[52d Co. P.S. Only Mohammedan soldiers under U.S. flag. Organized under direction of Gen. J.J. Pershing in 1909]

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This photograph documents a company of Muslim soldiers serving under the American flag in the southern Philippines, a detail the title highlights in naming them as the only Mohammedan soldiers in the U.S. service. The caption credits the unit's organization to Gen. John J. Pershing, who led the Moro Province on Mindanao and Sulu from 1909 and recruited local Moro men into U.S.-led forces, which were often called Philippine Scouts. Such units were meant to extend American authority among Muslim communities that had resisted earlier colonial rule. The picture is part of the John Joseph Pershing Collection, which makes it a useful record of how the army sought to build local alliances in the early years of American rule.

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