Ah Korea: the one place in the world that the United States can’t lose. Or win. Or ignore. For the last 70-plus years, North Korea and America have been locked in an ideological and sometimes violent struggle for supremacy on the Korean Peninsula, but it turns out that the headbutting between Washington and Koreans began long before Kim Il-Sung and his children ruled that communist state up north.
The Medal of Honor, the United States’ highest award for valor in the face of the enemy, was established during the Civil War. It was just 12 years after the end of the Civil War that American troops began receiving the award for overseas conflicts. Whether it was an isolated coincidence or a harbinger of events to come, those Medals of Honor were awarded for sailors and Marines in combat against Korea.
In 1866, Korea wasn’t the Stalinist communist dictatorship it is today, but it was just as isolated. The Joseon Dynasty that ruled the peninsula at the time had enacted a policy of strict isolationism, one that not only cut off contact from China and Japan, but also Western ships and missionaries. The Joseon even went so far as to regularly cull Catholics in Korea, which is exactly what they did in 1866.
So when the American merchant vessel General Sherman sailed up the Taedong River that same year, the local Koreans believed it was a French warship, ready to dole out just punishment for the killing of Catholics and missionaries. The Americans, however, were not looking for a fight, they were looking for a market. The ship picked up a cargo of valuables in China before setting out for Korea and was looking to sell to anyone who might buy.
The problem was that many Asian nations at the time weren’t looking for trading partners; they didn’t want partners of any kind. China had a history of banning trade with and travel for foreigners. Japan had a similar isolationist policy under the Tokugawa Shogunate, one that ended in 1853 when American Commodore Matthew Perry arrived in the islands and opened Japan by force. Korean isolationism would soon meet a similar fate.
Korea told the crew of the General Sherman they could not trade and ordered the ship to leave, but the merchants stayed. Things devolved quickly from there. The Americans took a hostage, so the Koreans set out to capture the ship. When that didn’t work the crew fired the ships guns on the shore. In response the Koreans set fire to the General Sherman. When the crew abandoned ship and swam to shore, they were killed.
In 1871, the United States dispatched a squadron of five ships and 650 men to Korea to determine the fate of the General Sherman. When they arrived on the peninsula to ask about the merchants, the Koreans demurred, so the U.S. ships sailed up the Han River over the objections of the Korean government.
As they did, a series of five Korean forts fired on them. When the forts refused to apologize, Adm. John Rogers ordered a full-scale assault. Korean troops guarding the forts on the Salee River didn’t stand much of a chance. They were still using the kind of firearms the Americans had used in the War of 1812, while the Americans were veterans of the Civil War and had revised their tactics and weapons for years.
The Koreans were so outgunned and outmatched, they ran out of ammunition and resorted to throwing rocks and fighting with swords. The fight, now known as the Battle of Ganghwa, was all over in 15 minutes. After destroying two of the forts, American artillery and naval guns pounded the third and final one before U.S. troops attacked it en masse.
The battle resulted in 243 Koreans and just three Americans killed in action. The command standard (called a sujagi) of Korean garrison commander Gen. Eo Jae-yŏn was seized by Cpl. Charles Brown and Pvt. Hugh Purvis. It was Pvt. James Dougherty who actually killed Gen. Eo. A sailor and carpenter named Cyrus Hayden actually planted the American flag on top of the fort’s ramparts as the battle raged. All four of these men and five others received the Medal of Honor for their actions. It was the first time the medal was bestowed for an overseas battle.
Captive Koreans were held as a bargaining chip for potential negotiations, but when the Koreans didn’t actually want their men back, the Americans just let them go. Though decisive, the battle changed nothing for the Koreans. They called for their better-equipped troops to come fight the Americans. Upon realizing they were soon outnumbered (by troops with better weapons), the U.S. Navy left. Korea would stay closed to foreigners until 1876, when it began trading with Japan, but would stay closed to the United States until 1882.