PREFACE
IN THE following pages I have endeavored to give an accurate and comprehensive account of the Siege in Peking and of the Boxer movement that led up to it.
Authentic details furnished by representatives of those legations whose work has been specially mentioned have made possible a greater detail in those cases. I regret that others who had promised me accounts of their work have failed to furnish the promised material.
The siege at Pei Tang or North Cathedral, coincident with that of the legations and civilians, is not described for the reason that we were absolutely cut off from them for over sixty days and knew nothing of their movements. Much detail that might be interesting to many I have been obliged to omit, as it would make the book too cumbersome.
I make no claim for the book as a literary effort, the object being to state the facts in the clearest manner possible. The illustrations are from actual photographs, the authenticity of which is absolutely proved, and these carefully studied, add much to the information of the volume.
To my sixteen-year-old son, the youngest soldier to shoulder a rifle during the siege, I am indebted for much of the diary and great help in copying. A considerable portion of the book was written with bullets whistling about us as we sat in the students’ library building of the English legation.
There are several men whose work entitles them to decorations from all the countries represented in the siege, and their names will be indelibly written in our memories even if the powers and ministers concerned overlook them. I refer to F. A. Gamewell, August Chamot, Colonel Shiba, and Herbert G. Squiers.
ROBERT COLTMAN, Jr., M.D.
Peking, China, September 10, 1900.