Datu Ali attacked the town of Lepanto near the Spanish fort of Bugcaon, killing fourteen and looting the place as the campaign ended.

[5] Buluan was known to have wide expense of fertile plains, and an invigorating climate, which became a subject of interest to Datu Ali, who proceeded to take control of the whole territory.

[6][5] Datu Ali was then the able ruler of Cotabato upper valley and was considered the paramount leader of the Sultanate of Maguindanao in the early 20th century.

[9] In an attempt to coerce Ali to surrender, the American expeditionary forces captured his brother, Datu Djimbangan, at Fort Sar-raya.

Datu Ali continued to fight until his death on October 22, 1905, when he and most of his men were killed in the Battle of the Malala River after a surprise attack by a provisional company of the 22nd Infantry, led by Captain Frank McCoy, the Aide-De-Camp of General Leonard Wood.

Colonel John White, who spent 15 years as an officer in the Philippine Constabulary, sets the stage with a description of Ali's homeland—the Cotabato district of Mindanao.

[14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22] When the Moro Province announced the anti-slavery law in the last months of 1903, General Wood and Taft believed that the Maguindanao would continue to follow the lead of colonial progress.

A difficult problem for the Americans to establish civil government among hill tribes, Filipino settlements, and piratical Mohammedan groups each with fears and hate one another.

[24] Datu Piang, on the other hand used his political skill and control of long-distance trade through the Chinese merchants of Cotabato to bring the other major datus of the valley into an accommodation with the United States.

An Arab priest with Datu Piang Sherif Tuan also stated that the Moros Datus pledge to fight and obeisance that they would not submit to any interference with their slave trading and holding.

They withdrew in disorder while the victorious Moros completed their work by beheading and disemboweling the head of dying Americans with their vicious kris and barong.

[11][31][32] General Wood's analysis of Ali's rebellion reinterpreted the recent history of Maguindanao to suit his identification of abolition with progress, civilization, and colonial authority.

General Wood also reported that all of the Datus were united to resist the American rule for the operation of the slave law except Datu Piang.

Datu Ali consistently raided local villages, conducted hit and run attacks on US camps, and continued his campaign of insurrection through terror and fear.

In September 1905, General Wood received intelligence that Datu Ali was encamped on his ranch deep in the mountains along the Malola (now known as Malala) River.

Piang had tipped off Captain McCoy that Datu Ali, was hiding out in a cabin near Lake Buluan within his large family and had sent most of his men back to their villages.

McCoy hand-picked 100 men provisional company from the 22nd Infantry Regiment, stationed at Camp Keithley in Lanao in secret; so as not to alert the residents of Cotabato that an operation was underway.

Picking up two squads of Philippine Scouts, McCoy's party force-marched fifty miles across the high route he had traveled the year before, skirting the flanks of the impressive Mt.

They crossed the jungle covered mountains in five days, reaching Datu Ali's encampment in the early morning hours of October 22.

[30] Nevertheless, as Beckett points out, “Ali's death saw Datu Piang on the winning side, the authorities in his debt, and his aristocratic rival out the way”.