Part VI: US Military Operations in Batangas from 1901-02 during the Fil-American War
[In this article: Philippine-American War, Batangas Province, Macabebe Scouts, Batangas City, Tanauan Batangas, Lipa City Batangas, Balete Batangas, Nasubu Batangas, Taal Batangas, Tiaong, Mount Malepunyo, Bauan Batangas, San Juan Batangas, Taysan Batangas]
This article continues with series we have running on Batangas History which details United States Army operations conducted in the Province of Batangas from 1901 to 1902. The details are taken from the annual report of the United States War Department for the fiscal year1.
These bits of information one will likely not find in history text books, albeit written but naturally from the American point of view. They are presented in snippets and arranged in chronological order as they appeared in the original annual report. Readers who missed the earlier installments will find these archived under the Fil-Am War section of the main menu at the top of this page.
11 January 1902
In the town of Bauan, Filipino rebel Captain Miguel Cuevas Cruz, bringing with him two rifles and one revolver, surrendered to Captain John D. L. Hartman of the United States Army’s 1st Cavalry.
 |
| Image source: United States Library of Congress. Colorized courtesy of Algorithmia. |
13 January 1902
- Massive surrender of Filipino rebel troops in Taal to Captain George H. Morgan of the 3rd Cavalry and Captain John P. Ryan of the 6th Cavalry. The Filipinos were led by one Colonel Marasigan and included three companies of the Battalion de Gracia, two companies of the Battalion Payapa and one company of Battalion Luyong. With the group aside from Marasigan were three lieutenant colonels, one major, five captains, 12 lieutenants, 245 enlisted men as well as 224 rifles, 10 revolvers and about 5,000 rounds of ammunition.
- At the Taysan and San Juan de Bocboc Road, Captain De Rosey C. Cabell of the 6th Cavalry, accompanied by two scout companies, encountered and engaged several bands of Filipino rebels. They killed four of the rebels and captured three, along with their equipment amounting to one Mauser and three Remington rifles. They also destroyed outpost buildings of the rebels.
14 January 1902
The 1st company of Macabebe Scouts, commanded by 1st Lieutenant Frank L. Nickerson, came upon a small group of Filipino rebels near the barrio of Santa Clara in the town of Batangas. Four of the rebels were killed while one was captured.
15 January 1902
On the northern slopes of Mt. Macolod (Makulot), 80 Macabebe Scouts from the 10th company, led by 1th Lieutenant Samuel W. Widdifield of the 8th Infantry, went after a band of Filipino rebels, sending them scampering to leave their dead behind them. Stocks of rice, uniforms and 150 rounds of ammunition were taken. A barrio presumably under the control of the rebels on the summit of the mountain was captured.
16 January 1902
In the town of Batangas, Company L of the 26th Infantry, commanded by one Captain Peter W. Davison, encountered Filipino rebels, killing five or six of them and burning their cuartels or barracks.
20 January
- Filipino rebels under the command of one Lieutenant Colonel Briccio Laqui, accompanied by one major, two captains and five lieutenants, and bringing with them 39 rifles and 950 rounds of ammunition, surrendered to 1st Lieutenant Samuel W. Widdifield in Cuenca.
- In the town of Lipa, one Filipino rebel captain, accompanied by one lieutenant and five privates, bringing with them 7 Remington rifles, 4 Mausers, one revolver, 600 rounds of ammunition and some official papers, surrendered to 2nd Lieutenant Frederick B. Hennessy.
23 January 1902
A detachment of soldiers from the 6th Cavalry under the command of one 2nd Lieutenant Emory S. West came upon small groups of Filipino rebels on Volcano Island in Taal Lake. No casualties were reported on either side.
26 January 1902
Filipino rebels under the Comandante Gregorio Lot, which included one captain, one 1st Lieutenant, two 2nd Lieutenants and 37 soldiers surrendered in the town of Batangas to the United States Army. They brought with them 40 bolos, 10 rifles and 3 revolvers.
28 January 1902
Using as guide a captured Filipino rebel of the Luis Banaad Command, an American Army group under Major Matthias W. Day of the 15th Cavalry struck the Banaad’s camp near the mountains of Lipa (probably Mt. Malepunyo), killing one Filipino rebel and wounding two. Captured were rebel Lieutenant Ygnacio Paitarin of the Rosendo Banaad Command, along with papers mostly “of local value.”
30 January 1902
- In the town of San Jose, Filipino rebel Agustin Dimaculangan surrendered with 131 of his men and 38 rifles, 8 revolvers and 44 bolos.
- In the town of Batangas, Filipino rebels Colonel Damaso Ybarra, Major Lucio Buenafe, Captain Eutalio Buenafe and 5 lieutenants and 22 soldiers with their 21 rifles, 3 revolvers and 9 bolos surrendered to the Americans.
- In Nasugbu, a group of some 23 Macabebe and 3 civilian scouts under the command of one 1st Lieutenant Joseph Herring of the 24th Infantry discovered a rebel manning an outpost two days earlier. The rebel tried to flee after being fired upon but was subsequently captured. He then led Herring’s group to a cuartel which was being used as a meeting place for rebel operations in the area. The rebels they came upon managed to slip away. On the 30th of the month, the US Army detachment returned to the cuarterl and killed one rebel, capturing six others along with about 8 to 10 tons of rice.
31 January 1902
A detachment of scouts under the command of 1st Lieutenant Frank Nickerson, patrolling an area near Tanauan, chanced upon a rebel pack train2 near Alaminos in Laguna, killing five of the rebels and scattering the train.
2 February 1902
One lieutenant, one corporal and seven privates of the Captain Anacleto Recto Company stationed in Tiaong surrendered to the Americans in the town of Lipa, bringing with them 6 serviceable guns and 3 bolos.
3 February 1902
Filipino rebel Captain Benito Panganiban, with three Filipino deserters from the Gonzales Command surrendered to the Americans in Tanauan.
4 February 1902
Filipino rebels attacked a United States Army detachment from Taal under the command of one 2nd Lieutenant Emory S. West in the vicinity of the barrio of Balete (presumably the barrio then still part of Lipa) near a Spanish fortification. The detachment killed four rebels and wounded one, while nine others were taken prisoners.
6 February 1902
- Comandante Antonio Mandigma of the Filipino rebels surrendered to the Americans in the town of Lipa, bringing along with him five captains, four 1st Lieutenants, three 2nd Lieutenants and 67 enlisted men along with 34 guns, 3 revolvers and a lot of ammunition and bolos.
- The commanding officer in the town of Lipa reported that Colonel Manuel Reyes surrendered, along with one captain, one 1st Lieutenant and 18 enlisted men with 14 good rifles, 2 good shotguns and one pistol.
9 February 1902
Filipino rebel Captain Norberto de Torres surrendered to the Americans in the town of Lipa, bringing with him one 1st Lieutenant, on 2nd Lieutenant and 18 enlisted men, along with 11 rifles, one shotgun, one pistol and a lot of ammunition.
11 February 1902
While scouting a river in Tanauan, 1st Lieutenant Frank Nickerson of the Philippine Scouts and his detachment exchanged a few shots with Filipino rebels, whom they followed to mountains in Lipa. There, the insurgents made a stand but five of them were killed by the American detachment. The rebels were dressed exactly like native scouts (employed by the United States Army). One dying rebel told the American group that there were in total 70 of them with just 25 rifles. On the part of the American detachment, one Macabebe scout was moderately wounded in the thigh.
Notes and references:
1 “Annual Reports of the War Department for the Fiscal Year Ended June 30, 1902,” report of the Lieutenant-General Commanding the Army and Department Commanders, published 1902 in the United States, online at HathiTrust.2 A “pack train” is a line of animals.