Description
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.
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. The column pushing east, commanded by Brigadier General Loyd 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. 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.
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 Trías commander of the southern section.