The Un'yo Incident of 1875: The attack on Yeongjong Island (part two)

The south gate of Gyondong Island's fort, May 2020 / Robert Neff Collection

In the late hours of September 20, 1875, the Japanese warship Un'yo anchored off Yeongjong Island (where Incheon International Airport is located). It was on the “castle” (Yeongjong fort) that Captain Inoue intended to exact revenge for the “perfectly unprovoked assault” on his crew by the Koreans the previous day.

From what they gathered, the fortress was a short distance from the main landmass and had four gates ― north, south, east and west. Outside the western gate was a small bridge they identified as “Bansei [and] the road over it leads to the mainland.” Captain Inoue and his officers decided the best place to attack would be near the east gate and at dawn.

Kawamura Kwanshu, one of the Un'yo's officers, described the attack in dramatic and vivid detail. Just before daybreak, 32 Japanese (10 marines, 19 sailors and three officers) landed near the east gate of the fortress. Almost immediately, the “white-coated” Korean defenders began firing their antiquated matchlocks (kill-range of about 50 meters) and shooting arrows through the fortress's loopholes.

One sailor was struck and wounded by a matchlock ball while another was shot in the groin by an arrow. They both survived but the suddenness of the attack seems to have shaken the Japanese. Adding to this, trumpeting could be heard from within the fort and, Kawamura candidly admits, Captain Inoue and his men became somewhat “anxious” as to what the Koreans were doing.

A French map of the region to the south of Ganghwa Island, circa 1866 / Courtesy of "A Forbidden Land: Voyages to the Corea" by Ernst Oppert

Undaunted, some of the Japanese pushed on, climbed over the wall and then opened the gate, allowing their fellow marines to rush into the fortress. A small group of sailors went to the south gate and set fire to the houses around it. Sporadically, the Un'yo fired its deck guns (6.3 inch and 5.5 inch), causing even more chaos among the Korean defenders.

The Koreans, believing the superior-armed Japanese force was much larger than it actually was, sought to escape through the western gate but, unknown to them, six Japanese sailors had taken up position just outside the gate and shot anyone trying to pass through it.

The Korean soldiers ― including the officers ― “clambered down the steep bank on the south-eastern side, and in hopes of escaping to the opposite island … they stripped off their clothes and plunged into the sea.” Unfortunately, the tide was high and too deep to wade across. Many of them hesitated and the Japanese fired on them without mercy ― 24 Koreans were killed on the rocks and many more drowned trying to swim to safety. Only six or seven were seen making it safely ashore on the distant island.

Somehow, Yi Min-dok, the commander of the military district, managed to escape but other officials did not fare so well. A drowned Korean was fished from the water, “the sleeves of his coat were red and the back of it was brown,” so they assumed he was one of the generals.

The fortress was plundered and among the items of value were 36 bronze cannons and a drum nearly six feet in diameter. According to Kawamura's notes:

“In addition to this there were four drums three feet in diameter. Their trumpets were very like toy trumpets used by children in Japan. Their bows also were very like the Japanese. Their arrows were exactly like those in Japan. The swords were numerous, but they must have been bought in Japan. The guns were all matchlocks. Among the booty was a French book on gunnery translated into Chinese.”

The south gate of Gyondong Island fort in May 2020/ Robert Neff Collection

Several Koreans (one source claims 16 while Kawamura states a dozen including three officers) were captured ― including one soldier with a journal giving the garrison's normal strength as being 250 men ― and were forced (much to their displeasure) to carry the plunder to the boats that subsequently transported it to the Un'yo.

The Japanese flag was also raised over the fortress ― a challenge to the Koreans to come and reclaim the island. The challenge went unanswered. “We were all greatly disappointed,” Kawamura smugly declared.

The following day, the Un'yo weighed anchored and returned to Japan ― the smoking ruins of Yeongjong an example of how the Japanese government would react to unprovoked attacks on its ships or emissaries.

Did Korea provoke the Japanese or did the Japanese provoke Korea?

In his book, “The Japanese Seizure of Korea,” Hilary Conroy noted that the dispatch of three warship ― including the Un'yo ― under the pretense of surveying the coast was part of a secret plan by “only a very few” members of the Japanese Foreign Office to exert power on the Joseon government.

On Feb. 6, 1876, a fleet of two Japanese warships and three transports ― painted black and reminiscent of Commodore Matthew Perry's opening of Japan to the United States in the mid-1850s ― and a steamship with the Japanese envoy anchored near Ganghwa Island. They had arrived to “make a treaty or war.”

On March 22, 1876, Japan and the Joseon government ratified the Treaty of Amity ― it is no surprise that many Koreans prefer to call it the Treaty of Ganghwa Island.

An image published in the Japan Punch celebrating the ratification of the treaty between Japan and Korea in March 1876 / Robert Neff Collection

Robert Neff has authored and co-authored several books including, Letters from Joseon, Korea Through Western Eyes and Brief Encounters.