On December 2, 1899, the Battle of Tirad Pass between 60 Filipino soldiers under

General Gregorio del Pilar and more than 300 American soldiers under General Peyton
C. March took place.

General Del Pilar, confidante and right-hand man of General Emilio Aguinaldo, was
ordered to block the Yankees' advance into Tirad Pass, a mountain gap in the Cordillera
Mountains of Northern Luzon.

(Gregorio del Pilar and his troops, around 1898)

He followed the order of General Aguinaldo to defend the pass to stop the Americans so
the revolutionary leader could build a guerrilla force in Isabela beyond the Cordilleras

Del Pilar asked his 60 men to position themselves on top of the mountain where, from
their vantage point, they could see a whole battalion of 300 American soldiers
advancing.

Hence, Aguinaldo and his men were able to retreat safely to the north.

Del Pilar gave encouragement to his men while watching the Americans coming within
the range. “This is the most glorious moment in our lives,” he said. “We are fighting for
our motherland.”

After sometime, the enemy stopped firing. The Filipino forces halted their fire too, thus
the whole valley fell silent.

However, unknown to Del Pilar and his men, a Filipino was leading a group of American
soldiers to their rear. As he heard a volley of fire coming from the back, Del Pilar saw
many of his soldiers fall one by one.

Standing alone, he took out his diary from his breast pocket and wrote the following
words: ”What I am doing now is for my beloved land.” After returning his diary to his
pocket, he mounted his horse once more with saber in hand, but a single shot claimed
the life of the young, brave general.

The American soldiers rushed to the spot where the fallen general was. One of them got
his diary, another one took the spurs from Del Pilar’s boots, one other got the boots,
another followed and took his shirt off, someone collected his buttons, tore off the
bloody collar and pants.

But there was one thing that the American soldiers were not able to take away from
General Del Pilar -– his love of country, a love that neither extreme hardship nor death
was able to extinguish.
Del Pilar's heroism won the admiration of American Lieutenant Dennis P. Quinlan,
who ordered the burial of his remains with military honors, and marked his grave with a
headstone bearing this