General Sherman incident

File:USS Princess Royal.jpg

USS Princess Royal

The General Sherman Incident refers to hostilities between the SS General Sherman and Korea in Pyongyang, Korea, 1866. The battle occured incidential to the General Sherman's mission to attempt to open trade for a British company based in Tientsin, China. Curiously, although the the USS General Sherman hoisted an American flag, and the incident became a cause of concern for the United States government, Captain Page, and his chief mate, represented the only United States citizens onboard.

Background

Daewongun

Korea during the later years of Joseon Dynasty sought to maintain a low profile. Korea had suffered devasting wars on its soil in the late 1500s when Japan attacked Korea laying waste to the country during two invasions between 1592-1598. A few generations later, 1627-1637, the Manchus invaded Korea devasting the nation once again. The Joseon dynasty, inaugurated in 1392, never fully recovered from that one-two punch.

As a result, from the 1640s on, Joseon Korea increasingly sought to make itself inconspicious on the world stage, depended on their small size as a protection, earning the name "The Hermit Kingdom." The royal court sought to make Korea appear as unattractive as possible from the coast and passed a law that prohibited the return of ship wrecked seaman to their native countries, especially European seamen. As much as possible, Joseon sought to keep the secret of their attractive kindom from the world beyond China and Japan. That especially became the case in the mid-1800s when Europe and the United States began to rove East Asia in search of colonies and markets. From the 1800s, Joseon Korea sought to conduct all diplomacy with Western nations through China. China, although wanting tribute from Korea, sought to hand off responsibility for Korea's actions, as in the General Sherman incident, to the Koreans.

As early as 1840 Korea had engaged in discussions to open trade relationships with the United States; in 1844 the United States Congress shelved a draft due to lack of interest. The first contact between the United States and Korea proved peaceful. In 1853 the USS South America, an American gunboat, visited Busan for ten days and had amiable contact with local Korean officials. Several Americans shipwrecked on Korea in 1855 and 1865 received good treatment, traveling to China for repatriation.

File:River Pothong.jpg

General View of Pyongyang from Daedong River.

From the 1850s, Korea witnessed the inability of China and Japan to protect themselves from Western navies and armies. Japan opened to trade after Commodore Matthew Perry sailed into Uraga Harbor near Edo (modern Tokyo) on July 8, 1853 and, under the threat of attack, forced Japan to sign the Convention of Kanagawa in 1854. The Joseon court followed the colonization of China and the Opium Wars with grave concern. That placed Korea in an even more insecure and defensive posture.

China, Japan, and Korea had to decide upon policy to deal with Western superior firepower and armed forces. Either adopt Western technology and ways of government or reject them. Either embrace the new and reject the old, or embrace the old and reject new. From 1854 to 1866, Japan struggled with that issue, deciding to embrace the new with the Meiji Restoration setting out on a course to fully modernize Japanese society and government. China and Korea, although in turmoil too over the issue, decided to embrace the old.

The wholesale slaughter of Christians in Korea during the early 1800s constituted a purge of a minority party in the royal court more than an attack on Western influence. In 1866, though, the brutual execution of countless Korean Christians (some accounts name 10,000) by the Daewongun's government clearly constituted an attempt to protect the country from the new, Western influence. The Daewongun's persecution of Catholics, including a number of French Jesuit priests, led to a reprisal by the French that same year. The General Sherman sailed on the scene with that backdrop.

USS General Sherman

Second Opuim War

Inspite of the tension of recent events in Korea, the British company Meadows and Co. hired the Princess Royal to make at trip to Pyongyang, Korea, in an attempt to meet with Korean officials to begin negotiations for a trade treaty. The 187-ton side-wheel schooner, well armored with two 12 inch canon, carried a cargo of cotton, tin, and glass. Curiously, only Captain Page and Chief Mate Wilson hailed from the United States, the Princess Royal coming under the United States flag with the new name SS General Sherman just before sailing. In effect, the General Sherman went on the exploratory venture under British initiative, not American. Two other westerner's sailed aboard the General Sherman, the ship's owner, W.B. Preston, a British trader, and Robert Jerman Thomas, a Welsh Protestant missionary obstensibly serving as a translator.[2] The venture hired thirteen Chinese and three Malay crew to handle the ship.

They departed Chefoo (present day Yantai), China on August 6, and August 16, 1866, entering the Taedong River on Korea's west coast sailing towards Pyongyang.[3] The depth of the Taedong River changed frequently due to rains and the tides, but the ship navigated it successfully, stopping at the Keupsa Gate at the border between Pyungan and Hwanghae provinces.

Pyongyang

Daedong River, North Korea

Local officials then met the crew, communicating well enough to learn the captain wished to promote trade. The Koreans refused trade offers but agreed to provide the crew with some food and provisions. The General Sherman lifted anchor, traveling further up river until stranding at Yangjak island near Pyongyang. The governor of Pyongyang then sent his deputy, Lee Hyon-ik, with food and the message:

"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 then decide what to do with you people." [4]

Tension mounted as the General Sherman crew waited for the Korean leaders reply. On August 27 Captain Page invited the Korean official, Yi Hong-ik, aboard the General Sherman, kidnapping him. A day or two later, the Daewongun's reply reached Governor Park: "Tell them to leave at once. If they do not obey, kill them."[5] By that time, the General Sherman found itself stranded in the normal flow of the Tae-dong River. Leaving did not become an option.

Hostilities Begin

The Korean accounts of events from this point a confused. All accounts agree that the General Sherman fired canon into soldiers and civilians on shore, killing a dozen soldiers and many civilians on August 31st. Battle raged for four days between the soldiers shoting fire arrows and the civilians through rocks while the Sherman returned canon fire. The General Sherman, stranded without means to withdraw, seemed destined to fight to the finish. Time favored the Koreans.

Governor Park ordered Panokseon or Turtle ships to attack, accounts read. Although excellent fighting ships in the 1500s against the Japanese wood fleet, they proved ineffective against the German's armour plates. They resorted to another tried and proven technique, fire ships. Tying two boats together set ablaze, the Koreans drifted them toward the General Sherman. The third try worked, setting the ship ablaze. Many of the Chinese and Malay crew perished in the flames, others jumped into the river, swam to shore, captured and beatened to death. The Americans, British, and Welsh man met the same fate. The Korean official, Yi Hong-ik, escaped and safely made his way to shore.

Aftermath

Robert W. Shufeldt

The Daewongun took great pride in the destruction of a modern warship. Soldiers removed the canon and ship chains, placing them on display in Pyongyang. Although Korean accounts give the General Sherman utterly destroyed by fire, actually the Koreans floated the ship off the sand bar, refit and restored the ship, commissioning the Sherman as Korea's first modern warship. Later, after Admiral Shufeldt protested the treatment of a ship carrying the United States flag, the Korea's quietly return the General Sherman which traveled arougn the Cape Horn to Boston, sold to William F. Well Co. in 1868. After serving as a cargo ship, the General Sherman went down in a storm off Wilminton, North Carolina, in January 1874.[6]

File:Map of the American Naval Operations in Korea, 1871.jpg

Map of American Naval Operations in Korea, 1871

Reports reached the United States that the SS General Sherman had been lost with all its crew killed in Pyongyang, Korea. The navy dispatched Admiral Robert Wilson Shufeldt to investigate. He traveled to Korea, interviewed Korean officials, and left entirely dissatisfied with the stone wall he encountered. About the same time as the destruction of the SS General Sherman, the Daewongun conducted a mass execution of Korean Christians and several French Jesuit Priests. Admiral Rose, commander of the French Asiatic fleet, requested Admiral Shufeldt to join in a punative expedition against Korea. Shufeldt decline; Admiral Rose carrying out the action with French naval forces in 1866.

Shufeldt's recommendations led to a United States expedition in force to receive a more accurate account, apology, and make recovery of survivors and/or remains of the American, British, and Welsh citizens. Admiral Rodgers conducted the expedition in 1871, capturing Kangwha Island before withdrawing. In both the French and American expeditions, the Daewongun interpreted the withdrawls as defeats, embolding him on the course of embrace repelling Western navies and armies. Little did he know that his greatest foe would come from East Asia, Japan, and not the West.

See also

• History of Korea
• Joseon Dynasty
• List of Korea-related topics
• French Campaign against Korea, 1866
• United States Korean expedition

References

ISBN links support NWE through referral fees

• Cable, E. M. 1938. The United States-Korean relations, 1866-1871. Seoul, Korea: Y.M.C.A. Press. OCLC: 29145170
• Denny, Owen Nickerson, and Robert R. Swartout. 1983. An American adviser in late Yi Korea: the letters of Owen Nickerson Denny. Universiy, AL: University of Alabama Press. ISBN 9780817301897
• Drake, Frederick C. 1984. The empire of the seas: a biography of Rear Admiral Robert Wilson Shufeldt, USN. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press. ISBN 9780824808464.
• Field, James A. 1962. History of United States Naval operations: Korea. Washington: [U.S. Govt. Print. Off.]. OCLC: 1131205 [7]
• Grimmett, Richard F. 2007. Instances of use of United States Armed Forces abroad, 1798-2006. CRS report for Congress, RL32170. [Washington, D.C.]: Congressional Research Service, Library of Congress. [8]. OCLC: 122348156
• Swartout, Robert R. 1980. Mandarins, gunboats, and power politics: Owen Nickerson Denny and the international rivalries in Korea. Asian studies at Hawaii, no. 25. Honolulu: Asian Studies Program, University of Hawaii. ISBN 9780824806811
• Utz, Curtis A. 1994. Assault from the sea: the amphibious landing at Inchon. The U.S. Navy in the modern world series, no. 2. Washington: Naval Historical Center, Dept. of the Navy. ISBN 9780160452710[9]

External links

• The Hermit Kingdom And the General Sherman Incident. Retrieved September 19, 2007.
• USS General Sherman Incident. Retrieved September 19, 2007.
• Sinking of the General Sherman A US Marine Merchant Ship. Retrieved September 19, 2007.
• The General Sherman Incident of 1866 and Rev. Thomas' Martyrdom. Retrieved September 19, 2007.
• Some Comments on "The General Sherman Incident of 1866 and Rev. Thomas' Martyrdom.". Retrieved September 19, 2007.
• The Strange Sage of the Princess Royal. Retrieved September 19, 2007.
• Naval Historical Center: USS Princess Royal (1863-1865). Retrieved September 19, 2007.
• Association for Asian Research: The early US-Korea relations,Excerpt from "A Brief History of the US-Korea Relations Prior to 1945", Kim Young-Sik, Ph.D. 7/25/2003. Retrieved September 20, 2007.
• The Strength of Korean's military 1866. Retrieved September 25, 2007.
• Capture the Flag. Retrieved September 25, 2007.

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