The organization was founded in 1900 by U.S. officers stationed in the Philippines during the Philippine Insurrection that occurred after the Spanish–American War. The idea for a lampoon was conceived by several Army officers one night at the Army-Navy Club in Manila. This organization was founded to counter and satirize the Military Order of the Dragon, founded by other American officers who served in the short-lived Boxer uprising in China. Only the Carabao survives today.