Ch 30 - The Last Hope for Freedom

The Summer of Lost Innocents

With support from the Qing government, the Boxers attacked foreigners in Beijing. After the China Relief Expedition secured the safety of the legations, Empress Dowager T'zu-hsi and her court fled the capital as foreign troops took control of the Imperial City and the Forbidden City.

On June 21, 1900, Empress Dowager Tz'u Hsi openly declared war against the foreign powers and officially praised the Boxers.

The foreigners have been aggressive towards us, infringed upon our territorial integrity, trampled our people under their feet ... They oppress our people and blaspheme our gods. The common people suffer greatly at their hands and each one of them is vengeful. Thus it is that the brave followers of the Boxers have been burning churches and killing Christians.

With agreement from empress dowager, Prince Tuan and Grand Secretary Kang-i forcefully advocated an all-out assault against the legations as the only way to erase half a century of humiliation at the hands of foreigners. They sought to rid Beijing of a foreign menace and hoped to destroy all evidence of the court's sponsorship of the Boxers, simultaneously hoping to stimulate a ground-swell of patriotism among the people of China. Prince Chuang went so far as to offer a bounty on the heads of all foreigners, including men, women and children;  50 taels of silver for each foreign male taken alive, 40 for each female and 30 for each child. The declaration gave the Boxers a green light to assault the foreign legations in Beijing.

By not specifically naming any foreign nation in her declaration of war, the empress managed to deflect the Boxers' anger against all foreigners. Fearing reprisals from the west, the government apparently used imperial troops to prevent the Boxers from getting out of hand. When Qing troops attacked the Legation Quarter, they fired their weapons into the air in the general direction of the legations and set off firecrackers to add to the noise and confusion. The tactic not only fooled the Boxers into thinking a major attack was underway, it also demoralized the foreigners in the Legation Quarter. The attack was little more than a nosiy farcical charade.

The Manchu nobility knew the Boxer uprising was too strong to crush completely without endangering the Qing dynasty, so they decided to go along with the Boxers in the hope that the western nations would eliminate the Boxers for them.

Meanwhile, near Lang-fang, halfway to the Chinese capital, the Boxers started pulling up rails ahead of and behind Seyomur's column, damaging the line beyond repair. After several intense battles against the spear-wielding rebels, the relief force realized that better disciplined and better armed Qing imperial troops had joined the fighting. After 10 days of heavy combat, Vice Admiral Sir Edward Hobart Seymour realized he could not reach Beijing. Fighting over difficult terrain without the communications, transportation, ammunition, or supplies for an extended campaign, and burdened by neary 230 wounded men, Seymour faced two unpleasant choices;  retreat or annihilation. On June 20, he abandoned his five trains and ordered a fighting withdrawal back to Tianjin.

Admiral Seymour and Captain McCalla marched their command toward Tianjin, facing near constant harassing guerilla attacks all along the route of march. On June 22, in a final push, United States Marines and British Royal Marines, supported by German infantry, assaulted and took control of the heavily fortified Hsi-ku Arsenal just six miles north of Tianjin. The nearly spent force dug in to hold the arsenal and wait for reinforcements. The captured facility provided the men ample food, modern weapons and badly needed medical supplies, all inadvertently supplied by the Chinese government.

Captain McCalla's original 112-man force suffered 32 killed or wounded, including McCalla himself, who was wounded three separate times. In a letter to the senior United States naval officer at Taku, Admiral Seymour expressed his "high admiration" for Captain McCalla, whose small command often led the advanced guard, men whose "zeal and go was praised by all." After noting the captain's wounds, Vice Admiral Edward Seymour added, "considering the gallant way in which he exposed himself I am only equally surprised and thankful that he is alive."

The United States moved quickly to send additional troops to China. On June 19, the cruiser U.S.S. Nashville, and the hospital ship U.S.S. Solace, carrying the second wave of American naval forces from Cavite, Philippines, arrived in the Taku roadstead. The 32 Marines from the U.S.S. Nashville and the 107 Marines from the Marine First Regiment, fresh from fighting a guerilla campaign on Luzon in the Philippines, combined into a battalion under the command of Major Littleton W.T. Waller. Communication with the foreign concession in Tianjin had been cut off and, after linking up with a Russian column of 400 men, Major Waller's Marines set out for Tianjin to relieve the beseiged defenders.

At the time, an estimated 30,000 Boxers and Chinese Imperial troops held positions in and around Tianjin, supported by by machine guns and over 60 artillery pieces. The foreign defenders in the city had barely 2,400 men and 9 small cannon to cover excellent defensive positions along a five-mile long perimeter. After sizing up the situation, the small relief force made a valiant attempt to reach Tianjin, but an overwhelming counterattack drove them back to their starting position. During the thirty mile march to Tianjin and back, the Marines suffered three killed and seven wounded.

The arrival of British, Russian, German, Italian, and Japanese troops, boosted allied troop strength in the area to nearly 2,000 men. The enlarged assault force quickly resumed the offensive on June 20 and succeeded in breaching the Chinese lines on June 23. The fierce attack convinced Chinese troops to pull back and withdraw to Beijing. After securing their position, on Sunday morning, June 25, a rescue column including 100 U.S. Marines under Major Waller moved north to the Hsi-ku Arsenal to bring Admiral Seymour's command into the city. Tired and wounded, Captain McCalla officially turned over command of all American forces ashore to Major Waller.

The British Government cabled Australia on June 28 with a request to release warships of the Royal Navy, then serving on the Australian Station, for service in China. The Australian government released the ships immediately and offered 200 sailors from the State of Victoria under Commander Frederick Tickell for service in China. In addition, New South Wales offered another 260 men under Commander Francis Hixsom. The commitment of the South Australian gunboat H.M.C.S. Protector- with its 96 officers and men brought the total Australian contribution to 556 men.

On July 6, 673 soldiers from the 9th Infantry Regiment arrived at Taku from the Philippines. Four days later, on July 10, the armored cruiser U.S.S. Brooklyn arrived with a Marine detachment of 18 officers and 300 enlisted men from the Philippines under the command of Col. Robert L. Meade. On July 12, Col. Meade moved his marines into Tianjin, joined with Major Waller's marines and assumed command of the American forces.

Upon arriving in Tianjin, Colonel Meade met with British Brigadier General A.R.F. Dorward, who commanded a combined force of Bengal Lancers, Sikhs, Royal sailors and Marines, and Royal Welch Fusiliers. The commanders agreed to launch an attack early the following morning to retake the two thirds of Tianjin's inner walled city still controlled by Chinese and Boxer forces. With artillery support from five naval guns, removed from the ship H.M.S. Terrible, General Dorward led a combined force that included American Marines, the Ninth U.S. Infantry, and British, French, German, Japanese, and Russian forces in a costly, heroic yet unsuccessful battle with heavy losses. That night, an attack by the Japanese managed to breach the Chinese defenses and General Dorward's command recaptured Tianjin early on the morning of July 14. With widespread looting taking place in Tianjin, the combined force destroyed the stores at the Hsi-ku and Tianjin arsenals and regained control over the rail line between Tianjin and Taku on the coast. The allied forces could now regroup and make plans to relieve those still trapped in the violence at Beijing.

There were no organized attacks against the Legation Quarter after June 20, but the beseiged defenders suffered repeated attacks from Chinese rifle and artillery fire, including two 3-inch Krupp guns. Boxers also attempted to set fire to the Legations by torching the nearby Halin Academy and the Mongol Market. Both fires soon raged out of control, but did not spread into the legations. The United States legation sat just inside and close to the massive city wall. On June 25, American Marines under Captain Myers occupied a strategic defensive position on the wall behind an improvised sandbag fortification with a commanding view of the legations.

Heavy gunfire from the Chinese on July 1 drove the Germans off the wall, exposing American marines moving up and down the ramp and across the street to heavy shell fire. After coordinating critical reconnaissance patrols to gather intelligence on the Chinese for several days running without a break, Captain Myers withdrew his men to the American Legation for consultations with Minister Conger and Mr. H.G. Squiers, First Secretary to the United States Legation. They decided that because the American position was key to the whole situation. Sitting so close to the great city wall and the main city gates, over which large Chinese guns were planted, the position had to be held at all costs. Losing that position would allow the Chinese to push everyone, including many Chinese Christians, into the British Legation, increasing the already congested building by several hundred people.

Captain Myers received assurances that all available coolie labor would be sent to construct cross barricades on the ramp and across the wall to the rear of the marine position that night. Returning to the wall after just fifteen minutes, Myers realized the Chinese had never discovered their brief withdrawal. Later that night, under orders from British Minister Sir Claude McDonald, Captain Myers came off the wall for some rest after having had little or no sleep since the wall had first been occupied.

Beginning with the attack on June 20, the Chinese built a number of barricades some distance in front of the marine's position. At dusk on July 2, Captin Newt Hall reported that, during the previous night and day, the Chinese had built a new barricade dangerously close to the marine's defensive position and were erecting a tower on the marine's left flank. The Chinese tower was nearly completed and the Chinese were amusing themselves by throwing stones into the American position. When finished, the tower would give the Chinese an excellent field of fire into all of the American positions.

After consulting with the British and Russian ministers, American Minister Conger sent word to Captain Myers ordering him to take the Chinese barricade to his immediate front. Shortly after 2 a.m. on the morning of July 3, under cover of darkness and a rainstorm, Myers led a 55-man group of U.S. Marines, British and Russian troops in a bold, heroic night attack against the nearest barricade. They successfully flanked several hundred Chinese Imperial troops manning the barricade and got behind them. After killing over 50 Chinese, they drove the retreating troops back to another barricade hundreds of yards to the rear. The raiders captured not only a formidable barricae on the wall, but a number of rifles, some ammunition and battle standards. Two Marines, one British and one Russian soldier died in the raid and Myers suffered a painful spear wound in his leg which soon became badly infected. The next day, Captain Myers accepted the invitation of the First Secretary of the Russian Legation to move into his quarters while he recovered.

Marine Captain Newt Hall assumed command of the Marine detachment after Myers' injury and the marines resumed their vital position on the wall. In a continuous rain and subjected to heavy Chinese fire, American, Russian and British marines hurriedly worked to reinforce the captured barricade. For the next week, most of the time was spent building new barricades around the legation perimeter, all the while subject to intermittent gun fire from Chinese snipers. Captain Hall, with only a handful of men, including ten Russian sailors and a few British marines, held the position against several hundred Chinese with the loss of only one other man until relief finally arrived in mid-August.

After the discovery of an antique Chinese cannon, A creative young gunner's mate found an antique Chinese cannon and reconditioned and modifed the old weapon to fire bags of nails. The old artillery piece was fondly called, "The Old Crock"

The Chinese Imperial troops and the Boxers in Beijing had achieved a near total victory by mid-July, but they failed to seize the Legation Quarter, not because they lacked the ability, but because they lacked the will. The capture of Tianjin and the fierce defense of the Legation Quarter had a seemingly disheartening effect on the Chinese in Beijing. Systematic attacks on the legations tapered off.

On July 16, an informal truce was arranged at the insistance of the Tsungli Yamen. When the Chinese approached British Minister MacDonald under a flag of truce and proposed a cessation of hostilities, the legation ministers agreed providing Chinese made no advance. The Chinese partially reestablished communications between the legations and the outside world and the Empress Dowager ordered a delivery of fruits, vegetables and other food to the legations to, "...show my love and concern."

Sniper and artillery fire diminished considerably after the truce, but the tension continued unabated as defensive lines became more sharply defined and both sides strengthened their positions. For a second time, the foreigners declined an offer to leave Beijing for Tianjin. On July 18, the Japanese foreign minister received a message that managed to get through Chinese lines that reported, "a combined Allied relief column of about 12,000 men was preparing to march to Peking." The news came as a great relief to all those defending the Legation Quarter.

Without hard knowledge of conditions in the Legation Quarter in Beijing, wild false rumors flew around the world claiming that the Chinese had overrun the legations and killed every every man, woman and child inside. On July 16, many newspapers in the international media ran terrifying headlines about the "Massacre in Peking," stumbling into what has been called "one of the most monumental mistakes in the history of journalism." Mistake or not, the stories forced world leaders to pay closer attention to the severity and scale of the growing conflict in China. They were also effective in drumming up massive anti-Chinese sentiments in Europe, America and Japan.

According to British Minister Sir Claude MacDonald, on July 21 the legation defensive line ran 200 yards along the massive city wall south of the American, British and Russian legations, including the French and German legations and half of a park east of the Britsh legation. Everything beyond this perimeter had been destroyed or burned and the Chinese still manned barricades close to the perimeter. Between June 24 and July 24, 231 civilians among the 920 foreign residents in the legation district were killed, mostly missionaries and their families, including 53 children.

In a message from United States Minister Edwin H. Conger to James W. Ragsdale, the American Consul in Tianjin, Conger reported,

"Have been besieged in British legation five weeks under continual fire of Chinese troops, but since 16th by agreement there has been no firing;  50 marines of all nationalities killed and more wounded. We have provisions for several weeks, but little ammunition. If they continue to shell us as they have done, we can't hold out long, complete massacre will follow. Hope relief can come soon; glad to hear of victory at Tianjin."

In July 1900, while the armies of the Allied Powers - America included - were gathering for the assault on Beijing, Secretary of State John Hay opened a new era for American policy. In his own words, America desired to "safeguard for the world the principle of equal and impartial trade with all parts of the Chinese empire ...and preserve Chinese territorial and administrative integrity." For the first time in its history, the United States had broadened its position from the economics of the situation in East Asia to the political situation and had made a historic commitment:  China must survive as an independent country.

By the end of July, after many delays, a massive expeditionary force from eight nations assembled in Tianjin under the overall command of British General Alfred Gaselee. The force included approximately 10,000 Japanese, 4,000 Russians, 3,000 British, 2,500 Americans, 800 French, 100 German, and 100 Austrian and Italian troops. At its peak, the Eight-Nation Alliance, eventually numbered 54,000: Japanese (20,840), American (3,420), Austro-Hungarian (75), British (12,020), French (3,520), German (900), Italian (80), Russian (13,150) and anti-Boxer Chinese troops.

U.S. Army General Adna R. Chaffee arrived in Tianjin on July 30 and took command of all U.S. forces in China, whose goal was to relieve the legations in Beijing and protect American interests in China. General Chaffee's command included one Marine battalion from the First Regiment under the command of Major W. P. Biddle, two battalions of the Fourteenth U.S. Infantry, the Sixth U.S. Cavalry, and one battery from the Fifth U.S. Artillery.

At dawn on the morning of August 4, the first columns of the relief force marched out of Tianjin toward Beijing along the banks of the Pei-ho River and bivouacked for the night at a point near the Hsi-ku Arsenal. The following day, August 5, Japanese engaged and defeated the Chinese at Pei-tsang, north of the Hsi-ku Arsenal. The following day, the CRE marched northwestward in three separate columns:  Russo-French, British and American. The American and British engaged the Chinese in a fierce battle near Yang-tsun (modern Wuqing) in the face of very accurate artillery fire.

Pushing the Chinese north, the allies moved through Yang-tsun on the 7th;  Tsai-tsun on the 8th;  Hosiwu on the 9th;  Tshienping on the 10th, a short distance from Matou;  Changchiawan on the 11th;  Tung-chon on the 12th. The near constant maneuvering in extreme heat and the steady movement through high corn took a toll on the allies. Marine Captain Bannon's Company H, First Battalion, First Regiment dropped out of the fight nearly prostrated by the heat in the cornfields.

Half-blinded by perspiration from air thick with humidity and temperatures that reached one hundred degrees, the CRE pressed the attack towards Beijing. The oppressive heat, merciless duststorms, relieved only occasionally by driving rain and mud, and the continuous shortage of clean drinking water intensified the suffering on both sides. The Allies pushed through numerous villages and drove to within fourteen miles of Beijing by August 13, where they captured the walled city of Dongzhou.

As planned, the Chinese Relief Expeditionary force was to march in columns along parallel routes directly toward the capital, each aiming for a predesignated target. The British on the left flank were to attack the Sha K'ou Gate. The United States would assault the Tung Pien Gate. To their right, across the Imperial Canal would be French troops under General Frey. Next in line, the Japanese would advanced toward the Chih Hua Gate. On the extreme right were the Russians, assigned to take the Tung Chih Gate. Passing through villages, around the pagodas and temples, and crossing the many irrigation ditches, the ponderous and at times disorganized advance continued to within three miles of the walls of Beijing where it halted for the night. British General Gaselee intended for the entire force to assault the Chinese capital at dawn.

The raw male sense of competition combined with international rivalries to fuel the allied drive toward the Qing capital. It also resulted in the abandonment of plans for a coordinated attack on Beijing. Late in the evening on August 13, Russian scouts rode out on a routine reconnaissance patrol to probe for weak spots in the Chinese defenses. To their surprise they managed to get to within a few hundred yards of the walls before drawing fire from the city's defenders.

News of the lightly defended sector prompted General Lineivitch to immediately send out a well-armed combat patrol backed by one whole battalion with artillery support. While the other Allied troops rested in their tents in anticipation of a synchronized morning attack, General Lineivitch acted without consultation or orders. In complete darkness under a heavy rain, the Russians moved to a point just outside the Tung Pien Gate, where General Vassilievski could hear heavy gunfire being directed at the foreign legation district.

With their movement masked by the sounds of gunfire and rainfall, a small Russian patrol captured the outer guardhouse at the narrow bridge spanning the moat beneath the massive gate just before midnight. Minutes later General Vassilievski ordered his artillery to open fire on the Tung Pien Gate. In rapid succession, bursting shells tore a large hole in gate's the outer ironwork.

The sounds of fighting led many of the Allied troops to believe that the Boxers were attacking the foreign legations in force. The Allied commanders, many of whom believed that the Russians were up to something devious and sinister, became outraged when they learned the Russians had in fact begun the attack well before the appointed hour. Nevertheless, the Russian move signaled the beginning of the race and everyone else had no choice but to follow suit. All Allied contingents prepared to advance, each seeking not only the relief of the foreign legations, but the greater glory of their own flag. As the day unfolded, the tempo of the fighting increased as did opposition from the Chinese.

At around 12:30 p.m., Major Waller's Marines approached the wall near the Tung Pien Gate and sent a platoon of men to the top of the wall to stop sniper fire and set up protection for the artillery. The American 14th Infantry Regiment, using ladders and ropes, scaled the walls and cleared armed resistance in the area. Their regimental colors were the first foreign flag to float over the walls of Beijing. They next doubled back to attack the Boxers from the rear to help the besieged Russians, who had suffered heavy casualties after hours of frantic fighting in the courtyard between the inner and outer gates.

As dawn broke on the morning of August 14, the Russians held firm control of the Tung Pien Gate. Around midday, the British pounded through the Sha K'ou Gate on the Russian's left flank and pushed into the deserted streets of Beijing. Cautiously moving through the eerie night silence, British and American troops stormed Dongjiaomin Lane around 5 a.m.. British troops reached the large wall surrounding the legation districts ahead of everyone else. Much to the Russian's disappointment, the British had won the race. The encirclement of the legation area and the Pehtang Cathedral was lifted. Two hours later, General Chaffee's infantry reached the legations. The Russians showed up an hour later.

The Japanese had a particularly tough time at the Chih Hua Gate, firing over one thousand artillery shells at the gate without success. Only after engineers managed to approach the gate under cover of darkness and place explosives next to the gate's massive doors were the Japanese able to breach the fortifications. By nightfall on August 14, allied troops faced the last stronghold of the desperate Chinese;  the massive wall surrounding the sacred Forbidden City itself, an area barred to all but the Imperial Court. Just as a bloody victory seemed assured however, hostilities were ordered suspended. Soon after, the Chinese capitulated. The siege against the legations was over, ending a fifty-five-day-long reign of terror.

In 1860, it took the Anglo-French Allied Forces 40 days to proceed from Tianjin to Beijing. In 1900, the Chinese Relief Expedition made it in 10 days. For China, this was a humiliation even greater than the failure of the Opium Wars. At 3:30 a.m. on the morning of August 15, Empress Dowager Tz'u Hsi and the Imperial Court held a meeting to discuss their options. The empress could easily have stopped the seige of the Legation Quarter with a word, even a single gesture, but she did not. By allowing the attacks against the Legation Quarter, she had put herself in an untenable position. Had she not flirted with the Boxers while simultaneouly protecting the foreigners, the Boxers would likely have joined with imperial army supporters, turned against her, killed the emperor, and forced her to commit suicide. Had she allowed the annihilation of the Legation Quarter, the western nations would most certainly have dethroned the Manchus and killed her.

Now, with "foreign devils" standing beneath the walls of the Forbidden City, survival was paramount. For the second time in her life, she sought safety in an ignominious flight. Having failed to protect the Manchu dynasty from the relief expedition, she disguised herself as a common Chinese peasant and fled Beijing in a cart, taking taking Emperor Guangxu with her. In the early morning hours, the empress and her small entourage left the Summer Palace riding ordinary carts and traveled through Juyong Pass, to Badaling, Yanqing and straight to Xi'an, some 600 miles southwest of Beijing. Many members of the Imperial Court, also in disguise, left the capital for Baoding. The ruling Manchus would not return for a year and a half.

Wild predictions about China's future appeared almost immediately after the empress dowager, emperor and Chinese court fled Beijing. One declared the end of the Qing dynasty and the end of Manchu rule. Another predicition claimed that Beijing would never again be the capital city because no ruler would return to the Forbidden City after it had been "defiled by foreign devils." Still another prediction said the empress would never dare return to Beijing, even if Emperor Guangxu and the Imperial Court did. None of these predictions came to pass.

On August 15, troops of the eight-nation alliance attacked the Imperial City, with United States Marines in the lead. After clearing barricades on the approach to the massive Chien Men Gate, marine artillery fired continuous volleys from ranges of 900 yards into the the first gate of the Imperial City, which the Chinese held in force. Most of the main gates had already been burned by the Japanese, but after a heavy barrage of rifle and artillery fire directed at the inner gate leading to the Forbidden City, the Chinese defenders withdrew. For the first time in its long history, the fabled compound where entry was barred to all but the Imperial Court lay exposed to foreigners.

For political reasons, General Chaffee ordered a halt to the American assault short of entering the Forbidden City, which had never been entered by foreigners. Since organized resistance was over anyway, it remained only for the relief force to move into and secure the compounds. Jurisdiction over the Imperial City was parcelled out among the eight nation alliance. The British controlled the west, the Russians the east, the Americans the south, and the Japanese the north. The Forbidden City was left untouched for the time being, largely as a result of international differences over how to portion out the loot.

In the days after the relief of the legation quarters there occurred one of the most hideous episodes in the history of East-West relations. The westerners - soldiers and civilians alike - began an orgy of looting, raping and pillaging in Beijing proper, carrying away everthing perceived to have any value. It was a dreadful and humiliating spectacle. As a demonstration of how the West dispensed justice it was hardly calculated to impress the East with the superiority of Western standards. The West had once come to China proffering the message of Christianity and not only did they not forgive those who trespassed against them, they dealt with the Chinese in a manner reminiscent of the vengeful ferocity characteristic of a primitive people.

Throughout August 15 and 16, looting plunder and rape seemed to be the principal occupation in Beijing. Russian soldiers acted more like savage marauders than anything else. German troops in particular were criticized for their enthusiastic execution of Kaiser Wilhelm II's July 27 order to, "make the name German remembered in China for a thousand years so that no Chinaman will ever again dare to even squint at a German." Countless Chinese corpses lay strewn across the city in the wake of the allied arrival.

Troops of the eight-nation allied forces turned the Chinese capital into ruins. Temples and mausoleums, government offices and private residences fell victim to rampaging thieves. Every structure of any importance was picked clean as a bone. With the road to Beijing now wide open, hordes of amateurs poured into the city to buy up everything they could. For days, lumbering military trains returned to Tianjin heavily loaded with countless chests of loot which ultimately found its way to the antique markets of Europe and America.

One of the greatest treasures in the city was never discovered. Before the empress and her court fled Beijing, approximately they ordered 100,000,000 taels of silver (£15,000,000) buried in the women's quarters of the Imperial Palace. When the court returned to the capital in late 1902, they recovered the entire amount intact.

The destruction that occurred in Beijing was appalling. European buildings in the vicinity of the Legation Quarter, the wealthiest part of the city, had been reduced to ashes by fires ignited by Boxer rebels. After Boxers torched Watson's Drug Store in south Beijing, the flames rapidly spread to adjoining buildings, finally consuming the entire business quarter with all its invaluable stores of silks, curiosities, furs, etc.. A French journalist who visited Beijing in October 1900, reported, "After fire and shell have crumbled away Beijing's flimsy materials the city is only a mass of debris. ... It was all ruins. Flags of European countries flew over its walls."

Standing in stark contrast to the barbaric behavior of so many troops was a resolution unanimously adopted at the meeting of American missionaries in Beijing on August 18.

"The Americans who have been besieged in Beijing desire to express their hearty appreciation of the courage, fidelity, and patriotism of the American Marines, to whom we so largely owe our salvation. By their bravery in holding an almost untenable position on the city wall in the face of overwhelming numbers, and in cooperating in driving the Chinese from a position of great strength, they made all foreigners in Beijing their debtors, and have gained for themselves an honorable name among the heroes of their country."

The climactic end of the seige occured on August 28, when, after much political debate, it was decided that a representative column of foreign troops would stage a victory parade through the never before entered Forbidden City to erase its legendary inviolability by foreigners. Soldiers, sailors and marines from Russia, Japan, Great Britain, America, France, Germany, Italy and Austria marched together in a single column through the Great Qing Gate (Daqing Men) and entered the Forbidden City along the the central slated path. All that remained of the former occupants were a few eunuchs and subordinate officials in charge of the imperial apartments.

The elaborate ceremonial procession sent an unmistakable message to the Chinese that symbolized the conviction and cooperation of the eight nation alliance. Just as the last troops passed the gate, a 21-gun salute proclaimed the fall of the Forbidden City. The column marched into the palace, visited all the halls and jostled to take pictures at the throne.

An American Marine, Lieutenant Butler, wrote, "This is the first time within the memory of man when such a march occurred and it certainly was a wonderful sight to see Russian, Japanese, English, American, French, German, Italian and Austrian troops marching in the order named in one column. We went through all the holy temples and palaces where foreigners have never set foot before."

With the safety of the legations secured, the Allies began negotiations with the Chinese in Beijing to settle the Boxer issue. In a dramatic reversal, the Imperial Chinese Army turned on the Boxers, rounding up and executing the rebels by the score, fellow Chinese who just days earlier had been their comrades-in-arms.

After working at cross purposes for months, the Allied representatives had a hard time agreeing on terms of the settlement. A vengeful Germany demanded stern punishment. Britain, suspicious of the Russian encroachment into Manchuria during the relief expedition to Beijing, supported the Germans in an attempt to check further Russian advances in China. For its part, Russia ingratiated itself with the Chinese in the hopes of gaining further concessions in Manchuria. Japan, also disturbed by the Russian advances, adopted a policy of winning Chinese goodwill by offering to withdraw part of its military contingent to Tianjin. France announced that they did not wish a breakup of China and made it clear they held no secret designs on the country.

The Boxer Uprising dramatically demonstrated China's willingness to respond to foreign intrusions with military force, but it also revealed that the Manchu dynasty was fully prepared to compromise China's national interests to further its own survival. Once again, China had been humiliated. This time however, it was for lack of trying. China controlled favorable terrain, had hostile masses of citizens who surrounded the enemy and had a military force that could hold its own against the west. At worst, China could have made life unbearable for the encroaching foreign troops. Instead, it appeared the will to preserve the Qing dynasty was stronger than the will to fight for national honor and pride, an outcome that seriously weakened the Qing government and marked the beginning of the end of China's 2,000-year-old dynastic rule.