Chapter 25There were no medals awarded for heroism in the last
battle of the Spanish-American war. In the end, the battle was a
staged event, a sham that allowed the Spanish to save face and
avoid reprisals by Aguinaldo’s insurgents.
Nevertheless, during the daylong mock
battle, six American soldiers died, and ninety-two were wounded.
The Spanish suffered forty-nine killed and one hundred wounded.
Paradoxically, we later learned that the
bogus battle for Manila was unnecessary because, unknown to us,
twenty-four hours earlier, a peace protocol had been signed in
Washington DC. But because Admiral Dewey had cut the only cable
that linked Manila to the outside world, news of the war’s end
didn’t reach the Philippines until August sixteenth—three days
later.
By then, American tr
