On This Day - June 2, 1899 - The Siege of Baler ended after 11 months

 

On This Day - June 2,1899 

- The Siege of Baler ended after 11 months, with 35 surviving Spanish soldiers surrendered including their commander, Lt. Saturnino Martín Cerezo.

The Filipino revolutionaries laid siege to a fortified church of San Luis Obispo de Tolosa that defended by Spanish troops in the town of Baler, Aurora, for 337 days, from 1 July 1898 until 2 June 1899.

 

Baler was garrisoned by a 50-man detachment of the Second Expeditionary Battalion Cazadores (“Hunters”) under Capt. Enrique de las Morenas, as the district political-military governor. On June 1, 1898, Morenas began to stock food supplies and ammunition, and to fortify the church compound of San Luis de Tolosa in Baler’s town square against a possible attack.

 

Then on the night of June 30, 1898, 800 Filipino troops under Teodorico Luna attacked, and the garrison fell back to the church. The Spanish had to endure confinement in a small, hot, humid space. As the siege progressed, their food supply began to diminish through usage and spoilage. On November 22, 1898, Capt. Morenas succumbed to disease and died, the command fell to Lt. Saturnino Martin Cerezo. The Filipinos attempted to smoke them out by setting fires beside the church wall, but were repulsed.

 

By November 22, 1898, a total of 145 days had elapsed since the siege began, during which 14 Spanish soldiers died of disease. The Filipinos also had suffered casualties, mostly from rifle fire the Spanish were able to inflict on them from their protected firing positions.

 

By January 1899, Spanish emissaries were brought to Baler, but again Martin Cerezo turned them away. By April 1899, the Spaniards were run out of food; they resorted to eating stray dogs, cats, reptiles, snails and crows. By May 1899, there was yet another attempt to get Lt. Martín Cerezo to surrender, this time, it was a fellow Spanish officer named Lt. Col. Cristobal Aguilar y Castañeda, but Cerezo turned it away. However, Lt. Col. Cristobal Aguilar had brought recent Spanish newspapers, which Cerezo initially dismissed. Until Cerezo read an article concerning a close friend’s posting. Convinced that the newspapers were genuine and that indeed Spain had lost the war, Lt. Martin Cerezo and his men surrendered to the Filipinos on June 2, 1899. Three months later, the survivors, including Martin Cerezo, arrived in Barcelona where they were received and honored as heroes.

 

Sources and References:

1. Westfall, M. (2012). The Devil’s Causeway: the true story of America's first prisoners of war in the Philippines. Guildford: Lyons Press

2. Martin Cerezo, S. (1909). Under the Red and Gold: being notes and recollections of the siege of Baler. Kansas City: Franklin Hudson

3. Reyes Roces, A., ed. (1978). “The period of armed struggle, 1896–1900.” Filipino heritage. Vol. 8. Manila: Lahing Pilipino

4. Wikimedia Commons