Garnier Expedition

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.

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.

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.