The Battle of Manila (; ), sometimes called the Mock Battle of Manila, was a land engagement which took place in Manila on August 13, 1898, at the end of the Spanish–American War, four months after the decisive victory by Commodore Dewey's Asiatic Squadron at the Battle of Manila Bay. The belligerents were Spanish forces led by Governor-General of the Philippines Fermín Jáudenes, and American forces led by United States Army Major General Wesley Merritt and United States Navy Commodore George Dewey. American forces were supported by units of the Philippine Revolutionary Army, led by Emilio Aguinaldo. The battle is sometimes referred to as the "Mock Battle of Manila" because the local commanders of the Spanish and American forces, who were legally at war, secretly and jointly planned the battle to transfer control of the city center from the Spanish to the Americans while keeping the Philippine Revolutionary Army out of the city center. The battle left American forces in control of Intramuros, the center of Manila, surrounded by Philippine revolutionary forces, creating the conditions for the Battle of Manila of 1899 and the start of the Philippine–American War. Background After the American victory in Manila Bay on May 1, the United States Navy, under Admiral George Dewey, blockaded the city of Manila and waited for land forces to arrive. The United States organized the Eighth Army Corps, dubbed the Philippine Expeditionary Force, under the command of Major General Wesley Merritt. On May 16, the vanguard of the force left San Francisco under the command of Brigadier General Thomas M. Anderson. Merritt, on the same day, asked for information concerning the strength of the Spanish in the Philippines. The American consul in Hong Kong gave the information needed: 21,000 men including 4,000 Filipinos, all but 1,000 of them in Manila. Dewey, however, sent more accurate information: around 40,000 troops including around 16,000 Filipinos, about 15,000 were situated in Manila, and nine artillery guns in Manila. By June, U.S. and Filipino forces had taken control of most of the islands, except for the walled city of Intramuros. The first contingent of American troops arrived in Cavite on June 30, the second under General Francis V. Greene on July 17, and the third under General Arthur MacArthur on July 30. By this time, some 12,000 U.S. troops had landed in the Philippines. By mid-June, some 40,000 Filipino revolutionaries under General Antonio Luna