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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