American Boys' Life of William McKinley/Chapter 27
CHAPTER XXVII
During the rainy season in the Philippines preparations were made on a large scale to bring the fighting in the islands to a close. Our troops had much to contend with, in the shape of sickness and fevers, bad roads and scanty supplies, and it was found that to draw the rebels from their mountain retreats was by no means easy. Sometimes the Filipinos would show themselves, make a quick attack on some point, and then disappear from view before any troops could be brought forward to give them battle. The territory was so immense that to garrison even a fair portion of it was next to impossible with the soldiers available for that purpose.
But President McKinley was determined to push ahead with all vigor, and through him extra soldiers and vast amounts of supplies were shipped to Manila and other points. In the meantime some of our troops and war-ships had attacked other islands than Luzon, and many seaport towns were held by us.
As soon as the rainy season let up, General Lawton instituted another campaign in the vicinity of the Laguna de Bay, capturing many insurgents and supplies and several towns, some of which were garrisoned as well as the strength of his command permitted. Then Lawton turned northward again, and a second campaign ensued against Aguinaldo, with the object, if possible, of hemming in the rebel leader completely. This campaign resulted in the fall of Magalang, Bongabong, Tarlac, and Dagupan, the end of the railroad line. The rebels were chased into the mountains in all directions, many were captured, and large quantities of stores and ammunition taken. Among the prisoners made was Aguinaldo's private secretary and several of his staff officers, but, as before, the Dictator himself could not be found.
In the meantime General Wheaton had conducted an expedition which landed on San Fabian beach, and after some hot fighting occupied San Fabian. From this town the troops moved to San Jacinto, and then, after more fighting, joined McArthnr's column. Fighting in the mountains occurred in several directions, and at last the Americans pushed through to Subic Bay and northward to Laoag. At the latter place the Filipinos were holding two thousand Spanish soldiers prisoners. As the war between the United States and Spain was now over, our soldiers released the Spaniards, much to their delight.
December found Lawton again operating farther to the south, and the middle of the month found this gallant commander at San Meteo. During a violent rainstorm on the 19th, the general went out on the firing line, and the bullet from a sharpshooter's rifle laid him low. His death came as a great shock to all who knew him, and no one mourned for him more sincerely than did President McKinley, who had known the plucky fighter for years. Had he lived, there is small doubt but that General Lawton would have gone high up among our military commanders.
In the end of December there was a plot to attack all the Americans in the city of Manila. About a thousand natives were concerned in this, but the plot miscarried, and many natives were arrested. After that the military guard in the city was doubled, and every effort made to guard against a surprise.
To go into the details of the warfare which followed in various parts of the islands is needless, although in some cases these details would prove very interesting. The rebels continued their guerilla method of warfare, swooping down on a small garrison here or there, and then disappearing as rapidly as they had come. In many places they made the peaceful natives contribute heavily to their support, and if the help demanded was not forthcoming, villages were burnt and rice fields laid waste.
Aguinaldo was now waiting only for the next Presidential election in the United States. As said before, many of our people were not in favor of laying claim to the Philippines, contending that such a move would be imperialistic. Some of the most hot-headed declared that McKinley was trying to create an empire, over which he might be emperor. Nothing was further from our worthy President's mind. He simply wished to do his duty, and he considered that it was the duty of the United States to govern the Philippines, and to aid the Filipinos in every way possible, until law and order was restored, and they were educated up to the point where they could do for themselves.
Early in the new year, 1900, the Insurgents became more than usually active south of Manila, and Generals Wheaton and Schwan were sent to drive them back. The Laguna de Bay became once more the scene of several battles, and the rebels were driven away from this lake, and also away from the vicinity of Lake Taal. Batangas was captured, and some of our troops moved both south and west, with considerable success.
In the meantime the campaign on the north had again reopened. The Insurgents were more badly scattered than ever, and could get together a regiment of soldiery only with the greatest of difficulty. There was some fighting in several other islands, yet this amounted to but little.
On June 19 the Republican party met once more to nominate their candidates for President and Vice-President. The gathering was a notable one, all the party leaders being present. The convention was held in the Exposition Building, Philadelphia, which was beautifully decorated for the occasion. Over the main entrance hung a mammoth picture of McKinley, and the name of the President was heard upon every lip. He was nominated amid wild enthusiasm, the hand-clapping, stamping, and shouting lasting half an hour.
For Vice-President the nomination fell upon Theodore Roosevelt, the man who had served so well as governor of New York, and who was so well known as the gallant leader of the daring Rough Riders. Roosevelt tried in vain to decline the honor. The party insisted upon his accepting, and this made him what he has since become,—our twenty-sixth President.
In opposition to McKinley and Roosevelt the Democratic party placed in the field Colonel Bryan, who had been up for the 
McKinley delivering Speech of Acceptance, July 12, 1900.
His second election to the Presidency was highly gratifying to President McKinley, not so much because he wished the office, but because it showed that the great majority of his fellow-citizens approved of his actions in the war with Spain, and in dealing with the Philippine question.
During the campaign something happened which caused great alarm throughout the country, and was the cause of sending some of our soldiers to China. This disturbance is known as the Boxers' Uprising of 1900.
In China there is a certain society of men called the Boxers who are much opposed to all foreigners. The Boxers had been worrying the missionaries and tradesmen of all other nations a great deal, and matters were brought to a head by a revolt in the great Chinese city of Pekin, during which the German State Minister was shot down. Some of the Chinese soldiers joined in the Boxer movement, and the foreigners in and around Pekin were compelled to seek shelter and protection in the various buildings and grounds of the legations. Here they took a stand with guns and a small field-piece, determined to hold out to the last, and sell their lives if necessary as dearly as possible.
Among those to suffer were a number of Americans, missionaries and others, and as soon as our country was notified of this, President McKinley took steps looking to their rescue. An international army and a navy was hastily formed, composed of soldiers and sailors, as well as war-ships, belonging to the United States, England, Germany, France, Japan, and several other nations, and an attack was begun on the Taku forts, at the mouth of the Pei-ho River.
The bombardment of the forts was a furious one, and they soon capitulated, and then the Allied Troops, as they were termed, took possession of Taku and also Tongku, on the other side of the broad river, where there was the end of a railroad line running along the Pei-ho to Tien-Tsin, about twenty-seven miles inland.
At Tien-Tsin the foreigners were suffering fully as much as at Pekin, and hither the Allied forces moved. A series of battles lasting several days ensued, and finally the Allies got possession of one part of Tien-Tsin. More fighting followed, and at last the Boxers fled, the majority toward Pekin.
General Chaffee was in command of the American soldiers, which numbered several thousand. All told, there were at least forty thousand Allies in the field, but of these only sixteen thousand participated in the attack on Pekin itself. The distance from Tien-Tsin to Pekin is about eighty miles, and the enemy made several halts on the route, stopping to give battle and then fleeing with all the swiftness at their command. To the American soldiers, fighting against the Chinese was a great novelty.
"I fought in Cuba and in the Philippines," said one old regular, in telling about it afterward, "but I never saw anything like that in my whole life. The Boxers had the whole battlefield filled with banners, and they kept up the greatest lot of dum-dumming on their drums you ever heard. They were fantastically dressed, some in long robes that were continually in the way when they wanted to move around, and some of the officers actually carried their fans and had servants to carry their big parasols. Some of the poor fellows wore garments with strange symbols on them, thinking that they would be saved thereby from getting shot. And the strangest part of it all was that many of them, when they were shot, would simply crouch up in a little heap to die, without letting anybody touch them to turn them over to a surgeon or give them aid."