On the night of 15 July 1900, U.S. Marine Private Dan Daly single-handedly defended his position on the Tartar Wall from as many as 200 Chinese attackers, a feat that would earn him his first Medal of Honor. The Tartar Wall surrounded the city of Beijing (then Peking [see note]), home to legations of eight foreign powers, including the United States. The legations had been under siege since 20 June, and the legation guard would be forced to hold out for 55 days until an international relief force arrived at Beijing on 14 August.
The eight-nation relief force of troops from the United States, Austria-Hungary, Great Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, and Russia first had to fight its way from the port at Dagu (Taku) through the city of Tianjin (Tientsin) and villages in the Chinese countryside, hampered by blistering heat, destroyed railroads, and internal rivalries. Its foes were Qing imperial troops and the “Boxers,” a Chinese secret society that channeled resentment of foreign influence, especially Christian missionaries, into widespread violence against Westerners and Chinese Christians.
