The exact circumstances surrounding Lt. Colonel Grove’s actions are unknown. Given the language of the citation, he probably was ambushed by Filipino troops during a scouting mission with Colonel J. Franklin Bell. Grove, who had a special duty of some kind (hence the title of commissary), charged with Colonel Bell to defeat and capture the insurgents mentioned in the citation. Bell, who also received the Medal of Honor, received a similarly worded citation, which also mentions a capture of insurgents “concealed in a bamboo thicket.”

This skirmish occurred during America’s hunt for insurrection leader Aguinaldo and his Army of Liberation attempting to puncture the defensive perimeter established around Manila by U.S. commander Arthur MacArthur. Grove’s 36th Infantry, U.S. Volunteers, made up part of MacArthur’s command, the 2nd Division. During the Philippine rainy season in autumn 1899, military operations had been limited by 46 inches of precipitation that turned dirt paths into mud slicks. The resulting wetness of soldiers’ clothes and living areas produced a miserable situation with skyrocketing disease and sick leave.

As a result of these limitations, most military operations involved reconnaissance and small skirmishes. The 36th, in a limited August offensive designed to expand territory held north of Manila, fought around the villages of Bacolor and Angeles. After U.S. military forces secured these communities, the Army of Liberation, according to one historia, “returned and hemmed in the defenders; and the miserable summer continued.”