A Chinaman who arrived from near Tientsin reported Boxers very thick around there, and that three divisions of troops had left Tientsin June 24 to come to Peking, one coming north, one west, and one east.
June 28. No news of importance.
June 29. In the morning there was an attack made by the Chinese on the south stables, the weakest part of the whole legation compound. This was repulsed after a short fight, and about twenty British marines under Captain Strouts went out after the Chinese, killing a large number of them, and capturing their rifles with about six hundred rounds of ammunition. The guns were mostly Mauser rifles and carbines. They were distributed among the unarmed men of the legation. Captain Strouts was grazed in the neck by a bullet. Later fifty volunteers, under Captain Wray, went out to capture a gun near the Su Wang Fu that was making things unpleasant for the people there. They could not find it, however, and had to return.
By this time nearly all the Chinese houses near the United States legation had been burned in the various attempts to fire the legation, and in the ruins of these houses a number of Chinese snipers installed themselves, making it extremely dangerous for any one attempting to cross Legation street.
June 30. At night there was a very heavy thunderstorm, the first of the rainy season. Simultaneously with the thunder, the Chinese started a terrific fusillade from all quarters. The hideous noise, with the vivid flashes of lightning and the torrents of rain, produced an effect on the minds of all who witnessed it that they will probably never forget.
July 1. The Americans and Germans were forced by heavy shell-fire to leave the wall. Later in the day the Americans returned, but the Germans did not. The Chinese were quiet at night, there being hardly any firing at all. The reason for this was supposed to be temporary shortness of ammunition. At night a good many people believed they saw flashes from an electric search-light, which was supposed to be with the troops at Tungchow. They claimed to have seen at first forty flashes, then an interval, followed by eight more. This they supposed to be some kind of a signal to us, but since it has all turned out to be heat lightning. Ed. Wagner, one of the customs men, was struck and killed in the French legation by a shell.
July 2. It rained at night, and no flashlights (?) were seen.
July 3. The Chinese on the wall had built up their barricade so high during the night that it almost overlooked our own (the two were only forty yards apart), and had they been able to build a little higher they might easily have fired right down on our men, so that it became a question of rushing the Chinese barricade or of leaving the wall. The former course was adopted. At 3 a.m., fifteen United States marines, fifteen Russian sailors, and twenty-five British marines, led by Captain John Myers, in the blackest part of the night, crept silently over the American barricade, and, dividing into two parties, each keeping close to either side of the wall battlements, advanced rapidly right up to the face of the Chinese barricade undiscovered. Arrived here, as agreed, they gave a tremendous yell, and swarmed over and around the barricade, yelling and firing volleys into the astonished Celestials, who, taken entirely by surprise by the yelling foreign devils, made very little resistance, and speedily fled to their second line of defense, some distance westward toward the Chien Men.
Before starting, Captain Myers had briefly addressed his men, telling them the vital necessity of capturing the barricade. “Men,” he said, “we must take that place at all costs or be driven off the wall! Once off the wall, the legations will lie at the mercy of the Chinese, and we, with all the women and children, will be butchered. This is our opportunity. I expect every man to do his duty. We cannot stop to pick up any who may be wounded, but must press on and accomplish the work, leaving the wounded until we return. If I fall, Sergeant Murphy of the British marines succeeds to command; if he falls Corporal Hunt of the American marines succeeds him. Now, when I give command, spring over the barricade, and follow me.” He immediately gave the command: “Come on!” The sortie was most successful, the barricade was gained and held, but we lost two brave American boys, Privates Turner and Thomas. Captain Myers was badly wounded by a spear-thrust in his knee, and Corporal Gregory of the British marines was shot in the foot.
July 4. Independence day in America, but a day of red-hot fireworks for us. Chinese butchers on the outside trying hard to get in and murder us. Only celebration by Americans was a party given to the smaller children by Mrs. Squiers.