Today in Manhunting History -- August 13, 1898: The "Battle" of Manilla

As cooperation between U.S. forces and Emilio Aguinaldo's forces broke down during the summer of 1898, the siege of Manila became two separate campaigns, with both Americans and Filipinos conducting their own operations while ostensibly cooperating. Three times Aguinaldo presented the Spanish Governor General terms for surrender. Each time, however, Governor Jaudenes refused, desperately clinging to the hope of reinforcements from the mother country. On August 9, Dewey and Merrittt requested the surrender of the Manila garrison as well, but were refused as a matter of honor. However, the Spanish recognized the futility of their position. Cut off from reinforcements, starving, threatened by the guns of Dewey’s fleet, and surrounded by approximately 35,000 combined hostile forces, the Spanish had no chance of victory. The question quickly evolved from how the Spanish could win to how they could appear gallant in defeat while simultaneously preventing atrocities if the Filipino insurgents broke into the city. The Spanish commander resolved this impasse by agreeing to surrender after token resistance if the Americans would keep the Filipinos out. Consequently, after a sham battle that contained enough gunfire and casualties to satisfy both Spanish and American honor, the Spanish commander surrendered his sword to General Merritt on August 13.

Unaware of the understanding between the Spanish and the Americans, Filipino forces joined in the attack and captured several Manila suburbs. The Americans turned them back, and several brief skirmishes erupted. Filipino soldiers angrily hovered at the edge of the front line, angry that the United States. had denied them the prize they had fought for over two years to obtain. As darkness fell over the city, angry Filipinos periodically fired shots into the U.S. lines and threatened to attack. The explosive situation was defused only by a tropical storm that raged most of the night and made the roads in and out of the capital impassable. Aguinaldo’s forces retreated to the Spanish outer defense network, reversing its direction so that the Filipinos had the Americans trapped inside the city. U.S. forces established outposts 200 yards inside the old line of Spanish blockhouses, with the space in between the armies quickly becoming a no-man’s-land where any trespasser could easily be shot. In effect, a second siege of Manila had begun, putting Aguinaldo and the United States on a collision course.