Although General Arthur MacArthur Jr., commanding in the Philippines, was reluctant to weaken his already overextended forces, he agreed to dispatch to China the 9th Infantry Regiment, which departed from Manila on June 27. On June 17 the United States Navy's China Squadron under Rear Admiral Louis Kempff declined to join foreign naval forces in the Battle of Taku Forts, which guarded the river approach to Tientsin. On July 6 the 9th Infantry Regiment arrived at Taku. Colonel Emerson H. Liscum, commander of the 9th Infantry Regiment, disembarked the regiment's 1st and 2nd Battalions and marched on Tientsin. On 13 July 1900 elements of this force participated in the attack on Tientsin troops from several other nations. The city of Tientsin fell to the Allies on the same day. Liscum and the flag bearer of the regiment were killed by Chinese snipers, the 9th infantry regiment suffered a ten percent casualty rate.