believed that the invader
was nervously beating a retreat. The Nebraska Regiment was at Santa
Mesa, guarding its front. Americans were frequently insulted, called
cowards, and openly menaced by the insurgents. In the evening of
Saturday, February 4, 1899, an insurgent officer came with a detail
of men and attempted to force his way past the sentinel on the San
Juan bridge. About nine o'clock a large body of rebels advanced on
the South Dakota Regiment's outposts, and to avoid the necessity
of firing, for obvious reasons, the picquets fell back. For several
nights a certain insurgent lieutenant had tried to pass the Nebraska
lines. At length he approached a sentinel, who called "halt" three
times without response, and then shot the lieutenant dead. Several
insurgents then fired and retreated; rockets were at once sent up by
the Filipinos, and firing started all along the line, from Caloocan
to Santa Mesa. By ten o'clock the Filipinos concentrated at Caloocan,
Santa Mesa, and Gagalanging, whence they opened a simultaneous, but
ineffectual, fusillade, supplemented by two siege guns at Balichalic
and a skirmishing attack from Pandacan and Paco. Desperate fighting
continued throughout the night; the Filipinos, driven back from every
post with heavy loss, rallied the next morning at Paco, where they
occupied the parish church, to which many non-combatant refugees
had fled. The American warships, co-operating with their batteries,
poured a terrific fire on the church, and kept up a continuous attack
on the insurgent position at Caloocan, where General Aguinaldo was in
command. At daylight the Americans made a general advance towards Paco
and Santa Ana. At the former place the Filipinos resisted desperately;
the church, sheltering refugees and insurgents, was completely
demolished; [209] the Filipinos' loss amounted to about 4,000 killed
and wounded, whilst the Americans lost about 175 killed and wounded. It
is estimated that the approximate number of troops engaged in this
encounter was 13,000 Americans and 20,000 Filipinos. The insurgents
at Santa Ana, the survivors of the Paco defeat, and the force which
had to abandon the Santolan water-works, where they left behind them
a howitzer, all concentrated at Caloocan. The insurgent and American
lines formed a semicircle some 15 miles in extent, making it impossible
to give a comprehensive description of the numerous small engagements.

Immediately the news of the rupture reached