The Rover Incident occurred on 12 March 1867 when the American merchant shipRover, captained by Joseph Hunt who was accompanied by his wife Mercy G. Beerman Hunt, and en route from Swatow to Newchwang, was wrecked off the coast of Formosa. The ship struck a coral reef called Chihsingyen near Oluanpi and drifted into the area of Kenting in modern-day Hengchun, Pingtung County, Taiwan. Fourteen American sailors, including Hunt and his wife, were killed by Taiwanese Aborigines in revenge for earlier killings of Kaolut tribe members by foreigners. Subsequently, the U.S. military decided to send a military expedition against the tribe members responsible.
American reaction
Following the wreck of the United States ship and killing of the surviving crew by aborigines, the American Consul to AmoyCharles William Le Gendre quickly traveled to Foochow, arriving on 2 April 1867, to persuade the governor generals of Fukien and Chekiang to intervene and put pressure on the Chinese authorities in Taiwan to resolve the issue. The governor general of Fukien gave Le Gendre permission to go to Taiwan himself, and wrote him a letter of introduction to take to the prefect of Taiwan, asking him to cooperate with Le Gendre, but adding that "if the consul takes measures to manage the case himself, please invite him not to do so, for these savages might give him more trouble that he thinks." Le Gendre commissioned the United States steamer, under the command of Captain John C. Febiger, in order to visit the scene of the wreck and to try to get foreign officials in Taiwanfoo to act. After a subsequent failed punitive expedition carried out by Rear Admiral Henry H. Bell of the United States Navy, Le Gendre again returned to Formosa—this time without any reference to his superiors. While in Taiwan, he asserted United States consular authority, selected a deputy consul in north Taiwan, visited the Keelung mines, and gathered information from United States merchants. The landing of one hundred and eighty-one officers, sailors, and marines provided with four days' rations and water was made on June 19, under Commander George E. Belknap of the, accompanied by Lieutenant CommanderAlexander Slidell MacKenzie, fleet lieutenant as second in command. In the terrible heat, it was "almost impossible to conduct operations in the middle of the day, and many of the party were attacked by sunstroke. The savages, who had taken up a position in the jungle behind rocks and other places invisible...kept up a heavy fire whenever their foes appeared." MacKenzie received a mortal wound to his chest from enemy fire. The American force was "compelled to withdraw in some confusion to the ships, and soon departed from the island". The Marines were under the command of Captain James Forney, who submitted the following report to Commander Belknap, dated on board the flagship Hartford, at sea, June 17: The Rover Incident played a critical role U.S. military history in terms of shaping the U.S. Marine Corps' "rules of engagement" in "small wars".
Second visit
Upon return to south China, Le Gendre managed to persuade the governor general in Foochow to send a military force to southern Taiwan. The force, significantly smaller than the 400 to 500 soldiers recommended by Le Gendre, was dispatched on 25 July 1867. Le Gendre then personally requested a gunboat from Admiral Bell, which he was denied, and eventually managed to commission the steamship Volunteer. He embarked for Formosa on 4 September 1867, telling his superiors that "I am going there as a mere spectator.... I have no jurisdiction over the Chinese forces." Le Gendre quickly assumed de facto command of the mission from General Liu in the course of a long and difficult march into deep aboriginal lands in southern Taiwan. Then, with the aid of William A. Pickering and James Horn, Le Gendre negotiated an effective treaty guaranteeing the safety of shipwrecked American and European sailors with Tok-a-Tok, the chief of 18 Paiwan aboriginal tribes in the area when the Roverhad gone ashore.
