Suddenly at twenty-five minutes of ten, the Olympia opened with her 8-inch guns. The first four shells were aimed at the Spanish fort at Malate--known as San Antonia de Abad. On account of the rain it was difficult to get the range, and so these first shells all fell short. The Raleigh, Petrel, and Callao also opened upon the fort, and as soon as the range was determined, the shots did great havoc, the fort soon being rendered untenable. The Callao, under Lieutenant Tappan, and the launch Barcelo, which were nearer inshore, threw their shells among the Spanish riflemen, who replied but feebly. General Merritt and his staff and the color guard of the First Oregon were on the despatch boat Zafiro. General Anderson directed the operations on shore. About twenty minutes after the bombardment began, General Greene, with the left wing, began the land-attack, the advance being made toward Malate, under cover of a heavy fire from the Utah Battery. The troops, with colors flying, marched rapidly up the beach. The bands were playing and the men rushed forward with a cheer. Six companies of the Colorado regiment leaped over the enemy's breast-work and took position behind some low hedges but a few hundred feet from the Spanish line. General McArthur led the right wing, and was ably supported by the Astor Battery, under Captain March. It shelled a Spanish block-house with its Hotch-kiss Mountain guns, and then gallantly charged the position with revolvers. It lost three men killed. Meanwhile, the bombardment had ceased, and the Colorados, the Californians, and the Eighteenth Regulars drove back the Spaniards from Malate, and occupied the position, where the Californians at once raised the Stars and Stripes. In the suburbs of Malate and Ermita, where the Spaniards had erected street barricades, there was now considerable street-fighting, and the Californians, under Colonel Smith, advanced as far as the Luneta, within 300 yards of the citadel. At this moment General Greene, with several members of his staff, came galloping up the Luneta, a scattering fire playing upon him and his companions from the adjoining houses, until a white flag was raised above the southwest corner of the fort. At this,--and while the Americans were standing at rest,--the Spaniards in the citadel opened fire upon them, fatally wounding two Californians: privates Dunsoupe and Lamerson. This has never been satisfactorily explained, but it was probably due to the confusion of the moment; for 2000 Spaniards, retreating from Santa Ana before a large body of insurgents, that were shooting at them, just then came up, and it was to aid these that the Spaniards behind the walls fired a volley after the flag of surrender had been raised.