Conger of a
test message sent by the Secretary of State through the kind offices of
Minister Wu Ting-fang. Mr. Conger's reply, dispatched from Peking on
July 18 through the same channel, afforded to the outside world the
first tidings that the inmates of the legations were still alive and
hoping for succor.
This news stimulated the preparations for a joint relief expedition in
numbers sufficient to overcome the resistance which for a month had been
organizing between Taku and the capital. Reinforcements sent by all the
co-operating Governments were constantly arriving. The United States
contingent, hastily assembled from the Philippines or dispatched from
this country, amounted to some 5,000 men, under the able command first
of the lamented Colonel Liscum and afterwards of General Chaffee.
Toward the end of July the movement began. A severe conflict followed at
Tientsin, in which Colonel Liscum was killed. The city was stormed and
partly destroyed. Its capture afforded the base of operations from which
to make the final advance, which began in the first days of August, the
expedition being made up of Japanese, Russian, British, and American
troops at the outset.
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