Capture of Malolos The Capture of Malolos , alternately known as the Battle of Malolos , occurred on March 31 , 1899 , in Malolos , Bulacan , during the Philippine - American War . General Arthur MacArthur , Jr . ' s division advanced to Malolos along the Manila – Dagupan Railway . By March 30 , American forces were advancing on Malolos . Meanwhile , the Aguinaldo government had moved its seat from Malolos to San Isidro , Nueva Ecija . Background . Despite the failure of the Filipino counterattack to retake Manila on February 23 , 1899 , the Americans still saw their position as being unsafe , for the Filipino forces in Marikina still threatened Manila more than that of the forces in Malolos . So , they waited for reinforcements under General Henry Ware Lawton , which arrived between March 10 and March 23 . After Lawton ' s arrival , the overall American force was divided into two divisions : one under the command of Arthur MacArthur , Jr . and another under Lawton . On March 25 , the American offensive resumed under MacArthur , which attempted in vain to encircle the Filipinos retreating to Malolos . It was then decided that Malolos be approached via the Manila – Dagupan Railway . On March 27 , the advancing Americans faced Aguinaldo ' s force in the Battle of Marilao River , which resulted in an American victory . Due to increasing pressure from the American offensive and the Republican Army officers , Aguinaldo had reinstated Antonio Luna as Chief of War Operations in Central Luzon on March 28 . So , it was Luna who facilitated the Philippine Republican Army during the event . Battle . After resting at Guiguinto , Bulacan , from March 29 to 30 , 1899 , the American division under MacArthur pushed towards the suburbs of Malolos , reaching there by the afternoon of March 30 . In the morning of March 31 , the Americans conducted an artillery bombardment for 25 minutes . According to Colonel ( later General ) Funston ' s account , he was the first to enter Malolos and his unit was " " fired upon by about a dozen men behind a street barricade of stones " " . The Americans then exchanged fire with the Filipinos at the plaza . It was at that point that Funston and his men saw that Emilio Aguinaldo ' s " Presidencia " ( headquarters ) and the Hall of Congress had caught fire . This buoyed the spirits of the Americans , who cheered before informing their division commander , MacArthur , that Malolos was theirs for the taking . The American official history described the Presidencia as an edifice of " " considerable architectural beauty " " . It also noted that Funston ' s account of the event was oversimplified , stating that Filipino resistance , which had lasted almost two hours , had been " stubborn " . In a letter sent by the Philippine Republic to the Filipino Junta in Hong Kong ( which was then led by Galicano Apacible ) on April 18 , 1899 , it was stated that the fall of Malolos did not pose a significant impact upon the ability of the Filipino forces to wage war on the Americans . It was also stated that Filipino garrisons in the north could not be pulled out for the defense of the capital because an American landing was suspected in Pangasinan and Tayabas . The generals of the Republic believed that Malolos was near enough to the shore to be bombarded by American gunships , and that rather than advancing to meet them , the best strategy would be to draw the Americans into the interior of the country where they would have to disperse their forces . This would in turn serve to dilute the strength of the Americans and keep the Filipino forces out of range of the American gunships . Aftermath . The battle in Malolos itself only cost eight American lives , with another 105 Americans wounded . However , the American official history noted that the whole campaign to capture the Philippine capital from March 25 to 31 , resulted in 56 Americans killed and 478 wounded . The hasty campaign to Malolos primarily failed in its objective to demoralize the Filipinos . This was demonstrated in the third week of April when , after MacArthur left Malolos to move to Pampanga via Calumpit , the Filipinos returned to reoccupy Malolos . MacArthur ' s move would subsequently result in the Battle of Calumpit .