Page images
PDF
EPUB

About 4 o'clock A. M., on May 26th, a slight affair occurred on the right of the Montanas' line, a scouting party of insurgents having cut off one of our outposts, forcing it to move by the flank to escape capture.

At 4:05 A. M., June 3d, the enemy opened fire from a point on the Bacolor Road with artillery, and volleys from infantry, advancing several hundred yards.

[merged small][merged small][graphic]

towards Angeles. About one and a half miles beyond Bacolor a force of Filipinos, deployed across our road, was met. Though about 200 in number, the forty men of the Montana company were deployed, and opened fire on them. The firing was vigorously replied to, and ten minutes later an additional force of about 250 of the enemy opened fire from a distance of about 800 yards, and on our left flank. This second party attempted to cut us off from Bacolor, by extending to their right. A withdrawal was promptly ordered and successfully accomplished, the Kansas company that had advanced at the sound of the firing covering the movement. Two Montana men were severely wounded.

On June 16th, at about 4:45 A. M., a general attack was made by the enemy from all around the town of San Fernando. They employed several pieces of artillery, and it was estimated that at least 4000 infantry were in the attacking force. Our outposts were promptly re-inforced, and the enemy having advanced all along the front of the brigade to within 500 yards, a sharp fight of about an hour and a half resulted. A flank movement against an exposed portion of the enemy's line was admirably executed by a battalion of the 20th Kansas, commanded by Maj. Bishop, taking the enemy at that point entirely by surprise. Thirty-six of the enemy were killed by this battalion in five minutes. Total casualties in the brigade, six enlisted men wounded.

On June 24th, the 20th Kansas was relieved by the 9th U. S. Inf., Col. E. H. Liscum commanding, and on June 28th, the Montana Regiment was replaced in the brigade by the 12th U. S. Inf. Lieutenant-Colonel J. H. Smith commanding. The four batteries of the 3d U. S. Art. were detached from the brigade on June 3d. On June 30th, at 10 A. M., and at 10:30 P. M., and at about 10 P. M., July 4th, desultory firing by the enemy, at long range, was experienced. At no time did the enemy attempt an advance, and but two casualties, both slight, resulted.

HALL'S MOVE ON MORONG.

When Gens. Hale, Otis and Wheaton moved north, Gen. Hall remained in the province of Manila, guarding the water-works, and meeting the annoying attacks of the insurrectos. Gen. Lawton having relieved Gen. Anderson, in

command of the 1st Division, and subsequently been assigned to command of all troops south of Caloocan, Gen. Hall was directed to make a movement southeast from the pumping station. His column, which was assembled at the water-works

on the evening of the 2d of June, consisted of the 2d Oregon Inf., a battalion of the 1st Wyoming, four troops of the 4th Cav., one mounted on American horses, the others dismounted, two battalions of 4th Inf., one battalion of the 9th Inf., six companies of the 1st Colorado, and two mountain guns.

At four o'clock on the morning of the 3d, they began crossing the San Mateo River, and about noon easily repulsed a considerable force of Filipinos, twelve miles east of Manila. At the same time Col. Wholley, who relieved Gen. King in command of his brigade, proceeded east from San Pedro Macati, the two columns approaching each other. The town of Cainta was captured, with small loss, Gen. Hall driving the Filipinos from the vicinity of Mariquina towards Wholley's column. During the night of the 3d, a part of Wholley's Brigade, under Col. Treumann, advanced to the Filipino position at Taytay, which they reached at daybreak of the 4th, immediately attacking. After a sharp engagement the natives fled over the mountains, Col. Treumann pursuing. Many were killed, and many captured, with their arms and ammunition.

Hall's Brigade moved at the same time toward Antipolo, leaving behind the Oregon Regiment and 9th Inf., to guard Mariquina. The Filipinos made, as usual, a vigorous resistance, feeling hopeful of success, Antipolo never having been taken by the Spanish. Situated high up in the mountains and easily defended it had always made a successful defense. After three or four hours' climb up a steep mountain grade, the American lines, which were thrown around the town on three sides, closed in for a final advance, at 8:30 A. M., but closed upon a deserted city. The Filipinos had abandoned their last refuge in this direction.

Gen. Hall marched from Antipolo towards Morong, which lies about six and a half miles southeast of the mountain town, on the peninsula of Morong, stopping at Teresa, half way

[graphic]

between, until the morning of the 5th, when he advanced to the town of Morong without incident.

SHOWING CONSTRUCTION OF INSURGENT TRENCHES.

In the meantime Col. Wholley, with eight companies of the Washington Inf., had marched by night from Taytay to Pasig, where he embarked on cascos, which were attached by lines to the three gunboats Napidan, Covadonga and Oesta, lying there ready to tow them to their destination. near Morong. Col. Treumann, with the 1st North Dakota and 12th Inf., advanced by the lake shore, clearing the country of the natives. Thus the large force in the field was concentrated on this province, thought so important by Gen. Lawton, who had met Gen. Hall at Taytay and was present in person at Morong, and who had passed two nights without sleep, directing the movements of his army.

At Morong the Filipinos made a stubborn fight, using artillery, and sending a shell into the Covadonga, but the contest ended, as was intended by Gens. Lawton and Hall, with the evacuation of Morong, and its re-occupation by the Americans.

In this movement on Morong peninsula, Gen. Hall completed the circuit of twenty miles over a rough country, fighting two engagements, one of them severe, and keeping up an almost constant fire against scattered parties of insurrectos for almost twenty-four hours, from four o'clock on the morning of the 3d to about the same hour on the morning of the 4th. The gunboats, as in so many other operations, had been of great assistance in driving the natives from their defenses. The difficult nature of the country prevented heavy artillery from reaching position. Lieut. Hawthorne, who was in command of the light mountain battery, was compelled to burn his wagons to prevent them from falling into the enemy's hands. The Washington Regiment, which returned to Pasig on the 5th, and which had not rested for forty-eight hours, was exhausted, and all had found the service hard, although cheerfully performed. On the 6th, Hall's Brigade, excepting three troops of the 4th Cav., and all of Wholley's Brigade, excepting the North Dakotas, returned to their quarters.

On the 21st of July, the 21st

The excepted companies, under Col. Treumann, remained at Morong until the 7th of July, when six companies of the 21st Inf., relieved them. During the month of June there were some slight skirmishes, in which twelve or fifteen Filipinos were killed, and one American scout killed. The base of operations on the lake shore was a mere hamlet of the "nipa" huts. Inf., leaving a small guard, advanced along the lake shore to Paete, where they were joined by other troops brought there on cascos. The town of Calamba was taken by the 21st Inf., on the 26th of July. An attack was made July 29th, on Santa Cruz, which Gen. Lawton had selected for a base of operations, but the American force was repulsed, and Santa Cruz remained untaken. The American loss in this campaign, was ten killed, and twenty-seven wounded.

With the exception of a movement of a part of Hall's Brigade, under command of Col. Summers, of the Oregon Regiment, from Bocaue, in support of a northern movement by Gen. Lawton, of which some account will appear in describing that expedition, this practically concludes the history of the operations of MacArthur's Division, for the spring of 1899. The rainy season coming on, no further active operations were attempted, pending the arrival of the new troops to replace the volunteers whose terms of enlistment had expired. Our lines were gradually contracted as our effective force diminished, and the territory yielded was immediately re-occupied by the insurgents.

CHAPTER X.

LAWTON'S LAKE EXPEDITION.

WHILE the 2d Division, under Gen. MacArthur, was actively

WH engaged north of the Pasig, in its move on the insurgent

capital, the 1st Division, operating south of the Pasig, was occupied with a series of expeditions, whose object was the exploration of the country, the disposal of armed bands of insurgents, the capture of supplies intended for the rebel army, and, if it should be found possible with the force at command, -which it was not-the permanent occupation of the country visited. With the occupation of Manila, Gen. Otis had no military reason for the occupation of Camp Dewey, or indeed any of the country between Manila and the peninsula of Cavite. Both these places were securely held and the line of communication was by water, and so long as there were to be insurrectos at all they might just as well be along the bay shore between Manila and Cavite as anywhere else; perhaps better, as being more conveniently found when wanted. The small size of his force compelled Gen. Otis to contract his lines so as to include only Manila and a small district about it, and upon the south the line was substantially that occupied by the Spanish before the surrender of Manila, resting on the bay at Malate. All the bay shore and country between our lines and Cavite was promptly occupied by the insurAs already stated the 1st Division, after the return of Gen. Anderson to America, was in command of Major-General H. W. Lawton, with BrigadierGenerals Charles King and Samuel Ovenshine in command of the 1st and 2d Brigades respectively.

[graphic]

rectos.

OBJECT OF THE LAKE EXPEDITION.

The first expedition undertaken was to the towns along the shore of the large lake known as the "Laguna de Bay," of which the River Pasig is the outlet. The district to be reached was a beautiful rolling country, raised above the lowlands which immediately surround Manila, densely populated and very wealthy, the principal towns being ranged along the shore of the lake, from which the products were transported to Manila by water. Besides the main Pasig, which is navigable for small steamers, the lake has a large number of shallow outlets which unite with each other, and then with the main stream below the city of Pasig. These outlets which are navigable for cascos, are interconnected and form a series of islands, of which some portions are swampy, but for the most part are high and dry, and densely populated. The distance from Manila to the lake, at the outlet of the Pasig, is about ten miles. The possession of so populous and wealthy a

district was of course of most importance to Aguinaldo, not only as a source of supplies, but as affording a point from which to make flank attacks upon our advanced posts at the water-works. The lake country, therefore, was obviously the first district to be occupied in a movement of the 1st Division, auxiliary to the attack upon Aguinaldo's main army at Malolos.

The special objects of the expedition were three in number; first, to secure several launches and cascos still in possession of the insurrectos, and to cut off their most northerly fortress on the lake, the town of Santa Cruz; secondly, to distribute the proclamation issued by the American commissioners; thirdly, to sweep back overland, and in conjunction with Gen. Ovenshine's command to crush the enemy at Paranaque. The first two were brilliantly and successfully accomplished; the third was delayed by the recall of the expedition, after eight days, to Manila, for other military movements.

[graphic]

GEN. LAWTON AND STAFF IN THE FIELD.

Lawton's expedition on this occasion comprised 1509 men, and as it was led through a portion of Luzon hitherto unvisited by our soldiers, it united to some extent, the element of exploration as well as of military operations. The land on either side of the Pasig River from Manila to the Laguna de Bay, is varied and beautiful. First, there are the rich rice-lands bordering the river as far as San Pedro Macati, then there are six miles or so of green banks and over-hanging trees. As you near the island on which Pasig town is built, the view expands into a fine vista of far hills, and near rolling fields. The air is sweet with the odor of wild flowers; and the traceried branches of the palms and the bamboos cut clear silhouettes against the sky, while the burned villages, and the ruined Guadalupe church, suggest the stern rigor of war.

THE DETAIL FOR THE EXPEDITION.

On the 6th of April, 1899, the following order was issued from the Headquarters of the 1st Division, 8th Army Corps:

The following named organizations will be immediately prepared to take the field on a special expedition. They will be equipped in light marching order and will be supplied with 200 rounds of ammunition per man and ten days' rations, two of which will be travel rations," and will be carried in the haversack: 4th U. S. Cav, Gale's Squadron, Troops C, G, and L, 219 men; 14th U. S. Inf., Hasbrouck's Battalion, A, G, L, and K, 311 men; Patten's Battalion, Companies C, D, E and I, 290 men; 1st Idaho Volunteer Inf., Linck's Battalion, Companies A, C, D, and F, 225 men; 1st North Dakota Volunteer Inf., Fraine's Battalion, Companies C, D, I and K, 248 men; two mountain guns, Hawthorne's Battery, Lieut. Koehler commanding, with necessary equipment, etc., and sixty rounds of ammunition for each piece (shell and shrapnel) sixteen men.

For the purposes of this expedition, the authorized sharpshooters, whose names have been reported to these headquarters, with the officers selected to command them, will be temporarily organized as follows:

« PreviousContinue »