Lukban Lukban | Page 40

LUKBAN
Barnes & Co . in Calbayog , plus two rowboats , they sailed along with 50 men of the F Company , with Capt . Cooke commanding , with Lt . Stewart as Gilmore ’ s adjutant , and Scott .
Gilmore wanted to reach Gandara at daylight , hoping to surprise the rebels and to prevent the burning of the town . But the wind and tide worked against them , so they reached the mouth of Gandara river by midnight . Now because of the tide , it became impossible to make headway until 3:00 in the morning . “ After that it was difficult to make more than 2 or three miles an hour , as the schooner had to be towed by a rowboat , so that at 8 o ’ clock I took the two rowboats with 20 men and left the sailboat ,” the frustrated Gilmore said in his report .
They reached Gandara at about 12:00 noon on January 30 and found the town in flames . The town was on a peninsula about a mile long , formed by the river branching at this point . There was only one street , the houses being built on the banks of the two river branches . At the head of the street , at the foot of a high hill , was the church . Two-thirds of the town was burned . With a high wind blowing , it was impossible to save any of the houses as these were all nipa shacks and built close together . When the flames had subsided a little , they went around the base of the hill and found the storehouse of Warner , Barnes & Co . still intact . When the residents returned , Gilmore was told that the plan to burn the town was done the night before and that the man who ordered it was said to be the father of Lukban ’ s mistress .
Major Allen arrived later in the afternoon with a company of his battalion coming up the river in boats towed by a steam launch of the Helena . Hearing that the insurgents had been around , Gilmore continued up the river . At about 12 midnight , five or six rebels fired upon his group , but no one was hit . They did not return the fire .
They arrived at a place called Taiveran , upstream of the Gandara River , at around 8:00 in the morning , but found it deserted , save for two people – a Spaniard and a representative of Warner , Barnes & Co . They told Gilmore that a certain rebel Capt . Rafael with 60 men had been at a town called St . Helene . But they knew nothing of the whereabouts of Lukban . In fact , getting reliable information about the movements of the rebels was a very difficult thing , even for Mr . Scott ’ s agents . “ People were so frightened one could get nothing from them . From what information I could get , I decided my best plan was to return overland to Calbayog ,” said Gilmore .
So a fiercely determined Gilmore took his boats back to Calbayog , even if the progress was maddeningly slowly , with few natives as rowers . But they soon exhausted themselves , so the soldiers had to take over until they reached Calbayog . He and his group reached St . Helene at around 2:00 in the afternoon , rested for an hour , then found that indeed
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