Leonard Wood and Counterinsurgency in Lanao and Cotabato

Abstract

Enter Gen. Leonard Wood, who took over as the Moro Province’s first governor in 1903. He adopted a counter-Pershing approach to fighting small wars, stressing not just military pacification of Moros but social reformation as well. Wood’s arrival inaugurated the most violent period in America’s long conflict with Philippine Muslims, 1903–1906. After providing a brief portrait of the new governor, chapter 4 assesses how he ignited insurgency in Lanao. It then focuses on Cotabato District, where Wood blundered into a savage war that displaced thousands of Maguindanao Moros as he vigorously pursued rebel leader and local hero Datu Ali.