Philippine Revolutionary Army

thumb|Marching Filipino soldiers during the inauguration of the First Philippine Republic in Malolos on January 23, 1899.|276x276px

The Philippine Revolutionary Army (; ), later renamed Philippine Republican Army, was the army of the First Philippine Republic from its formation in March 1897 to its dissolution in November of 1899 in favor of guerrilla operations in the Philippine–American War.

History

thumb|Regular soldiers of the Philippine Revolutionary Army stand at attention for an inspection.|245x245px

The revolutionary army used the 1896 edition of the Spanish regular army's Ordenanza del Ejército to organize its forces and establish its character as a modern army. Rules and regulations were laid down for the reorganization of the army, along with the regulation of ranks and the adoption of new fighting methods, new rank insignias, and a new standard uniform known as the rayadillo. Filipino artist Juan Luna is credited with this design. Juan Luna also designed the collar insignia for the uniforms, distinguishing between the services: infantry, cavalry, artillery, sappers, and medics. His brother, General Antonio Luna commissioned him with the task and personally paid for the new uniforms. Infantry officers wore blue pants with two white stripes down the side, while Cavalry officers wore red trousers with two black stripes. Soldiers and junior officers wore straw hats while senior officers often wore peaked caps.

Orders and circulars were issued covering matters such as building trenches and fortifications, equipping every male aged 15 to 50 with bows and arrows (as well as bolo knives, though officers wielded European swords), enticing Filipino soldiers in the Spanish army to defect, collecting empty cartridges for refilling, prohibiting unplanned sorties, inventories of captured arms and ammunition, fundraising, purchasing of arms and supplies abroad, unification of military commands, and exhorting the rich to give aid to the soldiers.

Weaponry

The Filipinos were short on modern weapons. Most of its weapons were captured from the Spanish, were improvised or were traditional weapons. The service rifles of the nascent army were the Spanish M93 and the Spanish Remington Rolling Block rifle. Two batches of 2,000 rifles each including ammunition were ordered and paid for. The first batch arrived while the second batch never did. In his letters to Galicano Apacible, Mariano Ponce also sought weapons from both domestic and international dealers in the Empire of Japan. He was offered different breech-loading single-shot rifles since most nations were discarding them in favor of new smokeless bolt-action rifles. However, there was no mention of any purchase occurring. Another planned purchase was the Murata rifle from Japan but no record exists that it made its way into the hands of Filipino revolutionaries.

Crew-served weapons of the Philippine military included lantaka, Krupp guns, Hontoria guns, Ordóñez guns, Hotchkiss guns, Nordenfelt guns, Maxim guns, and Colt guns. Many of these were captured from the Spanish and the Americans. There were also improvised artillery weapons made of water pipes reinforced with bamboo or timber, which could only fire once or twice.<br />(1899–1901)

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! 1896 Sleeve insignia

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! English

| colspan=2| Generalissimo/Minister marshal

| colspan=2| Captain general

| colspan=2| Lieutenant general

| colspan=2| Divisional general

| colspan=2| Brigadier general

| colspan=2| Colonel

| colspan=2| Lieutenant colonel

| colspan=2| Commandant

| colspan=2| Captain

| colspan=3| First lieutenant

| colspan=3| Second lieutenant

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! Tagalog

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! Spanish

Organization

The army was formed into a regular army by Aguinaldo's decree of July 30, 1898. The army was organized into companies of 110 soldiers and officers, with soldiers armed with rifles and bolos while officers were armed with revolvers and swords. Four companies comprised a battalion headed by a lieutenant colonel. A full-complement battalion was composed of six companies and was headed by a brigadier general or colonel. In practice, the battalion varied in size depending on the province: six-company battalions in populous provinces like Cavite and Manila, four-company battalions in Morong, Bataan, and Nueva Ecija, a two-company battalion in Mindoro, and a single company in Marinduque. Battalions were named after their respective provinces, such as the 1st Battalion of Tayabas. Soldiers were recruited voluntarily, with surplus volunteers either joining the police or forming a central corps under the direct command of the President. It grew to four regiments of battalions totaling 10,560 men.

Philippine Revolutionary Navy

The Philippine Revolutionary Navy was established during the second phase of the Philippine Revolution when General Emilio Aguinaldo formed the Revolutionary Navy. On May 1, 1898, the first ship handed by Admiral George Dewey to the Revolutionary Navy is a small pinnace from the Reina Cristina of Admiral Patricio Montojo, which was named Magdalo. The Navy was initially composed of a small fleet of eight Spanish steam launches captured from the Spaniards. The ships were refitted with 9-centimeter guns. The rich, namely Leon Apacible, Manuel Lopez and Gliceria Marella de Villavicencio, later donated five other vessels of greater tonnage, the Taaleño, the Balayan, the Bulusan, the Taal and the Purísima Concepción. The 900-ton inter-island tobacco steamer further reinforced the fleet, Compania de Filipinas (renamed as the navy flagship Filipinas), steam launches purchased from China and other watercraft donated by wealthy patriots.

Naval stations were later established to serve as ships' home bases in the following:

Major Juan Arce
Major Rufino Ortiz
Captain Eduardo Rusca – Aide to Lieutenant General Antonio Luna.
Captain Pedro Janolino – Commanding Officer of the Kawit Battalion.
Captain Vicente Roa
Captain Serapio Narváez – Officer of the 4th Company, Morong Battalion.
Captain Cirilo Arenas - Captain of Maguagui (Naic), Cavite.
Lieutenant García – one of Gen. Luna's favorite sharpshooters of the Black Guard units.
Corporal Anastacio Félix – 4th Company, Morong Battalion the first Filipino casualty of the Philippine–American War.

Notable officers and servicemen and their ethnic background

thumb|[[Juan Cailles.]]

;Army:

General Juan Cailles – Franco-Indian mestizo who led Filipino forces in Laguna
General José Valesy Nazaraire – Spanish.
Brigadier General Benito Natividad – Brigade Acting Commander in Vigan under General Tinio.
Colonel Sebastian de Castro – Spanish director of the military hospital at Malasiqui, Pangasinan.
Major José Reyes – Instructor at the Academía Militar de Malolos. Former sergeant in the Spanish Army.
Captain Chizuno Iwamoto – Japanese officer who served on Emilio Aguinaldo's staff.
Captain David Fagen – An African-American Captain who served under Brigadier General Urbano Lacuna. A former Corporal in United States Army 24th Colored Regiment.
Captain Estanislao de los Reyes – Spanish aide-de-camp to General Tinio.
Lieutenant Arsenio Romero – Spanish.
Private Harry Dennis – United States Army.
Private Meeks (given name not specified) – United States Army.
Private John Wagner – United States Army.
Earl Guenther - American deserter and canteen keeper from the 37th Infantry at the Paete garrison who served under General Juan Cailles.
Antonio Prisco – Spanish.
William McAllister – English.
Captain Vicente Catalan – Captain of the Philippine Navy ship Filipinas. A Criollo from Cuba and a former member of the Spanish Navy. Admiral of the Philippine Navy.

References

Bibliography

In popular media

The Philippine revolutionary army has been mentioned in several books and films.

Books

Films

Teniente Rosario (1937)
Dugo sa Kapirasong Lupa (1975)
Ganito Kami Noon, Paano Kayo Ngayon? (1976)
Aguila (1980)
Tirad Pass: The Last Stand of Gen. Gregorio del Pilar (1996)
José Rizal (1998)
Baler (2008)
Amigo (2010)
El Presidente (2012)
Bonifacio: Ang Unang Pangulo (2014)
Heneral Luna (2015)
Goyo: Ang Batang Heneral (2018)

External links

Philippines Independence Armies: Insignia 1896 – 1902
Images of Filipino Republican Army rayadillo tunics