Manuel Bulnes Pinto (July 10, 1842 – April 18, 1899) was a Chilean military and political figure.

He studied at the Colegio de los Padres Franceses and later moved to Paris, where he completed three years of law before returning to Chile.

As the head of his regiment, he waged a continuous warfare against the Araucanian Indians in southern Chile, and in 1874 he joined the regular army ranks as a sergeant major.

At the beginning of the War of the Pacific, he organized a cavalry squadron that they named Escuadrón de Carabineros de Yungay, but the transport Rimac where they were traveling to the theater of operations was captured en route by the Peruvian Navy and they were interned as prisoners of war in the city of Tarma.

In the short lapse while he held the post (from September 18 to November 26), he managed to regularize the army lists, giving legal equality to all who had ever served under the colors.