The Battle of Manila (Filipino: Labanan sa Maynila; ), the first and largest battle of the Philippine–American War, was fought on February 4–5, 1899, between 19,000 American and 15,000 Philippine Revolutionary Army soldiers. Armed conflict erupted when American troops, tasked with preventing the Filipino encampment from moving closer, fired on a nearby group. Philippine President Emilio Aguinaldo attempted to broker a ceasefire, but American General Elwell Stephen Otis rejected it, and fighting escalated the next day. It ended in an American victory, although minor skirmishes continued for several days afterward.
Order of battle
Filipino Philippine Republican Army – General Emilio Aguinaldo Chief-of-Operations: General Antonio Luna
Zone Commander/s Known Units First Zone (South of Manila, with its left flank resting against Manila Bay, occupying the towns of Bacoor, Las Piñas, Palañag, Pineda, and Malate.)General Mariano Noriel Colonel Juan Cailles 2nd Noveleta Battalion 1st Salinas Battalion 5th Malabon Battalion Second Zone (Next to the First Zone, with its right flank resting against the Pasig River, occupying the towns of San Pedro de Macati, Pateros, Taguig, Pasig, and Santa Ana.)General Pio del Pilar Colonel Luciano San Miguel Pío del Pilar Brigade Third Zone (Directly north of the Second Zone, occupying the towns of San Felipe Neri, San Juan del Monte, Pandacan, San Francisco del Monte, San Mateo, Montalban, and Mariquina.)General Artemio Ricarte Colonel Hermogenes Bautista Lieutenant Colonel Antonio Montenegro Morong Battalion Fourth Zone (North of Manila, with its right flank resting against Manila Bay, occupying the towns of Caloocan, Novaliches, Malabon, and Navotas.)General Pantaleon GarciaGeneral Pantaleon Garcia was the only high-ranking Filipino officer at his post in Maypajo, north of Manila, on the eve of the war. Colonel Cipriano Pacheco Lieutenant Colonel Estevan San Juan Pampanga Battalion Manila Battalion Bulacan Battalion Trias Battalion Igorot sandatahanes
U.S. Eighth Army Corps – Major General Elwell S. Otis Provost Marshal: Brigadier General Robert P. Hughes Judge Advocate General: Lieutenant Colonel Enoch Crowder Chief of Engineers: Major James Franklin Bell
Division Brigade Regiments and OthersFirst Division
Brigadier General Thomas M. Anderson 1st Brigade
Brigadier General Charles King 1st Wyoming Regiment (one battalion): Major Frank M. Foote 1st Idaho Regiment: Major Daniel W. Figgins 1st Washington Regiment: Colonel John H. Wholley 1st California Regiment: Colonel James Francis Smith 2nd Brigade
Brigadier General Samuel Ovenshine 4th U.S. Cavalry Regiment (six troops attached as infantry to 1st North Dakota) 1st North Dakota Regiment: Lieutenant Colonel William C. Treumann 14th U.S. Infantry Regiment: Major Carroll H. Potter Artillery 6th U.S. Artillery, Light Battery D: Captain Alexander B. Dyer Jr. 6th U.S. Artillery, Light Battery G: Lieutenant Harry L. Hawthorne Astor Battery: Lieutenant Peyton C. March U.S. Engineers (Company A serving as infantry): Lieutenant William G. Haan, 3rd U.S. ArtillerySecond Division
Major General Arthur MacArthur 1st Brigade
Brigadier General Harrison Gray Otis 20th Kansas Regiment: Colonel Frederick Funston 3rd U.S. Artillery Regiment: Major William A. Kobbé 1st Montana Regiment: Colonel Harry C. Kessler 10th Pennsylvania Regiment: Colonel Alexander L. Hawkins 2nd Brigade
Brigadier General Irving Hale 1st South Dakota Regiment: Colonel Alfred S. Frost 1st Colorado Regiment: Colonel Henry B. McCoy 1st Nebraska Regiment: Colonel John M. Stotsenburg Artillery Utah Light Artillery: Major Richard W. Young
Disposition of forces
Filipino forces After the surrender of Manila to American forces by the Spanish in 1898, General Aguinaldo demanded the occupation of a line of blockhouses on the Zapote Line, which had been the Spanish defensive perimeter. General Otis initially refused this but later said that he would not object unless overruled by higher authority.. It was estimated at the time that about 20,000 Filipino troops were surrounding Manila, with their distribution and exact composition only partially known..
Many Filipino commanders were on weekend furlough: General Antonio Luna was visiting family in San Fernando, Pampanga, General Mariano Noriel was in Parañaque preparing for his wedding, and General Artemio Ricarte and Col. Luciano San Miguel were in Malolos meeting with President Emilio Aguinaldo. As a result, the Filipino soldiers were mostly leaderless, with General Pantaleon Garcia being the only commander at his post in Maypajo, north of Manila.
American forces U.S. Army forces numbered some 800 officers and 20,000 enlisted men. Of these, the Army deployed some 8,000 in Manila and 11,000 in a defensive line inside the Zapote line. The remaining American troops were in Cavite or in transports off Iloilo..
First shots
Sources generally agree that the first shots were fired by Private William Walter Grayson (1876, England – 1941, San Francisco), an Englishman who had migrated to Nebraska with his parents . Having worked as a hostler, he had enlisted as a volunteer soldier in Lincoln, Nebraska, in May 1898, a month after the Spanish–American War erupted, and had deployed with his unit to the Philippines in June 1898.. Grayson's unit, the First Nebraska Volunteer Infantry under Colonel John M. Stotsenburg, had been encamped in Santa Mesa, Manila, since December 5, 1898.. During their encampment, there had been incidents on and around the San Juan Bridge, located just to the east of their encampment area., .
On the morning of February 4, Stotsenburg said, "Your orders are to hold the village. If any armed men come into our lines order them out. If they persist in coming, summon enough men to arrest them. In case an advance in force is made, fall back to the pipeline outpost and resist the occupation of the village by all means in your power, calling on these headquarters for assistance.". In a report later that day, Lt. Burt D. Wheedon wrote, "On the morning of February 4 the insurgents ordered our men to move out of town (Santol), and upon their refusal to do so the former said that they would bring a body of men and drive them back when night came." Lt. Wheedon took charge of an outpost on Santol road at seven in the evening and, at 7:30, gave orders saying, "No armed insurgents to enter the town or vicinity ... Halt all armed persons who attempted to advance from the direction of the insurgents' lines which lie between blockhouses 6 and 7 and the San Juan Bridge and order them back to their lines. If they refused to go, arrest them if possible, or if this was impossible, fire upon them... Patrol each of the roads leading to Blockhouses 6 and 7 for 100 yards every half hour.", . (Blockhouse 6 was located on the city line just southeast of what is now Santol Street. Blockhouse 7 was about north-northeast of a point where the water pipe crossed Santol road.).
On the evening of February 4, Private William W. Grayson fired the first shot of the Philippine-American War. A study by Ronnie Miravite Casalmir places this event at the corner of Sociego Street and Tomas Arguelles Street, not at Sociego-Silencio where the marker is erroneously located. The study debunks the previous findings of Dr. Benito Legarda which was the basis for the erroneous placement of the marker at Sociego-Silencio. According to Ronnie Miravite Casalmir, the smoking gun for the Sociego-Arguelles corner is the presence of Blockhouse 7 in the background of Grayson's reenactment photo. The orientation of this Blockhouse 7 image lines up with the corner of Sociego and Arguelles when compared with the known photo of Blockhouse 7 taken from the same direction. In addition, the distance estimate of Lieut. Whedon placed the 100-yard distance from Santol at Sociego-Arguelles, not Sociego-Silencio. This meant that when Lieut. Whedon ordered the detachment at Santol to patrol 100 yards, he meant them to patrol all the way to Sociego-Arguelles. Col. Stotsenburg corroborated Lieut. Whedon's distance estimate. Prof. Ambeth R. Ocampo calls the evidence presented by Ronnie Miravite Casalmir as new and compelling. Prof. Ocampo agrees that this evidence shows that the marker should be moved one block away, from Sociego-Silencio to Sociego-Arguelles. Maj. Lillian A. Pfluke (Ret.), West Point Class of 1980, and founder of the American War Memorials Overseas Inc. also agrees and has a note on their U.S. War Memorials website that the proper placement of the marker should be at the adjoining intersection of Sociego Street and Arguelles Street where the incident actually occurred.
At about 8:30 pm on February 4, 1899, Grayson, along with Private Orville Miller and one other man, advanced from Santol towards Blockhouse 7, suddenly encountering four armed men from the Morong Battalion after about five minutes of patrolling. According to Grayson's account, he and Miller called "Halt!" and, when the four men responded by cocking their rifles, they fired at them and retreated to Santol. Personal accounts by Grayson claim that he "dropped" two and Miller one. Neither American nor Filipino official reports mention anyone being hit,. but these and other details of Grayson's account were confirmed in a conterminous letter written home by another American soldier. The skirmish is credited for beginning the Battle of Manila and the Philippine–American War.
Worcester writes that General Otis' account of the opening of active hostilities was as follows:
Grayson later recounted the first shot:
This event began the Battle of Manila. On August 23, 1899, he was honorably discharged.
Other sources name the two specific U.S. soldiers involved in the first exchange of fire as Privates William Grayson and Orville Miller of the Nebraska Volunteers.,
After the conclusion of the war, after analyzing captured insurgent papers, Major J. R. M. Taylor wrote, in part,
Reactions of Aguinaldo and Otis
Aguinaldo was away in Malolos when the conflict started on the 4th. That same night, a Filipino captain in Manila wired him in Malolos, stating that the Americans had started the hostilities. Aguinaldo wanted to avoid open conflict with the Americans while maintaining his leadership position with his nationalist followers. The next day (February 5), Aguinaldo sent an emissary to General Otis to mediate, saying, "the firing on our side the night before had been against my order.".
Otis, who was then confident that a military campaign against Aguinaldo would be swift, was a veteran of the American Indian Wars and reacted much as he might have to his Sioux opponents decades before: "Fighting having begun, must go on to the grim end.".
Aguinaldo then reassured his followers with a pledge to fight if forced by the Americans, whom he had come to fear as new oppressors come to replace the Spanish.
Battle Caught off guard by the sudden outburst, the Filipinos remained in their trenches and exchanged fire with the Americans. A Filipino battalion mounted a charge against the 3rd U.S. Artillery, routed a company of American soldiers, and succeeded in capturing two artillery pieces for a little while. The Filipino troops had been caught unprepared and leaderless, as their generals had gone home to their families for the weekend. The American soldiers, in contrast, were ready and needed only to follow previously prepared planning. The next day, Brigadier General Arthur MacArthur ordered an American advance.When Filipino officers did arrive on the field, many influential leaders tried to stop the fighting. Aguinaldo sent emissaries to negotiate a cease-fire. But Otis and MacArthur thought the crisis should be brought to a head and refused to negotiate.