Battle of Zapote Bridge

The Battle of Zapote Bridge also known as the Battle of Zapote River was fought on June 13, 1899 between 3,000 American soldiers and 5,000 Filipinos. It was the largest battle of the Philippine-American War.

The battle started when Companies F and I, 21st Infantry were ambushed by 1,000 Filipinos, where there was terrific fighting, but the Americans running low on ammunition had to break through the enemy's flank. American gunboats also silenced a Philippine artillery piece which had been harassing them.

The rest of both armies soon joined the fighting, and it became obvious that the superior Filipino numbers had not been the advantage they had hoped for. Accurate American rifle fire dropped the insurgents left and right, while the Filipinos could not answer with same degree of their enemies' attack.

After hours of heavy fighting, the superior arms of the Americans drove the enemy out of their defensive lines; a Filipino rear guard, however held off the Americans long enough for the main Filipino force to withdraw inland.

Both sides suffered heavily: the American suffered 75 casualties 15 of which KIA, and the Filipinos sufferd over 500 casualties, between 140 and 150 of which were deaths.

This battle was also one of the main reasons that the Philippine Army had to switch to guerilla warfare. Seeing that they could not square off against the Americans in large western style military actions, they resorted to using the advantagous terrain for cunning hit and run attacks instead.

The New York Times reported that it was "the largest and best organized body of men which has yet to meet American troops."

External Link

http://1–14th.com/HistPhilZapoteRiv.html