Competing Military and Civilian Remembrances of “Black Jack” Pershing and the Moros, 1899–1914

Abstract

This chapter provides readers with an overview of some of the Pershing “pig bullets” references that appeared in American conventional archives and public archives between 1899 and 1914. The author argues that a critical genealogical review of some of the materials left us by anti-imperialists and pro-expansionists shows that perhaps some of Pershing’s troops started to circulate stories about the burial of juramentados with pigs or similar tales around 1904 and these proliferated at the same time that General Pershing rose through the ranks. This chapter also illustrates how American journalistic coverage of General Leonard Wood at Bud Dajo in 1906 and Pershing at Bud Bagsak in 1913 catalyzed anti-imperialist and pro-expansionist debates about who was to blame for the violence.