From the first days of fighting, Americans violated even the new rules—such as the requirement to accept surrender—that would have applied had they recognized the Hague treaty as relevant. Worse, from the early phase in and around Manila, Americans assumed that most of the people they met were hostile, and shot many without a second thought. The French minister filing reports commented mordantly that “American soldiers are the true savages,” adding that their very “brutality, provocation, and excess surely have served the cause of insurrection.”
