The Boxer Rebellion

By Adrian Musgrave

Called back from his honeymoon by an urgent telegram from the New York Times, George Clarke Musgrave settled his new wife at her family home in New Jersey and then left for San Francisco on 9th July 1900, from where he sailed for China. His brief was to travel with the American force that was part of an eight-nation alliance with Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Austro-Hungary, Japan and Russia, mounting what was termed the "China Relief Expedition." Earlier in the year, hundreds of Chinese Christians and foreign missionaries had been viciously attacked and killed in China's Northern provinces. This violence and blood-letting came to a head with the murder of the German Minister in Peking, at which time most foreigners and many Chinese converts fled to the foreign legations in the city where they were promptly besieged by a large force that called itself the "Righteous Harmony Fists," but which the press had labelled the Boxers. The objective of the multi-national force was to rescue the foreign nationals. The march from Tientsin to Peking and the relief of the Legations is documented in some detail but worse - much worse - was to follow. The closing notes describe the aftermath of the expedition, when military order was replaced by chaos. In the days following the entry of the alliance forces into Peking, there began an orgy of looting, execution, rape, torture and murder, described as "an unfolding kaleidoscope of human behaviour more nightmarish and more brutal than any of us could have believed possible."

• Language: English
• Publisher: Adrian Musgrave
• Release date: Sep 1, 2021
• ISBN: 9781005315238

Adrian Musgrave

Following nine years service in the RAF, I qualified as a teacher and spent several years as a freelance teacher/trainer before setting up an internet service business. We sold this business in 2004 at which time me and my wife semi-retired, bought a property in Bulgaria and travelled around Europe, coming back to the UK in 2010. A year or so before we returned, my granddaughter had taken up an interest in genealogy and had constructed a family tree, revealing my great-uncle, George Clarke Musgrave. I worked with her on this and with relatively straightforward first stage research, we discovered that George Clarke was a war correspondent and journalist, seeing action with both British and American forces in West Africa, Cuba, South Africa, China, the Balkans and France. A further decade of more detailed research, including trips to most of the locations where he was an active correspondent, gave us entry to his entire library; press reports, essays, letters and diary notes. His articles from the conflicts that he experienced were published in many national and international journals such as: the Illustrated London News, the London Chronicle, the Daily Mail, Strand Magazine, Black and White Review and the New York Times. He also wrote a number of books which were readily published and well received by audiences on both sides of the Atlantic. Unfortunately, these are now out of print and first editions are rare and expensive. I believe, though, that his words should be read and, together with my granddaughter, I am now committed to bringing the library of George Clarke Musgrave back to life.

Book preview

THE BOXER REBELLION

Adrian Musgrave

From the original diaries, notes,

photographs and despatches

of George Clarke Musgrave

compiled during the relief

of the foreign legations

at Peking - 1900

Book 4 of the Wars and Words series

Copyright 2021 : Wars and Words

Smashwords Edition

This ebook is licensed for your personal use only and may not be re-sold or transferred to others. If you are reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please obtain an alternative copy. Thanks for respecting the work of the author.

Table of Contents

Foreword

To New York

From Honeymoon to Hell in Tientsin

The Truth of Tientsin : Relief or Revenge?

The Life and Death Decisions of Generals

Life inside the Peking Legations

The Relief of Peking : Aftermath

The Relief of Peking : Atrocities

The Convoy : Escape from Peking

Afterword

About the Author

Other titles in the Wars and Words Series

Connect with the Author

Sample from next Wars and Words book

FOREWORD

Called back from his honeymoon by an urgent telegram from the New York Times, George Clarke Musgrave settled his new wife at her family home in New Jersey and then left for San Francisco on 9th July 1900, from where he sailed for China. His brief was to travel with the American force that was part of an eight-nation alliance with Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Austro-Hungary, Japan and Russia, mounting what was termed the China Relief Expedition. The objective of the multi-national force was to rescue the foreign nationals.

There is no material relevant as an introduction for this book. In fact, there is no book to draw from, neither are there any newspaper articles or reports. Instead, we have only a collection of notes, diary entries, photographs, military briefings and despatches covering the four weeks spent in China. For such an experienced, committed and prolific writer, this is something of a surprise, but the clues lie in the tenor of the words that he uses to describe the horror, the brutality and the sheer trauma of his experiences. Horror and brutality were no strangers to our author, who had experienced war in many theatres, but he had seen nothing like this. Describing his entry into Tientsin, he says; I could have likened it only to walking into the depths of Hades itself. The overpowering stench was more revolting than any I had suffered, and was matched in intensity only by the visual horrors before us. Thousands of people milled aimlessly from ruin to ruin; or squatted, expressionless, like dumb animals unaware that they were about to be slaughtered. Putrid corpses lay rotting in the streets, while women and children ran in terror from the carnage around them or stood huddled, almost comatose, in abject groups.

The march from Tientsin to Peking and the relief of the Legations is documented in some detail but worse - much worse - was to follow. The closing notes describe the aftermath of the expedition when military order was replaced by chaos. In the days following the entry of the alliance forces into Peking, there began an orgy of looting, execution, rape, torture and murder, described as an unfolding kaleidoscope of human behaviour more nightmarish and more brutal than any of us could have believed possible.

And here lies the reason why our author penned no words for publication. In a note describing his final hours in the city, together with a group of three fellow correspondents, he wrote; not one of us had ever known such an assault on the senses; not one of us had ever been exposed to such obscene visions of reality. In our hearts we all knew, we had a silent understanding and a shared pledge that there are things we must not write, and that may not be printed for our readers, which show that this Western civilisation of ours is merely a veneer over savagery.

TO NEW YORK

An afternoon, overnight and full day journey in the crammed carriage of the Cape Town train left me in a foul temper but my dark clouds of gloom soon dissipated when I hurried from the station to the port offices and found that the SS Greek was due to leave for Southampton tomorrow.

My spirit lifted even more when I discovered that this was to be a hospital ship carrying a party of doctors, nurses and some 170 wounded soldiers back to England; a strangely similar manifest to that of my repatriation trip from Cuba to New York a year and a half ago.

With a dash of the few dollars that I was carrying, I was able to convince the shipping clerk to assign me to the galley for my working passage and, since I had to report there at 7 am, he agreed that I could stay on board overnight. Fortunately, there were several berths still available within the lower deck and I selected a cabin furthest away from what I guessed would be the busiest area. In truth it was little more than a storeroom with a sloped ceiling under part of which I could stand only by crouching. But it had a narrow drop-down bunk, a tiny washbasin and a kneehole cabinet which would readily double as a chest for my meagre belongings and, most importantly, a desk. Within minutes I was asleep.

A sliver of daylight was leaking through the crack at the bottom of the door to my cabin as I awoke and I estimated that this made the hour about six o’clock. I dressed quickly and made my way out on to the deck to find the ordered activities of preparing the ship for departure well underway. Crates and barrels were being swung into the holds by two large derricks and boxes of medical supplies were being carefully carried to storerooms. From a fleet of Red Cross ambulances lined up on the quayside, amid the air of quiet calm that every nurse seems able to create, snaking lines of soldiers were boarding; some walking wounded, some being led by their brothers in arms and some on stretchers. The preparations were well advanced and it appeared that we would meet our departure time of 10 am.

I made my way to