As the need for foreign troops in China became apparent during the Boxer Rebellion, Liscum and his 1,350 men were dispatched to the Taku Forts, arriving on July 9, 1900, only four days before the assault on Tianjin was to begin. As Liscum and Robert Leamy Meade were among the last to arrive at the Eight-Nation Alliance fort, they were unable to participate in the planning of the attack and were instead subject to the will of British Royal Engineers General Arthur Dorward.