15 ships
2,500 troops 5,600–10,000 troops Result British victory | Date 26 August 1841 Location Xiamen, China | |
 | ||
2 killed
15 wounded Heavy casualties
500 guns captured Similar First Opium War, Battle of Chinhai, Battle of Canton, Battle of First Bar, Battle of Chapu | ||
Battle of amoy
The Battle of Amoy or Xiamen was fought between British and Qing forces at Xiamen (then known as "Amoy" from the local pronunciation of the name) on Xiamen Island, Fujian, in the Qing Empire on 26 August 1841 during the First Opium War. The British captured the forts at Xiamen and on nearby Gulangyu Island ("Kulangau").
Contents
Battle
Before the engagement, Qing forces prepared defenses along the shores of Xiamen and built batteries on Gulangyu Island. The British began the battle by bombarding the island's batteries for two to four hours (sources vary), with little effect. Land forces then disembarked their transports and took the batteries with little resistance. The day was noted as being very hot and fatiguing to the men. Qing forces withdrew and the city fell the next day. A garrison force of 550 men, mostly from the 18th, and three ships—the Druid, Pylades, and the Algerine—was left moored at Gulangyu to defend Xiamen.
Rosa Luxemburg provides a brief account of the battle in her magnum opus The Accumulation of Capital.
Commander John Elliot Bingham (late first lieutenant of HMS Modeste) wrote a detailed first-hand account of the battle from a British perspective.
British order of battle
Ships: Wellesley, 74 ; Blenheim, 74 ; Blonde, 4:4 Druid, 44; Modeste, 18; Cruiser, 18; Pylades, 18; Columhine, 16 Bintinch, 10 ; Algerine, 10 ; Sesostris, 4 ; Phlegethon, 4 ; Nemesis, 4 Queen, 4