LUKBAN
all of them had gotten through they made a rush for the river . 5
But when they did , they were forced to negotiate their way through the towering inferno of abaca bales , earlier set to fire by the militia , then through their ba-ids and guns . Fifteen of the 36 Americans believed to be in the garrison tried to flee to safety , and 15 were burnt alive , cut down by militia fires , or hacked to their bloody deaths . 6
Corporal Carson , with his remaining 15 men , immediately started to build a trench at the back of the convent , using their bayonets to dig with . The rest of the men attempted to cross the river in a boat , but were all killed while getting in the boat . For two days Carson and his squad held this trench , fighting all the time against great odds , and having 2 men killed and 3 wounded until he was finally rescued on Thursday morning by Lieutenant Sweeney and his detachment . 7
Reinforcement arrives
Then early on the third day of the siege , the 600 men promised by Lukban arrived . Informants also told his officers that an American reinforcement was coming up the Catubig river from Lao-ang . But the steamer Tonyik arrived on the fourth day , the 19 th . This gave Lukban ’ s troops time to prepare an ambush on the river .
The officers in the steamer probably sensed disaster because it was trapped from two open sides of the Catubig River by militiamen in their dugouts . The steamer Tonyik suddenly pulled out , but it was chased by the militiamen and by some of Lukban ’ s troops who captured two motorized smaller American boats .
Some two kilometers down the river , downstream toward Lao-ang , the steamer ran out of control due to heavy fire by some Lukban men who posted a sentry at the Irawahan tributary river to the left of the main river . The steamer ’ s crew were so scared because the combined forces of the local militia and Lukban ’ s troops were chasing them in the main river . The ill-fated Tonyik hit the sharply curving rocky edge of the Catubig River at a hillside called Kalirukan . 8 It suddenly capsized and seven soldiers went down their watery graves . 9
Rescue
Lt . Sweeney that morning had embarked at Laguan on the same day , en route to Catubig on board the steamer Loo Aug , to assume command of the garrison . With him were two corporals and 15 privates . At about a mile from Catubig , the captain of the boat had to stop because the river was blocked with trees lashed together . To proceed farther would
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