LUKBAN
The rebels estimated their own dead to have reached 150 due to their exposed position when attacking the well-defended rectory which served as the American garrison . The Americans declared their own casualties to number only 22 - 19 dead and 3 wounded . But Lukban ’ s forces believed 31 American lives perished here , including the ones who died when the steamer Tonyik capsized . They also lost a large amount of ordnance stores , quartermaster and commissary supplies , said Dey . Carson , later awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor , openly admitted that the Battle of Catubig was a total defeat for the American forces . 12
The New York Times on the other hand called the battle of Catubig , “ horrifying ”.
The Evening Telegram of New York on its June 8 , 1900 issue said “ perhaps the most thrilling and picturesque incident of the entire Philippine war occurred at Catubig . on the Island or Samar where on April 15 , thirty-one enlisted men of Company II , Forty-third -Infantry Volunteers , held at bay a force of six hundred Insurgents .”
The Los Angeles Herald on its May 17 , 1900 issue claimed “ it was the heaviest loss of life the American army has sustained in any one engagement in the Philippines .”
About three weeks later , on May 8 , Gilmore would return with 100 men to Catubig to see how things were going . He noted the entrenchments along the river , and at one place the river was blockaded by a rope made of twisted vines . At another site , a second barricade had been started but it was not enough to prevent navigation . At still another place , several barotos were loaded with stones to block the river . Catubig was accordingly occupied by rebel forces , but they would not engage and fled on his approach .
He said they had done an immense work in the town since the battle on April 15 , having thoroughly policed it . His troops found one cannon in the street . Following their usual practice , Gilmore ordered the town burned and all rice and palay that were found in the houses near the river destroyed . Near the end of his report , Gilmore declared : ” The palay crop has just been harvested , and as a result of having lots to eat and so few troops to contend with , the entire north and east coasts of Samar are in rebellion .” 13
Months later , Lukban formally issued a statement , congratulating the people of Catubig for their victory . He said he entered the incident in the book of operations “ so that it may be published in the foreign newspapers and in the pages of our history .”
Lukban noted the use of indigenous poison on mantraps and spears as well as the arrows that rained on the ill-fated Tonyik , causing it to be
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