"I want no prisoners. I wish you to kill and burn; the more you kill and burn, the better it will please me... The interior of Samar must be made a howling wilderness..." "Kill Everyone Over Ten" -Gen. Jacob H. Smith Background A young boy witnesses firsthand the violence and tragedy after a bloody uprising. Context The Balangiga Massacre took place on September 28, 1901, in Balangiga, Samar, Philippines during the Philippine-American War. This initially refers to the killing of about 48 members of the US 9th Infantry by the locals in the area. In some cases on the Filipino perspective, this refers to the brutal retaliation inflicted on the Samar population by US soldiers as they burned towns during the March across Samar. This incident was described as the worst massacre on the US Army since the Battle of Little Big Horn in 1876. A few days before the attack, Valeriano Abanador, the town's police chief, and Captain Daza met to plan the attack on the American unit. 34 men from Barrio Lawaan cross-dressed as women worshippers carrying small coffins with bolos and weapons underneath went past through sentry. The pealing of the church bells and the sounds from conch shells being blown followed seconds later. Some of the Company C troopers were attacked and hacked to death before they could grab their rifles. Retaliation by US soldiers during the aftermath was fierce. Gen. Jacob Smith further ordered Major Littleton Waller to kill all persons who were capable of bearing arms and in actual hostilities against the United States forces. When queried by Waller regarding the age limit of these persons, Smith replied that the limit was ten years of age. Food and trade to Samar were cut off, intended to starve the revolutionaries into submission. Events in Samar resulted in prompt investigations. On April 15, 1902 the Secretary of War Elihu Root sent orders to relieve officers of duty and to court-martial General Smith. Jacob H. Smith and Littleton Waller faced courts martial as a result of their heavy-handed treatment of Filipinos. A third officer, Captain Edwin Glenn, was court-martialled for torturing Filipinos and was found guilty. Events unfolding would result in the taking of the three church bells from the local church by the US Army as 'war trophies.' One church bell was in the possession of the 9th Infantry Regiment at Camp Red Cloud, their base in South Korea, while two others were on a former base of the 11th Infantry Regiment at Francis E. Warren Air Force Base in Cheyenne, Wyoming. People representing the Catholic Church in the Philippines, the Philippine government, and the residents of Balangiga had sought to recover the bells since the late 1950s, but their efforts were met with frustration for decades. Progress in negotiations was made in 2018, and the bells finally returned to the Philippines on 11 December 2018, after 117 years. Sources: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Balangiga_massacre https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Balangiga_bells Thanks for looking :)