A revolutionario recalls the Battle of Tirad Pass

Abstract

The man who looked up to the pile of checks he was signing was an old man, dark and lean. A wide smile lighted his weather-beaten face. He extended a welcoming hand to the writer. The man was Captain Isidro Wenceslao, the place was his modern and roomy residence in the heart of Quezon City.

Captain Wenceslao, an assistant of General Emilio Aguinaldo, was signing the treasury warrants, the monthly pensions of some 16,000 Philippine revolution veterans.

This man, now 78, was the friend, and confidant of Gen. Gregorio del Pilar and, perhaps, today knows more about him than any living person. For this reason the writer called on him to bet an authentic account of the "Battle of Tirad Pass." What follows is Captain Wenceslao's account of that historic battle.