Lest We Forget - The First American Clash with Korea
By Lieutenant Commander Thomas J. Cutler, U.S. Navy (Retired)
In 1866, barely a year after the end of the American Civil War, a U.S. merchant vessel, the General Sherman , anchored in the Taedong River downstream from Pyongyang. The ship had come to open trade with this mysterious land, known as the “Hermit Kingdom” because of its resistance to foreign influence. American trade entrepreneurs—supported by a sizable portion of Congress—who wanted to open the way to trading with Korea, had recently been encouraged when the Koreans had saved the crew of the American merchantman Surprise after she had been wrecked off the Korean coast.
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