1916 Cochinchina uprising The 1916 Cochinchina uprising was a series of defiant protests and attempted revolts in February against the French colonisation of southern Vietnam , which had been the colony of Cochinchina since 1867 . The organisation and motivation of the uprisings were unclear , since many different organizations of Vietnamese revolutionaries with different ideologies were involved . Some were supporters of the mystic and geomancer Phan Xich Long , who had claimed to be a descendant of the boy Emperor Hàm Nghi , who had been deposed by the French for attempting a revolt with the aim of securing independence some three decades earlier . Long had been imprisoned three years earlier after declaring himself Emperor and attempting to storm Saigon with the help some purported magic potion to restore the monarchy . Long ' s supporters sought his release from jail . There were also a loose alliance of secret organizations from the provinces in the Mekong River Delta region . The centre of the planning appeared to be the Nui Cam Pagoda in Chau Doc , while many participants also appeared to have been sympathisers and affiliates of Prince Cường Để , who was living in exile . Cường Để was a direct descendant of Emperor Gia Long , who founded the Nguyễn Dynasty in 1802 . Cường Để was a descendant of Gia Long ' s eldest son Prince Cảnh , but Canh died of smallpox before his father , so the succession passed to Emperor Minh Mạng and his descendants . A later report from the Governor General of French Indochina to the French Minister of Colonies asserted that Cường Để was the " chef occulte " of the rising , through the actions of his " most loyal partisans and most active agents in Cochinchina " . The centrepiece of the plot was to seize the central prison of Saigon , in order to facilitate the release of Phan Xich Long and many other revolutionaries who had been imprisoned . This would also have provided access to the French armoury and their firearms , which would have given an upgrade to the firepower of the Vietnamese , who were armed with spears and machetes . The prison was also viewed among the populace as a symbol of the hated French colonial rule , so its capture was intended to provide a psychological boost to foment the general public into joining the uprising . On February 14 , 1916 , around three hundred men landed at Saigon ' s waterfront and began to move in groups towards the penitentiary , shouting slogans as they marched . However , some of the groups came across police patrols , and retreated back towards the piers after being fired upon with pistols . The groups that did reach the prison found the gates securely protected , and retreated chaotically . Despite the failure to capture the jail , many areas in the Mekong Delta proceeded with their planned actions against the French . At Bien Hoa , on the northern outskirts of Saigon , a revolt was attempted at the local jail . In Thủ Dầu Một , another town northwest of Saigon , a march towards Saigon was planned , but was quickly dispersed by the authorities . At Bến Tre to the south in the Mekong Delta , a march by villagers resulted in the burning and destruction of the local archives and registers offices . After French authorities broke up the march , the participants retreated and began to attack any Vietnamese collaborators that they could lay their hands on . At Vũng Tàu , a port town to the southeast of Saigon , an armed group made a failed attempt to seize the military post . In Vĩnh Long in the delta , the Nghia Hoa society led a protest march to the office of the local French administrator , while a group that had come north from Cần Thơ with the intention of joining them was forcibly dispersed before reaching their destination . A bomb was uncovered in Mỹ Tho , while the town of Long Xuyen in the far south saw ransackings and kidnappings for ransom . In the town of Tay Ninh , on the western border with Cambodia , an armed rebel unit led by the self - proclaimed General Vuong Van Le briefly patrolled the surrounding areas . The French community in Cochinchina was taken aback by the revolt that had occurred and demanded a strong response from the colonial authorities . Hundreds of Vietnamese were quickly apprehended , and summary justice was dispensed by a French War Council . Eventually , 51 people were put to death and an unknown number of dissidents were jailed . Despite some criticism back in France about the severity of the reaction , the local authorities prevailed in implementing their strong response .