in the power of the American
Navy, which confined the fighting for the most part to Luzon.

In March, General MacArthur began to move to the north, and on the last
day of that month he entered Malolos. On the 23d of April he pushed
farther northward toward Calumpit, where the Filipino generalissimo,
Luna, had prepared a position which he declared to be impregnable. This
brief campaign added a new favorite to the American roll of honor, for
it was here that Colonel Funston, at the head of his gallant Kansans,
crossed the rivers Bag-bag and Rio Grande, under circumstances that gave
the individual American soldier a prestige in the eyes of the Filipinos
and a reputation which often ran far ahead of the army.

General Luna had torn up the ties and rails of the steel railroad bridge
over the Bag-bag, and had let down the span next the far bank. Thus
cut off from attack by a deep river two hundred feet wide, the Filipino
commander had entrenched his forces on the farther side. Shielded by
fields of young corn and bamboo thickets, the Americans approached
the bank of the river. A naval gun on an armored train bombarded
the Filipinos but could not silence their trenches. It was therefore
necessary to cross an the bridge, and under fire. General Wheaton
ordered Colonel Funston to seize the bridge. With about ten men Funston
rushed the nearer end which stood in the open. Working themselves along
the girders, the men finally reached the broken span. Beyond that,
swimming was the only method of reaching the goal. Leaving their guns
behind them, Colonel Funston and three others swung themselves off the
bridge and into the stream. Quite unarmed, the four landed and rushed
the nearest trenches. Fortunately these had been abandoned under
American fire, and rifles and cartridges had been left behind. Thus
this aquatic charge by unarmed men secured the bridge and enabled the
American troops to cross.

Not far beyond was the Rio Grande, four hundred feet broad and crossed
by another railroad bridge that must be taken. Here again the task was
entrusted to Colonel Funston and the Twentieth Kansas. This time they
found an old raft. Two privates stripped and swam across with a rope.
Landing unarmed on the enemy's side of the river, they fastened their
rope to a part of the very trench works of the Filipinos. With this
connection established, Colonel Funston improvised a ferry and was soon
on the enemy's side with supports. A stiff, unequal