Prior to the war Since June 1898, Manila had been surrounded by the revolutionary troops. Colonel Luciano San Miguel occupied Mandaluyong, General
Pío del Pilar advanced through Sampaloc and attacked
Puente Colgante, causing the enemy to fall back, General
Mariano Noriel,
Parañaque, Colonel Enrique Pacheco,
Navotas, Tambobong and
Caloocan. General
Gregorio del Pilar took charge of Pantaleon Garcia's force when the latter was wounded, taking Pritil,
Tondo,
Divisoria, and Paseo de Azcárraga, Noriel cleared Singalong and
Paco, and held
Ermita and
Malate. Aguinaldo demanded joint occupation of
Intramuros, which the Americans heeded. After one month of joint occupation, Aguinaldo withdrew his forces when he received a telegram from General Elwell Otis that he would be obliged to resort to forcible action if Aguinaldo did not pull his forces back, and Commodore (later Admiral)
George Dewey's fleet had moored in
Manila Bay after being warned of an unwanted conflict between Filipinos and Americans. When Luna was in the
trenches, he ordered his troops to fire on the Americans. After the chaos following the American occupation, at a meeting in Ermita, Luna tried to complain to American officers about the disorderly conduct of their soldiers. To silence Luna, Aguinaldo appointed him as Chief of War Operations on September 26, 1898, and assigned the rank of
brigadier general. In quick succession, he was made the Director or Assistant Secretary of War and Supreme Chief of the
Republican Army on September 28, arousing the envy of the other generals who were fighting since the first phase of the
Revolution. Meanwhile, Luna felt that bureaucratic placebos were being thrown his way when all he wanted was to organize and discipline the enthusiastic but ill-fed and ill-trained troops into a real army. On September 15, 1898, the Malolos Congress, the
constituent assembly of the
First Philippine Republic, was convened in
Barasoain Church. Luna would be one of the elected representatives and was narrowly defeated by
Pedro Paterno as President of the Congress with a vote of 24–23. Seeing the need for a military school, in October 1898, Luna established a military academy at
Malolos, known as the
Academia Militar which would become the basis of the modern-day
Philippine Military Academy based in
Baguio. He appointed Colonel Manuel Bernal Sityar, a
mestizo who was formerly a lieutenant serving the
Civil Guard, as superintendent. He recruited other mestizos and Spaniards who had fought in the Spanish Army during the
1896 Revolution for training. However, the academy had to be suspended indefinitely by March 1899 due to the outbreak of the Philippine–American War. (seated, center), General
Benito Natividad (seated, 2nd from right), General
Jose Alejandrino (seated, 2nd from left) A score of veteran officers became teachers at his military school. Luna devised two courses of instruction, planned the reorganization, with a
battalion of
tiradores and a
cavalry squadron, set up an inventory of guns and ammunition, arsenals, using convents and town halls,
quartermasters,
lookouts and communication systems. He built trenches with the help of his chief engineer, General
Jose Alejandrino, and had his brother
Juan design the school's uniforms (the Filipino
rayadillo). He also insisted on strict discipline over and above clan armies and regional loyalties, which prevented coordination between various military units. Envisioning one united army for the Republic, clan armies and regional loyalties presented a lack of national consciousness. Convinced that the fate of the infant Republic should be a contest for the minds of Filipinos, Luna turned to journalism to strengthen Filipino minds with the ideas of nationhood and the need to fight the Americans. He decided to publish a newspaper,
La Independencia. This four-page daily was filled with articles, short stories, patriotic songs and poems. The staff was installed in one of the coaches of the train that ran from Manila to
Pangasinan. The paper came out in September 1898 and was an instant success. A movable feast of information, humor, and good writing, 4,000 copies were printed, which was more than all the other newspapers in circulation put together. When the
Treaty of Paris, under which Spain was to cede the Philippines to the United States, was made public in December 1898, Luna quickly decided to take military action. He proposed a strategy that was designed to trap the Americans in Manila before more of their troops could land by executing surprise attacks (
guerrilla warfare) while building up strength in the north. If the American forces penetrated his lines, Luna determined that he would wage a series of delaying battles and prepare a
fortress in northern
Luzon, the
Cordillera. This, however, was turned down by high command, which still believed that the Americans would grant full independence.
Outbreak of the war The Americans gained the opportunity to start hostilities with the Filipinos at the place and time of their choice. On the night of February 4, 1899, when most of the Filipino generals were at a ball in Malolos to celebrate the success of the
American anti-imperialists delaying the ratification of the Treaty of Paris, the Americans staged an incident along the concrete blockhouses in
Santa Mesa near the Balsahan Bridge. An American patrol fired on Filipino troops, claiming afterward that the Filipinos had started shooting first. The whole Filipino line from
Pasay to Caloocan returned fire and
the first battle of the Philippine–American War ensued. Two days later, in response to the incident, the US Senate voted for
annexation. In doing so, the conflict became the war of conquest, occupation, and annexation that Luna,
Mabini, and others had predicted and about which they had warned Aguinaldo and his generals previously. Luna, after receiving orders from Aguinaldo, rushed to the front lines from his headquarters at Polo (present-day
Valenzuela City) and led three companies to La Loma to engage General
Arthur MacArthur's forces. Fighting took place at
Marikina,
Caloocan,
Santa Ana, and
Paco. The Filipinos were subjected to a carefully planned attack with
naval artillery, with Admiral
George Dewey's US fleet firing from
Manila Bay. Filipino casualties were high, amounting to around 2,000 killed and wounded. Luna personally had to carry wounded officers and men to safety; of these, the most dramatic rescue was that of Commander
José Torres Bugallón. After being hit by an American bullet, Bugallón had managed to advance another fifty meters before he was seen by Luna collapsing by the side of the road. As the Americans continued their fire on the road, Luna gathered an escort of around 25 men to save Bugallón, who Luna stated was equivalent to 500 men. Surviving the encounter, Luna encouraged Bugallón to live by giving him an instant promotion to lieutenant colonel. However, Bugallón succumbed to his wounds. On February 7, Luna issued a detailed order to the field officers of the territorial militia. Containing five specific objects, it began with "Under the barbarous attack upon our army on February 4", and ended with "...war without quarter to false Americans who wish to enslave us. Independence or death!" The order labeled the US forces "an army of drunkards and thieves" in response to the continued bombardment of the towns around Manila, the burning and looting of whole districts, and the raping of Filipino women by US troops. When Luna saw that the American advance had halted, mainly to stabilize their lines, he again mobilized his troops to attack
La Loma on February 10. Fierce fighting ensued but the Filipinos were forced to withdraw thereafter. Caloocan has left with American forces in control of the southern terminus of the Manila to
Dagupan railway, along with five engines, fifty
passenger coaches, and a hundred
freight cars. After consolidating control of Caloocan, the obvious next objective for American forces would be the Republic capital at Malolos. However, General
Elwell Otis delayed for almost a month in hopes that Filipino forces would be deployed in its defense. With their superior firepower and newly arrived reinforcements, the Americans had not expected such resistance. They were so surprised that an urgent cable was sent to General
Henry Lawton who was in Colombo, Ceylon (now
Sri Lanka), with his troops. The
telegram stated, "Situation critical in Manila. Your early arrival great importance."
Luna Sharpshooters and the Black Guard The
Luna Sharpshooters was a short-lived unit formed by Luna to serve under the
Philippine Revolutionary Army. On February 11, eight
infantrymen, formerly under Captains Márquez and Jaro, were sent by then-Secretary of War
Baldomero Aguinaldo to Luna, then-Assistant Secretary of War. The infantrymen were disarmed by the Americans, and journeyed to be
commissioned in the regular Filipino army. Seeing their desire to serve in the army, Luna took them in and from there the group grew and emerged as the Luna Sharpshooters. The sharpshooters became famous for their fierce fighting and proved their worth by spearheading every major battle in the
Philippine–American War. After the
Battle of Calumpit on April 25–27, 1899, only seven or eight remained in the regular Filipino army. In the
Battle of Paye on December 18, 1899, a Filipino
sharpshooter, Private Bonifacio Mariano, under the command of General
Licerio Gerónimo killed General
Henry Ware Lawton, making the latter the highest-ranking casualty during the course of the war. Luna also formed other units similar to the sharpshooters. One was the unit commanded by Rosendo Simón de Pajarillo, which would later be named after Bugallón. The unit emerged from a group of ten men wanting to volunteer in the regular Filipino army. Luna, still thinking of the defeat at the
Battle of Caloocan, sent the men away at first. However, he soon changed his mind and decided to give the men an initiation. After taking breakfast, he ordered a subordinate, Colonel Queri, to prepare arms and ammunition for the ten men. Then, the men boarded a train destined towards Malinta, which was American-held territory. After giving orders to the men, he let them go and watched them with his telescope. The men succeeded in their mission and eventually returned unharmed. Admiring their bravery, he organized them into a guerrilla unit of around 50 members. This unit would see action in the
Second Battle of Caloocan. Another elite unit was the Black Guard, a 25-man guerrilla unit under a certain Lieutenant García. García, one of Luna's favorites, was a modest but brave soldier. His unit was tasked to approach the enemy by surprise and quickly return to camp. Luna had admired García's unit so much that he wanted to increase their size. However, García declined the offer, believing that a larger force might undermine the efficiency of their work.
Jose Alejandrino, the chief army engineer and one of Luna's aides, stated that he never heard of García and his unit again after Luna's resignation on February 28.
Further operations during the war , military commander of Pampanga A
Filipino counterattack began at dawn on February 23. The plan was to employ a
pincer movement, using the battalions from the North and South, with the sharpshooters at crucial points. The
sandatahanes or
bolomen inside Manila would start a great fire to signal the start of the assault. Troops directly under Luna's command were divided into three: the West Brigade under General Pantaleon García, the Center Brigade under General
Mariano Llanera, and the East Brigade under General
Licerio Gerónimo. Luna also requested the battle-hardened
Tinio Brigade from
Northern Luzon, under the command of General
Manuel Tinio. It had more than 1,900 soldiers. However, Aguinaldo gave only ambiguous answers and the Tinio Brigade was unable to participate in the battle. The battle was only partly successful because of two main reasons. Firstly, some of the successful Filipino sectors ran low on ammunition and food and were thus forced to withdraw to Polo. Secondly, Luna failed to relieve the
Kapampangan militia, already past their prime, when the battalion from
Kawit,
Cavite, refused to replace the former, saying that they had orders to obey only instructions directly from Aguinaldo. Such
insubordination had become quite common among the Filipino forces at that time as most of the troops owed their loyalty to the officers from their provinces, towns, or districts and not to the central command. As a result, the counterattack soon collapsed, and Luna placated himself by personally disarming the Kawit Battalion. Luna, however, proved to be a strict disciplinarian and his temper alienated many in the ranks of the common soldiers. An example of this occurred during the
Battle of Calumpit, wherein Luna ordered General
Tomás Mascardo to send troops from
Guagua to strengthen the former's defenses. However, Mascardo ignored orders by Luna insisting that he was going to
Arayat to undertake an "inspection of troops". Another version of Mascardo's reasoning emerged and claimed that Mascardo had left to visit his girlfriend, which was probably the version which reached Luna. Luna, infuriated by Mascardo's actions, decided to detain him. Major Hernando, one of Luna's aides, tried to placate the general's anger and convinced Luna to push the case to President Aguinaldo. Aguinaldo complied and detained Mascardo for 24 hours. Upon returning to the field, however, the Americans had broken through his defenses at the Bagbag River, forcing Luna to withdraw despite his heroic efforts to defend the remaining sectors. Luna resigned on March 1, mainly resenting the rearmament of the Kawit Battalion as the Presidential Guard. Aguinaldo hesitantly accepted the resignation. As a result, Luna was absent from the field for three weeks, during which the Filipino forces suffered several defeats and setbacks. One such defeat would be at the
Battle of Marilao River on March 27. Receiving the depressing reports from the field through his
La Independencia correspondents, Luna went to Aguinaldo and asked to be reinstated with more powers over all the military heads, and Aguinaldo promoted him to
Lieutenant General and agreed to make him Commander-in-Chief of all the Filipino forces in Central Luzon (
Bulacan,
Tarlac,
Pampanga,
Nueva Ecija,
Bataan, and
Zambales). The Luna Defense Line was planned to create a series of delaying battles from
Caloocan to
Angeles, Pampanga, as the Republic was constructing a guerrilla base in the
Mountain Province. The base was planned to be the last stand headquarters of the Republic in case the Americans broke through the Defense Line. American military observers were astonished by the Defense Line, which they described as consisting of numerous bamboo trenches stretching from town to town. The series of trenches allowed the Filipinos to withdraw gradually, firing from cover at the advancing Americans. As the American troops occupied each new position, they were subjected to a series of traps that had been set in the trenches, including bamboo spikes and poisonous reptiles. Earlier in May 1899, Luna almost fell in the field at the
Battle of Santo Tomas. Mounted on his horse, Luna charged into the battlefield leading his main force in a counterattack. As they advanced, the American forces began firing upon them. Luna's horse was hit and he fell to the ground. As he recovered, Luna realized that he had been shot in the stomach, and he attempted to kill himself with his revolver to avoid capture. He was saved, though, by the actions of a Filipino colonel named Alejandro Avecilla who, seeing Luna fall, rode towards the general to save him. Despite being heavily wounded in one of his legs and an arm, with his remaining strength Avecilla carried Luna away from the battle to the Filipino rear. Upon reaching safety, Luna realized that his wound was not very deep as most of the bullet's impact had been taken by a silk belt full of gold coins that his parents had given him. As he left the field to have his wounds tended, Luna turned over the command to General
Venancio Concepción, the Filipino commander of the nearby town of Angeles. In recognition of his work, Luna was awarded the Philippine Republic Medal. By the end of May 1899, Colonel Joaquín Luna, one of Antonio's brothers, warned him that a plot had been concocted by "old elements" or the autonomists of the Republic (who were bent on accepting American sovereignty over the country) and a clique of army officers whom Luna had disarmed, arrested, and/or insulted. Luna shrugged off all these threats, reiterating his trust for Aguinaldo, and continued building defenses at Pangasinan where the Americans were planning a landing. ==Assassination and aftermath==