June 1, 1899, found the Southern Division of the Insurgent Army in complete control of Cavite Province, with the exception of the small peninsula on which the Cavite Naval Station and the town of San Roque are situated. The northern boundary of the Province of Cavite is marked by the treacherous Zapote River.
Insurgent outposts were located several miles beyond this river, and a considerable force occupied the villages of Las Piñas and Parañaque.
Parañaque—the place where our troops first landed the year before for the attack on Manila—is a small fishing village on the south bank of a narrow inlet of Manila Bay, frequently called Parañaque River, and is only five miles from Malate, which forms the southern section of the city of Manila. Here the Insurgents built strong entrenchments, as they could not approach nearer to Manila without encountering the First Division of our army, which occupied trenches on the opposite side of the Parañaque River.
The U. S. S. Monadnock lay at anchor among the fish-weirs off Parañaque, within easy range of the Insurgent trenches and the bridge spanning the river. She had held this position for two long months—and they were, indeed, long, weary months of constant watching; because being within Mauser range of the shore, she was exchanging shots with the enemy almost daily, while at night her search-lights and patrol boats were detecting cascoes and bancas in their attempts to run the blockade with all kinds of supplies. Upon one occasion a casco load of horses was captured—evidently prospective mounts for "Insurgent generals."
Few people have fully appreciated the trying work of the Monadnock as she lay there supporting the right flank of our entrenched soldiers and stopping all traffic with the enemy. Being under fire at all hours of the day and night, it was necessary for her officers and men to remain behind the protection of her turrets or below decks; and, as she was cleared for action, the heat was almost unendurable. But, when the commander-in-chief offered to relieve the Monadnock from this arduous duty, her captain, Henry E. Nichols, begged permission to hold his station. He did not live to see Parañaque occupied, as on June 10, after his ship had shelled the Insurgents out of the town and our troops could be seen coming over the hills, he died suddenly of heat-stroke, thus giving up his life for the country he had so faithfully and honorably served.
The Monterey, like the Monadnock, was kept busy day and night. She was anchored in Bacoor Bay and had the Naval Station under her protection, while her launches patrolled the beach to enforce the blockade.
The gunboats Manila and Callao—formerly Spanish vessels—cruised during daylight; and at night anchored in positions to control the narrow Isthmus of Dalahican, which joins the Naval Station to the mainland, and which was held by a battalion of our troops. The Insurgents occupied trenches a short distance beyond the isthmus or neck, and held the towns of Cavite, Viejo, Bacoor, and Noveleta, opposite the Naval Station.
The town of Imus, on the Imus River, was the capital of Cavite Province, and was also the military headquarters of Gen. Baldamero Aguinaldo—brother of Don Emilio Aguinaldo—who at this time was in command of all the Insurgent forces in the province, and with whom Gen. Mariana Trias, a prominent Insurgent leader, was supposed to be associated.
The country between Parañaque and the Imus River is low and marshy, being cut up by many streams and small rivers. The undergrowth is very dense, and the only clearings are rice marshes and mangrove swamps. The main road leads along the shore-line of the bay, and at places is only a few yards from the water. The nature of the country compelled the travel to be by this road, and as the bridges were near the mouths of the rivers and the road near the beach, the light-draft gunboats could render valuable assistance by clearing the way for an advancing army and harassing the retreating enemy.
For some time it had been the earnest desire of the commander-in-chief of our naval forces to see the country between Parañaque and Cavite cleared of the Insurgents; but the major-general commanding in the Philippines did not feel that he could spare enough men from the northern wing of the army to undertake a campaign in Cavite Province. To the officers and men of the fleet, it did not appear encouraging to see the Monadnock engaging the enemy almost every day, just outside of Manila, and no move made to occupy Parañaque by our land forces. However, all things come to those who wait. On June 9, the commander-in-chief, Captain Albert S. Barker, U. S. N., signaled for all commanding officers to repair on board the flagship, and the welcome news was soon made known that General Lawton was to move on Parañaque and then into Cavite Province with the cooperation of the fleet. This was, indeed, most gratifying news to every one in the fleet from the commander-in-chief down to the youngest apprentice-boy.
Owing to shallow water, the heavy ships could not approach within effective range of the Insurgent trenches, and therefore the Oregon, Capt. G. F. F. Wilde, and the Baltimore, Capt. J. M. Forsyth, were prevented from joining the navy's inshore firing-line. [See chart.] The Monadnock, Capt. H. E. Nichols, was to shell Parañaque and cover the advance of our troops. The Princeton, Comdr. C. H. West, was to take position between Parañaque and Las Piñas and use shrapnel on the retreating enemy. The Helena, Comdr. W, T. Swinburne, was to control the bridge at the mouth of the Zapote River and the road to Bacoor. The Monterey, Comdr. E. H. C. Leutze, was to look after Bacoor and its approaches, and protect the Naval Station. The Callao, Lieut. Benj. Tappan, was to take position at the mouth of the Imus River and control the bridge and approaches. The Wheeling, Comdr. W. T. Burwell, was to take station outside the Isthmus of Dalahican and enfilade the enemy's trenches, while the small gunboats Basco, Naval Cadet Dungan, and Urdaneta, Navel Cadet W. C. Wood, were to assist from the shallow waters inside the peninsula. The commander-in-chief gave explicit directions to use the utmost care when firing at retreating Insurgents in order to avoid firing upon women or children.
General Lawton's plan was to start the expedition during the night of June 9. He and General Wheaton were to move in two columns. One column was to proceed up the Pasig River in cascoes to the vicinity of Guadalupe, then strike to the southward along the lake and come in below Parañaque to cut off the enemy's retreat.
The ships of the squadron were ordered to be underway and in position in the early morning of Saturday, June 10, 1899. The Monadnock was to open the engagement by shelling the trenches at Parañaque, and the other ships were to use their shrapnel whenever the Insurgents could be seen, and also clear the beach in advance of our troops. Vessels drawing less than twelve feet could approach within one thousand yards of the beach. The vessels were underway and in position at an early hour, and the Monadnock opened fire on Parañaque. It was soon evident that the Insurgents were retreating by the main road near the beach, as the ships opened fire all along the line. The Wheeling opened on the trenches beyond the isthmus or neck. For a time the firing was very spirited, after which it was at long intervals, when several shots would be fired in quick succession at small squads of Insurgents as they dashed across bridges and open spaces. The Insurgents returned the fire of our ships with volleys from their Mausers. About ten o'clock the volleys of our troops could be heard beyond the foot-hills back of Parañaque, and near noon, from the Monadnock's fighting-top, the advanced firing-line could be seen in the hills. There were few signs of life in Parañaque at the hour of noon, but the Monadnock continued to throw in occasional shell. About this time, the writer went on board the Monadnock, and in a conversation with him, Captain Nichols said (referring to the Insurgents in Parañaque): "We've got them now!" These were probably his last words, as later on he was found in his cabin prostrated from heat, and died without regaining consciousness. For some reason our troops did not enter Parañaque but swung around to the southward, and before nightfall had occupied Las Piñas, where General Lawton established headquarters, and signaled that he would remain there over night.
Reports indicated that many of the enemy had been killed by the shrapnel fire of our ships, when crossing bridges and open spaces, but in some instances they were shrewd enough to distribute retreating soldiers among the fleeing women and children, trusting that our ships would not endanger the lives of the helpless and non-combatants. Their strategy was very successful, because our ships ceased firing as soon as women and children were discovered in the retreating groups.
The Wheeling had enfiladed the enemy's trenches located beyond the isthmus, and no signs of life were visible up to nightfall. General Lawton decided to rest over Sunday in order to bring forward supplies, and to enable his men to recuperate from the severe heat prostration they had suffered in the previous day's long, forced march, for the day had been as hot as one of those boiling days in May—Manila's hottest month.
Sunday morning saw the commander-in-chief and a party of officers at Sangley Point standing around the newly-made grave of Captain Nichols—the navy's deplorable loss in the preceding day's work—and the oppressive calm of that tropical morning would not have been broken, save for the funeral volleys and last taps that mournfully resounded over placid Bacoor Bay.
The ships had anchored in positions for controlling the shore between Las Piñas and the Imus River, and were given a comparatively quiet day. The Manila arrived from a ten days' cruise on Sunday, and was assigned a position on the inner firing-line. The Oregon sailed for the north on the same day to establish a blockade of Lingayen Gulf.
The army did not move on Monday, and the ships held their positions, with the exception of the Helena, which vessel took General Lawton and General Wheaton on a reconnoissance along the beach. The two generals and Capt. Sewall, U. S. V., climbed into the fighting-top, and then the Helena, with decks cleared for action and all guns manned, slowly ploughed her way through the soft mud within eight hundred yards of the shore-line. With good binoculars and long glasses, we carefully examined the country from Las Piñas to the Imus River, and located the trenches, roads and bridges, and also two muzzle-loading rifles of about six-inch caliber, which were mounted behind well-constructed earthworks near the corner of the church in Bacoor. These guns were trained on the Naval Station, but their arcs of train appeared very limited. A breech-loading six-inch rifle had also been stolen from the Cavite Arsenal after the evacuation by the Spanish, but a careful examination of the beach failed to locate it, although this was the gun which, according to the rumors of the Amigos, had been promising for weeks to destroy the Naval Station. Many Filipino soldiers were seen in trenches along the shore, and sentries were posted at prominent points. Upon the approach of the Helena, these men sought cover behind earthworks or nipa huts; but not a shot was fired, and we did not disturb them, as we were merely studying the country. We saw in the trenches a number of men belonging to the far-famed "red-legged regiment"—Aguinaldo's body-guard—a Filipino regiment that had been in the service of Spain. After a conversation with General Lawton, the commander-in-chief told the captain of the Helena to fire a shell occasionally into the Insurgent trenches during Monday night in order "to keep the Insurgents awake and their nerves on a tension." During this reconnoissance, a steam launch came alongside with a Spanish lieutenant and three Spanish non-commissioned officers who had escaped from the Insurgents' prison at San Francisco de Malabon and surrendered to the Wheeling. The Spanish lieutenant was taken up into the fighting-top, where in General Lawton's presence he was questioned about the country and the location of the Insurgent forces. He pointed out fortifications along the shore, but said the Zapote River was the Insurgents' stronghold and that they had sworn to make a stubborn fight to prevent our troops crossing that river into Cavite Province. He stated, further, that the entrenchments along the Zapote River were very formidable, being on both sides of the river, and were defended by machine guns and the crack regiments of the Filipino army. The swamps, rice-fields, and dense under-brush increased the strength of the enemy's position and made the two bridges across the river very secure. He said that Aguinaldo's brother and General Mariana Trias were in command and had between four and five thousand men in the province; they also had some six-inch rifles, but he did not know their location, although he had heard that they were mounted in positions to bear on the Naval Station. The military headquarters of the province and the plant for manufacturing powder were being moved from Imus to San Francisco de Malabon.
After this reconnoissance, the writer took the Spanish prisoners to the headquarters of General Otis in Manila. The general had already received, through scouts and Filipino spies, information that corroborated, in a general way, the Spanish lieutenant's statement about the Zapote River. General Otis said the enemy held a very strong position on the Zapote River and they had "sworn by everything holy" to prevent our forces crossing. It was in the Zapote River swamps that the Insurgents in 1896 had ambushed and slaughtered a large force of Spanish troops, and they expected to serve us in the same manner.
The Spanish lieutenant and his men had been prisoners for thirteen months, having been captured when attempting to reach Manila after the evacuation of the Cavite arsenal. They were very bitter against the Insurgents. Their physical condition and their clothing did not indicate very kind treatment. It was really quite touching to hear their expressions of delight and gratitude over being in friendly hands once again and to see their eyes fill with tears as we steamed up the Pasig and they caught sight of the "Stars and Stripes" proudly floating from the staff where previously they had seen the flag of Spain.
General Otis sent word to the commander-in-chief of the fleet that there would be no general advance of the army in the direction of the Zapote River next day (Tuesday), as it was necessary to send reinforcements and supplies to Las Piñas. However, General Lawton decided to make a reconnoissance, the next morning, of the approaches to the Zapote River bridge, and the ships were ordered to clear the way for his scouts. The advanced scouts were to carry signal flags to mark their positions, and to serve as guidance for the ships in firing. The early morning of June 13 found the flagship Baltimore protecting the city of Manila; the Monadnock between Las Piñas and Zapote River; the Helena directly off the Zapote River; the Manila, Lt.-Comdr. A. P. Nazro, between the Zapote River and Bacoor; the Callao off the mouth of the Imus River; the Monterey and Princeton protecting the Naval Station; while the Wheeling, Basco and Urdaneta were controlling the Isthmus.
General Lawton made an early start on his reconnoissance on June 13, being accompanied by his adjutant-general and two companies of unmounted troops. The ships were soon underway to take positions covering his advance. The Helena's light draft permitting her to go very close inshore, she forced her way slowly through the soft mud and shelled the beach ahead of the scouts, Soon after the Helena opened fire, the much-talked-of six-inch rifle of the Insurgents fired on the Callao and on the Naval Station. One shell ricochetted over the Callao, while another struck the shears at the Naval Station, failed to explode and dropped into a coal-pile. The moment the enemy's gun fired and disclosed its masked position, the Monterey, Princeton and Callao opened such a terrific fire upon it that it was abandoned after its second shot. This gun was mounted in a nipa hut at the mouth of the Imus River, where the Spaniards formerly had a fort and magazine. The Monterey also opened on the two muzzle-loading rifles and disabled them before they fired a shot. One twelve-inch shell from the Monterey completely buried one of the guns, and then on the ricochet took out the end of a church in the rear.
The ships commenced firing all along the line, and the Insurgents opened on them from their beach-trenches. The Mauser bullets were snipping the water and flattening themselves against the sides of our ships, while we were paying our respects with shrapnel, machine guns, and Lee rifles.
General Lawton's reconnoitering party advanced steadily along the beach and planted their signal flag on a point near the mouth of the Zapote River, when suddenly they encountered a strong force of Insurgents in concealed trenches. A hot fire was poured into them from the enemy's trenches, and after a stout resistance, they rallied on the point and lay down on the sloping beach. General Lawton left his men in command of his adjutant-general to hold this strategic and advanced position, while he hurried back to order a general advance of his main force. The Helena, Monadnock and Manila were firing briskly over the heads of our troops into the Insurgent trenches, and their fire was being returned in spirited volleys. The commander-in-chief, accompanied by Captain Forsyth and the writer, was steaming from ship to ship on the firing-line in the little tug Barcelo, and had just left the Helena about the noon hour, when the army's advance guard signaled that vessel: "send support if possible," and followed with a message that they had very little ammunition and no water. Without interrupting their fire, the Helena and Monadnock immediately called away landing parties, and within ten minutes' time had a force of ninety men armed as infantry, and with a Colt gun, on their way to the shore. The little gunboats and ships' armed launches went close in shore and covered the immediate landing with their machine guns, while the ships threw shrapnel over and beyond them. Lieut. Edw. Moale commanded the Helena's landing force, Lieut. F. R. Payne that from the Monadnock, while Lieut. Cleland Davis, with the Helena's steam launch, ably assisted their landing.
In a remarkably short time our men had landed, reinforced the army's small advance guard, and opened with their Lee rifles and the Colt gun. The Helena also sent water and bread to the soldiers on the beach, and her boats brought on board some of the army's wounded. The rapid landing of the forces from the Helena and Monadnock illustrated the high state of efficiency of the vessels, and there was not a mishap to mar its success.
Spirited firing continued throughout the afternoon, but the combined force on the beach supported by the ships held the superior force of the enemy in check. In the meantime, General Lawton's main force was advancing, and between four and five o'clock he struck the Insurgents' trenches along the Zapote River. Soon the fierce fusillade was intermingled with wild cheers, and we knew that our troops had assaulted the enemy's stronghold. The Insurgents retreated from the trenches near the beach, and the men of our landing party advanced with their companions of the army to the banks of the Zapote. The enemy withdrew rapidly in the direction of Bacoor, and our ships severely harassed their disorderly retreat. The landing force returned to their ships about dark without a casualty. General Lawton sent the following signal to the Monadnock (the vessel nearest the army signal station) for transmission to the commander-in-chief: "Battle carried the bridge, crossed the river; enemy completely routed. I appreciate assistance of the navy which I will with pleasure acknowledge later officially. Lawton, Major-General commanding."
General Lawton's forces rested for the night in complete possession of the splendid fortifications along the Zapote River. General Lawton and his adjutant-general were most generous in their commendation of the navy's work, and seemed exceedingly grateful for the landing force which so quickly reinforced the exhausted reconnoitering party on the beach, and supplied them with water and bread. It was stated that the fire of the ships and the combined force on the beach held one thousand Insurgents in check in the beach-trenches and prevented them from joining the main line of defense—thus enabling our troops to break through the gap in the enemy's line and enfilade the trenches. Thus, the holding of this advanced position proved the key to the Insurgent trenches; and General Lawton's skill in so quickly taking advantage of the situation achieved a brilliant victory.
Even that admirable soldier and veteran Indian fighter, General H. W. Lawton, regarded this as one of the most severe engagements of his life, the Insurgents having stubbornly held their trenches until our troops charged, and enfiladed them at very short range with artillery fire.
Filipino prisoners and escaped Spaniards estimated the enemy's loss at two thousand killed and wounded—but it was probably one-half that number—and they reported the Insurgents completely demoralized and retreating through Bacoor.
Without doubt, this was the most severe battle of the insurrection, and, although the Filipinos fought courageously, they could not withstand the terrific onslaught of General Lawton's columns and the withering shrapnel and machine-gun fire of our ships.
During the night of June 13, the search-lights of our vessels detected squads of retreating Insurgents, and an occasional shrapnel dropping in their midst made their retreat more precipitate.
Early next morning the native market-boats reported Bacoor abandoned and the enemy retreating to Imus; also, that many had been killed or wounded by the shrapnel fire of the ships. Later in the morning, a boat from the Helena landed at Bacoor and found the outposts of General Lawton's division. Much damage had been done by our ships, and a number of the enemy's dead had been left behind.
While the navy's main firing-line was engaged off Zapote River, the Wheeling was again shelling the returned Insurgents out of the trenches beyond the Isthmus of Dalahican. She drove them out, and then her armed steam launch steamed close along the shore and drove them beyond the range of her machine gun.
It was not many days before Imus, the former capital of Cavite Province, was occupied by General Lawton's forces. At last, the shore-line between Manila and the Cavite Naval Station was clear of Insurgents. The gratifying result of the campaign in Cavite Province proved the splendid cooperation of the army and the navy in a campaign where success depended upon efficient cooperation.
For some unaccountable purpose the newspapers of Manila barely mentioned the presence of a few ships during the Zapote River campaign, and though our home papers contained many vivid descriptions of the land operations in this campaign, the navy's thorough and invaluable cooperation has not been published.
The Insurgents' gun and the shell it landed in the Cavite Naval Station will soon occupy a place among the war trophies at the U. S. Naval Academy.