Meanwhile the fleet, observing the movement of the troops along the beach, withheld its fire.  The bombardment had lasted exactly an hour and a half.  An hour later General Greene and his staff proceeded along the beach, still under a hot infantry fire from the right, where the Eighteenth regulars and the Third regular artillery were engaging the enemy, and directed the movement for an advance into Malate.  The vicinity of the fort was uncomfortable on account of numbers of sharpshooters in the buildings on both sides, 200 yards distant.  The forward movement was therefore hastened, and in a few minutes the outskirts of the suburb were well occupied and the sharpshooters were driven away.

As the Californians under Colonel Smith came up the beach their band played the national air, accompanied by the whistling of Mauser bullets, and during the sharpshooting continued to encourage the men with inspiring music.  Each regiment carried its colors into action.  There was considerable street fighting in the suburbs of Malate and Ermita, but the battalion of Californians pushed into the Luneta, a popular promenade within two hundred yards of the moat of the citadel.  Then the white flag was hoisted at the southwest corner of the walled town.  General Greene, with a few members of his staff, galloped along the Luneta, under a sharp scattering fire from the houses near the beach, and parleyed with an officer who directed him along to the gate, further east.

At this moment the Spanish forces, retreating from Santa Ana, came into view, fully 2,000 strong, followed by insurgents who had eluded General McArthur’s troops, and now opened fire for a brief period.  The situation was awkward if not critical, both sides being slightly suspicious of treachery.  The Spanish troops lining the citadel ramparts, observing the insurgents’ action, opened fire on the Californians, killing one and wounding three.  The confusion, however, soon ceased by the advance of the retreating Spaniards to the esplanade, when General Greene ordered them to enter the citadel.

Soon a letter was brought from the captain general requesting the commander of the troops to meet him for consultation.

General Greene immediately entered with Adjutant General Bates.  Meanwhile, according to arrangement, the moment the white flag was shown, General Merritt, who occupied the steamer Zafiro as temporary corps headquarters, sent General Whittier, with Flag Lieutenant Brumby, ashore to meet the captain general and discuss first a plan of capitulation.  General Whittier found the officials much startled by the news that the attack was still vigorously continuing along the whole line, the American troops even threatening the citadel.

Spanish troops massed.

All available Spanish troops were immediately massed in the vicinity of the palace, awaiting the succession of events, concerning which a certain degree of anxiety was evident.