Battle of Pulang Lupa
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| Battle of Pulang Lupa | |||||||||||||||||
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| Conflict | Philippine-American War | ||||||||||||||||
| Date | September 13, 1900 | ||||||||||||||||
| Place | Marinduque, Philippines | ||||||||||||||||
| Result | Decisive Filipino Victory | ||||||||||||||||
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The Battle of Pulang Lupa was an engagement in the Philippine-American War, when on September 13, 1900, a Filipino force of resistance fighters and guerillas under Colonel Maximo Abad annihilated a detachment of the 29th U.S. Infantry under the command of Captain Devereux Shields.
Pulang Lupa is situated in Torrijos on Marinduque island. Shields led 100 of his men on an expedition there to combat guerilla raids on 11 September, which ended two days later when his force was ambushed by 40 of Abad's men.
The battle began when after cleverly surrounding the Americans, Abad and his men fired a volley into the column of unexpecting soldiers, which then led to a short fire fight. Shields, seeing that he was almost completely surrounded ordered the retreat. But before his forces got far, Colonel Abad led a massive bolo rush against the Americans. There was bloody hand to hand fighting, the guerillas enjoying a decisive upperhand, and making deadly use of the bolo. After a stiff fight, the Americans were overpowered, suffering scores of casualties, and were forced to retreat nearly 4 miles. The Filipinos on the other hand dogedly kept up the pursuit, and harassed the enemy as they fled.
The battle lasted all that day and to the early morning of the next day, which Captain Shields, after being wounded the previous day, and the survivors began to surrender en masse. But as they did, the Filipios fired upon them and hacked them up with bolo knives, maybe as a retaliation for American brutality.
Soon Abad regained control of his men, but not before 4 Americans were killed and 5 seriousley wounded. Still a number of those captured were later set free, with some executed in the town plaza and a few who decided to join the Filipino cause.
Many consider this the most bloody engagement for both sides during the war, but while it marked a resounding and confidence-boosting victory for the Filipinos, it was not sufficient enough to turn the tide of the war. The only result was the delaying of an inevitable defeat.
