Battle of Manila (1898)

For the Philippine-American War battle of the same name, see Battle of Manila (1899).

Battle of Manila
Part of the Spanish-American War
American troops raising the flag at Fort San Antonio De Abad, Malate, Manila
Date 25 July – 13 August 1898 Location Manila, Philippines Result Filipino/American victory
Belligerents
Philippine Republic United States	Kingdom of Spain
Commanders and leaders
Emilio Aguinaldo Wesley Merritt George Dewey Arthur MacArthur, Jr.	Fermin Jáudenes
Strength
Filipinos: 30,000 United States: 10,700	Spain: 8,300 Filipinos: 4,700
Casualties and losses
17 killed 105 wounded	150 killed or wounded

The Battle of Manila was a short land engagement between the United States and Spain at the end of the Spanish-American War, which occurred a couple of months after the pivotal American victory during the naval Battle of Manila Bay. The battle was jointly planned by the opposing Spanish and American forces to keep the city from falling to the large army of Filipinos under Emilio Aguinaldo.

Background

After the American victory in Manila Bay over two months earlier, the U.S. Navy, under Admiral George Dewey, had blockaded the city of Manila and waited for land forces to arrive. The United States reacted by organizing the VIII Corps, dubbed the Philippine Expeditionary Force under the command of Major General Wesley Merritt. In May, the vanguard of the force left San Francisco under the command of Brigadier General Thomas M. Anderson. By mid-June, some 30,000 Filipino troops under general Antonio Luna had dug fourteen miles of trenches around Manila. Filipino troops, seizing control of Manila's only pumping station, cut off the water supply to the city.

The first contingent of American troops arrived in Cavite on June 30, the second under General Frank V. Greene on 17 July, and the third under General Arthur MacArthur on 30 July. By this time, some 12,000 U.S. troops had landed in the Philippines.

Aguinaldo had presented surrender terms to Spanish Governor General Basilio Augustín, who had refused them. On 16 June, warships departed Spain to lift the siege, but they altered course for Cuba where a Spanish fleet was imperiled by the U.S. Navy. Life in Intramuros, where the normal population of about ten thousand had swelled to about seventy thousand, had become unbearable. Realizing that it was only a matter of time before the city fell, and fearing vengeance and looting if the city fell to the Filipinos, Governor Augustín had suggested to Dewey that the city be surrendered to the Americans after a sham battle. Dewey had initially rejected the suggestion because he lacked the troops to block Filipino forces but, Merritt's troops now being available, he sent a message to Fermin Jáudenes, Augustín's replacement, agreeing to the charade.

Merritt was eager to seize the city, but Dewey stalled while maneuvering to work out a bloodless solution with Jaudenes. On 4 August, Dewey and Merritt gave Jaudenes 48 hours to surrender; later extending the deadline by five days when it expired. Covert negotiations continued, with the details of the mock battle being arranged on 10 August. The plan agreed to was that Dewey would begin a bombardment at 09:00 on 13 August, shelling only Fort San Antonio de Abad, a decrepit structure on the southern outskirts of Manila, and the impregnable walls of Intramuros. Simultaneously, Spanish forces would withdraw, Filipino forces would be checked, and U.S. forces would advance. Once a sufficient show of battle had been made, Dewey would hoist the international surrender signal, "DWHB", whereupon the Spanish would hoist a white flag and Manila would be formally surrendered to U.S. forces.

Battle

"Raising the American flag over Fort Santiago, Manila, on the evening of August 13, 1898."

On August 13, with American commanders unaware that a peace protocol had been signed between Spain and the U.S. the previous day, Dewey began his bombardment as scheduled. Dewey had directed his ship captains to spare Manila any serious damage but gunners on one ship, unaware of the negotiated arrangements, scored several direct hits before its captain was able to cease firing and withdraw from the line.

General Greene's brigade pushed rapidly through Malate and over the bridges to occupy Binondo and San Miguel. General MacArthur, advancing simultaneously on the Pasay road, encountered and overcame resistance at the blockhouses, trenches, and woods in his front, advanced and held the bridges and the town of Malate. This placed Manila in American possession, except for Intramuros. Shortly after entering Malate, U.S. troops observed a white flag displayed on the walls of Intramuros. Lieutenant Colonel C. A. Whittier, United States Volunteers, representing general Merritt, and Lieutenant Brumby, U.S. Navy, representing Admiral Dewey, were sent ashore to communicate with the Captain-General. General Merritt soon personally followed, met with Governor General Jaudenes, and concluded a preliminary agreement of the terms of capitulation.

Though a bloodless sham battle had been planned, Spanish troops had opened fire in a skirmish which left six Americans and forty-nine Spaniards dead when Filipino troops, thinking that the attack was genuine, joined advancing U.S. troops. Except for the unplanned casualties, the battle had gone according to plan; the Spanish had surrendered the city to the Americans, and it had not fallen to the Filipinos.

Aftermath

For all practical purposes, the fall of Manila brought about the end of the Spanish-American War in the Philippines. Merritt and Dewey finally received word of the peace protocol on August 16. Captain Henry Glass of the armored cruiser USS Charleston had accepted the surrender of Guam on June 20, 1898 while en route to Manila, and Captain E.D. Taussig of the gunboat USS Bennington claimed Wake Island for the U.S. on January 17, 1899.

The war with Spain was over, but another war was sparked. Tensions between the Philippine forces under Aguinaldo and the American Expeditionary forces were high. The Filipinos felt betrayed by the Americans. They had looked on the Americans as liberators against Spanish occupation. But it appeared that America simply wanted the Philippines as an American colony. In an incident on February 4, 1899, a U.S. Army private fired on a Filipino guerilla and Filipino forces returned fire. Thus began a second battle for the city. Aguinaldo sent a ranking member of his staff to Ellwell Otis, the U.S. military commander, with the message that the firing had been against his orders. Otis replied, "The fighting, having begun, must go on to the grim end."

See also

• Battles of the Spanish-American War
• Philippine–American War

Bibliography

• Agoncillo, Teodoro A. (1990), History of the Filipino people, Garotech Publishing, ISBN 9789718711064, http://books.google.com/books?id=KjxFOQAACAAJ 
• Blanchard, William H. (1996), Neocolonialism American Style, 1960-2000 (illustrated ed.), Greenwood Publishing Group, ISBN 9780313300134, http://books.google.com/?id=d42R23Jq6SMC 
• Halstead, Murat (1898), "Chapter X. Official History of the Conquest of Manila", The Story of the Philippines and Our New Possessions, Including the Ladrones, Hawaii, Cuba and Porto Rico, pp. 95–110, http://www.gutenberg.org/catalog/world/readfile?pageno=95&fk_files=58428 
• Karnow, Stanley (1990), In our image: America's empire in the Philippines, Random House, Inc., ISBN 9780345328168, http://books.google.com/books?id=z9aC90HHTy8C 
• Sweetman, Jack (2002), American naval history: an illustrated chronology of the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps, 1775-present, Naval Institute Press, ISBN 9781557508676, http://books.google.com/books?id=fAm1Y6gjYtwC 
• Trask, David F. (1996), The war with Spain in 1898, U of Nebraska Press, ISBN 9780803294295, http://books.google.com/books?id=6YtDT1ZQ588C 
• Wolff, Leon (2006), Little Brown Brother, Wolff Productions, ISBN 9781582882093, http://books.google.com/books?id=hHzvx94oiUgC 

Further reading

• Freidel, Frank (2002), The Splendid Little War, Burford Books, ISBN 9781580800938, http://books.google.com/books?id=BWm0uB3cR8kC 

External links

• Home of heroes
• Spanish American War