December 2, 1899

The Philippine Thermopylae: Or Starring the United States as "The Bad Guy."

Tirad Pass, Northern Luzon, Philippines.

Today we look at a sad and embarrassing chapter in the military history of the United States, a nation that has long trumpeted itself as the world's defender of liberty and democracy. Following the Spanish-American war at the close of the 19th Century, the U.S. took control of the Philippine Islands in the western Pacific Ocean. After the defeat of Spanish forces at the Battle of Manila Bay during the war, the Philippines declared themselves independent, expecting support from the western power which had once done the same for itself. The United States, however, refused to recognize the Philippines, instead planning to annex the island chain.

Filipinos had revolted against Spanish rule at the start of the 1890's then had thrown their full support behind the Americans to finally break Spain's hold on their homeland. Feeling betrayed by their former saviors, and not wishing to trade Spanish speaking imperialists for English speaking ones, tensions quickly arose between Americans and Filipinos. When U.S. troops were accused of firing on Filipinos in Manila in 1899, the simmering mood heated into a boil.

Led by Emilio Aguinaldo, who had commanded them against the Spanish, the Filipinos severed all friendly ties with the United States. The war that erupted thereafter was little more than a sanctioned slaughter. American racism, combined with superior firepower, not only defeated Filipino forces on the battlefield, but killed ordinary civilians wholesale. Filipinos were rounded into concentration camps, tortured, and murdered outright. A call went up to American troops to "Kill Everyone Over Ten," implying that any Filipino born before the ten years of American involvement began was a war criminal.

This engraving, published in U.S. newspapers, summed up American feelings toward Filipinos.

Nevertheless, the Filipinos fought on. Aguinaldo's forces fled Manila and cut their way through the jungles and hills of Northern Luzon. With an American column hot on his heels, Aguinaldo needed to buy time to allow his men to escape to fight another day. He ordered his trusted friend, the youthful General Gregorio del Pilar, to take the rear guard of the army and look for a place to delay the advancing invaders. Del Pilar remembered passing a natural bottleneck in Tirad Pass, and took a small band of Filipinos to try and stave off the Americans.

On December 2, 1899, the lead American units came within sight of the Pass. Advancing toward it, they were immediately met by a well-aimed volley from del Pilar's men. The Filipinos held them off for a few hours, as the Americans wisely decided a frontal assault on the position would be suicide. Just as a handful of Greek warriors beat back hundreds of thousands of Persians at the ancient Battle of Thermopylae, so too were the Filipinos delaying the Americans. Their solid defensive position neutralized the Yanks' advantages in numbers and fire power, and del Pilar believed he could hold off the Americans for as long as he needed.









General Gregorio del Pilar.









Unfortunately for del Pilar, the same misfortune that befell the Greeks thousands of years before would be his undoing, as well. A local villager named Januario Galut, playing the modern day role of Ephialtes, came to the Americans during the battle and offered to show them a path around Tirad Pass. Galut led a regiment of Texas volunteer sharp-shooters around the Filipino position, pointing out the places where they could outflank the enemy. Del Pilar had only 60 men at his disposal, and after five hours of battle the Texans found that 52 of them had been killed, including del Pilar himself.

With Galut's help, the Americans eventually prevailed at Tirad Pass but Aguinaldo and the main body of Filipino troops were able to escape. The war continued for three more years, and the insurrection and slaughter for another ten. Unable to overcome the loss of del Pilar and evade American forces for much longer, Aguinaldo's forces were eventually defeated. The Philippines did not receive full independence from the United States until after the end of the Second World War.

After the Battle of Tirad Pass, del Pilar's body was left to rot in the hot tropical sun. The Texans had looted his body and those of his men, stripping them of their uniforms, medals, and weapons. Del Pilar's diary was later found, in which he confided that the charge of defending the pass was the most glorious task of his life. He was eventually buried by an American officer, Lieutenant Dennis P. Quinlan, who in recognition of a worthy adversary inscribed "An officer and a gentleman," on del Pilar's grave.

Filipino dead during the Philippine-American War.

While the numbers engaged were far less than the ancient battle, and the fame not as well-preserved for posterity, the action at Tirad Pass would come to be known as "The Philippine Thermopylae." The American involvement in the Philippine Islands is surely a dark chapter in the nation's lengthy military history. Although most sources differ, it is widely agreed that during the years 1899-1913 over a million Filipinos were killed, both in uniform and out. Men, women and children, whether they supported the insurrection or not, were slaughtered indiscriminately in actions no different than genocides the United States condemned, both earlier and in the century to come.