The Battle of Muddy Flat, also called the Battle of Nicheng by the Chinese, was a small land/naval battle on the borders of the Shanghai Concession areas of what would later become the Shanghai International Settlement between a British, American, and Small Swords Society alliance and units of the Qing Imperial forces with a fleet of mercenary allies on April 3–4, 1854. The battle took place during the Small Swords Society uprising, which was part of the Taiping Rebellion, but before the Second Opium War. Qing forces began harassing foreigners around the foreign concessions in part due to individual foreigners trading with Taiping forces, who had just taken over the Old City of Shanghai the previous year. Skirmishes began on April 3 and the defending Shanghai Volunteer Corps "S.V.C." called for more direct military aid. An amphibious landing by U.S. and British Marines and Sailors took place the next day, and the battle began soon after, resulting in a joint Anglo-American victory. The battle is significant in solidifying the military ability and determination of foreigners to maintain their power in their concessions in the eyes of both the Taiping and the Qing. The battle also marked the first time that American and British military forces worked together in a land battle, as opposed to their joint 1800 naval battle in Curaçao during the Quasi War and War of the Second Coalition.
Background
On March 19, 1853, the Taiping army had decisively won the Battle of Nanjing (1853). Tens of thousands of Manchu men, women, and children were slaughtered, and Nanjing was made the capital of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom. However, the Taiping military rapidly regrouped for a new campaign and advanced East along the Yangtze river, taking over the cities of Chinkiang and Yangzhou, as a maneuver of the wider Northern Expedition. Inspired by the success of the fall of Nanjing, a man named Huang Wei led the Tiandihui, Triad, Small Swords Society in a revolt that briefly took over Ch'eng-hai, Amoy, T'ung-an, and Changzhou, before swiftly being put down by the Qing. However, the influence this uprising had inspired the Small Swords to quickly regroup for an attempt on Shanghai and its surroundings. The Shanghai Taotai Wu Jianzhang, being fearful of the advancing Small Swords, assembled a throng of dockworkers and vagrants to defend the city. When the Small Swords advance stalled, Wu disbanded the militia to save funds. Wu's disbanding left the militia dissatisfied and unemployed and as such they, began joining the Small Swords society with the newly elected Liu Lichuan as their leader. Realizing his mistake in August, Wu began arresting leaders of the militia who had joined the Small Swords and attempted to reform and organize the militia to satisfy them. However, this act proved too little too late, and on September 17, 1853, the now bolstered Small Swords captured the fortified and walled Old City of Shanghai, looted it, killed the magistrate, and captured Wu. This left the concession area surrounded on one side by the Small Swords to the South and Qing dynasty forces to the West. In addition, many refugees fled to the foreign concessions. Following Old Shanghai's capture, the Qing immediately began laying siege to the Old City, and created various trenches, parapets, and mud forts to surround and encircle it. The Qing headquarters was stationed at the Red Joss house to the north of the Wusung. Skirmishes occurred between the Swords and Qing progressively as the siege continued.
Later, the Qing hired the pirate Mandarin A-Pak (sometimes spelled Ah Pak) and his fleet of war junks to bolster their forces. They arrived on the Wusung and Whangpoo rivers in early 1854, and periodically bombarded the Old City, which further tightened the overall siege. For their part, the Americans and British living in the concessions area were ever fearful of the Taiping incursion. After the fall of Nanking in 1853 Sir George Bonham, the British Superintendent for all China, realized the potential danger of Shanghai falling to Taiping forces, and in response called for a volunteer force to be created in Shanghai. The British Consul in Shanghai Rutherford Alcock called for a meeting and it was decided that a volunteer force should be led and trained by Captain Tronson of the 2nd Fusiliers Bengal Regiment and the HMS Bombay, would supply the force with weapons. The American Consul Robert C. Murphy had a similar meeting and likewise concluded that a volunteer force should be mustered. The American and British consuls soon met and created a committee of cooperation for mutual defense to combine their forces into what became the Shanghai Volunteer Corps. Captain Tronson drilled the volunteers in military discipline three times a week for two months, before being reassigned. Captain John Kelly of the sloop of war USS Plymouth having been left behind by the Perry expedition to defend Shanghai, then took command of the S.V.C. Aside from a small skirmish between the Qing and Volunteers in November 1853, the Volunteers would not see action until April 1854.
On April 12, 1853, a meeting between the British, French, Dutch, Prussian, and American consuls took place, where a Mr. A. G. Dallas suggested that a defensive creek be constructed around the West end of the concession area, where Qing forces had fortified. This defensive creek would be connected to the Wusung River to the North, and the Yang-king-pang River to the South (the latter of which no longer exists), which were both tributaries of the Whangpoo River to the East. Connecting all three rivers with the Creek would in effect create a moat around the concessions. The Creek was constructed and it came to be called the Defensive Creek. The new creek was located just above the concession area's new race course. By April 1854 the Small Swords were surrounded, but never entirely encircled by the Qing. However, while the Qing, Small Swords, and foreigners all decided to stay neutral, certain merchants within the concessions sold weapons and supplies to the Small Swords which aggravated the Qing who occasionally fired potshots at foreigners. There was one particular such incident of note, where in March 1854 the Qing obtained intelligence that a British Company was going to deliver a shipment of guns to the Small Swords. In response the Qing sent a raiding party into the concession area to the customs house where they captured the guns. They were carrying them out when men of the HMS Spartan and the S.V.C. attacked them. The Qing soldiers retreated losing 3 men and 14 wounded. The Qing pinned the raid on the Small Swords.
Battle On April 3, 1854, the initial fight of the battle of Muddy Flat began. On this day there were a series of four separate attacks on foreign civilians by Qing forces. The first of these occurred when a handful Qing forces ventured to commandeer construction wood from some merchants. One merchant who was present in the area bade them to desist, however he was rushed upon by them, and the merchant was forced to fire his gun in response. A second attack came about when a number of Qing forces attacked a horseback rider who fled the area. A later attack occurred when a man was shot at a few paces away from his door. The final attack followed when a group of Qing soldiers attacked a couple armed with swords, spears, and firearms as they were walking along the new park along Defensive Creek. British and American police arrived at the scene, but found the area crawling with the Qing soldiers who instantly fired upon them, and mustered reinforcements to press the attack. The police fell back and called for reinforcements. Captain Kelly accompanied by a handful of American Marines and sailors was already in Shanghai at the time, and took overall command of the forces. The British Vice Consul and former Lieutenant Thomas Francis Wade joined Kelly and took command of a group of British Marines and Sailors. The collective group secured two field pieces and one 12-pound howitzer. Now reinforced and bearing more firepower, the Marines, Sailors, police, and (S.V.C.) counterattacked across the defensive creek and sacked and burned one of the Qing camps while the allied navy bombarded a second. The allied ground forces then withdrew to the concessions.Later that day 4th British Consul Alcock protested these attacks to the Qing general Keih-ur-hanga (sometimes spelled Chi-erh hang-a). Keih gave a vague dismissive response.
The next day, April 4, Alcock again called for Keih to halt the attack, but this time gave an ultimatum that if the Imperial forces would not retreat a mile away from the borders of the concessions area by 4 pm, then the foreigners would attack. However, on this occasion, the general threatened Alcock and said that the men who had attacked the concessions were simply local vagrants, but to be weary of them, because they numbered 20,000 and any further attack on them would result in repercussions.The Qing had an approximate 10,000 extra soldiers on reserve in the surrounding areas of Shanghai, but it was only about 10,000 of the total 30,000 that the foreigners would actually engage.
Alcock made arrangements with the Small Swords to participate in the attack with the foreigners at 4 pm, should the Qing not retreat from their positions, of which there were about 3,000-4,000 in the Old City. He used the merchants who supplied the Small Swords as middlemen to communicate with the Small Swords.
Before 3 pm, the sloop of war HMS Encounter, led by Captain O'Callaghan, deployed armed boats to attack the pirate junks docked along the Wusung and Whampu rivers. O'Callaghan followed up with a broadside, and most of the surviving junks fled from the Whampu into the South China Sea, which prevented most of the ships from further participation in the battle.
At this point there remained a modest handful of resident militia along with four or five British marines who came under fire from Qing forces along the Defense Creek near a graveyard in the Southwest corner of the concessions area near where the Defense Creek and Yang-king-pang River meet. These men took cover and returned fire as best as they could behind a large circular grave, near the new race course. The Imperial forces advanced and the foreign fighters were under severe threat of being overwhelmed.