On April 20, 1899, General Delgado issued an order which tells a significant story of conditions, and of his own weakness in dealing with them. [402]
In Luzón General Trias of Cavite accused the soldiers and citizens of his province of committing "robberies, assaults, kidnappings and crimes which are committed only by barbarous and savage tribes." [403]
That very serious conditions promptly became general is conclusively shown by the record of Aguinaldo's government for February 24, 1899, when it decided--
"that the president of the council shall study such measures as will put an end to the continual discord and friction between the civil and military authorities of every province, in order that fatal consequences may be avoided."
With such conditions prevailing among the Filipinos themselves, it was to be expected that the laws of civilized warfare would be violated and that American soldiers taken prisoners would sometimes be treated with barbarity. Flags of truce were deliberately violated. [404] American soldiers were trapped, poisoned [405] and murdered in other ways. [406]
It was promptly charged in the United States that American soldiers were committing barbarities, and Blount has revived these old tales.
I know personally that during the early days of the war Insurgent prisoners and wounded were treated with the greatest humanity and kindness.
A part of the Insurgent plan of campaign was the circulation of the most shocking statements concerning the abuses committed by American soldiers. I have elsewhere described [407] the fate that overtook Colonel Arguelles, in part because he told the truth as to the humane treatment by the Americans of prisoners and wounded.
Not only did some of those who did this forfeit their lives, but newspaper articles, military orders, and proclamations issued by civil officers informed the people that the American soldiers stole, burned, robbed, raped and murdered. Especial stress was laid on their alleged wholesale violations of women, partly to turn the powerful influence of the women as a whole against them, and partly to show that they were no better than the Insurgents themselves, who frequently committed rape. [408]
These horrible tales were at first believed even by some of the responsible Insurgent officers in remote regions, [409] but all such men soon learned the truth, which was known to most of them from the start.