[5][6][7] During the engagement, 750 men and officers, under the command of Colonel Joseph Wilson Duncan, assaulted the volcanic crater of Bud Dajo (Tausūg: Būd Dahu), which was populated by 800 to 1,000 Tausug villagers.

According to Hermann Hagedorn (who was writing prior to World War II), the position held by the Moros was "the strongest which hostiles in the Philippines have ever defended against American assault.

[1] Whether the occupants of Bud Dajo were hostile to U.S. forces is disputed, as inhabitants of Jolo Island had previously used the crater, which they considered sacred, as a place of refuge during Spanish assaults.

[10] Major Hugh Scott, the district governor of Sulu Province, where the incident occurred, recounted that those who fled to the crater "declared they had no intention of fighting, - ran up there only in fright, [and] had some crops planted and desired to cultivate them.

While fighting was limited to ground action on Jolo, the use of naval gunfire contributed significantly to the overwhelming firepower brought to bear against the Moros.

The first battle at Bud Dajo took place during the final days of General Leonard Wood's term as governor of the Moro Province.

Some of these reforms, including the abolition of slavery and the imposition of the cedula, as a registration poll tax, were unpopular with his Moro (Muslim) subjects.

[14] These reforms, coupled with the general resentment of foreign Christian occupiers, created a tense and hostile atmosphere during Wood's tenure, and the heaviest and bloodiest fighting during the American occupation of Mindanao and Sulu Province took place under his watch.

"[8] Vic Hurley, author of Swish of the Kris, adds that "the causes contributing to the battle of Bud Dajo were resentment over the curtailing of slave-trading, cattle-raiding, and women-stealing privileges of the Moros of Sulu.

"[9] In contrast, Major Hugh Scott describes the occupants of Bud Dajo as harmless villagers seeking refuge from the upheaval on Jolo caused by the actions of American forces.

[15] The chain of events leading to Bud Dajo began when a Moro named Pala ran amok in British-held Borneo.

[16] Bud Dajo lies six miles (10 km) from the city of Jolo and is an extinct volcano, 2,100 feet (640 m) above sea level, steep, conical, and with thickly forested slopes.

[9] Governor Scott sent three friendly datus up the mountain to ask the Bud Dajo Moros to disarm and disband, or at least send their women and children to the valley.

American forces then placed a "Machine Gun... in position where it could sweep the crest of the mountain between us and the cotta," killing all Moros in the crater.

Following the American victory, President Theodore Roosevelt sent Wood a congratulatory cablegram, but reporters stationed at Manila had cabled their own account to the press.

The March 11, 1906 New York Times headlines read, "WOMEN AND CHILDREN KILLED IN MORO BATTLE; Mingled with Warriors and Fell in Hail of Shot.

[24] Under pressure from Congress, Secretary of War William Howard Taft cabled Wood for an explanation of the "wanton slaughter" of women and children.

By the time the scandal died down, Wood had assumed his post as Commander of the Philippine Division, and General Tasker H. Bliss had replaced him as governor of the Moro Province.

On 23 June 1906 Harper Weekly published a photograph of Bud Dajo[25] Mark Twain condemned the incident strongly in articles.

[8] A second explanation was given by the Governor-General of the Philippines, Henry Clay Ide, who reported that the women and children were collateral damage, having been killed during the artillery barrages.

[24] Furthermore, Wood's and Ide's explanations are at odds with Colonel J. W. Duncan's March 12, 1906, post-action report describing the placement of a machine gun at the edge of the crater to fire upon the occupants.

This heavy-handedness jeopardized relations with friendly datus, who viewed the encroachment of the army as a challenge[30] Wood badly needed military laurels, since he had gone through an uphill battle in the United States Senate over his appointment to the rank of major general, which was finally confirmed in March 1904.

[31] Wood had been promoted over the heads of many more-senior officers, bringing charges of favoritism against President and fellow Rough Rider Teddy Roosevelt.

Wood argued that besieging (surrounding) Bud Dajo would have been impossible, given the ample supplies of the rebels, the 11-mile (18 km) circumference of the mountain, the thickly forested terrain, and the existence of hidden paths up the mountainside.