Attack on Gandara
LUKBAN
Since March 29 , Lt . Stewart in Gandara had sent messages to Gilmore that his detachment was under attack by over a hundred rebels , many of them with rifles . It seemed that they were intending to attack at night , but the sentry discovered late in the afternoon that one of their detachments were moving into position , and natives were getting scarce around there . So the sentry called to the corporal of the guard , who immediately went around the hill to the church . Shortly after his arrival there , a group of rebels approached him . The corporal did not hesitate to shoot their leader who was killed . But as they turned to return to the camarin , they saw that they were surrounded .
Luckily , Lt . Stewart arrived on the scene as he was just down in the river . He started up the church as soon as he heard the shot of the corporal . Drawing his revolver , he killed two men and wounded a third . After an hour of exchange of fire , the rebels withdrew . They counted five killed , but Stewart was certain he had shot more as the rebels were seen carrying their wounded .
The fighting did not stop that day . Two days later , rebels still surrounded the town , so that Gilmore instructed Stewart to retreat . He wanted to give the same order to Spellman but he could not get a message to him since the natives refused to carry messages . Spellman arrived the next day with 10 men , saying he left 10 men at Taiveran and the rest of his company at Gandara . They had been fired at every night since the attack , he said . Gilmore wanted all his troops out of Taiveran and Gandara as soon as possible . They arrived on April 4 .
“ What made the strain more severe was that we were not fighting civilized beings , but assassins who would murder one in his bed at night ,” remarked Gilmore in his report to his superiors . He commended his appointee presidente Rufino Pido and his police and tenientes of the villages who provided them information on developments in the surrounding countryside . 9
According to Lukban , it was Capt . Serrano and Claro Guevarra who led the attack and successfully drove away the Americans from Gandara , where 50 of their troops were stationed . Guevarra said the American soldiers patrolled the nearby mountains but when they saw the rebels , they fled and hurried back to the town without engaging them . On the afternoon of the 27 th , the rebel troops attacked the town , killing 17 and wounding 11 . The losses on the rebels ’ side were three killed and seven wounded , all from the Battalion of Territorial Militia .
Lukban heaped praise on the deportment of one of his men , a native of Oras , who boldly dashed through the American line , killing seven
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