Authored by Monika Leubner

This is a letter from Lieutenant Gibson to Ella Allard about the death of her son Clayton Allard which talks about how he died and when. From the Allard Papers in Melvil Dewey Library at Jefferson Community College.

A mother’s worse nightmare: “It is my painful duty to inform you of the death of your son” (Lawerance 1902, 1). Unfortunately Ella Allard had to read this from Lieutenant Gibson in a letter about her son, Clayton Allard. On June 4th, 1898, Clayton Allard enthusiastically enlisted into the army at Sacket’s Harbor, New York. During the time that Allard enlisted, the United States was seven months away from ending its war with Spain. In December of 1898, President McKinley issued an order to extend the role of the United States to the Philippines. In a testimony by future President William Howard Taft, “A government ought to be established under American guidance which and under which the Philippines shall gradually improve their knowledge of what is individual liberty” (Graff 1969, 52). Taft’s testimony explained why the U.S. wanted to take over the Philippines.  

     By February, war started between the two countries as the Filipinos wanted independence. The war lasted three years with thousands of causalities. In 1902, testimony by Arthur MacArthur a brigadier general said, “The enemy’s loss [is] 800 killed and 30 wounded, while the summary of our loss is, killed, 40; wounded, 72” (Graff 1969, 45). By the end of the war, July 4, 1902 “125,00 U.S troops took part in the Philippine operations; some 4,500 of these died, and 2,800 were wounded. Estimates of Philippines killed run from 200,00 to 600,00” (Tucker 2003, 341). Two hundred and seventy-six of these men were in Allard’s 9th Regiment unit (Le Ray de Chaumont Chapter 1903). Clayton Allard himself was killed on December 26, 1901 “by gunshot wound through left carotid artery and arch of the aorta” (Johnson 1902, 2). Not only was death a big atrocity of the war but water torture was as well, done by American soldiers. The Filipinos are “simply held down and then water is poured onto his face down his throat and nose from a jar” (Vestal 2017, 11). Many Filipinos were taken and abused in this way. News of these events reached “centers of anti-imperialist publishing” but were not published because it could “subject the publishers to charges of anti-Americanism” (Kramer 2017, 19). Regardless, trials were held and many soldiers that participated in the torture were court marshaled. This war, like any war, devastated both sides with bloodshed and atrocities including water torture and grave desecration. For the Allard family, death was not the only tragedy. Upon the return of his remains to the United States, “nothing was found but a small fragment of clothing and a bottle containing a slip of paper inscribed with the name, rank, organization, etc.” (Dawson 1906, 1). From the appearance of the grave it was determined to be desecrated by natives although there is no proof, the possibility still looms that the native Filipinos took their revenge on Allard.  

     Clayton Allard was a soldier that fought in a war not widely known. He represents one of many that lost their lives in the Philippine war. His family, like many families, suffered the many devastations that come with war.   

  

       

 

 

 

 

 

 

References 

Allard, David. 2004. Uncle Clayton: A Soldier’s Life in Letters. Augusta: Augusta PressTech, 2004. 

Dawson, A. F. to F. C. Ainsworth. 14 December 1906. Box one Folder 14. Allard Papers. Melvil Dewey Library, Watertown, NY. 

Graff, Henry F. 1969. American Imperialism and the Philippine Insurrection. (Boston: Little Brown and Company, 1969). 

Johnson, John A. 1902. “Shot in December.” Sandy Creek News, March 6, 1902. 

Kramer, Paul. 2017. “The Water Cure.” Social Science Diliman. 13, no.2 (2017): 109, https://jerome.stjohns.edu/login?url=https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx  

Lawerance, Gibson. to Ella Allard. 7 January 1902. Box 1 Folder 13 Acc. no. 007-01. Allard Papers. Jefferson Community College. Melvil Dewey Library. Watertown, NY 

Le Ray De Chaumont Chapter. 1903. “Memorial Document of the Ninth Regiment.” September 16, 1903. Box 1 Folder 14. Allard Papers. Melvil Dewey Library, Watertown, NY. 

Tucker, Spencer C. 2003. “Phillippine-American War (Philippine Insurrection). Vol. 3, Encyclopedia of American Military History. New York: Facts on File, 2003. 

Vestal, Allan W. 2017. “The First Wartime Water Torture by Americans.” Marine Law Review. 69, no. 1 (January 2017): 14, https://digitalcommons.mainelaw.maine.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1149&context=mlr