Marines Hold the Line –
and the Wall
David
D. Winkler
(historian with the Naval Historical Foundation)
This
article first appeared in the November 2001 issue of Sea Power Magazine,
official publication of the Navy League of
the United States, and is posted with their permission.
Within Asia, a
radical group, with government connivance, engaged in a terror campaign to rid
the region of Western influence. Although the scenario seems to be taken from
contemporary headlines, this story – about the Boxer Rebellion in China –
took place a century ago.
At the end of the 19th century, bandit groups roamed the Chinese
countryside terrorizing villages. China’s weak central government was unable
(or perhaps unwilling) to act effectively, though, so various martial-arts
groups literally took the law into their own hands to beat back the bandits.
Because of the indoctrination they received, many in these groups, which became
known as Boxers, believed they were invulnerable to swords, spears and more
modern Western weapons.
Missionaries challenged these beliefs, and for that reason Christians soon were
being persecuted and attacked. Many Boxers also resented the colonial powers
that had undermined Chinese sovereignty through special concessions. Floods,
locusts, drought, and massive crop failures added to the desperate situation
that many peasants faced.
In May 1900, thousands of Boxers poured into Peking (Beijing), causing fear
within the foreign communities. On 30 May, responding to a request from the
foreign ministers, local Chinese authorities allowed the Americans, British,
French, Italians, Japanese, and Russians to augment their embassy guard forces.
The next day, 337 men arrived from foreign naval ships anchored off Taku (Dagu).
Included in the contingent were 50 U.S. Marines, led by Captains John Myers and
Newt Hall. Over the next few days, reports of atrocities against missionaries
filtered into the legations from the countryside, and the foreign ministers
called for additional reinforcements.
At Taku, Vice Adm. Sir Edward H. Seymour formed an international rescue force of
2,056 troops, including 112 U.S. Marines, to move inland by train on 10-11 June.
Ho0wever, the relief column met heavy resistance from the Boxers northwest of
Tientsin (Tianjin) and were forced to fight their way back to that city.
In Peking, tensions escalated into rioting around the section of the city
hosting the cluster of foreign legations, and communications to the outside
world were cut. Inhabitants of the legations and refugees built defensive
positions. On 24 June, the Boxers attacked along the whole legation perimeter,
occupying “the Tartar Wall” across from the American compound. The next day,
a force of U.S. Marines led by Myers seized the wall. The stalemate continued.
Reacting to the Chinese construction of a siege tower that would make the
American position untenable, Myers led a mixed group of 46 American, British,
and Russian troops during the early morning hours of 3 July and took out the
tower. The fighting continued, though, with the Marines withstanding several
attacks on 13 July alone.
On the night of the 14th, Hall sent Private First Class Daniel J.
Daly, an ex-New York City paperboy, to hold a forward position, while his fellow
Marines deployed into a new defensive perimeter. Daly fended off repeated
attacks throughout the night. As dawn broke, numerous dead Chinese lay before
Daly’s position.
Fighting ceased on the following day when the Chinese offered to allow the
legations to withdraw – unarmed. The ministers delayed before responding, to
allow time to shore up their defenses.
Meanwhile, a larger second expedition, including the U.S. Army’s 9th
Infantry Regiment, had rescued the Seymour expedition and secured Tientsin as a
logistical base for a move on Peking. Further reinforcements, including the
Army’s 14th Regiment, then arrived. On 5 August, a multinational
force of over 14,000 troops began moving up the Pei Ho River.
In Peking, the
truce had ended on 28 July; knowing, though, that a relief column was on the
way, the Chinese redoubled their efforts to reduce te legations. On 13 August,
the U.S. Marines fought valiantly to hold the Tartar Wall while the defenders of
the other legations held their sections against vicious attacks. The next day,
the 14th Infantry Regiment broke through to lift the siege. Later, 21
of the Marine defenders, including Daly, were awarded the Medal of Honor.
At the insistence of the European legations, heavy indemnities were imposed on
the Chinese, and many of the Boxer leaders were executed. “The invasion of the
eight foreign powers” and the aftermath added greatly to the already strong
Chinese resentment against the Western powers. For the Marines, though, the
Boxer Rebellion set a standard for combat excellence, and for individual
heroism, that would be repeated numerous times over the course of the following
century.
Material derived from Richard O’Connor’s The
Spirit Soldiers: A Historical Narrative of the Boxer Rebellion (Putnam,
1973).
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