The Garnier Expedition was a French expedition in Tonkin between November 1873 and January 1874. Lieutenant Francis Garnier, who had been sent by France on the demand of Vietnamese Imperial authorities to bring back Jean Dupuis, an unruly French trader who was causing trouble in Hanoi, instead decided to side with Dupuis and captured the city of Hanoi, the capital of the Tonkin region.
Following the capture of the city, Garnier and his small force launched themselves in a lightning military campaign that resulted in the conquest of most of the Tonkin region within three weeks. Garnier was eventually killed in action while repulsing an attack on Hanoi on 21 December, but his men nonetheless remained in control of the region.
However, the campaign had not been planned or even allowed by the French government and a treaty was signed in 1874, which gave back all the conquered cities to Vietnam in exchange for a very favourable trade agreement and the installation of a French resident in Hanoi, as well the official recognition of all French possessions in Cochinchina.
Background
In 1858, France and Spain launched a punitive expedition against the Empire of Đại Nam as a response to the persecution of Christian missionaries and converts. Hostilities ended four years later with the Treaty of Saigon, but the French decided to retain the provinces they had conquered during the war, thus giving birth to the French colony of Cochinchina. In 1867 Admiral Pierre de la Grandière forced the Vietnamese to cede the provinces of Châu Đốc, Hà Tiên and Vĩnh Long to French Cochinchina. Though the French de facto took control of these provinces, the Vietnamese Emperor Tự Đức refused to officially recognize the validity of this cession.
In 1873, French explorer and trader Jean Dupuis traveled up the Red River to sell European weaponry to the governor of Yunnan. Eventually, Dupuis also decided to start carrying salt up the river, something which was strictly prohibited by Vietnamese authorities. A lengthy dispute ensued, and Dupuis eventually occupied a district of Hanoi with his 90 Chinese mercenaries. Unwilling to attempt forcefully removing these very well armed men on their own, the Vietnamese authorities issued a complaint to French admiral Marie Jules Dupré, who was serving as Governor of French Cochinchina at the time. Hoping that he would be able to obtain the official recognition of all French possessions in Cochinchina by the Vietnamese Empire if he accepted to help them, Admiral Duprès sent an expedition under Lieutenant Francis Garnier to Hanoi to solve the dispute and convince Dupuis to leave.
French Expeditionary Force
A first group of 83 men, consisting in 51 sailors from the ships D'Estrée and Fleurus, a platoon of 30 marines of the 4th Marine Infantry Regiment and two officers traveled with Lieutenant Garnier on the corvette D'Estrée which departed from Saigon on 11 October.
The second half of the expeditionary force departed two weeks later and consisted in 60 sailors of the companie de débarquement of the corvette Decrès and four officers of that same ship who were brought to Tonkin by the Decrès, and the 28 sailors and one officer who formed the crew of the gunboat Espingole and traveled on the gunboat.
Besides Lieutenant Garnier, the expeditionary force comprised seven officers: Ensign Charles Esmez (aged 26), Ensign Henri Bain de la Coquerie (aged 28), Ensign Adrien Balny d'Avricourt (aged 24), Aspirant Marc Hautefeuille (aged 21), Aspirant Édouard Perrin (aged 21), Aspirant Georges Bouxin (aged 20), and Second-Lieutenant Edgard de Trentinian (aged 22) who commanded the platoon of marines.
Although technically not an officer, the military medic of the Espingole, Jules Harmand, was treated as a de facto officer by Balny d'Avricourt and Trentinian while they were away from the main force, as he was a well-educated man older than both of them (28 years old).
Garnier captures Hanoi
Arrival to Hanoi
On the early morning of 11 October 1873, the D'Estrée left Saigon, with on its board Lieutenant Francis Garnier, commander-in-chief of the expedition, Ensign Charles Esmez, second-in-command, and the first half of the expeditionary force. The unmanned gunboat Arc was being towed by the D'Estrée.
On 14 October, while the D'Estrée was off the coast near Da Nang, a violent storm broke the tow ropes of the Arc and the unmanned gunboat went adrift for a while before capsizing and sinking. From 15 to 20 October, the D'Estrée made a halt in Da Nang, where Garnier met some Vietnamese officials from Imperial court of Huế, and also sent a telegram to Saigon in order to ask the admiralty to send him the gunboat Scorpion.
The D'Estrée arrived to the Tonkin on 23 October. The corvette remained anchored in the bay of Haiphong while Garnier and his men traveled to Hanoi upriver on local junks. On 5 November, the French party finally arrived to Hanoi. However, the welcome of the local authorities was rather cold for Garnier's liking. Neither the Governor of Hanoi, Marshal Nguyễn Tri Phương, nor any of his mandarins came to meet them.
Dupuis, however, had warmly welcomed the French. After discussing with Dupuis, Garnier became convinced that the anti-French sentiment that Nguyễn Tri Phương openly harbored ever since his defeat against French forces 12 years earlier had led him to mistreat Dupuis and that the griefs of the trader were thus justified. Garnier made some attempts to negotiate with the local authorities, but as they all remained fruitless, he began considering the idea of some military action. However, his forces were quite small, and he was still without news of the second half of his escort force.
The Espingole finally arrived to Hanoi alongside the Scorpion on 12 November. With two gunboats and the 180 men of his expeditionary force finally reunited, Garnier took the decision to capture the city. Garnier wrote a letter to Admiral Dupré to justify his attack on Hanoi and sent the D'Estrée back to Saigon to carry the letter.
Storming of the citadel
At daybreak on 20 November, the French launched their assault. A 30-man strong French detachment under Ensign Bain went with one cannon to attack the South-Western gate as a distraction. Not long after, a group of 27 marines and 48 sailors with 4 cannons under Lieutenant Garnier, Second-lieutenant Trentinian and Ensign Esmez attacked the South-Eastern gate. As soon as the first sounds of French cannons were heard, the two gunboats Scorpion and Espingole, under the leadership of Ensign Balny d'Avricourt, started shelling the Northern and the Western gates of the citadel.
The detachment under Bain swiftly captured the redan of the South-Western gate and eventually took over the gate as well after having blown up the door. Having received no order to enter however, they remained at the entrance. At the South-Eastern gate, Garnier and his men had easily taken the redan but had experienced some difficulties to blow up the door. Garnier entered first through a breach alongside Trentinian and two marines, but they had to wait until the door was blown up for the rest of the troops to get in. Once the French stormed inside, the low Vietnamese morale completely collapsed and all the defenders ran away toward the Northern gate to escape the citadel.
Once inside the fortress, Garnier's attention became focused on trying to prevent the important officials from escaping alongside the bulk of their soldiers. He immediately sent Aspirant Hautefeuille with some men to secure the Eastern entrance and then went to meet Bain at the South-Western entrance to order him and his men to go and watch over the Western gate.
Dupuis and 30 of his mercenaries had been tasked with monitoring the Eastern gate from outside, but they ended up taking the redan and eventually stormed inside the citadel. While inside, they met with the detachment led by Hautefeuille at the corner of a street and a Chinese mercenary was killed during a brief fusillade that resulted from the French having mistaken them for Vietnamese soldiers.
A little before 7 am, a detachment under Ensign Esmez took the great tower and hoisted the French flag at the top, signaling to French gunboats to stop firing.
In less than an hour, the French had taken the citadel, with their only casualty being a mercenary killed by friendly fire. The Vietnamese, however, had suffered over 80 dead and 300 wounded. The great General Nguyễn Tri Phương had been badly injured and captured. His son, Nguyễn Lâm, had been killed in action. The French disarmed and captured some 2,000 Vietnamese soldiers who hadn't managed to escape during the route. All the important mandarins of Hanoi had been captured, aside from the Án sát (Mandarin of Justice) who had managed to flee.
French conquest of the delta
Capitulation of Hưng Yên
On 23 November, the Espingole left Hanoi, with on its board Ensign Balny d'Avricourt, Dr. Harmand, the small crew of the gunboat, as well as Second Lieutenant Trentinian and 15 of his marines. Garnier had tasked Balny with obtaining the submission of the mandarins of the fortified cities of Hưng Yên and Phu-Ly to the new order of things. By the morning of 24 November, the gunboat arrived in sight of Hưng Yên. Harmand left the ship and went, with an interpreter and an escort of four marines, to the citadel in order to meet with the mandarins. The Mandarin of Justice, second authority of the Hưng Yên province after the Governor, promised to Harmand that the Governor would come to meet Balny d'Avricourt on board the ship, adding: "You have managed to capture the great citadel of Hanoi. We will not have to audacity to attempt defending this one against you.".
Indeed, by midday the Governor and all of his mandarins were on board the Espingole, where they assured the young Ensign that they fully accepted Garnier's new established order. Balny demanded to have their submission written on paper, as a proof. The Governor consented and replied that it would be done by 3 pm. In the meantime, Balny met with the head of the local Chinese community, and tasked Trentinian with having Garnier's proclamation plastered in the city's most important streets. At 3 pm, Balny d'Avricourt marched to the Governor's Palace alongside Harmand, Trentinian and 10 marines. Upon arrival, he found out that the Governor had not yet written the official paper he had demanded. The Governor required more time and promised it would be ready by the next day. Angered, Ensign Balny replied that if it was not ready for 5 pm on that very day, he would consider him to be an enemy and treat him as such. The frightened Governor complied, and by 5 pm the paper was in the hands of the French officer.
As soon as the Governor had officially submitted, a Christian priest and the head of the Chinese community came to meet with Balny d'Avricourt to inform him about local bandits who were attacking traveling merchants in the area. Balny declined their request for help and told them that the Governor was still in charge of the province and that the task of enforcing law was his. Eventually though, the young officer gave in and promised to send Trentinian with 8 marines on the next day. However, when Trentinian went to the place where he was supposed to meet a local guide who would bring his squad to the bandits camp, no one came. After waiting for an hour, he went back to the city after having destroyed on the way a local customs post and plastered on the ruins Garnier's proclamation about free trade on the river.
Capture of Phủ Lý
On the morning of 26 November, the Espingole left Hưng Yên and set out for Phủ Lý. After a three-hours journey, the gunboat was in sight of the city. The city's fortress, located at the confluence of the river leading to Hưng Yên and Hanoi and the rivers leading to Sontay and Ninh Bình, was considered one of the most strategically important strongholds in the delta. Of about 2 km of circumference, it harboured within its walls a garrison of over 800 soldiers.