It was a short land engagement between the United States and Spain at the end of the Spanish

American War and the Philippine Revolution.

It battle was jointly planned by the opposing Spanish and American forces to keep the city from
falling to the Philippine Revolutionary Army under President General Emilio Aguinaldo.

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 Eighth Army Corps, dubbed the Philippine
Expeditionary Force, under the command of Major General Wesley Merritt.

May 161898
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The vanguard of the force left San Francisco under the command of Brigadier
General Thomas M. Anderson.

Merritt, on the same day, asked for information concerning the strength of the Spanish in
the Philippines.

By mid-June
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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.[5]

The first contingent of American troops arrived in Cavite on June 30.

The second under General Francis V. Greene on 17 July

Third under General Arthur MacArthur on 30 July.[6] By this time, some 12,000 U.S. troops had
landed in the Philippines.

Aguinaldo had presented surrender terms to Spanish Governor General Basilio Augustn

June 16, 1898

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warships departed Spain to lift the siege, but they altered course for Cuba where a
Spanish fleet was imperiled by the U.S. Navy.

August 4, 1898
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Dewey and Merritt gave Jaudenes 48 hours to surrender

The plan agreed to was that Dewey would begin a bombardment at 09:00 on 13
August, shelling only Fort San Antonio Abad, a decrepit structure on the southern
outskirts of Manila, and the impregnable walls of Intramuros.

On August 13,1898
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Dewey began his bombardment as scheduled.

General Greene's brigade pushed rapidly through Malate and over the bridges to
occupy Binondo and San Miguel.

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, was sent ashore to communicate with the CaptainGeneral.

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. 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.

The fall of Manila brought about the end of the Spanish-American War in the Philippines.

August 16
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Captain Henry Glass of the armored cruiser USS Charleston

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Merritt and Dewey finally received word of the peace protocol.

had accepted the surrender of Guam on June 20, 1898, while en route to Manila

Captain E.D. Taussig of the gunboat USS Bennington

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claimed Wake Island for the U.S. on January 17, 1899.

The Americans established a Military Government in the Philippines after the surrender of Manila

March 2, 1901
o

The military Government in the Philippines ended when United States Congress enacted
the Army Appropriations Act.

Governor General Diego del Rios

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The last Governor General in the Philippines

August 28, 1898

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Gov. Gen Del Rios transferred his headquarters in Iloilo and took command of the
Spanish forces.

General Martin Del Gado

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He forced Gen. Del Rios to leave Iloilo on Dec. 24, 1898.

Siege of Baler
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from July 1, 1898 to June 2, 1899, was a battle of the Philippine Revolution and
concurrently the Spanish-American War and the Philippine-American War.

Filipino revolutionaries laid siege to a fortified church manned by colonial Spanish troops
in the town of Baler, Philippines for 11 months, or 337 days.

Sept. 1897
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The Spanish garrisoned Baler with fifty cazadores under Lt. Jose Mota, to prevent
Aguinaldo from receiving smuggled arms.

on the night of Oct. 4

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Mota's forces were attacked by Novicio's men, killing Lt. Mota and six other Spaniards,
wounding several and capturing 30 Mauser rifles.

Baler was garrisoned by a fifty-man detachment of the 2nd Expeditionary

Battalion "Cazadores" of Philippines, under Captain Enrique de las Morenas y Foss, as the
Principle district political-military governor.

June 1, 1898
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Morenas began work to dig a well, stock food supplies and ammunition and to fortify the
church compound of San Lus de Tolosa in Baler's town square against a possible
attack. The church was the only stone building in the area.

June 26, it was noticed that the town residents were leaving.

On the night of the 30th, 800 Filipino troops under Teodorico Luna (A relative of the painter Juan
Luna) attacked, and the garrison fell back to the church

The town priest, Father Candido Gomez Carreo, also quartered himself in the church.

July 8
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The Revolutionary Commander, Cirilo Gomez Ortiz, offered a suspension of hostilities

until nightfall, which was accepted.

On July 18
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Calixto Villacorta took command of the Filipinos. He also sent a warning letter, which
was rebuffed.

The first Spaniard to die was Father Gomez Carreo.

In September, Lt. Alonso, and then in Nov., Captain Las Morenas succombed to beriberi.

Command fell to Lt. Saturnino Martin Cerezo when Las Morenas died in December.

By mid-November, Villacorta, under a flag of truce, left newspapers on the church steps that told
of Spain's planned departure from the Philippines and that the Spanish-American conflict was
over.

Nov. 22 1898
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145 days had elapsed since the siege began, during which 14 Spanish soldiers died of
disease.

Of the thirty-eight remaining troops, only twenty-three were effective, with the rest being
sick.

The New Year brought more Spanish emissaries to Baler but again Martin Cerezo turned them
away.

In April, the Americans intervened when Commander Charles S. Sperry, commanding the USS
Yorktown, attempted to rescue the Spanish. By this time, the Philippines had been at war with
the United States since February.

May 8, Filipino artillery shelling hit an improvised cell that held three Spaniards who had
attempted to desert earlier in the siege. One of them, Alcaide Bayona, ran out and joined the
Filipinos.

May 28, 1899, there was yet another attempt to get Martin Cerezo to surrender. Again, another
Spanish officer, Lt. Col. Cristobal Aguilar y Castaneda, appeared under a flag of truce and was
turned away.
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He had brought recent Spanish newspapers, which Cerezo initially dismissed as bogus,
until he read an article concerning a close friend's posting, plans of which only Cerezo
knew, convincing Cerezo the newspapers were genuine and that indeed Spain had lost
the war.

On June 2, 1899, he surrendered to the Filipinos.

September 1
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the survivors, including Martin Cerezo, arrived in Barcelona where they were received
and honored as heroes. Martin-Cerezo later published a memoir, El Sitio de Baler,
where he gave his reasons for holding out:

It would be somewhat difficult for me to explain, principally, I believe through mistrust and
obstinacy. Then also on account of a certain kind of auto-suggestion that we ought not for
any reason surrender because of national enthusiasm, without doubt influenced by the
attractive illusion of glory and on account of the suffering and treasury of sacrifice and
heroism and that by surrender, we would be putting an unworthy end to it all.

Of the fifty men who entered the church, around thirty survived the 11-month siege. Fourteen
men died from disease. Only two men died from wounds. There were four deserters from the
garrison. Two men were imprisoned for helping in the desertion of another (Alcaide), and
executed on orders of Martin Cerezo.

The survivors were known as "The Last Ones of the Philippines" (Spanish: Los ltimos de
Filipinas; Filipino: Ang Pnakahul Mul sa Pilipinas). A century after their return, the modern-day
Spanish government paid homage to them.

June 30, 1899

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The Philippine- Spanish Friendship Day according to Republic Act 9087.