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During the Philippine-American War between 1899 and 1902, the United States Army conducted nine military campaigns. Two additional campaigns were conducted after the official end to the war on July 4, 1902 in connection with the Moro rebellion, which continued until 1913.[2] Some other significant actions occurred outside of organized campaigns, both during the war itself and in the post-war period.
The Manila Campaign was conducted between, February 4 and March 17, 1899. During the Spanish–American War, Emilio Aguinaldo (who had led an unsuccessful insurrection against Spain in 1896-97) organized a native army in the Philippines and secured control of several islands, including much of Luzon. Cession of the Philippines to the United States on December 10, 1898 via the Treaty of Paris disappointed many Filipinos, and on February 4, 1899 Aguinaldo's followers clashed with American troops. The Americans, numbering about 12,000 combat troops under Major General Elwell Otis, defeated Aguinaldo's force of some 40,000 men and suppressed an attempted uprising in Manila.[2]
American columns pushed north, east, and south from Manila to split the insurgent forces and seize key towns. The column pushing north, commanded by Major General Arthur MacArthur, captured the town of Caloocan.[3] The column pushing east, commanded by Brigadier General Lloyd Wheaton, pushed out of Manila and gained control of the Pasig River, which connects Laguna de Bay to Manila Bay, permanently interrupting communications between insurgent forces in north and south Luzon.[4] The column pushing south, commanded by Brigadier General Henry Lawton, was tasked with a long raid along Laguna de Bay; its mission assignment was limited because of manpower shortages due to primacy of the northern theater.[5]
The Manila campaign split the Filipino forces in two, one section north and the other south of Manila, joined only by a narrow corridor running through the towns of Pasig, Pateros, Taguig and Muntinlupa between American lines and the shore of Laguna de Bay. This denied Aguinaldo direct control of Filipino forces south of Manila, in the most revolutionary provinces of Batangas, Laguna and Cavite. Antonio Luna continued as commander of the northern section, and Aguinaldo appointed Mariano Trias commander of the southern section.[6]
The Iloilo campaign was conducted between February 8 and 12, 1899. Although control of Luzon was the principal military objective in 1899, measures were also taken to establish American control over other important islands. Iloilo on Panay island was occupied on February 11, Cebu City on the island of Cebu on February 26, Bacolod on Negros on March 10, and Jolo in the Sulu Archipelago on May 19.[2]
On March 17, 1899, General Otis reorganized his 8th Corps, breaking it into a defensive force for Manila and an offensive force to pursue operations against Aguinaldo's forces north of Manila.[7]
The Malolos campaign was conducted between March 24 and August 16, 1899. General MacArthur's column advanced along the railroad to the north. Malolos the capital of the insurgent First Philippine Republic government, was the first objective. MacArthur's column captured Malolos on March 31, but Aguinaldo had decamped transferred his capital to San Fernando, Pampanga on the same day.[8] on May 5, and the stronghold of San Isidro, Nueva Ecija (which was held only temporarily) on May 15. The advantage gained through capture of Malolos was exploited by advancing to Angeles, which was captured on August 16.[2]
MacArthur sent one brigade up the Manila–Dagupan railway line while another brigade forded the Quingua river and moved up a wagon road to the west. Otis intended for Lawton to advance west to Baliuag as a blocking force, but Lawton believed he was to move north to Norzagary to draw Filipino forces away from a defense of Luna's stronghold at Calumpit.[9]
At Calumpit, where Luna's main force was located, thousands of laborers had strengthened the formidable natural defenses with trenches roofed by steel rails or boilerplate for protection from shrapnel and the construction of breastworks at several points. Some 4,000 soldiers defended Calumpit itself, with anoher 3,000 guarding the flank at Baliuag.[10] Luna had deployed much of his army along the railway line south of Calumpit, and on the night of April 10-11 he launched a series of assaults on garrisons along the railroad, driving the Americans back but failing to rout them.[11]
Otis had intended to launch his offensive on 24 April, but action began a day early, on 23 April, when American scouts examining the approaches to Quinga were pinned down. Battle developed as American forces were committed to support the scouts. American forces overran Quinga in fierce fighting on 23 and 24 April, putting them in position to threaten Calumpit.[12] On 25 April, American forces assulted Luna's stronghold, which fell after a day of heavy fighting.
The American advance northwards stopped at Calumpit while negotions aimed at ending hostilities were conducted. Colonel Manuel Arguelles, representing Aguinaldo, arrived in Lawton's camp to request a three-week armistice for Aguinaldo to call together his scattered government to discuss terms. Lawton sent him on to Otis, who refused a truce but did wire Lawton and MacArthur to hold their positions.[13]
On 2 May, Aguinaldo's representatives proposed a three-month cease-fire, couched in language which required Otis to acknowledge the Philippine Republic as a sovereign nation. Otis refused the truce on those terms, but gave the delegate a copy of President McKinley's plan for a Philippine civil government, which would include an advisory council and judiciary selected from Americans and Filipinos.[Note 2] Aguinaldo's delegates were won over. Aguinaldo's cabinet headed by hard-liner Apolinario Mabini was ousted and replaced with a "Peace cabinet" headed by Pedro Paterno, which sent the The delegates back to Manila to discuss surrender terms with Otis. General Luna, however, arrested the delegates and Paterno's cabinet and restored Mabini and the hardliners. Negotiatioons collapsed, and Otis resumed his offensive.[13]
American forces resumed military action, capturing San Fernando, Pampanga on 4 May.[14] Between 4 February and 4 May, MacArthur's troops had pushed American lines over 40 miles north. Their supply lines were in shambles and barely half the troops were still fit for active duty. Exhausted American troops recuperated in San Fernando for the rest of May and MacArthur's forces solidified their control of the railroad corridor linking San Fernando to Manila.[13]
The Laguna de Bay campaign was conducted between 8 and 17 April 1899. While MacArthur's column had been hammering the insurgents along the railroad to the north, Major General Henry Lawton took his column south, captured Santa Cruz in the Laguna de Bay area on April 10, and returned to Manila on April 17. Otis recalled Lawton from the Laguna de Bay Campaign despite Lawton's desire to capture the town of Calamba in order to strike a hard blow at the north before loosing his volunteer troops. As Lawton's forces departed, they could see Filipino troops reoccupying Santa Cruz.[21]
The first San IsIsidro campaign was conducted between 21 April and 30 May 1899.[2] Lawton's troops captured Bocaue, Bulacan on 25 AprilLinn 2000, pp. 111-113.</ref>
After the pause in May while negotions were underway in Manila, Lawton resumed his advance. On 1-2 May, they captured San Rafael, Baliuag and Bustos. After some days of rest, they took San Miguel on 15 May and San Isidro on 16 May.[22] Aguinaldo and fragments of the insurgent Philippine Republic government had decamped from San Isidro before its capture.
The Zapote River campaign was completed in a single day, 13 June 1899, and consisted largely of a single battle. Operations in Luzon in mid-1899 had halted for the rainy season. During this pause the first Philippine Scout units were organized and large numbers of additional troops began to arrive, bringing the strength of the American force (Eighth Army Corps) to some 47,500 men by the end of the year and 75,000 a year later.[2]
The Cavite campaign was conducted between, 7 and 13 October 1899. In October 1899, organized resistance in Cavite and adjacent provinces was destroyed by forces under General Wheaton and Brig. Gen. Theodore Schwan. In the same month, General Otis launched a three-pronged offensive in North Luzon directed at Aguinaldo's remaining forces.
Perhaps as a diversion, Filipino forces south of Manila had attacked Calamba and Los Baños in Laguna and Imus and Bacoor in Cavite in late 1899. In order to free troops to join the advance north, Otis moved to "attack and severely punish these Cavite insurgents".[24] Lawton headed south with three columns. One column swept the lines between Imus and Bacoor and along Laguna de Bay. second moved along the west shore of Manila Bay, with warships providing fire support. A third advanced down a narrow peninsula from the Cavite naval station to Novaleta.
A second San Isidro campaign was conducted between 15 October and 19 November 1899. San Isidro, 15 October - 19 November 1899. Lawton's column moved up the Pampanga River, recaptured San Isidro on 19 October, and neared San Fabian, Pangasinan on the Lingayen Gulf on 18 November.[2] The advance was spearheaded by a brigade under General Samuel young, which reentered San Isidro on 20 October.[25] Young pressed northeast towards Cabanatuan, Nueva Ecija, a city reputed to hold two dozen American and 4,000 Spanish prisoners of war, advancing slowly over difficult terrain.[26]
The Tarlac campaign was conducted between 5 and 20 November 1899. MacArthur's forces advanced through the Central Luzon plain, seized Tarlac on 12 November, and reached Dagupan on 20 November.[2] On 5 November, MacArthur's forces began clearing out the countryside between his garrison at Angeles and Arayat, Pampanga in Pampanga, and intending to advance onwards to Bamban, Tarlac. Though hampered by a typhoon which caused rivers to rise ten feet and washed out roads, the forces entered the town of Tarlac on 12 November. After delaying four days to repair washed-out roads and bring up supplies, a 900 man task force crossed a hlaf-mile washout on 17 November and occupied Bayambang, Pangasinan on 19 November and entered Dagupan the next day.
The San Fabian campaign was conducted between 6 and 19 November 1899. General Wheaton with his command sailed from Manila on the 6th, landed at San Fabian (7 November), routed insurgents at San Jacinto (12 November), and linked up with MacArthur's column at Dagupan on 20 November.[2]
On 31 October, scouts intercepted a message from Aguinaldo dated 5 October, declaring that he was shifting his capital to Bayombong, Nueva Vizcaya. Elements from the Second San Isidro campaign and the San Fabian campaign reacted to this unexpected circumstance in an attempt to capture him.
Aguinaldo, retreating before MacArthur's advancing troops, had left his latest temporary capital in Tarlac and moved north up the railroad to Bayombong. At a 13 November conference, he decided to disperse his army and begin guerilla war, then rode the train north 20 miles and set off across country for Pozorrubio, Pangasinan, 12 miles to the east. Aguinaldo was met enroute by General Gregorio del Pilar, swelling his party to over 1,200. Aguinaldo reached Pozorrubio on 14 November, but his rear guard had been attacked by pursuing American troops under and his mother and son captured. When the American troops entered Pozorrubio the next morning, Aguinaldo had already left. Recognizing that American troops blocked his escape east, Aguinaldo turned north and west on 15 November, crossing the mountains into La Union province.[27]
Lawton wanted to send Young north to intercept Aguinaldo, but Otis ordered Lawton to advance no further north than San Jose, Nueva Ecija, and to dispatch troops to seal off passes to the east. With permission from Lawton, Young proceeded northeast with a small force towards Tayug, Pangasinan to block Aguinaldo's escape route.[28]
Aguinaldo's escape north from Pozorrubio should have been blocked by a force under General Wheaton which had left Manila by sea on 6 November and arrived in San Fabian, Pangasinan the next day. Shortly after that force came ashore, however, a typhoon struck, flooded the countryside, and made movement almost impossible. Wheaton was not able to send troops to Pozorrubio until 16 November, the day after Aguinaldo had left. Having dispersed his army, Aguinaldo was no longer limited to routes able to accommodate a large force. He could now travel rapidly in small parties, and his destination was more difficult for pursuing American forces to predict.[29]
On 17 November, Aguinaldo reached Naguilian, La Union. Young, suspecting that Aguinaldo was moving up the west coast and that he might turn eastwards at Candon, Ilocos Sur, in the direction of the Tirad Pass, sent a batallion to block the pass. On 2 December, that batallion engaged Aguinaldo's rear guard in the Battle of Tirad Pass, in which General Gregario del Pilar was killed. Aguinaldo had escaped through the pass.[30]
On March 23, 1901 General Frederick Funston and his troops captured Aguinaldo in Palanan, Isabela, with the help of some Filipinos (called the Macabebe Scouts after their home locale[31][32]) who had joined the Americans' side. The Americans pretended to be captives of the Scouts, who were dressed in Philippine Army uniforms. Once Funston and his "captors" entered Aguinaldo's camp, they immediately fell upon the guards and quickly overwhelmed them and the weary Aguinaldo.[33]
On April 1, 1901, at the Malacañang Palace in Manila, Aguinaldo swore an oath accepting the authority of the United States over the Philippines and pledging his allegiance to the American government. On April 19, he issued a Proclamation of Formal Surrender to the United States, telling his followers to lay down their weapons and give up the fight. “Let the stream of blood cease to flow; let there be an end to tears and desolation,” Aguinaldo said. “The lesson which the war holds out and the significance of which I realized only recently, leads me to the firm conviction that the complete termination of hostilities and a lasting peace are not only desirable but also absolutely essential for the well-being of the Philippines.”[34][35]
American President Theodore Roosevelt unilaterally declared the insurrection at an end on 4 July 1902.[36] His official issuance, however, was a proclamation of general amnesty for persons who had participated in or supported Philippine insurrections against the U.S., and explicitly excluded parts of the territory "inhabited by Moro tribes". [37]
On 22 September 1901, in an incident known as the Balangiga massacre, townspeople in Baliangiga, Samar killed more than forty of the American troops which had been garrisoned there.
The First Battle of Bud Dajo took place on March 5–7, 1906. One thousand Moros (mostly women and children) fortify themselves in an extinct volcanic crater on Mindanao and battle several hundred American soldiers, before virtually all are killed.
The Second Battle of Bud Dajo was a five day battle which took place in December 1911. An estimated 1500 Moros fortified the top of the extinct volcano. General John J. Pershing, through negotiations, succeeded in persuading the majority of the assembled Moros to return home. The remaining Moro forces, led by a chieftain named Jailani, were either killed or captured in the battle.
In reaction to the Balangiga massacre, Governor General Adna R. Chaffee tasked General Jacob H. Smith to pacify Samar. General Smith ordered a brutal pacification campaign, for which he was later court-martialed.
The Mindanao campaign was conducted between 4 July 1902 and 31 December 1904, and included other action on 22 October 1905. In 1902 serious trouble began with the Moros, a Mohammedan people in Mindanao and the Sulu Archipelago, who had never been completely subjugated by the Spanish. When the Army occupied former Spanish garrison points, the Moros began to raid villages, attack soldiers, and otherwise resist American jurisdiction. Between July 1902 and December 1904, and again late in 1905, the Army dispatched a series of expeditions into the interior of Mindanao to destroy Moro strongholds. Col. Frank D. Baldwin with some 1,000 men (including elements of his own 27th Infantry and a mountain battery) invaded the territory of the Sultan of Bayan near Lake Lanao and defeated the Sultan's forces in the hotly contested Battle of Bayan on 2 May 1902. Capt. John J. Pershing headed a similar expedition into the Lanao country in 1903, and Capt. Frank R. McCoy finally killed the notorious Moro outlaw, Dato Ali, in the Cotabato district in October 1905.[2]
The Jolo campaign was conducted in three segments, 1–24 May 1905, 6–8 March 1906 and 11–15 June 1913. In May 1905, March 1906, and June 1913, Regulars had to cope with disorders too extensive to be handled by the local constabulary and Philippine Scouts on the island of Jolo, a Moro stronghold. During May 1905 Pala and some of his followers were killed; the remainder, gathered in a volcanic crater, surrendered to American forces. On March 6, 7, and 8, 1906 the battle of Bud Dajo was fought to a successful conclusion by Regulars and in mid-June 1913 Moros at Bagsac were whipped.[2]