Spanish–Moro conflict
The Spanish initiated the conflict by conquering the Philippines and invading Moro territory in an effort to subjugate the region to their rule since the 1500s. When the Spanish conquered the Muslim Kingdom of Maynila, a vassal of the Sultanate of Brunei, the Islamic rajah, Rajah Sulayman resisted the Spanish. Manila then became the capital of the Spanish Philippines after the conquest, with the Spanish forcibly converting people to Catholicism. The Spanish–Moro Wars started with the Castille War, a war between Spaniards and the Sultanate of Brunei. (The term "Moro" at this time included Muslim Tagalogs who were ruled by the Sultanate of Brunei).
Andrew Summers Rowan
By defeating Spain, the U.S. acquired a number of colonies, including the Philippine archipelago. The Filipinos, thinking the U.S. was freeing them from the Spanish, didn’t care to be ruled by yet another foreign power. They resisted U.S. control, and thus began the Philippine War (1899 – 1902), in which (now) Captain Andrew S. Rowan was to take part as commander of the First Battalion of the 19th Infantry Regiment. He was sent to the island of Cebu where he was assigned the subdistrict of Bogo. During this period he was involved in various expeditions and engagements with local insurgents, suffering a wound during one action.