The Filipino American War as seen by diarists in real time with some additional commentary and sourc

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Diary of James J. Loughrey October 2, 1898

Mass at 8.30 a.m. in St. Ignatius Church in the walled city, with the Archbishop of Manila in attendance. Camp open 9.30 to 11 am.

Notice the bullet impact marks?

The 1st Califormia Flour Mill Thieves sure attend a lot of masses.

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Diary of John Henry Asendorf Sunday, October 2nd, 1898

This is a beautiful day. A good many of the boys attended Catholic services in the morning. In the evening Chaplain Hunter held services at the Opera House which was well attended. We all enjoyed it and the sacred concert given by the Colorado Band. Up until now we have heard nothing of the disposition of the Philippine Islands. [Frank] Christopher, [Max] Hanan, [James] Baird, [William] Kennedy, [George] Miller, [David] Twist, [Homer] Daugherty, [John] Curry, [Ray] Sparks, and [Gilbert] Cuite are on the sick book.

The 10th Pennsylvania Train Bandits had their regimental chaplain use the Opera House as a place to hold a mass. The photo is nine years after the Americans confiscated the building to become the first meeting building for the Philippine Assembly. (~1907).

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Diary of James J. Loughrey October 3, 1898

He received mail from the USS Texas (Not the battleship, a steamship taken up from trade as a transport and supply ship. M.).

Diary of John Henry Asendorf Monday, October 3rd, 1898

This is another fine, hot day. Company C is on guard at the prison. We have regular guard mount and a strict inspection by Major [Harry] Cuthbertson who has a great desire to call the company down once in a while but admitted [the inspection] was very good. [Frank] Christopher, [Max] Hanan, [James] Baird, [William] Kennedy, [George] Miller, [David] Twist, [Homer] Daugherty, [Ray] Sparks and [Gilbert] Cuite are on the sick list.

Out of the line and back at the prison. C Company 10th Pennsylvania seems to have drawn the manure sandwich again. The inspector was from Company B.



More information than you ever needed.

Beaver County Soldiers
In The Spanish-American War
At the outbreak of the war with Spain, Company B of the 10th. Regiment of Infantry, National Guard of Pennsylvania, stationed at New Brighton, was the only organized body of soldiery in this county, Harry J. Watson being captain,; Edwin H. Carey, first lieutenant; and Elmer H. Thomas, second lieutenant. This organization, with the field and staff officers of the regiment resident in Beaver County, left New Brighton on April 27, 1898, for Camp Hastings, the rendezvous for the State troops.
Every officer and man of this company having volunteered at Camp Hastings, the company was mustered into the United States military service on the 12th. of May, at this camp, for a term of two years or during the war.

Leaving Camp Hastings on May 18th, the regiment arrived at San Francisco on May 25th. Under the command of General Thomas M. Anderson, the regiment went to Camp Merritt, where it was disciplined and drilled until June 14th, when it went aboard the transport, Zealandia. Departing on the 15th, the regiment arrived of Cavite, in Manila Bay, on July 17th. They landed at Camp Dewey on the 21st.

On the night of July 31-August 1, 1898; at Fort San Antonio de Abad, at Malate, a suburb of Manila, here occurred the first engagement of America soldiers in the eastern hemisphere. Company B, under the command of Major Harry C. Cuthbertson, was actively involved in the battle of Manila. American loss was 10 killed and 43 wounded, including 6 killed and 29 wounded from the 10th Pa. Jesse Noss, of Beaver Co. was killed; Harvey A. Funkhouser of New Brighton and George Bentel, a Beaver Co. boy were wounded during the assault. On December 1st, Companies A and B of the 10th. Pennsylvania were detached from the regiment and sent, under Major Cuthbertson, to guard a convalescent hospital on Corregidor Island, where they remained until May 14, 1899, then rejoining the regiment at Cavite. While stationed there, several reconnaissances in force were made by part of this regiment, including the Beaver County contingent.

Leaving Cavite, July 1, on board the transport Senator, stopping at Nagasaki and Yokohama, the regiment arrived at San Francisco on the 1st. of August, and was mustered out of service there on the 22nd, arriving in New Brighton on the 28th, 1899.

The following men were members of the Tenth Regiment:

AUGHENBAUGH, Robert S., Priv. Co. B; Res. Beaver, Pa. (N. G. P.); Enrd. April 27, 1898; M. I. May 12, 1898; M. O. With Co. Aug. 22, 1899.
BAGNELL, Harry G., Corp. Co. A; Res, New Brighton, Pa. (N. G. P.); Enrd. April 27, 1898; M. I. May 11, 1898; Reduced to Priv. May 8, 1899; M. O. with Co. Aug. 22, 1899.
BAKER, Thomas L., Priv. Co. B; Res. Beaver Falls, Pa.(N. G. P.); Enrd. April 27, 1898; M. I. May 12, 1898; M. O. with Co. Aug. 22, 1899.
BALDWIN, Emory O., Priv. Cp. A; Res. New Brighton, Pa.; (N. G. P.); Enrd. June 22, 1898; M. I. June 25, 1898; M. O. with Co.Aug. 22, 1899.
BALDWIN, Lewis D. F., Priv. Co. B; Res. New Brighton, Pa. (N.G.P.); Enrd. April 27, 1898; M. I. May 12, 1898; M. O. with Co. Aug. 22, 1899.
BARNES, Elmer E., Mus. Co. C; Res, New Brighton, Pa. (N.G.P.); Enrd. April 27, 1898; M. I. May7 12, 1898; M. O. with Co. Aug. 22m 1899.
BARR, Charles I. Jr, Priv. Co. B; Res. Beaver Falls, Pa.; Enrd. May 9, 1998; M. I. May 12, 1898; M. O. with Co. Aug. 22, 1899.
BAUMAN, Theodore G., Priv. Co. B; Res. New Brighton, Pa.(N. G. P.); Enrld. April 27, 1898; M. I. May 12, 1898; Dischd. Per Par. 7 S.O. c.s.3, Dept. Cal.,dated April 26, 1899, by comdg. Officer, U. S. Gen. Hosp. Presidio, San Francisco.
BAXTER, Andrew, Priv. Co. A; Res, Riverview, Pa.; Enrd. May 9, 1898; M. I. May 11, 1898; M. O. with Co. Aug. 22, 1899.
BEAM, William, Priv. Co. B; Res. Rochester, Pa. (N. G. P.); Enrd. April 27, 1898; M. I. May 12, 1898; M. O. with Co. Aug. 22, 1899.
BEITSCH, George E., Sgt. Co. B; Res. New Brighton, Pa. (N. G. P.); Enrd. April 27, 1898; M. I. May 12, 1898; M. O. with Co. As Q. M. Sgt. Aug. 22, 1899.
BENNETT, Isaac A., Priv. Co. B; Res. New Brighton, Pa. (N. G. P.); Enrd. April 27, 1898; M. I. May 12, 1898; M. O. with Co. Aug. 22, 1899.
BESTWICK, Abram, Priv. Co. B; Res. New Brighton, Pa. (N. G. P.) Enrd. April 27, 1898; M. I. May 12, 1898; M. O. with Co. Aug. 22, 1899.
BLACK, Thomas, Priv. Co. B; Res. New Brighton, Pa. (N. G,. P.); Enrd. April 27, 1898; M. I. May 12, 1898; M. O. with Co. Aug. 22, 1899.
BOYLE, John E., Priv. Co. B; Res. New Brighton, Pa. (N. G. P.); Enrd. April 27, 1898; M. I. May 12, 1898; M. O. with Co. Aug. 22, 1899.
BROWN, James H., Priv. Co. B; Res. New Brighton, Pa. (N. G. P); Enrd. April 27, 1898; M. I. May 12, 1898; Apptd. Corp. June 11, 1898; M.O. with Co. Aug. 22, 1899.
BRUFF, Joseph H., Priv. Co. B; Res. Economy, Pa.; Enrd. June 21, 1898; M. I. June 25, 1898; joined Co. At Manila, P. I. on Dec, 2, 1898; M. O. with Co. Aug. 22, 1899.
CALVERT, Charles S., Priv. Co. B; Res. New Sheffield, Pa. (N. G. P.); Enrd. April 27, 1898; M. I. May 12, 1898; Apptd. Corp. Dec. 1, 1898; M. O. with Co. Aug. 22, 1899.
CAREY, Edwin H., 1st. Lieut. Co. B; Res. New Brighton, Pa. (N. G. P.); Enrd. April 27, 1898; M. I. May 12, 1898; M. O. with Co., Aug. 22, 1899.
CARLETON, Thomas G., Priv. Co. B; Res. Beaver Falls, Pa. (N. G. P.); Enrd. April 27, 1898; M. I. May 12, 1898; Apptd. Corp. Sept. 1, 1898; M. O. with Co. Aug. 22, 1899.
CARNAGEY, Charley B., Priv. Co. B; Res. New Brighton, Pa. (N. G. P.); Enrd. April 27, 1898; M. I. May 12. 1898; M. O. with Co. Aug. 22, 1899.
CAROTHERS, George A., Priv. Co. B; Res. Beaver Falls, Pa.; Enrd. June 21, 1898; M. I. June 25, 1898; M. O. with Co. Aug. 22, 1899.
CHANDLER, Benjamin L., Priv. Co. B; Res. Rochester, Pa.; Enrd. May 9, 1898; M. I. May 12, 1898; M. O. with Co. Aug. 22, 1899.
CHANTLER, Thomas F., Priv. Co. B; Res. Beaver, Pa.; Enrd. June 21, 1898, M. I. June 25, 1898; M. O. with Co. Aug. 22, 1899.
CLECKNER, Harry L., Priv. Co. B; Res. New Brighton, Pa. Enrd. May 9, 1898; M. I. May 12, 1898; M. O. with Co. Aug. 22, 1899.
CLECKNER, William M., Priv. Co. B; Res. New Brighton, Pa. (N. G. P.); Enrd. April 27, 1898; M. I. May 12, 1898; Apptd, Corp. Dec. 1, 1898; M. O. with Co. Aug. 22, 1899.
CLEIS, Ernest T., Priv. Co. B; Res. Beaver Falls, Pa. (N. G. P.) Enrd. April 27, 1898; M. I. May 12, 1898; Apptd. Corp. Dec. 1, 1898; M. O. with Co. Aug. 22, 1899.
COFFIN, John W., 1st. Lieut. & Asst. Surg.; Res. Beaver Falls, Pa. (N. G. P.); Enrd. April 27, 1898; M. I. May 5, 1898; Left Regt. at Manila, P. I., April 27, 1899, and embarked for U. S. For M. O. Under Par. 5 S. O. 107, dated Hdq. Dept. Pacific and 8th. A. C., April 20, 1899; Honorably Dischd. June 6, 1899, by Par. 36 S. O. 131, dated June 6, 1899, Hdq. A. A. G. O.
COLBERT, Harvey C., Priv. Co. B; Res. NewBrighton, Pa.; Enrd. June 21, 1898; M. I. June 25, 1898; M. O. with Co. Aug. 22, 1899.
CONNAIR, Daniel J., Priv. Co. B; Res. New Brighton, Pa.; Enrd. June 21, 1898; M. I. June 25, 1898; M. O. with Co. Aug. 22, 1899.
COOK, Sidney A., Priv. Co. B; Res. New Brighton, Pa.; Enrd. June 21, 1898; M. I. June 25, 1898; M. O. with Co. Aug. 22, 1899.
COOK, William H., Priv. Co. B; Res. New Brighton, Pa.; Enrd. June 21, 1898; M. I. June 25, 1898; M. O. with Co., Aug. 22, 1899.
CUTHBERTSON, Harry C., Maj.; Res. New Brighton, Pa. (N. G. P.); Enrd. April 27, 1898; M. I. May 12, 1898; In command of troops stationed at Corregidor Island from Dec. 2, 1898 to May 14, 1899, under Par. 5 S. O. 118, dated Hdq. Dept. Pacific and 8th A. C., Manilla, P. I., Nov. 25, 1898; Returned to Regt. At Cavite, P. I., May 14, 1899; M. O. with Regt. Aug. 22, 1899.
DARRAGH, Daniel S. Priv. Co. B; Res. Beaver, Pa.; Enrd. June 21, 1898; M. I. June 25, 1898; Apptd. Corp. June 23, 1899; M. O. with Co. Aug. 22, 1899.
DAWSON, George F., Priv. Co. B; Res. Beaver, Pa.; Enrd. May 9, 1898; M. I. May 12, 1898; M. O. with Co. Aug.22, 1899.
DONALDSON, John N., Priv. Co. B; Res. New Brighton, Pa. (N. G. P.); Enrd. April 27, 1898; M. I. May 12, 1898; M. O. with Co. Aug. 22, 1899.
DONALDSON, Robert S., Priv. Co. B; Res. New Brighton, Pa. (N. G. P.); Enrd. April 27, 1898; M. I. May 12, 1898; M. O. with Co. Aug. 22, 1899.
EDGAR, James B., Priv. Co. B; Res. New Brighton, Pa. (N. G. P.); Enrd. April 27, 1898; M. I. May 12, 1898; Dischd. From Co. As Corp. On Surg’s Cert. of disability May 11, 1899.
EDGAR, Lewis O., Priv. Co. B; Res. New Brighton, Pa. (N. G. P.); Enrd. April 27, 1898; M. I. May 12, 1898; M. O. with Co. Aug. 22, 1899.
ELVERSON, Harry H., Priv. Co. B; Res. New Brighton, Pa.; Enrd. May 9, 1898; M. I. June 25, 1898; Never joined Co.; Dischd. Per S. O. c.s.15A. G. O. Dated Jan 9, 1899.
FITZGERALD, Edward L., Priv. Co. B; Res. Beaver, Pa. (N. G. P.); Enrd. April 27, 1898; M. I. May 12, 1898; M. O. with Co. Aug. 22, 1899.
FLEESON, John, Priv. Co. B; Res. New Brighton, Pa.; (N. G. P.) Enrd. April 27, 1898; M. I. May 12, 1898; M. O. with Co. Aug. 22, 1899.
HARVEY, Corp. CO. A; Res. New Brighton, Pa. (N. G. P.); Enrd. April 27, 1898; M. I. May 11, 1898; Dischd. April 26, 1899, by Comdg. Officer U. S. Gen. Hosp. Presidio, San Francisco, Cal. Discharge confirmed per S. O. 194 A. G. O., Washingron, D. C., May 4, 1899, to date April 17, 1899.
GRAY, Roy St. C., Priv. Co. B; Res. New Brighton, Pa.; Enrd. June 21, 1898; M. I. June 25, 1898; M. O. with Co. Aug.22, 1899.
HAMILTON, Walter C., Corp. Co. B; Res. Beaver Falls, Pa. (N. G. P.); Enrd. April 27, 1898; M. I. May 12, 1898; Transfd. as Priv. To U. S. Hosp. Corps per S. O. c. s. 35 Hdq. Dept. Pacific and 8th. A. C., Manila, P. I., Sept. 11, 1898.
HARRIS, Jacob L., Priv. Co. B, Res. Fallston, Pa. (N. G. P.); Enrd. April 27, 1898; M. I. May 12, 1898; M. O. with Co. Aug. 22, 1899.
HARRIS, Robert R., Mus. Co. B; Res. New Brighton, Pa. (N. G. P.); Enrd. April 27, 1898; M. I. May 12, 1898; M. O. with Co. Aug. 22, 1899.
HARRIS, Walter W., Priv. Co. B; Res. New Brighton, Pa..; Enrd. June 21, 1898; M. I. June 25, 1898, M. O. with Co. Aug. 22, 1899.
HARRIS, Wilbur R., Corp. Co. B; Res. New Brighton, Pa. ( N. G. P.); Enrd. April 27, 1898; M. I. May 12, 1898; M. O. with Co. Aug. 1899.
HARSHA, Frederick, Priv. Co. B; Res. New Brighton, Pa.; Enrd. May 9, 1898; M. I. May 12, 1898; M. O. with Co. Aug. 22, 1899
HART, Frank D., Priv. Co. B; Res. New Brighton, Pa.; Enrd. June 21, 1898; M. I. June 21, 1898; M. I. June 25, 1898; M. O. with Co. Aug. 22, 1899.
HARVEY, Louis; Priv. Co. B; Res, New Brighton, Pa.; Enrd. June 21, 1898; M. I. June 25, 1898; M. O. with Co. Aug 1899.
HECKATHORN, Harry, Corp. Co. A.; Res. New Brighton, Pa.; (N. G. P.); Enrd. April 27, 1898. May 11, 1898; Reduced to Priv. June 1, 1898; M. O. with Co. Aug. 22, 1899.
HOBAUGH, Francis, F., Priv. Co. B; Res. New Brighton, Pa. (N. G. P.); Enrd. April 27, 1898; M. I. May 12, 1898; M. O. with Co. Aug. 22, 1899.
HOON. Frank H., Mus. Co. B; Res. Beaver Falls, Pa. (N. G. P.); Enrd. April 27, 1898; M. I. May 12, 1898; M. O. with Co. Aug. 22, 1899.
HUGHES, William H., Priv. Co. B; Res. Monaca, Pa.; Enrd. June 21, 1898; M. I. June 25, 1898; M. O. with Co. Aug. 22, 1899.
HUNTER, Fred O., Priv. Co. B; Res. New Brighton, Pa.; Enrd. June 21, 1898; M. I. June 25, 1898; M. O. with Co. Aug. 22, 1899
JACKSON, Samuel G., Cook, Co. B; Res. New Brighton, Pa.; Enrd. Oct. 1, 1898; M. I. Oct. 2, 1898; M. O. with Co. Aug. 22, 1899.
JONES, Edward L., Priv. Co. B; Res. New Brighton, Pa.; Enrd. May 9, 1898; M. I. May 12, 1898; M. O. with Co. Aug. 22, 1899.
JOSEPH, John D., Priv. Co. B; Res. New Brighton, Pa. (N. G. P.); Enrd. April 27, 1898; M. I. May 12, 1898; M. O. with Co. Aug. 22, 1899.
KETTERER, William A., Priv. Co. B; Res. Rochester, Pa. (N. G. P.); Enrd. April 27, 1898; M. I. May 12, 1898; M. O. with Co. Aug. 22, 1899.
KINGSBURY, George E., Priv. Co. B; Res. New Brighton, Pa.; Enrd. June 21, 1898; M. I. June 25, 1898; M. O. with Co. Aug. 22, 1899.
LAIRD, Matthew M., Priv. Co. B; Res. Beaver, Pa.; Enrd. June 21, 1898; M. I. June 25, 1898; Dischd. April 24, 1899, per S. O. c.s. 102, Dept. Pac. And 8ty A. C., dated Manila, P. I., April 15, 1899.
LEONARD, Burt H., Priv. Co. I; Res. Beaver, Pa.; Enrd. June 18, 1898; M. I. June 25, 1898; Joined Co. At Manila, P. I., Dec. 2, 1898; Dischd. At Manila, P. I., June 8, 1899, per S. O. 144 Hdq. Dept. of Oac, and 8th A. C., dated May 13, 1899.
LEVIS, William T., Priv. Co. B; Res. Beaver Falls, Pa. (N. G. P.); Enrd. April 27, 1898; M. I. May 12, 1898; M. O. with Co. Aug. 22, 1899.
LINN., Andrew J., Mus. Co. A; Res. New Brighton, Pa. (N. G. P.); Enrd. April 27, 1898; M. I. May 11, 1898; Apptd. 1st. Prin. Mus. Dec. 21, 1898, by G. O. 41, dated Hdq. 10th Pa. Infy., U. S.V.; M. O. with Regt. Aug. 22, 1899.
LIST, Louis F., Priv. Co. B; Res. Rochester, Pa. (N. G. P.); Enrd. April 27, 1898; M. I. May 12, 1898; M. O. with Co. Aug. 22, 1899.
LITTLER, Alexander C., Priv. Co. B; Res. Beaver, Pa.; Enrd. June 21, 1898; M. I. June 25, 1898; M. O. with Co. Aug. 22, 1899.
LUKENS, John E., Priv. Co. B; Res. New Brighton, Pa.; Enrd. May 3, 1898; M. I. May 12, 1898; Apptd. Artf. Dec. 1, 1898; M. O. with Co. Aug.22, 1899.
MacDONALD, Ned O., Priv. Co. B; Res. Beaver Falls, Pa. (N. G. P. ); Enrd. May 3, 1898; M. I. May 12, 1898; Dischd. Jan. 18, 1899, at Manila, P. I., per S. O. c.s. 14 Hdq. Dept. Pac. And 8th A. C.
MATHENY, Howard W., Corp. Co. B; Res. New Brighton, Pa. (N. G. P.); Enrd. April 27, 1898; M. I. May 12, 1898; Apptd. Sgt. June 11, 1898; M. O. with Co. Aug,. 22, 1899.
McBRIDE, George H., Priv. Co. B; Res. Beaver Falls, Pa. (N. G. P.); Enrd. April 27, 1898; M. I. May 12, 1898; M. O. with Co. Aug. 22, 1899.
McCLELLAND, George L., 1st. Sgt. Co. B; Res. New Brighton, Pa. (N. G. P.); Enrd. April 27, 1898; M. I. May 12, 1898; M. O. with Co. Aug. 22, 1899.
McCOMB, George H. B., Priv. Co. B; Res. New Brighton, Pa.; Enrd. May 9, 1898; M. I. May 12, 1898; M. O. with Co. Aug. 22, 1899.
McKINNIS, Robert H., Priv. Co. A; Res. New Brighton, Pa.; Enrd. May 9, 1898; M. I. May 11, 1898; M. O. with Co. Aug. 22, 1899.
McKNIGHT, Edward I., Priv. Co. B; Res. Rochester, Pa. (N. G. P.); Enrd. April 27, 1898; M. I. May 12, 1898; M. O. with Co. Aug. 22, 1899.
MENNELL, Charles D., Priv. Co. B; Res. New Brighton, Pa.; Enrd. June 21, 1898; M. I. June 25, 1898; M. O. with Co. Aug. 22, 1899.
MENNELL, John A., Priv. Co. B; Res. New Brighton, Pa. (N. G. P.); Enrd. April 27, 1898; M. I. May 12, 1898; Apptd. Corp. Dec. 1, 1898; M. O. with Co. Aug. 22, 1899.
MILLER, Charles F., Priv. Co. B; Res. Freedom, Pa. (N. G. P. ); Enrd. April 27, 1898; M. I. May 12, 1898; M. O. with Co. Aug. 22, 1899.
MILLER, Harry N., Priv. Co. B; Res. New Brighton, Pa. (N. G. P.); Enrd. April 27, 1898; M. I May 12, 1898; M. O. with Co. Aug. 22, 1899.
MINESINGER, Edward S., Priv. Co. B; Res. Beaver, Pa.; Enrd. June 21, 1898; M. I. June 25, 1898; M. O. with Co. Aug. 22, 1899.
MITCHELL, David J., Priv. Co. B; Res. Beaver Falls, Pa. ; Enrd. June 21, 1898; M. I. June 25, 1898; Apptd. Sgt. May 3, 1899; M. O. with Co. Aug. 22, 1899.
NORRIS, Joseph, Priv, Co. A; Res. New Brighton, Pa. (N. G. P.); Enrd. April 27, 1898; M. I. May 11, 1898; M. O. with Co. Aug. 22, 1899.
PATTERSON, Robert L., Priv. Co. B; Res. Rochester, Pa. (N. G. P.); Enrd. April 27, 1898; M. I. May 12, 1898; Dischd. On Surg.’s Certf. Of Disability, Jan 1, 1899.
POWER, Edward M., Jr., Priv. Co. H; Res. Rochester, Pa. (N. G. P.); Enrd. April 27, 1898; M. I. May 11, 1898; M. O. with Co. Aug. 22, 1899.
PREGENZER, W. F., Priv. Co. B; Res. New Brighton, Pa.; Enrd. June 21, 1898; M. I. June 25, 1898; M. O. With Co. Aug. 22, 1899.
RARDON, Henry H., Priv. Co. B; Res. New Brighton, Pa.; Enrd. June 21, 1898; M. I. June 25, 1898; M. O. with Co. Aug. 22, 1899.
REEVES, Joseph L., Priv. Co. B; Res. Beaver Falls, Pa.; Enrd. June 21, 1898; M. I. June 25, 1898; M. O. with Co. Aug. 22, 1899.
RENOUF, William C., Priv. Co. A; Res, Beaver Falls, Pa.; Enrd. June 22, 1898; M. I. June 25, 1898; M. O. with Co. Aug. 22, 1899.
RUNYON, James W., Priv. Co. B; Res. Beaver Falls, a.; Enrd. May 9, 1898; M. I. May 12, 1898; M. O. with Co. Aug. 22, 1899.
SCHWEINSBERG, Henry S., Priv. Co. B; Res. Beaver Falls, Pa.; Enrd. May 9, 1898; M. I. May 12, 1898; M. O. with Co. Aug. 22, 1899.
SMITH, William E., Priv. Co. B; Res. New Brighton, Pa.; Enrd. May 9, 1898; M. I. May 12, 1898; M. O. with Co. Aug. 22, 1899.
SPANIER, Abraham, Priv. Co B; Res. Beaver Falls, Pa. (N. G. P.); Enrd. April 27, 1898; M. I. May 12, 1898; M. O. with Co. Aug. 22, 1899.
SPRINGER, James C., Corp. Co. B; Res. New Brighton, Pa. (N. G. P.); Enrd. April 27, 1898; M. I. May 12, 1898; M. O. with Co. as Sgt. Aug. 22, 1899.
SUTHERLAND, Edward A., Priv. Co. B; Res. Beaver, Pa. (N. G. P.) Enrd. April 27, 1898; M. I. May 12, 1898; M. O. with Co.Aug. 22, 1899.
SUTHERLAND, Henry, Priv. Co. B; Res. New Brighton, Pa.; Enrd. May 9, 1898; M. I. May 12, 1898; M. O. with Co. Aug. 22, 1899.
TALLON, Fred S., Priv. Co. B; Res. Beaver, Pa.; Enrd. June 21, 1898; M. I. June 25, 1898; M. O. with Co. Aug. 22, 1899.
THOMAS, Elmer H., 2nd. Lieut. Co. B; Res., New Brighton, Pa. (N. G. P); Enrd. April 27, 1898; M. I. May 12, 1898; M. O. with Co. Aug. 22, 1899.
THOMPSON, Charles S., Priv. Co. B; Res. New Brighton, Pa.; Enrd. June 21, 1898; M. I. June 25, 2898; Joined Co. At Manila, P. I., Dec. 2, 1898; M. O. with Co. Aug. 22, 1899.
VEON, Herman, Priv, Co. B; Res. Beaver Falls, Pa.(N. G. P.); Enrd. April 27, 1898; M. I. May 11, 1898; M. O. with Co. Aug. 22, 1899.
WADDLE, Lyman R., Priv. Co. B; Res. Beaver, Pa. (N. G. P.); Enrd. April 27, 1898; M. I. May 12, 1898; Apptd. Corp. June 1, 1898; M. O. with Co. Aug. 22, 1899.
WATSON, Harry J., Capt. Co. B; Res. Beaver Falls, Pa. (N. G. P); Enrd. April 27, 1898; M. I. May 12, 1898; Assigned to command of Co. E., 10th. Pa. Infy., U. S. V., during temporary illness of comdg. Officer, per S. O. c.s. 26 Hdq. 10th. Pa. Infy., U. S. V., dated Minila, Feb. 23, 1899; Returned to command Co. B, per S. O. c. s. 54 Hdq. 10th. Pa. Infy. U. S. V., dated Cavite, May 4, 1899; M. O. with Co. B Aug. 22, 1899.
WEBSTER, Myron, A., Priv. Co. B; Res. New Brighton, Pa.; Enrd. May 9, 1898; M. I. May 12, 1898; M. O. with Co. Aug. 22, 1899.
WHITE, William E., Priv. Co. B; Res. Beaver Falls, Pa. (N. G. P.); Enrd. April 27, 1898; M. I. May 12, 1898; apptd. Corp. June 1, 1898; M. O. with Co. Aug. 22, 1899.
WILSON, Lawrence H., Priv. Co. B; Res. Beaver , Pa.; Enrd. June 21, 1898; M. I. June 25, 1898; joined Co. At Mani.la, P. I., Dec. 2, 1898; M. O. with Co. Aug. 22, 1899.
WILSON, Walter W., Priv. Co. B; Res. New Brighton, Pa. (N. G. P.); Enrd. April 27, 1898; M. I. May 12, 1898; M. O. with Co. Aug. 22, 1899.
WOLF, Samuel H., Priv. Co. B; Res. New Brighton, Pa.; Enrd. June 21, 1898; M. I. June 25, 1898; Joined Co. at Manila, P. I. Dec. 2, 1898; M. O. with Co. Aug. 22, 1899.
WOLF, William T., Priv. Co. B; Res. New Brighton, Pa. (N. G. P); Enrd. April 27, 1898; M. I. May 12, 1898; M. O. with Co. Aug. 22, 1899.
WOOLSLAYER, George, Priv. Co. B; Res. Beaver Falls, Pa. (N. G. P.); Enrd. April 27, 1898; M. I. May 12, 1898; M. O. with Co. Aug. 22, 1899.

He apparently never advanced in rank.

[miletus12]

Diary of John Henry Asendorf Tuesday, October 4th, 1898

This is another fine day but very hot. We had a general inspection by a regular Army officer. He reported everything to be in pretty good shape with the exception of haircuts and shaves. [Frank] Christopher, [Max] Hanan, [James] Baird, [William] Kennedy, [George] Miller, [David] Twist, [Homer] Daugherty, [Ray] Sparks and [Gilbert] Cuite are on the sick book

Another inspection, this time by a "West Pointer". Despite Asendorf's claims to the contrary, these repetitive unit inspections by "outsiders" show that someone was concerned about this company and the 10th Pennsylvania Train Bandits in particular. You do not suppose running over that cow with the locomotive and the Filipino farmer in close proximity to it, could have been a problem?



The train bandits will be busy with more train robberies in a few months. (^^^) That one (1899 Battle of Calloocan) is a train they stole that they did not smash the front end up. 

[miletus12]

Diary of John Henry Asendorf Wednesday, October 5th, 1898

The weather is as hot as ever. We are doing the regular routine of duty. We have a “grape vine” which says we are going home by way of New York. All kinds of rumors are afloat today. [Frank] Christopher, [Max] Hanan, [James] Baird, [William] Kennedy, [George] Miller, [David] Twist, [Homer] Daugherty and [Gilbert] Cuite are on the sick book.

The only item of note is that the Filipino constitutional convention is in full bloom. The Train Bandits are falling for the Home by Christmas rumors.

[miletus12]

Diary of John Henry Asendorf Thursday, October 6th, 1898

The weather is fine and a nice breeze is blowing. The biggest part of the day we are pretty comfortable. We are now making good use of our cots which we received on the third. It is reported that there are 15 cases of small pox. It has been raining here all the time. [Frank] Christopher, [Max] Hanan, [James] Baird, [William] Kennedy, [George] Miller, [Homer] Daugherty and [Gilbert] Cuite sick.

Smallpox.

You would think of an army that was worried about yellow fever and malaria, that its medical corps would have vaccinated the troops against SMALLPOX? Since 1800 we have had a vaccine regime.

1 dee 10 tees. You can write that 1d10ts.

[gillan1220]

Oct 6, 2022 15:04:30 GMT miletus12 said:

Diary of John Henry Asendorf Thursday, October 6th, 1898

The weather is fine and a nice breeze is blowing. The biggest part of the day we are pretty comfortable. We are now making good use of our cots which we received on the third. It is reported that there are 15 cases of small pox. It has been raining here all the time. [Frank] Christopher, [Max] Hanan, [James] Baird, [William] Kennedy, [George] Miller, [Homer] Daugherty and [Gilbert] Cuite sick.

Smallpox.

You would think of an army that was worried about yellow fever and malaria, that its medical corps would have vaccinated the troops against SMALLPOX? Since 1800 we have had a vaccine regime.

1 dee 10 tees. You can write that 1d10ts.

Yellow fever, dengue, and malaria were the problems encountered by the Americans. On top of heat stroke.

As for the smallpox, I find this interesting. This is rarely discussed in Filipino history books. Keep in mind, this period is also a decade or two before the Spanish Flu pandemic.

[miletus12]

Oct 6, 2022 15:47:45 GMT gillan1220 said:

This is rarely discussed in Filipino history books. Keep in mind, this period is also a decade or two before the Spanish Flu pandemic.

This is a sidebar, but the Spanish were the ones pegged falsely for that one.

Spanish flu, the pandemic that killed 50 million, started in China — but may have spread via Canada, historian says
The flu appears to have originated in China before spreading via trainloads of labourers passing through Canada to Europe, Humphries argues.

Postmedia News
Publishing date: Feb 04, 2014 • January 25, 2015 • 5 minute read

Spanish flu, the global pandemic that took the lives of more than 50 million people around the end of First World War, appears to have originated in China before spreading to the wider world via trainloads of Chinese labourers that passed through Canada en route to wartime Europe, according to new research by a Canadian historian.

Mark Humphries, a history professor at Memorial University of Newfoundland, has identified China as the likely epicentre of the disease. He believes it spread to Canada with members of the Chinese Labour Corps (CLC), young men recruited by the British government to replace able-bodied European workers who could then be sent to the front lines. The British shipped the Chinese replacement workers to Vancouver before sending them by rail across the country to Halifax, and then to Europe.

Humphries’ study, published in the January issue of the journal War in History, says the need for new workers in Europe was desperate enough that one ship laden with 3,000 labourers left Weihaiwei, China, for Vancouver in 1918 despite a recruitment ban in China at the time because of the outbreak of a mysterious respiratory illness.

“British officials knew that whatever the plague was, there were Chinese labourers sick with it,” Humphries said in an interview. “And they were being shipped across Canada.”

About 50,000 Canadians would die of the contagion. Globally, an estimated three per cent of the planet’s population died between 1918 and 1920.

According to the World Health Organization, influenza is responsible for 250,000 to 500,000 global deaths each year. While most of the dead are 65 and older, however, Spanish influenza targeted young, healthy adults aged 18 to 40.

Humphries’ theory hinges on a plague that swept through parts of China in 1917. When the disease that became known as the Spanish flu appeared the following year, the symptoms were identical to those of the 1917 contagion.

“People thought it was the return of the same plague they had seen the year before,” he said. “It was investigated and it was determined in fact to be Spanish influenza. To me, that’s a smoking gun.”

Humphries’ study notes that the 1918 flu strain’s unique potency derived from a highly unusual combination of genetic characteristics that “turned the body’s immune system against itself, making it most deadly to those with particularly robust defences.”

The study follows Humphries’ acclaimed 2013 book on the Spanish flu, The Last Plague: Spanish Influenza and the Politics of Health in Canada, and details how the virulent flu crossed Canada by rail, from coast to coast.

“In the spring of 1917 the (U.K.) Foreign Office requested that Ottawa allow the Chinese labourers to pass through the Dominion of Canada and that the government of Robert Borden arrange for their transportation,” Humphries writes in the journal article. “The Canadian prime minister agreed, but it was not a simple matter. Chinese immigration was a sensitive subject in Canada, and there were nativist fears that the labourers might try to escape while travelling across country.”

To prevent any escapes, the study states, “special Railway Service Guards from the army were placed on the trains, and guards were also stationed at the camps encased in barbed wire fences. Newspapers were banned from reporting on the movement of the CLC and the whole enterprise was kept secret.”

At the same time, Canadian newspapers were publishing reports about people “dying by the scores” in China due to “an epidemic of pneumonia.” But because of censorship, Humphries writes, Canadian newspapers were not able to report that “25,000 Chinese workers were being transported to Europe via Canada, many coming from the plague-affected areas in China.”

Spreading to port cities, the deadly flu quickly reached the U.S., Europe and elsewhere. It then re-entered Canada in a second devastating wave, traversing the country by rail once more, this time from Atlantic to Pacific.

“It travelled the rail lines very quickly,” Humphries said. “It moved from the East Coast to the West Coast in a matter of days.”

Humphries found archival documents in Britain and Canada that revealed tell-tale spikes in infection rates among both the Chinese workers being transported and the railway guards assigned to watch over them. “The Chinese origins theory best explains evidence that only falls into place when the disease is placed within its proper military context and the mobilization of peoples necessitated by the global nature of the Great War,” he concludes in the study.

“For the first time, massive numbers of people from previously isolated populations converged on the battlefields of Europe. The mobilization of the CLC may have allowed a new disease to spread in fits and starts from China, across North America, to Europe, where it mutated and then exploded along the sinews of war. In this way influenza followed the same path carved by previous epidemics. The result was the most deadly disease event in history.”

While British, French, American and German censorship sought to downplay news of an outbreak to maintain wartime morale, Spanish newspapers were free to report the outbreak, which led to the misconception that the disease was especially rampant there — which is how it came to acquire its name.

Humphries said he’s confident that China was the source of the deadly flu and Canada a key vector for its spread around the world. “It has stronger evidence than we’ve had for any kind of origin theory. I don’t think there’s the same level of evidence there for the American theory of origin or the European one.”

Canada was part of a seeding process in which the flu was seeded throughout the world
By December 1918, the flu had largely subsided in Canada. However, a brief resurgence in the spring of 1919 led to cancellation of the Stanley Cup playoffs in mid-series — the only time that has happened.

Although the pandemic was relatively brief, its impact was lasting. “People in Canada remained very much afraid of the flu for years if not decades after, because of the experience of 1918,” Humphries said.

He said the flu’s Canadian connection has major implications for how we perceive history.

“Canada was part of a seeding process in which the flu was seeded throughout the world,” he said. “We often don’t think of Canada as having relationships in that period extending beyond the United States and Great Britain. Canada was very much an emerging global citizen during that period, and the world was very much an interconnected place.”

I'm going to the well and I will pull that bucket up to suggest that it was not the Filipinos who brought illness to the proceedings, but that the Americans did not do due diligence as far as medical issues. I am going to see if the Katipunan were as incompetent as far as medical issues were as the Americans were.

[miletus12]

Jose Rizal

Summary: before he returned from Cuba to the Philippine Islands to be betrayed to the Spaniards, Doctor Rizal picked up practical knowledge about revolutionary movements and tropical diseases. His efforts to improve the lot of Filipino society through his school, did bear fruit among the Katipunan.

[gillan1220]

Oct 6, 2022 17:40:33 GMT miletus12 said:

Jose Rizal

Summary: before he returned from Cuba to the Philippine Islands to be betrayed to the Spaniards, Doctor Rizal picked up practical knowledge about revolutionary movements and tropical diseases. His efforts to improve the lot of Filipino society through hus school, did bear fruit among the Katipunan.

Rizal distrusted the Americans. He saw them as the next imperialists. Rizal preferred that Germany liberates the Philippines instead. He is fond of Germany as he studied there and his best friend, Ferdinand Blummentritt, was German.

He was executed on December 30, 1896 so he would not live long enough to see the Americans take over the archipelago.

[miletus12]

Oct 6, 2022 17:58:12 GMT gillan1220 said:

Rizal distrusted the Americans. He saw them as the next imperialists. Rizal preferred that Germany liberates the Philippines instead.

I understand his mindset after he experienced Cuba, but he really had no idea about the Germans. This was plainly his first hand experience with the Sugar Interests in Cuba and not tempered with exposure to German behavior in Namibia. There was not much to choose between the two imperialisms, so maybe he thought the Germans were more civilized. They were not.

I am not suggesting the Americans were any better. I am going to suggest that a colonial imperialist power was not uniquely evil, just that it was "pure evil" period.

[miletus12]

Diary of John Henry Asendorf Friday, October 7th, 1898

We have had a good shower during the night and everything looks fresh this morning. We are having an extra issue of fresh meat today. We are trading out coffee for tea to the Chinese and our corned beef and roast beef we sell to the merchants at low prices since none of the boys care for corned meats. Company C had guard duty at the prison. Out patients at the general hospital are getting along fine and John Baird expects to be out in a few days. All the boys are sending mail. I have guard duty tonight at the prison. [Frank] Christopher, [Max] Hannan, [James] Baird, [George] Miller, [Homer] Daugherty and [Gilbert] Cuite remain on the sick list.

By now the Canned Meat Scandal has broken in the United States.

United States Army Beef Scandal

The United States Army beef scandal was a political scandal caused by the widespread issuance of extremely low-quality, heavily adulterated beef products to US soldiers fighting in the Spanish-American War.

The contract for the meat was arranged hurriedly and at the lowest-possible price by Secretary of War Russell A. Alger from the Chicago "big three" meatpacking corporations, Morris & Co, Swift & Co, and Armour & Co. In the atmosphere of pre-regulation-era Chicago, the companies took advantage of Alger's inattention and favorable attitude to the industry (as well as the Army's immediate need for large amounts of cheap beef to provision the expeditionary forces) by further cutting corners and reducing quality on the (already heavily adulterated) product they shipped for the US contract.

As a result, most of the meat arriving in Cuba was found to be so poorly preserved, chemically adulterated and/or spoiled that it was toxic and dangerous to consume. The meat caused an unrecorded number of illnesses and death from dysentery and food poisoning, having an especially deadly effect on the thousands already weakened by the epidemics of malaria and yellow fever which were ravaging the unprotected American troops and would eventually kill twice as many men as the bullets of the Spanish. Since yellow fever frequently causes symptoms similar to bacterial food poisoning (fever, vomiting, severe and/or bloody diarrhea), little connection was made at the time between illness and consumption of the Chicago beef.

Read more about United States Army Beef Scandal: Court of Inquiry, Results, See Also, Notes

Yeah, about that court of inquiry.

United States Army Beef Scandal - Court of Inquiry
Court of Inquiry

In the months following the Spanish-American War, during a court of inquiry held to investigate problems in the U.S. Army's food quality, Commanding General Nelson A. Miles made reference to "embalmed beef". Miles, a Civil War Union Army veteran, had had many years of experience with army provisions. At the onset of the Spanish-American War, he had recommended to Secretary of War Russell A. Alger that local cattle be purchased in Cuba and Puerto Rico for the army's use, rather than using preserved or refrigerated meat transported from the US. This would have followed the army's traditional practice of procuring fresh beef for itself from the theater of war it was operating in.

Despite his requests, the Army was dedicated to supporting the Chicago meatpacking industry, which eventually shipped hundreds of tons of refrigerated and canned beef to the army from the mainland. In his testimony before the court of inquiry, General Miles referred to the refrigerated product as "embalmed beef", and provided the court with a letter from an army medical officer describing the product. "much of the beef I examined arriving on the transports from the United States ... apparently preserved by injected chemicals to aid deficient refrigeration", the medical officer wrote. "It looked well, but had an odor similar to that of a dead human body after being injected with formaldehyde, and it tasted when first cooked like decomposed boric acid ..."

As for the canned product, Miles reported, during the war he had received many complaints about its poor quality. His officers provided many striking descriptions of it. "The meat ... soon became putrid", wrote one colonel, "and in many of the cans was found in course of putrefaction when opened". An infantry major declared that "'Nasty' is the only term that will fitly describe its appearance. Its use produced diarrhea and dysentery." Still another officer noted that "It was often nauseating and unfit for use. It should no longer be issued."

Miles also made public statements, reported in the newspapers, claiming that the canned meat was the after-product of the process for making beef extract. "There was no life or nourishment in the meat", charged Miles. "It had been used to make beef extract, and after the juice was squeezed out of it the pulp was put back in the cans and labeled 'roast beef'." As for the embalmed beef, Miles stated "I have the affidavits of men who have seen the process of embalming beef ... treating it chemically for the purpose of preserving it".

While other officers, notably General Wesley Merritt, who had commanded an army corps in the Philippines during the war, denied having heard of any trouble with the meat supplies, Miles would not be silenced.

Read more about this topic: United States Army Beef Scandal

The point IS, after General Merritt landed his troops south of Manila between Bacoor and Paranaque, he started buying cattle off the local economy immediately. We have already seen soldier testimony to this effect. The soldiers may not have known specifically about the canned beef in July and August, but now it is October and we have this behavior(^^^).

They knew. They were unloading the stuff onto the local economy as fast as they could sell it.

Have things changed in the USG?

It is estimated that 1 million US service members and additional civilian contract workers were POISONED by that expletive deleted dry-cleaning plant leaking into the water table and wells at Camp Lejeune, that the USMC knew about it, was warned about it and they covered it up rather than dealt with it.

Never mind that it will cost 13 BILLION dollars to treat all the affected and their kids, (the cost of an aircraft carrier), we have thousands upon thousands of people who will suffer from blood poisoning and cancer, and genetically transmitted defects caused because of this criminal idiocy.

====================================================================

[gillan1220]

Oct 7, 2022 0:44:19 GMT miletus12 said:

Oct 6, 2022 17:58:12 GMT gillan1220 said:

Rizal distrusted the Americans. He saw them as the next imperialists. Rizal preferred that Germany liberates the Philippines instead.

I understand his mindset after he experienced Cuba, but he really had no idea about the Germans. This was plainly his first hand experience with the Sugar Interests in Cuba and not tempered with exposure to German behavior in Namibia. There was not much to choose between the two imperialisms, so maybe he thought the Germans were more civilized. They were not.

I am not suggesting the Americans were any better. I am going to suggest that a colonial imperialist power was not uniquely evil, just that it was "pure evil" period.

He also preferred Japanese assistance. Meiji Japan was home to a handful of Filipino revolutionaries who sought support from Tokyo. The Japanese were all to happy to support it as a sign of their upcoming expansion into Asia. 

From an article I read:
www.asj.upd.edu.ph/mediabox/archive/ASJ-29-1991/staromanajose.pdf

With the outbreak ofthe Philippine-American War in 1898, liaison between the Japanese shishi and the Filipino continued. Mariano Ponce (with some help from Sun Yat Sen) was able to procure funds and purchased Japanese weapons and a ship to transport the weapons to the Philippines. The arms were ostensi- bly sold to a Japanese company and then consigned to a German merchant as thefinal recipient. The ship itself was bought through Sun Y at Sen. The ship, the Nunobiki Mam, was an aged wooden vessel. It left Kobe for Nagasaki where it loaded 10,000 Murata rifles, six million rounds of ammunition, a few pieces of artillery and miscellaneous military equipment, and then proceeded to the Philippines. There were a number of ex-Japanese army officers on board who had resigned from the Japanese army so they could help Aguinaldo in a private capacity rather than follow Japanese official policy. However, almost like comical twist to the episode, the ship encountered a typhoon and sank off Shanghai. Thus, ended the only major-scale Japanese involvement in the Revolution.

Diplomatic relations between the Philippines and Japan

The Spanish–American War culminated in the Treaty of Paris in December 1898, when Spanish sovereignty of the Philippines was transferred to the United States. In response, the First Republic, established by President Emilio Aguinaldo, filed a diplomatic protest. On February 4, 1899, the Philippine-American War broke out. A handful of Japanese shishi, or ultranationalists, fought alongside President Aguinaldo’s army. They landed in Manila, led by Captain Hara Tei and joined Aguinaldo’s forces in Bataan. While Japan’s assistance to the First Republic was deemed unofficial and passive, the Japanese indirectly supported the cause of the first Asian republic, as evidenced by numerous Japanese newspaper articles

So to sum this up.
1. The IJA were never officially involved. Hence, those ex-IJA officers are simply mercenaries acting on their own will. They were not officially sent by Meiji.
2. After the ship sank with its rifles, Japanese support was only limited to vocal.

[miletus12]

Oct 7, 2022 17:10:27 GMT gillan1220 said:

So to sum this up.
1. The IJA were never officially involved. Hence, those ex-IJA officers are simply mercenaries acting on their own will. They were not officially sent by Meiji.
2. After the ship sank with its rifles, Japanese support was only limited to vocal.

1. The IJG needed plausible deniability and were locked in an immigration crisis with the USG. But they had even larger problems:
a. The Russians had just established a base at Port Arthur and were finishing a spur railroad line off the Transsiberian railroad to that port.
b. The Russian Pacific Fleet was stood up and they were shopping in France and the United States for warships to flesh out that fleet.
c. Russians had just shown up in Korea, which Japan had wrested from China as a "puppet state" in 1895 after a very expensive in human and material costs war.
d. The Japanese did not need a war with anybody at the moment. Marquess Ōkuma Shigenobu, who was the prime minister, quoted Lincoln: "One war at a time, you idiots!"
He was deep in negotiations with Sir Ernest Mason Satow, an egotistical idiot, for British help to manage the Russians. The result of that negotiation was a future war (Russo-Japanese War) which would lead to another war in which some 14 million Chinese and a million Filipinos would be murdered as well as Pearl Harbor, so you can imagine what I think about Sir Ernest?

Anyway, the thing to notice is that the IJG looked the other way as this filibuster was undertaken.

[miletus12]

Diary of John Henry Asendorf Saturday, October 8th, 1898

This is a very hot day, we had to suspend drills on account of it and (we) only had Battalion Drill in the evening. We hear all kinds of rumors about us going home in November. Even the “American Soldier” says that we will go home in November between the 6th and the 10th. [Frank] Christopher, [James] Baird, [Homer] Daugherty, [George] Miller and [Gilbert] Cuite remain on the sick list. Collrbean Palmer left for the U.S.A.

I guess the Americans stole a Manila newspaper, too?

The Navy did a better job of reporting the news to its sailors.

==========================================================================================================

[miletus12]

I thought I would add this as a sidebar.

I mean we need far more Filipino content to give proper balance to these proceedings.

Today in Philippine history, October 8, 1897, Emilio Jacinto wrote "A La Patria"
(Posted under October Historical Events)
Emilio Jacinto wrote 'A La Patria' October 8, 1897
(An artist concept of the Katipunan membership rites.)
On October 8, 1897, Emilio Jacinto, dubbed in Philippine history as the Brains of the Katipunan, wrote "A La Patria" (To The Fatherland), a patriotic piece inspired by "Mi Ultimo Adios" (My Last Farewell) written by Dr. Jose Rizal before his execution at the Bagumbayan field (known today as the Rizal or Luneta Park). Jacinto wrote the poem under the coconut palms of Sta. Cruz, Laguna.

Jacinto, who carried the nom de plume "Dimas Ilaw", was an equally cerebral and influential writer whose pieces essentially exhorted the Filipino masses to join the revolution against Spain and that every Filipino aspiring for freedom should be ready to make sacrifices for the country.

Born on December 15, 1875 in Trozo, Manila, Jacinto, at the age of 18, gave up his academic pursuits to join the Katipunan founded by the Great Plebeian Andres Bonifacio on July 7, 1892 in Tondo. Jacinto was the youngest member of the Katipunan in his time.

A foremost revolutionary of the Katipunan, Jacinto wrote the "Kartilla", the primer of the Katipunan on how Katipuneros should conduct themselves in the fight for freedom against the Spanish colonizers.

He likewise edited the newspaper "Kalayaan" (Freedom), the secret society's organ which tremendously boosted the membership of the Katipunan from 300 to 30,000 just before the outbreak of the Philippine Revolution in August 1896.

The simplicity and ease of comprehension of his writing style to the masses evoked power and admiration among all his readers.

His other writings include: "Liwanag at Dilim" (Light and Darkness), "Pahayag" (Manifesto), "Sa Mga Kababayan Ko" (To My Countrymen) that all contain his socio-political ideas using Dr. Jose Rizal and Marcelo H. del Pilar as his role models.

Jacinto held various sensitive positions in the organization as secretary, fiscal, editor, and later as general of the revolutionary forces in Laguna province.

After Bonifacio's death, Jacinto continued his fight against the Spanish colonizers but nevertheless declined to join the forces of General Emilio Aguinaldo.

He contracted malaria and died on April 16, 1899 in Majayjay, Laguna, at the age of 23. His remains were later transferred to the Manila North Cemetery.

To the Fatherland (A la Patria)
Hail! oh my native country! more than aught I adore thee,
Whom with so many treasures lavish Nature has blessed;
Eden where flowers more fragrant bloom than in other gardens,
Where with more beautiful colors, rising, the dawn paints the heavens,
And where the poet, enraptured, sees what he elsewhere but dreamt.

Hail! oh thou queen enchanting! Filipinas beloved,
Venus beauty-enshrouded, peerless, beloved land!
Region of light and color, poetry, fragrance, and gaiety,
Regions of fruits delicious and of sweet harmonies, gently
Lulled to sleep by the breezes and the surf of the sea.

Pearl the most precious and dazzling of our Eastern ocean,
Paradise gilt by the splendors of our brilliant sun:
Eagerly do I greet thee, and adoration ardent
Offers my soul with the burning, fervent desire to see thee
Free from thy bitter sorrow, free from the Spaniard's yoke!

Ah, in the midst of thy splendors, sadly in chains dost thou languish,
That which to thee is most precious-Freedom, thou hast it not!
Ah, to relieve thee, my country, in thy distress, in thy suffering,
Fain would I give my life-blood, gushing forth from my bosom
To the last drop, and oblivion find, and eternal rest.
What should be thine by justice, rights unalienable
Are naught but words vain and hollow, cruelmockery to thee;
Justice is but a deception in thy sad situation,
Bondmaid art thou, though worthy of a queen's purple instead,
Joy givest thou to thy tyrant, who gives thee gall in return.

What does it help thee, my country, sad, bowed by dire misfortune,
That thou hast skies like the turquoise, clear and diaphanous,
That of thy moon the silvery beams are of matchless beauty:
What does it help thee, who, weeping, sighing in bitter bondage,
Hast for four centuries been suffering-what is the good to thee?
Aid what avail thee the flowers covering thy smiling meadows,
What the birds' carols that sweetly in your forests resound?
Ah, the same breete that their fragrance bears and their songs harmonious,
Bears on its wings cries and sobbing, weeping and bitter complaints,
That fill the soul with anguish and the mind with sad thoughts.

What is the good of thy splendor, pearl of virginal beauty,
What of the wealth oriental of thy alluring charms,
If all thy grace and beauty tyrants have cruelly blighted,
Bound with mortiferous irons, fetters of hardness unequalled,
Drawing enjoyment and pleasure from thy anguish and woe?

What is the good of thy fertile soil and its matchless exuberance,
That it brings forth fruit delicious, manifold, bountiful?
If all thy generous heavens smile down upon and shelter
Is claimed as his by the Spaniard, who stepping boldly forward,
Insolent in his vileness, loudly proclaims his right?

But to an end comes all silence, end must all servile patience,
Now, that the tocsin resounding calls us to fight for thee,
And without fear, without mercy, openly, crush the vile serpent
That with its venom has poisoned thy embittered existence:
Fatherland, here we are, ready, anxious, to die for thee!

All, the idolized mother, and the wife whom we worship,
Even the babe whom his father loves like a piece of his soul,
In the defence of thycause we abandon them, leaving behind us
Happiness, love, and hope: all we hold dear we give up,
All our fondest dreams, our illusions all.

And lo! throughout the country heroes spring up by enchantment,
Burning with love of their country, radiant with virtue's light,
Fighting with ardor that only death will defeat and vanquish,
And even dying they will utter thy sacred name,
Fatherland, wishing thee happiness, still with their dying breath.

Numerous like stars in the heavens, thousands of noble heroes
Lay on thy sacred altars willingly down their lives,
And when ye hear of the combats and of the desperate charges,
Fervent prayers to heaven send up, ye children, ye aged,
And ye women, that victory may be with our hosts!

Midst the most horrible tortures cruelty can imagine,
Only because they have loved thee and desired thy good,
Countless martyrs have suffered, yet in the midst of their torments
Blessings for thee have risen from their pure souls, and even
Those who were slain met death with a last wish for thee.
What does it matter that hundreds, thousands of sons of thine perish,
In the unequal struggle, in the tremendous strife,
And that their precious life-blood flows till it seems like an ocean?
Is it not spilt in defending thee and thy sacred homes?
Little it matters if fighting bravely, they die in thy cause!

Little it matters if exile is our fate, and the prison,
Or even torture, with savage fury inflicted on us,
For at the sacred altar that in his heart each patriot
To thee has raised, have we all, one and all have we sworn
Fealty to our cause, and our honor pledged.

And if we forth from the fight come with the laurels of glory,
And our self-sacrificing labor is crowned with success,
Future ages will honor heap upon honor and crown thee
Queen of the realm of the free, pure and unblemished queen,
And all the peoples on earth mute and admiring will stand.

On the horizon slowly rises the dawn, most brilliant,
Of a new day of freedom, love and prosperity,
And of those who have fallen in the dark night of the struggle
Never let perish the memory, and in their graves, cold and humble,
Happy their slumber will be, happiness being thine.

But if the crown of the victor should be the spoil of the Spaniard,
And if the fickle fortune should turn its back on thee,
Yet we shall always be brethren-be what it may the outcome,
Liberty will always have champions while there are tyrants alive.
And our faith will not perish-while there is life, there is hope!

Silent forces are working while a false calm is reigning,
Calm that precedes the storm-soon will the hurricane rage,
And with more firmness, more prudence will our work we continue
And start the struggle again, but with more ardor and strength,
Till in the end we shall triumph, till dried your tears shall be.

Fatherland, idolized, precious, as your sorrows are growing
So our love grows amain, our affection for thee,
Do not lose hope or courage, for from the wound, the gaping,
Always the blood will flow, while there is life in us,
And we shall never forget thee in eternity's space!
DIMAS-ILAW. Sta. Cruz, Laguna, October 8, 1897
(Translated from Spanish by Epifanio delos Santos)
References:

Philippine News Agency archives
Emilio Jacinto by Epifanio delos Santos, The Philippine Review, June 1918, Volume 3, Number 6

A La Patria is one year old this date.