Battle of Pulang Lupa
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 stop 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 Abad and his men fired a volley into the column of unexpecting soldiers, and then led a massive bolo charge against the American soldiers. There was bloody hand to hand fighting, the guerillas enjoying a decisive upperhand, and making deadly use of the bolo. The fighting was so brutal, that this battle is often considered the bloodiest engagement of the war. 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 surrendered en masse. 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. This battle, while it marked a resounding and confidence-boosting victory for the Filipinos, was not sufficient enough to turn the tide of the war.
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