Northern Wisconsin advertiser. [volume] (Wabeno, Wis.) 1898-1925, 1917-07-13
BI LICK JAK'
pEpSNING

under the burden and carried it to the
end.
In 1899 he became adjutant general,
executive officer of the department of
Mindanao and Jolo. In this capacity
he studied the Moros and the Moro
problem. He tried in every honorable
way to conciliate the native chiefs and
judges or dattOs, but the Moros would
not take the word of a white man.
Later they learned that Pershing's
word was never broken.
Finally, after studying the question
from every possible viewpoint, he de-
cided that the only way to subdue the
natives was to prosecute a campaign
against them. Washington conceded
with this view and Pershing went into
the jungle.
Every foot of the way, through mud
dy roads little better than jungle trails,
where guns and caissons sometimes
sank hub deep and had to be raised by
planks and levers; through insect in
tested forests, in an atmosphere
fraught with fever and malaria, he
had to fight against crazed Mohamme-
dan warriors, who believed that to die
Staying Christians insured them OF
life in heaven with white horse to
ride and beautiful houris to wait upon
them.
Against odds like this the expedition
fought and cut it's way to the Lake
I %hn NOrnS
gathered in force.
At Bayan Captain Pershing gave the
rebels their first taste of American
fighting. The battle resulted in bril-
liant tactical victory for our troops,
and the expedition pressed forward.
Destroyed 40 Forts.
The sultan of Macolod, one of the
most powerful of the native rulers, re-
fused to surrender. With battalion
of infantry, squadron of cavalry and
a section of guns Pershing moved
against him and threatened to demOl-
fsh his fort unless he gave in.
The sultan was defiant. He dreamed
that his stronghold was impregnabie.
In two days it was memory and the
American troops had received upon
their bayOnets the last maddened
charge of the Moro band. The Ameri-
cans had two men wounded.
One after the other 40 Moro forts
fell under Pershing's assaults and the
island of Mindanao was at peace, two
Americans having lost their lives.
Then the Pershing smile succeeded
the fighting grimness of his face and
the Moros became his friend. They
made a datto of him and they submit
ted to his judgment in their legal dis
putes. and the United States made him
military governor of the department.
For this work he was advanced to the
grade of brigadier general, although
S62 officers had priority over him.
For time Pershing was relieved of
his Philippine duties because of ill
health, but the Moros of Jolo continued
to make trouble and he was sent back
to subdue them as he had the rebels
of Mindanao. 1t was a bigger task,
and one the magnitude of which has
seldom confronted a regular army Off
Ger except in time of actual war.
Pershing picked a command of men
every one of whom he knew down to
the last private. He loved them all as
children and they loved him as BLACK
Jack" and Fighting John" Pershing.
There wasn't a man under him whose
face the general didn't know and whom
he could not call by name.
The Moros-men, women and chill
dren-had taken refuge and fortified
themselves in the crater of Bud Dajo,
an extinct volcano, on the island of
Jolo. Pershing announced to his men
that he was going to drive the rebels
out of the crater if it took ten years
to do it.
There were 600 Moros, everyone of
them imbued with the faith that each
Christian he slew would be his slave
in the Moro heaven, lurking under the
rim of the big hole in the top of the
mountain.
Guerrilla Warfare.
II
scouts brought the American forces up
to about one thousand men. Every
inch of the way from the shore of the
island they had to fight against the
hidden enemy.
Outposts were stabbed in the night
by naked savages, who wriggled
through the tall grass without a sound.
Pickets and patrolling parties were
fallen upon and slain by beast-men,
who swung from the branches of tropi-
cal trees and palms like panthers, but
the relentless column cut its way fur
Their and further toward the heart of
the Moro stronghold and at last spread
in a thin circle around the base of the
ancient volcano.
Several times accommodating parties
of American troops crawled to the rim
of the crater and observed the DISPOSE