The correspondent does not seem to have personally witnessed this incident, but seems rather to be relaying a war story shared with him by others. No mass executions were reported by the Tribune, and the copy is peppered with characterizations of Muslim Filipinos as "savage sultans" and "devilish brown men" that make anyone with modern day racial sensibilities bristle.



Snopes points to one account, a 1938 book, that reported the dead bodies of "Mohammedan" soldiers were buried with pig carcasses by an Army colonel. A 2013 book cites a letter from an American commander to Pershing recounting that burials with pigs were "a good plan" to discourage "crazy fanatics."



While it's certainly possible American soldiers used pigs or the threat of burial with pigs to discourage Islamic insurgents, there is little evidence the practice was sanctioned by Pershing, nor is there any evidence that Pershing ordered executions with bullets dipped in blood. Politifact points out there is actually solid historical evidence that Pershing favored diplomacy in dealing with the Moros.