Haw wars The Haw Wars ( ) , so called in Thai , were fought against Chinese quasi - military forces invading parts of Tonkin and Siam during the years of 1865 to 1890 . Forces invading Lao domains were particularly ill - disciplined and freely plundered Buddhist temples . Not knowing these were remnants of the aftermath of the Taiping Rebellion led by Hong Xiuquan , a heterodox Christian convert , the invaders were confused with Chinese Muslims from Yunnan called " Haw " ( Lao : ຮໍ່ ; Thai : ฮ่อ ; RTGS : " Ho " ; Mandarin Chinese : " Hui " . Forces sent by King Rama V failed to suppress the various groups , the last of which eventually disbanded in 1890 . Invasion of the flags . During the latter half of the 19th century , bands of Chinese warriors known as ' Flag Gangs ' ravaged large areas of northern Laos . Outlaws and freebooter s , the Flag Gangs were fleeing the suppression of the Taiping rebellion in China . Tonkin ( now northern Vietnam ) was invaded first , when units of the ' Black Flags ' and the rival ' Yellow Flags ' crossed the China - Vietnam frontier in 1865 and set up bases in the upper reaches of the Red River Valley . Vietnamese and Qing forces fight back . Black and yellow flags . Over the next twenty years the Black Flags and their leader , Liu Yung - fu , were to acquire a certain legitimacy and fame in the service both of the Vietnamese king , Tự Đức , and of the Qing monarch for their struggle against French imperialism in Tonkin . In contrast the Yellow Flags , under the leadership of Huang Chung - ying failed to acquire any legitimacy and , pursued by a combination of Vietnamese , Black Flag and Qing forces , were broken up and defeated . In 1875 – 76 , following the capture and execution of Huang Chung - ying by the Qing - Vietnamese forces , the surviving Yellow Flag remnants fled westwards into the upper part of the Black River Valley , whence they harassed the townships of the semi - independent Tai - speaking federation of Sip Son Chu Tai ( or Sip Song Chau Tai – Twelve Tai peoples , ) today part of north - western Vietnam ) and north - eastern Laos . Red and Striped Flags . Further to the west , starting about 1872 bands of defeated rebels fleeing the Qing reconquest of Yunnan also began drifting across the frontier into Laos , then a tributary state of the Kingdom of Siam . These new bands , distinguished by ' Red Flag ' and ' Striped Flag ' banners , moved south to occupy nearly all of northern Laos . The Red Flags sacked Dien Bien Phu in 1873 , and the Striped Flags seized control of Muang Phuan and the Plain of Jars that same year . Responding to this serious challenge , in 1874 Chao Unkham , ruling prince of Luang Prabang , and the Nguyen monarch Tự Đức , sent a joint army to expel the invaders . However , the force was routed , and Chao Ung , prince of Phuan , was killed . The victorious Haw moved south to sack Vientiane , while Chao Unkham sent urgent appeals for assistance to the Thai monarch , King Chulalongkorn ( Rama V ) . Arrival of the Siamese . In the spring of 1875 , Siamese forces crossed the River Mekong at Nong Khai . In the first Thai military expedition of the Haw Wars , they advanced to capture the main Haw base at Chiangkham . The expedition failed to achieve its primary objective , since the Haw refused to give battle and withdrew into the mountains of Phuan and Huaphan . When the Siamese left later that year , armed Haw bands emerged to loot and plunder more or less at will . Second Siamese expedition and James McCarthy . Eight years later , in 1883 , faced with a renewed Haw threat to his capital at Luang Prabang , Chao Unkham again appealed to Bangkok for assistance . King Chulalongkorn dispatched a Siamese army composed largely of Isaan and Northern Thai levies . The resulting expedition , in which the British surveyor James McCarthy participated , ' was ill - conceived , inadequately planned , and ultimately unsuccessful ' . Thanks to McCarthy ' s presence , the 1884 - 1885 expedition is unusually well - documented . McCarthy ' s personal accounts provide descriptions of the effort , suffering and incompetence of the Haw Wars which are more evocative than those in official Siamese accounts . McCarthy had begun his acquaintance with the Lao - Tonkin borderlands in the 1884 , when he led a Thai surveying expedition to Phuan and the southern frontiers of Huaphan , as part of his task of mapping the Thai kingdom . During this journey he travelled widely through territories subject to regular attack by the Flag Gangs . He noted that ' as we went on , tales of the Haw were brought in , agonizing accounts of their raiding on villages , whose inhabitants they had slaughtered , mutilated or carried into captivity ' . McCarthy was greatly impressed by the beauty and natural wealth of the regions , but found the inhabitants living a ' wretched existence . . . harried , mutilated and slaughtered by robbers ' . As in Vientiane ten years before , the Buddhist temples had been plundered and desecrated in a search for loot . McCarthy wrote that ' the wats had been wantonly destroyed , and piles of palm - leaf records lay heaped together , which , unless soon looked at , would be lost forever ' . Subsequently , McCarthy travelled to Luang Prabang to consult with the Siamese military commanders and Chao Unkham . Here he learned the Haw had advanced to Muang You , which should have been defended by troops under Phraya Sukhothai . However , this Thai nobleman , being ill with malaria , had withdrawn to Luang Prabang . As a result , the Haw were able to seize the outpost and burn the Siamese stockade . With the onset of the rainy season in June and July , malaria was to prove a more potent foe than the much - feared Haw . In McCarthy ' s words " the rain poured down steadily , and sickness prevailed . " Accordingly , the Siamese troops stationed in the Laos region remained at Luang Prabang or withdrew across the Mekong to Nong Khai . McCarthy travelled to Bangkok to advise King Chulalongkorn of the situation and await the return of the dry winter months . Battle of February 1885 . McCarthy was ordered to return to Laos at the end of the rainy season . He set out from Bangkok in November 1884 , travelling by way of Uttaradit and Nan . He arrived at Luang Prabang on January 14 , 1885 , in time to witness the outbreak of hostilities that were to last three months before ending in failure . The Haw were armed with modern repeating rifle s and Birmingham - manufactured ammunition , while many were skilled in guerrilla warfare . They used demoralising tactics such as mutilating captives , employed punji stake s , and made surprise night attacks . Magic was still believed in and was resorted to by both sides . Hora ( ) accompanying the Siamese troops determined that 10 o ' clock on the morning of February 22 , 1885 , was the most auspicious time to begin the assault . At the predetermined time , a gun was fired and the attacking forces began their advance against the Haw stronghold , a well - defended stockade 400 metres long by 200 wide , surrounded by bamboo and watched over by seven towers each about 12 metres high . The Thai and Laotian troops advanced in companies of 50 men , each under the White Elephant flag of Siam , and established themselves behind a temporary palisade 100 metres from the Haw fort . The attacking forces were armed with Armstrong 6 - pounder ( 2 . 5 in / 64 mm ) guns , but these apparently lacked ammunition . McCarthy noted that most of the firing seemed to come from the Haw watchtowers and , despite Thai and Lao courage and almost reckless indifference to injury , " considerable execution " was caused to them . The Haw , on the other hand , remained relatively unscathed . At two o ' clock in the afternoon , the Thais suffered a further setback when their commander - in - chief , Phraya Raj , was injured by a shot " weighing about two pounds , which glanced off the post of a Chinese joss house where he was standing and struck him in the leg . " The attack on the Haw stockade eventually had to be given up . Aftermath . Subsequently , McCarthy made enquiries into the origins and purpose of the Haw invaders . He concluded that the Governor of Yunnan had sent them into the region to harass the French . This may have been true of the Black Flags in Tonkin , but there is no direct indication of official Chinese involvement in Laos . The Haw continued their depredations until the mid - 1890s , when a combination of Siamese and ultimately French pressure forced them to retreat to China . Today the Haw Wars are all but forgotten . One memorial to the Thai and Lao soldiers killed in the struggle stands in front of the old Nong Khai City Hall , now a community center and museum . A larger , newer one stands behind the Police Barracks . Down by the Mekong River in view of Laos on the opposite side stands Wat Angkhan ( ) , which is from Pali for " Ashes of the Dead " , and is also Thai for the planet Mars that Romans named for their God of War . Nearby , the city maintains the lovely little Garden of Sorrows ( ) , with signs signifying this is where widows came to grieve .