Ch 21 - Mounting Pressure Against Choson

The Foreign Disturbance of 1866

In pursuit of evangelism and trade, the merchant ship U.S.S. General Sherman steamed up the Taedong River, where it was destroyed near Pyongyang. Choson's execution of Catholic missionaries triggered a military response from France which only intensified Choson's exclusionist policies.

Pyongan's provincial governor, Pak Kyu-su, sent a special emissary, Jung Dae-sik, to investigate the General Sherman's arrival at the mouth of the Taedong River. Jung discovered eighteen persons aboard, including a number of short-statured, dark-skinned Asians. According to Kojong government archives, Reverend Thomas and Mr. Preston, the ship's owner, appeared to be in control of the vessel. Thomas, who wore a pistol and carried a sword, spoke a little Chinese and some Korean and acted as the principal spokesman for the crew. During this first encounter, Thomas did most of the talking.

Using written characters to aid in communication, Reverend Thomas, who handled most of the negotiating, informed Jung Dae-sik they had come from "the land of Mi-guk" (the United States) and wished to exchange goods in Choson. Thomas informed Jung Dae-sik that although the General Sherman "looked like a warship" - it was heavily armed - it was really a merchant ship with no harmful intent. Jung politely informed Thomas that it was against custom to deal with foreigners. Governor Pak Kyu-su had no authority to deal with foreigners, so if relations were ever established, it would have to be at the wishes of King Kojong.

Robert Thomas was in Choson for evangelism, not trade. He not only asked about Choson's persecution of the Catholics, he began preaching Protestant Christianity. He rejected Jung's admonition that both forms of religion were forbidden in Choson. In Jung Dae-sik's eyes, Thomas was "cunning and arrogant beyond comparison." He was openly contemptuous, quick to raise his voice in dealing with Jung and refused to take any orders from him. It soon became clear to Jung and his staff that the ship's main intention was trade. With the sole exception of Reverend Thomas, no one aboard the General Sherman appeared willing to risk their life for Christianity. Before leaving to report his findings, Jung Dae-sik offered to send food aboard for the crew. They replied they desired nothing but wheat-flour and eggs.

Jung Dae-sik explained to Thomas that he had sent a messenger to Seoul for official permission and instructions and that the messenger would be back in a few days. The General Sherman did not sit still for a reply. At a time when anti-foreign sentiments in Choson were approaching white heat, Captain Page weighed anchor and slowly steamed up the Taedong River at flood tide toward the provincial capital of Pyongyang. Along the river at Ju-yong-po, Song-san-ri and Sah-po-gu, local officials repeatedly tried to turn back the schooner. They pleaded that missionaries and foreign commerce were banned in Choson by the laws of the Qing Imperial Court and that Choson was not free to change the laws. Nevertheless, at each stop along the river, Reverend Thomas visited with local villagers aboard ship, preached his religion and distributed Bibles. According to one report, "There were occasions when the ship was in danger of tipping over due to so many Koreans being aboard. At Poh-ri alone, more than 500 Bibles were handed out."

Ignoring all warnings to leave, the General Sherman steamed further up the rain-swollen river toward Pyongyang, pushed along by Thomas' zeal for evangelism and Mr. Preston's desire for financial gain. Late in the afternoon of August 27, Captain Page dropped anchor just below "Crow Rapids" at Manyongdae, some 12 km southwest of Pyongyang.

Torrential rains fell in the mountains to the east that night and the heavy rainfall and high tide swelled the Taedong River to a level seldom seen by people before. The next morning, thinking this was the river's normal depth, the General Sherman crossed the rapids and continued upriver, anchoring southeast of Pyongyang just above Yanggak Island. Soon after the ship dropped anchor, Yi Hyon-ik, Deputy Commander of the Pyongyang military headquarters, began a series of short visits to the General Sherman, delivering foodstuffs and a direct message from Governor Pak Kyu-su:

"You have reached the walls of our city when asked to stay put at Keupsa Gate. You insist on trading with us, which is forbidden. Your actions have created a grave situation, so much so that I must inform my King and let him decide what to do with you people."

Twice now, Choson officials had provided rice, meat, eggs, vegetables and other supplies to the General Sherman's crew upon request. They had dutifully followed the rule for dealing with foreign intruders - "treat them nice and persuade them to go away," yet the foreign ship remained anchored at the city walls of Pyongyang.

In the early evening of August 28, six crewmen from the General Sherman started upriver in a small launch. Following close behind was a small junk carrying Yi Hyon-ik, Deputy Commander of the Pyongyang military headquarters and an official named Ahn Sang-hop, who carried a document detailing military plans to attack the foreign ship. Suddenly, the launch turned about and attacked the junk, capturing Yi and his men and taking them aboard the General Sherman. The contents of Ahn's document greatly alarmed the General Sherman's crew and they decided to detain Yi Hyon-ik aboard ship.

Word of Yi's capture spread quickly. Early the next morning, as the General Sherman moved a short distance further upriver, a growing crowd of excited, angry townspeople and soldiers gathered along the beach shouting demands for Yi Hyon-ik's release. Reverend Thomas, once again speaking for the entire ship, announced the matter would be settled only after they entered the walled city. The infuriated crowd began throwing stones at the sailors and soldiers threatened to use their bows and matchlock rifles. Despite repeated warnings to leave, the frightened crew of the General Sherman panicked and set fire to a few small boats anchored nearby. Captain Page, now fearing for the lives of his crew, decided it was time to leave. Meanwhile, the river level had dropped over the past few days, making it no longer navigable across Crow Rapids. Slowly working his way downriver without navigation charts, Captain Page ran the General Sherman hard aground on a sand bar.

The situation quickly became uncontrollable. The Taewongun, now convinced the ship's visit meant a new invasion of Roman Catholicism in Choson, ordered Governor Pak Kyu-su; "If they do not go at once, have them killed." On August 31, Governor Pak, normally a tolerant and mild-tempered man, ordered the destruction of the General Sherman and its crew. The people of Pyongyang prepared for a war.

Dressed in "dragon cloud armor," heavily folded cloth reputedly impervious to bullets, soldiers armed themselves with muskets and small, old cannon. Archers carried "fire arrows" reportedly capable of exploding with considerable force at a range of up to 800 yards. It's not known for certain who fired first, but spectators and soldiers lining both banks of the river began exchanging gunfire with the General Sherman's terrified crew beginning a four day running battle. The ship's crew tried to warn the attackers away by shooting over their heads, but when that failed to deter the angry citizenry, they began firing directly into the crowds. With a deafening thunder "that could be heard a day's journey away," the ship's cannon raked the crowd with shrapnel as crewmen used the ship's gunnels for cover and fired musket shot into the attacking crowds, killing seven and wounding five others.

The first few days of fighting accomplished little, even when an ancient kobukson, or "turtle ship," was brought into the fray. The old scow's antiquated cannon did no serious damage. Choson soldiers and archers soon refused to expose themselves to certain death from the General Sherman's gunfire. With troops keeping at a distance that rendered their weapons virtually useless, Sergeant Pak chung-wun earned a place in history by coming up with another plan.

Near Pyongyang's East Gate, Sergeant Pak organized a group that tied three scows together, piled them high with brushwood and laced wood with sulfur and saltpeter. They next set the floating torch ablaze and guided it downriver towards the stranded General Sherman by long ropes attached to either side. The first flaming attack missed its mark. The General Sherman's crew managed to fend off the second trio of flaming boats, but the third attack found its mark and set the ship ablaze.

The crew continued to fight desperately until finally running out of powder and cartridges. The stench and smoke from the burning sulfur and saltpeter nearly suffocated the crew as they tried in vain to put out the raging fires. Thickening smoke forced everyone aboard to jump into the water from both sides of the ship, where they were quickly seized by soldiers rushing toward the raging inferno in small boats. Sergeant Pak pulled alongside in his boat and managed to free Yi Hyon-ik and Ahn Sang-hop in the chaos.

Amidst the carnage, some of the ship's crew waved white flags in a final desperate plea for mercy. Most were hacked to pieces by the furious mob before they ever reached the river bank. Others were captured and taken ashore, where they bowed repeatedly and offered friendly smiles and soft words to win the goodwill of the people. They had but a few minutes to live. No quarter was given. The hapless men were tightly bound by the arms and cut to pieces. Their remains were mutilated, torn to pieces and later burned. There were no survivors. By the end of the day on September 2, 1866, the U.S.S. General Sherman was gone;  burned to the waterline . Among the items salvaged from the wreckage were two large cannons, two small cannons, 3 cannon balls, 2 rifles, 162 shots and various iron scraps from the ship's boiler and rigging. The General Sherman's anchor chains were recovered and taken to Pyongyang where they were triumphantly hung above the East Gate Tower.

Governor Pak Kyu-su hosted a great celebration over the victory and sent a special messenger to Seoul with the news. The Taewongun laughed aloud when he read the message and honored Sergeant Pak chung-wun by appointing him his aide-de-camp in Anju. News of the General Sherman's destruction not only pleased the Taewongun and his staff, it also falsely reinforced their mistaken belief that foreign intruders could be driven off without much effort. In little more than two weeks, Choson got its first real chance to test this belief.

The French Far East Fleet was still heavily committed in Indochina during the summer of 1866 and could spare only three ships for an expedition to Choson. In consultation with French chargé d'affaires, Monsieur Henri de Bellonet, Admiral P. G. Roze decided to conduct a ten-day reconnaissance mission to Kanghwa Island. With Father Ridel aboard as an interpreter, Admiral Roze's flagship Primauguet, accompanied by the Deroulede and the Tardif, sailed from Yantai, China, on September 18 and arrived in Naep'o Bay on the coast of Pup'yong two days later.

After picking up a Choson pilot, the Deroulede and Tardif spent the remainder of September surveying the area around Kanghwa Island and the Han River as far as Seoul. The thundering engine noise and columns of heavy black funnel smoke from the two French warships sent the local population into a state of panic. Not a single attempt was made to take belligerent action against the French as they steamed up the Han River. Even high Choson officials in Seoul took a "wait-and-see" attitude, believing they should observe yuwon chi ui, or "goodwill to strangers." Meanwhile, aboard the flagship Primauguet, anchored off Kanghwa Island, Father Ridel had a visit from Song Un-o, the owner of the junk that carried him to Yantai earlier that summer. Song told Ridel about a Western ship of unknown nationality that had been destroyed along with its officers and crew in the Taedong River at Pyongyang.

Reaching the vicinity of Seoul under a darkening blue autumn sky on September 26, crewmen aboard the Deroulede and Tardif saw the great wall surrounding the mountain peaks north of Seoul and even caught a small glimpse of the capital city itself. This was the first time any Western ship had laid eyes on the heart of the ancient kingdom. With unrest spreading throughout Seoul and a growing sense of panic in the royal court and the government, the Taewongun dispatched Yi Yonghui, deputy commander of the Oyong Regiment, to the banks of the Han River to guard against a landing by foreign intruders. The Taewongun had apparently dismissed de Bellonet's warning and the Qing Board of Rites regarding French actions, but as tensions mounted, all military units in Seoul went on alert. Kyongbok Palace and its three gates were placed under special guard as the Oyong Regiment, including several hundred additional mounted troops and infantry, spread along the river bank. His reconnaissance completed, Admiral Roze departed for Yantai, China, on October 1, leaving the distinct impression in Seoul the French were neither joking nor bluffing.

Soon after returning to Yantai, Father Ridel delivered the first hard news of the destruction of a Western ship on the Taedong River ot the French legation. French officials transmitted the information to the American legation in Beijing, which quickly concluded it must be the merchant ship U.S.S. General Sherman. America's chargé d'affaires, Samuel Wells Williams, doubted the validity of the report however, particularly the death of the entire crew. Because Choson had treated shipwrecked sailors humanely in the past, the diplomats refused to believe the General Sherman had been destroyed and its crew killed. There the matter rested for the next three weeks.

The Taewongun, who now realized that Choson had to prepare for the imminent return of a French expeditionary force, ordered a special appropriation from the royal treasury on October 9 for the repair of naval ships. In addition, he sent a message to the commander of the French East Asia Fleet, pointing out that Choson was at war with no one. He reminded the admiral that French mariners who had been shipwrecked off Choson had been treated well and permitted to return home. It was another matter however, when foreigners deliberately broke the laws of Choson. Speaking directly to the issue of French missionaries who crossed the frontier, the Taewongun wrote:

"changing their garments and names, sleeping by day and going abroad at night and consorting with villains and criminals (Christians), they must be sentenced to death whenever they were caught."

The Taewongun's logic failed to impress the excitable chargé d'affaires de Bellonet, who immediately ordered Admiral Roze and his flotilla to return Choson at once and depose the king. Asking had done nothing to open the door to Choson. Out of frustration, France turned to familiar tactics that had worked so well in China; they decided to kick it open. Choson's bloody suppression of Catholicism had finally lit the fuse that detonated Pyungin Yangyo, "The Foreign Disturbance of 1866."

The intelligence information collected from the Han River reconnaissance in September convinced Admiral Roze that navigating Han would be hazardous. He also felt there were probably forts along the river banks. Abandoning his earlier strategy of taking Seoul, he decided instead to capture Kanghwa Island and impose a blockade at the Han River estuary. If successful, the blockade would sever the sea route between Seoul and the southern provinces and halt the flow of tribute rice into the capital. Admiral Roze felt certain that starvation and the loss of revenue would force the surrender of the Choson government.

Shortly before launching his next expedition, the admiral addressed two proclamations to the general public, one of which outlined his campaign to blockade the Han River:

"The undersigned ... in furtherance of the measures which have been deemed necessary in consequence of the murder of many French missionaries by the government of Corea and by virtue of the powers belonging to me as commander-in-chief, hereby declares, that after the 15th day of this month the River Seoul, by all its entrances, will be held in a state of effective blockade by the naval forces under my command. All vessels which shall attempt to violate this blockade will be treated according to international laws and the treaties in force with neutral powers."

On October 11, 1866, a flotilla of seven warships carrying six hundred French troops, including a detachment of French marines from Yokohama, Japan, sailed from Yantai, China, for Kanghwa Island. This time, the French intended to land on Choson soil. Over the next two days, the flagship La Guerriere, the Laplace, the Primauguet, the Deroulede the Tardif, the Kien-chan and the Lebrethon gathered off Kyonggi Province and made ready to execute Admiral Roze's orders. Despite the imposing threat, Seoul took no determined action, relying instead on a policy best described as "adapting to circumstances." Local authorities along the coast made only a few attempts to inquire about the French presence or to get them to leave by offering provisions.

Already set upon their course, a few detachments of French marines and sailors made a successful amphibious landing on October 14 at Kapkot'chi on the eastern coast of Kanghwa Island. Under the watchful guns of four warships, the French troops quickly took the nearby fortified village of Chemulchin. Word of the French landing put an abrupt end to the Seoul government's passivity the following day. Sensing imminent danger to the historic city of Kanghwa, generals Yi Kyong-ha, Sin Kwan-ho and Yi Won-hui, men who embodied the spirit of Choson's army and who held the full confidence of the Taewongun, were ordered to the Han River to plan a defense strategy. The same day an artillery course was hastily added to the military examination.

On the morning of October 16, French warships began a long range bombardment of Samnangsong Fortress, home of the Buddhist temple of Chondung-sa in preparation for landing troops on the southern end of Kanghwa Island. The company-sized detachment of French troops that went ashore below the fortress soon encountered stubborn resistance. Choson defenders, armed with bows and arrows, old-fashioned matchlock rifles, and small-caliber brass cannon, fought with a determination the French had never before encountered. Though badly outgunned, they courageously fought a short, fierce battle until they ran out of arrows and ammunition. They even rolled stones and rocks down on the French troops, who eventually stormed the monastery and killed its defenders.

In Seoul, all current and former councilors, the minister of war and the commanders of all military units held an emergency council meeting at Kyongbok Palace. The most immediate result of the meeting was the creation of a special Defense Command, kiboyonhae sunmyong, which was given the principal task of coordinating and directing the general defense of the nation. General Yi Kyong-ha was appointed commander-in-chief and given absolute authority over civil and military matters in the coastal region, making him literally the military governor of Kyonggi Province.

The emergency council also approved the creation of a special 400-man patrol unit under the command of General Sin Kwan-ho and gave him the task of patrolling the entire course of the Han River from Seoul to the sea. A major recruitment effort got underway to increase the number and quality of men under arms and to unite and boost the people's morale. The government was particularly interested in recruiting professional game hunters, especially the fearless "tiger hunters" of northwest Choson, fierce fighting men reputed to have killed at least one tiger with either a single arrow or a single shot from a matchlock rifle.

Following the Battle of Chondung-sa, French troops moved northward up the island toward the fully-exposed, ancient city of Kanghwa, the traditional haven of kings and queens in times of foreign invasion and domestic disorder. After inflicting heavy losses, the French seized and occupied Kanghwa city. They looted and burned the Royal Archive of the Choson Dynasty, taking vast amounts of weapons, grain, silver, and large holdings of priceless heritage items, including 296 record books and some 5,000 precious court documents. Some of the books taken that day were key in opening the way for serious Western studies of Choson .

Between October 17 and October 20, Choson moved fresh troops from other districts to reinforce local garrisons along the coast. By October 18, while French troops occupied themselves with local reconnaissance patrols and looted nearby villages, nearly five thousand men moved into offensive positions near Kanghwa Island. The following day, General Yi Kyong-ha, commander-in-chief of Choson's Defense Command moved his combined force of 2,021 infantry and cavalry troops into the city of T'ongjin and soon occupied the entire east bank of the Salt River. General Yi sent a note to Admiral Roze on Kanghwa Island intended to be his final warning before the Choson attack on French positions. The message bristled with angry admonitions for the "unprovoked" French invasion and warned of an impending counteroffensive .

Admiral Roze expected the Choson government would come to terms after the fall of Kanghwa, but no one had appeared. General Yi's note came as somewhat of a relief and he sent an immediate reply. The admiral justified his military campaign on the grounds that French missionaries had been persecuted and executed by Choson authorities. He demanded punishment for those responsible for killing the French priests and that an envoy be dispatched to Kanghwa Island immediately to conclude a permanent treaty between France and Choson. Admiral Roze reminded General Yi of what happened to China a few years earlier after it committed similar outrages against missionaries and warned him of the dire consequences that would follow a refusal of his demands. The note was delivered to the royal court, where the the Council of State angrily rejected Admiral Roze's demands as "arrogant" and "threatening to China." They immediately reported the episode to the Qing Board of Rites in Beijing.

Fear and unrest grew in and around Seoul. The lack of action by his generals and news of the persistent looting by French soldiers on Kanghwa Island prompted the Taewongun to tissue a dramatic letter to his government on October 22. The document proclaimed his determination to drive the French out of Choson and marked an intensification and aggravation of his seclusion policy. He released a similar edict the following day aimed at calming the growing unrest and putting an end to wild rumors in Seoul.

On October 23, America's chargé d'affaires Samuel Wells Williams penned a cautious letter to Prince Gong at the Zongli Yamen in Tianjin, describing the reported destruction of the American ship General Sherman and the capture of its crew. He wrote, "...it is not certainly known whether they are still alive or not." Williams understood that Choson traditionally handed over all shipwreck victims to Chinese officers at the Yalu River and requested the Chinese Foreign Office to order the authorities at Mukden to deliver the General Sherman's crew to their respective consuls, if they had already been handed over by Choson authorities. Prince Gong promptly granted the request and notified Williams the orders would be dispatched the following morning.

Williams' cautious exploratory approach to the growing mystery surrounding the General Sherman stood in sharp contrast to the reaction from Meadows & Company, which had underwritten the ship's last voyage. Senior company officials wrote directly to American Foreign Minister Anson Burlingame in Beijing, asking for American assistance in "getting redress" for the ship's destruction. They also requested help from the British Royal Navy. Had the British government agreed to pursue the aggressive policy suggested by Meadows & Company, Choson may have faced a combined Anglo-American intervention that could have dramatically altered Choson history.

Foreign Minister Burlingame, although eager to cooperate with European representatives to enforce the treaty regime in Asia, could go no farther than peaceful persuasion. After receiving word of Father Ridel's report, Burlingame asked the Qing government to inquire of Choson whether it had been the General Sherman. After reviewing Williams' letter and carefully examining the original letter from the Taewongun to the Qing Board of Rites, the Zongli Yamen concluded that Choson might well become involved in an entirely new predicament with Great Britain and the United States.

Meanwhile, on October 26, military activity intensified at Kanghwa Island. As French blockade ships steamed slowly northward in full view of the islanders stationed in the numerous guard towers that dotted the island side of the narrow Salt River channel, a French detachment of 120 men assaulted the walled fortress at Munsu-san that blocked the road to Seoul. Fifty Choson soldiers led by Han Song-gun fought the French to a standstill, killing 50 to 60 French troops. Choson losses were placed at four dead, two wounded and two missing. When the French troops eventually withdrew to their beachhead and the safety of their ships near the Kapkot'chi ferry crossing, many of Han Song-gun's troops mistook the withdrawal for a retreat and ran down to the beach to celebrate victory. French naval guns greeted the jubilant defenders with a withering hail of gunfire as soon as they got within range.

In the days that followed, French naval guns inflicted heavy damage to a number of coastal towns and villages in the area, including the naval headquarters of Kyonggi Province. Five Choson war junks were destroyed. Meanwhile, a steady stream of volunteers poured into Seoul. By the first week in November, a total of 1,175 mountaineers known as the "tiger hunters," an elite force trained to advance or die where they stood, had already been assigned to T'ongjin and Munsu-san. Nearly 4,200 civilian volunteers joined along the front. By November 9, Choson's fighting strength in the coastal and inland areas leading to Seoul approached 10,500 men.

General Yi Yong-hui learned on November 7 that a French patrol had entered the Chondung-sa monastery on the southern coast of Kanghwa Island. While French troops slept, General Yi dispatched 543 tiger hunters under the command of Yang Hon-su from T'ongjin with orders to quietly garrison the Chondung-sa monastery and prevent the French from occupying the strategic site. Admiral Roze learned of the move from a report by a Catholic convert and decided to move against the monastery. The next morning, Father Ridel led Captain Olivier and a 160-man detachment out of Kanghwa toward Chondung-sa. Moving slowly and cautiously, the French approached the monastery's east gate. The fortress walls appeared deserted. As soon as Olivier's men got within rifle range, Yang's tiger hunters suddenly opened fire from behind the east and south gates. The deadly hail of bullets decimated half the French force. Eighty survivors hurriedly regrouped under heavy fire and withdrew to the beach at Kapkot'chi. The noteworthy Choson victory was celebrated the next day and Yang Hon-su was appointed the Right Deputy Governor of Seoul in honor of his brilliant tactics and leadership.

The Han River blockade proved itself ineffective and the French defeat at Chondung-sa forced Admiral Roze to reassess his position. French troops were isolated on Kanghwa Island and there was no hope of entering negotiations with the Choson government. With winter fast approaching, if the Han and Salt Rivers froze solid, troop movements would become difficult. Worse, the admiral was already painfully aware that Choson's "tiger hunters" were a different breed of men than the easily beaten defenders in Kanghwa City. His greatest concern was the possibility the Choson army might mass for an attack across the Salt River. Unable to mount an effective attack with the men and equipment at his disposal, Admiral Roze decided to call off the expedition and withdraw to China.

On November 10, Admiral Roze gave orders to burn the king's summer palace and all government buildings in the city of Kanghwa and to load all war booty aboard ships. The following day, French ships hoisted their anchors and left Kapkot'chi for MulChi Island near Inchon. They withdrew downstream from Kanghwa Island under near constant bombardment from Choson gunners along the river. One week later, on November 18, the flotilla steamed for Yantai, China. Shortly after returning to Yantai, Admiral Roze learned that his ill-fated mission to Choson had never been formally authorized by the French government in Paris.