The American Occupation.
Merritt, and the Expedition.
The Spanish fleet had been destroyed; Cavité had been taken; and Admiral Dewey lay in the harbor awaiting the reinforcements that were on the way.
These reinforcements had been sent out in three expeditions: the first expedition, Brigadier-General Anderson commanding, consisted of 115 officers and 2,386 enlisted men; the second, under Brigadier-General Greene, of 158 officers and 3,428 enlisted soldiers; the third, under command of General McArthur, consisted of 197 officers, and 4,650 men. With these expeditions went the Astor Battery and Major-General Wesley Merritt, who had been chosen Commander-in-chief of the United States forces in the Philippines. In all, over 11,000 men were on their way to Manila, and a fourth expedition, consisting of 1,763 men, under Brigadier-General H. G. Otis, was soon to follow.
It was the cruiser Charleston, which conveyed the transports of one of these expeditions, that stopped to have a little fun, by way of profitable diversion, at the island of Guam, one of the Ladrones.
Thirteen shells from the Charleston went thundering against the fortress of Santa Cruz. But even thirteen proved insufficient to provoke a Spanish reply. However, a half-hour after the bombardment began, the captain of the port, Lieutenant Commander José Garcia y Gutierrez, of the Spanish navy, accompanied by one or two other Spanish officers, were rowed to the Charleston, and, having been taken on board, apologized for their seeming discourtesy; they said that lack of ammunition at the fortress made it impossible for them to return the American salute. They were, in fact, unaware that war had been declared between the United States and Spain, and were, therefore, much surprised when Captain Henry Glass informed them that they were prisoners of war. They were sent ashore and ordered to convey to the Governor Don Juan Marina the command that he come upon the Charleston. He replied that, under Spanish law, he was not allowed to go aboard a foreign man-of-war.
Admiral Montojo, Commander of Spanish Fleet at Manila.
Captain Glass then sent Lieutenant Brannersreuther to the Governor, demanding an immediate and unconditional surrender. A half-hour was allowed for the consideration of the demand. The Governor expressed great surprise at these peremptory proceedings; but twenty-five minutes after this demand he, nevertheless, made the unconditional surrender of everything Spanish in and around the Ladrones. The guns, ammunition, and flags of the Spaniards, as well as the garrison and all the Spanish officers, were then taken aboard one of the transports, and the expedition continued its journey Manila-ward.