The Spanish–American War (1898) in real time

[miletus12]

Aug 8, 2022 2:56:12 GMT lordroel said:

Day 111 of the Spanish–American War, August 8th 1898

Puerto Rico

General Brooke's troops advanced to Cayey, Puerto Rico.

Artillery doth have its uses.

Aug 8, 2022 2:56:12 GMT lordroel said:

Puerto Rico: Battle of Fajardo

Just before 11:00, Lt. Atwater thought he saw moving figures in white, on the edge of the woods 250 yards from the "Faro de Las Cabezas de San Juan" (Cape San Juan lighthouse). At 11:45, with moonlight breaking through the clouds, he saw several men in the brush on the edge of the woods. Without giving an alarm, he instructed the lookouts to be on heightened vigilance. As he was heading to the yard gate to order the corporal of the guard and sentry to come inside the light-house, those men came running up and announced they had seen Spanish troops in the road. Almost immediately, a volley of gunfire erupted from the surrounding woods.

Atwater ordered the lighthouse lamp doused as a signal to the three armed ships lying offshore that the light-house was under attack. The cruiser, Cincinnati, the only ship with an operable searchlight, trained it on the hill where the lighthouse sat in order to direct secondary battery gunfire from Cincinnati, Amphitrite and Leyden on the attacking Spanish troops.

At about 12:30am, an errant 6 pound naval shell crashed through the 2 foot thick walls of the parapet, "within touch of six men not one was hurt" when the shell failed to explode. Lt. Atwater immediately ordered the lighthouse lamp relit. At about the same time, gunfire from the Spanish troops ceased and Atwater gave the order to cease firing shortly thereafter. 1,100 shots were fired from the 22 rifles of the navy men in the lighthouse. Lt. Atwater estimated the Spanish force was probably 72 infantry, 24 cavalry, with 2 killed and three wounded, one of them a Spanish lieutenant. The Americans retained control of the lighthouse and suffered no casualties.

Brigadier General Henry, in command of troops from the 6th Massachusetts and 6th Illinois Volunteer Infantries, left Ponce to meet with Schwan's division in Arecibo, Puerto Rico.

To add to this farce; it now appears the American navy was correct even at this late date, that Fajardo would have been quicker than the mess Miles laid on from the south. 

See Maps and photos.


Fajardo harbor. Kind of small and very shallow, but doable.


Fajardo in an expanded view looking west to east. 




One road that ends in a dirt track trail in 1898. Easily blocked *See hill in photo above?) while the landing force builds up. Then a ten-mile push and then a good road to march and wagon train on straight to San Juan.  With the speed and shock action that 4th US Corps demonstrated and with the talented Wilson and the not incompetent Henry as the pushers, this campaign could / should have taken only a week instead of 14 days to wrap up Puerto Rico. 

Come to think of it, if this had been Target 1 and hit immediately in early May instead of Target 2 in late July, I think Bermejo would have sent the recall to Cervera at French Martinique and the Spanish American War would have looked a lot different and maybe less costly to Spain. Or it might have been worse, depending on how foolish the Sagasta government would be about it.  Schley could have staged the Shoot-Ex off San Juan after Miles (More likely Sicard or Crowninshield) held a general court martial on Sampson. 

Well one can dream; can't one?  
   

[lordroel]

Day 112 of the Spanish–American War, August 9th 1898

Puerto Rico: Battle of Coamo

Units of Major General James H. Wilson's U.S. Army column, moving east-northeast from Ponce to Coamo and then north to the heavily concentrated Spanish Army position at Aibonito, encounter heavy resistance in Coamo. Wilson's men are forced to envelope the Spanish from the rear, killing 40 and capturing 170. Wilson suffers no dead, and just six wounded.

Puerto Rico

Captain Barclay, commander of Amphitrite decided to withdraw the landing party and civilian refugees as the advantage of continuing to hold the "Faro de Las Cabezas de San Juan" (Cape San Juan lighthouse) seemed slight. The US Marine guard from Cincinnati under the command of 1st Lt. John A. Lejeune and a like number of men from Amphitrite (30) landed and covered the withdrawal. The women and children refugees were soon on board the USS Leyden which transported them to Ponce, Puerto Rico.

[miletus12]

Diary of Lieutenant X (Aime Ernest Motsch) Monday, August 8, 1898

Deception

Yesterday, Governor Jaudenes convened a meeting of the consuls of France, England, Belgium, and Germany. He naturally appealed to their sentiments in the hope of obtaining their support to delay the Americans. He dwelt on the fate of the women, the children, and the wounded. The consuls pretended to convey the request to Admiral Dewey. At 7 o’clock this morning, they boarded ship and headed toward the Olympia.

Instead of going as far as the admiral’s ship, these consuls turned midway. They only pretended to carry out their mission, realizing that it would lay themselves open to ridicule. The governor should realize that the Americans cannot assume responsibility for the 50,000 civilians in Manila, which include 3,000 sick. This is an absurd request to demand from an enemy wanting to take possession of a city at the earliest opportunity. The consuls could not have been in a position to negotiate more than an armistice. This has been the situation for the last three months. A bombardment would settle the matter. The Spaniards have had enough time. Even if granted a reprieve of three years, they would not be in a position to act decisively. A tacit agreement had, in fact, been made between Dewey and the governor general after Cavite. It is even possible there was a formal accord. The Americans seem to say: “Neither of us is in a position to attack the other. We do not intend to bombard the city, so there is no need for you to leave.” Dewey was not ready for an attack in May, and even if he carried out his plans in June, he would not have been successful, either. Only the insurgents would have benefitted from it, a situation which neither the Americans nor the Spaniards wished. Everyone seems perplexed by all of this.

Manila is reduced to defending itself with the 24 guns at Luneta, which is certainly insufficient to repulse the American squadron from its shores. We see vehicles carrying shells for 15cm cannons, which are being mounted on the sea front. The two that are visible from the outside must be a recent model, and one of them seems to be a mortar.

At the gun placement in Luneta, repairs are being done over the damage caused by bad weather these past few days. The Spanish artillery is not that interior (the word should be "inferior" M.) after all; it is the poor training of their artillery men which is evident. Even compared to the Yankees, who are not at all accomplished, they are pitiful. Indeed, their gunpowder is of poor quality, due either to faulty manufacturing or bad storage. “All is rotten in Spain!” What an unfortunate country to be so criticized! Everything is in a very bad state. The cannons are exploding, the gunpowder does not fire, and the men are pathetic. During the battle fought on the first of May, the projectiles fired by this artillery (type 24) were falling short of the target, although there was enough time to correct the shortage.

Meanwhile, Manila was so well armed that it could not be penetrated by less than a thousand men. Marshal Primo de Rivera was convinced of this. He also knew it was important to control the sea with soldiers, cannons and, above all, an effective commander at the helm.

Manila still maintains its everyday routine. Vehicles loaded with furniture and belongings are everywhere. The foreigners have started their exodus. Since this morning, they have been seeking refuge for their families aboard the ships in the harbor. An air of sadness surrounds their plight. The Spanish officers are leaving their families for what could be a final separation. Some officers have difficulty holding back their tears. The farewell between Admiral Montojo and his family is heartrending. One of the young girls is sobbing, and two young officers (fiances or brothers) appear to take this parting very badly.

General Jaudenes’s orders with regard to the bombardment have been made public. It states the Spaniards’ intention to resist. Shelters for civilians have been designated in the different sections of the city. The Walled City has been divided into a number of zones, with the churches serving as places of refuge. From tomorrow morning, no vehicle will be allowed on the streets.

Some churches are now filled with people, mostly women. These buildings, in the worst Jesuit style, with parquet floors and wooden wall panelings, closely resemble the holds of giant steamers filled with immigrants. Everyone feels at home, with some laughing, and others beginning to quarrel. Some women are making coffee while others are cooking rice for the next meal. They exchange an abundance of inaccurate information, which sometimes results in violent verbal attacks. But the young people are strumming at their guitars at the entrance or singing beneath the porch. Mandolins playing a seguidilla can be heard. Behind the pillars, somewhere in the shadow, cockfighting is going on and bets are being placed.

I visualize a shell suddenly whistling through and falling in the midst of these joyful people, exploding in a tumult of screams and turning the carnival into a sea of blood…

Motsch is a bizarre compendium of fact and fiction. Take it by paragraphs.

1. First, the meeting with the foreign consuls was a continuation of the Maskirovka. Whether or not the consuls were in on the deal is clear in hindsight that they were not. 

Here is what we now know.

a. The English vice consul was under instructions not to hinder whatever negotiations the Spanish and Americans had in progress as to the formal surrender.  He did not know about the put-up job or the script for what was about to happen. His dead predecessor croaked without telling him the arrangements. He knew that the city was about to be handed over from his interactions with the Americans locally, but they were not confiding in him the details. 
b. The French consul was not a fool. He had good contacts within the Spanish military within the city. He suspected that the Americans and Spaniards had cooked up a burlesque bélico, or mock battle scam, for assorted political reasons. He did not think Jaudenes or Merritt were competent enough to pull it off. He was wrong.   
c. Belgium's consul knew what the French consul knew, but he had no instructions, so he sat on his hands. 
d. The German consul was acting as an enemy agent engaged with negotiations with Aguinaldo as well as Jaudenes. The Spanish knew it, the French knew it, the Americans knew it. He was the one viper nobody trusted at that meeting. Besides the Americans were as likely to hear his words as to hear Aguinaldo's by now. 

2. This is about 80% accurate. The most notable thing is that with British help on occasion, French help sometimes, and mostly certain private Filipino and Sino Filipino citizens, and American businessmen, who the Spanish governor general Augustin knew were American double agents and spies, he had kept up a continuous stream of negotiations with Dewey. The Spanish American truce in place was a tacit temporary anti-Aguinaldo alliance of convenience. Note that elements of the Katipunan were also involved in this treachery. Not everybody was happy with the Aguinaldo setup inside the Filipino camp. Functionally Augustin and Dewey played for time. Augustin counted on reinforcements from Spain. Dewey anticipated help from the United States. Only Dewey would be rewarded in this game of cunctation. Dewey knew the steam times were 90 days from the American west coast.  
      
3. Details on these guns, that Motsch supplies are rather scanty.  Here is what the Americans actually found.

The Defenses of Manila Bay

By Lieutenant John M. Ellicott, U.S. Navy

June 1900 Proceedings Vol. 26/2/94

Only a few years before our war with Spain, that country was threatened with another war whose theater would have been chiefly her colonial possessions in the Pacific. War with Germany over the Caroline Islands was so imminent that military plans for the defense of the Philippines were carefully elaborated, and modern high-powered rifled guns were shipped to Manila and emplaced, while ammunition in vast quantities was received and stored. Thus, in the fall of 1897, there stood before the city of Manila four 9 ½-inch breech-loading rifles, nine 8 ¼-inch muzzle-loading rifled mortars, four 5 ½-inch converted breech-loading rifles, and fifteen 6.3-inch muzzle-loading bronze rifled guns of old design all carefully emplaced behind heavy earthworks, fully equipped and superabundantly supplied with ammunition. All batteries were connected by telephone, and plane tables were arranged at the extremities of measured bases, to give accurate ranges. Drills were carried on continually and with enthusiasm.

The old city of Manila lies upon the right bank of the Pasig’s mouth, surrounded by a picturesque Medieval wall, fifty feet thick and twenty feet high, and by a deep moat. The wall along the bay front is practically straight, with a bastion at each end and one in the center. Five of the 6.3-inch muzzle-loading bronze rifles stood in the north bastion and eight in the south while in the center were five muzzle-loading rifled mortars. Many other very old muzzle-loading bronze guns lined this wall, but they were recognized even by the Spaniards, as obsolete. All the artillery on the walls antedated the German scare. The modern formidable guns then emplaced were located in front of the wall and moat, in earthworks well screened by shrubbery and sod. One 9 ½-inch rifle was placed under the north bastion and one under the south, while the four 5 ½-inch converted B. L. R.'s were placed near the center bastion and four 8 ½-inch mortars on the flank of the south wall. The two remaining 9 ½-inch rifles were placed some distance to the southward, on the water front in the suburb of Ermita.

(Here I intrude. The coast defense breech loading naval rifle guns bought for the German scare, were British made or Spanish copies of British guns. The 6.3 inch bronze rifles were Paixhans guns of the French 1850s pattern. The "9.5 inch" was a 9.2 inch series of British (Armstrong) / 30s designed to use black and brown powder propellants. This was likely the Mark Vs of the Mark I-VII series. The 5.5 inch guns are definitely Hontoria Pattern 1883 copies of French Schneider guns of that era. The mortars were either French Schneiders or Ordonez short barrels similar to the ones the Americans captured in the Socapa battery at Santiago de Cuba. M.)   

A new battery, to hold six 15-centimeter Ordonez rifled guns was built on Sangley Point for the protection of the naval arsenal at Cavite. This was a casemated earthwork of entirely modern character. The Cavite arsenal had also 6.3-inch three Armstrong M. L. R.'s mounted in a stone redoubt, and on Fort San Felipe, a medieval fortress adjacent.

The old fort of San Antonio Abad which had figured so much in the war history of Manila, was too antiquated for modern artillery emplacement.

Such were the defenses of Manila when the new war cloud gathered in the winter of 1897-8. Much more had been planned and the incentive of renewed danger brought the plans out for revision and execution. One of the larger Spanish ocean liners sent to the Philippines, the Isla de Mindanao, was loaded with guns and munitions of war and started from Spain. Believing, perhaps, that these guns would reach them in time for emplacement at Cavite, the military authorities at Manila sent four of the 15-centimeter rifles belonging to Fort Sangley, about the first week in March, to Isla Grande in Subig Bay. In Manila, however, they added two modern 15-centimeter B. L. R. siege guns to the battery of 5 ½-inch B. L. R's under the west wall, and placed two 12-centimeter B. L. R. siege guns in the circular redoubt on the south mole of the Pasig River mouth, where there were already two 6.3-inch M. L. bronze rifles.

At the same time, the emplacement of batteries for the defense of the entrance of the bay was entrusted to the Navy. This entrance, though very wide, is divided into two channels by a island called Corregidor.

In twenty-four days the following batteries were ready to defend these channels: Covering Boca Chica: On the north shore of Corregidor Island, three 8-inch M. L. Armstrong rifles; at Punta Gorda, north side three 18-cm. Palliser M. L. R.'s, and at Punta Lassisi farther in the bay, two 16-cm. Hontoria B. L. R's.

Covering Boca Grande: On Caballo Island, three 6-inch Armstrong B. L. R.’s on El Fraile Rock, three 12-centimeter B. L. R.'s, and at Punta Restina, three 16-cm. Palliser M. L. R's.

They also reinforced Fort Sangley by one 14-centimeter B. L. R., a few hundred yards up the beach, (Hontoria Pattern 1883 BLNR)  and were preparing to mount a second beside it when the American squadron arrived. The gun here mounted was taken from the cruiser Ulloa, she being so far dismantled for repairs that they moored her head and stern for battle and retained only her starboard battery.

At all of these batteries were built in the ground with covered galleries or trenches for approach, while in sheltered spots near at hand were roomy bamboo quarters for the guns' crews. An abundance of ammunition was provided and the guns were manned chiefly by sailors from such vessels as were hors de combat because repairing at Cavite Arsenal.

A line of mines was laid northwestward from San Nicholas shoal, in Manila Bay, and others were laid in Boca Grande but firing arrangements for the latter seemed not to have been installed when Commodore Dewey’s squadron arrived.

At Subig Bay some hulks were sunk to block the southeast channel, and mines being were laid in the northwest channel when our ships arrived, but the four 15-centimeter guns, through inexcusable and inexplicable procrastination, remained prostrate on Isla Grande. Had they been mounted there or at Fort Sangley at the end of April 1898, the Battle of Manila Bay might have been quite another story.

The merchant steamer Isla de Mindanao arrived in Manila the last week in April too late to unload all her munitions of war before the arrival of the United States squadron, and her fate is now a matter of history.

Such, then, were the land defenses of Manila Bay which confronted Commodore Dewey when his squadron stole in silence and darkness towards the entrance at midnight, April 30, 1898. The Spaniards had guarded their work well. U. S. Consul Williams, who remained in Manila till one week before that date and who accompanied the American squadron back, could only learn that numerous new batteries were being erected at the entrance to the bay and that the channels were being mined. No knowledge of the relative strength of the defenses of the two channels could guide the American commander's choice. The wider channel, Boca Grande, was the one selected. The squadron thus passed under the muzzles of nine rifled cannon, some of them modern breech-loaders, and through a mined channel. In Boca Chica it would have encountered eight rifles, two of them breech-loading, and no mines, but there were also in this channel a small Spanish gunboat, the Arayat or Leyte, and a picket launch.

Allowing four large guns as a cruiser's broadside, giving double weight to batteries on shore over those afloat, and counting the mines efficient, it might reasonably be claimed that a contest with the defenses of Boca Grande in daylight would have been about an even fight.

By referring to the diagram showing the zones of gun fire at the mouth of the bay, it will be seen that the United States squadron unwittingly took a course which placed it longest under fire and led it through the zone of heaviest concentration. At the speed the squadron moved, eight knots per hour, and granting most liberal times for the service of the Spanish guns, the latter could have hurled about five tons of projectiles against the American vessels before they were out of range. Nevertheless, the route was well chosen. We all know the actual story: the squadron half way through before detected; then a geyser of flame from the McCulloch's overheated smokestack; a single rocket from Corregidor; a signal flare on El Fraile rock, five impotent shrieking shells from it and Punta Restinga; innocuous mines; and the daring squadron safe within the bay!

Had the Spaniards provided for every contingency, a score of idle gun vessels and armed launches could have patrolled the Manila "bocas" at night, so that even a canoe could scarcely have approached undetected. As it was, the absolute silence and the perfect screening of lights on the American vessels made them undetectable at a few hundred yards distance. The moon in its first quarter was setting behind clouds. A single guiding light, shut in on three sides, was necessarily displayed at the stern of each vessel. The course steered prevented these from being seen from the Restinga and Caballo batteries until the squadron had passed nearly out of their sectors of gun fire. Then, too late, they gave each battery in succession a target: Restina fired, but Caballo probably thought the enemy already out of range. The flare up from the McCulloch's smokestack was but a brief accident which the Spaniards could not seize to advantage. One feature of the passage was the close approach of the squadron to El Fraile rock. That the Spaniards would have a battery on this isolated and tiny island was not expected, so, as it made an excellent point of departure for a course up the bay, it was approached within five hundred yards, and its battery promptly opened fire. A few shells in return convinced the gunners that their position was perilously exposed and untenable at such short range, and they desisted.

In the face of all evidence, the existence of mines at the entrance to the bay can scarcely be doubted. A chart was captured at Cavite next morning with lines of torpedoes marked on it in Boca Chica and off San Nicholas Shoal, and with marginal memoranda about the spacing and number of mines. In the articles of articulation signed by the Governor of Corregidor. it was stated that mines existed in Boca Grande. The testimony of nearly every Spanish officer interviewed by the writer after the fall of Manila was to the same effect. If these mines were contact mines, they had become innocuous from barnacles and seaweed or badly adjusted moorings; if they were electro-controlled, the firing devices had not been installed or were defective.

Having run the gauntlet of nine rifled guns and a line of mines unharmed, our squadron stood up the bay in a direction a little north of Manila, thus safely passing around the mines if they existed, off San Nicholas Shoal; and in the morning, as it reconnoitered the roads off the city and then stood down toward the discovered Spanish fleet at Cavite, it came under the muzzles of thirty-six rifled guns, twelve of them breech-loaders, and thirteen of larger caliber than any in the American ships. Situated as these guns were, however, they could not fire upon the enemy without drawing a return fire not only upon themselves but upon their city: their homes, their places of business, their wives and children. Nearly nine tons of projectiles could have been hurled at the passing enemy while within range of those Manila guns, but they were paralyzed by their false emplacement. The three batteries of 9 ½-inch guns, however, being least disadvantageously emplaced, opened, and, through bad marksmanship, kept up an impotent fire throughout the action.

The batteries at Cavite added four hundred and sixty-six pounds of metal to the broadside of the Spanish fleet throughout the first engagement. The duel of the Baltimore with these batteries was a feature of the second engagement. Such a hail of exploding shells plowed into their entrenchments that they resembled volcanic eruptions. Though several times silenced, they as often renewed the fight until their final surrender.

When the work at Cavite was finished, the Olympia steamed alone to Manila, followed soon after by the Baltimore and the Raleigh. These three ships, once more under the muzzles of Manila's thirty-six shotted guns, coolly anchored in the harbor, the bands of the Olympia and, Baltimore playing their evening concerts as usual, while Commodore Dewey sent word to the Governor-General that if a single shot was fired at the American ships he would lay the city in ashes.

The isolated batteries at the mouth of the bay were, by orders from Manila, surrendered to the Raleigh and Baltimore on the evening of the 3rd of May. Their breech-plugs were delivered on board the Raleigh. Each battery was visited by landing parties from the American ships, the guns disabled and the ammunition thrown into the sea. At a later period, when it was found that the Philippine insurgents were endeavoring to remove some of the guns, they were all again visited and thrown into the sea.

The guns on Sangley Point were destroyed with gun-cotton. The ones at Manila fell into the hands of the United States Army when Manila was taken, and still remain monuments to the folly of those who emplaced them in such tactically embarrassing positions.

Defenses of Manila Bay.

--About March 10. A council of war at Manila decides to hasten erection of four 15-cm. Ordonez guns at Subig, block one channel with sunken hulks and mine the other and place the fleet there.
--About March 15. The captain of the Leyo submitted a plan for defence of Manila and Cavite, fortifying the mouths of the bay with a line of batteries on points conveniently located and another second line of more moral and material strength, composed of torpedoes protected by two batteries at their extremity, situated between Punta Amos, in the Province of Bataan, and the shoals of San Nicholas. Artillery available:

Ranges.

--6 Muzzle-loading Armstrong rifles, 180 lbs., Range: 3600 meters.
--7 x 16-cm. conv. M. L. Palliser M. L. 1, Range: 5600 meters.
--12 x 16-cm. conv. M. L. Palliser M. L. 2, Range: 5000 meters.
--3 x 18-cm. conv. M. L. Palliser, Range: 4400 meters.
--2 x 16-cm. B. L. Hontoria, 1879, Range: 5000 meters.
--4 x 12-cm. B. L. Hontoria, 1883, Range: 10500 meters.
--Last four on board Ulloa.

Sites visited by a committee on the Bulusan.

--March 29. Fraile, Caballo and Restinga chosen; Carabao rejected.
---Captain and crew of Velasco land Caballo battery and named it Velasco.
---Captain and crew of Leyo land Le Fraile battery and named it Leyo.
---120 workmen from Cavite Arsenal and 30 laborers from Corregidor employed on batteries April 1, Leyte, Bulusan and Hercules used.
--Fraile battery had one 12-cm. Hont. B. L. R, 1883, from the Ulloa and two 12-cm. Hont. B. L. R, 1879, from the Leyo.
--Caballo battery had three Armsirong 16-cm. B. L. R from the Velasco.
--Punta Lassisi battery had two I6-cm. Hont. B. L. R No. 3 modern 1879, which had been stored in the (Cavite) arsenal.
--Corregidor (Talisaz): 3 Armstrong M. L. R 6-in. 180-pdr.
--Punta Gorda: 3 Palliser 18-cm. M. L. R.
--Punta Restinga: 3 Palliser 16-cm. M. L. R, No.1.

It took 22 days to erect the batteries, working Sundays and Saints' days.

3. It can be seen that Motsch, like the American consul, was clueless about the true state of Manila's artillery defense. It was necessary and prudent that the Americans sent two Amphitrite class monitors to Manila. it was not only the Germans who were a viable threat. 

4. The Intramuros had walls 40 feet thick and 20 feet high. The US monitors would have to blast holes into it and collapse the curtain wall for infantry assault.  This would be horrific as the shots out would inevitably carom into the city. US explosive shell filler was picric acid encapsulated in wool soaked in oil to prevent water contamination and crystallization. This is a good substitute for NAPALM. Manila in 1898 would burn like San Francisco did during the earthquake. This outcome would be a war-crime. 

5. The Spanish "bungled" the evacuation. This was probably staged, but it had to be part of the maskirovka. Those who were left out of the details, had to believe that Dewey was about to bombard the city, or the handover would not work. So for the "inadvertent actors" the tragedy is real. 

6. The "instructions" for the expected bombardment are more of the same. See 5,.

7. Motsch's description of the churches as community shelters where catastrophe can be expected is 1898 accurate. Manila 1944 had several of these churches used as Japanese mass murder sites where Filipino "hostages" (women and children) were gathered and butchered in reprisal and revenge actions and then set afire with some of the Filipinos still alive. There is nothing too extreme as punishment that I can conceive for such war criminals or their acts.  More than 100,000 of Manila's inhabitants were subjected to such Japanese "mercies".  If Dewey had bombarded Manila, then I would hold the same opinion of him.

8. See 7,. for true horror. 

Diary of Miguel Saderra Maso Lunes 8 de Agosto 1898

The general issues specific ordinances for the defense of the plaza and assigning places of refuge during the bombardment for the people of the four zones into which, according to today’s ordinance, the walled city is divided. Carriages are forbidden except to the doctors, the priests who are bringing the Blessed Sacrament, or some of the first authorities. It seems the general has requested for six days delay to consult the [home] government about the present situation, but the Yankees have refused. They are surprised the general does not enjoy sufficient powers to decide by himself without the need to consult his government.

Maskirovka and just in case the stage play goes into real war.

Diary of John Henry Asendorf Monday, August 8th, 1898

It has rained again all day and night. Companies H, I, K and E came in at 9:00 a.m. very tired having worked on the breastworks all the time but report everything quiet none having fired a shot. [George] Miller is the only man on the sick list.

Still quiet. 

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[miletus12]

Aug 9, 2022 2:48:54 GMT lordroel said:

Day 112 of the Spanish–American War, August 9th 1898

Puerto Rico: Battle of Coamo

Units of Major General James H. Wilson's U.S. Army column, moving east-northeast from Ponce to Coamo and then north to the heavily concentrated Spanish Army position at Aibonito, encounter heavy resistance in Coamo. Wilson's men are forced to envelope the Spanish from the rear, killing 40 and capturing 170. Wilson suffers no dead, and just six wounded.

Sometimes the blurbs do not convey just what happens.

Aug 9 1898

Battle of Coamo

Shortly after the American soldiers disembarked, a group of Spanish and Puerto Rican units began moving from Ponce to Aibonito, marching through the Carretera Central (Central Highway). The caravan was composed of two companies of the Batallón de Cazadores de la Patria (Battalion of the Motherland's Hunters) and some members of the Civil Guard and a Puerto Rican guerilla force. A total of 248 infantry men and 42 members of the cavalry formed the battalions under the command of Lt. Col. Rafael Martínez Illescas, the same person who was in charge of the Ponce garrison. Traveling by foot, the journey would last two days. The group decided to spend one night in Coamo before continuing their march in the morning. Martínez Illescas immediately ordered the construction of several trenches; while building these, the soldiers were ambushed by an anti-Spanish guerilla force, led by Pedro María Descartes, who managed to kill a member of the Civil Guard.

Meanwhile, two battalions of volunteers from Wisconsin and Pennsylvania, led by Generals Oswald H. Ernst and James H. Wilson, settled on opposite sides of the road to Coamo. On August 9, 1898, the Americans began their offensive, opening cannon fire against the city and completing their attack with artillery fire. The Americans intended to encircle and defeat the defenses in the city. A group of soldiers entered the city from the backside, having advanced through a river nearby. The rear assault was reinforced by Wilson's army under General Ernst, attempting to trap the allied soldiers in a crossfire, employing a tactic known as the pincer movement. Martínez Illescas was surprised by the attack and led an improvised attack, but he was killed in the crossfire along with his second-in-command, leaving Captain Hita in charge, who ordered his men to surrender. Half of the allied troops ignored the order, and continued the attack. Hita's men were sent to a prisoner-of-war camp located a Río Descalabrado, while the men who continued to attack retreated to Aibonito when they realized that the Americans were using the pincer movement tactic.

Source: Wikipedia Added by: Rob Brent...

Coamo boasts an elegant picturesque downtown plaza area, and is the home of a series of natural hot springs, Los Baños de Coamo, which has attracted visitors to its medicinal waters since even before the Spaniards landed. Indeed, these very springs were once rumored to have been Juan Ponce de León's legendary "fountain of youth", or so the local folklore tells. In the early nineteenth century, a system of pools of varying depths and sizes and temperatures was constructed at the site of these springs to serve as a spa for the colonials. During the North American invasion in the Spanish American War (1898), this site was the scene of one of the decisive battles of that conflict (the Battle of Coamo). The North Americans troops took possession of the island and the spa was subsequently abandoned. Though the site lay in ruins for most of the twentieth century, long neglected, it continued to be a landmark to the Coameños (as the residents of Coamo are called) who would often come to bathe in its healing thermal waters.

That is NOT what happened. See map above?

The Taking of Coamo

By Richard Harding Davis, War Correspondent

General:

This account of the surrender of Coamo was written by Richard Harding Davis, the most famous war correspondent of the war. He took great delight in that the town of Coamo was surrendered to him!



(See that hill? Illescas didn't. M.)   

Richard Harding Davis on horsebackThis is the inside story of the surrender, during the Spanish War, of the town of Coamo. It is written by the man to whom the town surrendered. Immediately after the surrender this same man became Military Governor of Coamo. He held office for fully twenty minutes.

Before beginning this story the reader must forget all he may happen to know of this particular triumph of the Porto Rican Expedition. He must forget that the taking of Coamo has always been credited to Major-General James H. Wilson, who on that occasion commanded Captain Anderson's Battery, the Sixteenth Pennsylvania, Troop C of Brooklyn, and under General Ernst, the Second and Third Wisconsin Volunteers. He must forget that in the records of the War Department all the praise, and it is of the highest, for this victory is bestowed upon General Wilson and his four thousand soldiers. Even the writer of this, when he cabled an account of the event to his paper, gave, with everyone else, the entire credit to General Wilson. And ever since his conscience has upbraided him. His only claim for tolerance as a war correspondent has been that he always has stuck to the facts, and now he feels that in the sacred cause of history his friendship and admiration for General Wilson, that veteran of the Civil, Philippine, and Chinese Wars, must no longer stand in the way of his duty as an accurate reporter. He no longer can tell a lie. He must at last own up that he himself captured Coamo.

On the morning of the 9th of August, 1898, the Sixteenth Pennsylvania Volunteers arrived on the outskirts of that town. In order to get there they had spent the night in crawling over mountain trails and scrambling through streams and ravines. It was General Wilson's plan that by this flanking night march the Sixteenth Pennsylvania would reach the road leading from Coamo to San Juan in time to cut off the retreat of the Spanish garrison, when General Wilson, with the main body, attacked it from the opposite side.

At seven o'clock in the morning General Wilson began the frontal attack by turning loose the artillery on a block-house, which threatened his approach, and by advancing the Wisconsin volunteers. The cavalry he sent to the right to capture Los Banos. At eight o'clock, from where the main body rested, two miles from Coamo, we could hear the Sixteenth Pennsylvania open its attack and instantly become hotly engaged. The enemy returned the fire fiercely, and the firing from both sides at once became so severe that it was evident the Pennsylvania Volunteers either would take the town without the main body, or that they would greatly need its assistance. The artillery was accordingly advanced one thousand yards and the infantry was hurried forward. The Second Wisconsin approached Coamo along the main road from Ponce, the Third Wisconsin through fields of grass to the right of the road, until the two regiments met at the ford by which the Banos road crosses the Coamo River. But before they met, from a position near the artillery, I had watched through my glasses the Second Wisconsin with General Ernst at its head advancing along the main road, and as, when I saw them, they were near the river, I guessed they would continue across the bridge and that they soon would be in the town.

As the firing from the Sixteenth still continued, it seemed obvious that General Ernst would be the first general officer to enter Coamo, and to receive its surrender. I had never seen five thousand people surrender to one man, and it seemed that, if I were to witness that ceremony, my best plan was to abandon the artillery and, as quickly as possible, pursue the Second Wisconsin. I did not want to share the spectacle of the surrender with my brother correspondents, so I tried to steal away from the three who were present. They were Thomas F. Millard, Walstein Root of the Sun, and Horace Thompson. By dodging through a coffee central I came out a half mile from them and in advance of the Third Wisconsin. There I encountered two "boy officers," Captain John C. Breckenridge and Lieutenant Fred. S. Titus, who had temporarily abandoned their thankless duties in the Commissariat Department in order to seek death or glory in the skirmish-line. They wanted to know where I was going, and when I explained, they declared that when Coamo surrendered they also were going to be among those present.

So we slipped away from the main body and rode off as an independent organization. But from the bald ridge, where the artillery was still hammering the town, the three correspondents and Captain Alfred Paget, Her Majesty's naval attache, observed our attempt to steal a march on General Wilson's forces, and pursued us and soon overtook us.

We now were seven, or to be exact, eight, for with Mr. Millard was "Jimmy," who in times of peace sells papers in Herald Square, and in times of war carries Mr. Millard's copy to the press post. We were much nearer the ford than the bridge, so we waded the "drift" and started on a gallop along the mile of military road that lay between us and Coamo. The firing from the Sixteenth Pennsylvania had slackened, but as we advanced it became sharper, more insistent, and seemed to urge us to greater speed. Across the road were dug rough rifle-pits which had the look of having been but that moment abandoned. What had been intended for the breakfast of the enemy was burning in pots over tiny fires, little heaps of cartridges lay in readiness upon the edges of each pit, and an arm-chair, in which a sentry had kept a comfortable lookout, lay sprawling in the middle of the road. The huts that faced it were empty. The only living things we saw were the chickens and pigs in the kitchen-gardens. On either hand was every evidence of hasty and panic-stricken flight. We rejoiced at these evidences of the fact that the Wisconsin Volunteers had swept all before them. Our rejoicings were not entirely unselfish. It was so quiet ahead that some one suggested the town had already surrendered. But that would have been too bitter a disappointment, and as the firing from the further side of Coamo still continued, we refused to believe it, and whipped the ponies into greater haste. We were now only a quarter of a mile distant from the built-up portion of Coamo, where the road turned sharply into the main street of the town.

Captain Paget, who in the absence of the British military attache on account of sickness, accompanied the army as a guest of General Wilson, gave way to thoughts of etiquette.

"Will General Wilson think I should have waited for him?" he shouted. The words were jolted out of him as he rose in the saddle. The noise of the ponies' hoofs made conversation difficult. I shouted back that the presence of General Ernst in the town made it quite proper for a foreign attache to enter it.

"It must have surrendered by now," I shouted. It's been half an hour since Ernst crossed the bridge."

At these innocent words, all my companions tugged violently at their bridles and shouted "Whoa!"

"Crossed the bridge?" they yelled. "There is no bridge! The bridge is blown up! If he hasn't crossed by the ford, he isn't in the town!"

Then, in my turn, I shouted "Whoa!"

But by now the Porto Rican ponies had decided that this was the race of their lives, and each had made up his mind that, Mexican bit or no Mexican bit, until he had carried his rider first into the town of Coamo, he would not be halted. As I tugged helplessly at my Mexican bit, I saw how I had made my mistake. The volunteers, on finding the bridge destroyed, instead of marching upon Coamo had turned to the ford, the same ford which we had crossed half an hour before they reached it. They now were behind us. Instead of a town which had surrendered to a thousand American soldiers, we, seven unarmed men and Jimmy, were being swept into a hostile city as fast as the enemy's ponies could take us there.

Breckenridge and Titus hastily put the blame upon me.

"If we get into trouble with the General for this," they shouted, "it will be your fault. You told us Ernst was in the town with a thousand men."

I shouted back that no one regretted the fact that he was not more keenly than I did myself.

Titus and Breckenridge each glanced at a new, full-dress sword.

"We might as well go in," they shouted, "and take it anyway!" I decided that Titus and Breckenridge were wasted in the Commissariat Department.

The three correspondents looked more comfortable.

"If you officers go in," they cried, "the General can't blame us," and they dug their spurs into the ponies.

"Wait!" shouted Her Majesty's representative. "That's all very well for you chaps, but what protects me if the Admiralty finds out I have led a charge on a Spanish garrison?"

But Paget's pony refused to consider the feelings of the Lords of the Admiralty. As successfully Paget might have tried to pull back a rowboat from the edge of Niagara. And, moreover, Millard, in order that Jimmy might be the first to reach Ponce with despatches, had mounted him on the fastest pony in the bunch, and he already was far in the lead. His sporting instincts, nursed in the pool-rooms of the Tenderloin and at Guttenburg, had sent him three lengths to the good. It never would do to have a newsboy tell in New York that he had beaten the correspondents of the papers he sold in the streets; nor to permit commissioned officers to take the dust of one who never before had ridden on anything but a cable car. So we all raced forward and, bunched together, swept into the main street of Coamo. It was gratefully empty. There were no America soldiers, but, then, neither were there any Spanish soldiers. Across the street stretched more rifle-pits and barricades of iron pipes, but in sight there was neither friend nor foe. On the stones of the deserted street the galloping hoofs sounded like the advance of a whole regiment of cavalry. Their clatter gave us a most comfortable feeling. We almost could imagine the towns-people believing us to be the Rough Riders themselves and fleeing before us.

And then, the empty street seemed to threaten an ambush. We thought hastily of sunken mines, of soldiers crouching behind the barriers, behind the houses at the next corner, of Mausers covering us from the latticed balconies overhead. Until at last, when the silence had become alert and menacing, a lonely man dashed into the middle of the street, hurled a white flag in front of us, and then dived headlong under the porch of a house. The next instant, as though at a signal, a hundred citizens, each with a white flag in both hands, ran from cover, waving their banners, and gasping in weak and terror-shaken tones, "Vivan los Americanos."

We tried to pull up, but the ponies had not yet settled among themselves which of us had won, and carried us to the extreme edge of the town, where a precipice seemed to invite them to stop, and we fell off into the arms of the Porto Ricans. They brought us wine in tin cans, cigars, borne in the aprons and mantillas of their womenfolk, and demijohns of native rum. They were abject, trembling, tearful. They made one instantly forget that the moment before he had been extremely frightened.

One of them spoke to me the few words of Spanish with which I had an acquaintance. He told me he was the Alcalde, and that he begged to surrender into my hands the town of Coamo. I led him instantly to one side. I was afraid that if I did not take him up he would surrender to Paget or to Jimmy. I bade him conduct me to his official residence. He did so, and gave me the key to the cartel, a staff of office of gold and ebony, and the flag of the town, which he had hidden behind his writing-desk. It was a fine Spanish flag with the coat of arms embroidered in gold. I decided that, with whatever else I might part, that flag would always be mine, that the chance of my again receiving the surrender of a town of five thousand people was slender, and that this token would be wrapped around me in my coffin. I accordingly hid it in my poncho and strapped it to my saddle. Then I appointed a hotel-keeper, who spoke a little English, as my official interpreter and told the Alcalde that I was now Military Governor, Mayor, and Chief of Police, and that I wanted the seals of the town. He gave me a rubber stamp with a coat of arms cut in it, and I wrote myself three letters, which, to insure their safe arrival, I addressed to three different places, and stamped them with the rubber seals. In time all three reached me, and I now have them as documentary proof of the fact that for twenty minutes I was Military Governor and Mayor of Coamo.

During that brief administration I detailed Titus and Breckenridge to wigwag the Sixteenth Pennsylvania that we had taken the, town, and that it was now safe for them to enter. In order to compromise Paget they used his red silk handkerchief. Root I detailed to conciliate the inhabitants by drinking with every one of them. He tells me he carried out my instructions to the letter. I also settled one assault and battery case, and put the chief offender under arrest. At least, I told the official interpreter to inform him that he was under arrest, but as I had no one to guard him he tired of being under arrest and went off to celebrate his emancipation from the rule of Spain.

My administration came to an end in twenty minutes, when General Wilson rode into Coamo at the head of his staff and three thousand men. He wore a white helmet, and he looked the part of the conquering hero so satisfactorily that I forgot I was Mayor and ran out into the street to snap a picture of him. He looked greatly surprised and asked me what I was doing in his town. The tone in which he spoke caused me to decide that, after all, I would not keep the flag of Coamo. I pulled it off my saddle and said: "General, it's too long a story to tell you now, but here is the flag of the town. It's the first Spanish flag," -and it was - "that has been captured in Porto Rico."

General Wilson smiled again and accepted the flag. He and about four thousand other soldiers think it belongs to them. But the truth will out. Some day the bestowal on the proper persons of a vote of thanks from Congress, a pension, or any other trifle, like prize-money, will show the American people to whom that flag really belongs.

I know that in time the glorious deed of the seven heroes of Coamo, or eight, if you include "Jimmy" will be told in song and story. Some one else will write the song. This is the story.

Bibliography:
--Davis, Richard Harding, Notes of a War Correspondent. (New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1910) 101-112.
--Freidel, Frank, The Splendid Little War. (Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1958) 274 (artillery image).

The Americans advanced in a two-battalion frontage along the central highway until they bumped into the Coamo River. There was a lot of forested rolling hill and rill terrain on their left flank of march. They had to post marching flank pickets as a moving outpost line. When they reached the river, they encountered. Martinez Illescas' little battalion of troops. Illescas, who had about as much sense as a turnip when it came to defense, failed to reinforce the blockhouse that set on a small rise where the Rio Coamo meets the Banos and borders the road. The Americans worked to the right of the blockhouse (3rd Wisconsin and 1st New York (cavalry) forded the river. M.) and got around it. They took Los Banos and bypassed the blockhouse. Meanwhile batteries of the 4th and 5th artillery, US regulars, set themselves up to turn the river course into a bowling alley where they played bowling for Spaniards. This action drove the rest of the Spanish blocking force to ground as they took cover. Meanwhile the 2nd Wisconsin worked their way through the woods and surprised the Spanish on the west side of the river appearing on the Spanish right, not once, but three times in rapid succession with scattered musketry and one bayonet charge. The 16th Pennsylvania, as this all happened, took the long way through the woods again and appeared, seemingly out of the blue to the north of Coama township, after fording the river where it flowed west and branched together at the township. This little battle was CHANCELLORSVILLE with Wilson doing his best imitation of Stonewall Jackson's converging columns plan. Unlike Jackson, Wilson did not bungle the evolution or get himself killed.   

The result is a textbook example of how to use cover, geography and enemy inaction to bring force to bear in sequence and dislodge what should have been a strong delay defense. 

Aug 9, 2022 2:48:54 GMT lordroel said:

Puerto Rico

Captain Barclay, commander of Amphitrite decided to withdraw the landing party and civilian refugees as the advantage of continuing to hold the "Faro de Las Cabezas de San Juan" (Cape San Juan lighthouse) seemed slight. The US Marine guard from Cincinnati under the command of 1st Lt. John A. Lejeune and a like number of men from Amphitrite (30) landed and covered the withdrawal. The women and children refugees were soon on board the USS Leyden which transported them to Ponce, Puerto Rico.

Thus ends the Farce of Fajardo, a missed opportunity and a sad commentary on how political infighting among the American services and inside the American administration wasted a golden opportunity to make a messy and needless imperialist war, less messy even if it would still be needlessly fought.   

[miletus12]

Diary of Lieutenant X (Aime Ernest Motsch) Tuesday, August 9, 1898

The Refugees

Today, at noon, the Americans will bombard Manila, unless it is a vain threat. For the past 24 hours, the ships anchored at bay have been taking aboard different groups of foreigners and Spanish civilians. English and German steamships are towing barges carrying all the refugees under their protection. The women and children being transported in rowboats are frightened by the bad weather. And even the Isabel, carrying a large number of dependents, was forced to return to port.

I have to say that France has not played a role worthy of her during these past three months. It would have been better for her not to have appeared in Manila Bay rather than present such a pathetic position. The English have always been friends and secret allies of the Americans, always providing assistance. The Germans are hated and feared. But France’s presence has not been felt, since she has neither assisted nor bothered anyone. She has been totally ignored, and this is the worst insult that could be dealt her.

This morning, Admiral Montojo, his wife, and two children took refuge on board the _______. Since yesterday, the ladies have been having nervous fits due to the bad weather.

Noon. The bombardment should have begun. Evidently, it will not be today. It is overcast, raining, and the sea is calm. The American fleet is at anchor. The Petrel and the Concorde have just dropped anchor three-and-a-half miles to the west of the Walled City. Perhaps we will see some action tomorrow.

All the ships in Manila Bay are getting ready for action. The English are positioning themselves in Cavite alongside their American friends. The Princess Wilhelm set course for Mariveles in the company of the German steamships at the opposite end of the bay. Between them, the Bayard and the Pascal are also three-and-a-half miles away from the coast, with the Kaiser and Kaiserin Augusta nearby.

1. The "evacuation" continues. The exercise appears to have been conducted for real by the various foreign communities. The French ship Isabel could not put out to sea because of the weather.

2. The French have increased their fleet footprint to three ships. So why do the Americans, Germans, British and Spaniards disregard them? Let us have a look. 




French cruiser Bayard.



From Wiki;

General characteristics
Class and type........................................... Bayard-class ironclad
Displacement .............................................5,915 long tons (6,010 t)
Length........................................................... 81 m (265 ft 9 in) lwl
Beam............................................................ 17.45 m (57 ft)
Draft............................................................... 7.62 to 7.7 m (25 ft 0 in to 25 ft 3 in)
Installed power............................................8 × fire-tube boilers of 4,400 shp (3,300 kW)
Propulsion...................................................2 × compound steam engines on 2 × screw propellers
Sail plan......................................................Full-ship rig
Speed..............................................................14 to 14.5 knots (25.9 to 26.9 km/h; 16.1 to 16.7 mph)
Crew................................................................20 officers, 430 enlisted men
Armament..................................................4 × 240 mm (9.4 in) guns
.................................................................2 × 190 mm (7.6 in) guns
.................................................................6 × 140 mm (5.5 in) guns
.................................................................4 × 47 mm (1.9 in) Hotchkiss revolver cannon
...............................................................12 × 37 mm (1.5 in) Hotchkiss revolver cannon
Armor.......................................................Belt: 152 to 254 mm (6 to 10 in)
...............................................................Barbettes: 203 mm (8 in)
...............................................................Deck: 51 mm (2 in)

A piece of obsolete junk, except for the artillery. Auto-sinker.  

The French cruiser Pascal is a bit more formidable.


 French cruiser Pascal.

From Wiki.

General characteristics
Class and type.................................................... Descartes class
Displacement...................................................... 4,005 t (3,942 long tons; 4,415 short tons)
Length.................................................................. 100.7 m (330 ft 5 in) loa
Beam...................................................................... 12.95 m (42 ft 6 in)
Draft......................................................................... 6.01 m (19 ft 9 in)
Installed power..........................................................16 × water-tube boilers at 8,300 ihp (6,200 kW)
Propulsion..................................................................2 × triple-expansion steam engines on 2 × screw propellers
Speed..................................................................... 19 knots (35 km/h; 22 mph)
Complement.......................................................... 383–401
Armament..............................................................4 × 164.7 mm (6.48 in) guns
...........................................................................10 × 100 mm (3.9 in) guns
.............................................................................8 × 47 mm (1.9 in) guns
.............................................................................4 × 37 mm (1.5 in) guns
.............................................................................2 × 356 mm (14 in) torpedo tubes
Armor..................................................................Deck: 20 to 40 mm (0.79 to 1.57 in)
..........................................................................Conning tower: 80 mm (3 in)
..........................................................................Gun shields: 54 mm (2.1 in)

She is state of the French art. She would be a handful for the USS Baltimore. 


From wiki

General characteristics
Class and type............................................ Amiral Charner-class armored cruiser
Displacement.............................................. 4,748 t (4,673 long tons)
Length.......................................................... 110.2 m (361 ft 7 in)
Beam............................................................. 14.04 m (46 ft 1 in)
Draught............................................................ 6.06 m (19 ft 11 in)
Installed power............................................16 × Belleville boilers at 8,300–9,000 PS (6,105–6,619 kW)
Propulsion................................................... 2 screws; 2 × triple-expansion steam engines
Speed....................................................... 17 knots (31 km/h; 20 mph)
Range....................................................... 4,000 nmi (7,400 km; 4,600 mi) at 10 knots (19 km/h; 12 mph)
Complement.............................................. 16 officers and 378 enlisted men
Armament..................................................2 × single 194 mm (7.6 in) guns
.................................................................6 × single 138 mm (5.4 in) guns
.................................................................4 × single 65 mm (2.6 in) guns
.................................................................4 × single 47 mm (1.9 in) Hotchkiss guns
.................................................................8 × single 37 mm (1.5 in) 5-barreled revolver guns
.................................................................4 × 450 mm (17.7 in) torpedo tubes
Armour.......................................................Waterline belt: 60–90 mm (2.4–3.5 in)
.................................................................Deck: 40–50 mm (1.6–2.0 in)
.................................................................Gun turrets: 92 mm (3.6 in)
.................................................................Conning tower: 92 mm (3.6 in)

State of the French art, but dead meat against even a 2nd rate cruiser like the USS Charleston. The Marine National in the 1890s was a weird mix of obsolete junk, a few contenders like the Pascal and this DEATH TRAP.  

3. The weather in the bay stinks.

4. The Americans have corked the Pasing River with their gunboats. They are just outside Spanish shore battery range. Otto von Diederichs is moving off towards Marivales. He actually thinks Dewey is about to do the "British thing" and he does not want to be caught in the crossfire. But he still wants to be near enough to exploit any catastrophe if it happens. Chichester in the HMS Immortalitie has sidled up to USS Olympia qt Cavite off Sangley Point. The French squadron is equidistant between the Americans in the south and the Germans in the north. The Japanese hove too off to the northwest. Everyone has cleared for action. EVERYONE. See map.


Orange is Japan.
Black is Germany
Light Blue is France.
Red is Great Britain.
Dark Blue is America.  

Diary of Miguel Saderra Maso Martes 9 de Agosto 1898

We have not been bombed as we feared. He has said (R. P. Superior) that it was certain that we would see the Spanish flag lowered and the Yankee flag hoisted (...). The bay has been cleared during the morning, some boats heading to Mariveles, others to Bulacan and others to Cavite. Two Yankee ships, the "Mc.Culloc" and the "Concord" have been put on guard in front of the mouth of the river.

Meetings of authorities and generals were held today and yesterday under the chairmanship of Captain Gral. The trenches of San Juan del Monte have been abandoned and the troops retreated to Santa Mesa. The streets of the city are deserted; only soldiers, Chinese and gowns (Here I think he means street urchins or children. M. ) are visible in them.

Basically: the Spanish have evacuated the designated demonstration free fire zone, but as we will discover, not everybody got the word to bug out. The arrangements have not been finalized on the Spanish or American sides and the weather is not cooperative either. 

Diary of John Henry Asendorf Tuesday, August 9th, 1898

It is still raining and Companies D, K, A and C leave camp at 8:00 a.m. for outpost duty. Company C was left at the crossroad south. Order to fortify a building across the street for hospital purposes. Companies K, A and D were left on the road in a small town called Pasay. Again I was posted at Outpost No. 1 right on the beach. Company C was distributed on different posts along the line but everything was quiet with the exception of an occasional shot fired at the outpost. No one was hit. It never stopped raining. [George] Miller and [Robert] Fox are on the sick list.

Still waiting for the push. Asendorf must be wondering, why the lull has lasted so long? The 10th Pennsylvania is at Pasay.  

[lordroel]

Day 113 of the Spanish–American War, August 10th 1898

Puerto Rico: Battle of Silva Heights

Brigadier General Theodore Schwan and 2,896 men of his Independent Brigade had landed in Guanica and marched towards occupied Yauco.

Schwan and his men were ordered to move westward and to capture the city of Mayagüez. Colonel Julio Soto Villanueva ordered 1,500 Spanish Regulars of the 24th Rifle Battalion, six companies of the Alfonso XIII auxiliaries, and other scattered Spanish and Puerto Rican guerilla forces dispatched from the garrison at Mayagüez to meet and defeat Schwan. The Spanish forces entrenched themselves at a high ridge called Silva Heights, located at a road near the town of Hormigueros.

Schwan's troops arrived in the town of San Germán and continued the march towards their objective. Troop A of Schwan's 5th Cavalry approached Silva Heights and were soon engaged in a firefight when the Spanish forces opened fire. The Americans were aided by two companies of the 19th Infantry, supported by artillery and Gatling guns, as well as the 11th Infantry. The Spanish forces retreated after the American reinforcements brought them under intense fire. Schwan's men set up camp on Silva Heights for the night and the following day they continued their drive to Mayagüez. They arrived the following morning to find that the Spanish forces had abandoned the city to retreat to the east towards Lares. Schwan did not follow Soto Villanueva, but instead was ordered to take the town of Las Marias. The outcome of the Silva Heights Battle left 3 Spanish dead, 6 wounded, and 136 prisoners. Schwan's brigade suffered 15 wounded.

A considerable force of Spanish regulars and auxiliaries, encamped on the high ridge overlooking Hormigueros, struck Schwan's brigade, hoping to turn it back. Initially, the attack was successful, pinning the 5th cavalry in place and preventing the 19th infantry from reinforcing American positions.

The Spanish lacked artillery support, however, and could not answer Schwan's Gatling guns and large-caliber cannons. As Schwan's brigade pressed forward, surging along the ridge's flank, Spanish numerical inferiority began to tell. Out-gunned, Colonel Julio Soto Villanueva ceded the heights to the American forces and withdrew his men east to Lares.

[miletus12]

Aug 10, 2022 2:49:14 GMT lordroel said:

Day 113 of the Spanish–American War, August 10th 1898

Puerto Rico: Battle of Silva Heights

Brigadier General Theodore Schwan and 2,896 men of his Independent Brigade had landed in Guanica and marched towards occupied Yauco.

Schwan and his men were ordered to move westward and to capture the city of Mayagüez. Colonel Julio Soto Villanueva ordered 1,500 Spanish Regulars of the 24th Rifle Battalion, six companies of the Alfonso XIII auxiliaries, and other scattered Spanish and Puerto Rican guerilla forces dispatched from the garrison at Mayagüez to meet and defeat Schwan. The Spanish forces entrenched themselves at a high ridge called Silva Heights, located at a road near the town of Hormigueros.

Schwan's troops arrived in the town of San Germán and continued the march towards their objective. Troop A of Schwan's 5th Cavalry approached Silva Heights and were soon engaged in a firefight when the Spanish forces opened fire. The Americans were aided by two companies of the 19th Infantry, supported by artillery and Gatling guns, as well as the 11th Infantry. The Spanish forces retreated after the American reinforcements brought them under intense fire. Schwan's men set up camp on Silva Heights for the night and the following day they continued their drive to Mayagüez. They arrived the following morning to find that the Spanish forces had abandoned the city to retreat to the east towards Lares. Schwan did not follow Soto Villanueva, but instead was ordered to take the town of Las Marias. The outcome of the Silva Heights Battle left 3 Spanish dead, 6 wounded, and 136 prisoners. Schwan's brigade suffered 15 wounded.

A considerable force of Spanish regulars and auxiliaries, encamped on the high ridge overlooking Hormigueros, struck Schwan's brigade, hoping to turn it back. Initially, the attack was successful, pinning the 5th cavalry in place and preventing the 19th infantry from reinforcing American positions.

The Spanish lacked artillery support, however, and could not answer Schwan's Gatling guns and large-caliber cannons. As Schwan's brigade pressed forward, surging along the ridge's flank, Spanish numerical inferiority began to tell. Out-gunned, Colonel Julio Soto Villanueva ceded the heights to the American forces and withdrew his men east to Lares.

What were they fighting over? This...



The river is the Guanajibo River south of Hormigueros, Puerto Rico. The road you see in the distance crosses it with one of those ubiquitous Spanish box frame iron bridges in 1898. The Spanish were on the hill (looking southwest at the camera point of view. M.). Bumbling General Schwan is a bit slow trying to get his own troops onto the high ground (hill in the distance.) Both sides engaged in rather long-range shooting that was inconclusive. The US cavalry operating to the east (left side of picture) had gotten itself lost in some wooded copses and bungled its mission of finding a ford over the Guanajibo to work around the Spaniards on the hill in an attempt to cut their line of retreat on that road.

After about an hour of shooting, Schwan finally brings up his Gatling gun battery and splits it. Two guns go up on the hill he occupies and shoot across the river at the Spaniards on their hill. Two guns go with the rest of the infantry and move forward to provide cover fire as they rush the bridge. The troops had to manhandle those things up the hill and drag them over to the bridge, so that was kind of hot work. Those guns are what gall the Spaniards on the hill and those who block the north end of the bridge in their rifle pits below the "Spanish" hill. Something, (Spanish army historians claim ammunition shortages.) convinces the lunatic Spanish local commander, Captain Torrecillas, to attempt an across the river over the bridge bayonet charge at the Americans milling about in confusion on their south side, but I think it was exactly like that scene in Sergio Leone's spaghetti western "The Good, the Bad and the Ugly", that it was a stupid bridge, a stupid river, and two stupid commanders who could not see anything possible but to throw two infantry columns straight at each other over that expletive deleted bridge.

Fortunately, two things happen. The US 5th Cavalry finally shows up late and starts to cut the road. And probably... Colonel Julio Soto Villanueva... tells that nitwit, Captain Torricellas, to get his men out of there before they are cut off by the American cavalry and wiped out. The Spaniards still lose somewhere about 150 men in disengaging: as prisoners to the Americans. Schwan gets his stupid bridge and pushes forward to occupy the "Spanish" hill.

The next advance forward, Schwan managed, he bungled as he did not send his cavalry scouts ahead to maintain contact and pressure on the retreating enemy to harass them. This allowed the Spaniards unmolested time to mass their retreating forces on the high ground north of Hormigueros. As the American vanguard (On the road no less deployed in a march column, not ready to receive battle, M.), cleared the town and approached the hills, Villaneuva ordered a downhill charge a la Marathon and the result was the American van was thrown into confusion. However, the Americans had cavalry and they had artillery and those Gatling guns which unlimbered and created a base of defilade cover fire while the provisional brigade shook out and formed a skirmish line of battle in classic American Civil War style. One countercharge up that ridge from low end to high and from right to left and the Spanish were rolled up. It was all over. Villaneuva and his command ran for it. It was not a withdrawal. It was a rout.






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Diary of Lieutenant X (Aime Ernest Motsch) Wednesday, August 10, 1898

The Waiting

Nothing. The Americans have not stepped up their attack. Three hours full of tension follow as the Concorde and Petrel are sighted approaching the city. Both are anchored 4,000 meters from the shore, six kilometers from San Antonio. An open mockery on the part of the Spanish artillery could provoke an immediate reaction. In this case, it would be best for the Spaniards not to furnish their enemy with a perfect excuse to open fire. At present, the art of provocation seems to be their only skill. It is difficult to refrain from criticizing the lethargy of the Spaniards. I am extremely tempted to use another term to define their attitude. Actually, every marine in this blockade dreams of a nocturnal attack on the American fleet as it lies anchored in the bay. Obviously, it is just a dream, since the logical consequence of a bombardment is retaliation. Why don’t the sailors on land arm the steam launches in the Pasig with torpedoes to use in the event of a surprise attack from these insolent Americans? If eight or ten steam launches fire on the Olympia or any other ship, one good hit would suffice to make the Americans uncomfortable.

The inertia of the Spaniards is beyond belief. An insurgent’s barge driven off-course by the typhoon of August 2 is now 600 meters from the Pasig. All one has to do is to take possession of it. On its foredeck is a 120mm cannon. There is much talk among the port authorities, but no one has acted.

Among the Spanish refugees on board the Adelaide, there are men who could be useful on land. One of them is this so-called photographer, who claims he is a correspondent for an illustrated magazine. And what about this captain of the artillery who has lost his right arm? He does not appear to be ill. Most of us on board think he should be on land. There is an armless hero called Cervantes, whose example he should follow.

Our French torpedo officer of the MNS Bruix has not talked to the Spanish survivors of the Battle of Mobile Bay. The Spanish admiral Montojo tried that tactic with everything he had against Dewey. It takes timing and a certain amount of skill and considerable luck to use suicide boats and ramming attacks to disable or sink an enemy cruiser. The ARS Reina Cristina tried to ram USS Olympia after two command mines were prematurely detonated in front of the American cruiser. About at the same time, a flotilla of "Davids", improvised spar torpedo launches, set forth to attack Dewey's battleline. The USS Olympia raked the Cristina bows on and smashed her from end to end with 8-inch broadside cannon fire, driving her off, while the USS Baltimore, next in line, used her own rapid-fire guns to sink the Spanish launches before they could position to make their speed runs. The Spanish sailors now knew exactly why there was no attempt against the USS Petrel and USS Concord, at that present. It was useless suicide with no chance of success. This was not the Battle of Fuzhou with an incompetent, immobile and gutless enemy navy.    

The situation, as is, is so hair-trigger that neither the Americans, nor the Spaniards involved in the maskirovka, wants to risk the slightest mistake that could unleash a horror show. The Filipino ship is not that important in the overall scheme of things for either side to touch off the fireworks over it.    

As for the implication of cowardice Motsch applied to the Spaniards, does he not comprehend? Again Lt. Motsch has not talked to any American in Manila Bay. Nobody, American, who saw the elephant on 1 May 1898 or in the land fighting since then, is under any illusions about Spanish or Filipino courage.  Generalship and political acumen are another thing. But courage is not the lack here. 

Motsch plainly mistakes folks' common sense for cowardice. The Spaniards know it is over. They are just trying to exit with dignity. The Americans, for their parr, are trying to end this local conflict without horrible war-crimes committed and some awful casualty lists among their own people.    

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Diary of Miguel Saderra Maso Miércoles 10 de Agosto 1898

In all the notes passed on by the Yankees to the captain general these past days, the dominant theme was a request to capitulate in order to avoid the disastrous effects of a bombardment. The Yankees have strongly insisted they do not want to shed blood, that in any case they would do so against their will, that the extremely high sense of military honor of our armed forces was such that it cannot be stained by an honorable surrender after three-and-a-half months’ siege. News of these Yankee requests seems to have eased a bit the demoralization of the people. There are some who two days previously opted for surrender to those they perceived to be stronger. Thank God, there has been no bombardment. The two Yankee ships which have been detailed to guard the mouth of the river from afar have changed anchorage and approached the plaza. The insurgent trenches around Manila are crowned with white flags. Frs. Clotet and Martinez who have gone to Santa Ana have been witnesses to the friendly relations among the loyal Filipinos and the insurgents there. This very morning, the leader Pio del Pilar was in our villa house, visiting Sr. Acevedo, the commander of the militia volunteers from Bayambang. The latter, at the same time that he shows his loyalty, is the object of Aguinaldo’s and his men’s sympathies, and he is even rumored to have been named lieutenant general. A Yankee Catholic priest, chaplain of the Pennsylvania Regiment, came to speak with the archbishop and the captain general. Fr. Simo was his interpreter before the archbishop. He regretted that the intransigence of the Manila authorities may force the Yankees to inflict a mortal blow to the population. He told us some of the chief officers of the Yankee army are Catholics, among them Commodore Dewey, Anderson, and others; that in his regiment there are 700 Catholic soldiers who made their confession and received holy communion a few days ago.

The American agent, sent to scout the opposition, lied. George Dewey, for example, was an Epicopelian, just like most of the American naval high command. 

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Diary of John Henry Asendorf Wednesday, August 10th, 1898

 It is raining heavily as we are marching in to camp and we are all tired and hungry and even after breakfast we were as hungry as ever and had to fill up on bananas and oranges or anything we could get. Hardtack was, this day, at a premium. We really spent most of the day growling believing firmly that we were not getting our due rations. The Captain gave me some money to buy meat but I was unable to get any. I bought 13 chickens which were very poor and we had some chicken soup for dinner at 4:00 p.m. We then baked some biscuits for the next day and carried wood to camp… had to carry it over three miles. [Frank] Christopher, [Frank] Shanaberger, [Arthur] Riffle and [Walter] Collins are on the sick list.

The ration situation has deteriorated. Merritt has forbidden canned rations due to spoilage, based on his chief surgeon's advice. With the constant rains, the field kitchens are not functioning properly. The commissariat has not set up a Sutler's service.   


M.

[lordroel]

Day 114 of the Spanish–American War, August 11th 1898

Spain

The Council of Ministers accept the conditions for peace, outlined by the United States: Spain must renounce its sovereignty over Cuba, Puerto Rico and other islands of the West Indies, and cede Puerto Rico to the US, the US would hold Manila until a peace treaty was signed and a government was formed, Spain was to evacuate Cuba and Puerto Rico immediately.

Puerto Rico

General Schwan's troops occupied the city of Mayagüez, Puerto Rico.

US Army General Wilson's command again runs into Spanish Army resistance, this time in the Asomante Hills near Aibonito. The Spanish are routed after a brief skirmish.

[miletus12]

Aug 11, 2022 2:59:19 GMT lordroel said:

Day 114 of the Spanish–American War, August 11th 1898

Spain

The Council of Ministers accept the conditions for peace, outlined by the United States: Spain must renounce its sovereignty over Cuba, Puerto Rico and other islands of the West Indies, and cede Puerto Rico to the US, the US would hold Manila until a peace treaty was signed and a government was formed, Spain was to evacuate Cuba and Puerto Rico immediately.

Jules Martin Cambon provided a channel between the McKinley and Sagasta governments. Some historians think he was the author of the proposed truce terms the United States transmitted via the French undersea cable system to Madrid. Notice that the American studiously avoided the British system in this communication. As for who crafted the truce terms, that is a bit of a question. John Hay and William Day were on opposite sides of how the truce should be presented. Day knew about the Germans and how they were negotiating to buy up as much of the Spanish empire as Kaiser William II's ambassadors could bribe Spanish ministers to accept, but he was willing to compromise on the issues. The French were not too happy about this situation and neither were the British, but least of all, John Hay, who thanks to his long experience with the Europeans, beginning with service with Abraham Lincoln, urged a harder line on the Spanish with McKinley.

It is my belief that it was McKinley, himself, and not the French ambassador, or any of his advisers, who crafted the truce terms sent to Madrid.

The Spanish acceptance is not received yet as of this date. There was a squabble with Miguel Correa y García, the incompetent Spanish minister of war, and some rumblings in the Cortez among the Conservatives, but the navy minister Ramón Auñón y Villalón and the treasury minister Joaquín López Puigcerver, argued to Sagasta that truce terms now would be better than what the Americans would demand if the fighting continued. Their combined argument was simple... The navy was ruined and the government was out of money. Further war would see the jackals of Europe feast on metro-Spain herself.

WILLIAM MCKINLEY: LIFE BEFORE THE PRESIDENCY
By Lewis L. Gould
William McKinley was born on January 29, 1843, in the small town of Niles, Ohio. He lived there until age ten, when he moved with his family to nearby Poland, Ohio. His loving family provided William Jr., the seventh of eight children, with a fun-filled childhood that was also carefully guided by his parents. Like most young boys, he spent his childhood fishing, hunting, ice skating, horseback riding, and swimming. His father owned a small iron foundry and instilled in young William a strong work ethic and a respectful attitude. Nancy Allison McKinley, his devoutly religious mother, taught him the value of prayer, courtesy, and honesty in all dealings.

Education and Military Service
Education was important to William, and he studied hard at a school run by the Methodist seminary in his hometown of Poland, Ohio. Upon graduation, he entered Allegheny College in Meadville, Pennsylvania, in 1860. He attended Allegheny for only one term, however, because of illness and financial difficulties.

When the Civil War started, William joined the Twenty-third Ohio Volunteer Infantry. During the war, the young private proved himself a valiant soldier on the battlefield, especially at the bloody battle of Antietam. As a commissioned officer, Second Lieutenant McKinley served on the staff of Colonel Rutherford B. Hayes, future President of the United States. His relationship with Hayes, whom he considered his mentor, remained constant throughout his life. He ended his four-year stint in the Army as a brevet major, gaining a title that would stay with him throughout his political career.

Law and Political Career
When the Civil War ended, McKinley returned to Ohio to begin his career in law and politics. He studied law at Albany Law School and, after passing the bar exam in 1867, began his legal practice in Canton, Ohio. At a Canton picnic in 1869—the year he entered politics—McKinley met and began courting his future wife, Ida Saxton, marrying her two years later. He was twenty-seven and she was twenty-three at the time.

Although practicing law was his profession, being involved with the Republican organization secured his future. His first election in 1869 was for county prosecutor. He ran successfully for Congress in 1876 and served until 1891, with the exception of one brief period when he lost in the election of 1882. As a congressman, McKinley became chair of the House Ways and Means Committee in 1889. In that powerful position, he drafted and steered to passage the McKinley Tariff of 1890. Because this strongly protectionist measure increased consumer prices considerably, angry voters rejected McKinley and many other Republicans in the 1890 election. Stunned by his defeat, McKinley returned home to Ohio and ran for governor in 1891, a race which he won, but only by a narrow margin.

As governor, McKinley worked to control—and, he hoped, to lessen—the discord between management and labor. He developed a system of arbitration designed to settle labor disagreements and convinced Ohio Republicans, many of whom refused to acknowledge the rights of labor, to support his arbitration program. McKinley, while sympathetic to workers, proved unwilling to acquiesce to all of their demands, calling out the National Guard in 1894 to curtail strike-related violence by the members of the United Mine Workers. In the face of the economic woes of the mid-1890s, McKinley showed himself to be a skilled and able politician. He even gained widespread public sympathy when his own financial fortunes suffered during the economic depression of 1893—he had co-signed the loans of a friend who subsequently went bankrupt. Winning favor with the voters, he was returned to the governor's office in 1894. With congressional and gubernatorial experience under his belt, as well as widespread popularity in the Republican Party, McKinley was in position to make a run for the White House in 1896.

McKinley was not as Enrique Dupuy de Lome, a much lesser man and a fool, described him. He was a compromiser and a bit of a deal maker, which you have to be in America. De Lome did not understand that about McKinley, whose actual weaknesses were that he was too much of a friend to his associates, even when many of them were imbeciles (Duffield and Shafter are examples. So was Schwan.), and not ruthless enough to lead a nation at war.
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Aug 11, 2022 2:59:19 GMT lordroel said:

Puerto Rico

General Schwan's troops occupied the city of Mayagüez, Puerto Rico.

US Army General Wilson's command again runs into Spanish Army resistance, this time in the Asomante Hills near Aibonito. The Spanish are routed after a brief skirmish.

You have to love Wilson.

Engagement at Asomante Hills
Posted on June 30, 2018


Spanish trenches in the Spanish American War battle of Asomante.

Date: August 12, 1898

Skirmish between American and Spanish forces that occurred on August 12, 1898, at Aibonito Pass, Puerto Rico. Alternately known as the Battle of Asomante Hills and Aibonito, it was the last engagement of the Puerto Rico Campaign. On August 9, 1898, Spanish forces retreated to the stronghold of Aibonito after their battle with American forces at Coamo earlier that day. Aibonito is located within the Cayey mountain range to the east of Coamo in east-central Puerto Rico. The terrain between Aibonito and Coamo features many ravines and impassable ridges that made regular military operations through them nearly impossible. Travel between the two cities was conducted on the paved military road, which twisted through crooked valleys, doubled around sharp promontories, skirted steep overhanging cliffs, and hugged the sides of the precipitous slopes.

To prevent Spanish forces from destroying the much-needed bridges along the road, Major General James H. Wilson deployed Troop C (Brooklyn) of the New York Volunteer Cavalry commanded by Captain Bertram T. Clayton to pursue the fleeing Spaniards. Just over five miles beyond Coamo, Clayton’s troops came under fire from Spanish batteries placed on two hills north of Aibonito: Asomante and El Penon. Along with the batteries, the Spanish infantry had entrenched four companies of the Cazadores Patria Battalion, 70 mounted guerrillas from the 6th Provision Battalion, two provisional companies from the civilian guards, police units, and the 9th Volunteers. In all, there were some 1,280 Spanish troops on the slopes below their artillery batteries. This gave the Spanish complete coverage of the highway for several miles in either direction. The crossfire produced by the batteries and troops forced Clayton, under heavy Spanish fire, to halt his pursuit.

After reconnoitering the Spanish forces at Aibonito on August 11 and 12, Wilson became convinced that a frontal assault was entirely impossible. The Spanish positions on Asomante and El Penon commanded the steep road, allowing the Spanish to fire down on the Americans and preventing American batteries from deploying. Wilson’s men then found two practical routes around both the Spanish positions, which would place American troops across the Spanish line of retreat. Both routes were obscured from Spanish troops and were exceedingly steep paths, but the trail to the left was the shorter distance. Wilson decided to utilize this route for his turning movement, and on the morning of August 12, he instructed Brigadier General Oswald H. Ernst to take the mountain trail that branched westward and northward over the divide to Barranquitas. Once at Barranquitas, Ernst would travel down the highway from the village of Honduras, placing the American forces to the rear of Aibonito.

Knowing that at any minute he might receive word of an armistice, Wilson delayed Ernst’s flanking movement and sent Colonel Tasker H. Bliss under a flag of truce through the Spanish lines demanding their surrender. The message was also forwarded to the governor-general in San Juan. While the Americans waited for a response, Spanish forces at Aibonito were being reinforced from Caguas, bringing the total number of Spanish defenders to some 1,300 men. The Spanish then refused the American demands. Wilson now instructed Ernst to begin his flanking movement.

To divert Spanish attention from Ernst’s movement, Wilson directed Captain R. D. Potts’s Battery F of the 3rd U. S. Artillery with its six 90-millimeter (mm) field pieces to take up a position on a low ridge some 2,150 yards from the batteries on Asomante and 400 yards below them. Opening fire at 1:25 p. m., the Spanish artillery pieces were silenced by 2:15. The American guns now turned their attention to the Spanish infantry entrenched on the slopes, driving many from their trenches. Subsequently, it appeared that the Spanish had received reinforcements, with the Americans finding themselves under a hail of shells and bullets. With Battery F’s position untenable, the guns were withdrawn. The battery suffered one killed (a lieutenant commanding one of the guns) and six wounded.

Shortly before Ernst began his flanking movement, Major General Nelson A. Miles sent word to Wilson that hostilities had been halted with Spain. The Spanish-American War and the engagement at Aibonito were now concluded.

Further Reading Brands, H. W. The Reckless Decade: America in the 1890s. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2002. Chadwick, French Ensor. The Relations of the United States and Spain V1: The Spanish-American War. Reprint ed. Kila, MT: Kessinger, 2007. Hendrickson, Kenneth E., Jr. The Spanish-American War. Westport, CT: Greenwood, 2003. O’Toole, G. J. A. The Spanish War: An American Epic, 1898. New York: Norton, 1984. Trask, David F. The War with Spain in 1898. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1996.

James Harrison Wilson


Birth Date: September 2, 1837

Death Date: February 23, 1925

U. S. Army general. James Harrison Wilson was born near Shawnee- town, Illinois, on September 2, 1837. He briefly attended McKendree College before enrolling at the United States Military Academy, from which he graduated seventh in his class in 1860 and was commissioned a 2nd lieutenant of topographical engineers. He spent nearly a year at Fort Vancouver, Washington Territory, before the outbreak of the American Civil War in April 1861 necessitated his transfer east. He participated in the capture of Port Royal, South Carolina, in November 1861 and also distinguished himself during the siege of Fort Pulaski, Georgia, the following April.

Wilson served as an aide-de-camp to Major General George B. McClellan and accompanied him throughout the Peninsula Campaign and at the Battle of Antietam on September 17, 1862. Advanced to lieutenant colonel of volunteers, he joined Major General Ulysses S. Grant’s staff as his chief engineer in November 1862. Grant subsequently appointed Wilson inspector general of the Army of the Tennessee.

Wilson played a conspicuous role at the capture of Vicksburg in July 1863 and was promoted to brigadier general of volunteers that October. In November 1863, he distinguished himself in both the Chattanooga Campaign and the relief expedition to Knoxville. Grant then recommended him for the post of chief of the Cavalry Bureau in the War Department, and Wilson assumed that position by January 1864.

Wilson proceeded to overhaul and reequip the army’s mounted arm. He believed that the cavalry’s days as a shock weapon had passed and that it would be far more effective as mounted infantry. He thus issued rapid-fire Spencer carbines to his troopers and drilled them in tactics emphasizing mobility and firepower. In April 1864, Grant summoned him back as commander of the 3rd Division in Major General Philip H. Sheridan’s cavalry corps. Wilson fought well at the battles of the Wilderness and Yellow Tavern that May. In June 1864, Grant entrusted Wilson with the assignment of raiding the outskirts of Petersburg, Virginia, which was then under siege and stoutly defended by Confederate forces. Although Wilson performed effectively in campaigning around Richmond, the Wilson-Kautz Raid that June was a near disaster.

Wilson subsequently fought under Sheridan in the Shenandoah Valley but on September 30 was transferred to command cavalry under Major General William T. Sherman as a major general of volunteers. Wilson accompanied Sherman throughout the Atlanta Campaign until Confederate general John Bell Hood abandoned the city and lunged for the Union supply lines in Tennessee. Wilson then joined Major General John Schofield at the defense of Franklin on November 29, 1864. Hood was repulsed, and both Union generals fell back to join Major General George H. Thomas at Nashville. On December 16, Hood’s army was smashed at Nashville, and Wilson destroyed the Confederate remnants in a vigorous pursuit. Promoted to brevet brigadier general of regulars in March 1865, Wilson was next entrusted with a cavalry corps of three divisions (13,500 men) and ordered to raid the heart of the Confederacy. This was the largest cavalry raid of the war and among the most successful.

Wilson’s troopers tangled with renowned cavalry leader Lieutenant General Nathan Bedford Forrest at Ebenezer Church on April 1, 1865, defeating him. The next day, Wilson’s troopers again defeated Forrest during the capture of Selma, Alabama. It was the first time that a Union general had outmaneuvered Forrest. Montgomery, Alabama, fell on April 12, as did Columbus, Georgia, on April 20. In all, Wilson’s cavalry took more than 7,000 prisoners and 300 cannon before the end of the raid on May 20. Ten days earlier, Wilson had gained distinction when his men captured the fleeing Confederate president Jefferson Davis near Irwinville, Georgia. On June 21, Wilson received his final promotion, to major general of volunteers; he was then only 27 years old.

Following the war, Wilson remained with the army, becoming a lieutenant colonel of the 35th U. S. Infantry in July 1866. He performed engineering duty along the Mississippi River before resigning in December 1870 to pursue railroad construction. He settled in Wilmington, Delaware, in 1883.

When the Spanish-American War commenced in 1898, Wilson immediately volunteered his services and was commissioned as a major general of volunteers and assigned to command VI Corps. That corps was never organized, leaving him frustrated and with- out a post. In July, he secured command of the 1st Division in I Corps, commanded by Major General Nelson A. Miles.

Wilson’s 3,571-man division sailed from Charleston, South Carolina, on July 20 and arrived at Ponce, Puerto Rico, eight days later. Because of a lack of suitable small craft, the debarkation took 10 days. Wilson’s command saw little action in the fight for the island before the armistice. A portion under Brigadier General Oswald H. Ernst did fight and win the Battle of Coamo on August 9, and Wilson’s command also engaged in a skirmish at Asomante Hills on August 12.

Wilson, who favored the U. S. annexation of both Cuba and Puerto Rico, was then briefly military governor of the Ponce district of Puerto Rico. He returned to the United States to head I Corps at Lexington, Kentucky, and then served in Cuba as military governor of the provinces of Matanzas and Santa Clara. During 1900- 1901, he was second-in-command of the Beijing (Peking) relief expedition under Major General Adna R. Chaffee Sr. Wilson led a joint Anglo-American punitive expedition against Patachow, the city of eight temples, but refused to burn the Buddhist pagodas in retribution for the Boxer attacks.

Through a special act of Congress in February 1901, Wilson retired with the rank of brigadier general in the regular army. He represented President Theodore Roosevelt at the coronation of King Edward VII in England in 1902. In 1912, he published his memoirs, titled Under the Old Flag: Recollections of Military Operations in the War for the Union, the Spanish War, and Boxer Rebellion, Etc. In March 1915, he was advanced to major general on the retired list. Wilson died in Wilmington, Delaware, on February 23, 1925.

Further Reading Evans, David. Sherman’s Horsemen: Union Cavalry Operations in the Atlanta Campaign. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1996. Jones, James P. Yankee Blitzkrieg: Wilson’s Raid through Alabama and Georgia. Athens: University of Georgia Press, 1976. Keenan, Jerry. Wilson’s Cavalry Corps: Union Campaigns in the Western Theater, October 1864 through Spring 1865. Jefferson, NC: McFarland, 1998. Longacre, Edward G. Grant’s Cavalryman: The Life and Wars of General James H. Wilson. Mechanicsburg, PA: Stackpole, 1996. Wilson, James Harrison. Under the Old Flag: Recollections of Military Operations in the War for the Union, the Spanish War, the Boxer Rebellion, Etc. 2 vols. New York: D. Appleton, 1912.

I could describe Wilson, as ruthless and scrupulous as to military operations in that he would conduct actions with a view toward destroying his enemy military opponents, while at the same time adhere strictly to the rule of law as he understood it as regards to war. At Aibonita, he conducted a reconnaissance and concocted a plan to encircle and annihilate his Spanish opponents but bearing firmly in mind the ridiculousness of battle when a truce was any day now, sought to negotiate a surrender rather than murder men. When the obstinate Spanish commander refused to see reason, Wilson was promptly ready to execute his plan. It would have worked. Fortunately for all concerned, the word that operations were to halt, and a truce was in effect, arrived just as General Ernst was about to go on his joyride.

[miletus12]

Diary of Lieutenant X (Aime Ernest Motsch) Thursday, August 11, 1898

Still nothing. Admiral Dewey is essentially seeking an opportunity to bombard. But then again, the Americans are not so sure of themselves and fear being ambushed by the Tagals. This view is shared by many, in which case, Dewey will attack. If Merritt releases the insurgents in Manila, it would be the perfect excuse.

The Petrel and the Concorde are guarding the city and have completely blocked it from other ships anchored at bay. Yesterday the German consul had to request permission from Admiral Dewey to enter Cavite. Tension is constantly rising in the city. Fresh foodstuffs are unavailable, a rumor denied by some. The French consul has been advised that the Americans have categorically refused to grant the seven-day extension requested by the governor to enable him to inform his government.

Tonight, the American fleet is under pressure. The whole day was spent meeting with General Merritt at his camp. The Belgian consul was also present, having been designated the spokesman for the captain-general. While diplomatic discussions continue in diplomatic parlance, the most important element in the group remains silent but plans to attack anyway.

There is probably a plan to surrender Manila while pretending not to do so. What a contemptible idea! They are prepared to sacrifice these valiant people in order to provide these nonsensical negotiations a semblance of truth. Our sympathy goes to these brave Spanish soldiers. Never have soldiers had such poor leaders completely lacking in intelligence and consistently making incoherent and inconclusive decisions. They should have either surrendered Manila three months ago or defended the city to the very end. These small battles being waged by 10, 20, or a hundred poor souls, fighting hopelessly with all their strength, are futile. They are fighting for an unknown objective in the interest of a non-existent plan. This farcical attack will take its toll on more human lives, making them sacrificial lambs in the name of this so-called “honor.” The Spanish governor is resigned to give himself up but will go through the motions of actual battle, at the expense of 200 or 300 soldiers who will die for what he believes to be the real cause.

General Agustin was not willing to accept this plan up to the very end. He has consistently complained of his role in this deplorable situation. When someone had the audacity to declare and show evidence to the Cortes that there were 20,000 Spanish soldiers and 200 of the latest cannons in Luzon, the unfortunate general, outraged, responded with a telegram on June 21 describing the real situation, and this is the reason he was relieved of his command. Everyone praised him for his conduct and his sincerity. He took over the government of Manila the day before the Spanish defeat and surrendered it on the eve of the city’s capitulation.

I do not know here, if Motsch is now padding his diary with after the fact remembrance. 

The diary of a French officer on the war in the Philippines, 1898by Aime Ernest Motsch (Author)  

He published it as a monograph in 1901.  

Of course, the German consul was upset, Dewey was about to order him delayed in transit on some faked excuse until after the maskirovka was concluded.  The Americans knew the Germans were up to something from rumors they received from their "Katipunan associates". Also, the rumor network had von Diederichs staff flunkies yakking with Jaudenes' representatives at this time.  It was only about civilian evacuation arrangements through Katipunan lines, but Dewey had endured two run-ins with Otto already, one over that ocean liner packed full of 1400 German marines and the other about the Irene refusing to obey a heave to when she violated restricted waters. He did not believe the Germans for the one time they told him the truth. 

The food situation in Manila was that if you had some money, you could get food smuggled into the city. Most of the Filipinos in the city were not in that fortunate financial situation. The Chinese merchants were and so were the few Europeans still inside the city. 

The Belgian consul was the go between who told the French consul that the Americans were about fed up with the delays to implement the maskirovka. If the French consul had only suspected before, he knew now the fix was in. He apparently could not keep his mouth shut, according to Lt. Motsch. The Belgian consul was the actual neutral referee at Camp Dewey, receiving the American side of the Spanish-American put-up job. He was supposed to take those details to Jaudenes and get him to sign off on the latest script revision to the "war comedy".  Again, I think Motsch writes with after the fact knowledge, because I* doubt this scuttlebutt reached down to the junior dumb ensign level at the time. Certainly: the Germans did not know on 11 August, or they would have moved in to interfere as they did at Morocco in 1905 under similar circumstances. Funny thing was that Franco-American cooperation was present in that one and Kaiser Wilhelm blew a gasket there, too.   

Motsch's comment about Augustin is pure science fiction. Augustin's letter was concocted to hide the fact that it was he, who screwed up the defense of Luzon, despite Admiral Montojo's best efforts. There were indeed 20,000 Spanish troops on Luzon. About 15,000 of them were in Manila. We have already seen the modern artillery to hand, the Americans discovered in and around Manila Bay many pieces to the tune of 50 breech loading naval rifles of 4.7 inch bore or larger of at least 1880s and 1890s vintage. There were serviceable muzzle loaders of maybe twice that number of artillery pieces in addition. Add in the field guns, and two hundred pieces of artillery is mentioned in the Cortz report is about correct.  It was not the lack of numbers of soldiers or material that lost Manila. It was incompetent leadership (Augustin) and a lack of any effort by the Spanish army or civil authorities to mobilize for a defense. They had another 90 days with Dewey stuck between the Germans and them. Augustin and his crew of fellows in leadership did not act. Add to that fact that Augustin tried to sell Manila city out for a massive bribe and you get where this goes. We know this happened.        

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Diary of Miguel Saderra Maso Jueves 11 de Agosto 1898

Apparently, the Yankees’ desire to carry out their threat has passed, for they have not budged from their position all day long. They say their operations are being disturbed by the torrential rains which have flooded the fields where the Yankees were going to advance

True. The rains are going to make it dangerous to play act the "war comedy". The naval gunfire might put shots out that go wild outside the evacuated places that are supposed to be "bombarded" as the American infantry advances into Manila City.

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Diary of John Henry Asendorf Thursday, August 11th, 1898

It is still raining as usual and our dog tents give us little shelter. As always there is a “grapevine” rumor that Dewey is going to bombard Manila tomorrow and we are getting our rations ready. It is still raining as I try to go to sleep. I hear no firing at all. My messmate, Thomas Jones, is sick all night but never the less he will try and have breakfast in the morning. On time we expect to go on outpost in the morning. [Frank] Christopher, [Frank] Shanaberger, [Arthur] Riffle and [Walter] E. Collins are on the sick list.

More malaria cases, muddy fields, and rotten food and miserable rainy weather for the 10th Pennsylvania.  

[lordroel]

Day 115 of the Spanish–American War, August 12th 1898

Cuba: Fourth Battle of Manzanillo

A US Navy squadron consisting of the protected cruiser USS Newark, the auxiliary cruisers USS Hist and USS Suwanee, the gunboat USS Alvarado, and the armed tugboat USS Osceola bombard the Cuban port of Manzanillo and capture it.

Puerto Rico: Battle of Asomante

The American cavalry pursued the soldiers that had retreated from Coamo, but were not able to reach them until the units had entered Aibonito Pass, a region more commonly known as Asomante.

The region had been prepared by allied Puerto Rican and Spanish troops, who had built a trench and placed soldiers and equipment around the foliage. As soon as the soldiers noticed the presence of the invading unit they opened cannon fire. The cavalry received infantry reinforcements, which were received by battery fire. Six American soldier were injured in the crossfire, prompting a retreat order. The allied units (Spanish and Puerto Rican) lost five soldiers and two civil guards. During the following two days the Americans decided to do a battlefield reconnaissance and Colonel S. Reber, developed a croquis of the Aibonito Pass. Spies were deployed throughout Coamo, including a Puerto Rican separatist named Carlos Patterne, who was able to enter the city without suspicion and contact Rufino Huertas, a separatist teacher. Huertas gave Patterne a series of defense plans that were previously developed and organized by Martínez Illescas. While inactive, the Puerto Rican soldiers deployed in Asomante completed rounds every two hours, working four hours daily. They mostly ate beans, some rice and meat, while conserving several cracker packs for Spanish reinforcements that were supposed to arrive. They slept in improvised huts that did not protect them from the rain.

The American commanders decided to attack the trenches with artillery, while sending a large group to Barranquitas, from which they would try to attack the allied troops from the back. At 10:30 a.m. Captain R.D. Potts led part of the 3rd Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry Regiment through the central highway to Aibonito. Lieutenants Bliss and O'Hern led two units with similar equipment. At 1:00 p.m. the allied troops opened cannon fire as the Americans entered their range. Potts ordered the deployment of two batteries while O'Hern received orders from Commander Landcaster to set a cannon at a distance of a 100 yards to the vanguard's right. They intended to defeat the a small group led by Captain Hernaíz. Shrapnel from allied cannon fire was falling close to Lancaster's location, and he asked Potts to help him by deploying a battery nearby. One of Hernaíz's Placensias cannons overheated, which forced him to order a temporary cease to the offensive. Landcaster believed that the opposition had been annihilated, ordered an advance. However the allied fire was renewed, this time supported by Mauser rifle fire. The sudden attack caused confusion among some soldiers, who reported seeing a second Spanish unit nearby. Fearing that the allied units could capture the American equipment, Landcaster ordered a retreat. Lieutenant Hains was gravely injured by a Mauser bullet, being replaced by Sergeant John Long. Meanwhile, most of Potts' men fled the battlefield. In the crossfire the allied forces overpowered the American infantry, using Mauser fire to disorganize their artillery, during which time four American officials were gravely injured including Long, Lieutenant Harris, Captain E.T. Lee and Corporal Oscar Sawanson. Private Frederick Yough, Corporal August Yank, George J. Bruce and Private Sices also received injuries, with Yough subsequently dying. Harris' position was filled by O'Hern, while Sawanson was fatally shot while trying to support the artillery. In total the allied units had only an injured artillery man, while the American side had two dead and five injured. Wilson's camp was the first to receive a telegram from General Miles notifying him of the amnesty declared by the signing of the Treaty of Paris. The Americans sent Bliss to Asomante, but Nouvilas refused to suspend the hostilities after receiving a telegram from Macías denying any peace treaty. 

United States

Spain and the United States sign in sign in Washington, D.C. an armistice, the "Protocol of Peace", ending all hostilities between Spain and the United States in the war fronts of Cuba, Puerto Rico, and the Philippines.

Protocol For The End Of Hostilities With Spain

By the President of the United States of America.

A PROCLAMATION.

Whereas, By a protocol concluded and signed Aug. 12, 1898, by William R. Day, Secretary of State of the United States, and his Excellency Jules Chambon, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Republic of France at Washington, respectively representing for this purpose, the Government of the United States and the Government of Spain, the Governments of the United States and Spain have formally agreed upon the terms on which negotiations for the establishment of peace between the two countries shall be undertaken; and,

Whereas, it is in said protocol agreed that upon its conclusion and signature hostilities between the two countries shall be suspended, and that notice to that effect shall be given as soon as possible by each Government to commanders of its military and naval forces;

Now, therefore, I, William McKinley, President of the United States, do, in accordance with the stipulations of the protocol, declare and proclaim on the part of the United States a suspension of hostilities, and do hereby command that orders be immediately given through the proper channels to the commanders of the military and naval forces of the United States to abstain from all acts inconsistent with the proclamation.

In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of the United States to be affixed.

Done at the City of Washington, this 12th day of August, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and ninety-eight, and of the independence of the United States the one hundred and twenty-third.

William McKinley.

By the President,

William R. Day, Secretary of State.

Terms of the Protocol

1. Spain will relinquish all claim of sovereignty over and title to Cuba.

2. Porto Rico and other Spanish islands in the West Indies and an island in the Ladrones to be selected by the United States, shall be ceded to the latter.

3. The United States will occupy and hold the city, bay and harbor of Manila pending the conclusion of a treaty of peace, which shall determine the control, disposition and governance of the Philippines.

Cuba, Porto Rico and other Spanish islands in the West Indies shall be immediately evacuated and Commissioners, to be appointed within ten days, shall, within thirty days from the signing of the protocol, meet at Havana and San Juan, respectively, to arrange and execute the details of the evacuation.

5. The United States and Spain will each appoint not more than five Commissioners to negotiate and conclude a treaty of peace. The Commissioners are to meet at Paris not later than the 1st of October.

6. On the signing of the protocol hostilities will be suspended and notice to that effect will be given as soon as possible by each Government to the commanders of its military and naval forces.

Philippines

On orders of General Merritt, General Anderson notifies Aguinaldo to forbid the insurgents under his command from entering Manila, stating "Do not let your troops enter Manila without the permission of the American commander. On this side of the Pasig River you will be under fire".

United States - Assistant Secretary Of The Navy Charles H. Allen To Commodore John A. Howell, Commander, First Blockading Squadron

Dated Washington DC 12

To Naval Base Keywest Fla

Howell - In accordance with the presidents proclamation already telegraphed you suspend immediately all hostilities[.] Commence withdrawal of Vessels from Blockade. Our blockading vessels in Cuban waters to assemble at Keywest[.]

Allen, Acting Secretary

[lordroel]

Day 115 of the Spanish–American War, August 13th 1898

Philippines: Battle of Manila

Manila surrenders. Governor General Jáudenes, fearing Spanish troops will be massacred by the Filipinos, agrees to surrender the city after token resistance if U.S. General Wesley Merritt excludes Filipino troops from the battle. Merritt agrees. After a brief naval bombardment, the 1st Brigade under Brigadier General Arthur MacArthur, Jr. attacks from the south while General Greene's 2d Brigade attacks from the north. There is brief Spanish resistance to MacArthur's advance after large groups of Filipinos ignore American orders to stay behind and rush the Spanish lines. Governor General Jáudenes surrenders at 11:20 A.M. after a battle lasting two hours.

Drawing: Raising the American flag over Fort Santiago, Manila, on the evening of August 13, 1898



Puerto Rico

US Army Brigadier General Schwan's command encounters Spanish Army resistance near the town of Las Marías. Word of the armistice has not yet reached Puerto Rico, and a brief skirmish ensues. It is the last battle of the war in Puerto Rico.

[lordroel]

And with this, the 115 day Spanish–American War (1898) in real time ends, i hope it was good.

[miletus12]

Aug 12, 2022 5:39:32 GMT lordroel said:

Day 115 of the Spanish–American War, August 12th 1898

Cuba: Fourth Battle of Manzanillo

A US Navy squadron consisting of the protected cruiser USS Newark, the auxiliary cruisers USS Hist and USS Suwanee, the gunboat USS Alvarado, and the armed tugboat USS Osceola bombard the Cuban port of Manzanillo and capture it.

Like most actions concerning this port (See Maps.) the participants tell different stories of how the naval campaign against the port ended.

Location.



Harbor.

Photo of harbor. or rather coastal area...



Makes for a great landing spot for troops, but horrible for over the beach operations and hurricane shelter. 

Naval Operations Manzanillo
 

Introductory Essay


A history of the Spanish-American War written in 1900 called the naval operations at Manzanillo the “third” most important of the war. The author contended that it had been largely ignored because it “followed so closely upon the heels of more important events.” But the fact that on 18 July 1898 “seven light-draught American gunboats” were able to enter Manzanillo harbor and destroy ten Spanish vessels in less than four hours without significant damage was, according to this author, a notable accomplishment that should be celebrated.1

Manzanillo, a port on the Southern coast of Cuba, was a haven for blockade runners and home to small Spanish gunboats (under 250 tons) before the battle. Strong defenses and a natural harbor, the result of islands protecting the bay, made Manzanillo difficult to enter, for American vessels to attack shipping in the port. One attempt by Hist, Hornet, and Wompatuck, was repulsed on 30 June.2 A day, later, a foray by Scorpion and Osceola was similarly turned away.3 On both occasions the American vessels sustained hits, damage, and casualties. Hornet was so badly mauled that it was temporarily disabled.

A third attack on the morning of 18 July, finally succeeded where the previous two failed. The seven vessel attack force, including two gunboats of shallow draft—Wilmington and Helena; two armed tugs—Osceola and Wompatuck; and three converted yachts—Scorpion, Hist, and Hornet allowed the American commander, Capt. Chapman C. Todd, to divide his forces and attack the port from three directions. Todd gave orders to destroy enemy shipping but to avoid, if possible, an engagement with the shore batteries. His flotilla concentrated their fire on Spanish ships, though Scorpion and Osceola did fire at the batteries to silence coastal artillery directed at the American ships. Wilmington and Helena attacked the two Spanish merchant steamers and the blockade runner—Purisima Concepción--in the harbor. Hist, Hornet, and Wompatuck concentrated their fire on the Spanish gunboats, which sallied to oppose the American flotilla but were repulsed. The Americans pursued those gunboats, four in number, to their moorings and there, when joined by the armored Helena, raked them with fire and systematically destroyed them. Wilmington, after attacking the merchant shipping, concentrated its fire upon several pontoons, armed immobile hulks that had been transformed into floating batteries and sank one, the Maria. Having successfully destroyed five gunboats, three merchant vessels, and one pontoon without suffering any losses, the Americans broke off the engagement leaving the city still under Spanish control.4

The last American attack on Manzanillo took place just as the war was ending. Lt. Lucien Young of Hist, then blockading the port, sent a report that the Spanish commander at Manzanillo, Col. Sanchez Pieron, was prepared to surrender the city unconditionally if “the American fleet will make a demonstration before the city in such force as to save him from being court-martialed for surrendering.”5 Capt. Caspar F. Goodrich, at the time leading an expedition intended for the Isle of Pines, met Young, and learned of the situation at Manzanillo. Goodrich decided to divert his forces to Manzanillo and force the ports surrender.

After making a token bombardment, Goodrich sent in the gunboat Alvarado under a flag of truce with a demand for surrender. On approaching the town, Alvarado was fired upon.6 Goodrich’s flotilla responded by bombarding the town and Goodrich’s flagship, the battleship Newark, continued firing through the night. At daylight, Goodrich saw a multiple white flags over the town’s blockhouses and batteries and when he sent a boat in he was informed that the peace protocols had been signed and an armistice was in effect.7


A disappointed Goodrich, who had hoped the Navy might garner “one more laurel and gained one more important victory before the conclusion of peace,” called off the attack and arranged for the safety of the city.8 When the war ended, and despite enduring repeated American attacks, Manzanillo remained in Spanish hands, making it a scene of both an American victory and a Spanish triumph.

Footnote 1: Everett, ed., Exciting Experiences in our Wars with Spain and the Filipinos, p. 140.
Footnote 2: See: Lt. James M. Helm to Sampson, 30 June 1898; and Lt. Carl W. Jungen to Sampson, 1 July 1898.
Footnote 3: See: Cmdr. Adolph Marix to Todd, 1 July 1898.
Footnote 4: See: Todd to Sampson 18 July 1898; Todd to Sampson, 21 July 1898; Cmdr. William T. Swinburne to Sampson, 30 October 1898; Marix to Sampson, 19 July 1898; Helm to Sampson, 18 July 1898.
Footnote 5: New York Herald and San Francisco Call, 6 August 1898; Capt. Caspar F. Goodrich to Sampson, 13 August 1898.
Footnote 6: For the surrender demand see: Goodrich to Col. Sanchez Pieron, 12 August 1898; and Goodrich to the Commander of Cuban Forces in Vicinity of Manzanillo, 13 August 1898.
Footnote 7: See: Cmdr. Joseph G. Eaton to Goodrich, 13 August 1898; Goodrich to Sampson, 13 August 1898; Lt. John L. Purcell to Sampson, 31 August 1898.
Footnote 8: See: Goodrich to Sampson, 13 August 1898; and Goodrich to the Officer Commanding Cuban Forces in Vicinity of Manzanillo, 13 August 1898.

This "fourth battle" is a subject of some controversy. 

Spanish-American War

Captain Caspar F. Goodrich To Rear Admiral William T. Sampson, Commander, North Atlantic Fleet

U.S.S.NEWARK,
Off Manzanillo, Cuba,
August 13th, 1898.

Sir:-

I have the honor to submit the following report of the movements and operations of this vessel and her consorts up to 8.00 o’clock this morning:

2. On the afternoon of the 9th, the NEWARK left Guantanamo and was joined shortly after off the entrance to that port by the U.S.S.RESOLUTE, carrying the battalion of marines under Colonel Huntington.1 We proceeded to Santiago de Cuba, where we communicated with the St. Louis, and then continued to the westward.2 On Wednesday afternoon, the 10th instant, we fell in with the HIST and SUWANEE off Cape Cruz. Lieut. Comd’r Delahanty3 of the SUWANEE, having preceded us to this point; communicated with the HIST and learned from her commanding officer, Lieutenant Young,4 that the condition of affairs at Manzanillo was such as to warrant the belief that an attack by the force under my command would result in a speedy capitulation of the garrison and city.5 This he reported to me as being in entire accordance with a letter addressed to you by Commander Todd of the WILMINGTON, which he had been permitted to read on board your flagship.6 Lieut. Young, who had on board a competent pilot, assured me that it was entirely practicable to approach to within about two miles of Manzanillo in a ship drawing as much water as does the NEWARK.

3. Inasmuch as the force detailed by you for the contemplated operations at the Isle of Pines was not all at hand and as the WOMPATUCK could, in all probability, not leave Guantanamo until the 12th or possibly the 13th, it appeared to me well to occupy this time of waiting in an attempt at securing Manzanillo and its garrison.

4. We waited off Cape Cruz that night in order to be joined by the ALVARADO and OSCEOLA, and then on the morning of the 11th, started for Cuatro Reales channel, the following ships accompanying the NEWARK: RESOLUTE, SUWANEE, HIST, OSCEOLA and ALVARADO. In order to minimize the chances of accident that would be incurred in navigating waters only imperfectly charted, I sent the HIST with her pilot ahead. On her starboard beam was the SUWANEE. In rear of these two came the OSCEOLA. In rear of the OSCEOLA came the RESOLUTE and lastly the NEWARK, with the ALVARADO close aboard; all keeping the lead going constantly.7 By a preconcerted system of signals, the presence of shoal water or other danger could be instantly communicated from the leading ships in ample time to stop the progress of the RESOLUTE and NEWARK, heavy draft vessels.

5. We experienced no difficulty, whatever, in getting through Cuatro Reales; the least water found by the NEWARK being five and one half fathoms. At dark that day we anchored inside of the Great Barrier Reef in ten fathoms of water, about forty miles distant from Manzanillo.

6. Yesterday morning, the 12th instant, my little flotilla got under way at half past four and proceeded to the vicinity of Manzanillo. The RESOLUTE, SUWANEE, HIST and OSCEOLA anchored well outside of the northern entrance. I hoisted a flag of truce on the NEWARK and proceeded to an anchorage about three miles distant from the town, whence I sent the ALVARADO, also bearing a flag of truce, to present to the Military Commandant a demand for surrender, a copy of which I have the honor to enclose.8 This demand was placed in his hands by Lieut. Blue9 at thirty-five minutes past noon. The reply was to the effect that the Spanish military code forbade a surrender except as the sequence of a siege or other military operation.

7. The town being fortified, is exempt from the privileges and immunities attached to defenseless places. Nevertheless, as you will perceive from my demand, sufficient time was given to permit non-combatants to leave the city. At three o’clock I signaled to the out-lying vessels to take the stations off the town which had been assigned and at 3.35, hauled down the flag of truce on the NEWARK and proceeded toward Manzanillo, until the shoalness of the water forbade her further approach. At 3.40 fire was opened from this ship on the batteries and was maintained with tolerable steadiness until 4.15 o’clock, with an accuracy surprising in view of the short time during which she has been commissioned. The other vessels followed shortly after.

8. At 4.15 P.M., having been supposed white flags hoisted on the Spanish gunboat Cuba Espanola and the Commandant’s quarters, I made signal “Cease firing” and sent the ALVARADO in under flag of truce. At the same time the SUWANEE, HIST and OSCEOLA, all under the immediate orders of Lieut. Comd’r Delahanty, were approaching the town from the southward through the middle channel. When these vessels were within 1000 to 1500 yards of the batteries, the Spanish authorities opened fire on them at 4.35, paying no attention to the flag of truce on the ALVARADO, which (as I have since been informed) they failed to perceive. The ALVARADO hauled down her flag of truce and joined the other gunboats in returning the fire. At 4.50 opened fire again from the NEWARK. The Cuban forces at this time appeared to the northward of the town and began discharging volleys which were returned apparently by Spanish artillery. The NEWARK threw a number of 6” shells in this direction in order to assist the Cubans. The SUWANEE, OSCEOLA, HIST and ALVARADO soon returned to the neighborhood of the flagship and we all anchored at about 5.30 P.M. for the night. From that time until daylight this morning one 6” shell was fired from the NEWARK at the batteries at irregular intervals; one shot being fired during each half hour. Daylight revealed a large number of white flags flying over the blockhouses and batteries of Manzanillo and the approach of a boat from shore bearing a flag of truce. The Captain of the Port came off and delivered to me a cipher dispatch from the Secretary of the Navy,10 reading as follows: “Protocol of peace signed by the President; armistice proclaimed.” My disappointment was, as may be imagined, very great, for I had every reason to believe that the garrison was entirely ready to surrender. I had hoped that the fleet under your command might have won one more laurel and gained one more important victory before the conclusion of peace.

9. A few projectiles fell close to this ship, but the enemy’s attention was naturally directed chiefly against the gun-boats. I am happy to report no casualties or injuries beyond three shots from Mauser rifles through the SUWANEE’S ensign. What was possibly the last shot of the war was a 6” projectile fired from the NEWARK at 5.20 A.M., today. It gives me great pleasure to speak in the highest terms of the officers of this ship and of the remarkable gun practice she displayed.

10. I enclose reports of the commanding officers.11 It is impossible for me to exaggerate their loyalty, zeal and bravery, which have been too often proved during the war to render eulogy on my part necessary. Subjected as they were to close fire from guns of various calibres from old fashioned smooth bores to Krupp 14-pdrs and volleys of Mauser bullets, they stuck to their post and upheld the honor of the flag. I earnestly commend your favorable consideration Lieutenant Commander Delahanty, Lieutenant Young, Purcell12 and Blue, commanding the SUWANEE, HIST, OSCEOLA and ALVARADO, respectively.

11. A part of the contemplated plan of operations was the landing of some or all of the marines of Colonel Huntington’s command. This officer’s regret at the loss of an opportunity to win additional distinction for his corps and himself was only equalled by his careful study of the necessities of the case and his zealous entrance into the spirit of the enterprise.

12. Commander Eaton13 was, as is his wont, most ready and efficient and with his ship was extremely helpful towards others. It was only the nature of his ship and her personnel which, under my positive orders, kept him from a more prominent place in the action.

Very respectfully,

Your obedient servant,

C. F. Goodrich
Captain, U.S.N.,
Commanding.

Source Note: TDS, AFNRC, M625, roll 238. Addressed below close: “The Commander-in-Chief,/Flagship NEW YORK,/Guantanamo, Cuba.” Docketed: “U.S.S.NEWARK,/Off Manzanillo,Cuba,/August 13th, 1898./Goodrich, Caspar F./Captain, U.S.N.,/Submitting report of/bombardment of Manzanillo,/Cuba, August 12th, 1898./U.S.F.S. NEWARK/August 17, 1898/Forward approved/J.C.Watson/Commodore/Comdr in Chief Eastern Squadron.”

Footnote 1: Col. Robert W. Huntington, United States Marine Corps.
Footnote 2: Goodrich commanded the St. Louis until 8 August and then took command of Newark.
Footnote 3: Lt. Cmdr. Daniel Delehanty.
Footnote 4: Lt. Lucien Young.
Footnote 5: In a 10 August report on the activities of Hist in early August, Young wrote of visiting Manzanillo, adding that it was the “only place on the coast of Cuba from Santa Cruz east that is occupied by Spanish troops, and I am creditably informed that they are anxious to surrender to us, provided a sufficient force is presented that will protect them from future Spanish trial.” Report of the Bureau of Navigation, 1898, 299.
Footnote 6: Cmdr. Chapman C. Todd. His letter referred to here has not been found.
Footnote 7: By “keeping the lead going constantly,” Goodrich meant he continually checked the depth of the channel using a sounding line or lead line, which is a length of thin rope with a plummet, generally of lead, at its end. Regardless of the actual composition of the plummet, it was called a "lead."
Footnote 8: For the surrender demand, see: Goodrich to Colonel Sanchez Pieron, Governor of Manzanillo, 12 August 1898.
Footnote 9: Lt. Victor Blue.
Footnote 10: Secretary of the Navy John D. Long.
Footnote 11: See: Young to Goodrich, 13 August 1898; and Joseph Eaton to Goodrich, 13 August 1898.
Footnote 12: Lt. John L. Purcell.
Footnote 13: Cmdr. Joseph G. Eaton of Resolute.

If you cut through the manure, you can tell that this unnecessary operation was mounted by an overeager American naval officer who knew an armistice was in the works and who wanted to win one more "victory" before the stop shooting order was given. Bloodless or bloody, Goodrich in this instance was operating on an urge for glory and not military common sense. The Banditos in the area were quite capable of securing that town, as they did from the Spanish.   

The Spanish garrison commander, COL Sanchez Pieron, did indeed reply that Spanish military general orders forbade the surrender of a post unless an attack of such force sufficient to make a defense impossible was mounted. We will see this "war comedy" bungled again at Manila City, the Philippine Republic, in a bit, but here Goodrich failed to understand what the Spanish colonel was about. The flags of truce, he saw run up, as I understand it, from Spanish custom, were not surrender symbols, but parley flags. Goodrich was not wrong to send USS Alvarado into the harbor under a similar signal to "parley" details of the surrender.  The Spanish claim they did not see the parley signal from USS Alvarado. See photo.

          

If the truce signal was flown from the foremast as Goodrich and the captain of the USS Alvarado, (captured gunboat from the Armada) stated as claimed, then there was no way the Spanish observers could not have seen the parley flag.

Lieutenant Lucien Young To Captain Caspar F. Goodrich

U.S.S.Hist,

Manzanillo,Cuba,

August 13th,1898.

Sir:-

I have the honor to make the following report of the part taken by this vessel in the attack of yesterday upon the fortifications of Manzanillo.

The vessel, after piloting the squadron to off the Northern Entrance to the harbor, proceeded at full speed to Calicito, about six miles south of Manzanillo, in order to communicate with the Cuban forces at that place consisting of a squadron of cavalry. Lieutenant Colonel Rodriguez de Socoaras was brought on board and given information of our arrival and intentions He was instructed to at once convey such knowledge to General Rabi and Rios,1the two Cuban Generals, encamped with about 500 troops at Blenquizal,2 and to further instruct them that should they hear our guns they were to at once assault the Spanish forces from the rear. This errand having been accomplished, the vessel returned to anchorage near the “Suwanee” off the Northern Cay of the Harbor.3

Cleared ship for action at 1.35 P.M. in accordance with General Signal and was later on informed by the Commanding Officer of the “Suwanee”4 of your plans of action and for me to follow in his wake and his movements, the Osceola to lead. At 3.20 got under way and went to General Quarters. We entered the harbor by the western entrance between the Cays and when clear, fired one shot for range, at the fort on the end of Caimenara wharf, but it fell far short.

Turning with the starboard helm and still following the “Suwanee”, I brought the fort within range and opened fire with the bow 3pdr. and starboard 6pdr. and continued to fire upon that fort, the block-house to the rear and fort on the hill until the signal was made to cease firing, at 4.17. Shortly after the Newark opened fire I saw a gun open from the fort on the crest of the hill and also one from the Saragossa battery but did not see their fall, hence was unable to judge of the direction of their fire. From where we were the shots from the Newark could be well marked and they were doing fine work. Off the end of Caimenara wharf and in mid channel, this vessel ran so close to a triangular wooden buoy anchored with a large rope, that the helm had to be quickly put over to throw the stern clear. Close to and farther on were three more buoys exactly similar and I was unable to make out whether they were for range flags or torpedoes, more likely the latter from their appearance.

After the vessels had ceased firing and all appeared quiet on shore, the white flag in front of the barracks on the hill, troops moving about the streets and the Alvarado approaching the city flying the white flag; we were suddenly fired upon from a sand battery near the center of the town at a range certainly not in excess of 400 yards. Three shots were fired, apparently one at each of our three vessels, and the one aimed at this vessel passed over the deck-house. I immediately gave orders to open fire with the entire battery at the fort and buildings to the rear. In a few seconds the fight became general, all the forts, field batteries and troops keeping up a continuous fusillad,5which was returned by this vessel; first by the starboard battery and then winded and with the port and again with the starboard battery; until 5pm when the three vessels steamed out and came to anchor, as per signal, close to the “Newark” at the Northern Entrance. Although many shots came dangerously close to this vessel, especially those from a field gun on the end of Caimenara wharf, not one struck the vessel and there were no casualties.6

During the action the working of the battery was extremely unsatisfactory, in the first place the two after 3pdrs were out of commission owing to the securing bolts having been sent to Guantanamo for repairs about one week before and had not been returned. The firing spring of the forward 3pdr - Hotchkiss would lose its tension after about three shots and necessitated a cessation of fire from that gun while it was being taken out and spread, a serious fault I have experienced with this gun in every action so far. The Automatic Colt jammed twice. All four Maxims failed to function after the first or fourth round, due to insufficient play of the lever made so by strain or some unknown cause that weakened the mechanism. They could not at the time, be made to work either automatically or single the main work was performed by the two 6pdr. Driggs-Shroeder which gave entire satisfaction.

The number of shots fired during the engagement were deliberate, with care and precision and consisted of 32-3pdr Common Shell,47-6pdr armour piercing and 4-37mm. common shell and 90-6mm. cartridges from the automatic Colt.

The officers and crew acted in a most enthusiastic and commendable manner. The Executive Officer, Lieutenant (J.G.) C.W.Hazeltine7 and Assistant Engineer E.S.Kellogg8 rendered especial assistance, the first in the general workings of the vessel and the battery,and the latter in admirable handling of the engines while winding ship twice under a galling fire.

In conclusion I congratulate you upon having fought the last fight and fired the last gun, I hope of this war, and for the magnificent work performed by all the vessels under your command against such a superior force. It is with great pleasure I was enabled to be with you upon this occasion.

I am respectfully,

Lucien Young

Lieut.,U.S.N.,Commanding.

Source Note: TDS, DNA, AFNRC, M625, roll 238. Addressed below close: “Captain C.F.Goodrich,U.S.N.,/Commanding U.S.S.Newark and Senior Officer Present.” The docketing appears on a separate page in two columns. The left column starts with a “BUREAU OF NAVIGATION” stamp with the number designation “135895” and the date “AUG 31 1898.” Below that is: “U.S.S.Hist,/Off Manzanillo, Cuba,/Aug. 13th 1898./Young,Lucien,/Lieut.,U.S.N.,/Commanding./Report of battle off/Manzanillo,August 12th 1898. The right column begins: “U S S “Newark,”/Aug 14 1898/Respectfully forwarded/for the information/of Commander-in-/Chief./Captain, U. S. N./Command/U.S.F.S. Newark/August 16, 1898/ Forwarded to Comd in Chief/North Atlantic Station./JCWatson/Commodore/Comdr in Chief Eastern Squadron.”

Footnote 1: Cuban insurgent leaders Generals Jesús Sablón y Moreno, who used the nom de guerre Jesús Rabi, and Salvador Hernández y Rios.
Footnote 2: That is, Blanquizal, Cuba.
Footnote 3: That is, Manzanillo.
Footnote 4: Lt. Cmdr. Daniel Delahanty.
Footnote 5: “Fusillad” is handwritten.
Footnote 6: Someone handwrote the “a” in casualties, presumably after the letter had been typed.
Footnote 7: Lt. Junior Grade Charles W. Hazeltine.
Footnote 8: Asst. Eng. Edward S. Kellogg.

Several things can be gleaned.
a. As to the action at Manzanillo, it appears the coordination between the banditos and the USN was less than stellar as we have no report of any Cuban rebels' attack while the forts and ships shot at each other. 
b. It appears that COL. Pieron had not communicated or had lost positive control of his coast artillery troops. They opened fire on what they thought was an attack by one ship?? The weather situation was no wind and visibility good. USS Newark (See photo) had not generated enough smoke to obscure USS Alvarado. 

From Wiki.

General characteristics

Type......................................................... Protected cruiser
Displacement..............................................4,083 long tons (4,149 t)
Length......................................................... 311 ft 6 in (94.95 m) lwl; 328 ft (100 m) oa
Beam............................................................ 49 ft 2 in (14.99 m)
Draft..............................................................18 ft 8 in (5.69 m) (mean)
.....................................................................22 ft 8 in (6.91 m) (max)
Installed power..................................................4 × boilers; 2 × horizontal triple expansion engines, 8,500 ihp (6,300 kW)
Propulsion.........................................................2 × shafts
Speed............................................................ 18 knots (33 km/h; 21 mph)
Range........................................................ 3,922 nmi (7,264 km; 4,513 mi) at 10 kn (19 km/h; 12 mph)
Complement.................................................... 34 officers, 350 enlisted men
Armament........................................................12 × 6-inch (152 mm)/30 caliber Mark 3 guns
........................................................................4 × 6-pounder (57 mm (2.2 in)) guns
........................................................................4 × 3-pounder (47 mm (1.9 in)) guns
........................................................................2 × 1-pounder (37 mm (1.5 in)) guns
........................................................................4 × .45 caliber (11.4 mm) Gatling guns
Armor........................................................Gun shields: 2 in (51 mm)
................................................................Main deck: 3 in (76 mm)
................................................................Conning Tower: 3 in (76 mm)

c. USS Newark was fairly capable of putting up a lot of smoke haze from her brown powder guns, but the deliberate fire claimed could and would not have from two miles distance offshore moved inshore, in that calm, so as to obscure USS Alvarado's close run in, at least not to the point where Lucien Young claims the Spanish opened up on the USS Hist at a range of 400 meters. The Spanish, here, have a lot of explaining to do. 

d. Barely plausible is the hypothesis that the Spanish gunners had observed that the Americans' shooting was as wild and inaccurate as their own, and that the combined simultaneous movement of USS Alvarado, USS Hist and USS Oceolo constituted a Yankee attempt, as the Spaniards saw it, to close the range under a ruse de guerre to rake the shore batteries with automatic and rapid-fire cannon fire. Nevertheless, the apparent "treachery" seen by both sides, as to the other's acts, indicates an actual complete breakdown of command and control on both sides until someone on the Spanish side gave the order to cease fire first, followed by Goodrich's own order.

I still have no idea why Sampson was planning an expedition to Isle de Jeventud when the imbecile knew cease fire negotiations were in progress. The USN had run an undersea cable to Guantanamo from Cape Haiten and NOW Sampson was within mere hours communication from Washington.   
     
Well, so much for the Manzanillo action in the macro and in the micro; it was futile, unnecessary and useless, much like the whole imperialist colonialist war. But we have some technical notes:
  
a. The foreign made copies of Hotchkiss rapid fire guns were unacceptable. Recoil springs failed as did the shell extractors. The breech blocks jammed. Does this sound Spanish familiar?
b. The American made Driggs Schoeder and Driggs Seabury guns worked to perfection. The Fletcher breach interrupted screw system operated as advertised. The guns were just ... slow. 
c. The Browning potato digger, machine gun, made by Colt Firearms to their usual incompetent manufacturing standards, was unacceptable. Like the worthless British made Maxims, also mentioned as being terrible, the recoil springs and the sea soaked and stretched cloth belts were the constant source of stoppages and fail to feeds. Somebody should have bought the gas operated Hotchkiss machine gun...Not everything Hotchkiss made was a piece of crap as long as it was French or American made.

===================================================================================    
a. As to the action at Manzanillo, it appears the coordination between the banditos and the USN was less than stellar as we have no report of any Cuban rebels' attack while the forts and ships shot at each other.

b. It appears that COL. Pieron had not communicated or had lost positive control of his coast artillery troops. They opened fire on what they thought was an attack by one ship? The weather situation was no wind and visibility good. USS Newark (See photo) had not generated enough smoke to obscure USS Alvarado.

c. USS Newark was fairly capable of putting up a lot of smoke haze from her brown powder guns, but the deliberate fire claimed could and would not have from two miles distance offshore moved inshote, in that calm, so as to obscure USS Alvarado's close run in, at least not to the point where Lucien Young claims the Spanish opened up on the USS Hist at a range of 400 meters. The Spanish, here, have a lot of explaining to do.

d. Barely plausible is the hypothesis that the Spanish gunners had observed that the Americans' shooting was as wild and inaccurate as their own, and that the combined simultaneous movement of USS Alvarado, USS Hist and USS Oceolo constituted a Yankee attempt, as the Spaniards saw it, to close the range under a ruse de guerre to rake the shore batteries with automatic and rapid-fire cannon fire. Nevertheless, the apparent "treachery" seen by both sides, as to the other's acts, indicates an actual complete breakdown of command and control on both sides until someone on the Spanish side gave the order to cease fire first, followed by Goodrich's own order.

I still have no idea why Sampson was planning an expedition to Isle de Jeventud when the imbecile knew cease fire negotiations were in progress. The USN had run an undersea cable to Guantanamo from Cape Haiten and NOW Sampson was within mere hours communication from Washington.

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Aug 12, 2022 5:39:32 GMT lordroel said:

Puerto Rico: Battle of Asomante

The American cavalry pursued the soldiers that had retreated from Coamo, but were not able to reach them until the units had entered Aibonito Pass, a region more commonly known as Asomante.

The region had been prepared by allied Puerto Rican and Spanish troops, who had built a trench and placed soldiers and equipment around the foliage. As soon as the soldiers noticed the presence of the invading unit they opened cannon fire. The cavalry received infantry reinforcements, which were received by battery fire. Six American soldiers were injured in the crossfire, prompting a retreat order. The allied units (Spanish and Puerto Rican) lost five soldiers and two civil guards. During the following two days the Americans decided to do a battlefield reconnaissance and Colonel S. Reber, developed a croquis of the Aibonito Pass. Spies were deployed throughout Coamo, including a Puerto Rican separatist named Carlos Patterne, who was able to enter the city without suspicion and contact Rufino Huertas, a separatist teacher. Huertas gave Patterne a series of defense plans that were previously developed and organized by Martínez Illescas. While inactive, the Puerto Rican soldiers deployed in Asomante completed rounds every two hours, working four hours daily. They mostly ate beans, some rice and meat, while conserving several cracker packs for Spanish reinforcements that were supposed to arrive. They slept in improvised huts that did not protect them from the rain.

The American commanders decided to attack the trenches with artillery, while sending a large group to Barranquitas, from which they would try to attack the allied troops from the back. At 10:30 a.m. Captain R.D. Potts led part of the 3rd Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry Regiment through the central highway to Aibonito. Lieutenants Bliss and O'Hern led two units with similar equipment. At 1:00 p.m. the allied troops opened cannon fire as the Americans entered their range. Potts ordered the deployment of two batteries while O'Hern received orders from Commander Landcaster to set a cannon at a distance of about 100 yards to the vanguard's right. They intended to defeat the small group led by Captain Hernaíz. Shrapnel from allied cannon fire was falling close to Lancaster's location, and he asked Potts to help him by deploying a battery nearby. One of Hernaíz's Placensias cannons overheated, which forced him to order a temporary cease to the offensive. Landcaster believed that the opposition had been annihilated, ordered an advance. However; the allied fire was renewed, this time supported by Mauser rifle fire. The sudden attack caused confusion among some soldiers, who reported seeing a second Spanish unit nearby. Fearing that the allied units could capture the American equipment, Landcaster ordered a retreat. Lieutenant Hains was gravely injured by a Mauser bullet, being replaced by Sergeant John Long. Meanwhile, most of Potts' men fled the battlefield. In the crossfire the allied forces overpowered the American infantry, using Mauser fire to disorganize their artillery, during which time four American officials were gravely injured including Long, Lieutenant Harris, Captain E.T. Lee and Corporal Oscar Sawanson. Private Frederick Yough, Corporal August Yank, George J. Bruce and Private Sices also received injuries, with Yough subsequently dying. Harris' position was filled by O'Hern, while Sawanson was fatally shot while trying to support the artillery. In total the allied units had only an injured artillery man, while the American side had two dead and five injured. Wilson's camp was the first to receive a telegram from General Miles notifying him of the amnesty declared by the signing of the Treaty of Paris. The Americans sent Bliss to Asomante, but Nouvilas refused to suspend the hostilities after receiving a telegram from Macías denying any peace treaty.

We covered this Aibonito Pass situation before. But let us see why this has been called Puerto Rico's Thermopylae. See Photo.



That's Wilson's view looking from the southwest in modern times. Note the left side of the photo? That trail leading around the left most mountain, they do not tell you, is a goat path.


You can see why he wanted to send Ernst on a left hook toward Barranquitas and angle back northwest to southeast to cut Illeascas' line of retreat.on the road.

Want to know what Puerto Rican Guerreros were using for artillery?




That would be a canone de bronce de 21cm plasencia md. 1885/91). That is a siege gun, an 8.26-inch bronze muzzle loader of about 14 calibers. The Puerto Ricans found it and got it up a hill to shoot down the main road that you see in the above photo. Do you think General Wilson might have been a little bit worried here?

Here is some of the other stuff the Puerto Ricans used at Aibonita Pass.


80mm Mod.1875 'Plasencia' 80mm Mountain Gun

This was a Krupp-designed bronze field gun that was used by Spanish Mountain Artillery batteries.  

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Aug 12, 2022 5:39:32 GMT lordroel said:

United States

Spain and the United States sign in Washington, D.C. an armistice, the "Protocol of Peace" ending all hostilities between Spain and the United States in the war fronts of Cuba, Puerto Rico, and the Philippines.

Protocol For The End Of Hostilities With Spain

By the President of the United States of America.

A PROCLAMATION.

Whereas, By a protocol concluded and signed Aug. 12, 1898, by William R. Day, Secretary of State of the United States, and his Excellency Jules Chambon, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Republic of France at Washington, respectively representing for this purpose, the Government of the United States and the Government of Spain, the Governments of the United States and Spain have formally agreed upon the terms on which negotiations for the establishment of peace between the two countries shall be undertaken; and,

Whereas, it is in said protocol agreed that upon its conclusion and signature hostilities between the two countries shall be suspended, and that notice to that effect shall be given as soon as possible by each Government to commanders of its military and naval forces;

Now, therefore, I, William McKinley, President of the United States, do, in accordance with the stipulations of the protocol, declare and proclaim on the part of the United States a suspension of hostilities, and do hereby command that orders be immediately given through the proper channels to the commanders of the military and naval forces of the United States to abstain from all acts inconsistent with the proclamation.

In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of the United States to be affixed.

Done at the City of Washington, this 12th day of August, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and ninety-eight, and of the independence of the United States the one hundred and twenty-third.

William McKinley.

By the President,

William R. Day, Secretary of State.

Terms of the Protocol

1. Spain will relinquish all claim of sovereignty over and title to Cuba.

2. Porto Rico and other Spanish islands in the West Indies and an island in the Ladrones to be selected by the United States, shall be ceded to the latter.

3. The United States will occupy and hold the city, bay and harbor of Manila pending the conclusion of a treaty of peace, which shall determine the control, disposition and governance of the Philippines.

Cuba, Porto Rico and other Spanish islands in the West Indies shall be immediately evacuated and Commissioners, to be appointed within ten days, shall, within thirty days from the signing of the protocol, meet at Havana and San Juan, respectively, to arrange and execute the details of the evacuation.

5. The United States and Spain will each appoint not more than five Commissioners to negotiate and conclude a treaty of peace. The Commissioners are to meet at Paris not later than the 1st of October.

6. On the signing of the protocol hostilities will be suspended and notice to that effect will be given as soon as possible by each Government to the commanders of its military and naval forces.

We can see McKinley's cautious compromises and the mistakes he makes. 

a. If you are fighting a criminal imperialist war, then there are two ways to handle the outcome as the victor.
-- fight the war as a liberator and establish "client states" as the British did in their world empire, presenting a 'fiction' as the liberators and civilizers with the attendant self-deceptions and lies involved.
--do it the American way heretofore, as with "Manifest Destiny" where the foreign lands are conquered or purchased and taken into the Union to be settled and developed as in "the taming of the West". This was a brutal process (Ask the native Americans imprisoned on the reservations. M.), that made the Spanish atrocities in Cuba, the reason for the Spanish American War, look like "benevolent neglect".   
 
So: why was Cuba, the Philippine Archipelago and to this day, Puerto Rico, excluded from "statehood" while Alaska, full of Russians and Canadians, and Hawaii, full of Hawaiians and Japanese with only a few Americans, taken into the Union? 

Racism is one reason. Brown skinned people, who spoke Spanish or Tagalog, were too strange and different for a Gilded Age Anglo America. Another reason is that the citizens of these lands had their own national liberation movements and the proven political wills to strive for their own independence and nationhoods. It might have been smarter to simply have established nation to nation relations and make friends and allies with these nascent nations. Cuba would eventually follow that track for a short while, but the Philippine Archipelago was mishandled differently, and it remains to this day a profound stain and crime what the Americans did from 1898 to 1990 in the Archipelago. 

b. In for a porkchop? Steal the whole hog. The Ladrones is the Mariannas Islands. By no stretch of 1898 logic, should the Germans have been allowed ANYWHERE near Guam or later the Japanese after they kicked the Germans off Saipan and Tinian.  You would have thought that after Hawaii and Samoa, that the Americans would have learned that everything not nailed down under the Stars and Stripes, some other land grabby imperialist nation would seize. The United States HELD those islands at the time of the armistice and gave them back to Spain. 

What did it cost that kind of mistake? 


When you put up a lot of those, it means you have been STUPID.     

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Aug 12, 2022 5:39:32 GMT lordroel said:

Philippines

On orders of General Merritt, General Anderson notifies Aguinaldo to forbid the insurgents under his command from entering Manila, stating "Do not let your troops enter Manila without the permission of the American commander. On this side of the Pasig River you will be under fire".  

The order was to tell Aguinaldo that the Americans regarded the Pasing River as the deconfliction boundary between Katipunan and American forces. No mention of the "war comedy" was passed on. If you are Filipino, this order is something of an insult. Manila is your capital under foreign occupation, and you should have the right to liberate it.  If you are an American sending in infantry march columns to occupy the Intramuros and the heart of Manila city, you do not want 40,000 Filipino soldiers surging across your line and route of march south to north in movement from east to west in a hot footrace to see who gets to the Intramuros FIRST.  

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Aug 13, 2022 6:23:12 GMT lordroel said:

Puerto Rico

US Army Brigadier General Schwan's command encounters Spanish Army resistance near the town of Las Marías. Word of the armistice has not yet reached Puerto Rico, and a brief skirmish ensues. It is the last battle of the war in Puerto Rico.[

The American Army Moves on Puerto-Rico Part 4

by Mark R. Barnes, Ph.D., Senior Archeologist, National Park Service, Southeast Regional Office

Let us see how much more General Schwan can bungle things?

General Schwan's Yauco to Las Marias Movement


General Schwan

General Schwan's command left camp at Yauco and began the march northwest to San Germán on the morning of August 9th, making a straight 12-mile march and stopping at the outskirts of the town of Sabana Grande. Schwan had hoped to begin his movement on August 7th, but was delayed by "having to send all but two companies of the 19th Regular Infantry to undertake garrison duties or bolster other columns, which reduced his effectives to only about 1,500 men, but he did have eight pieces of artillery (Battery D, 5th Artillery) and four Gatling guns (Battery C, 3rd Artillery)" (Nofi 1996:252). In addition, Troop A, 5th Cavalry joined his force at Sabana Grande.

Facing Schwan on his sweep through the western part of the island were the Spanish Regulars of the 24th Rifle Battalion, 6 companies of the Alfonso XIII Battalion, and the 6th Volunteer Battalion, 60 mounted guerrillas, 50 auxiliaries, 2 field pieces, 28 civil guards, 30 guards of public order, and some volunteers of the 7th Battalion, located in towns southeast of Mayagüez through which Schwan would march (Rivero 1972:305). Meanwhile, Troop B and Puerto Rican Scouts entered San Germán about noon on August 10th. With the help of the Puerto Rican Scouts, General Schwan's command was able to move into San Germán without resistance (Picó 1987:63-64). Upon arrival at San Germán, it was learned that the entire Mayagüez garrison, cited as between 1,362 and 1,515 troops, were marching in General Schwan's direction (Herrmann 1907:40). Although Angel Rivero reported that the Spanish force was only consisted of Captain José Torrecillas and 145 men of the 6th company of the Alfonso XIII Battalion (1972:305).

The information concerning the Spanish movements was brought to Schwan by the Puerto Rican Scouts led by Lugo Vina, a man held in high regard by the General (Herrmann 1907:40). Throughout all of the American campaigns on Puerto Rico, numbers of Puerto Ricans served in important capacities to aid the Americans (Picó 1987:64). Schwan learned from the Scouts, the 7th Volunteers had been ordered to congregate on Mayagüez, and one company of the Alfonso XIII Battalion with Mounted Guerrillas (reportedly 1,200 men) were concentrating at Hormigueros. Schwan ordered an immediate march on the Spanish position (Nofi 1996:251-252).

Overall command of the Spanish forces at the district headquarters in Mayagüez was under Colonel Julio Soto Villanueva, with the 24th Rifle Battalion (Cazadores de Alfonso Battalion), under Lt. Col. Antonio Oses Mozos, plus some Puerto Rican volunteers. The Spanish occupied the Height of Silva, a ridge dominating the broad valley through which the road from San German to Mayagüez ran. The Spanish troops also occupied several hundred yards of front of the ridge more or less parallel to the road. A key position on the battlefield was the Silva Bridge, a cast-iron bridge that spanned the Río Grande (Nofi 1996:252-253).

The first Americans on the scene were A Troop, 5th Cavalry, a Regular unit that immediately dismounted and attacked on foot with their carbines. This unit scattered the attacking guerrilla units in their front and pursued them into the town of Hormigueros, crossing over a small iron bridge (Torrens Bridge) and right of the road. The dismounted cavalry took up position behind a railroad embankment below the Height of Silva, opened fire on the Spanish positions until joined by two companies of the 19th and the entire 11th Infantry to catch up, along with the artillery (Nofi 1996:253; Oliver 1902).

Schwan's advanced guard -- the two companies of the 19th, supported by two field pieces and Gatlings -- to the Río Grande River, formed the American left. While Troop A on the far American right with the 11th Infantry (with artillery and Gatling guns) in between these units facing the Spanish on the Heights of Silva. The advance guard seized the cast iron Silva Bridge and pressed the Spanish right flank. Meanwhile, Troop A remounted and turned the Spanish left flank. The entire 11th then moved forward to the Río Grande and the Silva Bridge. The water of the Rio Grande was too deep for the infantry to wade so they crossed on the Silva Bridge. Under the combined weight of the infantry and cavalry attack and the artillery and Gatling fire, the Spanish - already low on ammunition - were soon in full retreat. The Americans lost 2 killed and 15 wounded, while the Spanish sustained 3 dead, 6 wounded and 136 captured (Nofi 1996:254-255).


Silva Bridge, Hormigueros, Puerto Rico

Silva Bridge, which the 11th and 19th Regulars crossed to charge the Heights of Silva

Schwan occupied and rested his men on the Heights of Silva the night of August 10th and set out in pursuit of the Spanish early on August 11th, taking the road to Mayagüez. US forces occupied the town of Mayagüez at about 0800 in the morning, only to find the Spanish had abandoned Mayagüez, and were headed northeast on the road to Lares. Colonel Soto considered his situation as hopeless and not expecting reinforcements had left Mayagüez, marching northeast through the mountains intending to reach Arecibo on the north coast. Schwan rested his infantry (that had marched 45 miles and fought a battle in three days), but sent A Troop and the Puerto Rican Scouts, to maintain contact with the Spanish throughout the night of August 11th. The following morning five companies of the 1st Kentucky Regiment landed at Mayagüez, to bolster the Regulars. One company of the 1st Kentucky, 6 companies the 11th Infantry, and some artillery left at 1030 hours to catch up with Troop A and the retreating Spanish (Nofi 1996:255).

In constant rain and over muddy roads, the American troops only made ten miles on the 12th. They encamped by the road and rose early to continue the march on August 13th, at 0530 hours, when at 0730 hours the Puerto Rican Scouts reported the Spanish infantry was just ahead, attempting to ford the swollen Río Prieto, near the town of Las Marias.

Like the Americans, the Spanish had been having a rough march over the mountain roads. They were also hampered by a freak accident which incapacitated Colonel Soto at the Nieva coffee hacienda, and they could not safely ford the Río Prieto, because the heavy rains of the previous day had turned the river into a torrent. The Americans found the Spanish backed up against the river and quickly advanced on the remnants of the 24th Infantry -- 3 Spaniards were killed, 27 wounded, and 56 prisoners captured, including Colonel Soto and Lt. Col. Oses -- without incurring any losses among the Americans. Encamping on the battlefield, the Americans learned a Protocol was already in effect when they fought the action at Las Marias (Schwarz and Milligan 1915:28; Nofi 1996:256).

General Brooke's Movement Out of Guayama

From Guayama, captured on August 5th, the forces under General Brooke intended to advance towards Cayey on the Guayama-San Juan road and effect a juncture with General Wilson's troops (O'Toole 1984:356). However, Brooke lacked the transport he needed to move his 20 pieces of artillery and baggage for his 5,590 men. As a result, Brooke was not able to begin his advance until August 12th, when he had finally acquired adequate transport (Nofi 1996:256).

General Brooke

Brooke felt he faced only about 500 men of the 6th Provisional Battalion and the 1st Guerrilla Flying Column, under Commander Julio Cervera. The Spanish troops were deployed along the forward edge of the rather steep Heights of Guanami, northwest of Guayama. Brooke's troops had fought Captain Salvador Acha's troops on August 5th during the taking of Guayama (see above). Three days later (August 8th), a skirmish occurred above the Guamaní River Bridge, a cast iron bridge north of Guayama, at Barrio de Las Palmas, when two companies of the 4th Ohio (A and C) on a reconnaissance of the Spanish position were fired on and suffered four wounded. The Spanish incurred 2 dead and 15 wounded, from American rifle and artillery fire (Creager 1899: 168-177; Rivero 1972:275; Nofi 1996:257).

Now Brooke proceeded to carefully plan his attack on the Heights of Guanamí,

On 12 August the 4th Ohio was sent on a flank march around some ridges and hills to the west, while the bulk of his command - the 3rd Illinois and 4th Pennsylvania, plus four batteries - pinned the Spanish attention to their front. The intention was for the artillery to open the fight on the morning of the 13th, with the 4th Ohio falling on the Spanish flank after they had become heavily engaged to their front. The attack never took place. In one of the more dramatic moments in the war, a courier handed word that an armistice had been concluded to Brooke literally seconds before the artillery was to open fire. Realizing that if he attempted to shout an order to stand down, the gunners, already on edge, might fire anyway, Brooke stepped in front of the guns. Having gotten the men's attention, he announced that an armistice was in force [Nofi 1996:257].
General Henry's Adjuntas to Utuado Movement
Major General Guy V. Henry's column, comprised of the 6th Illinois and 6th Massachusetts, reinforced with regulars of the 19th Infantry jumped off from Adjuntas on August 7th. In six days of marching and road building, to improve Capt. Whitney's trail, this column had advanced ten miles across the most mountainous part of Puerto Rico building a road for their wagons as they advanced. By August 10th, the advanced units the American column arrived at Utuado, with the majority of troops and ox cart baggage train arriving on August 13th, as the Protocol was announced (Nofi 1996:257-258).

General Henry approached Utuado carefully, using detachments of Regular Cavalry, Troop B, 2nd Cavalry, as a screening force to detect possible Spanish ambushes. Captain C. B. Hoppin reported that a detachment of Corporal Jetmore, of Troop B, actually penetrated as far north as the town of Arecibo on the north coast, where Henry was supposed to link up Schwan. Jetmore's detachment was fired on by Spanish troops stationed at Arecibo, and the cavalrymen returned to Utuado on August 14th (Hoppin 1904:309-310).

The End of the Puerto Rico Campaign

By the 13th of August, the Americans held about one-half of the island, and had easily defeated all of the forces they had encountered. However, the majority of the 8,000 regular Spanish troops had not been committed to battle and the Americans would likely had encountered some difficulty in dislodging the entrenched enemy in the mountainous regions of Puerto Rico, had the Protocol not been announced. In addition, the taking of the fortified city of San Juan would have required a difficult siege. Although the outcome of the defeat of the Spanish forces was not in doubt, American losses could easily have equaled that suffered in Cuba. Total naval and army casualities incurred by the Americans in the taking of the island were nine men killed or mortally wounded and 46 men less seriously wounded (Nofi 1996:258-259).

Between the beginning of the Armistice on August 13th and the departure of the last Spanish forces from the island on October 18, 1898, there was "a high degree of cooperation and courtesy . . . between the Spanish and American officers and troops" (Nofi 1996:259). The departing Spanish forces, the American troops, and the local Puerto Rican citizenry usually all cooperated in suppressing disturbances by demobilized volunteers who attempted to go into business as bandits (Nofi 1996:260).

The U.S. flagraising ceremony in Puerto Rico, 1898
Official transfer ceremony on October 18th, 1898 at the Governor's residence

On December 10, 1898 the peace treaty ending the war had been signed between the United States and Spain, at Versailles, outside of Paris, France. As per the provisions of the treaty, Cuba would be independent -- after a short period of American occupation -- Puerto Rico and Guam were annexed, as well as the Philippine Islands -- the latter in lieu of a twenty million dollar indemnity paid by the United States to Spain. Even before the peace treaty was signed most of the state militia volunteer units that were sent to Puerto Rico were replaced with regular army units, and returned to their home states for mustering out. However, the dying did not end with their return to the United States. Among members of the 6th Massachusetts there were no combat deaths, but when the unit history was written in 1899, 24 members of the 6th had already died -- mostly from sickness caused by unsanitary conditions at Camp Alger, Virginia, prior to embarkation, or from illness during service in Puerto Rico (Edwards 1899:335-359; Harrison 1988:53-63).

The press coverage of the Puerto Rico Campaign was not as extensive as during the Cuba campaign. This can be attributed in part to General Miles. General Miles' strategy for the Puerto Rico campaign did not appeal to the press, depending as it did on overpowering the Spanish forces on the island by strategy rather than frontal assaults. It should also be noted that Miles did not arrange for the transport of correspondents, as did General Shafter or Admiral Sampson (Brown 1967:409). The Puerto Rico campaign was one that emphasized the under-training of the Spanish volunteers (Jacobsen 1899:19).

The overall strategy, rather than favorable conditions led to the victory on Puerto Rico. The ease of the Puerto Rico Campaign led some reporters to refer to it as "General Miles Puerto Rican Picnic." Richard Harding Davis who reported on the military leadership that made the Puerto Rico campaign effective in an article for Scribners, had a different view,

Puerto Rico was a picnic because the commanding generals would not permit the enemy to make it otherwise . . . By taking all the towns en route and picking up every Spaniard it met on the way, the army would surround San Juan with the island already won. Then with the navy in the harbor and the army camped about the city, San Juan would, as a matter of common sense, surrender. . . its inception and start was most brilliant and successful [Brown 1967:412].
Each generation redefines their history according to their own tastes. For America, the Spanish-American War was initially viewed as a short, glorious, and not very costly war, or in Theodore Roosevelt's word "A bully fight" (Nofi 1996:305). In retrospect, it was a war conducted to gain colonial possessions, similar to other wars of colonization being conducted by European nations during the nineteenth century. More importantly, it was the beginning of America's emergence as an international power (Nofi 1996:303).

The results of this change in foreign policy was evident even during the course of the Spanish-American War, when representatives of Great Britain's military and foreign service would assist the Americans (Millis 1931:32-33; 37-39). Prior to the Battle of Manila Bay, the British provided ample support facilities to the American fleet of Admiral George Dewey, in Hong Kong. When war broke out, and Dewey departed for the Philippines they were shadowed by a British fleet, which interposed itself between a Germany fleet anchored in Manila Bay, while Dewey engaged the Spanish (Reuter 1924:124-132). British consuls in Santiago de Cuba, Cuba and Ponce, Puerto Rico, were key to negotiating the surrender of Spanish forces and towns to the Americans.

The British would encourage the Americans to retain the Philippines as a means of preventing a German or Japanese presence in these islands. Two years later the Americans would return these British favors by participating in the China Relief Expedition of 1900, also called the Boxer Rebellion. During the China Expedition, General Wilson, who so admirably defeated the Spanish at Coamo with an enfilading movement by the 16th Pennsylvania, would use the same tactics on a group of Boxers substituting Nepalese Gurkhas for Pennsylvania volunteers. The territory the United States gained in the Pacific would set the stage her for involvement in World War II. The "Special Relationship" or alliance between the United States and Great Britain, first begun in 1898, has continued up to the recent conflict in the Persian Gulf.

The Spanish lost much more territory and vastly more valuable colonies in the 1820s to armies of liberation that ousted Spain from all of the Western Hemisphere, with the exception of the islands of Cuba and Puerto Rico. However, the Spanish-American War has always been called "the Disaster" by the Spanish. The lost of their last island colonies shattered Spain's self image as a great power. Efforts to recoup their colonial prestige in Northwest Africa resulted in a long and bloody war that saw the emergence of an Army colonel by the name of Francisco Franco (Nofi 1996:302 -303). For the Puerto Rican people, the war has meant more cultural, political, and economic change in the last one hundred years, than the previous four hundred years of Spanish rule, and the effects of the war on the island and her people will continue into the future.

Las Marias was not so much a skirmish as it was a chase into a cull de sac and take prisoners exercise.

[miletus12]

This one is going to be LONG and complicated. 

Aug 13, 2022 6:23:12 GMT lordroel said:

Day 115 of the Spanish–American War, August 13th 1898

Philippines: Battle of Manila

Manila surrenders. Governor General Jáudenes, fearing Spanish troops will be massacred by the Filipinos, agrees to surrender the city after token resistance if U.S. General Wesley Merritt excludes Filipino troops from the battle. Merritt agrees. After a brief naval bombardment, the 1st Brigade under Brigadier General Arthur MacArthur, Jr. attacks from the south while General Greene's 2d Brigade attacks from the north. There is brief Spanish resistance to MacArthur's advance after large groups of Filipinos ignore American orders to stay behind and rush the Spanish lines. Governor General Jáudenes surrenders at 11:20 A.M. after a battle lasting two hours.

Drawing: Raising the American flag over Fort Santiago, Manila, on the evening of August 13, 1898

As bungled as the "Mock Battle of Manila" was, it could have been far worse.

The situation, (See map.), could easily have ignited a major expansion of the Spanish American War. I think it marks the official beginning of the Filipino-American phase of the Filipino War of National Independence. Not March 1899 as claimed by American historians.


The Germans have moved in to observe the situation since last we saw them. They are about six miles northwest of the Pasing River mouth. The British in their two cruisers are a bit west of and south of Dewey, who flanks the northward movement of US 8th corps.

Battles that Changed History; First Manila 1898 or Manila (or First Manila) Dates: 25 JUL-13 AUG 1898 (Read the article at the link. it is HUGE.)

The summary is that the fix was in, Aguinaldo the double crosser was double crossed, and the Americans still come off as the mustache twirling villains in the piece. There is no other way to describe them, here. They were the villains. 

=============================================================

Diary of Chriss A. Bell Aug. 13, 1898 He is a corporal of the 2nd Oregon Volunteer Infantry. 

Up at 4 breakfast at 4:15 and aboard the Kwonghoi at 7. When we went out to fleet at about 9:15 fleet move towards Manilla (sic) and bombardment commenced at 10 A.M. It was a pretty sight, but we could not see well enough to tell effect of shot. Officers could see our land troops advancing. Shortly after noon the town surrendered.

After a long wait we started for the city. When about 200 guards [yards] from pier, boat grounded and we had to go ashore in small boats. We landed just in time to see Old Glory run up. Marching about the walls of the old fort we stopped near the flag and gave three cheers. Then proceeded through fort to castle. Here we lined up by companies and Spanish forces marched in front of us and surrendered. We then marched into palace and were quartered in the stables for the night. However: it was not the first and probably will not be the last times we have to sleep on the rough stones. I secured from the palace a pretty little vase as a momento. The palace is an immense square building of stone two stories high. The interior of main rooms is beautifully fixed up. About the only feature that had modern appearance was the electrical lights. There was a general air of ancient grandeur gone to decay. There is also the case of the whole town which is very ancient.

The walls and Fort being typical of past ages with its old viru called walls, moats, portcullis etc. The old city could never be captured by land attack. In places the walls are 100 feet thick and the moat 200 feet wide.

It was a long to be remembered sight the raising of the flag and the surrender of the soldiers. Most of the privates seemed glad but the officers especially the younger ones were broken up, the women were also weeping and no one could not help feel sorry for them. Our boys are as usual all swelled up, were being given the post of honor. The landing party was a dangerous bit of work for there were only two batteries of us marching through a city where there were at least 5000 Spanish soldiers armed.

By paragraph these are the comments.

1. The wind was not cooperative. As with the Battle of Cavite, 1 May 1898, the smoke produced by shots out of brown powder guns, hung about the American battleline like a collective fog. Vegetation ashore cloaked the effects of impacts. Ranging instruments of 1898 optical design and standards were not good enough for corrective aimed fire for effect by shipboard tracking parties or gun aimers in local control. Americans, ashore, had not been trained to wigwag or blinker light to the fleet how to correct for fall of observed shot from their observation posts. The shooting was for noise and light and about nothing else. I think Dewey knew this was the case, but war-shots out with loaded explosive shell are going to randomly hit and kill somebody near that fort. Our accounts (American side) put the dead at anywhere from ten to one hundred Spaniards. The Filipinos caught in the free-fire zone could have been at least that many. I note with intense sarcasm how easily American accounts gloss over Filipino casualties.

2.  Looting for souvenirs is admitted. This was a more property rights respecting 1898 American army than one supposes would have been the case with say; the Germans or the British; but let us not kid ourselves. These were criminal invaders with guns who had a casual definition of "legality".  They stole things and at best they "misbehaved" with the local populace.  If an American admiral or general refers to Filipinos as "Indians" in his official reports (Dewey and Merritt both used this racist term to describe the Filipinos, as if they were of the Comanche nation. M.), then the common sailor and foot soldier is not going to respect the people they maladminister either. 

3.  Note the description of the Intramuros? Between the last time the British visited in 1762 and the coming of the Americans in 1898, at least one energetic Spanish administration had fortified the place to WWII standards. Chris Bell is right. A formal assault would have been a bloodbath for the Americans and the Spaniards. 

4. This is Corporal Bell's description of the Spaniards. The common corporal has the common corporal's view of things. Two battalions of Americans were only about 1,600 men in 1898. if the 5,000-man observed Spanish garrison estimate is accurate, then the claim in some accounts that about 1/3 to 1/2 of Jaudenes' troops deserted and melted into the Manila city population could be suggested as true.   
     
Diary of Lieutenant X (Aime Ernest Motsch) Saturday, August 13, 1898

The final act of this conflict between the Spaniards and the Americans has taken place. It lasted two hours this morning; the simulated attack was met by a simulated defense.

At 9 o’clock, the American fleet readied itself by raising its flag, positioning the Charleston in front of Parañaque, and rallying the other ships behind the Petrel right in front of Manila. The Concorde is moving to the north of the Pasig, where she will keep watch over the Tondo coast until the city surrenders. It is hard to believe that the cannons on the southern pier have been ordered not to fire to prevent the likely bombardment by the Americans.

The fleet coming from Cavite is sailing in the following order: Olympia, Monterey, Raleigh, Charleston, Baltimore, Boston. The small ships are moving independently of this formation.

At 9:38 the Olympia opened fire west-southeast, at 5,000 meters, followed by the Monterey and the Raleigh a few minutes later. All three ships aiming their shots at San Antonio were missing their target completely. As I watched the continuous fire to the finish, the following words of a Spanish officer ran through my mind: All this cannon fire is merely a bluff and Fort San Antonio would not be threatened if they did not fire at the American troops.”

Some missiles landing on Spanish trenches have caused some lost lives. After the Monterey took the lead position at 9:49 a shell fell on Malate. By 10:00, a heavy shower of rain hid the details of the struggle, if there actually was one. I would say it was Much ado about nothing.

At 10:25, the weather cleared to show the Americans drawn up in two columns pointing approximately north-northwest. The Petrel and the Callao approached land, with the latter merely 2,000 meters from San Antonio, and the next day’s observations showed that six shells penetrated the fort, one of which was responsible for the death of three men manning a cannon. Another flattened the ramparts at the point where there were no gun emplacements. A shell, apparently fired from the Callao, exploded close to another cannon, lifting its parapet and killing several servants.

At 10:40, the fleet stopped firing. The only shots heard were those directed towards San Antonio and the trenches, but the Spaniards were not responding to the enemy fire. At any rate, from our decks we saw no counterattack. If we can believe the Americans, 20 projectiles were fired from the fort, killing two men and wounding six. They could scarcely have done less. The start of the siege is not exactly like a ballet performance. The 24cm and 25cm cannons at the ramparts of Manila remained silent for the same astonishing reason, the “prevention of the city’s bombardment” rapidly becoming a proverb since it was being heard constantly everywhere.

At 10:52, the artillery fire resumed both at sea an on land. Undoubtedly, the infantry had not been able to take over the trenches. There was one final burst of cannon fire from the fort. One minute later, a massive shell smashed into it.

By 11:00 the American flag crowned the crest. The soldiers retreated from the trenches which hardly showed any trace of battle. From this point onward, the Spaniards were obviously on the defensive. The troops from San Antonio and the surroundings either capitulated or beat a retreat. In the direction of Paco, the confusion continued as the insurgents attacked a battalion of sailors and captured two sections.

The victorious American troops were suddenly everywhere, coming from Malate and arriving in Luneta at 11:30. Along the way, they took over the 24cm cannons without firing a single shot, making one believe that a tacit agreement did exist between them, since both camps did not use their cannons.

The Spanish volunteers guarding the ramparts fired only a single volley as the Americans appeared. There again a situation of pure bluff. The Americans replied with a few shots, and then gave orders for an immediate ceasefire. The end result showed a few wounded on both sides. The white flag was raised in the southern part of the city as the comedy continued to unfold. When the Olympia finally signalled the city to capitulate, it was obvious that no reply came since the city had already surrendered.

From noon to 2 o’clock we took a much-needed rest. Then we dined. At 2:35, a Belgian vessel flying a parliamentary flag came alongside the Olympia. Admiral Dewey boarded a small American steamer full of troops which entered their new port. The Callao followed it. This is the end. They are negotiating the terms of surrender. The general feeling is that this whole scene has been meticulously prepared since yesterday, or perhaps earlier. We find this deception completely offensive.

At 3:38, the American squadron anchored 4,000 meters south-southwest of the Walled City. By 6:00, they celebrated their victory by lowering the Spanish flag and replacing it with the American flag to the thundering sound of a 21-gun salute.

This is definitely a great American victory, but a humiliating defeat for Spain, and undoubtedly, for Europe. Someday we shall discover the real truth. Spain is finished, and no matter what she chooses to believe, she has lost both her influence and possessions throughout the world primarily through her own fault. Her ferocious presence will fade away and, as it often happens, will end in ridicule and absurdity. And thus, the final curtain drops on this shameful tragedy. The sun which has shone for 400 years on the pearl of the Orient seas will no longer shine over Spain.

The Americans are festively marching into Manila with their rifles on their shoulders. Not a single gunshot is heard. The Spaniards do not show any resistance, except for the artillery unit in Luneta which fired this morning against the rebels in the north. One thousand five hundred Spaniards, a thousand Tagals, and one sole American regiment took part in the struggle. The next day, those in the garrison who were not involved in the fighting left their trenches, taking their guns with them.

Some details about the Americans. Some Yankees were seen entering the Pasig on a small steamboat; instead of hoisting their flag, they put up some sort of American publicity. Even worse, before the end of the day, two drunk volunteers were beating up the natives and pushing them around with the butts of their rifles.

And soon after Manila opened its gates, a formal order posted on the road to Paco prohibited the Tagals from entering the city. A group of natives, refusing to take heed, were blocked by the Americans, who harassed them with their bayonets.

By paragraph these are the comments.

1. So LT Motsch now knows that it was a "war comedy" for the last three months?

2. USS Concorde...



This is the picket to keep an eye on the Germans to the north of the shoot-ex.

3. USS Olympia, USS Monterey, USS Raleigh, USS Charleston, USS Baltimore, USS Boston is the order of the battleline. USS Olympia at the head of the line and USS Baltimore at near the tail of the line is obvious. These are Dewey's best heavy ships as proved in battle. USS Monterey is there behind USS Olympia to knock down forts if she has to do it. USS Raleigh      



is there for anti-torpedo torpedo boat defense of the battleline, especially of the USS Monterey.  USS Charleston, captained by a complete boob who will run her aground and wreck her the next year, is slotted in where she can be watched by USS Raleigh. Dewey is not too sure about her. USS Boston is there at the rear to cover USS Baltimore's behind and just for the grins and smiles.   

4. The Americans are shooting "wide" and north for a light and noise show as pre-arranged.

5. USS Monterey was line detached to bombard with clear lines of sight. Apparently, there was a lot of funnel smoke and Dewey wanted her clear of it. Something went very wrong at this point and USS Monterey shoots short. See map.
  
See photo.



That is what 10 inch and 8 inch and 6 inch bore shells can do. Those shots went straight through. The rains fogged up American rangefinder telescopes, so from about 10:30 onward it was iron sights through a smoke haze.  The "shorts" into the trenches were "unfortunate" but inevitable.

5. USS Callao and USS Petrel closed and raked what they thought was an empty fort. This is one of the first blunders of the "mock battle". The understanding was that the fleet would shoot the empty place up and then the Spanish infantry would later retire safely into the rubble before MacArthur's column peppered the empty abandoned trenches in front of the place with rifle fire. What actually happened, as we reconstruct it, is that the naval gunfire hit short into the trenches south of Malate that caused the Spanish infantry to retreat prematurely. Some of the retreating Spaniards sniped at the advancing Americans as they covered their own retreat. This caused confusion and an exchange of shots before officers on both sides ordered a cease fire.    

6. As to the claim of cannon fire from Fort San Antonio Abad, this was aimed in the "general direction" of MacArthur's troops. Here again, some American soldiers strayed into the Spanish free fire zone as they "chased" the "retreating" Spanish tercios. Not only did the fort's gunners shoot up the wrong place wrong time missed their stage marks Americans, but some Tercios who were out of position were shot up by their own gunners.

7. Because of the sporadic shooting on land and wigwag reports, Dewey ordered the fleet to go at it again. I am somewhat astounded that the Spaniards kept fire discipline at this point and agree with LT Motsch that no anti-ship fire from the large Manila waterfront 9.45 inch bore guns aimed at Dewey's ships was surprising. Jaudenes might not have been able to control his nitwits outside in the suburb forts, but at least he read his lines inside Manila properly.  

8. USS Monterey convinced Fort San Antonio Abad to stick to the script. MacArthur's troops got up from where they hid and resumed their playacting attack. There will still be more "incidents". This is what happens when one goes into a play without a rehearsal.   

9. At this moment there was supposed to be a general orderly Spanish withdrawal with the Americans marching just a little behind them with shots wide or high to simulate a battle. This did not happen as the Katipunan just north of Paco, decided that the Americans and Spaniards had pulled a fast one on them. Deconfliction be stuffed. General del Rey's troops attacked without orders and intermingled with Greene's men and the very thing the Americans did not want was about to happen. It was about to blow apart.    
  
10. The farce having been exposed, it was a mad dash by the Americans and Spaniards to exchange positions to put a wall of American bayonets between the Katipunan army of liberation and Manila. Of especial importance was that battery of large coast defense guns. It is about 11:00 local time that Greene and MacArthur threw away the script and both sides openly colluded against the Katipunan. Motsch does not make it clear, but yes indeed there was a surprise sudden rush to be seen to get American troops to the walls and to take over the forts as fast as possible. The one volley salute from both sides was for tradition and yet there were still people killed. 

11. At around this time, Jaudenes was supposed to have raised a huge white flag to signal the city's surrender. Dewey did not see one. There was a good chance that he would have turned USS Monterey loose on the Intramuros, but then a junior Spanish officer in the know, realized that Jaudenes had bungled this part of the evolution and somehow; he, the junior officer, found a white sheet large enough to be seen through the haze and he had it hoisted so the US fleet could see it. It was yet another near miss incident in what could have been a complete tragedy and war-crime.   

12. Now came the parley. The previous example of Manzanillo showed how not to do it. But this was Dewey. He waited for the Spaniards to send him the invitation and then he accepted the invite and went ashore fairly low key to make it obvious that these talks occurred under a carefully arranged ceasefire in place.

13. Why should Motsch be upset that a city is not on fire and hundreds if not thousands of people have not been killed? What kind of monster is he? We (The French?  The Europeans?) are insulted? The Americans are villains to be sure, but they are not the kind of villains the British were at Alexandria or the French at Fuzhou, or the Spanish at Valparaiso.  They have General Order 100 and are sticking to it when they can, as best that they can.  

14. Transfer of the city happens at 6:00 PM local time. It is 6 hours later than planned. The details really do matter to make sure that the hand-off remains peaceful. I think Dewey remembers the story about King Arthur, Mordred and the snake. It takes only one trigger happy idiot to ruin a parley.  

15. Notice...

This is definitely a great American victory, but a humiliating defeat for Spain, and undoubtedly, for Europe. Someday we shall discover the real truth. Spain is finished, and no matter what she chooses to believe, she has lost both her influence and possessions throughout the world primarily through her own fault. Her ferocious presence will fade away and, as it often happens, will end in ridicule and absurdity. And thus, the final curtain drops on this shameful tragedy. The sun which has shone for 400 years on the pearl of the Orient seas will no longer shine over Spain.

Motsch sees it. This is the end of European imperialism. The Americans may have a temporary presence and they are the agency of force in this instance, but they, too, will go away as the Filipinos and other oppressed peoples send these interlopers packing. The Americans' mistake was that they came in as would be, as another set of colonial imperialists. They should have learned and remembered from their own revolution and conformed to the lesson of that process and outcome. 

16. The takeover goes along smoothly with someone putting up a storefront advertisement, "Open For Business Under New Management". That is mild compared to what the monster, Motsch, wanted to see happen. See 13.  Then we have American troops allegedly mistreating the Filipinos by shoving them along with bayonets? Of course: I believe it happened. These were kids with guns. They were stealing things, getting drunk and taking advantage while there was confusion and lax officer and noncom oversight. I am quite sure much worse incidents happened of which that Motsch was not aware. An American occupation army will turn 'Saigon' on you in a heartbeat if the high command does not provost it immediately. That was one of the reasons Westmoreland should have been court martialed for the corrupt and incompetent fool that he was when he bungled the Vietnam colonialist adventurist war. 

17. Posting pickets, after what nearly happened at Paco around noon that could have turned into a three cornered free for all murder fest, was to be expected. Merritt has to do something to deconflict with the Katipunan. It was not noble at all, and it was errant colonialist imperialist criminal behavior that quickly led to a national liberation war against the Americans, but Merritt had to be practical as he saw it. He promised Jaudenes that he would not let the Katipunan into Manila City, as part of the terms of surrender negotiated.         
 
Diary of James J. Loughrey August 13, 1898

We left Camp Dewey at 10 a.m. to march on Manila. We formed up in battalion formation in a field of the Pasay Road where we remained for about half an hour while the fleet bombarded the Spanish trenches. We got in front of the other troops and formed a line of skirrnishers and marched towards the trenches. Captain Connolly gave us some whisky there, which was a godsend. We crossed the trenches and advanced towards a blockhouse where we soon had our flag flying.

We kept the beach all through the engagement until we entered Manila at 3 p.m. We had a few close calls but did not have any real trouble, although the regulars on our right had a pretty tough time. We went as far as Bridge of Spain where we halted to eat lunch and rest for a while. We then left for the Governor-General’s Palace at Malacañang and took up quarters. I went on guard duty and, strange to say, I was the first sergeant of the Guard the day we went into camp at Presidio, when we landed at Cavite and when we entered Manila.

Same as before, the comments are paragraph by paragraph.

1. The 1st California Volunteers got themselves liquoured up. They needed it. 

2. The Regulars to the 1st California's right strayed into the "free fire zone". Of course: they were going to have a tough time. The navy friendly fired them from the west and the Spaniards shelled them, allegedly by mistake, from the north. The 1st California just waltzed along the beach, crossed the bridge, entered Manila and wound up as the assigned Provost Guard posted at the palace, which surprises me because they were DRUNK throughout this whole exercise.  

Diary of Miguel Saderra Maso Sábado 13 de Agosto 1898

Today the plaza of Manila surrendered to the Yankees. The early hours of the day gave no new signs at all. The Boston was guarding off Parañaque, the Petrel and McCallouch off the mouth of the river. The rest of the squadron was idling off Cavite. It must have been about 9:00 when we saw sailing into the bay a merchant vessel flying the German flag. Someone said it must have been the boat bringing peace, and secure in this, we positioned ourselves to watch it as she entered the bay. She was signalled off Cavite where she was heading, and turned back to join the rest of the German squadron near Pampanga. All of a sudden; the entire Yankee fleet was in motion. The boats keeping guard sailed away to join the rest and headed towards Fort San Antonio Abad. Four big boats, which must have been the Olympia, Boston, Raleigh, and Baltimore, cannonaded that fort. Then they aimed at the trenches perpendicular to the beach . . . . During the attack, a heavy squall fell, but without disturbing the bombardment in any way. After five quarters of an hour firing, the Yankees thinking the field was already fully cleared, ceased firing their guns, while the land forces began their march towards Manila. Our troops crouched in the trenches still remaining intact surprised with a shower of bullets the Yankees who confidently came and were stopped in their tracks. At this moment, the Olympia and the monitor Monterey had moved themselves in front of Manila, the latter with her 30.5 cm. cannons pointing at the battery of two cannons on the Luneta. The Olympia fired a cannon shot over our trenches, where the troops subsequently received the command to retreat, while over the walls of the city a huge white flag was being hoisted. The plaza, filled as it was with noncombatants, had not fired at the ships lest it draw enemy fire. A parley followed during which apparently the Yankees have shown generosity in all the conditions, provided the plaza be surrendered. The insurgents have watched from the sidelines, intending to take all possible advantage of our disgrace. The friendship shown these past few days was that which his domestics feel for a dying rich man, and who seek to take possession of his riches before others come to claim them. Ahead of the Yankees, they had attacked the trenches, and later entered through the breach left open by our retreating troops. The Yankee vanguard which came to prepare the ground for the rest went to the Observatory, asking Fr. Algue if they could lodge there. Father answered politely he did not think so since the ground floor was filled with refugees, and mainly because if the city resisted anew (for the result of the parley was not yet known) the Observatory despite being a building of an international character would be a target of the cannons of the plaza. Accepting the explanation, they asked Father if there was a place where they could shelter themselves, and he indicated the volodrome. Within a few minutes, some insurgents came to the Observatory, and very politely asked the Father’s permission to put by the window grating the insurgent flag, lest the Yankees claim the building. While Father was trying to dissuade them from it, others proceeded to place it nonetheless. Two lieutenants ordered a soldier to remove it, and on obeying, he was rattan-whipped and the flag remained where it was.

[From the time of the noon meal] until 6:00 in the evening, one could see various units of the Spanish army passing through the Manila streets going to deposit their arms in Fort Santiago. At 6:00 the Spanish flag which used to crown this fort was furled, in its place the Yankee flag was hoisted. The Yankees who were present in the fort saluted their flag with shouts of “Hurrah!” and a music band positioned at the time of the solitary passage of Maria Cristina played their national anthem before the flag. -— Since the Yankees have taken possession of all the barracks, the Spanish authorities cannot find sufficient place to lodge the troops who are retreating to Manila. The former have filled some churches, and our church, too, if we had not offered them a place in the Ateneo, where the native Regiment No.73 and two artillery companies have stayed.

The trenches along Binondo and Santa Mesa are still being defended by our troops under the command of General Monet and Colonel Carbo. There is plenty of shooting in that part and tomorrow ours will abandon those positions that the Yankees may occupy them if they wish.

Today’s casualties are calculated to total 400 on our side, and 2,000 on the Yankee side. Probably these numbers are exaggerated from first impressions. The family of Gen. Augustin boarded the ship for Hongkong at sunset.

By paragraph, these are the comments.

1.  Leave it to Father Maso to notice that the pesky Germans were trying to situation normal all foul up the works as was their custom. Now you know what the USS McCulloch was doing. The details of the mock battle, as seen from the observatory, were coincident and compliment LT Motsch's observations above. I think it was Greene's troops who asked for quarters, they identified, as being the closest US troops to the observatory. The USS Monterey blew the hole in the wall near the Paco.  The volodrome?  If that is a velodrome, that would be a bicycle racing track. A volodrome would be a falconry or hunting bird training arena. I am guessing at this because the only other explanation is "flying field" and I don't think the Spanish had a commercial airport present in 1898 Manila. I get the feeling, reading his version of the mock battle, that he, Father Maso, does not understand what war at all is about. Anyway, Father Maso noted that the Yankees and the Katipunan, while polite, are brigands... polite brigands who intended to loot the Spanish colonial carcass in the Philippine Islands. The Katipunan rank and file had a tendency to beat stupid soldiers for obeying stupid lieutenants' stupid orders, and they used rattan batons to do it? I approve heartily of this form of higher education. I wish it had been applied to those two lieutenants as well, and then copied by American soldiers to apply to some senior American officials present in that area.

2. The Spaniards fell back, a bit disorganized, as Maso noted.

3. Spanish troops are being quartered haphazardly. The Americans should have considered this problem. An oversight that did not happen in Cuba or Puerto Rico, I noticed. This is one time the Eastern Command outperformed the Western Command. 

4. I have no idea from this account why the Spanish defended those trenches (Edit, the Spanish were beating off Katipunan attacks. M.) into day two of the transition.  

5. The casualty rates are way off. Divide by ten for the Spaniards and again by 40 for the Americans. Filipino casualties were at least equal to the Spanish in numbers, maybe more.   
     
Diary of John B. Kinne August 13, 1898.

The morning of the 13th at 6:30 A.M. the Spaniards shot a big gun as a signal, and the whole line of Spaniards opened fire and there was a shower of lead falling all around us. The twenty men under Lieutenant Hildreth, who had been sent to the extreme front, were in the thickest of the fight. It is said that they distinguished themselves by “Volley to the right!” “Volley to the left!” under the orders of Lieut. Hildreth. We have only their statement for the noble stand they made, but they seemed to be having a lot of fun over some of the incidents that occurred there.

Our regiment being on the reserve that day, had been ordered to the rear, and were behind a thick embankment when Dewey began bombarding the Spanish position to our front. This bombardment lasted about an hour and twenty minutes, when the Spaniards hoisted a white flag in Manilla. The army out in the trenches did not know this and kept up the fire. At 11:00 O’clock we were ordered to the front under fire, passed the first line of our trenches, then the second and by this time the bullets were flying thro the trees thick and fast, and we could see here and there where the trees had been cut down by the shells. When we got to the third line of entrenchments the Americans had jumped them and advanced up a straight narrow road, led by the Astor Battery… The first line of Spanish trenches were about two hundred yards distant, where one of the shells from the Astor Battery had fired a block house. They had crossed the trenches and driven the enemy back into the woods towards Manilla. Just as we got to these trenches we could see the rear of the line crossing after the Astor Battery and we proceeded in single file up the road about halfway, and lay in a ditch beside the road waiting for orders. Word was brought that the Astor Battery was all cut to pieces, and we were ordered to advance in a very hail of bullets. We had to jump a ditch and were halted again alongside the road.

About this time the natives began to rush back in droves one carrying a native officer shot thro the jaw, and we saw some of the Astor Battery coming in our direction and we thought they were retreating. We then had orders to retreat, and the most of us were mighty glad to do so. As we went over the first embankment, I turned just in time to see one of our men stagger and fall (thro) shot ( ) the leg. I believe this was F.E. Berg of Company A., as he was the only man wounded in the North Dakota regiment in the taking of Manilla. He was just behind me and the Spaniards were sending volleys down the road, and the bullets would whistle around our heads in a way that was very uncomfortable.

We retreated to the first line of American trenches and waited for orders. While retreating we saw men shot and others drop from exhaustion all along the road. One bugler was shot thro the breast and they brought him back, but he soon died. We heard that the Astor Battery boys charged the Spaniards that had captured their guns, and with their pistols drove the Spaniards away. They came back after shells that were in an old house that was behind the trenches we were in. They were a determined looking lot of men. They told us their 1st and 2nd Sergeants had been killed in a pistol charge.

The firing finally became more and more distant and we received word that the Brigade General had been expecting us at the front for half an hour, and we advanced again, passed the breastworks, which if they had been held by Americans I do not believe could have been taken so easily. One blockhouse called Blockhouse 13 was barricaded upstairs and down. We reached forward right theo the streets of the city and down a very fine street and a way off we saw an American flag waving over a large building. When we reached this building, we were given orders to go up the street, about four blocks and not to let any insurgents go thro with arms. We remained there till dark. Several companies of armed insurgents tried to get into the city, but were stopped by our guards. They became very indignant at this. As we understood they expected to get into the city and loot and pillage, and the understanding was with the Spaniards that the armed insurgents would be kept out, when the surrender took place.

While lying in the street with a manhole for a cover, several of us were discussing how soon we would be home. I made the statement that I thought we would celebrate Christmas at home, but did not have many supporters. At one o’clock we got a fine dwelling house to sleep in for the night, having nothing to eat since the morning before.

More comments appended per paragraph.

1. The 1st North Dakota Volunteers were apparently tall tale tellers, that is expletive deleted liars. How do I know this? Melvin A. Hildreth was one such a liar, for he never won a Medal of Honor as he falsely claimed.  

2. The Astor Battery was shot up. This outfit was raised and equipped a la American Civil War fashion by John Jacob Astor IV, who became its colonel. Amateurs and enthusiasm do not great soldiers make despite Teddy Roosevelt. That is why the War Department tapped one Peyton March to command the battery. 

The Astor Battery.

Profile - The Astor Battery

When the United States declared war on Spain, on April 25th, 1898, John Jacob Astor, one of the nation’s richest men, offered his yacht to the Navy for war service, and ordered his railroads not to charge the government for transporting troops and military supplies. In addition, he offered the War Department $100,000 (easily $12,400,000 today based on “minimum wage”, and perhaps $83,400,000 based on relative economic value), to "buy a battery" for field service in Cuba.

Seeing a good deal, the War Department accepted, and offered the command to 1st Lt. Peyton March. A recent graduate of the Artillery School, March initially didn’t realize that the battery was, in his words, “only a checkbook”. But he quickly began spending Astor’s money to recruit, equip, and train the battery, a feat that he accomplished with considerable skill and not a little cleverness, since nothing was forthcoming from the War Department. Recruited in New York City, with an improvised armory and barracks at 552 Broadway (then a new building owned by Astor, and today home to a Banana Republic), by June 5th the battery (officially “John Jacob Astor’s Battery of Mountain Artillery”) mustered into federal service with three officers (March and two other regulars serving in volunteer ranks), plus 99 enlisted volunteers, including several physicians, attorneys, and businessmen, many college boys, some wheelwrights, waggoners, and smiths, and a handful of veterans of American, British, Canadian, or German service, including several who had served as officers. They also had six Hotchkiss 12-pounder mountain guns, acquired by special order (and a little smuggling) from France. These pieces could be broken down, so that a single gun required four mules: one to carry the 250 pound, four-foot-long tube, one to carry the 250-pound carriage, and two each to carry 20 rounds of 3-inch ammunition. On June 9th, using borrowed horses to tow the guns (not yet having mules), the men of the battery marched 19 miles under a hot sun to a farm Astor owned in Bronxville, Westchester County, and set up camp for two days of intensive field training. Meanwhile, the battery had been ordered, not to Tampa, where the Cuban expedition was concentrating, but to San Francisco, to join Maj.-Gen. Wesley Merritt’s Eighth Army Corps, earmarked for the Philippines, which were under a U.S. naval blockade since Commo. George Dewey’s victory at Manila Bay on May 1, 1898.

On June 12th, the battery returned to New York and entrained for the West Coast on a special train of three sleepers, a coach, and three baggage wagons, all arranged, of course, by Astor. With a short layover at St. Louis on the 15th to load their authorized allotment of mules (also supplied by Astor), the battery reached San Francisco on the 19th.

The battery departed San Francisco as part of the third echelon of the Eighth Corps, sailing with Merritt and some other troops in the steamer Newport on the 29th. After an uneventful voyage, they landed at Cavite on July 25th ready for action, as March had drilled his men hard while at sea.

Manila was under siege by American troops and Filipino insurgents. The Americans held a line inland from Manila Bay, about 3,000 yards south of the city’s defenses. On August 2nd, the battery was assigned to cover the extreme right of the American lines, as part of Brig. Gen. Arthur MacArthur’s brigade. The troops spent ten days encamped near the front. The climate was sweltering, but March’s men suffered less than most, as he had foresightedly procured khaki uniforms, while the rest of the army was wearing Uncle Sam’s standard blue wool.

The troops moved to the forward line on August 12th, a difficult march in a steady rain, across swampy ground covered with bamboo and other tropical growth, and were in position by nightfall. Soon after daybreak on the 13th, as the men were having coffee and hardtack, fighting broke out to the battery’s left as a brigade of American troops advanced against the Spanish lines. Then Filipino troops to the right engaged a Spanish blockhouse, which replied with heavy fire.

(This Katipunan assault was the reason the Spaniards in this sector in that blockhouse opened fire on MacArthur's men and almost ignited a genuine real battle. The local commanders believed that they had been double crossed and that General Luna's troops and the Americans had combined against them. M.)

Along with the rest of MacArthur’s brigade, the men of the Astor Battery began moving forward through the bamboo, hacking a path so that they were able to get three of their Hotchkiss guns to within two hundred yards of the blockhouse. Firing grew heavy, and both sides began taking casualties. But the gunners were able to hit the blockhouse several times, setting it afire and touching off ammunition stored in it. As Spanish troops fell back from the blockhouse, two of the Hotchkiss guns were manhandled forward, accompanying the American infantry in capturing the blockhouse and the village of Singalong. Spanish resistance stiffened, as the Americans came under fire from another blockhouse about 100 yards further on. One Spanish counterattack was beaten off, but a very hot fight continued for perhaps two hours. With his two Hotchkiss guns out of action due to mud, March organized an attack by his men, who were only armed with pistols, with covering fire from a company of the 13th Minnesota. The men rapidly covered about half the distance to the blockhouse, but were then halted by heavy fire, and pinned down for a time. Finally, the Hotchkiss guns got back into action and forced the Spanish from their blockhouse, which shortly was occupied by March’s men.

Soon afterwards, an armistice was declared (part of a deal that actually was arranged before the day’s fighting began, both Spanish and Americans wishing to keep the Filipinos out of Manila). The Astor Battery had suffered two men killed and eight wounded, one of whom would later die, in about seven hours’ fighting.

After serving on occupation duty, on December 13th the battery boarded the transport, USS Senator. It had lost five men dead, two killed in action, one of wounds, and two of disease, while several wounded personnel had been discharged or remained in hospital due to disease, and still others had transferred to other units. Landing at San Francisco, two more men entered a hospital, and several more left as the battery rode the rails to New York, again on a train provided by Astor. They arrived at New York’s original Grand Central Terminal at 6:30 am on January 22, 1899. March and the 78 men remaining with the battery were given a tumultuous welcome as they detrained and marched to the 71st Regiment Armory on Park Avenue at 34th Street. On February 2, 1899, following a round of receptions and ceremonies, the troops were discharged, and the battery was disbanded.

Footnotes:

John Jacob Astor IV (1864-1912), grandson of America’s first millionaire, was not only a successful businessman, but also an inventor and author of some ability. In addition to his financial services to the war effort, he entered the Army as a volunteer Acting Inspector General with the rank of lieutenant colonel, and served on Maj. Gen. William R. Shafter’s staff in Cuba. Several times under fire, once losing a horse to an enemy round, he earned a brevet promotion to colonel, a title that he used to the end of his days, when he went down in the Titanic.

Peyton March (1867-1955) graduated from West Point in 1888. He emerged from the Spanish War as a captain. Almost immediately promoted to major, he served in the Philippine-American War (1899-1903) as an aide to Arthur MacArthur and in several administrative posts. Returning to the United States he was assigned to the newly-formed General Staff for a time, and was then an observer during the Russo-Japanese War (1904-1905). March later commanded artillery units, served in various staff assignments, and had a regiment on the Mexican Border in 1916. In 1917, as a brigadier general, he commanded the artillery of the 1st Division in France, and then was chief of artillery in the American Expeditionary Forces as a major general. In March of 1918 he returned to the United States to serve as chief-of-staff of the Army with four stars. March performed this duty well but acrimoniously, clashing with AEF commander John J. Pershing over military policy and President Woodrow Wilson over American intervention in Russia. When Pershing succeeded him in 1921, March retired.

(By all accounts, JJIV was an incompetent adjutant, more noted for courage than brains, in the Santiago Campaign. Peyton March should have been the one commanding the AEF in France in 1917 while John Pershing was cleaning out horse stables at the Fort Leavenworth military prison after being court martialed for his utter incompetence and for atrocities committed by his troops against the Apache nation. M.) 

As for John Baxter Kinne, a Minnesotan of the 13th Minnesota, who was somehow attached as a scout to the 1st North Dakota volunteers. He earned the Congressional Medal of Honor the HARD way and survived to have Teddy Roosevelt pin it on him...    

3. Yes, they ran for cover. The mock battle plan was torn to shreds by the Katipunan attack. Sensible people do not march standing up into a hail of bullets. The Americans tried to sort things out and find out if the fighting was going to be for real.  

4. You can see why Peyton March should have been in charge in France? The Astor Battery made New York PROUD. By this time the Katipunan had been Spanish-repulsed, and the Spanish and American officers talked to each other and got things back on script. The mock-battle was on again.  

5. The advance is described. Kinne suspects a put-up job, but he does not know.

6. Home by Christmas? These soldiers are not stupid. They expect the worst, and they are going to get it. 

Diary of John Henry Asendorf

The morning is clear and we returned to camp after getting orders to get our breakfast there and take two days field rations and 200 rounds of ammunition. We already had 50 [rounds] in our belt. While we were eating breakfast at camp, the insurgents were still fighting with the enemy. I heard the Captain say that [Admiral] [George] Dewey would commence the bombardment at once. We were all worn out then but were anxious to move on to Manila. We now heard Dewey’s guns open up for a couple hours when the city surrendered we then fell in line and marched two miles and took the beach directly across from the city. This side of Manila we had to cross a stream about 200 yards wide through which we waded which was as good as a bath. As we neared the city they open fired on us but we could not tell where it came from. Most of the shots passed right over our heads into the water. This lasted about thirty minutes. Just then, [Admiral] [George] Dewey‘s guns opened up again right over our heads. We renewed out march which was now through water two to three feet deep, right on the shore, which is fortified by a ten foot high wall. We then marched through Malate expecting every minute to be fired at from the houses because we occasionally heard firing but we marched right on until we stopped in front of the fort of the old city of Manila which is surrounded by two high walls and two streams. Right on top of the fort we saw the white flag floating. Just about one hour before we arrived here one of our men had accidentally discharged his gun and the Spaniards behind the forts opened their guns again killing one man and wounding good many others but our men (Colorado Volunteers) did not return the fire and the Spaniards stopped and it was good for them because [Admiral] [George] Dewey could lay their well-built forts to ashes, plus the whole city if necessary in very short time. After we took lunch at this place we moved up into the city. It was now 8:00 o’clock and we stopped right in front of Oriente Hotel where General [Francis V.] Greene‘s headquarters are established. We laid here on the street for two hours and then we took up our quarters in an old Catholic cathedral for the night. Everybody was tired and we all slept well although we had nothing to sleep on but tile floors and gun blankets. [Frank] Christopher, [Frank] Shanaberger and William Collins [are on the sick list].

Final comments. The 1st Colorado Volunteers had a much easier time of it along the beach than MacArthur's North Dakotans, Pennsylvanians, New Yorkers and Minnesotans, but even they had a trigger-happy incident. Notice the Spaniards shot over the heads of the advancing Americans? This was one time when it was by design. 

There were many occasions when this ramshackle "war comedy" plan should have gone horribly wrong. It is a testament to the Americans and Spaniards, that they managed to pull it off in the confusion of actual battle which the Katipunan brought on. Jaudenes and Dewey figured it out and made it work and thereby cheated the Filipino people into a new colonial set of overlords.

I did not and do not write that this was a glorious Spanish American accomplishment. The Americans were VILLAINS in this piece... successful ones. But I can at least note that this war comedy was confined to mainly soldiers as victims for now and that the alternative war-crime of a Valparaiso or a Fuzhou or an Alexandria was cleverly avoided. 
         
There was that much "good" from this aggression against the Filipino people. 

When I begin a thread on the "Filipino-American War", what American historians call an "insurrection" and what should be known as a continuation of the "Filipino War of Independence", we will see this American success change for the far worse as they fight the Katipunan.