Battle of Manila

February 4–5, 1899 · Manila Theater

February 4–5, 1899

On the night of February 4, 1899, Private William Grayson of the Nebraska Volunteers fired on a Filipino patrol at the San Juan del Monte bridge — the shot that started the war. Fighting erupted along the sixteen-mile perimeter between American and Filipino lines around Manila. American artillery and naval gunfire from Dewey's squadron shattered the Filipino trenches, and by the end of the second day the Army of Liberation had been driven from the outskirts of the capital with enormous losses.

• ●Battle of Manila