Battle of Manila Bay

“ Christmas evening, we were informed that Manila had been declared an "open city." U.S. troops were actively moving toward Bataan and Corregidor. We also heard that seven thousand Jap forces had made a landing at Lamon Bay, east of Manila. Major General George Parker's South Luzon Forces were opposing the landing. It was estimated that the Japanese had an invasion force of more than 150,000 men in the Philippines. Rumors were that "Help is on the Way." ”

“ The fighting was so severe and the exposure to sun so disastrous that about the beginning of June he had to send back to Manila 500 wounded and heat-stricken men. It was found impossible to follow up the ever-retreating insurgents, who again escaped still farther north. Along the Manila Bay shore detachments of insurgents passed from time to time, driving women and children before them, so that the Americans would not care to fire on them. ”

“ What is a walled city with a moat to guns that will carry for miles?”
“I do not doubt, General Saguanaldo,” returned the American admiral as he sat on deck of his flag ship in the harbor of Manila, faultlessly garbed as though for a party, talking to the Filipino insurgent after the battle that had spread his name around the globe, “I do not doubt my ability to reduce the Spanish works, but I was looking to the future. Should I destroy so much private property as would be involved in bombarding Manila I would make enemies of the owners, who would give us trouble in days to come. ”

“ The fleet could have bombarded the citadel and the fortifications, but as no land force was at hand to garrison the place, and the foreign consuls advised against it from fear of revengeful action of the insurgents, the Admiral refrained. Instead, he established a strict blockade of the port, while the Filipinos were besieging the city on the land side. He destroyed six batteries at the entrance of the bay, and occupied Cavité, where he established hospitals in which the sick and wounded Spaniards were protected and cared for. ”

“ So when the news was confirmed that an American fleet, paying no heed to the probability of torpedoes in the channel, had steamed into Manila Bay by night and in a few hours had sunk or destroyed a fleet of nearly equal rating, and then had silenced and captured powerful land batteries—and this without the loss of a ship or a man—"all the world wondered," not merely in the imagination of a poet describing a useless exploit, but in reality, because it recognized a marvelous revolution in the art of war. ”

“ The British delegate, therefore, hastened back to the station, and at 3 p.m. a Spanish gunboat arrived, to their immense relief, and landed 107 marines. Heavy firing continued all that afternoon, inflicting great loss on the rebels, whilst the Spaniards lost one soldier. On March 12 a Spanish cruiser anchored off the Bay of Bolinao; also a merchant steamer put into port bringing the Companyʼs Manila Superintendent with apparatus for communicating with Hong-Kong in case the station were demolished. ”

“ The fugitive ships soon found themselves the centre of the most terrific fire any war vessels had ever endured, with the exception of those at Manila. Big guns and little guns joined in the frightful concert, shot after shot telling, while the response of the Spaniards was little more effective than that of their compatriots in Manila Bay. One man killed on the Brooklyn was the sole loss of life on the American side, while the unfortunate Spaniards were swept down by hundreds. ”

“ One may imagine the consternation in Manila when the boom of those guns rolled in from the bay, for none could mistake its meaning. Women and children ran to the churches and knelt in frenzied prayer; men dashed to and fro, not knowing what to do, while the Spanish soldiers, who had not believed the American ships could ever pass the harbor torpedoes and mines, were in a wild panic when they learned that the seemingly impossible had been done. To add to the terror, rumors spread that the ferocious natives were gathering at the rear of the city to rush in and plunder and kill. ”

“ The American fleet was well supplied with coal from British vessels. The Manila-Dagúpan Railway was in working order, and bringing supplies into the city. The Spanish authorities issued a decree regulating the price of meat and other commodities. American vessels made occasional trips outside the Bay, and brought in captive sailing-vessels. Neutral passenger-steamers were allowed to take away refugees other than Spanish subjects. The rebels outside Manila were very active in the work of burning and pillaging churches and other property. Streams of smoke were daily seen rising from the valleys. ”

“ We therefore, submit, without prejudice to the high sentiments of honor and duty which your excellency entertains, that surrounded on every side as you are by a constantly increasing force, with a powerful fleet in your front and deprived of all prospect of reinforcement and assistance, a most useless sacrifice of life would result in the event of an attack, and therefore every consideration of humanity makes it imperative that you should not subject your city to the horrors of a bombardment. Accordingly, we demand the surrender of the city of Manila and the Spanish forces under your command. ”

“ The chief distinction, as a military achievement, of the victory of Manila bay, is that the American fleet, unaided by an army, attacked a force composed of ships supported by powerful shore defenses, together with submarine mines and torpedoes, and, in defiance of these open and hidden dangers in addition to the power of the enemy's fleet, sailed in, and not only destroyed or captured all the opposing vessels, but captured or silenced the shore batteries. ”

“ Urgent request is made that the city of Manila be strongly fortified; this will inspire respect among their neighbors, and keep in awe the natives and the Chinese, who are liable at any time to revolt. Luzón is menaced with invasion by the Japanese, Malays, and English; and forts should be erected at various points for its defense. The coasts should be protected against pirates by a small fleet of light, swift vessels. It must be understood that no confidence can be placed in the natives, who kill Spaniards at every opportunity. ”

“ A typhoon carried his fleet far south into the China Sea, but he steered again for Luzon and three weeks later was in sight of Corregidor Island.
He sailed down Manila Bay and drew up his fleet in front of the villages on the Pasig River, the present site of Manila. On the shore the people gathered in terror, for all the warriors had gone to fight the invading army, and only old men and women and children remained in the villages. ”

“ The Southwest Area, which embraced the region from Manila to Singapore, was ordered to “maintain security of resources areas, hold vital sectors for their defense, and place emphasis on protection for fleet anchorages.” Thus the Japanese planned to restrict battle “to the homeland and to the island chain which protected the last links” of the empire with the south. The forces in the Japanese home islands, the Ryukyu chain, Formosa, and the Philippine Islands were told to take “all measures to expedite the establishment of conditions to cope with decisive battle. ”

“ Major-General Merritt, Manila, Philippine Islands:—The President directs that there must be no joint-occupation with the insurgents.
The United States is in the possession of Manila city, Manila bay and harbor, and must preserve the peace and protect persons and property within the territory occupied by their military and naval forces.
The insurgents and all others must recognize the military occupation and authority of the United States and the cessation of hostilities proclaimed by the President. ”

“ On the coasts, and while a flotilla of gun-boats is maintained at an expense of upwards of half a million of dollars annually, there is no part safe from the attacks of the Malay pirates from Borneo, Sooloo, and Mindanao. These make regular cruises to procure slaves, and have even not unfrequently carried them off, not only from the bay of Manila,25 but even from within gun-shot of its ramparts! The very soldiers and sailors sent for their protection plunder them. ”

“ It is not to be conceived of that any American would have sanctioned the surrender of Manila to the insurgents. Our obligations to other nations and to the friendly Filipinos and to ourselves and our flag demanded that force should be met by force. Whatever the future of the Philippines may be, there is no course open to us now except the prosecution of the war until the insurgents are reduced to submission. ”

“ Greater damages were feared if they did not immediately summon all their forces, in order to deprive the enemy of their strength and hobble their feet. In order to do that the governor sent out his sargento-mayor, Don Juan de Arceo, with two hundred infantrymen, eighty cavalrymen, one hundred Pampangos, and four hundred Tagal Indians, all with firearms, and two pieces of cannon. They were being prepared with all possible rapidity in Manila, when the enemy began to march toward San Pedro, the house of the novitiate of the Society of Jesus, doing all the harm possible along the way. ”

“ Further, he also cast five large pieces of artillery, with which, and with the artillery in the forts, he made ready and equipped five ships with high free-board, and three galleys, and manned them with the most valiant of the soldiers and citizens, among all of them more than one thousand men being Spaniards alone. He found the enemy very careless, his ships filled with wealth from many rich vessels that they had pillaged, belonging to the Chinese which were coming to Manila, laden with the merchandise that came yearly. ”

“ This bay has been the scene of history-making since the sixteenth century. Soon after the flotilla of Legaspi landed the first Spanish settlers on the crescent beach around Manila Bay, the little garrison was put to test by the invasion of the Chinese pirate, Li Ma Hong. The memory of that brave defense in which the Spaniards routed the Mongolian invader, even the disaster of that first of May can never drown. In 1582 the little fleet put out against the Japanese corsair, Taifusa, and returned victorious. In 1610 the fleet of the Dutch pirates was destroyed off Mariveles. ”

“ Limahon sends four hundred soldiers as a vanguard to burn the city of Manila, who are resisted by our men. Chapter V. Notwithstanding all the trouble caused them by the wind, the four hundred Chinese succeeded in reaching land a league away from the city at eight o'clock on the morning of St. Andrew's day. Leaving their boats at this point, they disembarked and immediately began their march in battle-array with the utmost rapidity, placing in the fore part two hundred arquebusiers, and immediately behind these the other two hundred, who were pikemen. ”

“ President, what caused this last battle of Manila? The reports which we receive through our newspapers all come from American sources: they charge that the Filipinos wantonly attacked the American army, and that that army had a right to defend itself, which nobody assumes to deny. ”

“ Both Spaniards, and insurgents were thus to have no share in the Government. The Americans were conquerors; the Spaniards, as the conquered, had lost all right to a voice in public affairs. There was, however, some doubt on the part of the American commands as to the status of the insurgents; who, though they had but little part in the capture of Manila, had done effective work in other parts of Luzon, having driven the common enemy step by step to the gates of the capital. The revolution, too, was spreading, and new complications arose every day. ”

“ Coming abreast of rock-ribbed Alcatraz, still moving at less than half speed, the flagship was greeted by the thunder of the parting salute, and the commanding general, standing with his staff upon the bridge, doffed his cap and bared his handsome head in acknowledgment.
"The next guns we're apt to hear will be the Spaniard's at Manila, and shotted guns instead of blanks," said a staff officer to the tall, fair-haired aide-de-camp. "What's the matter, Stuyvesant? Beginning to feel wabbly already? There's no sea here to speak of." ”

“ He left a small detachment in the province to overawe those who might be ill disposed, and the rest of the troops were embarked for Cavite, as accounts had been received that the English had arrived with a squadron at Batavia, and the Alcalde of Ylocos reported, that two ships and two smaller vessels had been seen on that coast, supposed to be enemies. The Governor immediately put Manila into a state of defence, repairing the [86] fortifications, purchasing arms from strangers, and casting cannon. ”

“ There are persistent rumours that it is the desire of Governor-General Augusti to surrender Manila to the [pg 336] Americans, but the command of the Spanish troops is practically held by the senior colonel of artillery, who opposes surrender.
“The rebels have captured the water-works beyond Santa Mesa, which supplied Manila, and the Spanish fear that their water will be cut off.
“The rebels have also captured the strongly fortified positions of San Juan and Delmonte, where the Spaniards were to make their last stand if Manila capitulated. The city is still surrounded by insurgents. ”