Battle on the Bay and the $20 million purchase of a nation

By Noralyn Dudt

It was on April 30, 1898 when the verdant coastline of Cape Bolinao came into view for the U.S. Navy Asiatic squadron under the command of Commodore George Dewey. Cruising southward along Cape Bolinao, the ship's doctor wrote, "poet or painter never pictured a lovelier scene" as he watched the 'Edenic' country slip past in the afternoon light. He probably wished that he and his shipmates would stop even just a while to admire such a view after having sailed the 560-mile voyage from Hongkong. But it was not for the views they have been sailing.  It was to reach Manila Bay and locate the Spanish Pacific fleet under the command of Admiral Patricio Montojo y Pasaron.

Dewey's line of ships slipped into Manila Bay during the early morning hours of May 1, 1898. As they approached the bay, they found  no sign of the Spanish fleet. However, Dewey had an inkling where they could be. The main ship Olympia turned to her right, paralleling the coastline, heading for the Spanish anchorage at the southern edge of the bay. Once the sky began to lighten, sailors spotted the line of Spanish warships through the tropical morning haze. The order for battle quickly passed along the U.S. naval squadron. Gun crews began aiming and gauging range. At 5:15 the Spanish ships opened fire. To Dewey, it was not at all a surprise. He knew they would fire first and anticipated that their initial shots would be "hasty and inaccurate," as he later remarked.  His concerns over his ammunition supply dictated his tactical choices. He wanted all his ships in range before he gave the order to fire. Admiral  Montojo's ships were anchored in the shallow waters off Cavite. The Spanish Navy's vessels were outdated and in a state of disrepair. Montojo initially moved his fleet to the more defensible Subic Bay in hopes of engaging Dewey under circumstances where coastal guns might provide some advantage.  His heart must have sunk  when he found that the shore guns he thought were at Subic were never erected. With antiquated and defective vessels, a desperate Montojo decided to face Dewey in the wide open, but shallow, Manila Bay, where he believed his men would have a better chance of being rescued in case the oncoming battle turned disastrous.

In the morning of May 1, 1898 at 6:00,  Commodore Dewey commenced the Battle of Manila Bay,  uttering the famous command, "You may fire when ready, Gridley."

Dewey's forces began raining fire on the Spaniards whose ships were quickly ripped to pieces and eventually caught fire. Dewey had been aware  that he was running low on ammunition. He had strategized when to give the order to  fire—he even had his crew take a break to eat breakfast. As soon as he was assured that his squadron was well-stocked, he ordered a second assault. It was an assault that set the now largely abandoned Spanish ships into flames. At 12:30, cheering erupted on board the American ships when the sailors saw the Spanish flag over the arsenal at Cavite came down and a white one went up in its place. Signal flags spelling out "none killed aboard" appeared on American masts. Bursting with relief and jubilation that the battle was over, men cheered and hugged one another. That evening, countless stars shone bright over Manila. The sky was clear with hardly a cloud. The bay was smooth as glass, as if a battle had never been fought. To the south, however, the seven ships of the Spanish fleet that continued to burn sent dull red flames into the sky, a testament to the violence that occurred  in the morning. Occasionally, another magazine would ignite "like the erupting of a volcano,"  attracting curious crowds to venture down the waterfront. It must have been quite a sight  to see the ships of the American squadron. One wonders what they thought when they saw the American Commodore  in his dress whites on the deck, sitting on a wicker chair and smoking a cigar. Naval records indicate that Dewey in a celebratory mood, requested the flagship Olympia's band play Spanish folk songs  rather than the Star-Spangled Banner or anything distinctively American. What did the crowds think when they heard the melody of "La Paloma" wafting ashore to the walls of Intramuros, and beyond. The Las Islas Filipinas whose 300 year plus-history as a possession of Spain was now, like the day itself, coming to an end ? As he tossed his half-smoked cigar into the bay, did the American Commodore and his troops know that what was to become  known as  the "Philippine Insurrection" awaited them throughout the archipelago? Did they have an inkling that their "victory" may have been due to the fact that the Spanish Army in Manila had been defeated by  the Filipino "rebels"  under Generalissimo Emilio Aguinaldo? That for over a hundred years, several rebellions had broken out all over the Las Islas Filipinas?  Were they aware that Generalissimo Emilio Aguinaldo was about to declare Philippine Independence from Spain?

Surely, with the Spanish fleet now at the bottom of Manila Bay, it looked like American victory was assured. It was an absolute victory; none of the crew died, no one was injured. It was a battle that culminated quickly. The once invincible Spanish Empire was virtually dissolved and the United States gained its first overseas empire. Puerto Rico and Guam were ceded to the United States,  the Philippines were purchased for US$20 million, and Cuba became a U.S. protectorate. It's worth noting however, that the Philippine nationalists were not about to  give up their fight for freedom.  Freedom from 333 years of Spanish colonial rule was finally at their grasp. They had won the battle against the Spanish Empire in the Philippine Revolution of 1896-1898. They were willing to continue the  fight, a bloody, senseless fight that would take another three years.  The Americans referred to the conflict as "Philippine Insurrection," rather than acknowledge the Filipinos contention that they were fighting to ward off foreign invaders. The Merriam Webster dictionary defines insurrection as  "an act or an instance of  revolting especially violently  against civil or political authority, or against an established government." In 1898, the United States was yet to establish its governing body in the Philippines. It was the First Philippine Republic that was established when Generalissimo Emilio Aguinaldo declared independence from Spain on June 12, 1898 in the  Malolos Congress, six months before the United States purchased the Philippines for US$20 million in the Treaty of Paris on the 10th of December 1898. Who were the "insurgents" anyway. Who were the invaders? The Americans simply got it backwards when they called the Filipinos "insurrectos." The three-year conflict brought violence, famine, and diseases that claimed the lives of  200,000 to 250,000 civilians. Villages were burned to the ground, populations were displaced and forcibly relocated to concentration camps.  Filipinos who are well-known for their pragmatism finally recognized the magnitude of what they were up against—that they would never be able to match  nor even come close to the military capabilities and resources  of their  American invaders. They came to realize that there was no sense in fighting for what was unattainable. Filipino combatants  finally agreed to surrender after General Aguinaldo was captured in 1901. They agreed to the "pacification" that was imposed on them, and let America,  the "cradle of liberty" get her way.

There was no loss of American lives in the Battle of Manila Bay in 1898. Victory was declared, though prematurely.  But America's battle to acquire a colony and establish a "showcase for democracy in Asia" had cost her 4,200 American lives and 2,818 wounded. And for this "showcase," the Philippines lost 200,000 to 250,000 civilian lives and  2,000 combatants in addition to having  dashed the hopes of  millions yearning to be free.

 

Noralyn Onto Dudt had written "The Battle of Manila Bay and the prayer of an American president"  published in August of 2021 and was inspired to delve deeper when a family friend, CDR Douglas Hacket, USN ( RET) gave her and her husband Philip, a retired Naval Architect (civilian) several copies of Naval History magazines.