Combat· Sumatra Expeditions
Battle of Muckie
The hardest blow of the Second Sumatran Expedition, struck a few days after the action at Quallah Battoo.
Commodore Read took the Columbia and John Adams along the coast to Muckie, another of the Malay towns implicated in attacks on American shipping, and when negotiations broke down he resolved to destroy it outright. The ships opened a bombardment of the forts and town, and then landing parties of Marines and sailors went ashore. Commander Wyman's force from the John Adams landed first, marched into the town, and began its destruction; the Columbia's party, organized into musketeers, pikemen, Marines, and pioneers, followed. The landing met no real resistance, and the Americans burned the town and leveled its forts before re-embarking, taking native chiefs prisoner. No American casualties were suffered. The thorough destruction of Muckie ended the expedition and drove home the warning the bombardment of Quallah Battoo had begun.
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Record no. 301