During the engagement, 750 men and officers, under the command of Colonel J.W. Duncan, assaulted the volcanic crater of Bud Dajo (Tausūg: Būd Dahu), which was populated by 800 to 1,000 Tausug villagers. According to Herman Hagedorn (who was writing prior to World War II), the position held by the Moros was the strongest which hostiles in the Philippines have ever defended against American assault. Although the engagement was a victory for the American forces, it was also an unmitigated public-relations disaster. Whether a battle or massacre, it was certainly the bloodiest of any engagement of the Moro Rebellion, with only six of the hundreds of Moro surviving the bloodshed. Estimates of American casualties range from fifteen killed to twenty-one killed and seventy-five wounded.