Combat· Boxer Rebellion
Seymour Expedition
When the Boxer uprising threatened the foreigners trapped in Peking, the first attempt to rescue them was a relief column led by British Vice Admiral Edward Seymour.
It set out from Tientsin with about two thousand men from several nations, including a small American detachment of sailors and a few Marines under Captain Bowman McCalla of the Navy. The column tried to follow the railway toward the capital but was ambushed again and again by Boxer and Imperial forces, who tore up the tracks and blocked the way. Cut off and unable to reach Peking, the force had to fight its way back toward Tientsin. Along the way it captured and took shelter in a well-stocked Chinese arsenal, holding there until help arrived. The expedition failed to reach the legations, but it showed how strong the resistance had become.
Podcast episodes on Boxer Rebellion
Record no. 531