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The Battle of Zapote Bridge also known as the Battle of Zapote River was fought on June 13, 1899 between 3,000 American soldiers and 5,000 Filipinos. Zapote River separates what is now the city of Las Piñas in Metro Manila from Bacoor in the province of Cavite. Zapote Bridge in ruins still stands along the General Emilio Aguinaldo Highway near Manila Bay. Combatants United States The Philippines Commanders Elwell Stephen Otis Emilio Aguinaldo Strength 126,000 soldiers 80,000 soldiers Casualties 4,324 U.S. soldiers dead 2,840 wounded; 2,000 killed, dead, or wounded of the Philippine Constabulary 16,000 soldiers killed est. ...
June 13 is the 164th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (165th in leap years), with 201 days remaining. ...
1899 (MDCCCXCIX) was a common year starting on Sunday (see link for calendar). ...
Map of the Philippines showing the island groups of Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao. ...
Henry Ware Lawton ( 1836- 1899) was an U.S. Army officer who served with distinction in the Civil War, Apache War and the Spanish-American War. ...
June 13 is the 164th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (165th in leap years), with 201 days remaining. ...
1899 (MDCCCXCIX) was a common year starting on Sunday (see link for calendar). ...
Las Piñas City (population: 472,780 Census 2000) is a city in the National Capital Region of the Philippines. ...
For the article on the capital city of the Philippines, click Manila. ...
Bacoor is a first-class municipality in the province of Cavite, Philippines. ...
Cavite is a province of the Philippines located on the southern shores of Manila Bay in the CALABARZON region in Luzon, just 30 kilometers south of Manila. ...
The battle started when Companies F and I, 21st Infantry Regiment were confronted by 1,000 Filipinos in elaborately dug trenches and breastworks and fierce fighting ensued, but the Americans running low on ammunition had to break through the enemy's flank. American gunboats also silenced a Philippine artillery piece which had been harassing them. A gunboat is literally a boat carrying one or more guns. ...
An artillery dual also commenced between a Filipino artillery battery, possibly firing a Krupp artillery piece, and Battery D with a 3.2-inch field gun. After a few closely exchanged shots, Battery D successfully took out the enemy battery at 30 yards, while losing two men. The Krupp family, a prominent 400-year-old German dynasty from Essen, have become famous for their steel production and for their manufacture of ammunition and armaments. ...
The rest of both armies soon joined the fighting, and it became obvious that the superior Filipino numbers had not been a decisive advantage. Accurate American rifle and machine gun fire inflicted terrible losses on the enemy, while the Filipinos, many armed with motley firearms or bolos, did not have the firepower to successfully retaliate on most occasions. American gunboats also devastated the Filipino positions.
After hours of heavy fighting, the superior firepower of the Americans drove the defenders out of their lines; a Filipino rear guard, however held off the Americans long enough for the main Filipino force to withdraw inland.
It was the Battle of Zapote Bridge that earned the respect of General Henry Ware Lawton, whose dispatches invariably carried a sympathetic note of the heroism displayed by Filipinos fighting for their freedom. Henry Ware Lawton (1836-1899) was an U.S. Army officer who served with distinction in the Civil War, Apache War and the Spanish-American War. ...
Both sides suffered heavily: the American suffered 75 casualties 15 of which killed, and the Filipinos sufferd over 500 casualties, between 140 and 150 of which were deaths.
Consequently, the Philippine Army began using tactics of guerilla warfare, seeing that they could not square off against the Americans in large western style military actions, they resorted instead to using the terrain to their advange in cunning hit and run attacks.
The New York Times reported that it [the Filipino Army] was "the largest and best organized body of men which had yet met American troops." The New York Times is an internationally known daily newspaper published in New York City and distributed in the United States and many other nations worldwide. ...
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