THE DOLORES MASSACRE Although the Balangiga Massacre is well known in our history books, few people are aware that there was also a massacre in Dolores, Eastern Samar. At the height of the Pulajan rebellion, when virtually the whole island of Samar was controlled by Enrique Dagohob and Isidro Pompac alias Otoy, the American Government did not send the US Army to the province. Instead, it organized the Philippine Scouts to battle with the Pulajanes. Contrary to the impression created, the Philippine Scouts were not “Boy Scouts”; they were part of the regular US Army. An American officer headed it, but the rest of the company was composed of Filipino soldiers. In 1904, intelligence reports indicated that the Pulajanes had a concentrated force near Dolores; they were believed to be completely armed with Krags captured from the Company C that was massacred in Balangiga. Accordingly, Lt Hendrix, who was supposed to establish a base in San Ramon (Arteche), had orders to cross the Oras river and proceed cautiously to the Dolores river. There, he was supposed to make junction with the 37th Company of Philippine Scouts, scouting from the interior along the Dolores river toward the east, and with the 38th Company scouting from the south. But before they could make the rendezvous, the 38th Company, on December 12, met an overwhelming force of about 1,000 Pulajan fighters who attacked from the rear and flanks under the command of Pedro de la Cruz. The company composed of 38 soldiers, headed by Lt Stephen Hayt, was entirely destroyed, except for a sergeant who escaped, bearing fearful bolo wounds, and reported the massacre to the government at Taft. Source: Pacific Times
Posted on: Tue, 12 Aug 2014 09:00:01 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015