Seymour Expedition, China 1900

Seymour Expedition
Part of Boxer Rebellion
Admiral Seymour returning to Tianjin with his wounded men.
Date 10–28 June 1900 Location Tianjin, China Result Chinese victory
Belligerents
United Kingdom  German Empire  Russia France  United States Japan  Kingdom of Italy  Austria-Hungary	Qing China Yìhéquán
Commanders and leaders
Edward Seymour David Beatty, 1st Earl Beatty Nikolai Linevich Bowman McCalla Guido von Usedom	Dong Fuxiang Ma Fulu Ma Fuxiang Ma Haiyan Yao Wang Nie Shicheng Ni Zanqing
Strength
916 540 312 158 112 54 40 25 2,157 total	Tenacious Army 3,000 Kansu Braves 2,000 Boxers
Casualties and losses
62 dead 232 wounded	Unknown

The Seymour Expedition was an attempt by a multi-national military force to march to Beijing and protect the diplomatic legations and foreign nationals in the city from attacks by Boxers in 1900. The Chinese army defeated Seymour's expedition and forced it to return to Tianjin (Tientsin).

In May and early June 1900 Boxer bands advanced on Beijing. The Qing dynasty was ambivalent about the Boxers, fearing that they might become anti-Qing. The Boxers became a serious threat to Western and Japanese citizens as well as Chinese Christians living in northern China. The diplomatic Legations in Beijing requested that Guards be sent to protect them and more than 400 marines and naval troops from eight countries arrived in Beijing on May 31. However, as the threat from the Boxers increased, it became apparent that additional troops were needed. On June 9 Sir Claude Maxwell MacDonald, the British Minister, cabled Vice-Admiral Edward Hobart Seymour, commander of the British Navy's China Station, that the situation in Beijing was becoming more serious and that troops should be landed with all arrangements made for an advance to Peking [Beijing] at once.

Responding to MacDonald's message, Seymour assembled in 24 hours a force of more than 2,000 Sailors and Marines from European, American and Japanese warships and prepared to embark for Beijing from Tianjin, 75 miles away, by train. His force consisted of 916 British, 455 Germans, 326 Russians, 158 French, 112 Americans, 54 Japanese, 41 Italians and 26 Austrians. Seymour's Chief of Staff was Capt. John Jellicoe. The commander of the Americans in the expedition was Captain Bowman H. McCalla, USN.

The diplomats in Beijing anticipated that Seymour would arrive there on June 11. Acting without the Chinese Imperial court's permission, they had, in effect, launched an invasion. The Chinese response was decisive.

Seymour commandeered five trains in Tianjin and departed for Beijing with his entire force on the morning of 10 June. The first day the soldiers travelled 25 miles without incident, crossing a bridge at Yancun over the Hai River unopposed, although Chinese Gen. Nie Shicheng and thousands of his soldiers were camped there, Nie's soldiers were "friendly" and did not attack. The next few days went slowly, as Seymour had to repair railroad tracks and fight off Boxer attacks as his trains advanced. On June 14 several hundred Boxers armed with swords, spears and clumsy gingals attacked Seymour twice and killed five Italian soldiers. The Americans counted 102 Boxer bodies left on the battlefield at the end of one battle. Seymour continued to repair tracks and advanced very slowly. Chinese Gen. Nie let Seymour's army slip past in trains, because Ronglu had deliberately issued contradictory orders that left Nie confused. However, the Muslim forces were not "confused", and immediately set out attacking the foreigners.

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