Page:Portland, Oregon, its History and Builders volume 1.djvu/794



576 ' THE CITY OF PORTLAND

Brackish water, a hot chmate, unregulated ration, severe 'longshore work which was forced upon the command at once, and other conditions, combined to make a heavy sick list for two or three weeks, which was seized upon by the eager press forces to make it appear that the volunteer soldiers did not know how to care for themselves.

At Cavite the regiment waited patiently until the morning of August 13, with no other duty than severe drilling and exhaustive instruction in field operations. While here the fearful lot of misfit clothing and footwear which had been grabbed in by the general quartermaster department at San Francisco was distributed. Some of this stuff was unique as monstrosities, most of it was fraudulent shoddy, and all emphasized the pathetic unpreparedness of the federal power for a war requiring more soldiers than the regular army.

When the first expedition reached Cavite, the Filipinos, encouraged and sup- ported by Admiral Dewey, had pressed on the Spanish lines until Spain's power in the Philippines was confined to the cities of Manila and Ilo Ilo. To these lines the Spanish withdrew, when they saw the Filipinos turning against them; erected strong entrenchments, put a small force in the ditches, and quietly awaited the finish, exchanging nightly fusilades with the noisy but impotent besieging Filipinos. An inspection of these lines of defense and plans for assault were taken up by Gen. Wesley Merritt, upon his arrival as commander-in-chief of the Eighth Army Corps. In the preliminary reconnoitering, Capt. J. F. Case, Com- pany F, Second Oregon, did valuable service as an engineering officer, and Lieuts. W. E. Moore and Bryan were also useful in sketching the enemy's posi- tions.

August 13th the assault upon Manila was planned. For this occasion, the first two battalions of the Second Oregon were put aboard the Kwonghoi, and Company F, Captain Case commanding, was put aboard the Zafiro, as the per- sonal bodyguard of General Merritt, and the command was ordered to stand out in the bay near Admiral Dewey's fleet during the forthcoming bombardment. A landing party under fire on the bay shore, or a peaceful patrol in the event of surrender, was the apparent purpose, but for the enlisted men there was no clue to the situation. Assault on the water front would be disastrous to the troops making the charge, and this misgiving was in the minds of many when they embarked that morning.

However, the surrender of Manila proved a pre-concerted affair, in which the Spanish asked but an opportunity to shoot a few times before running up the flag of truce. That it should have been entirely bloodless on the part of the American soldiery was afterward apparent, and it would perhaps have been but for the impetuosity of some of the forces which were placed before the Spanish works on the south line. From the decks of their vessels in the bay, the Second Oregon saw the fleet bombardment of Ft. Malate, which was begun by the Olympia, Admiral Dewey's flagship, about 9 o'clock. Shells poured upon the little fort until it was deserted in a dismantled condition by the Spanish infantry, which had no gun to reply to heavy artillery. The monitor Monterey stood out in the bay opposite Manila, facing the only efficient battery possessed by the Spanish on that line of defense, consisting of four modern Krupp guns. These defensive weapons remained silent in the presence of the Monterey, and when the cruisers finished Malate and steamed alongside the city, a white flag was hoisted from the main parapet of the wall in front of the captain-general's offices.

Terms of surrender were quickly negotiated, the nine Oregon companies on ship in the bay being hastened in to take charge of the walled city. General Merritt and his staff preceded the Oregon regiment into the famous old walled city, where Spain's power had been supreme for centuries. All of the Oregon troops in the landing party were immediately assigned to patrol the walled city, and to the duty of disarming the Spanish troops. Disarming parties were forced at the Auyentamiento, Cuartel de Espana and in the arsenal, and worked all night receiving the weapons of the splendidly equipped Spanish