Rome, Italy 11/03/2014
The first battle at Bud Dajo happened during the
final days of General Leonard Wood's term as governor of the Moro Province fought by the United States Army
against native Moros in March 1906, during the Moro Rebellion phase of the Philippine–American
War and
was a counter insurgency action. While
fighting was limited to ground action on Jolo Island in
the Sulu Archipelago,
It was characterized by
an overwhelming superiority in firepower by the Americans who were inderior in
numbers and the moros while superior in numbers were armed only with spears and
bladed hand weapons called kris or kalis and barungs. The description of the
engagement as a battle is disputed because of both the overwhelming firepower
of the attackers and the lopsided casualties. The conflict, especially the
final phase of the battle, is also known as the Moro Crater Massacre
During this battle, 790
men and officers, under the command of Colonel J.W. Duncan, assaulted the
volcanic crater of Bud Dajo (Tausūg:Būd Dahu), which was populated
by 800 to 1000 Moro villagers, including women and children. Theposition held by
the Moros was "the strongest which hostiles in the Philippines have ever defended against American
assault.". Although the battle was
a victory for the American forces, it was also an unmitigated public relations
disaster. It was the bloodiest of any engagement of the Moro Rebellion, with
only six of the hundreds of Moro coming out of the battle alive Estimates
of American casualties range from fifteen to twenty-one
killed and seventy-five wounded.
Wood's term was a time of great reform. Some of
these reforms, including the abolition of slavery and the imposition of
the cedula - a
registration poll tax - were less than popular with his Moro
subjects. The cedula was especially unpopular, since the Moros
interpreted it as a form of tribute, and Moro participation in the cedula was
very low even after 30 years of American occupation. These reforms,
coupled with the general resentment of foreign Christian occupiers, created
a tense and hostile atmosphere during Wood's tenure, and the heaviest and
bloodiest fighting during the American occupation of Mindanao and Sulu took place under his watch.
The Moro rebels of Bud Dajo were "the
rag-tag-and-bobtail remnants of two or three revolts, the black sheep of a
dozen folds, rebels against the poll tax, die-hards against the American
occupation, outlaws recognizing no datu and
condemned by the stable elements among the Moros themselves
Bud Dajo lies 6 miles (10 km) from the city of
Jolo and is an extinct volcano, 2,100 feet (640 m)
above sea level, steep, conical, and has thickly forested slopes. Only three
major paths lead up the mountain, and the thick growth kept the Americans from
cutting new paths. However, there were many minor paths, known only to the
Moros, which would allow them to resupply even if the main paths were blocked.
The crater at the summit is 1,800 yards in circumference and easily defended. The mountain
itself is eleven miles (18 km) in circumference, making a siege difficult.
Over the months that followed, the Bud Dajo
rebels were joined by various armed groups, bringing the population of the
crater up to several hundred. Water was plentiful, and the rebels began farming
rice and potatoes. Scott sent the Sultan of Sulu and other high ranking datus
to ask the rebels to return to their homes, but the rebels refused. Wood
ordered an attack in February 1906, but Scott convinced him to rescind the
order, arguing that the opposition of the surrounding datus would keep the
rebels isolated. Scott was worried that an attack on Bud Dajo would reveal just
how easily defended it was, encouraging repeats of the standoff in the future. Unfortunately,
the Bud Dajo rebels were emboldened by the American inaction, and began raiding
nearby Moro settlements for cattle. Although the datus of Jolo continued to
condemn the rebels, there began to develop popular support of a general
uprising among the Moro commoners of Jolo
On March 2, 1906, Wood ordered Colonel J.W.
Duncan of the 6th
Infantry Regiment (stationed at Zamboanga, the provincial capital) to lead an expedition
against Bud Dajo. Duncan and Companies K and M took the transport Wright to
Jolo. Governor Scott
sent three friendly datus up the mountain to ask the Bud Dajo Moros to disarm
and disband, or at least send their women and children to the valley. They
denied these requests, and Scott ordered Duncan to begin the assault.
The assault force consisted of “272 men of the
6th Infantry, 211 [dismounted] men of the 4th
Cavalry,
68 men of the 28th Artillery Battery, 51 Sulu Constabulary, 110 men of the 19th
Infantry and
6 sailors from the gunboat Pampanga.”
The battle began on March 5,
as mountain guns fired 40 rounds of shrapnel into the crater.
On March 6, Wood
and Bliss arrived, but left Duncan in direct command. Captain Reeves, the
acting governor of the District of Sulu, made one last attempt to negotiate
with the rebels. He failed, and the
Americans drew up into three columns and proceeded up the three main mountain
paths. The columns were under the command of Major Bundy, Captain Rivers, and
Captain Lawton. The going was
tough, with the troops ascending a 60% slope, using machetes to clear the path.
At 0700, March 7, Major Bundy's detachment encountered a barricade blocking the
path, 500 feet (150 m) below the summit. Snipers picked off Moro
defenders, and the barricade was shelled with rifle grenades. The barricade was then assaulted in a bayonet charge. The Moros staged a strong defense,
then charged with kris (the traditional wavy-edged sword of
the Moros) and spear. 200 Moros died in this engagement, and Major Bundy's
detachment suffered heavy casualties. Captain Rivers' detachment also
encountered a barricade, and took it after several hours of fighting, during
which Rivers himself was severely wounded by a spear. Captain Lawton's
detachment advanced up a poor path, so steep in places that the Americans
proceeded on hands and knees. They were harassed by Moros hurling boulders and
occasionally rushing to attack hand-to-hand with krises. Lawton finally took
the defensive trenches on the crater rim by storm.
The Moros retreated into the crater, and
fighting continued until nightfall. During the night, the Americans hauled
mountain guns to the crater's edge with block and tackle. At daybreak, the American guns (both the
mountain guns and the guns of the Pampanga) opened up on the Moros'
fortifications in the crater. The Moros, armed with krises and spears, refused
to surrender and held their positions. Some of the defenders rushed the
Americans and were cut down. The Americans charged the surviving Moros with
fixed bayonets, and the Moros fought back with their kalis, barung, improvised grenades made with black powder and seashells. The defenders were wiped
out. Out of the estimated 800 to 1,000 Moros at Bud Dajo, only 6 survived.
Corpses were piled five deep, and many of the bodies were wounded multiple
times. According to Hurley, American casualties were 21 killed, 75 wounded. Lane lists them at
18 killed, 52 wounded. Hagedorn says
simply that “one-fourth of the troops actively engaged have been killed or
wounded.” By any estimate, Bud Dajo was the bloodiest engagement of the Moro
Rebellion.
During the Second Battle of Bud
Dajo,
in December 1911, General “Black Jack” Pershing (the third and
final military governor of the Moro Province) did succeed in besieging Bud
Dajo, by cutting a lateral trail which encircled the mountain, 300 yards
downhill from the crater rim. This cut off the Moros in the crater from the
hidden mountainside paths. However, the tactical situation facing Pershing in
1911 was far different from that facing Wood in 1906.
Source: Wikipedia
No comments:
Post a Comment