The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1903-06-22
HOW PERSHlNG
WIPED OUT MOROS
Description of BacoIod Battle
Given in Private Letter.
THEY WOULD NOT SURRENDER
so IT WAS NECESSARY TO STORM
THEIR FORT.
III WASHINGTON, June 21.-Captain J.
w J. Pershing. who was in com


w J. Pershing, who was in COM
mand of the troops at the fight
at Lake Lanao, in the Philippines. has
written a letter to a personal friend in
the war department describing the bat
tie.
It has been shown to Secretary Root
who authorized IT'S publication. Cap
tain Pershing says:
Camp Wears, April %, 1903.
q suppose your mail dispatches have
o. viii have brought you 2 fun account
Of the Bacolod incident IN reality, the
pest tight of the dOrO campaigns. not
so many MOrOs killed as at Bayan or
Pandaparan-One year ago-but fought
according to some sort of system OF
course. / have worked on this fight as
foresaw long ago that il must come,
and the whole thing from the beginning
worked out as planned. First, we got
Denind them, much to their surprise,
and could post our guns above and
drop prOjectiles down into their fort.
so that their artillery fire in this case
was not all noise.
Task Was Easy.
we had some work and some fight
Ing TO gain this position. Once there
It was only a question of sitting down
deliberately and waiting to see what
| the MOrOs would do. Many got away
before the place was invested thorough
y. The fight began IL a flood of a
rainstorm that lasted till dark and re-
connoitering was difficult. So we did
not find all the avenues Of escape until
next day and 1 am glad now we did
not as they had such confidence in this
Tort, which they nave been constructing
Tor year, that they took many women
and children inside and these escaped
during the night.
The next day and night we held
them fast. however, tried to get them
TO surrender. had two talks under flags
OF truce; no, they would fight ii out.
SO there was then only to finish it. /
called my officers together and gave
each one his work. The main obstacle
was a deep ditch thirty-five feet wide
and forty feet deep to be crossed It
was to be bridged with fallen trees
and over all bamboo bridge was laid
Everything in readiness, the assault
9 began. In the eace of d heavy Remlng-
ton fire from The fort the lines ad-
vanced against Two faces of the fort
putting out of business every Moro that
appeared. They could not use their
port holes as we had battered them to
pieces. although we could not, with our
light field artillery, damage the earth
work. The lines Up to within fifty
yards of the bridge were completed by
Two companies detailed for that pur-
pose. trees having been previously cut
and hurled as near as could safely be
done. Within thirty minutes the as
sauling infantry swung across and
forced q line on the Bernie and clam
bered up nearly in line to the top of
the parapet-
Hand to Hand Fight.
Here they were met with Kampilan
and Kris. and a bloody haud-tO-hand
fight OccUrred-One soldier against two
Moros here, another running his bay
Onet into a fanatic there, MOrOS
plunging headlong into the deep ditch
in their impetuOsity and impetus 1t
was, as q whole, a scene never to for
get. Too much cannot be said of the
valor the bravery, the courage and
GOODNESS and nerve OF the American
soldier. The majority of those left in
side never reached the TOP Of the
parapet. II was a relief to me that
none of our men were killed Two
will Icse an arm each. the rest will
recover with honorable scars, but not
manned. It was the prOudest day Of
my life. Cholera existed in all that
section and we did not examine the
interior of the fort until after it was
burned and wet thoroughly through.
for there were all sorts of underground
galleries and pasSageways- Some
officers in the assaulting line counted
sixty dead on one floor and MOrOs say
there were more than 100 killed inside,
while the list outside has been grow
ing ever since the battle, so that 80
all told is conservative estimate.
Labor Was in Vain.
II have labored with these Bacolod
lIoros for a year through other NOrOs,
some of them near relatives. trying TO
convince them OF their foolishness in
thinking Of fighting US, but they have
replied in insulting messages, and in
fact the whole Laguna de LanO has
anticipated a reverse for US. The les
son. of course. has been a severe one
for them. The old Panandungan Ca
sort Of Moro title. meaning chief cOun-
selor or something of that kind, in
this case he had more power than the
sultan) lost his life and the rest of
them that are left have sent word that
they want to be friends. We burned
nothing but this main fort and a few
smaller ones from which we were
fred upon, and I think the MorOs all
see that our purpose is to be humane
as far as they VIII permit us To my
mind this practically settles the Lake
Is2nao troubles. We. OF course. must
explore the eastern portion OF the lake
for a distance that remains yet I'M
explored of about ten miles. I an
ticipate little trouble there, but there
may be one or two harQ- headed old
dattos who will put up their red flags.
The matter may now be said to be
settled. There wiz never again be
any continued opposition nor any gen
eral opposition. The sensible ones see
that il is useless and several of their
old panditas (priests) are now preach
ing the universal brotherhood OF man
It is needless for me to say to you
that 1 am gratifed at the outcome
Now Display Flags.
From Bacolod north TO Marahui
there were more United States flags
displayed in the road and in ranch
erios than 1 supposed existed in all
this country. I have been here nearly
two years right in and about the Moro
country. in the islands nearly four.
and can but feel that i have accom-
5 pHshed something. I think it the
largest single success that has been
made in the islands One year ago
nobody knew nor had seen except nv
self the Moro in his native laguna nor
had they any idea of him nor of his
fierce. uncomfortable nature. Today
we have crossed the lake and have
practically marched around it. With
out the support and backing of Gen
eral Davis and General Sumner I could
not have done this To them. Of
course. as commanders, belongs the
credit. / hope it viii not fail OF ap-
nreciation and that they viii be re-