Jacob H. Smith
Encyclopedia
General Jacob Hurd Smith (January 29, 1840 - March 1, 1918) was a United States Army
officer best known for ordering an indiscriminate retaliatory attack on a group of Filipinos during Philippine-American War
after more than forty American soldiers were massacred in a surprise attack on the Island of Samar
. His orders included, "kill everyone over the age of ten" and make the island "a howling wilderness. Court-martialed for the incident, he was dubbed "Hell Roaring Jake" Smith, "The Monster", and "Howling Jake" by the anti-imperialist press as a result.
. He tried to return to duty that summer, but the wound would not heal properly, so he became a member of the Invalid Corps, serving out the remainder of the Civil War as a mustering officer/recruiter in Louisville for three years. His service record states that he was good at recruiting "colored
" troops.
While working in Louisville, he met and later married Emma L. Havrety in November 1864.
In 1869, Smith's father-in-law, Daniel Havrety claimed bankruptcy. The lawyers for the bankruptcy court noticed a tremendous enlargement of Jacob Smith's assets while in Louisville, from $4,000 in 1862 to $40,000 in 1865. Smith admitted that he was involved in a brokerage scheme using bounty money for army recruits to finance a side business and speculations in whisky, gold, and diamonds. Smith said he receipted for a package sent via Express from New Orleans to Cleveland. The package came from his father-in-law and was addressed to Smith's mother-in-law. Smith later learned the package contained $13,000.
Smith wrapped himself in the flag and argued to the committee that he had been in seven engagements and had been wounded in the Battle of Shiloh
, and referring to himself said: “one who took upon himself all the odium that the rebels and conservatives of Louisville, Kentucky, heaped upon him, by being the first officer, to my knowledge, who commenced mustering into service the colored man in Kentucky during the year 1863.” Smith said that he had scoured Kentucky’s prison pens, jails, and workhouses to find these men. He concluded that his only aim was to serve his God and his country properly. Smith admitted to speculating, but justified it by saying that others had made three times as much money as he had in Louisville during the war, and he had not defrauded anyone.
His military superiors did not accept this patriotic excuse. So Smith wrote a more apologetic explanation, painting himself as a gullible dupe. Everyone who could substantiate his story had either died or left the country. Smith had also conveniently destroyed or lost all of his own bank account records for that period. Smith insisted he had not cheated any of the colored recruits out of their $300 bounty money/enlistment bonus.
Military officials did not believe Smith. Smith’s temporary appointment as judge advocate was revoked by the President and it was recommended by Joseph Holt
that the entire file of papers be sent to the Senate Committee. Holt mentioned by Smith’s own testimony how Smith felt it was alright to mislead and deceive military auditors. “By his conflicting statements and his unfortunate explanation, he is placed in a dilemma full of embarrassment.”
n general von Moltke
. Smith said the colonel’s rebuke was like an “Irishman who was remonstrated with for letting his wife whip him, and answered, ‘It is fun for her, and don’t hurt me”. The colonel notified Smith there would be a court-martial, and so Smith wrote the colonel a nasty letter. Smith was not court-martialed, and instead Major John Pope lectured Smith and recommended the whole affair be dropped since Smith had apologized.
Another creditor, named Henry, continued a claim against Smith for $7 for payment of a harness. The case dragged on from 1871 to 1901. Henry even sent a letter to President McKinley about Smith and his $7 debt.
On July 31, 1884, Smith was sued again in Chicago by the legal firm Pedrick and Dawson.
Smith was court martialed in 1885 in San Antonio for “conduct unbecoming an officer and a gentleman, for deeds in the “Mint Saloon” in Brackett Texas. The opposing party claimed Smith had been playing a game of draw poker with M.S. Moore and C.H. Holzy A.K.A. Jiggerty, lost $135 to Moore, and welshed on the debt. Smith was found guilty and was confined to Fort Clark for a year and forfeited half his pay for the same time period. The Reviewing Authority thought the court was too lenient on Smith. It also felt that Smith’s courtroom tactics made a mockery of the legal procedure:
While the draw poker case was pending in 1885, Smith wrote a letter to the Adjutant General of the Army. The letter was regarding the case and the Adjunct found out that many of the statements were lies. Because of this, Smith was tried again in 1886 and was found guilty, and would have thrown him out of the military. Smith was only saved by President Grover Cleveland who allowed Smith to return to the military with only a reprimand.
In 1891, Smith was charged with using enlisted men as his servants in his home.
Smith was sent to the Philippines
during the Philippine-American War
.
Smith's alleged war crimes in the Philippine-American War
, like those of General J. Franklin Bell
. were not investigated.
, William Howard Taft
, who was the civilian governor of the Philippines, decided to promote Smith to Brigadier General with a caveat. Taft wrote, Smith “had reached a time when promotion to a Brigadier Generalship would worthily end his services, for I believe it is his intention to retire upon promotion.” Smith was promoted, but he decided not to retire.
Starting in the late 1880s, the U.S. Army had adopted the system of filling each brigadier general position not by qualifications, but by mere seniority. The system usually gave elderly colonels a few more months, weeks or days of active duty with a new title, followed by nearly immediate retirement at a higher pay rate. The problem with Jacob Smith was that he was slightly younger and his promotion to general was made too soon because he had three years left until retirement became mandatory by law.
In September 1900, while Smith was the military governor of Pangasinan
, Tarlac
, and Zambales
on Luzon
, Smith intervened in a religious dispute in the village of Dagupan
. Smith sided with a priest who was friendly with the friars. This caused an angry civilian uproar in central Luzon.
, the third largest town on the southern coast of Samar island were killed in a surprise guerrilla attack
. They had been deployed to Balangiga to close its port and prevent supplies reaching Filipino forces in the interior, which at that time were under the command of General Vicente Lukban
. Lukban had been sent there in December 1898 to govern the island on behalf of the First Philippine Republic
under Emilio Aguinaldo
.
The massacre provoked shock in the US public, with newspapers equating the massacre to George Armstrong Custer
's last stand at the Battle of the Little Bighorn
in 1876. Major General Adna R. Chaffee
, military governor of the Philippines, received orders from President Theodore Roosevelt
to pacify Samar. To this end, Chaffee appointed Smith to Samar to accomplish the task.
Smith instructed Major Littleton Waller
, commanding officer of a battalion of 315 US Marines
assigned to bolster his forces in Samar, regarding the conduct of pacification:
As a consequence of this order, Smith became known as "Howling Wilderness Smith".
However, it was known that Smith earned his sobriquet
, "Hell-Roaring Jake" not due to his violence in war, but because of his penchant for making outrageous oaths and the extravagance of his language.
A sustained and widespread massacre of Filipino civilians followed. Food and trade to Samar were cut off, intended to starve the revolutionaries into submission. Smith's strategy on Samar involved widespread destruction to force the inhabitants to stop supporting the guerrillas and turn to the Americans from fear and starvation. He used his troops in sweeps of the interior in search for guerrilla bands and in attempts to capture Philippine General Vicente Lukban
, but he did nothing to prevent contact between the guerrillas and the townspeople. American columns marched across the island, destroying homes and shooting people and draft animals. Littleton Waller, in a report, stated that over an eleven-day period his men burned 255 dwellings, shot 13 carabao
s and killed 39 people.
The Judge Advocate General
of the Army observed that only the good sense and restraint of the majority of Smith's subordinates prevented a complete reign of terror in Samar. However, the abuses were still sufficient to outrage anti-Imperialist
groups in the United States when these became known in March 1902.
The exact number of Filipino civilians killed by US troops will never be known, but an exhaustive research made by a British writer in the 1990s put the figure at about 2,500; Filipino historians believe it to be around 50,000.
, one of Smith’s subordinates. Major Littleton Waller was being tried for ordering the execution of eleven mutinuous Filipino porters.
Waller did not use Smith’s orders “I want all persons killed” to justify his deed, instead relying on the rules of war and provisions of a Civil War General Order Number 100 that authorized exceeding force, much as J. Franklin Bell
had successfully done months before. Waller’s counsel had rested his defense.
The prosecution then decided to call Smith as a rebuttal witness. Smith was not above selling out Waller to save his career. On April 7, 1902, Smith perjured himself again by denying that he had given any special verbal orders to Waller.
Waller then produced three officers who corroborated Waller’s version of the Smith-Waller conversation, and copies of every written order he had received from Smith, Waller informed the court he had been directed to take no prisoners and to kill every male Filipino over 10. This is how the infamous order became public.
General Adna R. Chaffee, military governor of the Philippines and VIII Corps
Commander, cabled the War Department requesting permission to keep Smith in the islands for a short time, since he feared that Smith, if given the opportunity to talk to reporters, could speak “absurdly unwise” and might say things contrary to the facts established in the case, "or act like an unbalanced lunatic."
To ease the subsequent public outcry in America, Secretary of War Elihu Root
recommended that Smith be retired. President Theodore Roosevelt
accepted this recommendation, and ordered Smith's retirement from the Army, with no additional punishment.
, doing some world traveling. He volunteered his military services by letter to the Adjutant General’s Office on April 5, 1917 to fight in World War I
. He died the next year in San Diego, California
, on March 1, 1918.
United States Army
The United States Army is the main branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for land-based military operations. It is the largest and oldest established branch of the U.S. military, and is one of seven U.S. uniformed services...
officer best known for ordering an indiscriminate retaliatory attack on a group of Filipinos during Philippine-American War
Philippine-American War
The Philippine–American War, also known as the Philippine War of Independence or the Philippine Insurrection , was an armed conflict between a group of Filipino revolutionaries and the United States which arose from the struggle of the First Philippine Republic to gain independence following...
after more than forty American soldiers were massacred in a surprise attack on the Island of Samar
Samar
Samar, formerly and also known as Western Samar, is a province in the Philippines located in the Eastern Visayas region. Its capital is Catbalogan City and covers the western portion of Samar as well as several islands in the Samar Sea located to the west of the mainland...
. His orders included, "kill everyone over the age of ten" and make the island "a howling wilderness. Court-martialed for the incident, he was dubbed "Hell Roaring Jake" Smith, "The Monster", and "Howling Jake" by the anti-imperialist press as a result.
Civil War and postbellum
Smith enlisted early in the Civil War, but was disabled in the Battle of ShilohBattle of Shiloh
The Battle of Shiloh, also known as the Battle of Pittsburg Landing, was a major battle in the Western Theater of the American Civil War, fought April 6–7, 1862, in southwestern Tennessee. A Union army under Maj. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant had moved via the Tennessee River deep into Tennessee and...
. He tried to return to duty that summer, but the wound would not heal properly, so he became a member of the Invalid Corps, serving out the remainder of the Civil War as a mustering officer/recruiter in Louisville for three years. His service record states that he was good at recruiting "colored
Colored
Colored is a term once widely used in the United States to describe black people and Native Americans...
" troops.
While working in Louisville, he met and later married Emma L. Havrety in November 1864.
In 1869, Smith's father-in-law, Daniel Havrety claimed bankruptcy. The lawyers for the bankruptcy court noticed a tremendous enlargement of Jacob Smith's assets while in Louisville, from $4,000 in 1862 to $40,000 in 1865. Smith admitted that he was involved in a brokerage scheme using bounty money for army recruits to finance a side business and speculations in whisky, gold, and diamonds. Smith said he receipted for a package sent via Express from New Orleans to Cleveland. The package came from his father-in-law and was addressed to Smith's mother-in-law. Smith later learned the package contained $13,000.
Army judge advocate position
In 1869, Smith was trying to get a temporary army judge advocate position converted into a permanent position. One of the parties in the bankruptcy case, John McClain, informed the Senate Committee on Military Affairs about Smith’s bounty brokerage scheme.Smith wrapped himself in the flag and argued to the committee that he had been in seven engagements and had been wounded in the Battle of Shiloh
Battle of Shiloh
The Battle of Shiloh, also known as the Battle of Pittsburg Landing, was a major battle in the Western Theater of the American Civil War, fought April 6–7, 1862, in southwestern Tennessee. A Union army under Maj. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant had moved via the Tennessee River deep into Tennessee and...
, and referring to himself said: “one who took upon himself all the odium that the rebels and conservatives of Louisville, Kentucky, heaped upon him, by being the first officer, to my knowledge, who commenced mustering into service the colored man in Kentucky during the year 1863.” Smith said that he had scoured Kentucky’s prison pens, jails, and workhouses to find these men. He concluded that his only aim was to serve his God and his country properly. Smith admitted to speculating, but justified it by saying that others had made three times as much money as he had in Louisville during the war, and he had not defrauded anyone.
His military superiors did not accept this patriotic excuse. So Smith wrote a more apologetic explanation, painting himself as a gullible dupe. Everyone who could substantiate his story had either died or left the country. Smith had also conveniently destroyed or lost all of his own bank account records for that period. Smith insisted he had not cheated any of the colored recruits out of their $300 bounty money/enlistment bonus.
Military officials did not believe Smith. Smith’s temporary appointment as judge advocate was revoked by the President and it was recommended by Joseph Holt
Joseph Holt
General Joseph Holt was a leading member of the Buchanan administration and was Judge Advocate General of the United States Army, most notably during the Lincoln assassination trials.-Early life:...
that the entire file of papers be sent to the Senate Committee. Holt mentioned by Smith’s own testimony how Smith felt it was alright to mislead and deceive military auditors. “By his conflicting statements and his unfortunate explanation, he is placed in a dilemma full of embarrassment.”
Smith’s future gaffes
In 1877, Smith responded to a written reprimand from his colonel with a disrespectful longhand response. Technically, the Colonel could not censure Jacob Smith because he had been released from his command because of the incident that was being investigated. When Jacob’s company was marching away, the Colonel indicated his displeasure. Smith’s reply made fun of the colonel, saying he was like PrussiaPrussia
Prussia was a German kingdom and historic state originating out of the Duchy of Prussia and the Margraviate of Brandenburg. For centuries, the House of Hohenzollern ruled Prussia, successfully expanding its size by way of an unusually well-organized and effective army. Prussia shaped the history...
n general von Moltke
Helmuth von Moltke the Elder
Helmuth Karl Bernhard Graf von Moltke was a German Field Marshal. The chief of staff of the Prussian Army for thirty years, he is regarded as one of the great strategists of the latter 19th century, and the creator of a new, more modern method of directing armies in the field...
. Smith said the colonel’s rebuke was like an “Irishman who was remonstrated with for letting his wife whip him, and answered, ‘It is fun for her, and don’t hurt me”. The colonel notified Smith there would be a court-martial, and so Smith wrote the colonel a nasty letter. Smith was not court-martialed, and instead Major John Pope lectured Smith and recommended the whole affair be dropped since Smith had apologized.
Legal problems
During the 1870s, Smith was called away from duty for several lawsuits for debt. One case dragged on in a Chicago court from 1869 to 1883.Another creditor, named Henry, continued a claim against Smith for $7 for payment of a harness. The case dragged on from 1871 to 1901. Henry even sent a letter to President McKinley about Smith and his $7 debt.
On July 31, 1884, Smith was sued again in Chicago by the legal firm Pedrick and Dawson.
Smith was court martialed in 1885 in San Antonio for “conduct unbecoming an officer and a gentleman, for deeds in the “Mint Saloon” in Brackett Texas. The opposing party claimed Smith had been playing a game of draw poker with M.S. Moore and C.H. Holzy A.K.A. Jiggerty, lost $135 to Moore, and welshed on the debt. Smith was found guilty and was confined to Fort Clark for a year and forfeited half his pay for the same time period. The Reviewing Authority thought the court was too lenient on Smith. It also felt that Smith’s courtroom tactics made a mockery of the legal procedure:
-
-
- demanding witnesses from distant and impractical locations especially since he never actually used the witnesses in court,
- local civilian witnesses for some reason were intimidated so they refused to testify against Smith,
- local civilian witnesses for the defense selectively decided which questions they would answer and which they would not.
-
While the draw poker case was pending in 1885, Smith wrote a letter to the Adjutant General of the Army. The letter was regarding the case and the Adjunct found out that many of the statements were lies. Because of this, Smith was tried again in 1886 and was found guilty, and would have thrown him out of the military. Smith was only saved by President Grover Cleveland who allowed Smith to return to the military with only a reprimand.
In 1891, Smith was charged with using enlisted men as his servants in his home.
Philippine-American War
Philippines
The Philippines , officially known as the Republic of the Philippines , is a country in Southeast Asia in the western Pacific Ocean. To its north across the Luzon Strait lies Taiwan. West across the South China Sea sits Vietnam...
during the Philippine-American War
Philippine-American War
The Philippine–American War, also known as the Philippine War of Independence or the Philippine Insurrection , was an armed conflict between a group of Filipino revolutionaries and the United States which arose from the struggle of the First Philippine Republic to gain independence following...
.
Smith brags to media about war crimes
In December 1899, Colonel Jacob Smith informed reporters in the Philippines that, because the natives were "worse than fighting Indians", he had already adopted appropriate tactics that he had learned fighting "savages" in the American west, without waiting for orders to do so from General Elwell S. Otis. This interview provoked a headline announcing that "Colonel Smith of 12th Orders All Insurgents Shot At Hand," and the New York Times enthusiastically endorsed Smith's lawlessness as "long overdue."Smith's alleged war crimes in the Philippine-American War
Philippine-American War
The Philippine–American War, also known as the Philippine War of Independence or the Philippine Insurrection , was an armed conflict between a group of Filipino revolutionaries and the United States which arose from the struggle of the First Philippine Republic to gain independence following...
, like those of General J. Franklin Bell
J. Franklin Bell
James Franklin Bell was Chief of Staff of the United States Army from 1906 to 1910.Bell was a major-general in the Regular United States Army, commanding the Department of the East, with headquarters at Governors Island, New York at the time of his death in 1919...
. were not investigated.
William Howard Taft’s mistake
Because of Smith’s bravery in Cuba during the Spanish-American WarSpanish-American War
The Spanish–American War was a conflict in 1898 between Spain and the United States, effectively the result of American intervention in the ongoing Cuban War of Independence...
, William Howard Taft
William Howard Taft
William Howard Taft was the 27th President of the United States and later the tenth Chief Justice of the United States...
, who was the civilian governor of the Philippines, decided to promote Smith to Brigadier General with a caveat. Taft wrote, Smith “had reached a time when promotion to a Brigadier Generalship would worthily end his services, for I believe it is his intention to retire upon promotion.” Smith was promoted, but he decided not to retire.
Starting in the late 1880s, the U.S. Army had adopted the system of filling each brigadier general position not by qualifications, but by mere seniority. The system usually gave elderly colonels a few more months, weeks or days of active duty with a new title, followed by nearly immediate retirement at a higher pay rate. The problem with Jacob Smith was that he was slightly younger and his promotion to general was made too soon because he had three years left until retirement became mandatory by law.
Smith causes an uproar in Luzon
Spanish Dominican Friars of the Catholic Church were a principal cause of the Filipino revolution against Spain, and many friars had been massacred and tortured by the Filipino population. American foreign policy was to stay strictly neutral in religious matters.In September 1900, while Smith was the military governor of Pangasinan
Pangasinan
Pangasinan is a province of the Republic of the Philippines. The provincial capital is Lingayen. Pangasinan is located on the west central and peripheral area of the island of Luzon along the Lingayen Gulf, with the total land area being 5,368.82 square kilometers . According to the latest census,...
, Tarlac
Tarlac
Tarlac is a landlocked province of the Philippines located in the Luzon Island. Its capital is Tarlac City. Tarlac borders Pampanga to the south, Nueva Ecija to the east, Pangasinan to the north, and Zambales to the west...
, and Zambales
Zambales
Zambales is a province of the Philippines located in the Central Luzon region. Its capital is Iba. Zambales borders Pangasinan to the north, Tarlac and Pampanga to the east, and Bataan to the south. The province lies between the South China Sea and the Zambales Mountains. With a land area of...
on Luzon
Luzon
Luzon is the largest island in the Philippines. It is located in the northernmost region of the archipelago, and is also the name for one of the three primary island groups in the country centered on the Island of Luzon...
, Smith intervened in a religious dispute in the village of Dagupan
Dagupan
The City of Dagupan is a 1st class city in the Philippines. It is an independent component city of the province of Pangasinan. According to the latest census, Dagupan City has a population of 149,554 people in 25,921 households. Located on Lingayen Gulf on the island of Luzon, Dagupan is the...
. Smith sided with a priest who was friendly with the friars. This caused an angry civilian uproar in central Luzon.
Samar campaign
On September 28, 1901, more than forty American soldiers of Company C of the 9th U.S. Infantry Regiment who had been stationed in the town of BalangigaBalangiga, Eastern Samar
Balangiga is a 5th class municipality in the province of Eastern Samar, Philippines. As of the 2000 census, it had a population of 10,662 people in 2,113 households....
, the third largest town on the southern coast of Samar island were killed in a surprise guerrilla attack
Guerrilla warfare
Guerrilla warfare is a form of irregular warfare and refers to conflicts in which a small group of combatants including, but not limited to, armed civilians use military tactics, such as ambushes, sabotage, raids, the element of surprise, and extraordinary mobility to harass a larger and...
. They had been deployed to Balangiga to close its port and prevent supplies reaching Filipino forces in the interior, which at that time were under the command of General Vicente Lukban
Vicente Lukban
Vicente Lukbán y Rilles , was a Filipino officer in Emilio Aguinaldo's staff during the Philippine Revolution and the politico-military chief of Samar and Leyte during the Philippine-American War. The Americans credited him as the mastermind of the famous Balangiga massacre, in which more than...
. Lukban had been sent there in December 1898 to govern the island on behalf of the First Philippine Republic
First Philippine Republic
The Philippine Republic , more commonly known as the First Philippine Republic or the Malolos Republic was a short-lived insurgent revolutionary government in the Philippines...
under Emilio Aguinaldo
Emilio Aguinaldo
Emilio Aguinaldo y Famy was a Filipino general, politician, and independence leader. He played an instrumental role during the Philippines' revolution against Spain, and the subsequent Philippine-American War or War of Philippine Independence that resisted American occupation...
.
The massacre provoked shock in the US public, with newspapers equating the massacre to George Armstrong Custer
George Armstrong Custer
George Armstrong Custer was a United States Army officer and cavalry commander in the American Civil War and the Indian Wars. Raised in Michigan and Ohio, Custer was admitted to West Point in 1858, where he graduated last in his class...
's last stand at the Battle of the Little Bighorn
Battle of the Little Bighorn
The Battle of the Little Bighorn, also known as Custer's Last Stand and, by the Indians involved, as the Battle of the Greasy Grass, was an armed engagement between combined forces of Lakota, Northern Cheyenne and Arapaho people against the 7th Cavalry Regiment of the United States Army...
in 1876. Major General Adna R. Chaffee
Adna Chaffee
Adna Romanza Chaffee was a General in the United States Army. Chaffee took part in the American Civil War and Indian Wars, played a key role in the Spanish-American War, and was instrumental in crushing the Boxer Rebellion in China...
, military governor of the Philippines, received orders from President Theodore Roosevelt
Theodore Roosevelt
Theodore "Teddy" Roosevelt was the 26th President of the United States . He is noted for his exuberant personality, range of interests and achievements, and his leadership of the Progressive Movement, as well as his "cowboy" persona and robust masculinity...
to pacify Samar. To this end, Chaffee appointed Smith to Samar to accomplish the task.
Littleton Waller
Littleton "Tony" Waller Tazewell Waller was a career officer in the United States Marine Corps, who served in the Spanish American War, the Caribbean and Asia. He was court martialled and acquitted for actions during the Philippine-American War where he led a ill-fated expedition across the island...
, commanding officer of a battalion of 315 US Marines
United States Marine Corps
The United States Marine Corps is a branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for providing power projection from the sea, using the mobility of the United States Navy to deliver combined-arms task forces rapidly. It is one of seven uniformed services of the United States...
assigned to bolster his forces in Samar, regarding the conduct of pacification:
-
- "I want no prisoners. I wish you to kill and burn, the more you kill and burn the better it will please me. I want all persons killed who are capable of bearing arms in actual hostilities against the United States.” General Jacob H. Smith said.
-
- Since it was a popular belief among the Americans serving in the Philippines that native males were born with boloBolo knifeA bolo is a large cutting tool of Filipino origin similar to the machete, used particularly in the jungles of Indonesia, the Philippines, and in the sugar fields of Cuba...
s in their hands, Major Littleton "Tony" WallerLittleton WallerLittleton "Tony" Waller Tazewell Waller was a career officer in the United States Marine Corps, who served in the Spanish American War, the Caribbean and Asia. He was court martialled and acquitted for actions during the Philippine-American War where he led a ill-fated expedition across the island...
asked "I would like to know the limit of age to respect, sir?."
- Since it was a popular belief among the Americans serving in the Philippines that native males were born with bolo
-
- "Ten years," Smith said.
-
- "Persons of ten years and older are those designated as being capable of bearing arms?"
-
- "Yes." Smith confirmed his instructions a second time.
As a consequence of this order, Smith became known as "Howling Wilderness Smith".
However, it was known that Smith earned his sobriquet
Sobriquet
A sobriquet is a nickname, sometimes assumed, but often given by another. It is usually a familiar name, distinct from a pseudonym assumed as a disguise, but a nickname which is familiar enough such that it can be used in place of a real name without the need of explanation...
, "Hell-Roaring Jake" not due to his violence in war, but because of his penchant for making outrageous oaths and the extravagance of his language.
A sustained and widespread massacre of Filipino civilians followed. Food and trade to Samar were cut off, intended to starve the revolutionaries into submission. Smith's strategy on Samar involved widespread destruction to force the inhabitants to stop supporting the guerrillas and turn to the Americans from fear and starvation. He used his troops in sweeps of the interior in search for guerrilla bands and in attempts to capture Philippine General Vicente Lukban
Vicente Lukban
Vicente Lukbán y Rilles , was a Filipino officer in Emilio Aguinaldo's staff during the Philippine Revolution and the politico-military chief of Samar and Leyte during the Philippine-American War. The Americans credited him as the mastermind of the famous Balangiga massacre, in which more than...
, but he did nothing to prevent contact between the guerrillas and the townspeople. American columns marched across the island, destroying homes and shooting people and draft animals. Littleton Waller, in a report, stated that over an eleven-day period his men burned 255 dwellings, shot 13 carabao
Carabao
The carabao or Bubalus bubalis carabanesis is a subspecies of the domesticated water buffalo found in the Philippines, Guam, Indonesia, Malaysia, and various parts of Southeast Asia...
s and killed 39 people.
The Judge Advocate General
Judge Advocate General's Corps, U.S. Army
The Judge Advocate General's Corps of the United States Army is composed of Army officers who are also lawyers and who provide legal services to the Army at all levels of command. The Judge Advocate General's Legal Service includes judge advocates, warrant officers, paralegal noncommissioned...
of the Army observed that only the good sense and restraint of the majority of Smith's subordinates prevented a complete reign of terror in Samar. However, the abuses were still sufficient to outrage anti-Imperialist
Anti-imperialism
Anti-imperialism, strictly speaking, is a term that may be applied to a movement opposed to any form of colonialism or imperialism. Anti-imperialism includes opposition to wars of conquest, particularly of non-contiguous territory or people with a different language or culture; it also includes...
groups in the United States when these became known in March 1902.
The exact number of Filipino civilians killed by US troops will never be known, but an exhaustive research made by a British writer in the 1990s put the figure at about 2,500; Filipino historians believe it to be around 50,000.
Waller’s court martial
A court martial began on March 17, 1902 of Major Littleton WallerLittleton Waller
Littleton "Tony" Waller Tazewell Waller was a career officer in the United States Marine Corps, who served in the Spanish American War, the Caribbean and Asia. He was court martialled and acquitted for actions during the Philippine-American War where he led a ill-fated expedition across the island...
, one of Smith’s subordinates. Major Littleton Waller was being tried for ordering the execution of eleven mutinuous Filipino porters.
Waller did not use Smith’s orders “I want all persons killed” to justify his deed, instead relying on the rules of war and provisions of a Civil War General Order Number 100 that authorized exceeding force, much as J. Franklin Bell
J. Franklin Bell
James Franklin Bell was Chief of Staff of the United States Army from 1906 to 1910.Bell was a major-general in the Regular United States Army, commanding the Department of the East, with headquarters at Governors Island, New York at the time of his death in 1919...
had successfully done months before. Waller’s counsel had rested his defense.
The prosecution then decided to call Smith as a rebuttal witness. Smith was not above selling out Waller to save his career. On April 7, 1902, Smith perjured himself again by denying that he had given any special verbal orders to Waller.
Waller then produced three officers who corroborated Waller’s version of the Smith-Waller conversation, and copies of every written order he had received from Smith, Waller informed the court he had been directed to take no prisoners and to kill every male Filipino over 10. This is how the infamous order became public.
General Adna R. Chaffee, military governor of the Philippines and VIII Corps
VIII Corps (PE)
The VIII Corps was formed on June 21, 1898 to provide a ground contingent to exploit Admiral Dewey's success in defeating the Spanish fleet in Manila harbor...
Commander, cabled the War Department requesting permission to keep Smith in the islands for a short time, since he feared that Smith, if given the opportunity to talk to reporters, could speak “absurdly unwise” and might say things contrary to the facts established in the case, "or act like an unbalanced lunatic."
Smith's court-martial
In May 1902, Smith faced court-martial for his orders, being tried not for murder or other war crimes, but for "conduct to the prejudice of good order and military discipline". The court-martial found Smith guilty and sentenced him "to be admonished by the reviewing authority."To ease the subsequent public outcry in America, Secretary of War Elihu Root
Elihu Root
Elihu Root was an American lawyer and statesman and the 1912 recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize. He was the prototype of the 20th century "wise man", who shuttled between high-level government positions in Washington, D.C...
recommended that Smith be retired. President Theodore Roosevelt
Theodore Roosevelt
Theodore "Teddy" Roosevelt was the 26th President of the United States . He is noted for his exuberant personality, range of interests and achievements, and his leadership of the Progressive Movement, as well as his "cowboy" persona and robust masculinity...
accepted this recommendation, and ordered Smith's retirement from the Army, with no additional punishment.
Later life
Smith retired to Portsmouth, OhioPortsmouth, Ohio
Portsmouth is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Scioto County. The municipality is located on the northern banks of the Ohio River and east of the Scioto River in Southern Ohio. The population was 20,226 at the 2010 census.-Foundation:...
, doing some world traveling. He volunteered his military services by letter to the Adjutant General’s Office on April 5, 1917 to fight in World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
. He died the next year in San Diego, California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
, on March 1, 1918.
Battle wounds
By his 1902 court-martial, Smith had been wounded in battle three times:- Smith had a scar from a saber cut on the head that he had received in July 1861 in Barboursville, VirginiaBarboursville, VirginiaBarboursville is an unincorporated community in Albemarle and Orange counties in the U.S. state of Virginia. Barboursville is famous for being the birthplace of renowned American military commander and President Zachary Taylor...
. - Since April 7, 1862 he had been carrying a Minie ballMinié ballThe Minié ball is a type of muzzle-loading spin-stabilising rifle bullet named after its co-developer, Claude-Étienne Minié, inventor of the Minié rifle...
from the Civil War Battle of ShilohBattle of ShilohThe Battle of Shiloh, also known as the Battle of Pittsburg Landing, was a major battle in the Western Theater of the American Civil War, fought April 6–7, 1862, in southwestern Tennessee. A Union army under Maj. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant had moved via the Tennessee River deep into Tennessee and...
in his hip. - Smith also had a bullet in his body from a wound at El CaneyEl CaneyEl Caney is a small village 4 miles to the northeast of Santiago, Cuba. "Caney" means longhouse in Taíno.It was known in centuries past as the site where Hernán Cortés received a vision supposedly ordering him to Christianize Mexico. The settlement was host to the Battle of El Caney on July 1,...
, Cuba during the Spanish-American WarSpanish-American WarThe Spanish–American War was a conflict in 1898 between Spain and the United States, effectively the result of American intervention in the ongoing Cuban War of Independence...
.
Further reading
- The Philippine "Lodge committee" hearings (A.K.A. Philippine Investigating Committee) and a great deal of documentation were published in three volumes (3000 pages) as S. Doc. 331, 57th Cong., 1st Session An abridged version of the oral testimony can be found in: American Imperialism and the Philippine Insurrection: Testimony Taken from Hearings on Affairs in the Philippine Islands before the Senate Committee on the Philippines—1902; edited by Henry F Graff; Publisher: Little, Brown; 1969. ASIN: B0006BYNI8
- See the extensive Anti-Imperalist summary of the findings of the Lodge Committee/Philippine Investigating Committee on wikisource. Listing many of the atrocities and the military and government reaction.