First Sumatran Expedition

First Sumatran expedition
Part of the
U.S. Infantry assaulting the Acehnese forts at Kuala Batu in 1832
Date 6–9 February 1832 Location Kuala Batee, Aceh Sultanate Result United States victory
Belligerents
United States  Netherlands	Chiefdom of Kuala Batee
Commanders and leaders
Commodore John Downes Governor-General Johannes van den Bosch	Uleëbalang Po Muhammad
Strength
Land: 282 sailors and marine infantry Sea: 1 frigate	Land: ~500 warriors 5 forts Sea: 3 proas
Casualties and losses
2 killed 11 wounded	~450 killed or wounded 5 forts destroyed 3 proas sunk

The First Sumatran expedition, which featured the Battle of Quallah Battoo (Aceh: Kuala Batèë, Malay: Kuala Batu) in 1832, was a punitive expedition by the United States Navy against the village of Kuala Batee (), presently a subdistrict in Southwest Aceh Regency. The reprisal was in response to the massacre of the crew of the merchantman Friendship a year earlier. The frigate Potomac and its crew defeated the local uleëbalang (ruler)'s forces and bombed the settlement. The expedition was successful in stopping Sumatran attacks on U.S. shipping for six years until another vessel was plundered under different circumstances, resulting in a second Sumatran expedition in 1838.

The island of Sumatra is renowned as an excellent source of pepper, and throughout history ships have come to the island to trade for it. In 1831, the American merchantman Friendship under Captain Charles Endicott had arrived off the chiefdom of Kuala Batu in order to secure a cargo of pepper. Various small trading boats darted back and forth along the coast trading pepper with the merchant ships waiting offshore. On 7 February 1831, Endicott and a few of his men went ashore to purchase some pepper from the natives when three proas attacked his ship, murdered Friendship's first officer and two others of her crew, and plundered its cargo.

Endicott and the other surviving members of his crew managed to escape to another port with the assistance of a friendly native chief named Po Adam. There they enlisted the help of three other merchant captains who agreed to help him recover his vessel. With their help, Endicott managed to retake his ship and eventually sailed back to Salem, Massachusetts. Upon reaching Salem there was a general public outcry against the massacre and in response President Andrew Jackson dispatched the frigate USS Potomac under Commodore John Downes to punish the natives for their treachery.

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