From Four Nodes of History: The Human Rights Challenge in the Philippine Security Sector an intentional act of sabotage to ensure that the Philippine army had limited offensive capability. Dewey and his handlers in Washington underestimated the boundless strength of a populace determined to liberate and end the 350-year rule of Spain. They did not anticipate that the 5,000 rifles and captured Spanish canons the revolutionary forces had would be reinforced by the mass defection of the Spanish colonial army with their weapons, artillery and military expertise. They did not anticipate that an insurrectionary army could reorganize themselves into a regular army while on the move as they took one Spanish stronghold after another in all provinces of Luzon. They did not anticipate that the insurrectionary force could enlist the mass of defectors for immediate combat duty, organize a chain of command complete with staffs, territorial commands (war zones), with combat troops organized at battalion level to the squad. They did not anticipate that the local army could solve the complex logistical problems associated with launching a general offensive and engage the enemy combining artillery and infantry tactics and the employment of well fortified trenches to tighten an encirclement ring around Manila. In barely a month (from May 17, 1898 to June 1898), the revolution had cleared all of Luzon except a small pocket in Manila and marooned troops elsewhere. 56 The Spanish collapsed under the popular offensive. From its army of 46,000 at the end of 1897, the Spanish Army had dwindled to 12,700 in June of 1898. There were 15,000 Spanish prisoners of war, mostly Spanish soldiers that were held by Aguinaldo. The remaining soldiers of about 20,000 were killed or had defected. There were some holdouts in faraway Spanish forts but they were insignificant in number and had been marooned by the events. Surprised at the fast turn of events, in which the Filipinos had practically liberated Luzon, Gen. Wesley Merritt cabled Washington: “Situation difficult. Insurgents have announced independent government; some are unfriendly, fearing they will not be permitted Manila with my troops: will join Dewey in note demanding surrender, with assurance of protection from rebels”.10 Seeing the unexpected change in the war situation, the US immediately intervened to halt the revolutionary offensive. They demanded that Aguinaldo stop the offensive and placed an initial contingent of US soldiers between the Spanish and Filipino positions. Aguinaldo permitted the landing of the first US military contingent to take positions at the Cavite Arsenal and Fort Felipe. After a few days he talked with General Anderson and asked