On April 27, 1898, six American ships of the line, led by the Olympia with Commodore George Dewey aboard, headed toward Manila Bay. After several days of sailing over the South China Sea, Dewey hoped to sail past the Spanish fort at Corregidor to arrive at Manila without detection, and sailed without lights in order to do so. He made it into the bay, where the naval battle with the Spanish South Pacific Squadron began in the wee hours of May 1, 1898. Dewey was a student of the Mahanian school of naval strategy, so called for the aggressive Alfred T. Mahan, a top naval strategist and president of the Naval War College. As such, he concentrated his efforts on the offensive, preferring to meet the Spanish fleet on his own terms and to avoid, if it all possible, fire from land-based batteries that lined Manila Bay. He refused to engage the batteries on land, sailing straight past the firing batteries and toward the Spanish fleet. Dewey issued his most famous command just before 6:00 that morning: “You may fire when ready, Gridley!”

After only seven hours, the Spanish squadron surrendered, having suffered over 300 casualties, while the US forces had not lost a man. Spanish Admiral Montojo gave the surrender order and abandoned his ship, soon flying a white flag from Cavite, the land-based arsenal of the Spanish. Dewey quickly understood the implications of his success, and he contacted Washington regarding the developments in Manila. With the Spanish decisively defeated, Dewey feared that the Filipino population might begin rioting and attack the now defeated Spanish left on the island. He was also concerned that other European nations, particularly Germany, could use the vacuum of power and take the islands for themselves. Dewey requested that the forces needed to take the city, a request that, when fulfilled by President William McKinley, changed the nature of the war from liberating the Cuban people to something far larger in scope. What would the United States do next in the Pacific?

The leader of an 1896 insurgency against the Spanish, Emilio Aguinaldo y Famy, had left the Philippines in an agreement following Spanish promises of reform that never materialized. As a recognized Filipino leader, he was brought to Manila by an American ship within days of the American victory at Manila, but the events that followed were to prove controversial and lead to US control of the Philippines, along with a revolution of the Filipino people that would prove to be far longer and more costly than the Spanish-American War itself. Aguinaldo claimed that he was promised aid by the United States in setting up an independent government of which he would be the leader. Indeed, it seems that initial encouragements were made by at least one American, who wrote to Aguinaldo, “General: I have the honor to inform you that the United States of America, whose land forces I have the honor to command in this vicinity, being at war with the Kingdom of Spain, has entire sympathy and most friendly sentiments for the native people of the Philippine Islands. For these reasons I desire to have the most amicable relations with you, and to have you and your people co-operate with us in military operations against the Spanish forces."

Directives from the State Department, however, specified that there should be no joint occupation of Manila, and no cooperative government established. The war was between Spain and the United States, and the US, not the Filipinos, would fight the final land battles to secure the city and accept the Spanish surrender. Aguinaldo proceeded to obey orders, as he hoped to be named and supported as the Filipino leader under the protection of the United States.