We Thought We Could Whip Them in Two Weeks

William Oliver Trafton was a Texan volunteer who landed in the Ilocos in 1899 with a Krag rifle, a good sense of humor, and the conviction that “we could whip them in two weeks.” As it turned out, the two weeks lasted 18 months.

Trafton was probably typical of those restless American youths who thought the Philippine-American War was just a rebellion by a few trouble-makers in Uncle Sam’s new colony. He was a wandering cowhand “looking for the end of the rainbow” when he enlisted in a spirit of adventure. He found a lot more than he had expected, from a beachhead in Vigan to the mountains of Abra.

This book is Trafton’s memories of those adventures 35 years later. Written by a homespun comedian in his own quaint dialect, they are one man’s colorful recollections of what was actually not just an adventure, but a year and a half of unrelieved fatigue, discomfort and danger.