From:
ONE HUNDRED YEARS WITH THE SECOND CAVALRY
By Joseph I. Lambert, Major, Second Cavalry
Copyright 1939 Commanding Officer, Second Cavalry, Fort Riley, Kansas
Capper Printing Company, Inc.
In November, 1910, Troop C, under Captain J. M. Burroughs, and some friendly Moros were sent from Augur Barracks, Jolo, where the headquarters, machine-gun platoon, and the first squadron were already located. Troops F and H replaced the third squadron at Camp Overton the same month. Troops E and G joined these two troops at that station in April, 1911.
During the year 1910, the lawless elements of the hill tribes of Moros in the Davao District of the island of Mindanao collected in bands and attacked plantations on the east coast. Bases were established at different places in the interior and from these points the whole area was thoroughly policed. Among the troops called out to quell this trouble was Troop B, Second Cavalry. The troop, under Captain Clyde B. Hawkins, was brought by boat from its station on Jolo Island to Camp Makar, Mindanao. It remained here about seven weeks, patrolling the country for the rebellious tribesmen, then returned to Augur Barracks February 10, 1911.
The service in this area remained in the minds of the men of the regiment as very exhausting. The country is precipitous in the extreme, changing from narrow ridges to steep ravines. This type of country sometimes required the soldiers to be let down cliffs by ropes or to crawl along narrow trails on their hands and knees. The natives made use of cunning traps at places where the troops were required to pass. One type of trap consisted of a large number of sharpened sticks of bamboo which would penetrate the soles of shoes. Another kind was made of spears concealed along the trail which were held down by saplings bent over so that the spears were released when the victim walked by.
Troop H, commanded by Captain C. A. Romeyn, took the field in September, 1911, against the noted renegade Ami Gingulungan and his followers. The town of Cagayan on the northern coast of the island was headquarters for the expedition and detachments were sent from here to the area in which the outlaw was located. The troop returned to Camp Overton October 18.
On May 23, 1911, the regiment celebrated the seventy-fifth anniversary of its founding. A holiday was declared and a program of athletics and other amusements was enjoyed. At Augur Barracks, Jolo, where the headquarters and first and third squadrons were stationed, Chaplain Fleming made a commemorative address which was later published in the Journal of the Military Service Institution.
Turning again to the island of Jolo, we find the troops of the first and third squadrons were alternated as guards for road-building parties for several months during the first part of the year. The road was built ten miles west from Jolo to Tondu and twenty miles east to Siet Lake, under the supervision of Captain Edward L. King, Second Cavalry, who was civil governor of the island. Occasionally troops were used to prevent outbreaks of the natives. On April 29, Troops L and M marched to Crater Lake and Tad Minook to arrest Moros who would not comply with orders of local officials.
First Lieutenant Walter H. Rodney, Commander of the Machine Gun Platoon, was murdered by a Moro juramentado near the town of Jolo, P.I., on April 16, 1911. The tragic death of this fine officer was memorialized in G.O. No. 6 of the Post of Jolo.