Korean History › Late Joseon › Heungseon Daewongun
United States expedition to Korea (Sinmi yangyo)
June 1871· War· Wars & invasions
Well documentedSolid records, physical evidence or scientific consensus.
An American naval expedition to Korea in 1871 that captured forts on Ganghwa Island but left without the treaty it came for.
See it on the Korean History map →What happened
In 1866 the armed American merchant ship General Sherman was burned on the Taedong River near Pyongyang and its crew killed. In 1871 Rear Admiral John Rodgers brought five warships and about 1,200 sailors and marines to seek a treaty and answers. When Korean forts fired on his survey boats, he landed and took the Ganghwa forts, ending at Gwangseongbo, where about 240 to 350 Koreans died, against three Americans. Seoul still refused to talk. Koreans call it Sinmi yangyo (신미양요).
Why it matters
Korea read the US departure as another victory, deepening isolation; the US got its treaty only in 1882, Korea's first with a Western power.
How we know
US Navy reports and Felice Beato's photographs, Korean court records, and General Eo Jae-yeon's captured flag, returned from the US Naval Academy on loan in 2007.
Still debated
Korean losses are estimates, and the two sides still differ on who provoked the first shots, since Korea saw the survey as an armed intrusion.
Connections (2)
▸Heungseon Daewongun rebuffed United States expedition to Korea (Sinmi yangyo)Well documented
The connection
The Daewongun refused all US letters and gifts, insisting Korea would not deal with Westerners. The Americans won every fight on Ganghwa, but with no orders to invade further and no one willing to negotiate, they sailed away. He then raised anti-foreign steles (cheokhwabi) across the country.
When and how
Ganghwa Strait, June 1871; the Daewongun in Seoul, Rear Admiral Rodgers and Minister Frederick Low offshore; the fleet left on July 3.
How we know
US and Korean records agree the fleet left without a treaty; many cheokhwabi still stand.
Debates and open questions
Whether his hard line showed strength or a misreading of the world is debated; he had little view of how fast Japan was modernizing.
▸United States expedition to Korea (Sinmi yangyo) hardened the isolation that ended with Treaty of Ganghwa (Japan–Korea Treaty of 1876)Mostly agreed
The connection
Watching the Americans leave, the court concluded that resistance worked, and it kept rejecting letters from Japan's new Meiji government, refused since 1868 over their wording. Japan, not a Western power, finally broke the isolation in 1876, using the same gunboat tactics the US had used on Japan in 1853–54.
When and how
1868–1876; Seoul, Tokyo and Ganghwa Island.
How sure are we?
The cheokhwabi steles and court debates; Japanese and Korean records of the rejected diplomatic letters.
Debates and open questions
Whether a deal with the US in 1871 might have given Korea a less one-sided opening is speculation, not something the records can settle.