POSTCARD FROM JOLO ISLAND, AUGUST 1910, "WHERE THE MOROS RUN AMUCK"



Postcard Front, "Jolo, Asturias Road, Jolo, P.I."

Postcard Rear, postmarked at Camp Stotsenberg, Pampanga, P.I., August 7, 1910



This weekend I finished reading "The Moro War" by James R. Arnold (2011).  I highly recommend this book for anyone interested in this little known conflict that lasted from 1902 to 1913 in the southern regions of the Philippines, in Mindanao and the Sulu Archipelago, or as it was commonly referred to by Americans at the time, "Moroland". 

This conflict should not be confused with the Filipino-American War of 1899-1902.  The Moro War, sometimes called the Moro Insurgency, was the first time that America battled a hostile Muslim population in its efforts to annex, pacify, and assimilate the people of the Philippines.

After reading this book, I re-examined my Philippine postcard/postal history collection, and found a few items that now had greater meaning to me.

The first item I would like to share is a postcard from George Piver, postmarked at Camp Stotsenberg, Pampanga, P.I., on August 7, 1910.    (Camp Stotsenberg later became Clark Air Base.)  It is addressed to a Miss E.F. Piver in West Oakland, California (which is actually only a short distance from where I live).

This postcard shows American soldiers standing across the Asturias Road in Jolo Island, Sulu Archipelago, Philippines.  Jolo is a volcanic island, which lies at the center of the Sulu Archipelago. The Sulu Archipelago is an island chain in the Southwest Philippines between Mindanao and Borneo. There are numerous volcanoes and craters around Jolo, two craters which became sites for key battles, at Bud Dajo in March 1906 and Bud Bagsak in June 1913.

The message reads, "Lonesome.  Write soon. Letter with these + Picture of a southern island where the Moros run amuck."  As James Arnold wrote in his book, "The Moro War", the term "to run amuck", in the language of that period, referred to a Muslim suicide attack, or "juramentado attack". 

Similar to todays's suicide bomber in Afghanistan or Iraq, the juramentado's goal was to simply kill as many Christians as possible before dying.  And like a bomb, the juramentado, wielding his razor-sharp and fearsome kris or barong, attacked with sudden and unbelievable speed.  And like today's suicide bomber, often innocent Muslim bystanders were caught in the carnage that erupted. 

The pictured Asturias Road was the site of several juramentado attacks on American soldiers, as described in this book.  These attacks occured throughout this period in Jolo, lessening after the Moro defeat at Bud Bagsak in 1913.