Fighting erupted between forces of the United States and those of the Philippine Republic on February 4, 1899, in what became known as the 1899 Battle of Manila. On June 2, 1899, the First Philippine Republic officially declared war against the United States. The war officially ended on July 2, 1902, with a victory for the United States. However, some Philippine groups—led by veterans of the Katipunan, a Philippine revolutionary society—continued to battle the American forces for several more years. Among those leaders was General Macario Sakay, a veteran Katipunan member who assumed the presidency of the proclaimed Tagalog Republic, formed in 1902 after the capture of President Emilio Aguinaldo. Other groups, including the Moro, Bicol and Pulahan peoples, continued hostilities in remote areas and islands, until their final defeat at the Battle of Bud Bagsak on June 15, 1913.
During the war, the United States Army conducted nine military campaigns. Two additional campaigns were conducted after the official end to the war on July 4, 1902 in connection with the Moro rebellion, which continued until 1913. Some other significant actions occurred outside of organized campaigns, both during the war itself and in the post-war period.
During Philippine–American War
The first battle of the Philippine–American War is the Battle of Manila in February, 1899, a few months after the December 1898 Treaty of Paris, which ended the Spanish–American War and in which Spain ceded the Philippines to the United States. (The cession of the Philippines involved a payment of $20 million from the United States to the Spanish Empire.) The Philippine–American War continued into 1902.
Manila campaign (February 4 – March 17, 1899) 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.
Significant battles: Manila campaign
Battle of Manila (February 4–5, 1899): American and Filipino forces clash and the Americans drive the Filipino army out of the Manila area. Battle of Caloocan (February 10, 1899) American troops under General Arthur MacArthur capture the town of Caloocan north of Manila, securing the southern terminus of the Manila to Dagupan railway (the Ferrocarril de Manila-Dagupan) and capturing a significant amount of rolling stock. Second Battle of Caloocan (February 22–24, 1899) Failed Filipino counterattack.