Spanish Times ¹

Records on the existence of the cavalry in the Philippines take us back to the Spanish occupation. A Regiment of Lancers as a component of the colonial army served as one of the elite units that descended from a squadron of Dragoons of Luzon, composed of one hundred twenty-nine (129) men created in 1772. At the time of the Dragoon’s existence, the Guardia a Caballo (Guards on Horseback) was created in 1755.

In 1769 a plan for the creation of a regiment of three (3) squadrons designated as Royal Cavalry of the Philippines was made. The idea, however, did not go farther than the draft.

In 1805, the Spanish Army created a Regiment of Cavalry Militia of four (4) squadrons of three (3) companies which were designated Hussar de Aguilar.

The Regiment of Lancers of Luzon was dissolved by Royal Order of 14 June 1860. In its stead, the 1st Chasseurs Squadron of the Philippines and the 2nd Lancer Squadron of Spain were organized, each one with one hundred seventy (170) men and one hundred twenty (120) horses.

By the concluding portion of 1897, there were about 46,000 officers and men of the Spanish Army (26,032 Spanish, 17,032 native soldiers, and some 2,857 volunteers) stationed all over the archipelago. Approximately 2,857 Spanish and Filipino mounted and infantry volunteers forces from Iloilo, La Union, Cagayan, Isabela, Manila, Albay, Abra, Ilocos Norte, Ilocos Sur, Rios Canovas, and Pampanga. Due to troop rotations back to the Iberian Peninsula, the mounting battle casualties, growing desertion, the increase in tropical diseases, and disbandment of some units, the strength of the colonial Army was reduced to about 26,000 men by early 1898.

From that remaining troop strength, 23,000 were stationed in the island of Luzon; where about 10,000 to15,000 ring the center of Spanish power – the area bounded by Manila, Cavite, and Subic Bay.

At a result of the sustained operations against the Filipino revolutionaries, and the subsequent war with the Americans, most of the Spanish Army troops in various parts of Luzon regrouped in Manila where some 13,300 surrendered with 22,000 firearms on 13 August 1898 in the “mock battle” of Intramuros.

After a few months, the rest of the Spanish Army garrisons in Visayas and Mindanao numbering about 3,000 officers and men finally surrendered to the American forces in compliance with the Treaty of Paris. The greater part of the native soldiers either joined to the Filipino army, the Americans, or simply returned to civilian life.

Of the Spanish forces stationed in the Philippine Islands sometime in October 1897, the Caballeria de Filipinas (Cavalry Regiment No. 31) with thirty-one (31) officers, one hundred sixty-one (161) Spanish troopers, four hundred fifty-three (453) native troopers and the Lanceros Expedicionario, No.1 (Cavalry Squadron) with eleven (11) officers and one hundred sixty-two (162) Spanish troopers fought Filipino revolutionaries and later the invading American forces.