New-York tribune., 1899-03-26
from New-York on January ii ior mA
arrived here. The Princeton ielt Cooi"''
Ion. for Singapore on March IL.
THE SCENE OF THE AC1ION'
EXPLAINED BY THE CHIEF OF THE bo Hr'Ao
OF MILITARY INFORMATlON

OF MILITARY INFORMATION.
Washington March 25.-Major Simpson Ch'ei
-, ,bo pureau Of Military Information was pusS
,odov taking the fragmentary Information W
,ho movements here and there Of battalions anu
h,acados and assembling them so as 10 give o'
tho military map a complete picture OF to-uay
theatre OF operations. AS he explained " '"e
eeld Of the action is as follows
pock of Manila. al a distance OF about seven
,ouos from, the water-fr front. sweeps great se"i'
CIRCLE or American troops. This Is about '"e"'!
,uos long and embraces about twen'!-one
,housacd mon II is cut midway by the faS'e
pivor which forms O natural military DIVISION.
To the south the arc is under cofh"'a"u "
Na,or-G General I.awton who has receh'! a'''
IN the Philippines. Until now TINS mas oeei '"N
Gold Of activity, with Wheaton's hylhg column
heating back the insurgents But 'o-uas ~
toms forces are idle. and the scene Vi a',''''
shifted TO the north OF the river. here '"e 'a
tial circle Of American troops sweeps l'o''' ~"
,'o.or,,.or,s around TO the bay. Major-Generai
Macarthur is in command OF all the troops
ror,h of the river and these are roughly eS"
mated AT between thirteen thousand anu Iou'
,een thousand men. the others being with La"
20, on the south. Before the action began '"s
morning MacArthur's forces were dlNlueu NV
three main bodies. Far to the right near Wv
waterworks was Hae's brigade. far ~ -"
left about CalOocan. were the Drigaues Vi i
r,son GRAY OTIS and Wheaton. the latter having
heen dawn from LawtCn's forces on 'he s"u''
IN order IN strengthen MacArthur's command
for this operation. Between the TWO was '"e
brigade Of Hall. held as a sort of reserve 10
demonstrate. but not to attack. Hales piisaue,
as shown on the military map. was made up oi
ha Let Dakota.
Wyoming the 1st Colorado and Battery Il or the
1.tob artillery Harrison Gray Otis's command
on the left was made up OF the 10th Kansas
the LET Montana. the 10Th Pennsylvania. a Dat
TALON Of the I'D Infantry and Battery OF 'he
Utah artillery These are the troops WIN the
additional force Of Wheaton and some recent ar
rivals possibly not yet reported Whch haNe
sustained the brunt of the action
With this approximate disposition OF '"e
forces Major Simpson took the official dlsPa'c"
OF General Otis and the more detailed press re-
ports and pointed out the probable llhe oi az
ton 1t began with Macarthur moving raP'u'!
northward to Novaliches passing the insurEeh'
forces on the left. on reaching NovahcheS
Macarthur turned sharply To the west III
tending to make forced march OF Apo"'
seven miles TO Polo. BY this movement
MacArthurs forces were carried outside oi
the insurgent base Of operations. Ihls paSe
is at Malabon. midway between Macarthur
forces at Polo and the combined forces OF
Harrison Gray Otis and Wheaton at Caloocah
Thus the insurgents were nanked. ana between
two strong bodies Of American troops TO the
west Of them is Manila Bay cutting on retreat
In that direction. and to the east the FORCES oi
Han (or Hale). az reported 10y General Gus are
demonstrating" in order TO prevent an lhsur-
gent movement toward the east Ihey were
thus left between the two main bodies or Amer
lean troops and must engage one or the other OF
them 1t was General Ots's plan. as shown 10y
his dispatch to have the brigsies or wheaton
advanced toward those OF Macarthur. mus
gradually inclosng the insurgents between TWO
parallel lines until they either crushed or are
made prisoners.
The two opposing forces appear 20 he rather
evenly matched I'm point OF numbers. the tsu-
mate Of the American fOrce-nOrth Cf the river
being about fourteen thousand while feneral
Otis places the insurgents at about tWelV" thou-
sand General OTIS is in supreme command,
directing the operations from central telegraph
station The actual field movements were exc
cuted by Major General Macarthur. who In per
son led the brigade in its decisive move to flank
and surround the rebel forces.