1st Battalion 22nd Infantry Operations 1904-1905

Campaign Streamer awarded to the 22nd Infantry for its service in Mindanao 1904-1905

April 12, the same companies ( Company F and Company G), while reconnoitering up the Taraca river, encountered a cotta
containing a number of armed Moros. Before attacking, Captain Wheeler, commanding, ordered the women and children to a place of safety.
The men of the cotta denied having guns, but professed their willingness to come out and to surrender. While giving up their kampilans and daggers,
a number of them, without warning, made a rush upon the troops and succeeded in stabbing Captain David P. Wheeler* and Corporal Percy Heyvelt,
company F. The troops at once opened fire upon the treacherous Moros, killing thirty of them.

It is the painful duty of the Regimental Commander to announce the death of an officer, Captain David Porter Wheeler, 22nd infantry,
who succumbed this date to wounds inflicted by hostile Moros at Taraca river, on Lake Lanao, April 11, 1904. Captain Wheeler
was born in Zanesville, Ohio, July 18, 1876. Appointed to the military academy, June 15, 1894. Graduated and commissioned
a second lieutenant in the 23rd infantry on April 23, 1898. Promoted first lieutenant and assigned to the 22nd infantry, March 2, 1899.
Promoted captain and assigned to the 26th infantry, January 27, 1903. Transferred to the 22nd infantry, April 7, 1903.
The regiment sustains a heavy loss by the death of this gallant officer, whose service has ever been characterized by loyalty, gallantry,
and efficiency of the highest order. He was much beloved by his comrades, and his name will always be remembered with those heroic men
of the regiment who have given their lives for their country. The flag will be placed at half mast until after the funeral
and mourning will be for thirty days.

BY ORDER OF LIEUTENANT COLONEL MAUS:
(Sgd.) J. L. DONOVAN, Captain 22nd Infantry, Acting Adjutant.

From April 7, 1904, to the present time (November, 1904), a detail of two companies of the regiment has been kept constantly
at the mouth of the Taraca river —the sub-post named Camp Wheeler, in honor of Captain Wheeler. Service there has been most arduous.
At first, almost nightly attempts were made by Moros to rush the camp; a barbed wire fence and a chain of lanterns and lamps encircling the camp
were an absolute necessity. Small calibre bullets failed to check the rush of these fanatics; at close quarters their razor-edged kampilans
did deadly execution, even after the wielders of the weapons were riddled with bullets. In several instances rushes could not be checked
until the Moros had reached the barbed wire fence. *

* Wounded in action at Taraca, June 3, 1904: Private John C. Newport, company L.
Private Newport was boloed by a Moro, after the native had received one bullet in the arm and four in the chest.

The night attacks upon Camp Wheeler were largely due to the influence of one Omar, a priest, who claimed divine powers.
Provided with charms made by Omar, a Moro was protected from American bullets; three blades of grass specially prepared by him
and laid on the path of an American sentinel would cause the instantaneous death of the sentinel. When the charms failed to work,
Omar laid the blame on the Moro who had used them—at heart, this Moro must have been an American sympathizer.

The whereabouts of the false prophet were shrouded in mystery; but as his influence increased to an alarming extent, it became necessary
either to destroy him or to prove the falsity of his claims. Rumors finally located him in the foothills east of Delama, and accordingly,
on June 15, 1904, forces from Camp Wheeler and from Camp Marahui—companies E, F, G, 22nd infantry, and the 44th company
Philippine scouts—landed at Delama at daybreak and marched toward the supposed rendezvous of the prophet's followers.
Omar had previously boasted that, if an expedition were sent against them, he would flash his spear and cause all Americans to fall dead.

When the crest of the first foothill was reached, the advance guard was fired upon; a moment later, from a commanding ridge
five hundred yards distant, arose Mohammedan curses and shrieks of rage; a tall figure leapt from the grass and shook a spear threateningly
at the little party. As the men brought up their rifles, the tall figure vanished; the command at once began a vigorous pursuit
over the roughest of mountain trails. About two miles from the lake, Omar's rendezvous was discovered and destroyed; a few of his followers
were killed. On the return to the boats, either the prophet himself or an especially deluded follower pursued the command at a respectful distance,
and from the concealment of the forests, kept up a continuous fire on the troops. If one of Omar's followers, he at least must have remained
a believer in the efficacy of his master's charms, for frequent volleys into the trees failed to stop the fire from this one rifle.
But among other Moros, the prophet's influence was destroyed.

The expedition, and more than this, the unceasing vigilance at Camp Wheeler that frustrated all attempts to enter camp,
caused the Moros to abandon their nightly rushes.

There were still, however, a great many hostile Moros in the Taraca region. To pacify them became the duty of the troops at Camp Wheeler.
Friendly overtures were made; natives were encouraged to return to their homes and to resume their agriculture. A few of them at length returned,
but minor sultans and dattos that had not felt American power exerted bad influences. To allay hostility and to show the Moros that they
should not be molested so long as they remained peaceful, the troops made practice marches all over the region. At many places the troops
were invariably fired upon;* natives lay in hiding near the camp and reported any unusual preparations being made; cunningly devised snares
were laid along paths that the companies would use; attempts were made to lure officers to their deaths. Rains made the eastern lake country
one great swamp, but still the command marched and worked for the establishment of peace and order. Frequently companies
were sent from Marahui to cooperate with the Taraca companies. And slowly but surely American influences extended; Moro firearms
were captured or surrendered; Moros returned to their homes and again worked in the rice fields.

* Wounded in action at Gandamato, May 10, 1904: Artificer Bruno Heyne, company B.

Meantime, at Marahui, the general condition was also improving. The necessity of guarding the large post and the quantities of supplies
prevented frequent expeditions; but once a week troops made practice marches in the neighborhood of disaffected regions.
On the night of July 10, 1904, a sentinel was cut down *, and his rifle stolen. The assailants were traced to Marantao. The sultan of that place
refused to surrender either the stolen rifle or the Moro that had made the attack. Before daylight on the morning of August 1, 1904,
the Marantao district, extending three miles along the western shore of the lake, was surrounded. At daybreak the troops were fired upon.
They immediately attacked the numerous cottas, destroying the houses, and inflicting severe losses on the enemy.

* Private Benjamin Oswald, company I. Fingers of left hand almost severed; in addition, left knee-cap cut.

Of the many expeditions sent out from Camp Wheeler, that against Malug is typical of the service required operating against the Moro.
After the general campaign against Taraca, April 2 to 10, 1904, the greater part of the Maciu tribe disappeared.
No great casualties had been inflicted upon them, yet thousands of them were afterward missing. It was not believed that so many Moros
could live permanently in the mountains; search and inquiry failed to discover them along the lake shore.

While exploring a trail through a cañon on August 12, 1904, detachments from companies I and K encountered a strong cotta,
that completely controlled the trail. It was of formidable proportions, with walls twenty feet high and a surrounding ditch, twenty feet in depth,
filled with running water. The trail leading to the entrance was an incline four feet wide. At the head of this was, apparently, a great bamboo gate;
to one side of the gate, an entrance that admitted only one man at a time.

When the troops came in sight of the cotta, angry Moros on the walls ordered them away. As the troops did not obey, the Moros opened fire
with rifles and lantacas. Only an overwhelmingly superior force could have taken this cotta by direct assault; accordingly the small detachment
endeavored to keep down the fire from the walls while several men ascended the incline and tried to burn the large gate. On approaching the gate,
however, it was seen that, behind this gate, which inclined outward, was a great heap of boulders. The gate was controlled by a bamboo lever that,
when sprung, would drop the gate outward and hurl down the incline several tons of rocks. Through slits in the woven bamboo, Moros were seen
attempting to spring the lever. These Moros were shot down at once. Several men then started to climb over the gate, while their comrades
protected them by a covering fire from the outside. Just as they reached the inside of the cotta, one of them was shot and speared by concealed Moros.*

Realizing that this cotta could not be taken by such a small force without great loss, the detachment withdrew.
On the following morning, reinforced by companies L,, M, and F, from Marahui, the troops again attacked the stronghold and captured it without loss.
After entering, the large gate was sprung; the cotta was then examined. It was admirably constructed; well-arranged bomb proofs
had protected the defenders from any possible artillery fire. Beyond question, it was the strongest cotta that has been captured in the Lanao district.
The position and size of this fortification was evidence of something beyond that the Moros were anxious to conceal from the Americans.
Detachments were promptly sent up the trail. Upon reaching the crest of the first foothills, the mystery was explained, the whereabouts
of the Macius discovered. Cottas, cultivated fields, and thousands of Moros burst upon the sight of the troops. From this unknown rendezvous,
war was to be continued indefinitely.

On the day following this discovery, representative Moros appeared at Camp Wheeler and made a proposal to surrender all firearms.
These negotiations are still pending.

It becomes again, after a very brief interval, the painful duty of the Regimental Commander to announce the death of an officer of the regiment:
2nd Lieut. Fitzgerald S. Turton, who died at this post on the 29th instant.
Lieut. Turton had been with the regiment only a few months, but during that time he had firmly established himself in the confidence,
respect and esteem of all who knew him. His conduct while a member of this regiment was characterized by strict attention to duty and courage,
gallantry and coolness in action.
Lieut. Turton was born in New Zealand, on July 15, 1874. He entered the U. S. army on April 18, 1900, and served as private, sergeant,
first sergeant and battalion sergeant major, 16th infantry, until October 9, 1903, when he was commissioned a second lieutenant
and assigned to the 22nd infantry.
The officers of the regiment will wear the usual badge of mourning for thirty days.

BY ORDER OF LIEUT. COL. ROBINSON:
R. L. HAMILTON,
Captain, 22nd Infantry, Adjutant.

The middle of August, a detachment of ninety men— Captain O. R. Wolfe, commanding—was sent to the Cottabato district
to operate against Dato Ali. Nine men were selected from each of the ten companies at Marahui; only the strongest, most active men were sent.
At the present writing, the command is still in the Cottabato district. The work they have been called upon to do has taxed the endurance
of even specially selected men. They have worked unceasingly in mud and water, at times on short rations.

The Sultan of Oato was numbered among the Moros professing allegiance to the United States. Accompanied by a retinue of followers and slaves,
he made frequent ceremonious visits to Marahui. Military authorities were therefore greatly surprised when, in the latter part of September,
this Sultan greeted the gunboat Flake with rifle and cannon fire.

His territory contained three stone cottas, two of them on commanding hills. The surrounding country was known to be rough,
and in many places impassable.

On the morning of October 24, 1904, the 2nd battalion, 22nd infantry, embarked at Marahui and proceeded toward Oato.
Troop F, 14th cavalry, left Marahui at the same time, moving by trail, with a view to cover Oato's territory on the north and west.
A battalion of the 23rd infantry and the 17th field battery had left Vicars a day earlier to cover the southern and western borders
of the disaffected country.

The battalion of the 22nd arrived at Oato at daylight. The Moros promptly opened fire with lantacas and rifles; under cover of a return fire
from the Flake, two companies were landed in row boats, and after a hard climb, drove the Moros from minor cottas on the first hills.

The gunboat Flake, named after 2nd LT Campbell Flake of the 22nd Infantry, who was killed
during the Ramaien expedition in January of 1904.

According to the general plan, the field battery was to have joined at this point to shell the main cottas, about 900 and 1,500 yards distant;
but a reconnaissance showed that the nature of the country would delay the battery's arrival some hours.

The nearest fort flew many war flags; from its walls Moros brandished spears and krises; from loop-holes came a desultory small arm fire.
The battalion's advance was necessarily slow; underbrush, boulders, and a maze of stone walls obstructed the approach to the cotta;
small parties of the enemy were driven from cover to cover until, at about noon, the first cotta was charged and captured. A number of lantacas
and iron cannon were found, the largest cannon firing a six inch solid shot.

After a short rest, the advance was continued toward the second stone cotta; this also flew war flags; in it tom-toms were beating,
Moros were shouting taunts at the Americans.

It was impossible to approach this cotta except in column of files. Before the battalion reached the cotta, the battery arrived at the first position
captured early in the morning. The battalion was then recalled to allow the battery to shell the stronghold. After this firing had continued
for thirty minutes, the battalion again advanced and captured the cotta without resistance. Very deadly and very accurate had been the battery's work.
Shrapnel and fragments of shell were found all over the cotta; blood in many places showed that many of these had found their mark;
lantacas and cannon in position, loaded and aimed, and many articles of personal property, showed the hasty abandonment of the cotta.

In this engagement, the battalion had one officer and one enlisted man wounded.* The Moro loss was about fifteen killed,
wounded not known. While the losses were not great, the object of the expedition was accomplished. Through friendly Moros it was learned
that the Sultan of Oato declared that he would not again oppose American sovereignty.

* Wounded in action, Oct. 24, 1904:
Captain David L. Stone, company G
Private Peter Duquette, company E.

At the present time of publication of this history, the regiment is stationed as follows:
Headquarters, companies B, C, E, F, G, H, I, and K, at Camp Marahui.
Companies A and D, Marahui, Lake Lanao.
Companies L, and M, Camp Wheeler.
Provisional company, Fort Pikit.
The entire regiment is in active service.

(Ed., Here ends the Regimental History written in 1904. The following is from the Regimental History written in 1922.)

On November 24, 1904, Camp Wheeler, on the Taraca River, was abandoned. Prior to the departure, however,
there came to the camp many of the Lanao chiefs to declare their friendship; the Sultan of Bayabas himself brought three other Sultans
to surrender with all their firearms and personal possessions.

The occupation ended, the result was clearly apparent. An extensive, rich, and fertile river valley had been opened to the tide of progress
and civilization, while among the natives themselves the teachings of sound American principles of justice and freedom for all had taken a firm root.

On December 27, 1904, request was made by Daniel B. Devore, Civil Governor of the district, for an expedition to put an end to an impending fight
between the Sultans of-Maciu and Oato, the former having stolen three of the latter's wives. As a result of this request a force of twenty men
of the Twenty-second Infantry, under Captain J. L. Donovan, was despatched to the scene of trouble on the gunboat Flake. Nothing ever came
of the expedition, however, there was no action, and the two Sultans apparently settled their difficulties without any extensive resort to arms.

On January 16, 1905, the name of the regiment's station was changed from Camp Marahui to Camp Keithley.
The following month of February passed quietly for the regiment; nothing of note or interest occurred until March 7, when Private James Morrison,
of Company H, a sentinel on post, was stabbed to death by Moros. As a result of this, Governor Devore, with Lieutenant Harry Graham
and a detachment of forty men, proceeded to Ramaien, and thence on the following day to Oato with 2nd Lieutenant Venable and twenty men.
An expedition to apprehend the murderers of Morrison was organized under Major Abner Pickering, 22nd Infantry, the force consisting
of Companies E, H, I, and L, 22nd Infantry, and one section of the 26th Battery of Field Artillery. On March 15 this expedition embarked
on the gunboats Flake and Almonte, proceeding to a point near the mouth of the Taraca River, where a landing was effected.
Thence the troops marched to the Ragayan territory, where, in the course of a brief skirmish, Private Patrick Burke, Company L, was killed.

Four days later, March 19, a second expedition to the Ragayan country, consisting of Companies A, B, C, D, F, G, K, and M,
was placed under the command of Major J. J. Crittenden. The results of the two expeditions were insignificant, no trace of the murderers was found,
and the people of Ragayan were simply driven back into the hills.

The first part of April again found the regiment quiet, its only activity being the Department Athletic Meet at Jolo, which the Twenty-second won handily.

The Annual Department athletic contest was held at Zamboanga March 24-28, 1904. 
It featured both conventional activities, such as field and track, baseball, and football, but also field exercises,
 such as field stripping, running in formation with packs, dissembling, reassembling artillery pieces, etc.

Results were:
22nd infantry-54 1/2 points
14th Cavalry-----34 points
23rd Infantry-10 1/2 points
17th Infantry-----10 points
17th Battery, FA--3 points

 In addition, Pvt. George W. Smith of Co. K, 22nd was named "best all-around athlete." ¹

The following extracts are from the Annual Reports to the Secretary of War, 1905:

Soldiers of the 22nd Infantry "somewhere" in the Philippines.
Several pack animals can be seen, and, in the left of the photo, some cargadores,
native Filipinos hired to help with the hauling of supplies and camp-making chores.