Pershing’s March Around Lake Lanao: Archaeol dig debunks American report on Battle of Kota Kalawi

An archeological dig in Lanao del Sur has apparently unmasked the claims of one of America’s foremost military leaders as a fake.

During the presentation and turnover of the Kota Kalawi Archeological and Historical Project held 24 August 2026 at the Lanao del Sur Provincial  Capitol, Project Team Leader Leee Anthony M. Neri, PhD, Dean of the UP School of Archaeology, declared the Battle of Kota Kalawi as a “Historical Hoax written by Americans in the 20^th Century.”

The Battle of Kota Kalawi (often referenced alongside the Battle of Bacolod Grande) was a violent three-day clash that occurred between April 6–8, 1903 (Bacolod-Grande), and Kalawi (also spelled Calahui in American accounts) on April 9, 1903, along the shores of Lake Lanao in Mindanao, Philippines.

At the time of the battle, Major General George W. Davis served as the commander of the Division of the Philippines, overseeing the early American pacification campaigns in the traditional Meranaw and Iranun realms surrounding Lake Lanao.

The defensive fortifications, known locally as kota (earthen/stone forts), served as vital defensive strongholds during local resistance against foreign invaders around Lake Lanao. Built strategically on plateaus and along the shores of Lake Lanao to control movement and trade, they were constructed with heavy timber, stone, earth, and bamboo, and often bristled with sharp bamboo spike pits (surung) and high walls for defenders using indigenous blades like kris and kampilan, with swivel cannons called lantakas.  

During the initial phases of the Lanao campaigns (1902–1903) against the Meranaws—including the pivotal Battle of Bayang and Lake Lanao pacification campaign led by Captain John J. Pershing—the U.S. forces primarily deployed the .30-caliber Colt-Browning M1895 machine gun (frequently referred to in historical military records simply as the Colt machine gun).

The overwhelming mechanical firepower of these machine guns, paired with mountain artillery and mortars, ultimately gave the U.S. forces a devastating advantage over traditional Meranaw defenses.  

The American account dated June 30, 1903 was written by Brig. Gen. Samuel S. Sumner, Commander of the Department of Mindanao, and included as Appendix II in the Annual Report of Major General George W. Davis, United States Army commanding Division of the Philippines from October 1, 1902 to July 26, 1903.

At the time of the battle, then Capt. John J. Pershing was newly promoted as commander of Camp Vicars, overseeing the early American pacification campaigns in the Meranaw and Iranun areas surrounding Lake Lanao.

Camp Vicars was the base from which Pershing launched his pacification campaign around Lake Lanao. Located in Upper Bayang, south of Lake Lanao, the camp served as a crucial link in the American military network. Troops and supplies would travel from the coast at Camp Overton (Iligan), through Camp Keithley (Marawi), and across Lake Lanao by boat to reach Camp Vicars.

The American field expedition was led by Pershing, commanding roughly 700 soldiers composed of Troops A, G, L, 15th Cavalry; Companies C, F, G, and M, 27th Infantry ; two gun sections (Vickers-Maxims) of 25th Battery, F, A, and two mortar sections of the 17th Battery, F, A, united under the command of the senior artillery officer, Captain McNair.

American forces surrounded the earthen walls of Kota o Panondiongan with initial bombardments from Vickers-Maxim mountain guns countered by traditional Meranaw lantakas (brass cannons).

The U.S. tightened the siege using 3.6-inch mortars, dropping shells directly into the fort. Despite a water-filled moat and heavy fire from hidden loopholes, Meranaw defenders repeatedly drove back infantry advances and rejected all offers of surrender.

Relentless artillery fire breached the front wall, allowing U.S. forces to overrun American forces surrounded the earthen walls of Kota o Panondiongan.

In his eyewitness account of the battle, Arnold Henry Savage Landor, an English painter, explorer, writer, and anthropologist who accompanied the expedition, said a quick body count taken in the still-burning fort showed 30 Moro warriors dead on the top floor, with one American killed and  fourteen wounded. However, in his report to Mindanao Dept Commander Brig Gen Samuel S. Sumner, Pershing claimed one hundred twenty Meranaws lost their lives for only eleven Americans wounded.

The following day, April 9, 1903, the Americans bombarded Kota Kalawi with mortars and Maxim-Vickers machine guns. In his report, Pershing claimed the Meranaw defenders abandoned their positions after suffering twenty three casualties.

It’s a Hoax

However, an archeological dig commissioned by the Bangsamoro Commission for the Preservation of Cultural Heritage (BCPCH-Lanao del Sur) and conducted by Dr Neri’s team from the University of the Philippines School of Archaeology from July 29 to August 19, 2024 showed no evidence of the purported Battle of Kalawi ever taking place.

“Of the six trenches we dug on the Kota Kalawi site, we found only a single bullet and no evidence of bullet penetration on the North Wall from the purported machine gun fire or mortar fire,” Neri noted. “There’s also simply no space within the kota to accommodate a hundred defenders.”

“Archeologically, this does not support the historical narrative,” Neri stressed.

Furthermore, records show the US Army only procured the Vickers-Maxim machine gun (notably the U.S. Model of 1904 Maxim) after 1904 since the contract for its purchase was only signed on 1904 with the Vickers, Sons & Maxim in the UK, putting further doubts on Pershing’s claims.

“This is the first ever re-examination/review of the accepted narrative on the Battle of Kota Kalawi conducted with the aid of archaeology. Neri’s assertion is therefore a bold challenge to the traditionally-accepted events of the battle that could alter its historiography,” observed Iligan Historian Ricardo Jorge S. Caluen. “It is difficult to challenge findings of archaeology that are based solely on material evidence.”

This was the first-ever formal archeological excavation in Lanao del Sur. The excavation project was a collaboration among the University of the Philippines School of Archaeology (UPSA), Mindanao State University-Main Campus, and Mindanao State University-Iligan Institute of Technology, organized by the Bangsamoro Commission for the Preservation of Cultural Heritage (BCPCH).

On 30 June 1901, Pershing was honorably discharged from the Volunteers and he reverted to the rank of captain in the Regular Army, to which he had been promoted on 2 February 1901.

He served with the 1st Cavalry Regiment in the Philippines. He later was assigned to the 15th Cavalry Regiment, serving as an intelligence officer. In June 1901, he served as commander of Camp Vicars in Lanao and was cited for bravery for participating in actions against the Moros at Lake Lanao. He later served as the military governor of the Moro Province with the rank of Brigadier General, and commander of the Department of Mindanao from 1909 to 1913.

Pershing, a 40-year-old captain with dim career prospects in 1901, had by 1903 fought a successful counterinsurgency around Lake Lanao, firmly established U.S. sovereignty and won over most of the Meranaw datus. Recognizing his accomplishments, in the summer of 1906 the Army took the unusual step of promoting Pershing from captain directly to brigadier general. He went on to command the American Expeditionary Forces in Europe during World War I, and in 1919 was promoted by special act of Congress to the rank of general of the armies, the highest rank in the U.S. armed forces.

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References:

The Archeology and History of Kota Kalawi (2026), University of the Philippines School of Archeology, Bangsamoro Commission for the Preservation of Cultural Heritage-Lanao del Sur,

Fleming, Thomas. Pershing’s Island War (August 1968). Volume 19, Issue 5. Americanheritage.com. https://www.americanheritage.com/pershings-island-war

Hitt, Parker Col. AUS (Retired), (February 1938), Amphibious Infantry-A Fleet on Lake Lanao, Proceedings, Vol. 64/2/420)  https://www.usni.org/magazines/proceedings/1938/february/amphibious-infantry-fleet-lake-lanao

Hitt, Parker. Parker Hitt photograph collection, Philippine Photographs Digital Archive, Special Collections Research Center, University of Michigan (retrieved 30 August 2026)

Landor, Arnold Henry Savage. The Gems of the East: Sixteen Thousand Miles of Research Travel Among Wild and Tame Tribes of Enchanting Islands (1904), Harper & Brothers (New York) & Macmillan (London).

Maggioni, Paul. Hearts and Minds in Mindanao. (2017). Historynet.com. (retrieved 01 September 2026)

Moro Rebellion, TR Encyclopedia -War and Military Affairs, The Theodore Roosevelt Center. Retrieved 30 August 2026

Pershing, John J., Capt (AUS)  page 90 of letter to Brig Gen. (AUS) Samuel S. Sumner, Camp Vicars, Mindanao dated May 15, 1903, Appendix III. Occupation of the Lake Lanao Region. (June 13, 1903), Headquarters, Department of Mindanao, Annual Report of Major General George W. Davis, commanding Division of the Philippines from October 1, 1902 to July 26, 1903, page 240 of 436  

Pershing, John J., John J. Pershing Papers, 1902-1903, University of Michigan (Special Collections Research Center)   

Sumner, Samuel S., Brig Gen (AUS) Commander, Department of Mindanao.  Page 29, Appendix II, Annual Report of Major General George W. Davis, United States Army, commanding Division of the Philippines from October 1, 1902 to July 26, 1903. Page 177 of 436

 Vandiver, Frank E., Black Jack : the life and times of John J. Pershing (1977). Texas A&M University Press. Volume II, page 258