Edwin H . Conger Edwin Hurd Conger ( March 7 , 1843 – May 18 , 1907 ) was an American Civil War soldier , lawyer , banker , Iowa congressman , and United States diplomat . As the United States ' minister to China during the Boxer Rebellion , Conger , his family , and other western diplomatic legations were under siege in Beijing until rescued by the China Relief Expedition . Personal background and war service . Born in Knox County , Illinois , Conger graduated from Lombard College in 1862 . During the Civil War , he enlisted as a private in Company I of the 102nd Illinois Volunteer Infantry Regiment . He was promoted to captain and brevetted major . At the close of the war , he studied law . He graduated from Albany Law School in 1866 and was admitted to the bar , commencing practice in Galesburg , Illinois . Conger moved to Dexter , Iowa , in south - central Iowa , in 1868 and engaged in banking , livestock , and agricultural pursuits . Conger was married to Sarah Pike , also from Iowa , an author , a Christian Scientist , and a leader of the Woman ' s Christian Temperance Union who accompanied him to China , and would be later known for befriending China ' s Empress Dowager Cixi . Political activity . After winning two terms as treasurer of Dallas County , Iowa in 1877 and 1879 , he was elected Iowa State Treasurer in 1880 , and reelected in 1882 . In 1884 , the incumbent Republican U . S . Representative of Iowa ' s 7th congressional district , John A . Kasson , declined to seek re - election . Conger won the Republican nomination to succeed him , and the general election ( although Kasson ' s early resignation to accept an ambassadorship , and the election of Hiram Y . Smith to serve out Kasson ' s term , caused Conger to succeed Smith instead ) . Conger was re - elected twice ( in 1886 and 1888 ) . In Congress , he served as chairman of the Committee on Coinage , Weights , and Measures from 1889 to 1890 . In 1890 , he entered the race for a fourth term in Congress . Foreign service . In September 1890 , less than two months before the general election , Conger resigned his Congressional seat and abandoned his re - election campaign , in order to accept appointment by President Benjamin Harrison as U . S . Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary to Brazil ( a post that today would be called the United States Ambassador ) . He served until September 1893 , when he was replaced by an appointee of incoming Democratic President Grover Cleveland . He returned to that position in 1897 following the election of the next Republican president , William McKinley , serving from August 9 , 1897 to February 6 , 1898 . In 1898 , President McKinley appointed Conger as Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary to China , where he served as the United States ' ambassador to the Great Qing Empire . McKinley had initially nominated Charles Page Bryan for the China post , but when Bryan ' s lack of relevant experience prompted objections in Congress , McKinley chose Conger for China and nominated Bryan for Conger ' s former position in Brazil . Conger ' s arrival in China in July 1898 coincided with the emergence of a violent anti - foreign , anti - Christian movement , the Society of Righteous and Harmonious Fists in China ( known as " Boxers " in English ) . In June 1900 , Boxer fighters gathered in Beijing to besiege the foreign embassies , in what became known outside of China as the Boxer Rebellion . Sensationalist American newspapers initially reported , in screaming headlines , that Conger was " undoubtedly dead , " together with all other foreigners in Beijing . Americans and other westerners retreated to the Beijing Legation Quarter , where they were under siege for fifty - five days ( see . Siege of the International Legations ) until the Eight - Nation Alliance brought 20 , 000 troops to their rescue . After receiving a heroes ' welcome on return to the United States in 1901 , Conger resumed his duties in China for several more years , serving until 1905 . His wife became a friend of Cixi , the Empress Dowager , and an outspoken critic of Western encroachments on Chinese sovereignty and interference in its internal affairs . In 1905 , Conger was appointed by President Theodore Roosevelt as Ambassador to Mexico . His service in that position was brief ; it began on June 15 and ended on August 3 , 1905 , when President Roosevelt chose Conger for a different post . Roosevelt appointed him to perform a special mission to China made necessary when the United States ' interpretation of the Chinese Exclusion Act , and failure to build the Hankow railroad , prompted a boycott of American goods in China . However , a week later , Conger declined the appointment , and resigned his appointment in Mexico effective two months later . He died in Pasadena , California on May 18 , 1907 , and was interred in Mountain View Cemetery in Altadena , California . His death was attributed to a disease contracted in China .