Combat· Philippine-American War
Battle of Novaleta
The major Marine engagement of the early Philippine-American War.
On 8 October 1899 a Marine battalion of some three hundred and seventy-six men under Lieutenant Colonel George Elliott, with Cuban scouts attached and the gunboat Petrel cooperating from offshore, attacked the insurgent positions in and around the town of Novaleta in Cavite Province, supporting an army column's operations. The Marines stormed the entrenchments, dislodging the Filipino defenders and taking the town in a sharp action. Two Marines were killed and six wounded; Private Bartholomew O'Shea was mortally hurt going back under fire to report that wounded comrades lay exposed in the rear, and died of his injuries shortly after. The battalion withdrew successfully once its work was done. Novaleta was the first significant action of Marine and army ground cooperation in the Philippine war, an early proof of the Corps' usefulness in the land campaign against the insurrection.
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Record no. 67