The 1902 Battle of Bayang from the American perspective

Abstract

This article revisits the May 2, 1902 Battle of Bayang, a village in Lanao, the scene of the first deadly encounter between the United States Army and the Meranaw Moros (Muslims of Mindanao). It probes into the events that led to this incident, depicting the retaliatory expedition led by Col. Frank Baldwin against the beleaguered Meranaw warriors under the sultan of Bayang who bravely stood their ground amid a powerful occupying army. Despite the mediation effort of an influential imam, Sharif Afdal, the two parties engaged each other that saw the death of hundreds of Meranaw compared to the few casualties on the American side. The war is an epitome of the brutal colonial program to crush all opposition along the way, using might with little diplomacy and lack of understanding of the local culture. The conquerors won the war but failed to stifle the resistance that persisted even after they left Mindanao. Lanao serves as a showcase of indigenous struggle against foreign domination, and the eventual state formation that made Moroland an unwilling part of it.