Narrative of the Voyages and Services of the Nemesis from 1840 to 1843 / And of the Combined Naval and Military Operations in China: Comprising a Complete Account of the Colony of Hong-Kong and Remarks on the Character & Habits of the Chinese. Second Edition

by Sir W. H. Hall; W. D. Bernard

Besides the loss already mentioned, the 49th had three officers and four men wounded. Some of our officers were wounded severely, Lieutenant Lane having had his arm amputated upon the field.

On the following morning, at daylight, the grain magazines in the town, belonging to government, were opened to the people, and, as might be expected, were rapidly emptied. A large quantity of ginjals, matchlocks, and other warlike implements, were also collected upon the battle-field, and were nearly all destroyed. Among other curiosities were nine newly-invented brass tubes, of about three pounds calibre, and thirty-nine pounds weight, each with two handles; they had never been used, but were apparently intended to fire grape-shot. They were curiously bound round with catgut, and were probably to be fired while held between two men, as they were provided with handles for the purpose. One of them was given to Captain Hall, by the Admiral, and has since been deposited, with other Chinese weapons, at Windsor. Twenty-three guns were also captured, principally upon the walls of the town.

As the enemy had retreated towards the Chungkie Pass, about six or seven miles distant to the north-west, where it was reported that another fortified encampment had been formed, Sir Hugh Gough moved in advance, about one o'clock on the following day, the 16th; but having reached the foot of the hills, the position was found completely abandoned, although it was by nature a strong one. Dispositions were made for the attack, but none of the enemy were discovered, and consequently the hoped-for military chest was not captured. The Chinese had only just withdrawn, for they had left behind them some ammunition, and a supply of inferior bread, which is tolerably eatable, however, after a long march.

Having halted about two or three hours for rest, and after setting fire to all the buildings, our little army returned to the town of Tsekee the same evening.

It is proper here to remark that the peasantry, and the inhabitants generally, except where they happened casually to be intermingled with the soldiers during the flight, shewed little concern as to the fate of their countrymen. They appeared to be more astonished than frightened, particularly at the swimming of the horses of the artillery across the river, and then seeing them harnessed to the guns.

The town of Tsekee suffered very little. A large pawnbroker's shop was one of the greatest curiosities, being filled with furs, silks, &c. It was a large, extensive building, like a warehouse, as is commonly the case in China, and it afforded excellent quarters.

This engagement upon the heights of Segoan has been considered, by military men, as the most scientifically conducted affair which occurred during the war. Its success, at all events, was complete; and the Chinese army, which was now concentrated to the southward of Hang-chow-foo, for the purpose of covering the provincial capital, against which we were expected to advance, was said to be with much difficulty kept together, and to be in great want of supplies. The orders of the emperor, that the province which was the seat of the war for the time should defray all its expenses, excited much discontent, as might be expected.

Any proposed plan of advancing upon Hang-chow-foo which might have been thought of was now abandoned, and the great river, the Yangtze-Keang, was designed to be the principal seat of operations during the ensuing campaign. The vast inland trade passing through this main artery of the empire would be stopped; the traffic by the Grand Canal would be at our mercy; and there seemed every reason to expect that the presence of a large military and naval force, in the heart of the country, would lead the haughty Chinese cabinet to listen to terms of peace, which we hoped to dictate under the walls of the ancient Chinese capital, the imperial Nankin, the depository of the ashes of many of the ancient Emperors of China. Some, however, looked forward to a hoped-for advance upon Pekin, the great Tartar capital, by the river Peiho. The result, however, ultimately proved the wisdom of the former plan of operations.

During the months of April and May, reinforcements continued to arrive to strengthen the expedition, and the belief was general that it was determined to put an end to the war as soon as possible, by some means or other. A fresh corps of Bengal volunteers, a remarkably fine body of men, arrived from Calcutta; the 41st and the 2nd native infantry arrived from Madras, with a reinforcement of artillery, and a few horses for the guns. Several steamers and ships of war, with transports, continued to join in succession—namely, the Vixen from England, and the Tenasserim, Auckland, Ariadne, Medusa, and the little Hooghly steamers, belonging to the East India Company, from Bombay and Calcutta, all well armed, and some of them peculiarly adapted for river navigation.