Jungle of Snakes by James R. Arnold Page A

friendship of the peaceful, yet had to do with a population among whom it was impossible to
     distinguish friend from foe, and who in countless instances used a false appearance of friendship for ambush and assassination.” 4
    Roosevelt’s effusive praise not withstanding, the brutality of Bell’s campaign along with Smith’s crueler campaign fought
     on the island of Samar brought a Senate inquiry into army misconduct. On May 23, 1902, a senator read a letter purportedly
     written by a West Point graduate serving in the Philippines that described a reconcentrado pen with a dead line outside. A “corpse-carcass stench” wafted into the writer’s nostrils as he wrote. “At nightfall clouds
     of vampire bats softly swirl out on their orgies over the dead.” 5
    Roosevelt pledged a full investigation. His adjutant general established the principle for the investigation: “Great as the
     provocation had been in dealing with foes who habitually resort to treachery, murder, and torture against our men, nothing
     can justify . . . the use of torture or inhuman conduct of any kind on the part of the American Army.” 6 The subsequent investigation provided sensational allegations supported by extensive testimony. It became clear that torture
     had taken place and everyone knew it. One major candidly wrote a comrade, “You, as well as I, know that in bringing to a successful
     issue [the war] certain things will take place not intended by the higher authorities." 7 Numerous witnesses testified to the use of the “water cure.” A veteran composed “The Water Cure in the P.I.,” sung to the
     tune of “The Battle Cry of Freedom,” one verse of which went:
    We’ve come across the bounding main to kindly spread around
Sweet liberty whenever there are rebels to be found.
So hurry with the syringe boys. We’ve got him down and bound,
Shouting the battle cry of freedom. 8
    The shooting of unarmed men and the execution of wounded and prisoners also proved to be commonplace. A Maine soldier in the
     Forty-third Infantry wrote to his local newspaper that “eigh teen of my company killed seventy-five nigger bolomen and ten
     of the nigger gunners . . . When we find one that is not dead, we have bayonets. 9 ”The official War Department report for 1900 revealed how widespread was the practice of finishing off wounded insurgents.
     The U.S. Army had killed 14,643 insurgents and wounded a mere 3,297. This ratio was the inverse of military experience dating
     back to the American Civil War and could only be explained by the slaughter of the wounded. When asked about this during the
     Senate inquiry, MacArthur blithely explained that it was due to the superior marksmanship of the well-trained U.S. soldiers. 10
    MacArthur, like the other senior commanders in the Philippines, had issued orders and guidelines against coercive behavior
     while acknowledging that sometimes field conditions required extraordinary behavior. The senators accepted this explanation.
     In the end, the Senate inquiry documented frequent American excursions outside the bounds of behavior permitted by the laws
     of war while whitewashing the conduct of the officers in charge. This conclusion satisfied Roosevelt, who had promised to
     back the army wherever it operated lawfully and legitimately. Thereafter, Roose velt kept faith with the hard men of the Philippines.
     During his administration he named Adna Chaffee and later J. Franklin Bell to the army’s highest post, chief of staff of the
     U.S. Army. For Chaffee it represented an unprece dented climb that began as a Civil War private. For Bell, it represented
     vindication after the humiliating Senate inquiry.
    Anatomy of Victory
    The collapse of the organized insurgency in the Philippines removed the islands from the forefront of American consciousness.
     The tactics employed to squash the guerrillas disillusioned Americans and most were happy to forget about the distant islands
     as soon as possible.