First Battle of Bud Dajo
First Battle of Bud Dajo | |
---|---|
Part of the Jolo Island, Philippines | |
Result | American victory |
Col. Joseph W. Duncan
70 wounded[1]
The First Battle of Bud Dajo, also known as the Moro Crater Massacre, was a
The description of the engagement as a "battle" is disputed because of both the overwhelming firepower of the attackers and the lopsided casualties. Author Vic Hurley wrote, "By no stretch of the imagination could Bud Dajo be termed a 'battle'".[8] Mark Twain commented, "In what way was it a battle? It has no resemblance to a battle ... We cleaned up our four days' work and made it complete by butchering these helpless people."[9] A higher percentage of Moros were killed (99 percent) than in other incidents now considered massacres, such as the Wounded Knee Massacre. Some of those killed were women and children. Moro men in the crater who had arms possessed melee weapons. While fighting was limited to ground action on Jolo, the use of naval gunfire contributed significantly to the overwhelming firepower brought to bear against the Moros.
During the engagement, 750 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 1,000 Tausug villagers. According to Hermann Hagedorn (who was writing prior to World War II), the position held by the Moros was "the strongest which hostiles in the Philippines have ever defended against American assault."[10] Although the engagement was a victory for the American forces, it was also an unmitigated public-relations disaster. Whether a battle or massacre, it was certainly the bloodiest of any engagement of the Moro Rebellion, with only six of the hundreds of Moro surviving the bloodshed.[11][unreliable source?] Estimates of American casualties range from fifteen[12] to twenty-one killed and seventy-five wounded.[11]
Background
The first battle at Bud Dajo took place during the final days of General
Although Moro hostilities died down during the latter days of Wood's governorship (the tenure of Wood's replacement, General
Road to Bud Dajo
The chain of events leading to Bud Dajo began when a Moro named Pala
Bud Dajo lies six miles (10 km) from the city of Jolo and is an extinct volcano, 2,100 feet (640 m) above sea level, steep, conical, and with thickly forested slopes. Only three major paths led 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 (1,600 m) in circumference and easily defended.[11] The mountain itself is eleven miles (18 km) in circumference, making a siege difficult.
Over the months that followed, the occupants of Bud Dajo were joined by more local Moros, bringing the population of the crater up to several hundred. Water was plentiful, and they began farming rice and potatoes. Scott sent the Sultan of Sulu and other high-ranking datus to ask the occupants of Bud Dajo to return to their homes, but they 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 Bud Dajo isolated.[16] 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.[17] Unfortunately, occupants of Bud Dajo began raiding nearby Moro settlements for women and cattle. Although the datus of Jolo continued to condemn the occupants of Bud Dajo, there began to develop popular support of a general uprising among the Moro commoners of Jolo.[10]
The crisis at Bud Dajo occurred during a period of transition in the leadership of the Moro Province. On February 1, 1906, Wood was promoted to the position of Commander of the Philippine Division and was relieved as commander of the Department of Mindanao-Jolo by General Tasker H. Bliss. However, Wood retained his position as civil governor of the Moro Province until sometime after the Battle of Bud Dajo. Colonel Scott was absent during part of the crisis, and Captain Reeves, the deputy governor of the Sulu District, served as his substitute.[18]
Battle
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.[11] 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.[10] 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 Philippine Constabulary under the command of Capt. John R. White,[19] 110 men of the 19th Infantry and 6 sailors from the gunboat Pampanga."[11] The battle began on March 5, as mountain guns fired 40 rounds of shrapnel into the crater.[11] 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 occupants of the crater.[20] 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 Omar Bundy, Captain Rivers, and Captain Lawton.[11] The going was tough, with the troops ascending a 60% slope, using machetes to clear the path.[21]
At 0700, March 7, Major Bundy's detachment encountered a barricade blocking the path, 500 feet (150 m) below the summit. Snipers picked off Moros, and the barricade was shelled with rifle grenades. The barricade was then assaulted in a bayonet charge. Some of the Moros staged a strong defense, then charged with kris (the traditional wavy-edged sword of the Moros) and spear. About 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.[11]
Moro defenders retreated into the crater, and fighting continued until nightfall. During the night, the Americans hauled mountain guns to the crater's edge with
Out of the estimated 800 to 1,000 Moros at Bud Dajo, only 6 survived. Corpses were piled five feet deep (1.5 meters), and many of the bodies were wounded multiple times. According to Hurley, American casualties were 21 killed, 75 wounded.[11] Lane lists them at 18 killed, 52 wounded.[16] Hagedorn says simply that, "one-fourth of the troops actively engaged have been killed or wounded".[21] By any estimate, Bud Dajo was the bloodiest engagement of the Moro Rebellion.
Aftermath
Following the American victory, President
The press' account of the "Moro Crater Massacre" fell on receptive ears. There were still deep misgivings among the American public about America's role during the Spanish–American War and the stories of atrocities carried out during the Philippine–American War. The public had also been largely unaware of the continuing violence in the Moro Province, and were shocked to learn that killing continued.[23] Under pressure from Congress, Secretary of War William Howard Taft cabled Wood for an explanation of the "wanton slaughter" of women and children. Despite not being in command of the assault (although he was the senior officer present), Wood accepted full responsibility. By the time the scandal died down, Wood had assumed his post as Commander of the Philippine Division, and General Tasker H. Bliss had replaced him as governor of the Moro Province.
Mark Twain condemned the incident strongly in articles.[24][25]
In response to criticism, Wood's explanation of the high number of women and children killed stated that the women of Bud Dajo dressed as men and joined in the combat, and that the men used children as living shields.
Some of Wood's critics accused him of seeking glory by storming the crater rather than besieging the rebels. Wood did show some signs of being a glory hound earlier in his tenure as the governor of the Moro Province, taking the Provincial Army on punitive raids against cottas over minor offenses that would have been better left to the district governors. This heavy-handedness jeopardized relations with friendly datus, who viewed the encroachment of the army as a challenge[27] Wood badly needed military laurels, since he had gone through an uphill battle in the United States Senate over his appointment to the rank of major general, which was finally confirmed in March 1904. Although Wood had served as an administrator in Cuba, he had seen only a hundred days of field service during the Spanish–American War.[28] Wood had been promoted over the heads of many more-senior officers, bringing charges of favoritism against President and fellow Rough Rider Teddy Roosevelt. Even though his promotion had been confirmed, Wood's reputation still suffered. Wood's willingness to take responsibility for Bud Dajo did much to improve his reputation within the army.
Wood argued that besieging (surrounding) Bud Dajo would have been impossible, given the ample supplies of the rebels, the 11-mile (18 km) circumference of the mountain, the thickly forested terrain, and the existence of hidden paths up the mountainside. 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 yd (270 m) downhill from the crater rim. This cut off the Moros in the crater from the hidden mountainside paths.[29] However, the tactical situation facing Pershing in 1911 was far different from that facing Wood in 1906. The incident caused outrage among the native people, as Bud Dajo is considered a sacred site to them.[6] The atrocities would later give rise to anti-American sentiments. Other Moro Rebellions would occur in later decades, which would continue to the 21st century in an independent Philippines.[30][31]
Legacy
The incident was brought up by President Rodrigo Duterte to criticize America and President Barack Obama in 2016,[32] leading to a cancellation of a planned meeting with Obama; Duterte apologized next day.[33] Duterte cited the incident a second time in criticizing America while calling for the exit of American troops.[34]
In 2015, the Moro National Liberation Front published an open letter to President Obama demanding to know why America was supporting Filipino colonialism against the Moro Muslim people, the Filipino "war of genocide", and atrocities against Moros. The letter stated that the Moro people have resisted and fought against the atrocities of Filipino, Japanese, American, and Spanish invaders including the Moro Crater massacre at Bud Dajo, committed by Americans.[35]
See also
- Second Battle of Bud Dajo
- Kiram-Bates Treaty
Notes
- ^ ISBN 9781608190249.
- ISBN 978-90-04-33610-0.
During the battle, almost everyone in the village, including women and children, were killed, an estimated 800-900 Moros.
- ISBN 978-1-136-74691-8.
By the end of the operation, the estimated 600 Muslims in Bud Daju were wiped out.
- ISBN 978-0-8131-4198-5.
These are merely estimates, because no firm number of Moro dead was ever established.
- ^ Dphrepaulezz, Omar H. (May 6, 2013). "The Right Sort of White Men": General Leonard Wood and the U.S. Army in the Southern Philippines, 1898-1906 (doctoral dissertation). p. 8. Retrieved August 11, 2015.
- ^ JSTOR 3637168.
- ^ The statement from Scott comes from: Gedacht, Joshua. "Mohammedan Religion Made It Necessary to Fire:" Massacres on the American Imperial Frontier from South Dakota to the Southern Philippines". In Colonial Crucible: Empire in the Making of the Modern American State. Edited by Alfred W. McCoy and Francisco A. Scarano. Madison, WI: University of Wisconsin Press, 2009, pp. 397-409. Information on the use of craters as sites of refuge during Spanish attacks can be found in: Warren, James Francis. The Sulu Zone, 1768-1898: The Dynamics of External Trade, Slavery, and Ethnicity in the Transformation of a Southeast Asian Maritime State, 2nd ed. Singapore: NUS Press, 2007.
- ISBN 9780615382425.
- ISBN 9788026878148.
- ^ a b c d e Hagedorn 1931, p. 64
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k The Battle of Bud Dajo (archived from the original Archived May 9, 2008, at the Wayback Machine on 2008-05-09), chapter 19 of Swish of the Kris (archived from the original Archived February 2, 2008, at the Wayback Machine on 2008-02-02), by Vic Hurley.
- ^ Pacifying the Moros: American Military Government in the Southern Philippines, 1899–1913 Archived 2019-04-12 at the Wayback Machine, Charles Byler, Ph.D
- ^ The Formation of the Moro Province (archived from the original Archived May 12, 2008, at the Wayback Machine on 2008-05-12), chapter 18 of Swish of the Kris (archived from the original Archived February 2, 2008, at the Wayback Machine on 2008-02-02), by Vic Hurley.
- ^ ISBN 978-0-299-23103-3.
- ^ Lane 1978, p. 127
- ^ a b Lane 1978, p. 128
- ^ Smythe 1973, p. 169
- ^ Hagedorn 1931, p. 63
- ^ White, John R. (1928). Bullets and Bolos: Fifteen Years in the Philippine Islands. New York: The Century Co. pp. 299–313.
- ^ Hagedorn 1931, pp. 64–65
- ^ a b Hagedorn 1931, p. 65
- ^ "WOMEN and CHILDREN Killed in MORO BATTLE" (PDF). The New York Times. March 11, 1906. Retrieved 24 September 2013.
- ^ a b c d Lane 1978, p. 129
- ISBN 978-1-908909-12-1.
- ISBN 978-1-908909-12-1.
- ISBN 978-0-451-23918-1.
- ^ Lane 1978, p. 125
- ^ Lane 1978, p. 126
- ^ Smythe 1973, p. 170
- PMID 21751483.
- ^ "BARMM to observe March 6 as Bud Dajo Day in new proposed BTA bill". Bangsamoro Information Office. March 25, 2021.
- ^ Star, Phil (September 5, 2016). "President Duterte reminds us of 1906 Bud Dajo massacre by the US troops". The Daily News. Archived from the original on 2017-11-10.
- ^ Collinson, Stephen (September 7, 2016). "Duterte's tongue the least of Obama's Philippine problem". CNN. Retrieved October 1, 2016.
- ^ Placido, Dharel (September 12, 2016). "Duterte: US forces in Mindanao must go". ABS-CBN News.
- ^ "MEMORANDUM To: President Barack Hussein Obama From: Mindanao Tri-People (Muslim, Animist Lumad and Christian)". mnlfnet.com. Moro National Liberation Front (Misuari faction). 3 March 2015. Retrieved 3 March 2015.
References
- Hagedorn, Hermann (1931). Leonard Wood: A Biography. London.
- Hurley, Vic. Swish of the Kris. (originally published E.P. Dutton & Co., Inc., 1936.)
- Lane, Jack C. (1978). Armed Progressive: General Leonard Wood. Presidio Press. ISBN 978-0-89141-009-6.
- Smythe, Donald (1973). Guerrilla Warrior: The Early Life of John J. Pershing. Scribner. ISBN 9780684129334.
- US Army Counterinsurgency and Contingency Operations Doctrine, 1860–1941. United States Government Printing, 1997.
- Zwick, Jim, ed., Mark Twain's Weapons of Satire: Anti-Imperialist Writings on the Philippine-American War, Syracuse, NY: Syracuse University Press, 1992, pp. 168–178.
External links
- "Comments on the Moro Massacre" - essay by Mark Twain, first published in 1906. Also online here
- Moroland History: 1899 – 1920 - Uncle Sam, the Moros, and the Moro Campaigns
- What happened at Bud Dajo, Boston Globe, March 12, 2006.
- Moro Muslims engage US-Army: Battles of Bud Dajo and Bud Bagsak Archived 2011-04-23 at the Wayback Machine