Battle of Manila (1762)

The Battle of Manila was fought during the Seven Years' War, from 24 September 1762 to 6 October 1762, between the Kingdom of Great Britain and the Kingdom of Spain in and around Manila, the capital of the Philippines, a Spanish colony at that time. The British won, leading to a short British occupation of Manila.

Prelude

The British Ministry approved Col. Draper's plans for invading the Philippine Isles and the HMS Seahorse (1748), under Capt. Cathcart Grant, was sent to intercept Manila bound vessels. The first portion of the invasion fleet sailed from India on 21 July, under Commodore Teddinson, followed by the remainder under Admiral Sir Samuel Cornish, 1st Baronet, and Col. Draper on 1 Aug. The HMS Norfolk (1757) served as the admiral's flagship.

On 1 August 1762, a British fleet of eight ships of the line, three frigates, and four store ships, sailed away from Madras with a force of 6,839 regulars, sailors and marines. The commander of the expedition was Brigadier-General William Draper. He was assisted by Colonel Monson as Second in Command, Major Scott as Adjutant-General and Captain Fletcher as Brigade-Major of the East India Company. The expeditionary force consisted of:

• 79th Draper's Regiment of Foot (567 men)
• company of Royal Artillery
• East India Company artillery (29 men)
• 610 sepoys
• French deserters, Kaffirs, pioneers and Portuguese half-castes (314 total men)
• Nawab irregulars (51 men)

Manila was garrisoned by the Life Guard of the Governor-General of the Philippines, the 2nd Battalion of the King's regiment under Don Miguel de Valdez, Spanish marines, a corps of artillery under Lt. Gen. Don Felix de Eguilux, seconded by Brig. the Marquis de Villa Medina, a company of Pampangos, and a company of cadets.

The battle

Map of British Conquest of Manila in 1762.

This map shows the chronological advance of British troops toward parts of Northern Luzon during the British Occupation of Manila.

Admiral Cornish's fleet, 14 vessels of which 10 carried more than 50 guns, anchored in Manila Bay on 23 Sept. A landing was planned 2 miles south of the city, covered by HMS Argo (1758), under Capt. King, HMS Seahorse, under Capt. Grant, and HMS Seaford under Capt. Pelghin. The three-pronged landing force of 274 marines was led by Col. Draper, center, Maj. More, right, and Col. Monson, left. The next day, they were joined by 632 seamen under Capt.s Collins, Pitchford and Ouvry. Fort Polverina was captured on 25 Sept.

Further reconnaissance revealed that the fortifications of Manila were not formidable, in fact they were incomplete. "In many places the ditch had never been finished, the covered way was out of repair, the glacis was too low, some of the outworks were without cannon..."

On 30 September, a British storeship arrived with entrenching tools, but was driven ashore by a gale. Fortunately, she had run aground so that she screened the rear of Draper's camp from a large force of Filipinos. Her stores were landed with greater speed and safety than would have been possible had she remained afloat for the gale continued for several days and forbade the passage of boats through the surf.

A strong gale started on 1 Oct., cutting off communication with the British fleet. On the morning of 4 Oct., a force of 1000 local Pampangos attacked a cantonment built by the British overnight but was beaten back with 300 Filipinos killed. After this failure, all except 1,800 of the Pamgangos abandoned the city. "The fire from the garrison now became faint, while that of the besiegers was stronger than ever, and ere long a breach became practicable." On 6 Oct., 60 volunteers under Lt. Russell advanced through the breach in the Bastion of St. Andrew. Engineers and pioneers followed, then came Col. Monson and Maj. More with 2 divisions of the 79th, the seamen and then another division of the 79th.

Preventing further slaughter, acting Governor-General Archbishop Manuel Rojo del Rio y Vieyra surrendered both Manila and Cavite to Draper and Cornish.

Aftermath

"The humanity and generosity of the British commanders saved Manila from a general and justly merited pillage. A ransom of four millions of dollars only was demanded for this relaxation of the laws of war. Thus the whole archipelago of the Philippines fell with the wealthy city of Manila."

The British held Manila until it was returned to Spain according to the peace settlement. News that it had been lost did not reach Spain until after the cessation of hostilities between the two powers. Oidor Don Simon Anda y Salazar had been dispatched to Bulacan from where he launched a successful campaign to reconquer the country from the British and their Philippine allies. He organized an army of 10,000, mainly Filipinos, under the command of Jose Busto.

Manila was placed under the authority of civilian Deputy Governor Dawsonne Drake, appointed by the East India Company as the leader of the Manila Council. Major Fell commanded the garrison as another member of the council

During their time in the Philippines, the British found themselves confined to Manila and Cavite in a deteriorating situation, unable to extend British control over the islands and unable to make good their promised support for an uprising led first by Diego Silang and later by his wife Gabriela, which was crushed by Spanish forces.

The British expedition was rewarded after the capture of the treasure ship Filipina, carrying American silver from Acapulco, and the Santísima Trinidad, carrying China goods. However, when Cornish sailed for Madras with the East Indies Squadron in early 1763, he had only collected $516,260 of the $2 million ransom. The balance consisted of bills of exchange, though Spain never did pay the Manila ransom.

The city remained under British rule for 18 months and was returned to Spain in April 1764 after the Treaty of Paris.

Draper and Cornish were thanked by Parliament on 19 April 1763, Cornish was made a Baronet of Great Britain, and Draper eventually received as Knighthood of the Bath.

See also

• List of India-related topics in Philippines
• Military History of the Philippines
• British invasion of Manila

References

Bibliography

• Fortescue, J. W., A History of the British Army Vol. II, MacMillan, London, 1899, pp. 544–545.
• Rojo, Journal
• The Philippine Islands
• NY Times
• British expedition against Manila

This article was originally based on material from 1762 - British expedition against Manila, which is licensed under the GFDL.