LUKBAN
expeditionary force was composed of the 43rd and 47th Volunteer Infantry Regiments, and Battery G, 3rd Artillery. He sailed on the afternoon of January 18, with the transport Hancock and two coasting vessels, the Castellano and Venus. His command was convoyed by the gunboats Helena and NashviIlle.
The expedition set sail from Manila on January 18, 1900. On January 20, it arrived off Sorsogon, Bicol Peninsula, Luzon. As Kobbé’ s troops embarked into their landing boats, he requested that the Helena, Mariveles, and Nashville anchor close to shore to provide support in case of hostilities. Then he and Colonel Howze went aboard the Mariveles, the shallowest draft vessel, to survey and select the landing place. Finding no resistance, the army landed at the port’ s wharf and took possession of the town. That same day, the Helena embarked two companies and transported them to Donsol( in Sorsogon) where they effected another peaceful landing of sorts. Upon their arrival, the Helena found trenches in front of the town filled with 200 to 300 insurgents.
Regrouping back at Sorsogon, the expedition set off on January 25, 1900, for Calbayog on the island of Samar, with the Nashville, Helena, and Mariveles escorting the transports Venus, Aeolus, Salvadoro, Castellano, and Mendez Nuñez. The expedition arrived at sunlight the following day off Calbayog, and the Mariveles stood in to shore with Kobbé to reconnoitre, while the Nashville and Helena approached the shore to within 1,000 yards to cover the landing. Finding no signs of resistance, the signal to land was given, and the U. S. ensign was hoisted above the town by 8:30 that morning. 3
Hearing of the Americans’ coming, on January 26, 1900 after American gunboats were sighted in Calbayog. General Lukban called for a meeting with prominent men of Catbalogan on what to do should the Americans arrive in Catbalogan. They decided to burn the town and to evacuate the people in order not to give quarters to the invaders. This town-burning strategy became a standard operating procedure in Lukban’ s guerrilla war in Samar to deny the Americans the use of the towns’ resources.
They also decided to disperse the Filipino forces to different outposts surrounding Catbalogan. 2nd Lt. Guillermo Arteche, now in command of the Second Artillery, was posted to the mountains in the northeast of the town. His brother, Leopoldo, also served with the revolutionary army of Lukban. 4
At daybreak of January 27, American warships appeared on Maqueda Bay. A gunboat took Colonel Arthur Murray ashore to parley, expecting to see Lukban himself. But that was not to be the case. Instead Lukban sent an artillery officer to face the American, while deploying five other
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