The Manitowoc pilot. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1859-1932, 1859-10-07
The English and Chinese War

A correspondent of the New York Her.
aid, who dates [. S. Steam Frigate Pow
haitian, Gulf of Pichili, near Peho River,
July B, 1859, was an eye witness of the
battle Of Tahn, gives the following inter-
esting description of it:
On the 18th of May we left Hong Kong
for Shanghai via Ningho, the Torquan, a
small steamer, having previously been
chartered for the use of Mr.. Ward, the
/ United States Minister and his suite Ten
days thereafter we were at Woosnug,
where Mr.. Ward left us, and went up to
Shanghai on board the Mississippi with
a strong guard of marines. Our Minister
was cordially received at Shanghae 10y the
Chinese Commissioners. who politely in
formed him that on arriving at Pheiho
river he would find ambassadors in wait
ing to escort him, with all due pomp and
ceremony, to Pekin. Accordingly, Mr..
Ward returned to Woosung, and we set
sail, arriving at the Gulf of Piehili on the
2lst ult. Here we learned that the river
was in state of blockade from sunken
junks. chains and iron stakes, placed there
to prevent the advance of the Allied
Ministers on Pekin. Nevertheless on the
9th of June Mr.. Ward, accompanied by
his aid, our Commodore and Captain, and
an experienced interpreter, started in the
'iroquan for the Pehio river; but on apply
ing for passage we were refused, and told
that there was no one in authority to 1e-
ceive us nearer than the North Bend, a
place nine miles further north where. we
were informed we would find ambassadors
to escort us to Pekin.
The English, it appears, had been told
the same thing before our Minister'S arri-
val, and also that this was not the Peiho
river at all, but that the N orth Bend was
They had been plainly warnel that if they
attempted to force passage they would
be fired into. But the English, regarding
these threats of the Chinese as so much
empty Boosting, determined to pass up the
river at all hazards, and so began to make
their preparations. Our Commodore dis
believing the assertions of the Chinese and
having been informed 10y the British Adm-
raj that there was in reality no such place
as North Bend, concluded to follow The
English up the River, should they attempt
the passage. lie therefore remained un
der the fire of the forts and looked on.
At half past two o'clock in the afternoon
the work commenced, the Admiral's boat
taking the lead and es$ aging to heave up
one of the stakes The second one that
was attempted proved the signal for gem
eral cannonade on both sides. A shot
was first fired from one of the forts, and
} was promptly returned by every one of
| Z a
slaughter was really terrfc-such as |
never read or heard of before The gun
boats received tremendous damage, and 10
add to the difficulties Of their position, the
tide, which had been high on our arrival
receded gradually and left them aground
when they soon became perfect wrecks
During the hottest OF the tile Commodore
Tatnall had his barge manned and started
for the Admiral's gunboat. When along
side the latte shot from one of the fort.
struck the barge and killed the coxswain
John Hart, instantly. The Commodore
found only three survivors of the murder
, Gus fire on board the gunboat out of ;
force of thirty five, and the Admiral him
self was lying among the slain with one o
his legs broken.
e The action lasted until eight o'clock a
, night, and the boats had by that time ex
hausted all the ammunition 400 rounds
each, SO that they were completely at tn,
mercy of their antagonists-a target fo
} the destructive fire of the fort, in river no
} FIVE hundred yards in width There wa
but one French gun boat engaged in con
cert with the Engligh. An English office
who had been at the seige of Seba>topoo
remarked in my hearing, that at no on
time was the slaughter so great, or th,
firing so severe, as at this engagement
81 The English have lost in killed or missing
/. nearly six hundred men, and as many
wounded so severely too that they were
dying hourly. A large number who landed
= were killed in attempting to storm the
forts in the face of difficulties which, one
! would think, should have caused the com
manders to ponder well ere they gave thu
! hazardous order to attack. The men hac
to jump up to their waists in water, with
the almost certainty of destroying then
ammunition, and on reaching terra frnaa
instead of finding it firm, they had to wade
through mud into which they sunk deeper
and deeper and deeper, after having passed
trenches filled with quicksand, and run al
sorts of dangers and ;.nnoyances. While
the soldiers were in this helpless condition
blue lights were repeatedly fired from the
!. forts, to enable the Chinese to NOW down
} the French and English with murderous
p volleys Of grape and canister.
: Out of one company of three hundred
! men who had landed only one returned
4 alive. Every head was cut off and put il
9 bags by the Chinese. who thus exhibited
i them to their enemies Such defea
D surely the English have never met with
| yet they fought like lions and never finch
:. ed, grape shot, solid shot. and canister
flying in all directions above them. 1t il
generally supposed the forts were manned
: by European renegades of all nations
$ though some assert that the Russians
: played the principal part in the defense.
l am certainly of opinion that the Eng
ish Admiral was altogether too sanguine
and anticipated little resistance. But the
stout resistance of these incomprehensibl,
, Chinese soon disabused his mind of the ides
that, because the forts werd yielded up So
easily last year, they would also be surren
dered without opposition as soon as b.