General Sherman incident

General Sherman incident
Date July 9–24, 1866 Location Taedong River, Pyongyang, Joseon Result Korean victory
Belligerents
United States	Joseon
Commanders and leaders
Captain Page	Governor Park Gyu-su
Strength
1 schooner	Land: unknown land forces Sea: 1 turtle ship
Casualties and losses
20 killed, 1 schooner sunk	7 killed, unknown wounded, 1 turtle ship damaged

The General Sherman incident was the destruction of an armed merchant marine side-wheel steamer that visited Korea in 1866. It was an important catalyst to the end of Korean isolationism in the 19th century. After passing the Keupsa Gate without permission from the Koreans, the United States merchant ship was attacked and fought for several days before being destroyed.

Background

In the mid-19th century, European nations and the United States were eager to open up new trade in Asia, and began establishing trade in China and southeast Asia. Japan was also opened up to trade after Commodore Matthew Perry sailed into Uraga Harbor near Edo (modern Tokyo) on July 8, 1853, and under the threat of force Japan signed the Convention of Kanagawa in 1854. As early as 1832 discussions of opening up Korea were made by the captain of the USS Peacock, Edmund Roberts, yet in 1844 a draft by the United States Congress was shelved due to lack of interest.

The first contact between the U.S. and Korea was not in any way hostile, and in 1853 the USS South America, a US gunboat, visited Busan for 10 days while en route to Japan and had dined with local Korean officials. Several Americans who were shipwrecked in Korea between 1855, 1865 and 1866 were treated well and sent to China for repatriation. However, the Joseon Dynasty court which ruled Korea was well aware of the colonization of China as a result of the First as well as the Second Opium War and maintained a strict policy of isolationism to avoid a similar fate.

Incident

Determined to open up Korea to trade, the British trading firm Meadows and Co., based in Tientsin (present day Tianjin), China, sent the General Sherman (named for William Tecumseh Sherman) into Korean waters in an attempt to meet with Korean officials to begin negotiations for a trade treaty. The 187-ton side-wheel steamer allegedly carried a cargo of cotton, tin, and glass and was heavily armed. The crew consisted of Captain Page, Chief Mate Wilson, and 13 Chinese and 3 Malay sailors. Also on board was the ship's owner, W. B. Preston, a British trader, and Robert Jermain Thomas, a Protestant missionary acting as an interpreter. They departed Chefoo (present day Yantai), China on August 6 and arrived on the coast of Korea on August 16or August 18, 1866., The General Sherman, then, entered the Taedong River on Korea's west coast sailing towards Pyongyang. The depth of the Taedong River changed frequently due to rains and the tides, but the ship was able to navigate it and stopped at the Keupsa Gate, lying at the border between Pyongan and Hwanghae provinces.

Local officials then met the crew and were able to communicate well enough to learn the ship was purportedly interested in trade. The Koreans refused all trade offers but agreed to provide the crew with some food and provisions. The ship was told to wait while higher level government officials could be consulted. However, the ship then departed again and went further up river, until it became stranded near Yangjak island near Pyongyang. Park Gyu-su (the governor of Pyongyang) then sent his deputy, Yi Hyun-Ik, with food and told the ship that it was supposed to stay at the Keupsa Gate and again to wait while the Korean ruler was consulted. At that time Korea was ruled by a Regent, the Heungseon Daewongun, in the name of his minor son King Gojong. The Daewongun sent orders that the ship was to leave immediately or all the crew would be killed.^{[citation needed]} According to Korean Official history record, "Kojong-silrok"(Vol.3), there were two survivors( Robert Thomas and Cho Neung-bong) who had dived into the river from the prow of ship but they were beaten to death.

There are several discrepancies as to what had happened, but one eyewitness noted that as troops were gathered towards the ship, hostile actions followed. The crew abducted Yi and his two deputies who were attempting to pursue a small boat launched from the General Sherman containing six men attempting to reach shore. According to Governor Park's report, another government official, Shin Tae-jung tried to persuade the crew of General Sherman to release Yi Hyun-ik and his men but failed. Instead, the General Sherman moved upstream firing cannons and guns and eventually anchored at Hwang-gang-jung(House of Yellow River). Then, five men lauched a blue boat and navigated thru O-tan area in order to detect the depth of water. The residents of Pyong-yang gathered along the riverbank and shouted for the relese of Yi Hyun-ik. A men (probably Robert J. Thomas since he was the only one that spoke Korean) in the boat retorted back saying that they would give the answer if they were allowed inside of Pyong-yang city. The crowd got upset and started throwing stones at the small boat. The military men also shot arrows and guns at them and they retreat back to the main ship. Koreans then sent a rescue party and managed to bring out Yi safely but Yi's two duputies (Yoo Soon-won and Park Chi-young) were perished. Three days later reporting the rescue, Governor Park sent another report stating that the ship fired its cannons onto the spectators which resulted 7 deaths and 5 wounded.

Fighting continued for the next four days but causing no damage. The Koreans then tied several boats together filled with wood, sulphur and saltpeter. The first two boats failed to inflict any damage, but the third boat set the General Sherman afire. Unable to stem the flames, the crew jumped into the water, where they were beaten to death.

The incident was one reason why the U.S. returned in 1871 in what is called the 1871 U.S. Korea Campaign, or Sinmiyangyo, resulting in the deaths of about 300 Koreans. Five years later Korea was forced to sign a trade treaty with Japan, and in 1882 signed a treaty with the US, ending several centuries of isolationism.

Disputed account

Although the purported reason for the journey was to conduct trade with Korea, the Koreans contend that the actual intention was to find treasure buried in the royal tombs near Pyongyang.^{[citation needed]} Further, the Americans' trade claim can be called into question as the General Sherman may not have even carried the necessary cargo for trade; the Meadows Company never specified a quantity of cargo in the manifest documents sent to the authorities after the destruction of its vessel.^{[citation needed]} However, the fact that the vessel ran aground in the river suggests that it was laden with cargo of some sort.

There is saying that Koreans also felt the use of an armed metal-skinned gunboat suspicious considering the stated desire for peaceful trade. For centuries, the only Korean water-borne vessels clad in metal were ones that served military purposes, so the General Sherman would have looked like a warship to the Koreans. However, two months before the General Sherman Incident, another armed vessel with bigger cannons led by a German named Ernst Oppert had already visited Korea and made the same demand of trade. Although trades were denied, the Oppert's party had been well treated by Koreans and returned to China safely. In addition, another American ship named Surprise was shipwrecked in Chulsan area in Pyong-an Province in June or July of 1866 and its crews were sent to China safely by Governor Park Gyu-su, who was in charge of the attack on the General Sherman.

From the late 1960s, official historians in North Korea began to insist that the attack on the General Sherman was planned and led by a direct ancestor of the then North Korean dictator Kim Il-sung. Those claims, which had virtually no confirmation in historical records, were part of a campaign to promote the special role allegedly played by Kim Il-sung's family in Korean history, and thus facilitate the transfer of dictatorial power to Kim Jong-il, Kim Il-sung's eldest son. These statements are still repeated in North Korean publications, including textbooks. North Korea issued a postage stamp commemorating the sinking in 2006.

The USS Pueblo, a U.S. Navy intelligence ship captured by North Korea in 1968 and the only U.S. warship still being held in captivity, is currently moored at what is believed to be the spot where the incident took place.

See also

• History of Korea
• Joseon Dynasty
• United States expedition to Korea (1871)
• List of Korea-related topics
• Robert Jermain Thomas

Further reading

• Richard F. Grimmett, Instances of Use of United States Armed Forces Abroad 1798 - 2004, Congressional Research Service report RL30172 Naval Historical Center, 2004.
• James A. Field, Jr., History of United States Naval Operations: Korea DEPARTMENT OF THE NAVY—NAVAL HISTORICAL CENTER.
• Curtis A. Utz, Assault from the Sea --The Amphibious Landing at Inchon The U.S. Navy in the Modern World Series No. 2.

External links

• The Hermit Kingdom and the General Sherman Incident
• USS General Sherman Incident
• Sinking of the General Sherman a US Marine Merchant ship
• The General Sherman Incident of 1866 and Rev. Thomas' Martyrdom
• Some Comments on "The General Sherman Incident of 1866 and Rev. Thomas' Martyrdom."
• USS General Sherman (1864-1865, "Tinclad" # 60)