The Bravest Men

17 Dec 09

"... the bravest men I have ever seen."

Henry W Lawton, after whom the City of Lawton, OK is named, winner of the Congressional Medal of Honor during the American Civil War in 1864 at age twenty-two, and the one credited with capturing Geronimo in 1886 at forty-three, found himself fighting in Cuba during the Spanish-American War in 1898, and in the Phillippines in 1899 at the rank of major-general, then fifty-six.

American Soldiers and Marines, mostly former Indian Fighters and a few Civil War veterans like Lawton, for the first time in American history found themselves fighting on foreign soil on the opposite side of globe, about as far away from America as one could get! With their beautiful, Swedish-designed Krag-Jorgensen Rifles, they fearlessly surged into a new adventure, at the dawn of a new Century!

In February of 1899, the War in the Phillippines, along with the rest of Spanish-American War, officially ended with the Treaty of Paris, the last occupying Spanish having long-since been driven out of both Cuba and the Phillippines. However, native Filipinos were no more enthusiastic about American occupation than they had been with the Spanish, and the United States, after shedding American blood during the Liberation, was not about to abruptly pack-up and depart, leaving a post-war power-vacuum, to be gladly filled by Germans, Japanese, or even re-filled by the Spanish!

Indefinite American occupation was therefore an unavoidable reality, which made organized insurrection inevitable, and not long in erupting!

The spiritless, slow-moving American Military Governor, Major General Elwell Otis, immediately clashed with Lawton, and another aggressive fighter, Arthur McArthur (father of Douglas McArthur, who would gain prominence a generation later, in the same place!) who ultimately superceded Otis.

Emilio Aguinaldo, Filipino resistance leader, valiantly held out against the Americans, but the final result was never in doubt, as Americans " civilized" the Islands with schools, roads, bridges, railroads, telegraph connections, and public-health programs. The vast majority of the population saw the handwriting on the wall and gradually fell in line. As the Insurrection thus inexorably weakened, fighting became vicious, and those accused of " collaboration" suffered as much as did soldiers and insurgents. Aguinaldo bitterly referred to Lawton as the "General of the Night," owing to Lawton' s aggressive, offensive style of leadership, which unhesitatingly included night-fighting.

Back in America, the Democratic Presidential Candidate in 1900, a young and energetic William Jennings Bryan (later gaining fame for his prosecution of Darwinism during the famous 1925 "Scopes Trial" in Tennessee), advocated for immediate Philippine independence and unilateral American withdrawal. He was soundly defeated by incumbent Republican, William McKinley.

With the election results, Aguinaldo's last hopes, of even a negotiated settlement, died. In 1901, Aguinaldo himself was captured and eventually swore allegiance to the United States. However, even without him, his Insurrection sputtered on, never really ending, particularly when it attracted Moslem Moros on the Island of Mindanao. It continues to this day!

President McKinley was shot by anarchist, Leon Czolgosz, while touring a Trade Show in Buffalo, NY. He died of a systemic infection eight days later, on the morning of 14 Sept 1901, only months after beginning his second term. Precipitously propelled into the Office of President was a young and impetuous Theodore Roosevelt!

Roosevelt declared the Philippine Insurrection "over" on 4 July 1902, although, as noted above, fighting never really ended. The United States did not officially recognize Philippine Independence until decades later, at the end of WWII.

The Insurrection alone had claimed over four-thousand American lives. Many more returned to America, to die only months later from Malaria, and a host of other tropical diseases, with which American doctors were unfamiliar. Upwards of a quarter-million native Filipinos had also died, mostly non-combatants, setting an ominous tone for Wars of the Twentieth Century!

The nearly simultaneous Spanish-American War (in Cuba and the Phillippines) and the ensuing Philippine Insurrection, the Boxer Rebellion in Peking, the Russo-Japanese War in Manchuria, and the Anglo-Boer War in South Africa are today called the "Last of the Little Wars," in light of world-wide conflagrations among the "Great Powers" that followed later in the Twentieth Century.

Lawton himself, like so many heroic commanders who always lead from the front, was killed in action by a single bullet from a Filipino sharpshooter. He was the highest ranking American officer to fall in battle in during the Insurrection. He is buried at the National Cemetery in Arlington, VA.

Commenting on the gallantry of Aguinaldo's Rebels, Lawton is quoted as saying, "Taking into account disadvantages they have endured in arms, equipment, and training, they are the bravest men I have ever seen!"

Coming from Lawton, that was quite a complement!

/John