THE BATTLE OF MANILA BAY (1898) BY ADMIRAL DEWEY, COMMANDER OF THE FLEET1 The Boston and Concord were sent to reconnoiter Port Subio, I having been informed that the enemy intended to take position there. A thorough search of the port was made by the Boston and Concord, but the Spanish fleet was not found, altho from a letter afterward found in the arsenal, it appears that it had been their intention to go there. 1 From Dewey's official report. The Battle of Manila Bay occurred on May 1, 1898. Since the blowing up of the Maine in Havana Harbor on February 15, matters leading to war with Spain had moved rapidly. An ultimatum was finally sent to Spain on April 20th, in which April 23d was made the last date on which a satisfactory reply would be received. This was virtually a declaration of war, altho the formal declarations were not made until April 24th and April 25th. The first gun in the war came from the United States ship Nashville, which fired across the bows of a Spanish merchantman named Buena Ventura. On April 27th three vessels of the navy under command of Admiral Sampson bombarded Matanzas, Cuba. Admiral Dewey, then a commodore in Chinese waters, commanding the Asiatic squadron, was at once ordered "to proceed to the Philippine Islands; commence operations at once against Spanish fleet; capture vessels or destroy." He entered the Harbor of Manila on April 30th, under cover of darkness, having as his ships the Olympia, Baltimore, Raleigh, Boston, Concord, Petrel, Hugh McCulloch, and two colliers, comprizing altogether 113 guns and 1,678 men. The Spanish fleet of ten ships was armed with 120 guns and had 1,796 men, and was supported by land batteries. Entered the Boca Grande, or south channel, at 11:30 P. M., steaming in column at distance at 8 knots. After half the squadron had passed, a battery on the south side of the channel opened fire, none of the shots taking effect. The Boston and McCulloch returned the fire. The squadron proceeded across the bay at slow speed, and arrived off Manila at daybreak, and was fired upon at 5:15 A. M. by three batteries at Manila, and two at Cavite, and by the Spanish fleet anchored in an approximately east and west line across the mouth of Bakor Bay, with their left in shoal water in Canacao Bay. The squadron then proceeded to the attack, the flagship Olympia, under my personal direction, leading, followed at distance by the Baltimore, Raleigh, Petrel, Concord, and Boston, in the order named, which formation was maintained throughout the action. The squadron opened fire at 5:41 A. M. While advancing to the attack, two mines were exploded ahead of the flagship, too far to be effective. The squadron maintained a continuance and precise fire at ranges varying from 5,000 to 2,000 yards, countermarching in a line approximately parallel to that of the Spanish fleet. The enemy's fire was vigorous, but generally ineffective. Early in the engagement two launches put out toward the Olympia with the apparent intention of using torpedoes. One was sunk and the other disabled by our fire and beached before an opportunity occurred to fire torpedoes. At 7 A. M. the Spanish flagship Reina Christina made a desperate attempt to leave the line and come out to engage at short range, but was received with such galling fire, the entire battery of the Olympia being concentrated upon her, that she was barely able to return to the shelter of the point. The fires started in her by our shell at this time were not extinguished until she sank. At 7:35 A. M., it having been erroneously reported to me that only 15 rounds per gun remained for the 5-inch rapid-fire battery, I ceased firing and withdrew the squadron for consultation and a redistribution of ammunition, if necessary. The three batteries at Manila had kept up a continuous fire from the beginning of the engagement, which fire was not returned by this squadron. The first of these batteries was situated on the south mole head at the entrance to the Pasig River, the second on the south bastion of the walled city of Manila, and the third at Malate, about onehalf mile farther south. At this point I sent a message to the Governor-General to the effect that if the batteries did not cease firing the city would be shelled. This had the effect of silencing them. At 11:16 A. M., finding that the report of scarcity of ammunition was incorrect, I returned with the squadron to the attack. By this time the flagship and almost the entire Spanish fleet were in flames, and at 12:30 P. M., the squadron ceased firing, the batteries being silenced and the ships sunk, burned, and deserted. I am happy to report that the damage done to the squadron under my command was inconsiderable. There were none killed, and only 7 men in the squadron very slightly wounded. Several of the vessels were struck and even penetrated, but the damage was of the slightest, and the squadron is in as good condition now as before the battle. THE BATTLE OF SANTIAGO-LAND AND SEA (1898) BY ANDREW S. DRAPER1 About May 11th the Spanish flotilla was definitely reported at the French island of Martinique, and shortly afterward at the island of Curacao, just north of Venezuela. While Sampson was returning from his hunt for Cervera at Porto Rico, the Spaniard was sailing due northwest for Santiago de Cuba, which he reached on May 19th. His arrival at Santiago was not known by the Americans with certainty for several days. While Sampson kept guard near Key West, Commodore Schley with the "flying squadron," was watching the harbor of Cienfuegos on the southern coast of Cuba, where Cervera was reported to be hidden. 1 From Draper's "The Rescue of Cuba." By permission of the publishers, Silver, Burdett & Company. Copyright, 1899. The author is now the Commissioner of Education of the State of New York. Since Dewey's victory at Manila on May 1, the mobilization of land forces had gone forward rapidly in the United States. On May 25th a second call for volunteers was made, the first call having been for 125,000, the second for 75,000, and camps of instruction were established at Tampa and Chickamauga. The navy was watching the seacoast in southern waters, a combined attack on Cuba by land and naval forces being in contemplation. Meanwhile, there was uncertainty as to where the Spanish fleet of four cruisers and three torpedo-boat destroyers under Admiral Cervera might be. It had sailed from St. Vincent, in the West Indies, on April 29th, and was not discovered until May 29th, when Admiral Schley saw it at anchor in the Bay of Santiago. At last his hiding-place at Santiago was discovered, and on May 28th, Schley, with his flag-ship the Brooklyn, accompanied by the Massachusetts, the Texas, the Iowa, the Marblehead the Minneapolis, the Castine, the torpedo-boat Dupont, and the auxiliary cruiser St. Paul, the coaling-ship Merrimac, and others, arrived off Santiago; and the next day they were able to look through the narrow neck of the bottle-shaped harbor and to see the enemy's ships lying safely at anchor behind the frowning fortifications and the network of submarine torpedoes. To verify fully the assurance that all the Spanish vessels were there, Lieutenant Victor Blue, of the navy, made a daring and famous reconnaissance. He landed and, at the greatest risk, climbed the hills, counted the enemy's ships, and returned with the report that the five cruisers and two torpedo-boats were actually imprisoned in the bay. In a few days Rear-Admiral Sampson, with the flagship New York, and the battleship Oregon, the cruiser New Orleans, and several auxiliary vessels and torpedo-boats, reenforced Commodore Schley and took command of the fleet that was keeping Cervera "bottled" in Santiago. Lieutenant Hobson took the coaling-ship Merrimac by night beneath the guns of the forts, and while under the most terrible fire from both shores, endeavored to anchor his ship in the narrow channel, to sink her by his own hand, in order to leave her a wreck to block the Spanish ships if they should attempt to escape. That the Merrimac was not sunk at the precise spot intended was due to the rudder being shot away. When morning came he and his six companions who had volunteered for |