THE FIGHTING IN MANILA.

Evening Star, Issue 10899, 6 April 1899, Page 3

THE FIGHTING IN MANILA.

May 1, 1898, August J. 3, 1898, February 4 and 5, 1899—these are the dates of the three battles in Manila, The first victory was unattended with loss to our side; the second cost about fifty men, killed or wounded; in the third, the list of our casualties was five times as great as in the second. The losses suffered by Spaniards and Natives on these three occasions will never be quite accurately stated; they were probably about eleven or twelve times more severe than the Americans’. The latest fighting began at a quarter before nine o'clock on the evening of February 4. Two Native soldiers refused to obey the order of a sentry who challenged them as they advanced towards the outpost of the First Nebraska Regiment, stationed between Manila and Santa Mesa. The necessity of maintaining the integrity of our lines, especially at night, had been impressed unon all by the conduct of certain Filipinos, who had slipped through a week earlier and attempted to assassinate American soldiers. The Nebraska sentry again called upon the two Natives to halt, and, as they paid no attention to his order, levelled his rifle, and fired upon them. The sequel shows that they had been sent for precisely this purpose, to draw the sentry’s fire, as part of a preconcerted plan to place the responsibility for beginning the action upon the American troops, and to make America appear the aggressor. Twenty thousand Filipinos in their trenches, blockhouses, ,aad little villages dotting the plain evidently thought themselves ready to drive the American lines in upon the city. They possessed several quick-firing and Krupp field guns; many cf them were armed with Mausers of the latest pattern, and a number of Spanish soldiers had joined their ranks. On the other hand, some of them were mere savages, who had never seen modern artillery, and had only bows and arrows to oppose the Gatling guns; such were the half-naked Igorrotes, who were given the “post of honor” in front of an American battery. To this mpb, and to the people of the islands generally, Aguinaldo had issued a proclamation earlier in the day, ordering his followers to regard Americans as invaders, and to treat them as enemies.

. About 13,000 of the American troops were holding the positions formerly occupied by the Spaniards, midway between Manila and the bands of Filipinos north, east, and south of the city. A semi-circular fighting line, seventeen miles in length, was formed of the following regiments, beginning with those stationed on Manila Bay. north of the capital:—The Twentieth Kansas, First Montana, Tenth Pennsylvania, and Third Artillery, under General Otis; the First South Dakota, First Colorado, and the First Nebraska, commanded by General Hale, supported bv batteries A and B of the Utah Light Artillery, under General M‘Arthur, north-east to east of tie city: the First California. First Idaho, First Wyoming, and First Washington, under General King, east and south-east, near the Pasig River ; the Fourth Cavalry. Fourteenth Infantry, First North Dakota Infantry, and Sixth Artillery Division, commanded bv General Anderson, near the shore south of the city.

Like an echo of the sentry’s shot, a gun was fired from blockhouse No. 7, and the signal for attacking the Americans had been given. The Nebraska Regiment was made the first target; presently, however, the firing spread on both sides along the confronting lines. On the north, the Filipinos were concentrating at Caloocan and Gagalangin, where they had mounted two siege guns; on the east, at Santa Mesa, the attack was hot; southward, near Paco, there was evidence of an intention to advance against Anderson’s command. A lull in the firing from midnight until about four in the morning was succeeded by a new outburst all along the Filipino line. , And so matters stood while the darkness lasted, the American rifles and light artillery replying to Mausers, and it was all inconclusive. But when dav broke the Charleston, the Concord, and the captured gunboat Callao opened fire on the enemy’s troops north of the city, the monitor Monadnock shelling those on the south; and a little later the capture.! light-draught gunboat Laguna de Bay went up the Pasisr and plied her Gatling guns with terrible accuracy at Santa Anna. And the Americans, advancing over rice fields and through dense undergrowth ond bamboo thickets, in whieh the enemy had constructed entrenchments, pressed the Natives back, and captured the villages of San Juan del Monte Santa Anna, San Pedro Macati, and Santa Mesa. General King’s brigade charged a force of Filipinos, far superior in numbers, and drove them in confusion towards the Pasig River, in which many were drowned. The Nebraskans captured a howitzer and carried a good position near the waterworks, about five miles east of the city. On the south-east the Filipinos made a stand in the Paco Church until the building was shelled by Captain Dyer’s battepr, Sixth Artillery, and set tn fire by Californian volunteers; then, of those who had not been killed in the church, some were shot as they ran out, and others were captured. At noon on Sunday the firing of the Filipinos slackened. “Our casualties.” says General Otis in his report, “probablv aggregate 250.” The Filipinos’ loss is estimated at 4,000.

On morning, February 6, there was light firing at lon<* range. Late in the afternoon General Hales’s brigade won a position, the control of which had become indispensable; it took possession of the waterworks at Singalon, four companies of the Nebraskans and a part of the Utah battery encountering; a force of Filipinos on the hill and dispersing them, though with a loss of two Nebraskans killed and three wounded. Sergeant Young, of the Utah battery, was wounded, captured, murdered, and maltreated.

On Tuesday. February 7, the Americans bad advanced far enough towards the north to discover that Caloocan, six miles from the city, was held with savage determination. A reconnoitring party, attacked by a body of Filipinos, were in great danger, when a charge by Kansas troops, led bv Colonel Funston, drove the enemy behind their entrenchments with heavy loss. In this encounter Lieutenant Alford was killed, and six Kansans wounded. —Mamon Wilcox, in * Harper’s/