Battle of Santo Tomas

1st Nebraskan Volunteers advancing during the Battle of Santo Tomas

Date	May 4, 1899
Location	Santo Tomas, Pampanga, Philippines
Result	American victory

Belligerents

United States

Philippine Republic

Commanders and leaders

Alejandro Avecilla

Strength

20th Kansas Volunteers
1st Montana Volunteers
1st Nebraska Volunteers
51st Iowa Volunteers

around 2,500 excluding around 1,600 reinforcements from San Fernando

Casualties and losses

2 killed in action

unknown

The Battle of Santo Tomas was fought on May 4, 1899, in Santo Tomas, Pampanga, during the Philippine-American War. During this battle, General Antonio Luna, the commander of the Filipino forces, was wounded. The Battle of Santo Tomas followed the Battle of Calumpit, wherein Luna's main force had fought that of General Arthur MacArthur, Jr. The battle resulted in a defeat of the Filipino forces around Santo Tomas and their withdrawal from the town.

After the fall of Calumpit and the march through the Calumpit–Apalit Line, the Americans' next objective was to capture San Fernando, Pampanga, which was immediately fronted by the Angeles–Magalang Line, the last of the three-tiered defense line Luna had made.Emilio Aguinaldo had transferred his capital to the nearby town of San Isidro, Nueva Ecija, before the Capture of Malolos on March 31. Luna's main force, which had been fighting the Americans since the fighting around Malolos, retreated to the nearby town of Santo Tomas by April 28. Therefore, the Americans decided that they had to capture Santo Tomas before taking San Fernando. As General Arthur MacArthur, Jr.'s main force rested in Malolos, Brigadier Generals Loyd Wheaton and Irving Hale's forces were committed to the advance, with Colonel Frederick Funston, their immediate deputy, spearheading the initial American attack.

The battle featured an easy rout of the Filipino forces under Luna, numbering around 2,500, by Americans in Santo Tomas. In Funston's own account, he states that as soon as the Filipinos abandoned their trenches on the opposite bank of the lagoon, he sent two companies across to examine the vacated trenches and repair the railroad track that had been destroyed by the retreating Filipinos. However, when Lieutenant Colonel Cavestany brought up reinforcements consisting of about 1,600 men organized into eight companies, and crossed the bridge leading to San Fernando, Luna saw that the American advance could still be halted.

...
Wikipedia