At first my interest in military matters was not appreciated by my army friends, who could not see what business I had to be wandering around without a gun in places where guns were in use.  I had, however, long since discovered that reliable first-hand information on any subject is likely to be useful sooner or later, and so it proved in this case.

For several weeks after we reached Manila there was no active military movement; then came the inauguration of the short, sharp campaign which ended for the moment with the taking of Malolos.  For long, tedious weeks our soldiers had sweltered in muddy trenches, shot at by an always invisible foe whom they were not allowed to attack.  It was anticipated that when the forward movement began, it would be active.  Close secrecy was maintained with regard to it.  Captain Hedworth Lambton, of the British cruiser Powerful, then lying in Manila Bay, exacted a promise from me that I would tell him if I found out when the advance was to begin, so that we might go to Caloocan together and watch the fighting from the church tower, which commanded a magnificent view of the field of operations.

I finally heard a fairly definite statement that our troops would move the following morning.  I rushed to General Otis’s office and after some parleying had it confirmed by him.  It was then too late to advise Lambton, and in fact I could not properly have done so, as the information had been given me under pledge of secrecy.  Accompanied by my private secretary, Dr. P. L. Sherman, I hastened to Caloocan, where we arrived just at dusk, having had to run the gantlet of numerous inquisitive sentries en route.

We spent the night in the church, where General Wheaton and his staff had their headquarters, and long before daylight were perched in a convenient opening in its galvanized iron roof, made on a former occasion by a shell from Dewey’s fleet.

From this vantage point we could see the entire length of the line of battle.  The attack began shortly after daylight.  Near Caloocan the Insurgent works were close in, but further off toward La Loma they were in some places distant a mile or more from the trenches of the Americans.

The general plan of attack was that the whole American line should rotate to the north and west on Caloocan as a pivot, driving the Insurgents in toward Malabon if possible.  The latter began to fire as soon as the American troops showed themselves, regardless of the fact that their enemies were quite out of range.  As most of them were using black-powder cartridges, their four or five miles of trenches were instantly outlined.  The ground was very dry so that the bullets threw up puffs of dust where they struck, and it was possible to judge the accuracy of the fire of each of the opposing forces.