LOUIS
J. VAN SCHAICK
A
VETERAN of the Spanish-American War, Col.. Louis J. Van Schaick was the only
American to be appointed governor of Cavite. He served for two years,
1905-1907, doubtless the most fateful years in the life of the province under
the American regime.
Cavite
was virtually turned into a huge concentration camp as a result of the
stringent policy employed to counteract the recrudescence of the revolution in
the province. Under the Reconcentration Act (No. 781) of June 1, 1903, the
American Governor General was empowered to “reconcentrate” the residents of
towns believed “infested with Ladrones and
outlaws” to prevent them from aiding the Filipino rebels.
It
was during the term of Van Schaick that the Filipino patriot, Macario Sakay,
who had been waging a guerilla war for four years, (1902-1906), was tricked by
the Americans into surrendering and accepting amnesty with the assistance of
Dominador Gomez, a popular labor leader and politician, Sakay was attending
reception in his honor in Cavite when Philippine Constabulary soldiers
surrounded the house of his host and then brought him to prison. Tried under
the Brigandage Act of November 12, 1902, Sakay was convicted and hanged to
death, but to the very end he was protesting that he was not a brigand but a
patriot fighting for the independence of his country.
Van
Schaick was born in Cabbleskill, New York, on July 1, 1875, the son of John and
Francis Eliza (shaver) Van Schaick. He studied in the U.S. Military Academy at
West Point, and later in the Army Staff College. He was married to the former
Nellie Mae Kellogg of Battle Creek, Michigan, on August 1, 1906. Entering the
U.S. Army as a second lieutenant on April 10, 1899, he was retired a colonel
for physical disability due to wounds received in action, on August 31,1934.
Coming
to the Philippines with the American expeditionary forces in 1899, Van Schaick
held the rank of captain of the Philippine Scouts when he was appointed
governor of Cavite in 1905. Afterwards he served as inspector of the Philippine
Constabulary and was again appointed governor of Mindoro, 1908-1912.
Upon
his return to the United States, Van Schaick served successively in General
Frederick Funston’s expedition to Vera Cruz, Mexico, and in General John
Pershing’s expedition to North Mexico, 1914. He was also the inspector general
of the American forces in Germany during the First World War, 1919-1920. Winner
of the Congressional Medal of Honor, Van Schaick also received other
decorations, including the Congressional Gold Life Saving Medal, Distinguished
Service Star (Philippine Constabulary), Purple Heart, and the Luzon, Mindanao,
and Sulu Campaign medals. He also became a mining executive in Baguio.
(Sources:
(1) Franz Wissblatt, Who’s Who in the
Philippines, Manila, 1940; and (2) Agoncillo & Guerrero, History of Filipino People.)