it spoiled, and using the leather for footwear. The Treaty of Paris formally ending their war with Spain having been signed in December, and after a specific request from the Archbishop of Manila on March 23, the Americans intervened in April. Commander Charles Stillman Sperry, commanding the gunboat USS Yorktown, attempted to rescue the Spanish troops. By this time, Filipino rebels had declared independence and had been fighting the United States for two months. Five Americans on a reconnaissance mission were killed. Lieutenant James Clarkson Gilmore and nine others were captured, and held prisoner by the Filipinos until rescued in December. When their food ran out on 24 April, the Spanish resorted to eating stray dogs, cats, reptiles, snails and crows. On 8 May, Filipino artillery shelling hit an improvised cell that held three Spaniards who had attempted to desert earlier in the siege. One of them, Alcaide Bayona, ran out and joined the Filipinos. This was a blow to the Spanish as the deserter had important intelligence to share about their dire straits, and helped fire the cannon on the church to good effect. On 28 May 1899, there was yet another attempt to get Martín Cerezo to surrender. Again, another Spanish officer, Lieutenant Colonel Cristóbal Aguilar y Castañeda, appeared under a flag of truce and was turned away. He had brought recent Spanish newspapers, which Cerezo initially dismissed as bogus, until Martín Cerezo read an article concerning a close friend's posting, plans of which only he knew, convincing him the newspapers were genuine and that indeed Spain had lost the war. On 2 June, Martín Cerezo surrendered to the Filipinos. Aftermath Aguinaldo, now president of the First Philippine Republic, decreed that they were to be considered, "Not as prisoners of war but as friends." He added: "... the valor, determination, and heroism with which that handful of men, cut off and without any hope of aid, defended their flag over the course of a year, realizing an epic so glorious and worthy of the legendary valor of El Cid and Pelayo." Three months later, on 1 September, the survivors including Martín Cerezo, arrived in Barcelona where they were received and honored as heroes. Martín Cerezo later published a memoir, El Sitio de Baler, where he gave his reasons for holding out: "It would be somewhat difficult for me to explain, principally, I believe through mistrust and obstinacy. Then