About this time the Philippine envoy, Felipe Agoncillo, was in Paris as president of a junta of his compatriots. Some of the members were of opinion that they ought to negotiate for peace directly with the American Secretary of State, but Agoncillo so tenaciously opposed anything short of sovereign Philippine independence that some of the members withdrew and returned to the Islands. A year later I found Agoncillo of exactly the same intransigent persuasion.
At the end of April the Americans suffered a severe reverse at Guingua (Bulacan), where Major Bell, with 40 cavalrymen, came across a strong outpost from which the enemy fired, killing one and wounding five men. With great difficulty the dead and wounded were carried back under fire, and it was found that the enemy occupied a big trench encircling three sides of a paddy-field bordering on a wood. As the Americans retreated, the insurgents crept up, aided by a mist, to within short range and fired another volley. Major Bell sent for reinforcements, and a battalion of infantry was soon on the scene, but their advance was checked by the continuous firing from the trenches. Artillery was on the way, but the insurgents were not disposed to charge the Americans, who lay for two hours under cover of a rice-field embankment in a broiling hot sun. One man died of sunstroke. Finally a second battalion of infantry arrived under the command of Colonel Stotsenberg, who was very popular with his men. He was received with cheers, and immediately ordered a charge against the enemy in the trenches; but whilst leading the attack he was shot in the breast, and died immediately. Within short range of the trenches Lieutenant Sisson fell, shot through the heart. By this time the artillery had arrived, and shelled the trenches. The insurgents, however, held their position well for a time, until the infantry was close up to them, when, following their usual tactics, they ran off to another trench a mile or so away. The total American losses that day were two officers and four privates killed, and three officers and 40 men wounded.
Spanish prisoners released by the Filipinos declared that the insurgents had 50,000 rifles and 200 pieces of artillery captured from the Spaniards, ample ammunition manufactured at two large factories up country, and occasional fresh supplies of war-material shipped from China by Chinese, European, and American merchants. The preparations made to dislodge Aguinaldo and his main army, entrenched and sheltered by fortifications at Calumpit, were now completed, and General McArthurʼs division steadily advanced. The flower of the insurgent army was there, well armed and supplied with artillery and shrapnel shell. Commanded by General Antonio Luna, they were evidently prepared to make at Calumpit the bold stand which was expected of them at Malolos. The transport difficulties were very great, and as General McArthur approached, every foot of ground was disputed by the enemy. Bridges had been broken down, and the guns had to be hauled through jungle and woods under a scorching sun. Many buffaloes succumbed to the fatigue, and hundreds of Chinamen were employed to do their work. The Bagbag River was reached, but it had to be crossed, and the passage cost the Americans six men killed and 28 wounded. The Bagbag River was well fortified, and the Americans had to attack its defenders from an open space. There were trenches at every approach; enormous pieces of rock had been dislodged and hauled down towards the breastworks of the trenches to form cover. The armoured train, pushed along the railway by Chinamen, then came into action, and its quick-firing guns opened the assault on the enemyʼs position. Six-pounders were also brought into play; the insurgents were gradually receding; artillery was wheeled up to the river bank and a regular bombardment of the bridge ensued. The trenches were shelled, and the insurgents were firing their guns in the direction of the armoured train, but they failed to get the range. Meantime, a company of the Kansas Regiment made a bold charge across a paddy-field and found shelter in a ditch, whence they kept up a constant fire to divert the enemyʼs attention whilst Colonel Eunston, the commander of the regiment, with a lieutenant and four men, crept along the girders of the bridge. The enemy, however, got the range and bullets were flying all around them, so they slid down the bridge-supports, dropped into the river, and swam to the opposite shore. Scrambling up the bank, revolvers in hand, they reached the trenches just as the insurgents were hurriedly evacuating them. Indeed, the Filipinosʼ defence of their trenches was extremely feeble during the whole battle. On the other hand, for the first time, the insurgents ventured out into the open against the Americans. General Antonio Luna, the Commander-in-Chief, could be seen galloping furiously along the lines exhorting his men to hold their ground, and he succeeded in deploying them into an extended line of battle to receive the enemyʼs onslaught. The insurgents kept up a desultory fire whilst the troops forded the river, and then they were pursued and driven off to the outskirts of the town. The flames rising from several buildings appeared to indicate an intention on the part of the insurgents to abandon their stronghold. Simultaneously, Generals Hale and Wheaton were coming forward with their columns, each having had some hard fighting on the way. The junction of forces was effected; a fierce fire was poured into the trenches; General Hale and his men made a dash across a stream, up to their waists in water; the Utah men followed with their batteries, cheering and dragging their field-pieces with desperate energy to the opposite bank; the enemy gave way, and the armoured train crossed the bridge. The total American loss that day did not exceed nine in killed and wounded, whilst the insurgent losses were at least 70. During the night the engineers repaired the Bagbag bridge for the rest of the troops to pass, and fighting was resumed at six oʼclock in the morning. The deserted trenches were occupied by the Americans to pick off any insurgents who might venture out into the open. A general assault by the combined columns was then made on the town, which was captured, whilst the bulk of the insurgents fled in great confusion towards the hills. The few who lingered in the trenches in the northern suburbs of the town were shelled out of them by the American artillery placed near the church, and the survivors decamped, hotly pursued for some distance by cavalry. So great was the slaughter that the insurgentsʼ total losses are unknown. The trenches were choked with dead bodies, and piles of them were found in many places. When nightfall came and the Americans were resting in Calumpit after their two daysʼ hard fighting, the whole district was illuminated for miles around by the flames from the burning villages and groups of huts, whilst the snapping of the burning bamboos echoed through the stillness like volleys of rifle-shots.
Aguinaldo and his Government had hastened north towards Tárlac, and on April 28 he instructed General Antonio Luna to discuss terms of peace. Ostensibly with this object the general sent Colonel Manuel Argüelles with his aide-de-camp and an orderly to the American camp at Apálit (Pampanga). These men were seen coming down the railway-track carrying a white flag. An officer was sent out to meet them, and after handing their credentials to him they were forthwith conducted to General Wheatonʼs headquarters. General Wheaton sent them on to General McArthur, the chief commander of the Northern Division, and General McArthur commissioned Major Mallory to escort them to General Otis in Manila. They explained that they were empowered to ask for an armistice for a few days as it was proposed to summon their Congress for May 1 to discuss the question of peace or war. General Otis replied that he did not recognize the Philippine Republic, and that there would be no cessation of hostilities until his only terms were complied with, namely, unconditional surrender. The negotiations were resumed the next day, and Argüelles seemed personally inclined to meet the American view of the situation; but as his powers were limited to asking for an armistice, he and his companions returned to the insurgent camp with General Otisʼs negative answer. On his return to the camp Colonel Argüelles was accused of being an “Americanista” in favour of surrender, for which offence a court-martial passed sentence upon him of expulsion from the insurgent army and 12 yearsʼ imprisonment. Whatever Argüellesʼ personal conviction may have been matters little, but in the light of subsequent events and considering the impetuous, intransigent character of General Antonio Luna, it is probable that Argüelles was really only sent as a spy.
On May 5 General McArthurʼs division advanced to Pampanga Province, and Santo Tomás and San Fernando were taken without loss. A portion of the latter place had been burnt by the retreating insurgents, and the townspeople fled leaving their household goods behind them. Generals Hale and Lawton were following up, and on the way Baliuag (Bulacan) was occupied and immense stores of foodstuffs were seized from the insurgents and private owners. The booty consisted of about 150,000 bushels of rice and over 250 tons of sugar. In other places on the way large deposits of food fell into American hands. The men of the Nebraska Regiment considered they had had sufficient hard work for the present in long marching, continual fighting, and outpost duty. They therefore petitioned General McArthur to relieve them temporarily from duty to recuperate their strength. There was no doubting their bravery, of which they had given ample proof; they had simply reached the limit of physical endurance. The hospitals were already full of soldiers suffering as much from sunstroke as from wounds received in battle. Consequently some of the regular regiments who had been doing guard duty in the capital were despatched to the front. In the following July the Nebraska Volunteer Regiment was one of those sent back to the United States.
On May 19 another party of insurgent officers presented themselves to the military authorities alleging that they had fuller powers than Argüelles possessed and were prepared to make peace proposals. Everything was discussed over again; but as General Otisʼs unalterable demand for unconditional surrender was already well known, one can only conclude that the insurgent commissioners were also spies sent to gauge the power and feeling of the Americans, for they promised to return within three weeks and then disappeared indefinitely.
On May 22 more peace commissioners were sent by Aguinaldo. They were received by the Schurman Commission of Inquest, who communicated to them a scheme of government which they had had under consideration in agreement with President McKinley. The proposed plan embodied the appointment of a Gov.-General, who would nominate a Cabinet to act with him. The President of the United States was to appoint the judges. The Cabinet members and the judges might be all Americans, or all Filipinos, or both. Moreover, there was to be an Advisory Council elected by popular vote. This liberal scheme was, however, abandoned, as its proposal seemed to have no effect in bringing the war to an end, and the negotiations terminated with the Commissioners and the insurgent delegates lunching together on board the U.S. battleship Oregon, whilst the blood of both parties continued to flow on the battlefield.
General Lawtonʼs brigade was still operating in the Provinces of Bulacan and north of Manila (now called Rizal). The fighting was so severe and the exposure to sun so disastrous that about the beginning of June he had to send back to Manila 500 wounded and heat-stricken men. It was found impossible to follow up the ever-retreating insurgents, who again escaped still farther north. Along the Manila Bay shore detachments of insurgents passed from time to time, driving women and children before them, so that the Americans would not care to fire on them. Some, however, were picked off from the warships when the insurgents omitted their precautionary measure. It was impossible to “round up” the enemy and bring him into a combat to the finish. His movements were so alert that he would fight, vanish in a trice, conceal his arms and uniform, and mingle with the Americans with an air of perfect innocence. With wonderful dexterity he would change from soldier to civilian, lounging one day in the market-place and the next day fall into the insurgent ranks. These tactics, which led to nothing whatever in a purely military sense, were evidently adopted in the vain hope of wearying the Americans into an abandonment of their enterprise.
In the middle of June General Lawtonʼs brigade operated to the south of Manila and in the Cavite province, where the natives gave battle at the Zapote River, famous for a great Spanish defeat during the rebellion. The insurgents were under cover the whole time, and their assembled thousands could hardly be seen by the attacking columns. They were also in great force and strongly entrenched near Las Piñas and at Bacoor.[5] From the former place they worked one large and two small guns with much effect, firing canister loaded with nails. One canister shattered the legs of a private. American infantry, skirmishing along the beach, came across a posse of insurgents who at once retreated, pursued by the Americans until the latter found themselves surrounded on three sides by hidden sharpshooters, who poured in a raking fire upon them. The skirmishers withdrew, but were rallied by General Lawton and other officers, who themselves picked off some of the enemy with rifle-shots. Encouraged by this example, the skirmishers, with one cry, suddenly rushed towards the insurgents, scattering them in all directions, and safely reached the main body of the brigade with their wounded comrades.
The only bridge across the Zapote River was strongly defended by the insurgents, who had trenches forming two sides of an angle. By noon their battery was silenced, and the Americans then attempted to ford the river, whilst others went knee-deep in mire across the paddy-mud flats. Then a deep stream was the only boundary between the contending parties. The Filipinos were hardly visible, being under shelter of thickets, whilst the Americans were wading through mud under a broiling sun for over two hours to reach them, keeping up a constant fusillade. The whole time there was an incessant din from a thousand rifles and the roar of cannon from the gunboats which bombarded the enemyʼs position near Las Piñas and Bacoor. The strain on the Americans was tremendous when the insurgents made a flanking movement and fired upon them as they were floundering in the mud. The 14th Infantry eventually swam across the Zapote River, and under cover of artillery charged the insurgents, who retreated into the woods. The Filipinos displayed a rare intelligence in the construction of their defences near the Zapote River and its neighbourhood, and but for the employment of artillery their dislodgement therefrom would have been extremely difficult. After the battle was over General Lawton declared that it was the toughest contest they had yet undertaken in this war.