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Francis Dunlap Gamewell (August 31, 1857,
Camden, South Carolina Camden is the largest city and county seat of Kershaw County, South Carolina. The population was 7,764 in the 2020 census. It is part of the Columbia, South Carolina, Metropolitan Statistical Area. Camden is the oldest inland city in South Car ...
– August, 1950,
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) was a
Methodist Methodism, also called the Methodist movement, is a group of historically related denominations of Protestant Christianity whose origins, doctrine and practice derive from the life and teachings of John Wesley. George Whitefield and John's ...
missionary A missionary is a member of a Religious denomination, religious group which is sent into an area in order to promote its faith or provide services to people, such as education, literacy, social justice, health care, and economic development.Tho ...
in China. He was the chief of the Fortifications Committee in the Siege of the Legations during the
Boxer Rebellion The Boxer Rebellion, also known as the Boxer Uprising, the Boxer Insurrection, or the Yihetuan Movement, was an Xenophobia, anti-foreign, anti-colonialism, anti-colonial, and Persecution of Christians#China, anti-Christian uprising in China ...
in 1900 and was acclaimed as one of the heroes of the siege.


Early life

Gamewell was the son of an inventor and he inherited the aptitude of his father for tinkering and building. During the
American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by Names of the American Civil War, other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union (American Civil War), Union ("the North") and t ...
the family moved from Camden to
New Barbadoes Township, New Jersey New Barbadoes Township was a township that was formed in 1710 and existed in its largest extent in pre-American Revolutionary War times in Bergen County, New Jersey. The Township was created from territories that had been part of Essex County that ...
. Gamewell aspired to become a civil engineer and studied at
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute () (RPI) is a private research university in Troy, New York, with an additional campus in Hartford, Connecticut. A third campus in Groton, Connecticut closed in 2018. RPI was established in 1824 by Stephen Van ...
and
Cornell University Cornell University is a private statutory land-grant research university based in Ithaca, New York. It is a member of the Ivy League. Founded in 1865 by Ezra Cornell and Andrew Dickson White, Cornell was founded with the intention to tea ...
. Due to illness he was unable to complete his studies, but instead attained a Bachelor of Arts degree from
Dickinson College , mottoeng = Freedom is made safe through character and learning , established = , type = Private liberal arts college , endowment = $645.5 million (2022) , president = Jo ...
. In June 1880 he was an instructor at a school in Norfolk, Connecticut. After graduation he joined the
American Methodist Episcopal Mission American Methodist Episcopal Mission (AMEM; also known as Board of Foreign Missions of the Methodist Episcopal Church ''MEFB was the missionary society of the Methodist Episcopal Church that was involved in sending workers to countries such as ...
and was assigned to
Beijing, China } Beijing ( ; ; ), alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the capital of the People's Republic of China. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's most populous national capital city, with over 21 ...
– called Peking at that time – as a missionary and the principal of a boys' school. He arrived in Beijing in October 1881 and in June 1882 he married Mary Q. Porter, also a Methodist missionary. She was 33 years old with 11 years experience in China. He was 24. The couple never had any children. In 1884, he was reassigned to
Chongqing Chongqing ( or ; ; Sichuanese pronunciation: , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ), alternately romanized as Chungking (), is a municipality in Southwest China. The official abbreviation of the city, "" (), was approved by the State Co ...
as superintendent of the West China Mission. In 1886 a mob attacked the missionary compound, destroyed most of the buildings, and held the missionaries hostage for 16 days. The Gamewells and other missionaries finally escaped, returned to the China coast, and subsequently the United States. During his stay in the US, Gamewell received a doctorate degree from
Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...
. In 1889 the couple returned to Beijing and Gamewell became a physics professor at
Yenching University Yenching University (), was a university in Beijing, China, that was formed out of the merger of four Christian colleges between the years 1915 and 1920. The term "Yenching" comes from an alternative name for old Beijing, derived from its statu ...
. Over the next several years he supervised construction of churches and other buildings on the Methodist compound, the largest of the Protestant missionary compounds in Beijing


The Boxer Rebellion

In early 1900 an anti-foreign, anti-Christian peasant movement spread northward from
Shandong Shandong ( , ; ; Chinese postal romanization, alternately romanized as Shantung) is a coastal Provinces of China, province of the China, People's Republic of China and is part of the East China region. Shandong has played a major role in His ...
Province taking over control of much of the countryside, burning churches and killing Chinese Christians. The Boxers, as the participants in the movement were called, had substantial support within the
Qing dynasty The Qing dynasty ( ), officially the Great Qing,, was a Manchu-led imperial dynasty of China and the last orthodox dynasty in Chinese history. It emerged from the Later Jin dynasty founded by the Jianzhou Jurchens, a Tungusic-speak ...
government and from the
Empress Dowager Cixi Empress Dowager Cixi ( ; mnc, Tsysi taiheo; formerly romanised as Empress Dowager T'zu-hsi; 29 November 1835 – 15 November 1908), of the Manchu Yehe Nara clan, was a Chinese noblewoman, concubine and later regent who effectively controlled ...
in Beijing. The Gamewells were planning to leave Beijing by train on June 5, 1900, en route to a
furlough A furlough (; from nl, verlof, " leave of absence") is a temporary leave of employees due to special needs of a company or employer, which may be due to economic conditions of a specific employer or in society as a whole. These furloughs may be ...
in the United States. But the train did not arrive that day or on subsequent days. The Boxers had cut the railroad line to the port of
Tianjin Tianjin (; ; Mandarin: ), alternately romanized as Tientsin (), is a municipality and a coastal metropolis in Northern China on the shore of the Bohai Sea. It is one of the nine national central cities in Mainland China, with a total popu ...
. The Gamewells were isolated in Beijing with more than 70 American missionaries. Conditions inside the walls of the city itself became increasingly unsafe for foreigners as Boxers entered the city and menaced foreign establishments. On June 8, all the Protestant American missionaries in Beijing decided to gather in the Methodist compound at which Gamewell was the senior missionary. The Methodist compound was the largest and most defensible of the missionary establishments. It was also near the Legation Quarter where several hundred foreign diplomats and businessmen lived and worked.


The semi-siege

The period between June 8 and June 20 is called the "semi-siege" as foreigners in Peking came increasingly under attack by the Boxers. Gamewell organized the defenses for American and British missionaries and several hundred Chinese Christians in the Methodist compound. He asked for and received 20
Marines Marines, or naval infantry, are typically a military force trained to operate in littoral zones in support of naval operations. Historically, tasks undertaken by marines have included helping maintain discipline and order aboard the ship (refl ...
from American Minister (ambassador) Edwin H. Conger to assist him in the defense. The Church was converted into a fortress..."the altar was fenced around with a barricade of boxes of condensed milk, biscuit tins, baskets of household silver, etc." The missionaries organized themselves into committees. Chinese Christians were conscripted to dig trenches and build stone and barbed wire barricades. It was good training for the siege to come. While the missionaries were fortifying their compound the Boxers were raging through Peking destroying foreign establishments and executing Chinese Christians. Foreign soldiers in the Legation Quarter exacerbated the situation by firing on Chinese demonstrators and mobs and killing many people.


The siege of the legations

On June 19, the already ominous situation in Beijing took a turn for the worse when the Chinese government ordered all foreigners to leave the city within 24 hours. Fearing they would be massacred if they left the Legation Quarter, the foreigners decided to defy the order. The next morning the German Minister Baron
Clemens von Ketteler Clemens August Freiherr von Ketteler (22 November 1853 – 20 June 1900) was a German career diplomat. He was killed during the Boxer Rebellion. Early life and career Ketteler was born at Münster in western Germany on 22 November 1853 into ...
was murdered in the streets. Conger ordered all the American missionaries to take refuge in the Legation Quarter and that afternoon they and their Chinese converts abandoned the Methodist Compound and walked to the British legation,where all the foreigners in Beijing were offered sanctuary. The Chinese converts were housed elsewhere in the Legation Quarter. When all had gathered there were about 900 foreigners in all, one half being civilians and the other half soldiers from eight different countries, and about 2,800 Chinese Christians. The next morning, amidst the chaos of hundreds of people milling around the British legation, the British minister
Claude Maxwell MacDonald Colonel Sir Claude Maxwell MacDonald, (12 June 1852 – 10 September 1915) was a British soldier and diplomat, best known for his service in China and Japan. Early life MacDonald was born the son of Mary Ellen MacDonald (''nee'' Dougan) and Ma ...
appointed Frank Gamewell as chief of staff of the Committee for Fortifications. He gave Gamewell absolute authority to organize the fortification of the British legation against an anticipated attack by Boxers and the Chinese Army. Gamewell took to the job with alacrity. A British author described him, "G mewellis the man of the hour … Already the British Legation, which at the commencement of the siege was utterly undefended by any entrenchments or sandbags, is rapidly being hustled into order by the masterful hand of this missionary … the hard worked man always finds time for everything. It is a wonder." The members of Gamewell's fortification committee, missionaries all, were called "the fighting parsons." Gamewell wanted thousands of sandbags and American missionary women scoured the Legation Quarter for sewing machines and cloth. Curtains, silks, satins, damasks, and expensive cloth of every kind was cut and sewed by missionary women into bags, filled with dirt, and placed on Gamewell's barricades. Gamewell spent his days "superintending the filling of sand-bags, the tearing down of houses adjoining our walls that might serve as cover for the enemy, the building of barricades and strengthening of walls from the timbers and bricks so obtained, ndmaking loopholes at the proper places for firing through. Gamewell's fortifications were needed. Chinese attacks on the Legation Quarter began on June 22 and would continue throughout the 55 days of the siege. He insisted on powerful barricades. At one strong point he had a barricade built eight feet thick, consisting of brick and rubble and earth and capable of withstanding cannon fire. Gamewell had a new challenge on July 13 when two underground mines exploded beneath the French legation, killing several French soldiers. Gamewell set about digging
counter mine Tunnel warfare involves war being conducted in tunnel and other underground cavities. It often includes the construction of underground facilities (mining or undermining) in order to attack or defend, and the use of existing natural caves and ...
trenches ten to twelve feet deep to surround the British legation. In preparation for the last extremity he had bombproof shelters built, trenches six feet deep and covered with timbers and two to four feet of sandbags and earth. Gamewell's fortifications proved effective. Not a single civilian was killed in the British legation (although several were killed defending the Legation Quarter) and the siege became less of a battle than a stalemate with only sporadic Chinese attacks. Gamewell was still strengthening his fortifications when an allied expeditionary force raised the siege and rescued the foreigners and Chinese Christians within the Legation Quarter on August 14, 1900.


After the Siege

On August 21, 1900, the Gamewells and other missionaries departed Beijing to return to the United States. Gamewell's wife, Mary, suffered from anemia and needed medical treatment. Gamewell had with him a letter from Minister Conger which said: "Dear Mr. Gamewell … to your intelligence and untiring effort, more than to any other man, do we owe our preservation."


Later life

Gamewell was feted in the United States as a hero of the Boxer Rebellion with honorary degrees from Columbia and Syracuse. He was appointed by the Methodist Church as field secretary and later executive secretary of the Open Door Commission. His wife, Mary, died in 1906. He married again to Mary Ninde (1858–1947) and the couple returned to China as missionaries in 1909. He served 15 years in the position of secretary of education of the Methodist Church in China and 12 years as the general secretary of the China Christian Education Association. He retired to the United States.


Assessment

Frank Gamewell was described during the Siege as "the mildest of men … a stooping figure, very quiet, and rarely speaks."Hooker, Mary (Polly Condit Smith), ''Behind the Scenes in Peking''. New York: Columbia U Press, 1911, pp.112-113 All the numerous eye-witness accounts of the Boxer Rebellion describe him favorably. He exemplifies what was called "American ingenuity," willing to get his hands dirty—as many were not—in achieving a vital task. He was a master builder and organizer and a quiet but obviously effective leader. He appears never to have had any great success in the missionary endeavor of converting Chinese to Christianity, but rather focused on education, especially science education.


Notes


References

* Brown, Rev. Frederick
''From Tientsin to Peking with the Allied Forces''
London: C.H. Kelly, 1902 * Coltman, Robert Jr., M.D
''Beleaguered in Peking: The Boxer’s War Against the Foreigner''
Philadelphia: F. A. Davies, 1901 * Hooker, Mary (Polly Condit Smith), ''Behind the Scenes in Peking''. New York: Columbia U Press, 1911 * Mateer, Ada Haven
''Siege Days: Personal Experiences of American Women and Children during the Peking Siege''"> ''Siege Days: Personal Experiences of American Women and Children during the Peking Siege''
Chicago: Fleming H. Revell, 1903 * Smith, Arthur H. ''China in Convulsion''. 2 Vols. New York: Fleming H. Revell, 190
Volume OneVolume Two

Thompson,_Larry_Clinton._''William_Scott_Ament
_and_the_Boxer_Rebellion:_Heroism,_Hubris_and_the_Ideal_Missionary''._Jefferson,_NC:_McFarland_&_Co,_2009.html" ;"title="William Scott Ament">Thompson, Larry Clinton. ''William Scott Ament
and the Boxer Rebellion: Heroism, Hubris and the Ideal Missionary''. Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Co, 2009">William Scott Ament">Thompson, Larry Clinton. ''William Scott Ament
and the Boxer Rebellion: Heroism, Hubris and the Ideal Missionary''. Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Co, 2009 * Tuttle, A.H.
Mary Porter Gamewell and her Story of the Siege in Peking
''. New York: Eaton and Mains, 1907, *


External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Gamewell, Francis Dunlap American Methodist missionaries Methodist missionaries in China American expatriates in China American people of the Boxer Rebellion 1857 births 1950 deaths