102 



CHINA. 



nese position was planned for the same day. The 

 plan was that of the Russian Gen. Stoessel, who 

 undertook to cross the Lutai Canal on a pontoon 

 bridge and capture the batteries on the north 

 bank, after which his force was to attack the Chi- 

 nese camp and afterward the fort, while the rest 

 of the allied forces made an attack on the south 

 wall of the city and the neighboring suburbs. 

 The operation was not carried out until July 13, 

 when with the newly mounted British naval guns 

 the European artillery, numbering 42 guns, for 

 the first time overmatched the Chinese. A re- 

 enforcement of 1,200 Americans arrived on July 

 12, bringing the international force up to 10,000, 

 including 1,200 Japanese. The Russians advanced 

 early the next morning on the right with 3,100 

 soldiers and 400 French and German marines, to 

 capture the batteries on the Lutai Canal and clear 

 the camps, while under cover of the naval bat- 

 tery on the west 2,000 Japanese, under Gen. 

 Fukushima, and 850 French, 800 Americans, 800 

 British, and 50 Austrians under command of Gen. 

 Dorward, attacked the city by another wide flank- 

 ing movement. The Russians were successful 

 after a hard day's fight. They captured the bat- 

 teries and destroyed the camps, losing 15*0 men, 

 and returned in the evening, leaving a force to 

 attack the forts at dawn. The attack on the city 

 was begun by a heavy bombardment from the two 

 English naval batteries, which landed their shells 

 so well that a powder magazine exploded at the 

 beginning of the battle, and the Chinese fire, 

 which was spirited at first, soon grew slack. A 

 terrific explosion of brown prismatic powder oc- 

 curred soon after the infantry began to advance. 

 The turning movement was made in long lines, 

 the Japanese advancing under cover of the mud 

 wall to the south gate, the other troops following 

 in three lines, the plan being to take the city by 

 working round the walls. As the Japanese led 

 the attack in the center, the Ninth American 

 Regiment, supporting them on the left, was taken 

 over to their center when it was seen that they 

 urgently needed help there, and was caught in a 

 furious rifle fire. Col. Liscum was killed while 

 directing his men to cover. The French also went 

 to the support of the Japanese and lost heavily. 

 The Japanese were brought to a stop by the 

 heavy fire from the walls, and made only slight 

 and intermittent progress beyond the mud wall, 

 from which the artillery of the allies at times 

 caused a momentary pause in the Chinese fire. 

 The Japanese hung on to every foot they gained, 

 although their losses were enormous. Those of 

 the British, resting under cover, were slight ex- 

 cepting among detachments of sailors and marines 

 that were sent to support the Americans and to 

 strengthen the Japanese right. The shell fire of the 

 allies produced considerable effect, yet evening 

 came before the Japanese could reach the gate to 

 blow it up. The Chinese had destroyed the bridge 

 over the moat. Gen. Fukushima determined to hold 

 his position through the night, to throw a bridge 

 over under cover of darkness, and to resume the 

 attack early in the morning unless the Chinese, as 

 his experience taught him they might, should 

 evacuate their positions during 'the night. This 

 most of them did, and when the Japanese crossed 

 the moat, blew up the entrance to the bastion, and 

 scaled the walls with remarkable quickness and 

 skill before it was light in the morning of July 

 14, they met with but little opposition. The 

 French, British, and Americans followed. The 

 Chinese troops retreated toward Pekin. The 

 losses of the allies in the battle were 775 men 

 among 8,000 troops engaged. The city was divided 

 into four sections, and these were placed respec- 



tively under British, Japanese, French, and Amer- 

 ican jurisdiction. The guards were of little use, 

 except the Japanese. Arson and the butchery 

 of noncombatants began at once, and the object 

 was the looting of this rich commercial city, in 

 which European soldiers and officers vied with the 

 Chinese rabble. The Yangtse viceroys appealed 

 'to foreign powers to save Tientsin from destruc- 

 tion, as it would take a hundred years to restore 

 it, and the effect would be disastrous to foreign 

 as well as to Chinese commerce, saying that the 

 foreign ministers in Pekin were protected, and that 

 Li-Hung-Chang had been transferred to north 

 China as Viceroy of Pechili. 



After the capture of Tientsin the generals de- 

 cided that, in view of the large forces that the 

 Chinese Government had assembled to contest the 

 route and of the difficulty of moving troops and 

 transporting supplies in the rainy season, they 

 could not safely advance to the relief of the lega- 

 tions until their forces were much strengthened 

 and the organization of transport more complete. 



Capture of Pekin. The march from Tientsin 

 to Pekin began on the afternoon of Aug. 4. There 

 were 22,000 men in the relief column when it 

 started. Of these, 12,000 were Japanese, forming 

 11 battalions, 3 field and 3 mountain batteries of 

 6 guns each, and 3 squadrons of cavalry. They 

 were organized in two brigades, one under Gen. 

 Yamaguchi and one under Gen. Fukushima. The 

 chief command of the international forces de- 

 volved upon the Russian Gen. Linevich as senior 

 officer. The British contingent consisted of a bat- 

 talion of Welsh Fusileers, a Sikh and a Rajput 

 regiment, a regiment of Punjabi infantry, one of 

 Bengal lancers, and a naval brigade of sailors and 

 marines, with a battery of 4 12-pounder naval 

 guns, 1 of 15-pounders of the royal artillery, and 

 1 of muzzle-loading 7-pounder screw guns belong- 

 ing to the Asiatic artillery, the total force num- 

 bering 2,800. The Americans, under Gen. Chaffee, 

 numbered 2,400 men of the Ninth and Fourteenth 

 Infantry and the Sixth Cavalry, marines, and a 

 field battery and a number of Colt automatic and 

 Gatling guns. The Russians had 3 battalions of 

 1,000 men each, with 4 field batteries of 8 guns 

 each, some Maxim guns, and a sotnia of Cossacks. 

 The French had a force of 800 men, Anamese 

 and Europeans, ready to start, with a battery of 

 old field guns. The Austrians, Italians, and Ger- 

 mans were not in sufficient force to join the col- 

 umn. 



During the preliminary reconnoissances Capt. 

 de Marolles, with a party of French marines, em- 

 braced a chance to seize the Hsiku arsenal, which 

 his men held in spite of the determined efforts of 

 the Chinese to recapture the position. When the 

 general movement began the Japanese had the 

 advance on the west side of the river, supported 

 by the British and Americans. The Russians and 

 French, 4,000 strong, took the east bank between, 

 the river and the railroad, beyond which the Chi- 

 nese had flooded the country to prevent a flanking 

 movement. Reconnoissances had shown a long 

 line of intrenchments at Hsiku, which were be- 

 lieved to be held by about 30,000 men. At day- 

 light on Aug. 5 the Japanese cavalry made a 

 brilliant charge into a battery on the extreme 

 right of the Chinese line and cut down the gun- 

 ners before they recovered from their surprise. 

 though not without severe loss. This capture 

 equalized the artillery forces. Under cover of a 

 heavy fire from the British naval 12-pounders 

 which checked the Chinese fire of shrapnel, the 

 Japanese infantry, without waiting for the British 

 and Americans to come up, extended their line, 

 advanced close to the Chinese intrenchments, and 



