Battle of Perez Dasmariñas
| Battle of Perez Dasmariñas Cavite Offensive of 1897 |
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| Part of the Philippine Revolution | |||||||||
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| Belligerents | |||||||||
 Filipino Revolutionaries
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 Spanish Empire
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| Commanders and leaders | |||||||||
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Emilio Aguinaldo Crispulo Aguinaldo† Flaviano Yengko† Placido Campos Marcela Marcelo†
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Jose de Lachambre Antonio Zabala†
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| Strength | |||||||||
| 60,000+ men | 23,000 infanterias and cazadores 100+ guns and mortars |
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| Casualties and losses | |||||||||
| ~10,000 | ~3,000 | ||||||||
| 20,000 civilian deaths | |||||||||
The Battle of Perez Dasmariñas occurred during the Cavite Offensive of 1897, an all-out attack commanded by Maj. Gen. Jose de Lachambre to recapture Cavite in the Philippines since their loss at the twin battles of Binakayan and Dalahican and to crush the Katipunan insurrection, led by Emilio Aguinaldo in the province. Both the battle and the offensive was a success for the Spanish, and the retreat to Montalban occurred several weeks after the battle. The battle had been too much a hardship for both the Filipino revolutionaries and the Perez Dasmariñas town, because they each suffered destruction in the face of the massive Spanish assault.
Humiliated after the loss of the twin battles of Binakayan and Dalahican the last year, Gov. Gen. Ramón Blanco y Erenas took extreme caution of Aguinaldo's presence in Cavite as this meant that as long as he was not captured the revolution continues throughout Luzon.
Just a few months before, new fresh conscripts arrived from Spain, and the new Spanish governor-general, Camillo de Polavieja, ordered Maj. Gen. Jose de Lachambre to conduct an offensive that will crush the revolution and reclaim Cavite for the Spanish Crown. The latter did as ordered, began the offensive on February 15 at Pamplona and Bayungyungan towns of Cavite and Batangas, respectively. The Spaniards recaptured Silang on 19 February 1897, despite tenacious Filipino resistance clinging there. The revolutionaries had to retreat to Perez Dasmariñas in disorganized manner.
Skirmishers under the command of Maj. Jose Ignacio "Intsik" Paua continuously engaged and harassed Spanish frontline cazadores keeping the enemy off-balance. The Spaniards took heavy losses upon taking Silang, however. With their enemy calling off the pursuit for a while, the Katipuneros in Perez Dasmariñas had the chance to recuperate and reorganize. Imus, the seat of Aguinaldo's revolutionary government, was the Spaniards' primary aim, but they have to take the town of Perez Dasmariñas first if they are to take the former. In defending the town and Imus, the Katipuneros desperately mobilized all available men for the upcoming battle, arming every Caviteño in the town and its surrounding villages.
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Wikipedia