The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1860-11-20
-Ritbmuna Qispatfb.
TUESDAY MORNING. NOV. 20, 1859

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TUESDAY MORNING ........ NOV. 20, 1859.
The War in China--The Capture of the
Taku Forts.
The China campaign lasted from the days
when the Peiho forts were taken. First the
entrenched camp ofthe Tartars at Ling.ho was
captured, In which the Tartar troops behaved
calamity, but stood nc chance against the I'M
proved Firearms OF the Allies. Next the for
titled town of Tons. Kee was captured, aud
ana,lv the Taku forts were taken. This last
spragemeut is describ bed as follows:
Tha n,an of attack for the 2lst, believe, wa.
thai the lstdivision OF English, with the rest of
xhe FRENCH should cross the river and threaten
,he southern forts, while the I'd division should
assault the nearest of the northern forts. Ac.
rordingiy, on the evening of the 20th, the "a
division m oved out and took up position in
froat of the said fort, but just out OF range,
while working parties were thrown OUT 'c
erect batteries for the siege tram, ana recon
noiteriEg parties examined the ihteIfeh,hs
crouad as closely "a possible, In order 10 se,ect
che most favorable points for atlaek; lne III.
aese eyiden tly had some mixing OF what was
yo,nr on for tney threw out showers OF hFe-
halls from the walls of the fort, III oroer 70
discover where our men We.e ane Wa wa t 10y
were about; but whether 1t was mat they
aithar could not make them out, or did not
consider the work they were engaged IN rs
affecting them at all seriously, they only Hred
break next morning, the division then ad-
,anced some four or five of our batteries nav
ing got in to position and pouring In tremen-
dous fire upon the fort with precision while
the infaptry-that is to say, one wing OF the
Forty. fourth, Royal Marines, and Sixty-sev-
cath and One hundred and Second regiment
of French-advanced; the Bluffs, the other
wing os the Forty fourth, and Pun]aub regt-
znent remaining In reserve, the Chinese reply
ing with great spirit, but little apparent skill,
almost all their shells bursting short, and their
round shot falling every W here but In the rignt
places On arriving at long, low embank-
anent about 500 yards from the fort, the lnfan-
try were halted and made 70 lie down, while
rhe batteries were all advanced 10 ranges va
~ying from $40 10 LOCO yards, and opened
st.il more telling fire, exploding two immense
magazines inside the fort, and in about an
hour nearly silencing the enemy'S big guns
The infantry then advanced again, half OF the
French regiment and the wing of the ith be-
ing thrown out as sharpshooters, while one
wing of the Royal Marines advanced with
scaling ladders and pontoons. and the other
wing with the rest of the Sixty seventh, Ioi-
lowed in support. As the stormiug party got
close, the fire poured into the fort from our
batteries became absolutely terrific Five or
six shot or shell went flying into ii every
minute, and the enemy could not show them
selves above the parapet ut all. Through the
ioopholes, however, they kept up heavy IRE
OF gingalls, which was brisKly responded TO
by our snarpshooters. Occasionally, too, a
big gun from the south side sent round shot
plump In amongst the storming party, bat the
tremendous explosions that had taken place
inside the fort, and the terrific fire they had
been subjected to, had probably paraiyZed
shem To u great extent, and their shots Were
consequently, few and far between. This fort,
like the wall at Tonghu, must tell you. was
also fronted by TWO wet bitches, both
eighteen feet in width, and about eight
or ten feet deep, the first one defended,
moreover, by strong aoattas, the second
by sharp stakes on both sides. On arriy-
ing at the first ditch, great difficulty was,
OF course, experienced in laying the pom
toons, the men being Knocked over here by the
dozen. Tue Engineers. under Col. Mans, and
the Royal Marines, under Col. Trayers, stuck
TO their work, however, aud ut last got the
pontoons over the first ditch, and they shortly
alter made q bridge over the second, believe,
with the strongest of the scaling ladders. The
lighter ladders were then planted against the
wall, and over they went, some q the French
aud some of the Sixty-seYenth getting il first,
believe, closely followed, however, by SONS
eIarines and these by the rest OF the storming
party. The French adopted a novel mode OF
getting in. They got up some OF their Chinese
coolies. aud made them stand in the ditca hold
lug scaling ladders up over their heads against
the wall, and SO at once crossed the second
ditch and got TO the top of the wall. The Tar
tars fought brayely even after our men got in,
using spears and swords,a as well as matchlocks,
and were shot and bayoneLted in numbers
They finally fed however, through the en-
orasures on the southern side Of the fort, and
andeay ored to make their escape TO the next
fort, about half mile OF, few with success,
however, the greater number being shot in the
attempt. Our loss in killed and wounded
amour ted TO DOL 10 men being left dead on the
field 81 officers and l6l men wounded. Or
these, officers and 65 Men belonged to the
4ith ) officers and % men TO the Royal Ma
rines, officers and about 90 men to the 9th,
ana the rest to the Royal Engineers and Ar
tiilery. The French left about 30 dead on the
field, believe, and had upwards OF 100 wound
ed. The Tartars must have lost, should
think, at least 5000. Their dead bodies were
sy1ug three deep IN some parts OF the fort, and
attHmntpd
was covered with their bodies. One pink
buttoned" or No. Mandarin was shot by Capt.
Prynne, of the ROya! Marines, who was one OF
the first officers into the fort. have since heard
that il was the mandarin second in COM
mand," a certain Lieutenant General |, " or
some such name Among The officers who par
ticularly distinguished themselves, may me H.
ton Capt. Gregory and Lieut. Rogers of the
aith. Leuts. Burslem and Chaplin of the 67t h.
and cut kempson OF the 99th, who is Aid
de Camp to Brigadier Reeves, of The Fourth
Brigade. Some of these officers, L be-
iieve, have been recommended for the
Victoria Gross, and certainly deserve 1t WELL
The gallant old Brigader Reeves was wound
ed III four places, / hear, but refused to be re-
anoyed 10 the rear, and still remains with his
brigade. Col. Travers, of the Royal Marines
Col. Mann and Major Graham it is superfiu
ous 10 mention, as the dispatches will doubt
less do them all Justice. Young Lit. Pritchard,
OF the Royal Engineers, also behaved with
conspicuous bravery. To Sir Robert Napier
ana has staff we are chiefly, however, of course,
always where they were wanted, and conduct
ed the operations with an amount of GOODNESS
and intrepidity that called forth the adm ira
tion OF ali who saw them. Sir Robert Napier
had his spyglass struck out OF his hand at one
shOI, and the heel Of his boot cut away by
other. Lieut Brooke, his aide. de-camp, was
shot through the thigh, and all must have had
numerous hairbreadth escapes, Tor they We're
greatly exposed. / must not forget 10 NEIL
ton, too, the conduct of the Chinese Cooiie
Corps. A few of them were attached TO each
regiment 10 carry stretchers and dhoolies for
the wounded. They kept close 10 their re-
specuve regiments throughout the whole day,
and never fiinched even when they were close
under the fort, aud subjected to very heavy
fire. have only 10 add that, within a quarter
OF an hour after the English and French Gags
were planted In the forts, nags OF truce We're
put up in all the other forts, and a pariey was
held, WI ich ended, as have already told you,
in their unconditional surrender, and not d
moment TOO soon either as a terrific thunder
storm shortly after came on, which drenched
every one to the skin, covered the plain in a
perfect swamp again and would have render
ed any further operations that day exceeding
~ unpleasant to say the least. wing of the
Third butts, the Punjaub regiment aud some
artillery, were, therefore, left IN possession of
the fort and the rest of the division were
marched back TO Taku for the night. And
such march. Through mud again ankle
deep, and wafer In many places over the knee.
However, IL is all over now, and in few
days more nearly every one will be comforta-
bly, housed either on board ship or in Tien-
Tsin. The natives are already quite at ease
with us, and are bringing in fowls, eggs, fruit
DC, In abundance.
49, THE ''DI>PA TCh,, STEAM
DA POWER
X N L Ct OFFICE,
Corner Of Nam and Thirteenth Streets, Riehmond,