Like “the war” for Guam, 9/11 taints time itself. History isn’t allowed to flow forward, but instead becomes constrained and entangled in that moment, always forcing people to return to it.
People feel compelled to write about it, to ensure that it has the “right” meaning, and try to forget as much as possible which complicates things. After all, the two now-dead bad guys of the post-9/11 world, Osama Bin Laden and Saddam Hussein, were once key allies of the U.S. Osama — trained and funded by the CIA; and as for Hussein, if he ever had any of those pesky weapons people were looking for, the easiest way to find them was to look in Washington, D.C. for the receipt.
But leaving all this aside, my letter will be yet another 9/11 retrospective, but not of the type you might think. Instead of looking to Sept. 11, 2001, I’d like us to return to Sept. 11, 1671, and what transpired that day here on Guam.
It is on this day that the first large-scale battle between the Spanish missionaries and soldiers on Guam and Chamorros who resented their intrusion into their lives began. Hurao is a name that is synonymous today with the stirring speech which is attributed to him and the respected Chamorro language immersion group. In response to several injustices including the unfair killing of a friend by the Spanish, Hurao declared emnok against them, vowing to form alliances with other Chamorros and eventually get rid of the Spanish. By the time the Spanish learned of Hurao’s plans, he led a coalition that numbered in the thousands. The soldiers protecting the Spanish missionaries became nervous and attacked Hurao’s home, kidnapping him, hoping this would break the back of his army.
On Sept. 11, 1671, it is said that 2,000 warriors surrounded Hagåtña with the intent of freeing Hurao and expelling the Spanish. Anticipating the attack, the Spanish had transformed the church and mission into a fort, with canons and towers set up. Chamorros, seeing they had the advantage, blockaded the Spanish for a week, surrounding Hagåtña with trenches and emerging from them day and night to mock the Spanish and hurl flaming projectiles in attempt to set fire to their fortification and smoke them out.
It seemed that the Spanish were doomed to eventually be overrun, but Mother Nature intervened to save the Spanish. A terrible typhoon hit the island on Sept. 18, destroying most of the houses in Hagåtña and knocking down all the trees.
The Chamorros, feeling desperate now that their homes and much of their food supply had been wiped out, mounted a full-scale assault on the Spanish, hoping that they would not put up much of a fight. The Spanish had weathered the storm fine and were able to fight off the weary Chamorros. The Spanish freed Hurao, hoping it would appease the Chamorros and end the battle. The Chamorros instead attacked again, this time laying siege to the Spanish for nearly two weeks.
Once again, it seemed as if Chamorros might prevail and eradicate the invaders, but the Spanish in a bold move took the fight to the Chamorros in the trenches. Unprepared for the offensive, the Chamorro lines quickly broke and Hurao’s army was scattered.
This was the first of three large-scale conflicts which took place during what we today call the Chamorro-Spanish Wars, which lasted for close to 30 years and were fought throughout the Mariana Islands. These battles were both tragic and sometimes epic. They changed the fate of this island and the Chamorro people, in ways far more profoundly than 9.11.2001.
MICHAEL LUJAN BEVACQUA
Mangilao, Guam
