THE BATTLE OF ANGELES AND FORGOTTEN HISTORY OF PHILIPPINE-AMERICAN WAR: AUGUST 1899

Investigating History
THE BATTLE OF ANGELES AND FORGOTTEN HISTORY OF PHILIPPINE-AMERICAN WAR: AUGUST 1899

Today in History, is the 126th anniversary and commemoration of the First Battle of Angeles, where the strategic town was defended by troops General Luciano San Miguel of the Brigade with support of the Generals Mascardo and Aquino Brigades (numbering between 1,500-2,500 men) against the attack of Lieutenant-Colonel Jacob H. Smith, in command of the 12th US Infantry, with support of Hotchkiss field guns (M1897 3.2-inch guns) led by Lt. Kenley of the platoon from the Light Battery E, 1st Artillery.

HISTORY MONTH: ANGELES STRUGGLE IN PHILIPPINE-AMERICAN WAR
August, having been known as the History Month, is also of historical importance to the town of Angeles and the western part of San Fernando along the route of the railroad and wagon road; the history of struggle of the Filipino people for liberty and freedom during Philippine-American War. General MacArthur, with his 2nd Division, 8th Army Corps, made the general advance on August 9, 1899 for Sindalan and Calulut; two important villages used by General San Miguel as the forward bases of his brigade at the entrance of Angeles. The general advance was also synchronized with combat operations of Colonel J. Franklin Bell of the 36th U.S. Infantry (Volunteers) on the left flank of the railroad line, where forces of General Mascardo were holed in the vicinity of the town of Bacolor.

FILIPINO RESISTANCE AGAINST GENERAL MACARTHUR’S ADVANCE FROM SAN FERNANDO
Immediate outside of San Fernando, when General MacArthur ordered the beginning of the advance on the road to Angeles, there were already series of engagements where small columns of the San Miguel Brigade stood against American infantry advance on both sides of the railroad and wagon roads. By afternoon, Sindalan fell to the Americans and 17th U.S. Infantry, along with the 12th U.S. Infantry and battalions of 51st Iowa Infantry (Volunteers) swung to the right, and fought the main body of General San Miguel in the important railroad village of Calulut. General MacArthur established his headquarters in the barrio of Sindalan and hours after the fighting, Calulut fell to the Americans, where they established the main base of the 2nd Division.

HOLDING THE ROAD TO ANGELES: AUGUST 10 – 15, 1899
General MacArthur did not stay long at the Sindalan field headquarters, since he perceived the threat of the Mascardo Brigade on the left side or on the western and southwestern Pampanga areas, where the brigade posed grave threat to the rear of his 2nd Division. He therefore moved to Sta. Rita via San Fernando and Bacolor, and was with the 9th U.S. Infantry, with the 36th U.S. Infantry (Volunteers) holed at the latter town for garrison.

With the 1st Brigade holed in Sta. Rita with the 9th U.S. Infantry, the 2nd Brigade, 2nd Division was based at Calulut for operations against the San Miguel Brigade for the capture of Angeles. From August 10 to 15, there were series of daily American attacks on strategic barrios at the entrance of Angeles on both sides of the railroad tracks, to include the villages of Malino, Telabastagan (all of San Fernando) and Mining (Angeles), where battalions of Zambales and Kawit and the Lacuna Column fought with vigor under tremendous pressure from American infantry and artillery attacks.

ANGELES: THE BASTION OF RESISTANCE
These combat operations by the Americans were meant to ascertain the strength of the defenses of Angeles, where the San Miguel Brigade was resisting along the main front on the railroad tracks, while the Aquino Brigade was positioned on the right and the Mascardo Brigade on the left. There were instances where smaller elements of the 17th U.S. Infantry and 51st Iowa Infantry (Volunteers) where already knocking on the gates of Angeles, while Colonel Bell was able to penetrate the center of the town on August 10, 1899, coming from the Bacolor-Angeles Road.

The town of Angeles did not possess natural defenses of deep rivers and high ground that can provide suitable defenses that would make the American infantry advance difficult, although, there were numerous streams and river-tributaries but not deep enough for the infantry to cross with difficulty under fire. There were also numerous backroads aside from the main front with the railroad and wagon road from San Fernando, and trails from the Bacolor-Angeles Road on the left flank while on the right of the railroad line, were trails and backroads from Calulut (San Fernando) to Mining, therefore an easy access to Angeles.

BATTLE OF ANGELES: FIRST PHASE
On August 16, 1899, the American advance to Angeles had begun. Colonel Smith’s attack begun in the morning with the barrage of Hotchkiss 3.2-inch gun and mountain gun of Lt. Kenley on the Filipino positions and outposts at the entrance of the town, coming from the barrio of Sindalan along the wagon road. The troops of San Miguel Brigade put up a strong resistance inside the town, engaging Colonel Smith’s 3 battalions of the 12th US Infantry and firing heavily on the American advance.

The fighting lasted about 1 hour of heavy engagement, and the Filipino defenders went out of ammunitions, making a general retreat into the Abacan River Line to the north. Angeles was captured by the Americans by 11.30 a.m., making it an important logistical and military hub of General Arthur MacArthur’s 2nd Division, 8th Army Corps. General San Miguel and his brigade retreated on the banks of the Abacan River to the north, where a rear line was prepared for a prolonged war against the Americans.

Colonel Smith of the 12th US Infantry occupied the Pamintuan Mansion as his headquarters, which became the headquarters of Generals Antonio Luna of the Philippine Division in early May 1899 and later by General Venancio Concepcion. In the succeeding days, General San Miguel will conduct several small-scale counter-attacks from his bases on the Abacan, Balibago, Pulasapis, and Sapang Bato against the 12th U.S. Infantry stationed in Angeles.

Thereafter, the front line was changed from the Angeles-San Fernando Road along the railroad line to the Abacan River, where the south banks were occupied by the Americans and the north banks by the San Miguel Brigade. Like at the San Fernando, the Americans occupied Angeles for a long period of time, from August 16 to November 7, 1899, while re-organizing strength, repairing railroad tracks destroyed by Filipinos, and the need to destroy the combat capability of General Mascardo Brigade posing as a threat on the rear (left flank).

FORGOTTEN RESISTANCE IN ANGELES
It was also in Angeles that the Filipinos possessed the will, discipline and organization to conduct one of the last coordinated attacks on American lines employing the 3 brigades and modern artillery that challenged General MacArthur’s Light Battery E for artillery duel. These dates and period in the Philippine-American War in Angeles; August 16, September 28, October 11-20, 1899 are seemed to have been forgotten in the collective memory of the Kapampangans, and of Angelenos, as there are no commemorations on the struggle of the Filipino people on the height of the Philippine-American War.

In 2019, I conducted a lecture on the first Battle of Angeles at the site of the former headquarters of Colonel Smith’s 12th US Infantry (and later, headquarters of General MacArthur’s 2nd Division and much later by General Frederic Grant of the 2nd Brigade); the Pamintuan Mansion, now the Museum of Philippine Social History.

Rhonie Dela Cruz
Bamban Historical Society
Bamban WWII Museum
Consultant, PGT – Tarlac Provincial Tourism Office

Citation:
(1) Annual Reports of the War Department for the Fiscal Year Ended June 1900.
(2) John M. Taylor, The Philippine Insurrection Against the United States – Volume IV, V.