JACOB HURD SMITH
The Colonel defined people capable of bearing arms as males and females over 20 years of age. Many were slaughtered. Fortunately, most of his officers and men did not follow this order but enough did to make it one of the most disgraceful events in American military history. Smith was court marshaled and found guilty but his punishment was to be cashiered from the army. There were many atrocities committed by the minorities of both sides in this brutal war. Military and Congressional Investigations caused the army manual to be revised military policies reformed.
General Jacob Hurd Smith was a United States Army officer notorious for ordering an indiscriminate retaliatory attack on the island (600 square miles) of Samar during the Philippine–American War. In response to what is called the Balangiga massacre, Smith's orders included, "kill everyone over the age of ten" and make the island "a howling wilderness." Court-martialed for the incident, he was dubbed "Hell Roaring Jake" Smith, "The Monster", and "Howling Jake" by the press as a result. Most estimates are that American soldiers killed between 2,000 and 2,500 civilians. Some Filipino Historians put the number as high as 50,000 civilians.
