Battle of Bayan

Battle of Bayan
Part of the Moro Rebellion
Date May 2–3, 1902 Location Near Malabang, South of Lanao Lake, Philippines Result U.S. victory Start of Moro rebellion
Belligerents
United States	Moros Maranaos
Commanders and leaders
Colonel Frank D. Baldwin	Sultan of Bayan
Strength
1200 men 4 mountain guns	about 600 Maranao warriors 2 forts
Casualties and losses
11 killed 42 wounded	400-500 killed 9 captured 39 escaped

The Battle of Bayan was the first major engagement of the Moro Rebellion. It was a punitive expedition led by Colonel Frank D. Baldwin in retaliation for murders committed by Moros in Malabang and Parang on the island of Mindanao. Col. Baldwin led seven companies of the 27th Infantry and the 25th Battery Light Artillery against the Moros on the south shore of Lake Lanao, the village of Bayan in particular. The Americans took Fort Pandapatan and the fort of Datu of Binadayan, killing the Sultan of Bayan in the process.

The Moros accused the Americans of trying to convert them from Islam to Christianity, just like the Spanish attempts, and held a grudge from 1900 when troops under Lt. Col. L. M. Brett killed Datu Amirul. There was also a misunderstanding as to the extension of the Bates Agreement of 1899 to mainland Mindanao in which the Americans thought they had established sovereignty by getting the signature of the Sultan of Sulu, The Moros of Lanao is another sovereign and thought they can continue their rule.

Right before the American insular government in the Philippines were about to declare the Philippines "pacified" or "assimilated", incidents of violence in the southern Island of Mindanao sparked the opening of a whole new front of the recently concluded Philippine–American War, the so-called Moro rebellion had begun. Although Generals like Leonard Wood attempted to negotiate with the local Datus of Moroland, some Datus weren't interested in giving up their sovereignty to these new colonisers, hostilities almost immediately broke out with minor incidents of murder and stealing of weapons from the Americans stationed there. The expedition to Bayang was said to be a retaliation to two murders, 3 weeks apart, the perpetrators were Moros or Muslim Filipinos who were hoping to obtain the Americans' Krag-Jorgensen rifle. In response, Baldwin took his entire command of 1,025 men on the expedition and added the 25th Battery of the Field Artillery (65 men), ten six-mule teams and 40 pack mules run by contract civilian packers, and 300 hired cargadores. 600 men of the 10th and 17th Infantry Regiments were moved to Malabang as temporary replacements for his forces and to serve as a reserve.

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