From the reports of the American officers in the field, there were strong indications that the rebellion that they desperately wanted to suppress was instead growing and continued to harass their troops in their detachments. Between April 28 to May 17 of that year, their reports were full of encounters or near encounters with rebel troops that patrolled just outside their garrisons. For instance, Capt. Dey’ s company at Laguan had been so depleted that Capt. Cooke’ s company at Catarman had to be pulled out to reinforce Laguan which had been reduced“ because many had been killed or wounded.” Already Gilmore had sent 20 men to Laguan.

Warner, Barnes & Co. likewise had to evacuate Catarman, along with their bales of hemp, four schooners and a tug. Cooke had been told to stay put in Catarman until the hemp was moved to safer places. San Miguel, which was close to La Granja, was said to be the headquarters of the rebels in the area. Lt. Seaman was ordered on his return trip to Calbayog to drive out the rebels there.

Attack on Catarman

But even before the detachment at Catarman could move out, the rebels launched an attack on the night of April 30. In the estimate of Cooke, the rebels numbered around 500 to 600, with 100 of them bearing rifles, while the rest were armed with those deadly ba-ids( sharpened long bolos). However, with the trenches they dug, he thought there were many more. On the night of April 30 till the next day, they had dug over 400 yards of trenches, averaging 4 feet deep and 2 feet wide, with nothing but bolos to break the ground and coconut shells to throw out the earth. Cooke withdrew all his sentinels into the convent that was used as their headquarters, and decided to wait until daylight. Sporadic firing could be heard all night.

At daybreak, they discovered trenches built on three sides of the barracks. On the fourth side which had not been dug, the beach could be 66

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