I SHARE Leonardo de Vera's displeasure over a main street inside Fort Bonifacio named in honor of a US Army officer, Gen. Henry W. Lawton ("A historical irony," Inquirer, 1/28/05), whose command killed many Filipino soldiers during the Filipino-American War. The military official who christened the said street must have been an ardent admirer of Lawton, the most popular US Army general in 1898-1899, who had a very colorful record in the Union Army during the US Civil War and in the American Indian Wars that culminated in his capture of the wily Apache chief Geronimo. Standing six feet tall and always wearing a white "Balaclava" cork-sun helmet, he was never known to duck for cover even in the thick of battle, confident in his belief, it is said, that Filipino soldiers could not shoot straight anyway.

In the Battle of San Mateo, on the early morning of Dec. 18, 1899, Lawton's battalion was engaged by the Brigada Geronimo, who were in prepared positions and on high ground. During the gun battle, a heavy rain was pouring; and in the dawn's early light, Gen. Licerio Geronimo could see a tall man, wearing a bright yellow raincoat and a white sun helmet, rushing back and forth the firing line of American soldiers, exhorting them to sustain their fire. At this, Geronimo ordered a few of his "Tiradores de la Muerte" ("Shooters of Death") sharpshooters to concentrate their fire on the tall man in the yellow raincoat and white sun helmet! The "Tiradores" were armed with the latest model of the German-designed M1895 Mauser rifle -- "The Best Combat Rifle in the World" at that time, which the Filipinos captured from defeated Spanish soldiers in 1898. The Americans were using an obsolete and poorly designed imported Swedish rifle-the Krag-Jorgensen. In a few minutes a Mauser bullet tore through the lungs of Lawton. Seconds later he expired.

Unknown to Lawton, the Filipino "Tiradores" were trained months before to become sharpshooters by US Army deserters, led by a Private David Fagan, who defected to the Filipino Army and fought alongside the Filipinos.
Sometime in the early 1900s, Mrs. Lawton revisited the Philippines and requested to meet personally the "killer" of her husband. Don Dominador Gomez, a prominent Manileño, volunteered to relay the request of the widow and searched for Don Cerio. He found him quietly tending a small farm in the hinterlands of Laguna. Out of Filipino "delicadeza," Don Cerio politely declined Mrs. Lawton's invitation. Instead, he sent a photograph of himself wherein he wrote in Spanish: "Dear Madam: I am indeed very sorry to have caused the death of your beloved husband, but like him, I have also a duty to my country." -- Gen. Licerio Geronimo.

DANIEL H. DIZON, War History Club of Angeles, Villa Gloria, Angeles City

http://beta.inq7.net/opinion/index.php?ind...&story_id=29017


LICERIO GERONIMO
A Katipunero, he was with the group that attacked the San Juan del Monte gunpowder magazine on August 30, 1896.

He organized his own forces in Montalban, San Mateo, and Marikina. His forces served under Gen. Francisco Makabulos in San Rafael, Bulacan, and then under Gen. Mariano Llanera



during the military operations in the towns of San Miguel de Mayumo (Bulacan) and Cabanatuan (Nueva Ecija).

He was one of the Filipino leaders who fought in the battle of Mt. Purog in 1897 where a large Spanish war force was annihilated.

After the death of Andres Bonifacio in 1897, a Department Government of Central Luzon was created. In this assembley, Geronimo was designated as the Division General of the revolutionary army for Rizal province.

During the Filipino-American War, he was appointed by Gen. Antonio Luna as commanding generalof the third military zone of Manila. In the battle of San Mateo on December 19, 1899, Gen. Henry W. Lawton and 13 American officers were killed by General Geronimo's forces.

On July 12m 1900, he was named by Gen. Mariano Trias as jefe superior of the fused second and third zones of Manila. A month later, he took command of the district of Morong.

Date of Birth: August 27, 1855
Place of Birth: Sampaloc, Manila
Date of Death: January 16, 1924

Values Exhibited:
Nationalism
Leadership
Commitment

Tiradores de la Muerte

:bow: what a terrible sounding name!

Nice find, sharpshooter. :specool:

I believe this will find its own page in any book that will feature the development of sniping in our country.

I wish you could give us more details about this "Tiradores de la Muerte" snipers.

Nice find indeed! :thumb: :thumb:

From what I read and saw, those guys wore black uniform. You can see a depiction of them in uniform at the AFP Museum.

Tiradores del Muerte is a kooky nickname.

Spanish for "sniper" is francotirador.

Amazing thing too, because not many revolutionaries could shoot straight. Many of them removed the rear sights of their rifles, deeming them unnecessary.

Most likely that the amigo who killed Lawton was an ex-soldier, probably a native infantryman in the Spanish-officered Colonial Army.

He he he he...the ancestors of the current Scout Ranger snipers? :asniper:

Hello There;

Nagre-research ako about Gen. Geronimo at napadpad ako sa forum na ito & so I joined narin. I'm a new member, I want to introduce my self. I'm Pedro Antonio V. Javier, a lover of military subject & arts like scale models, figures, displays, memorabilias etc... related to military. I used to promoting Filipino Nationalism & Values Through Art using the dioramas & figures I made & collection of military items.

One thing that attracted me also ay yung mga Katipunan Ranks na nakalagay sa ibang mga members. Gawa ko ito sa power point & posted in my website before about the Evolution of the Philippine Ranks. I'm very happy na malayo yung narating nung power point drawing & research na nagawa ko he-he. I would also like to know kung sino yung naglagay ng mga ranks na ito, baka kasi kaibigan o kiakilala ko, small world you know. I'm very happy joining group of friends with the same or related hobby & belief.

By the way, you're welcome to visit my website at
http://www.pedroscollection.com/index2.htm
, to see some of the Filipino figures of soldiers & heroes I made.

The latest Katipunero Figure I made is shown on this website (the Katipunero holding the Phil. Flag & a rifle).
http://falangefilipinas.4t.com/photo4.html
Actual figures can be seen at the Museo ng Makati, at Poblacion, Makati City opens at Mon-Fri 8-5. You're also welcome to visit.


Mabuhay & God Bless
Perry

Welcome to PDFF, pedroscollection!

Those were quite a collection you got there. Nice to post pics of your work to our hobbies and scale modeling.

Maybe you know Sir Jepot already? Their group is with the scale modellers. Maybe you could assist some PDFF members to the hobby, especially on figures and dioramas.

Again very impressive. Thank you for sharing. :thumb:

Hello Saver;

Sure I'm very willing to help modelers in the PDFF group. Although my forte is in 12" figure customization & I'm not an expert in aircraft or tank models. How can I help them, or where can I send some photos? Maybe they can send me their e-mail address if they want.

I need some help too, I'm conducting research about the battle where Gen. Geronimo killed Gen. Lawton. Baka sakali lang anyone here knows how many Filipino & US many troops there. Do the Filipino consist of all Tiradores troops wearing the Guardia Civil dark blue uniform (based from Dan Dizon's painting)? o9r the troops consist of the Tiradores, some troops wearing Rayadillo & some troops wearing casual (farmer like dress) with only bolos or spears, etc... My group is planning to make a diorama of this, one way of promoting Philippine Victories (respect, dignity, heroism, ...) rather than deafeat which many Filipinos do not know or do not care. If you know a website, you may inform us too.

By the way, I don't know sir Jepot yet. May I know him?

Mabuhay
Pedro

who is Private David Fagan can anyone tell me about the US Army deserters that defected to the Filipino Army and fought alongside the Filipinos what happen to them in the end of the war what was there reason to defected to our Army??? thx and more power to the army

He fought against racism (he was a black american soldier)



Published on Monday, November 17, 2003 by CommonDreams.org
Resistance to US Military Occupation: The Case of the Philippines
by Heather Gray

It is baffling that any American might not understand the Iraqi disdain of a US military occupation. How would Americans like being accosted by another country's military...being arrested by them, controlled by them, dictated to by them, tortured by them, killed by them.... exploited by its corporate entities and losing sovereignty? Americans should look at the Philippines' century long struggle for some answers to that question.

Bush referred to the Philippines as a model for the US relationship with Iraq and I would like to briefly describe that model. It was and remains a fiasco and tragedy. After being occupied directly or indirectly by the United States since the Philippine-American War (1899-1902), the Philippines has been victimized in this relationship. While the Filipino elite have always benefited from US interference in their country, the masses have suffered indignities, violence, extreme poverty, racism and no substantive reforms.

It is particularly important to highlight the initiation of "low intensity conflict" policies by the United States against Filipinos in 1901 - a practice the US continued to implement throughout the 20th century in Vietnam, Angola, Nicaragua, El Salvador, Columbia and elsewhere.

During the Spanish-American War in the late 1890's, US Commodore George Dewey descended upon the shores of the Philippines and destroyed the Spanish fleet in Manila Bay. Americans had a number of goals for occupying the Philippines. One was to create a military presence to then access the markets of China. The second was to utilize the Philippine raw materials for US industry. US President William McKinley described the third. After praying to "Almighty God", McKinley said that a message came to him that Americans were in the Philippines to "uplift and civilize and christianize" Filipinos. He was obviously not aware of the fact that the Filipinos had been "christianized" for 400 years by Spanish colonizers, against whom they had consistently rebelled.

As Howard Zinn notes in his People's History of the United States, the "Filipinos did not get the same message from God" and the resistance to US military intervention began in 1899 in what has remained, up to the present time, organized efforts by Filipinos in opposition to US interference.

Initially, Filipinos thought that the Americans were there to help them kick out the Spanish and end 400 years of repression. After fruitless attempts to negotiate, however, the reality of the US intention became clear. The Filipinos were forced to acknowledge that the Americans intended to replace the Spanish as the colonial rulers. In The Philippines Reader, Daniel Schirmer and Stephen Shalom provide first hand accounts of this period. On February 5, 1899 Philippine President Emilio Aguinaldo urged his people to fight in response to the "outbreak of hostilities between the Philippine forces and the American forces of occupation, (which were) unjustly and unexpectedly provoked by the latter.... The constant outrages and taunts, which have caused the misery of the people...and finally the useless conferences and contempt shown the Philippine government prove the premeditated transgression of justice and liberty."

The American reaction was swift and the slaughter by US forces is legendary. Philippine scholar Luziminda Francisco refers to that brutal imperial American war that launched the 20th century as the "first Vietnam War" in which estimates of from 600,000 to a million Filipinos died. She states that the estimate of up to a million deaths might "err on the side of understatement" as one US congressman, who visited the Philippines at the time, was quoted as saying "They never rebel in Luzon (Philippines) anymore because there isn't anybody left to rebel...our soldiers took no prisoners, they kept no records, they simply swept the country and wherever and whenever they could get hold of a Filipino they killed him."

In response to a massacre of 54 Americans by the Filipino resistance in Samar, Francisco describes how US General "Howling Jake" Smith launched a "reign of terror" on the island. "Kill and burn..." Smith said "the more you kill and burn the more you'll please me." When asked the age limit for killing, he said, "Everything over ten." The order from Smith was that Samar becomes a "howling wilderness" so that "even the birds could not live there." The Americans had begun to utilize the deadly "water torture" against Filipinos - forcing huge amounts of water into their stomachs to then gather information - and Smith insisted on its use in Samar.

There were four US regiments of Black soldiers in the Philippines during the Philippine-American War. Many were outraged at the abuses and attitude of the white soldiers toward the Filipinos. Zinn refers to a letter from a volunteer from the state of Washington who wrote: "Our fighting blood was up, and we all wanted to kill 'niggers'.... this shooting human beings beats rabbit hunting all to pieces." David Fagan, one of the Black soldiers, left the US ranks to fight along side Filipinos and "for two years wreaked havoc upon the American forces."
The Philippine resistance fought valiantly against the well-armed Americans. Francisco states that the "Filipinos had to adapt to their limitations as best they could...with darts, the ubiquitous bolo, and even stones, prompting (US) General Lawton to remark, 'they are the bravest men I have ever seen'...."

It is also noteworthy that once the Americans captured Aguinaldo in April 1901 they expected hostilities to cease and were "dismayed" that this was not the case. As the movement against the American presence had massive support, the fighting continued "unabated." This revelation led the leader of the US campaign, General Arthur MacArthur, to resign.

The American policy was so brutal that even American personnel were skeptical. Francisco quotes a US civil servant in the Philippines at the time who said that because of the "burning, torture and other harsh treatments" the Americans were "sowing the seeds for a perpetual revolution. If these things need to be done, they had best be done by native troops so that the people of the U.S. will not be credited therewith." Obviously this warning was heeded, as in 1901 the Americans created the Philippine Constabulary, comprised of Filipinos, who would work at the behest of and ruthlessly serve US interests during the U.S. colonization of the Philippines.

With its creation of the Philippine Constabulary (PC), the United States launched its "low intensity conflict" (LIC) strategy in the Philippines - in other words "don't get the US hands dirty, let someone else do the brutal work." So while it might be "low" intensity for the United States, it is exceptionally "high" intensity for its victims. The PC is still in existence today, and its reactionary and mercenary origins have remained in tact. Throughout the 20th century it has played a key role in suppressing peasant revolts and anti-US intervention movements.

At the end of World War II the Americans claim to have given the Philippines its independence. The US, however, insisted on maintaining a military presence in the country, with its major bases being Subic Naval Base and Clark Air Force Base. In return for these bases the US offered the Filipino elite the creation of the "Joint US Military Advisory Group" (JUSMAG) to help reassert its authority over the peasant movements for land reform and other issues objectionable to them.

The resistance to the US interference has always been intense in the Philippines. Nationalist movements and armed struggle from the early occupation period to the Hukbalahap guerrilla movement after World War II to the New People's Army in the 1960's through to the present, including, of course, peasant movements for land reform, factory workers rights, on and on. In every instance the US administration and US military have worked in tandem with their Filipino government and military counterparts in an attempt to ruthlessly quell these movements.

After Filipinos had successfully ousted the dictator and American puppet Ferdinand Marcos in 1986, the goal of many was to continue on that wave of success by attempting to end US interference altogether - particularly by ousting the US military bases. While many Filipinos demanded countless reforms from the new government of President Corie Aquino, they recognized that the American military presence and CIA involvement made their reform efforts next to impossible. The Military Bases Agreement (MBA) that allowed the US bases to stay in the Philippines was to expire in 1991 and the Philippine Senate, to the dismay of the Americans, did vote against the extension of the agreement, which finally closed that disastrous chapter in Philippine history. Prior to that vote, however, violence raged in the Philippines.

To organize against the extension of the MBA, a broad based anti-bases and nationalist movement developed in the Philippines in the 1980's. The US intention, however, was to maintain its bases, and to accomplish that the CIA hired retired US General John Singlaub (head of the World Anti-Communist League) to launch a relentless and cruel LIC campaign (1987-1989). President Aquino assisted in this effort in what the Filipinos refer to as "Total War" against the people. The result was a rise of death squads, vigilante violence, human rights abuses and massive numbers of refugees from evacuated areas. Assassinations and harassments of church workers, labor leaders, peasant leaders and others became a daily occurrence. In 1989, US Colonel James Rowe of JUSMAG, who had been training the Philippine military in LIC strategies, was assassinated in Manila.

While the Filipinos have had brief respite, since 1991, of living without the presence of the huge US military bases, JUSMAG has remained in tact and the Bush administration is attempting to reverse some of that victory. Today, in violation of the Philippine constitution, which does not allow foreign troops on Philippine soil, the Bush administration successfully lobbied Philippine President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo to send US troops into the Philippine hinterlands. The goal, according to Bush, is to destroy Muslim terrorists. Once again, in the Philippines, there is a growing movement to oust the US military (see www.nispop.org).

The United States began the last century with an imperial war in Asia. It now is repeating the process at the beginning of the 21rst century with an intensive imperial reach into the Middle East and the parallels are striking. The invasion of the Philippines by the US was a preemptive, unprovoked war against a sovereign nation, as was the case in Iraq. As the Americans chose to occupy the Philippines for access to its raw materials and other markets, so too are they wanting access to Iraqi oil resources, markets and other resources of the Middle East. As Filipinos immediately began a resistance campaign against the Americans, so too are the Iraqis. McKinley launched an LIC policy in the Philippines, and George Bush is about to utilize the same policy in Iraq through what he is referring to as "Iraqification". "Iraqification" calls for the selection of former Iraqi military and/or police to serve at the behest of the Americans. Iraqi's hired by the US will strike against those reacting against the US military occupation and as a consequence will suffer the blows. It will be Iraqi's against Iraqi's with the United States pulling the strings.

Throughout the past century, the low intensity conflict policy implemented by the United States in Asia, Africa and Latin America has wreaked havoc, death and destruction and the Filipinos have experienced more than 100 years of these policies. It is important to note, however, that despite of the violent attempts by the United States to pacify the Filipinos, it has never been successful in ending the opposition to US interference in Philippine affairs or in stopping the Filipino struggles for the creation of a sovereign and free nation. As was the case at the very beginning of the 20th century when the masses in the Philippines continued their battle against the Americans after the capture of Aguinaldo, at every juncture, the Filipinos have continued to organize against the American presence.

It is highly unlikely that opposition to US interference in Iraq or in the Philippines will end now or any time in the future. History is not on the side of the occupiers. No one wants them.

libcom.org
EMPIRE AND THE PEOPLE

But it was the Filipino situation that aroused many blacks in the United States to militant opposition to the war. The senior bishop of the African Methodist Episcopal Church, Henry M. Turner, called the campaign in the Philippines "an unholy war of conquest" and referred to the Filipinos as "sable patriots."
There were four black regiments on duty in the Philippines. Many of the black soldiers established rapport with the brown-skinned natives on the islands, and were angered by the term "nigger" used by white troops to describe the Filipinos. An "unusually large number" of black troops deserted during the Philippines campaign, Gatewood says. The Filipino rebels often addressed themselves to "The Colored American Soldier" in posters, reminding them of lynchings back home, asking them not to serve the white imperialist against other colored people.
Some deserters joined the Filipino rebels. The most famous of these was David Fagan of the 24th Infantry. According to Gatewood: "He accepted a commission in the insurgent army and for two years wreaked havoc upon the American forces."
From the Philippines, William Simms wrote:
I was struck by a question a little Filipino boy asked me, which ran about this way: "Why does the American Negro come . . . to fight us where we are much a friend to him and have not done anything to him. He is all the same as me and me all the same as you. Why don't you fight those people in America who burn Negroes, that make a beast of you . . ."?
Another soldier's letter of 1899:
Our racial sympathies would naturally be with the Filipinos. They are fighting manfully for what they conceive to be their best interests. But we cannot for the sake of sentiment turn our back upon our own country.
Patrick Mason, a sergeant in the 24th Infantry, wrote to the Cleveland Gazette, which had taken a strong stand against annexation of the Philippines:
Dear Sir: I have not had any fighting to do since I have been here and don't care to do any. I feel sorry for these people and all that have come under the control of the United States. I don't believe they will be justly dealt by. The first thing in the morning is the "Nigger" and the last thing at night is the "Nigger." . . . You are right in your opinions. I must not say much as I am a soldier. . . .
A black infantryman named William Fulbright wrote from Manila in June 1901 to the editor of a paper in Indianapolis: "This struggle on the islands has been naught but a gigantic scheme of robbery and oppression."
Back home, while the war against the Filipinos was going on, a group of Massachusetts Negroes addressed a message to President McKinley:
We the colored people of Massachusetts in mass meeting assembled . . . have resolved to address ourselves to you in an open letter, notwithstanding your extraordinary, your incomprehensible silence on the subject of our wrongs. . . .
. . . you have seen our sufferings, witnessed from your high place our awful wrongs and miseries, and yet you have at no time and on no occasion opened your lips on our behalf. . . .
With one accord, with an anxiety that wrenched our hearts with cruel hopes and fears, the Colored people of the United States turned to you when Wilmington, North Carolina was held for two dreadful days and nights in the clutch of a bloody revolution; when Negroes, guilty of no crime except the color of their skin and a desire to exercise the rights of their American citizenship, were butchered like dogs in the streets of that ill-fated town . . . for want of federal aid, which you would not and did not furnish. . . . It was the same thing with that terrible ebullition of mob spirit at Phoenix, South Carolina, when black men were hunted and murdered, and white men [these were white radicals in Phoenix] shot and driven out of that place by a set of white savages. . . . We looked in vain for some word or some act from you. . . .
And when you made your Southern tour a little later, and we saw how cunningly you catered to Southern race prejudice. . . . How you preached patience, industry, moderation to your long-suffering black fellow citizens, and patriotism, jingoism and imperialism to your white ones. . . .
The "patience, industry, and moderation" preached to blacks, the "patriotism" preached to whites, did not fully sink in. In the first years of the twentieth century, despite all the demonstrated power of the state, large numbers of blacks, whites, men, women became impatient, immoderate, unpatriotic.

man where did u get info about David Fagan i want to know about this guy