San Roque (ABOVE, in 1899) lies about 22 miles (35 km)
southwest from Manila by road; a narrow artificial causeway about 600 yards
(meters) in length separates it from
mainland Cavite Province. [LEFT, 1896 map].
It adjoins the Cavite navy yard that fell under American
control after the battle of Manila Bay on May 1, 1898. (In 1903, the town of
San Roque was merged into Cavite Nuevo, which, in turn became Cavite City; San
Roque has been reduced to a district).
On the night of February 4, word reached the Americans at
the yard that the Filipinos had attacked
US forces in Manila .
The call to arms was sounded. From across the bay the
thunder of guns and the roll of volleys told that the conflict was on. The
Americans expected that the Filipinos
would attack them from San Roque, but they did not.
American outpost at San Roque, Cavite Province, 1899
American outpost at the causeway separating San Roque and
mainland Cavite Province
Batteries were placed opposite the approach from the
causeway separating San Roque and Cavite Nuevo. Gatling guns were placed on
bastions, and field pieces were trained on the blockhouses of the Filipinos,
while the gunboats Manila and Callao were anchored close inshore in readiness
to lend assistance to the Americans in case it was needed.
Filipino entrenchments commanding the causeway connecting
the Cavite peninsula with the mainland
On the afternoon of February 8, the Americans sent 2Lt. John A. Glass, of the
1st Battalion of California Heavy
Artillery (California National Guards), with a flag of truce and an escort to
the Filipino commander, General Salvador Estrella (RIGHT), and presented him
with Commodore George Dewey’s demand
that the Filipinos evacuate San Roque; unless the demand was complied with
before nine o'clock of the following morning, the town would be bombarded.
San Roque burns
On February 9, at 7;30 a.m., a party of three, headed by the
Mayor of San Roque, came over the American line and asked for further time.
Commodore Dewey, who was ashore, refused, and the delegation immediately
returned. A white flag was then hoisted over a Filipino blockhouse, but it was
a bluff, intended to draw the advance of American troops into a trap. Shortly
thereafter the town was set ablaze by the Filipinos.
Gun. No. 3 of the California Heavy Artillery shelling
Filipino positions at 1,200 yards (meters), San Roque, Cavite Province.
American troops in San Roque fighting
Two battalions of the 51st Iowa Volunteers, the Wyoming
Light Battery and the Nevada Cavalry, with Batteries A and D of the California
Heavy Artillery were dispatched across the causeway. Every passage through San
Roque was a seething mass of flames, and in order to gain entrance to the town
it was necessary for the Americans to flank it by moving along the seashore.
The Americans fought their way through the flames of the burning town in
pursuit of the retreating Filipinos, dragging their heavy guns by hand, and
skirmishing whenever the opportunity afforded.
Fortifications at San Roque built by the Filipinos
Americans in San Roque battle
Filipino POWs at San Roque
Ruins of San Roque
Complete article at : http://www.filipinoamericanwar.com/
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