The Story of the British Army

by Charles Cooper King

Thus, in 1841, detachments of the 18th, 26th, and 49th landed and took Chuenpee, the Bocca-Tigris Forts were destroyed, and Canton fell. The squadron from Hong Kong Harbour then captured Amoy, the marines and 26th occupying Kulangsu on the left of the entrance, and the 18th and 49th the great battery on the right, or city, side.

The flank of this long, low, coast battery was covered by a crenelated wall, and when the Royal Irish swarmed over it, the “Tiger Braves,” so called from their uniform and the tiger’s face on their huge wicker shields, endeavoured to frighten the invaders by yells and jumps. But it had little effect, and we “picked ’em off,” said one soldier, “like partridges on the wing.” This was the first campaign in which the percussion musket was employed.

Chusan was abandoned for a while, but reoccupied later by the 18th, 49th, and 55th; and shortly afterwards the seaport of Ningpo was taken, together with Chinghai; while the following year Chapoo and Woosung, at the mouth of the Shanghai river, were destroyed, and a severe battle took place at Chin Kiang, which placed the whole of the most important ports of the Chinese littoral in British hands.

The Tartar troops fought with desperation at Chin Kiang, and, according to a barbarous custom, based possibly on dread of ill-treatment to prisoners, they murdered their wives and children before retreating. One deep draw-well was full to the brim of drowned Tartar girls, some well dressed and of the higher class.

The fall of Chin Kiang, and the threat to advance upon Nankin, had brought the emperor to his senses, though probably he had been deceived up to that time as to the result of the invaders’ efforts. He sued for peace, therefore, and obtained it at the expense of the cession of Hong Kong, the opening of five ports to trade, and the payment of an indemnity of four and a quarter millions sterling. For this campaign the regiments engaged bear the dragon, with “China,” among their badges.

There was a further small ebullition of hostility to the “Fan Kwei,” or “foreign devils,” in 1847, in which the 18th was employed to quell the disturbance, but it was not of much military interest.

But in 1856 hostilities again broke out on a more serious scale. The Chinese had seized the Arrow, a small trading vessel, and taken a man out of her, on the ground that he was a pirate. The insult to the flag could not be permitted, and the refusal of apology led to a second declaration of war. The 59th Regiment was already on the China station, and with the assistance of the Royal Marines, early in 1857, bombarded and stormed Canton; it also served in the expedition to the White Cloud Mountains and at the capture of Nantow in 1858. But the gravity of the situation in India was too profound to admit of the despatch of reinforcements to the far East until the great Mutiny was quelled. It was not until 1859, therefore, that active operations were resumed, and these met with a disastrous check at the first move; for the fleet, in attempting to destroy the forts which the Chinese had erected at the mouth of the Peiho, was decidedly repulsed. In 1860, therefore, a serious combined naval and military expedition was planned. The former was commanded by Admiral Hope; the latter by Sir Hope Grant, and consisted of the 1st Dragoon Guards, a battalion of the 1st Royals, the 2nd Queen’s, the 3rd Buffs, and the 31st, 44th, 60th, 67th, and 99th Regiments, together with the Royal Marines and Indian troops, including the famous “Fane’s” and “Probyn’s” Horse. But, in addition, we were allied with a French force under General Montauban, and, as is not uncommon in such allied operations, the small French contingent was often rather a drag than an assistance, totally unprovided as it was with regular cavalry.

A landing was effected near the mouth of the Peiho, at Pehtang in the Gulf of Pecheli, and the army marched towards Sinho. The Taku forts were of considerable size, strongly armed and surrounded by wet ditches and lines of bamboo pickets. But they were stormed none the less, after a brief skirmish on the way at Sinho, the works on the north side being first assailed, as being least formidable and commanding the southern fort, which was, moreover, to be bombarded from the sea by the French and British gunboats. But the fall of the first north fort attacked, where Lieutenants Rogers of the 44th and Burslem of the 67th showed great gallantry in carrying the colours of their regiments, led to the abandonment of the rest. Unlike the previous war, this was undertaken with the definite strategic plan of bringing pressure to bear upon the emperor by the seizure of his capital. Leaving the Buffs at Taku, and despatching the 44th to Shanghai, the army marched to Tientsin, whither the lighter vessels of the squadron also steamed. The route taken was along the south bank of the Peiho, by Tientsin, Chan-Chia-Wan, and Palichaio, where the river was crossed, and then, after a detour to the Summer Palace of Yuan-ming-Yuan, the capital was reached, and preparations made to breach its massive walls. No serious resistance was offered until the army had reached Chan-Chia-Wan, where there was a sharp skirmish, and the enemy abandoned his entrenched position, with 74 guns, within a few miles of Pekin; and exasperation was added to the desire for attacking the Chinese by the unwarrantable seizure of Captain Brabazon, Lieutenant Anderson, Mr. Norman, Mr. Bowden, and Mr. (afterwards Sir Harry) Parkes, who were taken prisoners, and with the sole exception of Parkes, barbarously murdered.

One last effort was made to cover Pekin, before the emperor fled, at the Bridge of Palichaio, and here the French attacked with the greatest vigour the Chinese Imperial Guard, and drove them back with loss, taking 25 guns. This obtained for General Montauban the title of Comte de Palikao. The further advance was practically unopposed. The Summer Palace was looted and finally burned; the main gate of Pekin surrendered to avoid bombardment.

The plunder in the Summer Palace was immense, but the French, less scrupulous than the British, began it, and had the best of it.