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In 1899, a naval officer’s reckless grasp for glory triggered a real American Heart of Darkness—a rebel ambush, America’s first prisoners of war in the Philippines, their forced march through triple-canopy jungle and behind enemy lines, and one of the greatest rescue missions in US Army history.
As the United States prosecuted a bloody campaign to pacify its newly won Philippines territory at the turn of the nineteenth century, a secret mission of mercy went terribly wrong. The result was a prisoner-of-war crisis, the likes of which our nation had never encountered before. The epic struggle for survival that followed was not only a test of the human will to live but a crucible for heroes. And yet, what was touted as a heroic rescue operation extended a war by almost two years and cost the lives of thousands.
In April 1899, Admiral George Dewey dispatched the USS Yorktown to liberate a detachment of Spanish soldiers under siege by Filipino rebels. To reconnoiter enemy defenses, one of the Yorktown’s armed cutters—manned by a crew of fifteen sailors—was sent toward shore. And then it happened. Defying orders, Lieutenant James C. Gillmore Jr. recklessly pushed upriver into heavy jungle—and headlong into an ambush that would kill four of his men. The survivors were dragged across mountains and through dense jungle from one pestilent prison to the next along what Gillmore called "a veritable Devil’s Causeway."
Their captivity and the torturous expedition sent to recover them, recalled today as one of the greatest marches in US Army history, features a tightly hewn cast of characters—including a frail yet determined teenaged sailor and his hardened seafaring mates; battle-tested veterans of the Civil War and the Indian Wars; and a fiery revolutionary commander who gave orders to bury wounded Americans alive. A sweeping military epic drawing on international primary sources, The Devil’s Causeway tells their extraordinary story in its entirety for the first time.
“Westfall . . . recreates in exacting detail the plight of American sailors captured by Filipino insurgents in April 1899. . . . [P]ainstakingly researched. . . . Westfall gives a thrilling and fast-paced adventure story that brilliantly illuminates an untold aspect of one of America’s first overseas wars, as well as the beginning of the complex relationship between America and the Philippines.”
—Publishers Weekly, starred review
“[A] fascinating account of 15 American sailors captured at the onset of the Philippine-American War (1899–1902). Matthew Westfall carefully crafts the geopolitical cauldron into which these servicemen are cast ….There are no stereotypical good or bad guys in The Devil’s Causeway: some rebels are mindlessly cruel, others kind; some American officers are vain and incompetent, others pursue their objectives even at great personal risk. The cat-and-mouse game between captives, captors and rescuers . . . is ultimately about how individuals strive or falter in the harshest circumstances, how stark morals can become hazy when death is always lurking.”
—Shelf Awareness
“[A] harrowing circus caused by an incompetent launch commander, short-tempered insurrectionists, the media, the U.S. Army, grand strategy, and American politics. The determined captives, a bloodthirsty insurrection commander, crusty Civil War veterans, headhunters, priests, and deranged Spanish soldiers all make appearances…. Westfall has brought to life the people and societies that clashed at the end of a century when America was determined to build a worldwide empire.”
—Library Journal
Dramatis Personae v
Prologue: The Boy Venville ix
Book I Maps:
The USS Yorktown's Route to the Philippines 2
The Philippines 2
The USS Yorktown's Route to Baler 3
The Ambush of Gillmore's Cutter at Baler 3
Chapter 1 Baler, 1897 5
Chapter 2 A Defense to Madness 15
Chapter 3 Arrival 26
Chapter 4 A Generous Mission 39
Chapter 5 Reconnoiter 46
Chapter 6 Trouble 58
Chapter 7 Off Beach and Bar 70
Book II Maps:
The Gillmore Party's March across Luzon 78
The US Army's Northern Luzon Campaign 79
The Gillmore Party's Route across the Cordilleras 80
Chapter 8 Sierra Madres 81
Chapter 9 San Isidro 93
Chapter 10 A Ray of Light 109
Chapter 11 Prison 116
Chapter 12 The Center of Gravity 135
Chapter 13 Pursuit 151
Chapter 14 Buying Time 162
Chapter 15 The Expedition 171
Chapter 16 Cordilleras 193
Chapter 17 Salvation 208
Book III Maps:
From Baler to Abulug: The Gillmore Party Trek 226
Novicio's Escape from Malahi Island Prison 227
Chapter 18 Garrison 228
Chapter 19 Venville 241
Chapter 20 The Trial 250
Chapter 21 Bones 264
Chapter 22 Dead Man's Island 287
Chapter 23 Empire's End 301
Epilogue: The Cost of Conquest 304
Appendix A Lieutenant Gillmore's Cutter Crew 325
Appendix B The Gillmore Party Rescue Expedition 326
Appendix C Report of the US Burial Corps, Expedition to the Philippines 332
Author's Note 334
Acknowledgments 337
Notes and Sources 340
Selected Bibliography 403
Index 411
About the Author 418
Overview
In 1899, a naval officer’s reckless grasp for glory triggered a real American Heart of Darkness—a rebel ambush, America’s first prisoners of war in the Philippines, their forced march through triple-canopy jungle and behind enemy lines, and one of the greatest rescue missions in US Army history.
As the United States prosecuted a bloody campaign to pacify its newly won Philippines territory at the turn of the nineteenth century, a secret mission of mercy went ...