MACGREGOR, OCTOBER 20, 1902

FORT LEAVENWORTH, KANS.,
October 20, 1902.

Gen. GEORGE B. DAVIS,
Judge-Advocate-General, U. S. Army, Washington, D. C.

SIR: I have the honor to state in answer to your recent communication anent the "death and burial of Father Augustine de la Peņa" on the island of Panay, and "other outrages or unauthorized forms of punishment inflicted on the natives" during my service there as a volunteer in the Twenty-sixth Regiment, that I was in charge of civil affairs for the Fourth district, Department of the Visayas-the island of Panay. My sympathy was with this form of government; I was intensely interested in my work; I took it seriously at all times, and so developed a state of mind that may have clouded my judgment through the development of a bias or prejudice against many things military and against those responsible for such things. I am free to admit, before my return home I was very bitter at many things that were done or were allowed to be done that neutralized my best efforts and often made my hard work go for naught. So I am afraid my evidence would still have a tinge of this old feeling, and I should therefore prefer to say nothing.

I have no personal knowledge of the death of Father Augustine. I have heard what you state from certain members of D Company, Twenty-sixth; I have seen the affidavits pertaining to same; I knew the Father's relatives; I often talked with them. His name was generally mentioned by his family and intimates and Father Viena, the resident priest or fraile in Jaro, in a whisper, and in such a suggestive way that



made one convinced they realized something terrible had happened. The Father Augustine was always bitterly opposed to us; he was no hypocrite; he fought us tooth and nail. His proclamation, infamous as the one issued in Cuba before we landed, is obtainable, and I never understood he receded one iota from that declaration. The men of his family opposed us bitterly in the field and in the press. He was a power in the island, and it was used absolutely against us. There was not a scintilla of a doubt that he was cooperating freely with the insurgents, and prostituting his churchly office to screening them or aiding them; but his end was lamentable, and baneful will its influence be.

As to the "water cure" and other such things I would prefer to be silent. I was only a junior lieutenant, and can not offer criticisms on my superior officers. I never saw it administered in person.

Very respectfully,

Geo. R. D. MacGregor,
Second Lieutenant, Eighteenth Infantry.