Battle of Pulang Lupa The Battle of Pulang Lupa was an engagement fought on September 13 , 1900 , during the Philippine – American War , between the forces of Colonel Maximo Abad and Devereux Shields , in which Abad ' s men defeated the American force . " The severity with which the inhabitants have been dealt would not look well if a complete history of it were written out . " — Governor - General of the Philippines William Howard Taft , concerning the U . S . Army campaign on the island of Marinduque during the Philippine – American War of 1899 - 1902 Background . On September 11 , Captain Devereux Shields led a detachment of 54 29th U . S . Volunteer Infantrymen into the mountains of Torrijos to combat the elusive Abad and his guerrillas . They experienced little success , except for the dispersing of 20 guerrillas , in which no casualties were inflicted on either side . Abad had excellent intelligence and was informed of Shields ' movements by the local guerrillas ahead of time . In response , he assembled his entire force of 250 regular Filipino soldiers and around 1 , 000 - 2 , 000 bolomen . The regular Philippine soldiers were well organized and reasonably well armed with bolos , pistols , and Spanish Mauser s , despite the fact that most were poor shots . The bolomen , armed only with machetes or bolo s , served mainly to bolster Abad ' s forces . Dressed as friendly farmers or civilians in the daytime , they took part in guerrilla activities at night : ambushing small detachments of American soldiers , sabotage , and most importantly , supplying Abad with intelligence on American positions and movements . They had little military value , however , considering they had no firearms . Battle . On September 13 , Abad positioned his men along a steep ridge overlooking the trail which Shields would soon cross . Both Shields and his men had little combat experience and easily fell into the trap . Abad and his 250 soldiers opened fire on the column , which led to a fire - fight that lasted for several hours . Meanwhile , as the Americans and Philippine riflemen exchanged fire , the large force of Filipino bolomen began maneuvering to surround the Americans . Shields , seeing that he was almost completely surrounded , ordered a withdrawal , which soon turned into a full - blown retreat , as Abad ' s much larger force poured over the ridge after Shields and his men . The Filipino soldiers harassed Shields for nearly before cornering them in a small rice field ; their escape to Santa Cruz was cut off by the large force of Filipino bolomen . Abad ' s men again opened fire , forcing the Americans to take cover behind some paddy dikes . Shields , recognizing the futility of the situation , raised the white flag in order to surrender . Abad ' s men disregarded it and fell upon the totally encircled Americans , firing and hacking away with bolo knives . In the fight , Shields fell severely wounded , shot through the shoulder and neck . Abad , observing that the Americans were trying to surrender , regained control of his men before any more surrendering Americans were slaughtered , and the survivors were led away as prisoners . After months of hiding , Abad in only a few hours eliminated nearly one third of the American garrison on Marinduque . Casualties . The Americans lost 4 killed and 50 captured , 6 of which wounded including Shields . A large selection of American firearms were also taken by the guerrillas . The Filipino losses are unknown ; although Shields claimed to have inflicted 30 casualties on the Filipinos , this number was never verified . Aftermath . Shields ' defeat sent shock waves through the American high command . Aside from being one of the worst defeats suffered by the Americans during the war , it was especially significant given its proximity to the upcoming election between President William McKinley and his anti - imperialist opponent William Jennings Bryan , the outcome of which many believed would determine the ultimate course of the war . Consequently , the defeat triggered a sharp response . Although Abad and most of his command had eluded the American military , the civilian population was suffering for it . Being placed into concentration camp s and routine interrogation led many of the guerrillas to surrender , thus decreasing the manpower and materials of the resistance . These new tactics led to the surrender of Abad in April 1901 .