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

While this was going on, Sir Hugh Gough had marched on towards the city wall, and was joined there by Sir William Parker with the naval brigade. As soon as the Admiral had landed, Captain Hall, with three of his officers (including the surgeon) and sixteen men, (eight seamen, and eight of the Bombay artillery,) also landed as volunteers, and, after clearing a hill in their front of some straggling Chinese soldiers, they advanced directly up the hollow, at the extremity of which stood the large building just mentioned. Already Colonel Tomlinson was killed, and several other officers wounded; both the rockets and the small field-piece had failed to clear the house of its defenders. Captain Pears, the field engineer, had also come up, and proposed to endeavour to blow in a portion of the outer wall by means of a bag of powder.

Seeing a small side-door open, Captain Hall, followed by Lieutenant Fitzjames and one of his own men, got close to it and fired into it, wounding a Tartar mandarin, but it was too hazardous to try to force a passage in; and, as the defenders kept up a smart fire from the windows above, it was necessary to retire under cover. An attempt was then made to set fire to the building, by throwing combustibles in at the principal door; and Captain Hall rushed in towards it, with a bundle of straw in one hand and his sword in the other, followed by several of his men and one or two officers. Scarcely had he reached the doorway, when a smart fire was opened from within, by which two of his men were shot dead close by his side, but he himself escaped as if by a miracle.

The bodies were instantly removed to a place of safety, and this attempt failed, as the others had done. Three or four of the Tartars now made an attempt to escape, by rushing out of the doorway, and ran the gauntlet of ten or a dozen shots directed at them. They ran for their lives and escaped, although, from the traces of blood, it was thought that more than one of them must have been wounded.

Captain Pears at length got a powder-bag fixed to the northern wall of the building, which blew it in; and a small party of the 18th again attempted to enter it, but one of them was killed, and two wounded, and the rest withdrew. In fact, it was so dark inside the building, and the space was so narrow, that it was impossible to make a rush at it.

It was next proposed to set the place on fire, for on one side the upper part of the building appeared to be built of wood. Another powder-bag was fixed to that side of the house, just below the wood-work, in the hope that it would knock it all down together, or else set it on fire. The explosion was so powerful that it not only destroyed part of the wall, but brought down the wood-work above it, and thus many of the Tartars above became exposed, of whom some were shot, and others succeeded in getting down below. But, wherever a Tartar shewed himself at a window in any part of the building, several muskets were levelled at him; and, on the other hand, so well did the Tartars take aim with their matchlocks, that one of the Royal Irish, who would persist in merely peeping round the doorway "just to see if he couldn't pick off a Tartar," received a shot in his knee, before he had himself time to fire.

The fragments of the wood-work, which had tumbled down, were now collected into a heap by the sappers, and set on fire, which soon communicated to the rest of the building. Gradually, as it spread, the matchlocks of the Tartars (probably of the fallen) were heard to go off, and loud cries were uttered. The rest of the defenders must evidently surrender; and, on entering the doorway, the poor fellows could now be seen stripping off their clothes to avoid the flames, and running about in despair from one side to the other. About fifty were taken prisoners, but two or three, who tried to escape, were shot; and so exasperated were the 18th at the loss of their colonel, and some of their comrades, that it was not without difficulty they were prevented from putting several of the prisoners to death. These were now tied together by their tails, in parties of eight or ten, so that they could not well run away all together; and they were marched off, under an escort, to the walled town, which had already been taken possession of.

The walls had been scaled near the east gate, by the grenadiers of the 55th, without opposition; and the other gates of the town were soon occupied by passing round the ramparts. There were few guns, or even ginjals, mounted on them; and the Chinese, having been once driven from the heights, and cut off from the city, were dispersed all over the country, a large body of them taking the direction of Hang-chow-foo.

Between Chapoo and that city there is a good canal communication, supposed to be connected with the grand canal itself; and, in addition to that, the communication by land, along a good causeway, broad enough for artillery, gave many facilities for an immediate advance upon the capital. It was said also, that a curious Chinese map of the road, and of the adjacent country had been obtained; but, with so small a force, it was not thought advisable to march further inland.

If the loss of the Chinese was great on this day, so was it on our side much greater than on any previous occasion. The high spirit of the Tartar soldiers, the descendants of the conquerors of China, and soldiers by birthright, could not brook a total defeat; and, when they were further stimulated by the excitement of opium, their self-devotion and stubbornness tended to increase their loss. When they could no longer fight, they could die; and the instances of mad self-destruction, both within the city and without, were perfectly horrible. Many of the Tartars were with difficulty prevented from cutting their throats, which they attempted to do with apparent indifference. On visiting the large building, or joss-house, which had resisted so long, and had cost so many lives, a number of dead and wounded men were found huddled together in a horrible manner, in one of the out-buildings attached to it. The ruins of the house were still smoking, and our object was to drag out the wounded and put them under cover until they could be properly attended to, for, on all occasions, the Chinese wounded received every attention that could be shewn them from our medical officers. Just as our men began to move aside the dead bodies, a Tartar soldier, who had until now concealed himself among them, literally rising from the dead, stood up suddenly and drew his sword. But, instead of making a dash for his life, or giving himself up as a prisoner, he began deliberately to hack his own throat with the rusty weapon, and inflicted two wounds upon himself before his hand could be stopped. Another man was found concealed in a deep hollow in the earth, where there was a sort of oven, and could not be got out until some men were sent to dig him out, and he was then found to be wounded. Altogether, the scene at this house was quite enough by itself to appal any man with the horrors of war. Many of the wounded were dreadfully mutilated, and the dead bodies were charred and disfigured.