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<img src="https://cdn.kahimyang.com/resources-16/balangiga-bells-calbayog.webp" alt="U.S. soldiers of Company C, 9th Infantry Regiment pose with one of the Balangiga bells" loading="lazy" />
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(U.S. soldiers of Company C, 9th Infantry Regiment pose with one of the Balangiga bells seized as war trophy. Photo taken in Calbayog, Samar in April 1902.)
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<p>
The result was the "worst single defeat" of the U.S. Army in the Philippines, an event known in U.S. official reports and publications as the "Balangiga Massacre."
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<p>
The attack was the culmination of an entire episode that is properly labeled the "Balangiga Conflict." It was a suspense-filled real life drama, a running conflict in beliefs and perceptions between two peoples from different races and cultures, with many related developments and cause-and-effect factors both within and outside the town.
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<h3>
The attacked troops
</h3>
<p>
The ill-fated U.S. troops belonged to Company C, 9th U.S. Infantry Regiment, who were stationed in Balangiga to keep its small port closed and prevent any trading. Their mission was to deprive the Filipino revolutionary forces of supplies during the Philippine-American War, which had spread to the Visayas.
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<p>
A glamour unit, Company C was assigned provost duty and guarded the captured President Emilio Aguinaldo upon their return to the Philippines in June 1901, after fighting Boxer rebels and helping capture Peking in China. They also performed as honor guard during the historic July 4, 1901 inauguration of the American civil government in the Philippines and the installation as first civil governor of William Howard Taft, later president of the U.S.
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<p>
Company C, commanded by Captain Thomas W. Connell, a West Point graduate, arrived in Balangiga a few weeks later on August 11.
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<h3>
Peaceful coexistence
</h3>
<p>
A state of friendly and peaceful coexistence with the local residents marked the first month of Company C's presence in Balangiga. This period, covered up by a strange "code of silence" imposed afterwards on both sides of the conflict, was characterized by extensive fraternization between the U.S. soldiers and the local residents.
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<p>
The friendly activities included tuba drinking among the soldiers and native males, baseball games and arnis (stick fighting) demonstrations in the town plaza, and even a romantic link between an American sergeant and a native woman church leader.
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<p>
However, the peaceful coexistence was disturbed by external impositions before the month was over. An expected visit of the U.S. Army's inspector-general prompted Capt. Connell to issue orders to clean up the town. But by heeding Connell's orders, the townspeople had apparently cut down some vegetation with food value, and thus violated stern orders related to food security (punishable at first infraction) of General Vicente R. Lukban, the military-political governor of Samar appointed by Pres. Aguinaldo.
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<p>
In the evening of September 18, 1901, about 400 guerrillas, presumably sent over from Lukban's headquarters, appeared in the vicinity of Balangiga. Although their presence had been explained as part of an aborted attempt to attack the U.S. garrison in the town, it appears that they came around to mete sanctions on the Balangiga officials and local residents for violations of Lukban's orders related to food security and for fraternizing with the Americans.
</p>
<p>
The guerrilla threat was probably defused by Captain Eugenio Daza, Lukban's area commander for southeastern Samar who had blood relatives in Balangiga, and by Father Donato Guimbaolibot, the local parish priest.
</p>
<p>
But the conditions in Balangiga would never be the same again.
</p>
<h3>
The Balangiga people's revolt
</h3>


<p>
The Balangiga people's revolt was triggered by a tuba store incident in the afternoon of Sunday, September 22, 1901. Two drunken American soldiers tried to molest the girl tending the store. The girl shouted for help and was rescued by her two brothers, who mauled the soldiers.
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<p>
In reflex reaction to the incident, Capt. Connell ordered his soldiers to round up and detain the town's male residents for the purpose of hastening up his cleanup preparations for the expected visit of his superiors.
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<p>
A total of 143 males were not fed overnight and detained under two conical Sibley tents in the town plaza, each of which could only accommodate 16 persons. About 78 of the detainees remained the next morning, after more than 60 others were released due to factors such as age (minors or elderly) and physical infirmity.
</p>
<p>
In addition to the forced detention of the male residents, Connell ordered the confiscation from their houses of all sharp bolos, the men's treasured extensions of their anatomy in the rural setting, and the confiscation and destruction of the stored rice for their tables, the fundamental symbol of their dignity.
</p>
<p>
Any or all of these acts apparently caused the entire community to be sufficiently shamed and insulted by Connell's arrogance and insensitivity. As a consequence, the Balangigans decided to fight for their sense of honor by plotting revenge and self-defense in the most public manner possible.
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<p>
But because they had also been alienated from Lukban's guerrillas, the Balangigans were left to their own devices and creativity to defend themselves.
</p>
<h3>
The plot
</h3>
<p>
The plot against Company C, which was strategized by Valeriano Abanador, the local chief of police, was woven around a local fiesta, the 42nd anniversary of the founding of the Balangiga parish on September 27, 1859.
</p>
<p>
The physical preparations for this fiesta, especially the cleanup of the town through communal labor, addressed both Connell's preparations for his superiors' visit and the tactical congregation of sufficient native manpower to stage the attack.
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The Balangiga Conflict: Its Causes, Impact and Meaning