The Belangiga Massacre-- Part 4: Excessive Retaliation on U.S. Part

Gen. Jacob Smith further ordered that Major Littleton Waller kill all persons who were capable of carrying arms.  When asked about an age limit, Smith replied anyone over the age of ten.

Food and trade to Samar to starve the revolutionaries into submission.  The hope was that the villagers would stop supporting the guerrillas and turn to the Americans for help.  His soldiers began sweeps in the interior looking for guerrillas.

American columns marched across the island destroying homes and shooting people.  At one point Waller wrote that over an 11 day period his men had burned 255 homes, shot 13 carabaos (domestic water buffalo) and killed 39 people.

It was noted later by the Judge Advocate General of the U.S. Army that the reason this did not get worse was that junior officers often didn't follow orders fully.  When this destruction was learned in March 1902 back in the United States, this greatly agitated anti-imperialist groups.

I found an article about General Jacob Smith in Wikipedia.  His was quite a story.  I'll be wrting about it in the future.

Not An Honorable Part of American History.