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<img loading="lazy" src="https://cdn.kahimyang.com/resources/capture-of-aguinaldo-500.webp"  alt="The capture of General Emilio Aguinaldo"  />
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The capture of General Emilio Aguinaldo (Photo credit:  The American Occupation of the Philippines 1898-1912 by James Blunt).
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Earlier on February 8, 1901, 6 tired guerillas led by Cecilio Segismundo, an Ilocano and Aguinaldo's trusted messenger who carried important dispatches, surrendered to the Americans.  Some of the dispatches Segismundo was carrying were coded and signed with "Pastor" and "Colon de Magdalo", pseudonyms often used by General Aguinaldo.  In addition, Segismundo revealed that Aguinaldo had no more than fifty guards in the village  and pinpointed Aguinaldo's headquarters as the vilage of Palanan in the mountainous Isabela province in northeastern Luzon, near the Pacific Coast. 
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Funston aides with the help of Lazaro Segovia deciphered the messages. Most important of the messages was an order to General Baldomero Aguinaldo instructing him to send some troops to Palanan.  Segovia was a former Spanish army officer who had defected to the Philippine army and then switched allegiance to the American side.  Segovia understood English, Spanish, and the Tagalog dialect.
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With this information in hand,  Funston and his staff began to formulate a plan for Aguinaldo's capture.
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Funston disguised the Macabebes and sent them to Palanan, posing as the men Aquinaldo had requested. Funston and four other American officers, disguised as prisoners of war, accompanied the column. 78 handpicked Macabebes were members of Company D, First Battalion, Macabebe Scouts and spoke Tagalog in addition to their dialect. They turned in their Springfields and were issued 50 Mausers, 18 Remingtons and 10 Krag-Jorgensens, which were the types of rifles used by Aguinaldo's soldiers. Twenty of them wore the rayadillo uniform of the Philippine army. 
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The Macabebes are a certain tribal clan, natives of Macabebe, Pamapanga, who look no different from all other Filipinos, but who had, under the Spanish government, by reason of long-standing feuds with their more rebellious neighbors, came to be absolutely loyal to the Spanish authorities.  When the Americans  came they had transferred that loyalty to them and had become a recognized and valuable part of American military force.  The American government, jubilant over Aguinaldo's capture, authorized the formal inclusion of the Macabebes into the Philippine Scouts, a special unit of the US Army. 
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In addition to Segismundo, Funston included in the column Hilario Tal Placido, Lazaro Segovia, Dionisio Bato, and Gregorio Cadhit.   Hilario Tal Placido had been a Lieutenant Colonel in the Philippine army and knew Aquinaldo personally.
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March 23, 1901: General Aguinaldo was captured by the Americans