6,500 insurgents under his command. Of this number 6,000 were armed with rifles and 500 with machetes. Nearly 4,000 were in the neighborhood of Manila, and all the fighting was converging to that point. The city was practically surrounded, and very little, if any, food was getting through the ranks and reaching the people in Manila. The insurgents' force around Manila and the approaches to it numbered nearly 4,000 men. Such were the conditions which led up to the time of the arrival of the army of occupation by the troopships which sailed from San Francisco, bringing the men who were to do the land fighting, and take the city of Manila. CHAPTER V. GENERAL MERRITT AND THE AMERICAN OCCUPATION OF MANILA. Appointment of a Commander for the Expedition to the Philippines-Conditions in the Blockading Fleet While Awaiting the Army-Germany Sends a Strong Squadron-Arrival of the Transports-American Soldiers in Cavite-Spanish and Americans in Night Battle Near Malate-Demand for the Surrender of Manila-Reply of the Captain-General-Beginning the Battle-Brave Deeds of Our Soldiers-Surrender of the City-The Insurgents-General Merritt's Report. W ITH little delay after the receipt of news of Admiral Dewey's victory, Major-General Wesley Merritt was appointed to the command of the military expedition to the Philippines. San Francisco was chosen as the place of rendezvous and departure for the forces to be sent across the Pacific ocean. General Merritt desired that as large a part as possible of his force be made up of regulars, as it was known that the Spanish soldiers in the Philippines were the pick of the Castilian army. Nevertheless, the need of picked men of our regiments for the Cuban campaign was equally imperative, so in the end, volunteers predominated among those who were sent to San Francisco. In the city by the Golden Gate thousands of men gathered during May and June, encamping in the beautiful military reservation known as the Presidio, where they were drilled energetically and instructed in all details possible of the service that was to be required of them. Most of the volunteers assigned to the Philippine expedition were those in the regiments from the western states, in order to shorten the railway journey necessary to bring them to the port of embarkation. The Pacific ports were ransacked by quartermasters-general in order to find transports for the long voyage; but at last all preparations were complete and the expeditions began to sail to the support of Dewey. While waiting for the army to reach Manila, two topics absorbed all the curiosity and gossip on the American ships. One was the arrival of the Charleston and the troopships from San Francisco, the other the gradual concentration of a powerful German fleet in Manila bay. Seven German warships out of eight that Germany has in the far east were there, with Vice-Admiral Von Diederichs, who commands the Asiatic squadron. The significance of this demonstration created a good deal LIFE ON THE BLOCKADE STATION. of speculation and concern. When it is considered that Germany, Austria and Portugal delayed their expressions of neutrality to an alarming limit, the massing of German ships at this critical time was regarded as being significant. According to an unwritten law of international courtesy it is unusual for more than two or three ships of a foreign power to gather in a blockaded port. The German interests in Manila are not so extensive as to require a great force to protect them. It was equally improbable that the Germans were there merely to witness the last act of Admiral Dewey's brilliant tragedy. The theory of curiosity could hardly justify them in leaving Kiou-Chou at a time when the Russian and English relations are so strained. Vice-Admiral Von Diederichs said Germany was making a demonstration here in Manila bay for the purpose of benefiting the trade relations between Manila and his own country. The exact connection between cause and effect in this instance is somewhat obscure. The Spaniards in Manila, according to the Diario de Manila, looked on the Germans as being their friends and sympathizers, and the advent of Germany's fleet as encouragement to Spanish interests. The Germans saluted the Spanish flag on several occasions after Admiral Dewey established his blockade. This was either an evidence of friendliness to Spain or an exhibition of great indifference to propriety, for all foreign ships in a blockaded port are allowed to enter and remain through the sufferance and courtesy of the admiral commanding the blockading fleet. Neither the English nor French saluted the Spanish flag, and only in one instance did the Japanese salute it. The story of a day in a blockaded port is an interesting one. Sometimes it may become dull and monotonous, but there always exists the STREET IN NATIVE QUARTER OF ILOILO The group of cocoanut palms at the right, with the peculiar ox-carts beneath them, and of native children on the left, standing by the pole which props their house, are striking features of this Philippine landscape. IN THE SUBURBS OF ILOILO, PHILIPPINE ISLANDS The winding village street here pictured is characteristic of many in the East Indian Islands. The gate way to the cemetery appears just beyond a house on the left. |