The Greatest Marine In History

[Polarbear1605]

There are many accounts of the Waller Samar Campaign. My favorite is:
http://www.mca-marines.org/gazette/waller-samar-part-i
http://www.mca-marines.org/gazette/waller-samar-part-ii
I always thought that Robert B. Asprey was a good historian/writer. Waller definitely bit off more then he could chew...but orders are orders. Rations back in those days were canned bacon, biscuits and crewing tabaco. There was an expectation of living off the land with the help of the native porters. What is interesting is that after the march and when Waller ordered the executions, the Marines were down to 45 effectives. In addition, most of the 300+ Marines were bare foot...Waller had walked his Marines out of their boots from the insurgence patrols. There is also rumors of another pending bolo swarm attack on their base that was playing on Marine's mind.

[jmm99]

The prosecution botched the timeline, which led to inconsistencies as to who did what and when. If the time don't fit, you must acquit !

From Dean's monograph on the court-martial, the 11 arrested porters (guarded by Gy.Sgt. Quick and other Marines) were shipped by USN gunboat from Lanang to Basay, arriving sometime on 20 Jan.

Asprey's MG article (pt II) adds some important detail to the timeline and communications that Waller had:

At this critical juncture-about noon of 18 January -the Army relief party came onto the survivors. Williams and his men were crawling towards them. They reached Lanang that night and by 20 January all hands were in the Army hospital at Tacloban, Leyte.

Capt Porter at once telephoned the terrible story to Maj Waller at Basey. Porter had arrested 11 of the natives and was sending them to Basey under GySgt Quick. Porter believed they should be shot; so did Williams; so did the troops.

Waller knew exactly what Porter was talking about. On 5 January he had been personally threatened by a carrier named Victor and throughout the march his scouts, Slim and Smoke, had failed to report to him when ordered. Victor, who had not gotten through to Porter because the area was full of insurrectos, was discovered to have lied and to have told another guide, "As the Americans will not return to the other party, it will be a good time for us to kill them and flee to the mountains."

After Porter's telephone call and GySgt Quick's personal report, Waller called in the 11 prisoners, who only trembled silently during interrogation. Convinced of their treachery, Waller was also mindful of his overall mission. He was still out of action; the populations of Basey and Balangiga were openly hostile; he had 95 prisoners, and only 45 effective Marines for duty.

His orders to execute the 11 people were carried out that afternoon. The next day he telegraphed BGen Smith on Leyte that he had "expended" 11 natives.

Where did Asprey find this information ?

Some reports by Army participants are said (by Google) to be in the Report of the War Department for 1902; and by Marine participants in the Report of the Secretary of the Navy for 1902.

On the other hand, I could spend some time on a matter closer to the theme of Slap's OP - Sigourney Weaver, the Space Marines and Alien.

Regards

Mike

[Dayuhan]

throughout the march his scouts, Slim and Smoke, had failed to report to him when ordered.

Maybe he should have tried learning their actual names.

The depiction of native scouts and porters as inept, treacherous, mendacious, and superstitious is a fixture in the literature of colonial-era expeditions. If the scouts and porters had the opportunity to recount their side of the story, one wonders what they might have to say.

Waller definitely bit off more then he could chew...but orders are orders.

This quote:

"remembering the General's [Smith] several talks on the subject and his evident, desire to know the trail and run wires across, coupled with my own desire for some further knowledge of the people and the nature of this heretofore impenetrable country, I decided to make the trail with 50 men and the necessary carriers."

suggests that while the subject had been discussed, the expedition was not specifically ordered and was undertaken at Waller's own initiative, against the advice of other officers on the scene.

There was an expectation of living off the land with the help of the native porters.

If Waller was indeed "experienced in bush warfare" he would surely have known that it would be impossible to support a column that size by "living off the land". Of course "living off the land" in the parlance of the day meant finding some "savages" and stealing their food, but even that assumption would rely on finding cultivated areas and food to steal.

Of course actions taken at the turn of the century have to be assessed against the conventions of the day, and the writings of historians in the early '60s have to be assessed against the conventions of that day. Still, the arrogance, condescension and outright racism implicit in both the actions and the later "history" (using the term very lightly indeed) are startling, if only in the extent to which they highlight how far we've come (one hopes) since then.