The Battle of Manila was the land battle between the United States and Spain during the Spanish-American War, not to be confused with the naval Battle of Manila Bay. Many believe the battle was fought only to keep the city from being captured by Filipino Insurgents under Emilio Aguinaldo.
Background
Ever since the American victory at the Battle of Manila Bay over 4 months earlier, the U.S. navy under George Dewey had blockaded the ciy 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. Two more waves of reinforcements were to leave in the following weeks under the command of Brigadier Generals Francis V. Greene and Arthur MacArthur. By June 27 all the forces had departed for the Philippines along with General Merritt and his staff. Emilio Aguinald had assembled a force of roughly 10,000 Filipino Insurgents that waited outside the city. The 15,000 Spanish defenders under General Fermin Juadenes greatly feared an attack by the Insurgents because they feared the Filipinos would deal mercilessly with them in the instance the city fell to Aguinaldo alone. Dewey had managed to keep Aguinaldo from attacking the city until Merritt arrived.
The Battle
Preparations
At the end of July when all the U.S. forces had landed in the Philippines, Merritt organized the force into one division (interestingly enough named the 2nd Division) commanded by General Anderson. General MacArthur commanded it's 1st Brigade and General Greene commanded it's 2nd Brigade. Merritt began making plans with Dewey regarding the capture the city. The two had purposefully left Aguinaldo out of any of the plans and preparations even though his insurgents would double the total ground forces. The U.S. ground forces began moving up from the south and digging trenches around the city. Aguinaldo's insurgents had control to the east of the city.
Initial Fighting
On July 25 as troops were digging trenches the Spanish began to fire upon their expected position. The Americans began to return the fire and the engagement began to escalate until 10 soldiers were dead. In the following days Spanish fire from withing Manila's defenses continued to cause casualties. Dewey explained to General Greene that "it is better to suffer few casualties in the trenches than it would be to suffere a lot in a premature attack". He still let Greene know he would open fire on the Spanish defenses if Greene gave the order.
The Attack
On August 13 the day after the peace protocol had been signed MacArthur's brigade began to advance against the city's redoubts. Greene's brigade advanced to the west of MacArthur along the shoreline. Dewey's gunboats pounded Fort San Agustín from the bay, but when Greene's troops reached the fort they found it abandoned and raised the American flag over it. When Dewey's fleet ceased it bombardment, MacArthur advanced against the Spanish blockhouses gaurding the city and met stiff resistence. The Americans returned the fire. Up to this point Aguinaldo's insurgents had been unaware of the American attack. When they heard the firing from MacArthur's troops they rushed into the battle and caugh the 1st Minnesota Volunteer Regiment in a crossfire. General Greene advanced from the fort, overrunning a barricade and entered the city's promenade. Greene found a Spanish soldier and asked if the city had surrendered yet. The officer did not know and sporadic fightig continued. When Greene saw the rest of the American attack approaching the city's walls he feared that a careless Spanish shot might find it's way into the American columns resulting in devastating retaliation. He therefore ordered the American column to halt at the city's gates, and informed the Spanish to pull back within the city. Nothing happened for several minutes, then the Spanish raised the white flag. Greene road into the city with representatives from the navy and the army to negatiate the surrender and sent an artillery battery to the east side of the city to blovk the insurgents from entering. The next day, Merritt and Juadenes met to discuss the formal terms of surrender.
Surrender
On August 14 Merritt and Juadenes agreed upon the surrender of all Spanish forces in the Philippines with full military honors. Aguinaldo had once again been intentionally left out of the negotiations, and the U.S. forces took exclusive control of the city, with Merritt as military governor. Merritt and Dewey were unsure of the extent they should carry their exclusion of Aguinaldo from control of the city. Washington sent an immediate reply that there should be no joint occupation of the city with the insurgents. General Elwell S. Otis, the new commander of the VIII Corps set up a perimeter and ordered all insurgent forces to vacate the city.
Staged Battle
After the war speculation and controversy arose when many believed the battle had been intended as a bloodless contest between the U.S. and Spain. Juadenes had agreed to surrender the city but not without a fight. The Spanish wanted to save themselves the humility and surrender after showing some resistance to the Americans. Another major reason why Juadenes was anxious to surrender to the Americans was so his army did not fall to the insurgents. It had been the fear of Juadenes all along that if his army fell to the insurgents they would be dealt with mercilessly. He knew that surrendering to the U.S. would provide him with the protection to to a prisoner of war. The U.S. also wanted to keep the city from control of Aguinaldo very much. With a staged battle both sides felt the city would be able to fall to the U.S. without the insurgents being involved. However with Aguinaldo being left out he wasn't aware of the plans and therefore when he heard the gunfight he rushed his insurgents into the fight catching both sides in their fire. In the end the battle was not bloodless. About 21 Americans lost their lives and around 100 were wounded. On the other hand the Spanish were able to honorably surrender and the insurgents were kept out of the city.
Aftermath
The fall of Manila brought about the end of the Spanish-American War in the Philippines for all practical purposes. Merritt and Dewey finally recieved word of the peace protocol on August 16. Fighting in other areas in the Pacific continued as the commanders were unaware of protocol. The Spanish on Wake Island also unaware of the protocol surrendered to the U.S. navy on January 17, 1899. The war with Spain was over but another war had been sparked. The Filipinos angered at U.S. control in the Philippines turned and in the following year attacked U.S forces in the second Battle of Manila (1899), beginning the Philippine-American War.
See Also
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