The Moro Crater massacre is a name given to the final phase of the First Battle of Bud Dajo

First Battle of Bud Dajo

The First Battle of Bud Dajo, also known as the Battle of Mt. Dajo, was a counter insurgency action fought by the United States Army against native Moros in March 1906, during the Moro Rebellion phase of the Philippine-American War...

, a military engagement of the Philippine-American War

Philippine-American War

The Philippine–American War, also known as the Philippine War of Independence or the Philippine Insurrection , was an armed conflict between a group of Filipino revolutionaries and the United States which arose from the struggle of the First Philippine Republic to gain independence following...

 which took place March 10, 1906, on the isle of Jolo

Jolo

Jolo may refer to:* Jolo Island* Jolo, Sulu* Jolo, West Virginia* Jolo is also the nickname of Swedish author Jan Olof Olsson....

 in the southern Philippines

Philippines

The Philippines , officially known as the Republic of the Philippines , is a country in Southeast Asia in the western Pacific Ocean. To its north across the Luzon Strait lies Taiwan. West across the South China Sea sits Vietnam...

. Forces of the U.S. Army under the command of Major General

Major General

Major general or major-general is a military rank used in many countries. It is derived from the older rank of sergeant major general. A major general is a high-ranking officer, normally subordinate to the rank of lieutenant general and senior to the ranks of brigadier and brigadier general...

 Leonard Wood

Leonard Wood

Leonard Wood was a physician who served as the Chief of Staff of the United States Army, Military Governor of Cuba and Governor General of the Philippines. Early in his military career, he received the Medal of Honor. Wood also holds officer service #2 in the Regular Army...

, a naval detachment comprising 540 soldiers, along with a detachment of native constabulary, armed with artillery

Artillery

Originally applied to any group of infantry primarily armed with projectile weapons, artillery has over time become limited in meaning to refer only to those engines of war that operate by projection of munitions far beyond the range of effect of personal weapons...

 and small firearms, attacked a village hidden in the crater of the dormant volcano Bud Dajo

Bud Dajo

Bud Dajo , is one of the cinder cones that make up the island of Jolo and part of the Jolo Volcanic Group in the Republic of the Philippines. The extinct volcano is located southeast from the town of Jolo in Sulu province...

. More than 600 mostly unarmed Muslim

Islam in the Philippines

Islam is the oldest recorded monotheistic religion in the Philippines. Islam reached the Philippines between the 12th and 14th century with the arrival of Muslim traders from Persian Gulf and the Malabar Coast in Southern India, and their followers from several sultanate governments in the Malay...

 Moro villagers (including many women and children) were killed by the Americans, of whom eighteen soldiers were killed and fifty-two were wounded.