manded” the kill order—meaning that although some may have been killed during the retaliation, a lot of soldiers did not follow the kill order (although they did in other parts of the country, of course).

Click on the image below for slideshow

Before the bells return: correcting the myths on the Balangiga Massacre 5

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American volunteers with Valeriano Abanador who subsequently led the morning attack against them. Courtesy of Arnaldo Dumindin

Valeriano Abanador, the Filipino leader of the Balangiga Incident. Courtesy of Rolando Borrinaga

The monument of Valeriano Abanador depicting him raising the cane to signal the bells to begin tolling and begin the attack. Photo by Xiao Chua

Adolph Gamlin, the first to be attacked by Abanador during the Balangiga incident. He survived and was able to drive away the attacker. Courtesy of Rolando Borrinaga

The maps showing the site of attacks. Courtesy of Rolando Borrinaga

Detail of monument showing the Balangiga attackers. Photo by Xiao Chua

General Jacob Smith who wanted to turn Samar into a "Howling Wilderness”. Courtesy of In Our Image

The infamous order in American newspapers and the editorial cartoons imagining what happened. Courtesy of In Our Image

In reality, the volunteers followed the burn but countermaded the kill. They did not carry out the order to kill civilians but the burning of crops and properties resulted to deaths anyway. Courtesy of Arnaldo Dumindin

Although it must be said that the burning of houses and livelihood and the killing of livestock had such a huge effect on the people of Samar which resulted as well to deaths. It also wounded the psyche of Samareños. Some blame the incident for Samar’s mentality of waray-waray or “walang-wala.”

The bells were taken by the Americans as a war trophy to commemorate their fallen and to celebrate their victory over Balangiga. Clarifying history and reconciling versions was part of the efforts to bring the bells home from the US. To describe that journey, to borrow Paul McCartney’s words, was a long and winding road to home.