Their clandestine collaboration aimed to orchestrate a simulated battle that would facilitate the transfer of control over the city center from the Spanish to the Americans, all while ensuring that the Philippine Revolutionary Army would be kept at bay.

The United States organized the Eighth Army Corps as an expeditionary force under Major General Wesley Merritt.

However, Dewey's more accurate report showed that the Spanish forces numbered around 40,000 troops, including approximately 16,000 Filipinos, with about 15,000 situated in Manila along with nine artillery guns.

[4] By mid-June, some 40,000 Filipino revolutionaries under General Antonio Luna had dug fourteen miles of trenches around Manila.

The stage was set for an epic struggle as the United States aimed to confront and overcome the Spanish forces, securing their foothold in the Philippines and achieving victory in the Pacific.

[7] As the combined forces of Filipinos and Americans closed in, Augustín, realizing that his position was hopeless, secretly continued to negotiate with Aguinaldo, even offering ₱1 million, but the latter refused.

[10][verification needed] Merritt was eager to seize the city, but Dewey stalled while trying to work out a bloodless solution with Jáudenes.

[11] The plan agreed to was that Dewey would begin a bombardment at 09:00 on August 13, shelling only Fort San Antonio Abad, a decrepit structure on the southern outskirts of Manila, and the impregnable walls of Intramuros.

This minimized the risk of unnecessary casualties on all sides, while the Spanish would also avoid the shame of possibly having to surrender Intramuros to the Filipino forces.

[15] On August 13, with American commanders unaware that a peace protocol had been signed between Spain and the U.S. the previous day, Dewey began his bombardment as scheduled.

[16] General Greene's brigade pushed rapidly through Malate and over the bridges to occupy Binondo and San Miguel The advancing Americans made good use of new weapons, such as the M1897 Trench Gun which was ideal for close combat.

At 08:00 that morning, Aguinaldo received a telegram from General Anderson, sternly warning him not to let his troops enter Manila without the consent of the American commander, who was situated on the south side of the Pasig River.

[14] Though a bloodless mock battle had been planned, Spanish troops had opened fire in a skirmish which left six Americans and forty-nine Spaniards dead when Filipino revolutionaries, thinking that the attack was genuine, joined advancing U.S.

[22] Admiral Dewey and General Merritt were informed by a telegram dated August 17 that the President of the United States had directed: That there must be no joint occupation with the Insurgents.

[21] Insurgent forces were looting the portions of the city which they occupied, and were not confining their attacks to Spaniards, but were assaulting their own people and raiding the property of foreigners as well.

I am compelled by my instructions to direct that your armed forces evacuate the entire city of Manila, including its suburbs and defences, and that I shall be obliged to take action with that end in view within a very short space of time should you decline to comply with my Government's demands; and I hereby serve notice on you that unless your troops are withdrawn beyond the line of the city's defences before Thursday, the 15th instant, I shall be obliged to resort to forcible action, and that my Government will hold you responsible for any unfortunate consequences which may ensue.

[24] After further negotiation and exchanges of letters, Aguinaldo wrote on September 16: "I have given appropriate orders that my troops should abandon their most advanced positions within some of the suburbs, ...[25] For all practical purposes, the fall of Manila brought about the end of the Spanish–American War in the Philippines.

Aguinaldo sent a ranking member of his staff to Elwell Stephen Otis, the U.S. military commander, with the message that the firing had been against his orders.