The Philippine Islands, 1493-1898, Volume 29 of 55, 1638–40 / Explorations by Early Navigators, Descriptions of the Islands and Their Peoples, Their History and Records of the Catholic Missions, as Related in Contemporaneous Books and Manuscripts, Showing the Political, Economic, Commercial and Religious Conditions of Those Islands from Their Earliest Relations with European Nations to the Close of the Nineteenth Century

by Unknown

Success of our troops, and defeat of the enemy in Antipolo

The enemy, not regarding themselves as safe in the mountains where they had hidden, managed to retreat to those of Antipolo, as being more suitable for the fortified post which they built there. On account of the extent of the place, the greater part of their people had gone into it, after burning the village and the residence of the Society of Jesus; they attempted to do the same with the church, but could not accomplish this, as it was built of stone. Some remained behind, and, desirous of reconnoitering the place, and doing the enemy some damage, Captain Juan Fiallo went out with as many as thirty horsemen, and a large number of Indians with lances and bows. The roads were exceedingly rugged, and both footmen and horsemen had to trust to their own exertions for success. They commenced to make their way through the mountains, with more spirit than reflection, for at the middle of their journey they found themselves unable to go on. The enemy were on their rear, and at either side were precipices and deep ravines—all the fault of ignorant guides. It was impossible either to advance or to retreat; and so they fell in death, one after another, their courage ineffectual, and without room in which to make resistance. Accordingly, they rushed to fling themselves down the precipices, abandoning some their horses and some their weapons, and all in this danger losing their presence of mind. The enemy had the opportunity to put an end to all of our men, if God had not blinded their eyes. Five or six Spaniards, with their arms and horses, returned to the camp and gave news of this disaster; and within a few days some others returned, unarmed and on foot; as for the rest, the Sangleys disposed of them as we shall see later.

The governor, grieved at this result, collected more horses from the neighboring ranches, and, sending to Manila for saddles, equipped his men anew, all eager for vengeance. This consumed much time, which gave the enemy leisure to fortify themselves in four places, in the village of Antipolo and in the mountain region thereabout; but it deprived our troops of [the opportunity of] marching against the enemy until they arrived in sight of the new fortifications. The difficulty of the attack was very evident, for the enemy held the heights, and had stones with which they had built their enclosures, by hand-work, very strong and well-arranged, as was remarked by our men. In this work, the great number of their men, and their strenuous efforts, had made up for the lack of time. No less active were our men in making ready [for the attack]; and the more difficult the undertaking, the more their courage rose. The Indians displayed great gallantry, with a few Spaniards making themselves masters of the first two strongholds or intrenchments—from which the enemy retreated with the loss of some of their men; the rest, a crowd of armed men, taking refuge in the other two defences, at the highest part of the fortification, regarded these as impregnable, and accordingly kept in them provisions of all kinds, enough to last a long time. There they awaited our men, who marched in good order, and attacked the first intrenchment on three sides. They were everywhere preceded by Indian shield-bearers, in order that these might with their shields stop the stones and other missiles that the Sangleys were throwing; the Indians did this valiantly, being thus very helpful to the rest of the army; for the Spaniards, being able to use their firearms without hindrance, with them everywhere drove back the enemy. The latter, discouraged at the death of so many of their number, and seeing our soldiers ascending the hill, took to flight. This gave new energy to our victorious men, who in order to complete their conquest at once continued their march, with the same good order and precaution, to the innermost fortification, the strongest and most difficult of all, and the most skilfully built and best provided with supplies. Nothing withstood the perseverance of our men, flushed by their recent success, and stimulated by the sight of their governor, who was present throughout the action; they eagerly attacked the enemy, who valiantly resisted, replying with their firearms to the volleys from our arquebuses, and with stones to the javelins and arrows [of our Indians]—relying on these weapons alone, as they had the advantage in position. But their courage alone could not equal that of our men; and, seeing that ours were now pressing them hard, and, almost on their hands and knees, steadily gaining possession of their last height, the Sangleys, having little strength to defend it, turned their backs and began to flee. Our men kept up the pursuit of the enemy for more than a legua, until they drove out the fugitives from their hiding-places, and many of the latter flung themselves over the cliffs in those mountains—where the enemy, although at the outset he had been well defended, was on this occasion thoroughly defeated.

Those [of the Spaniards] who were killed in this combat and assault were about twenty; and as the victory had been so glorious, not only by the strength of the enemy but by the valor of our soldiers, all the bells were rung in Manila, and on the following day, at the governor’s request, solemn mass was said in all the churches, and the most holy sacrament was exposed, in thanksgiving for so fortunate a success.

In the enemy’s camps were found large quantities of supplies and arms; and on the ground were many books which they had taken from the religious houses that they burned; from these they made breastplates and other defensive armor. In the cemetery of Antipolo, which was the quarters of their leaders, were found several of their proclamations, in Chinese characters; these were fastened to the trees, to serve for the proper government of their forces. There were twenty dead horses who had fallen into the ravines, with their saddles broken; and three Spaniards were found whose heads had been cut off. These were part of those who had flung themselves from the precipices; among them was a lay religious of the Augustinians, who had accompanied the soldiers on that expedition. These bodies, although they were putrid, were so tightly bound that the cords had cut into the flesh, all indicating the cruelty of the Sangleys. Although this moved our men to deserved compassion and just indignation, they felt much more keenly the discovery of many fragments of holy images that lay on the ground. In especial, there was found a carved figure of the holy Christ, three palmos in height, among the embers and ashes of a house which the Sangleys had undertaken to burn; the fire had been content to blacken the image a little, in order that it might testify to the miracle—since all regarded it as such, that the image should remain unhurt in the midst of so hot a fire. The soldier who found the image presented it to the governor, who at sight of it was deeply moved, as were the army also when it was raised on high, [made] by him who had abased it more glorious than before; and all entertained hopes that the army which should fight under such a banner would annihilate the enemy by a signal victory.