Second Revolt

Overview

The Second Revolt was the latter phase of the Donghak Peasant Revolution, which began in the ninth lunar month of 1894 when Jeon Bong-jun raised troops again at Samnye in Jeolla Province. Whereas the First Revolt was an anti-feudal struggle that demanded the punishment of corrupt officials and reform of misgovernment, the Second Revolt had a distinct character as an anti-foreign, anti-Japanese struggle aimed at driving out the Japanese army. The Korean Encyclopedia of Culture's entry on the "Sino-Japanese War" also refers to it as a "Joseon-Japanese War" between the Japanese army and the Donghak peasant army.

Background

Even after the Treaty of Jeonju, the Chinese and Japanese armies did not withdraw. On July 23, 1894 (the twenty-first day of the sixth lunar month), the Japanese army occupied Gyeongbokgung Palace, overthrew the Min clan regime, and established a government headed by Heungseon Daewongun and Kim Hong-jip; two days later it launched the Sino-Japanese War. As the Japanese army gained the upper hand by winning the Battle of Pyongyang in September, Japanese domination of Joseon became a concrete threat. There are also records that the Daewongun's side contacted the peasant army in an attempt to drive out the Japanese troops.

Course of Events

Samnye Uprising (Ninth Lunar Month)

In mid-ninth lunar month, Jeon Bong-jun set up a central command post at Samnye, north of Jeonju, and summoned peasant forces from across Jeolla Province. Wikipedia records that the decision for a second mobilization was made around the twelfth day of the ninth lunar month. Son Hwa-jung appealed in Gwangju for resistance against the Japanese. The Korean Encyclopedia of Culture's entry on the "Donghak Movement" gives the number gathered at Samnye as 110,000, but this figure may be exaggerated.

Joining of the Northern Donghak

Choe Si-hyeong, the leader of the Northern Donghak, who had initially been cautious about armed uprising, also issued a call to rise around the eighteenth day of the ninth lunar month. The Northern Donghak peasant army led by Son Byong-hi gathered in the Boeun and Cheongsan area of Chungcheong Province and moved south. The Southern and Northern Donghak peasant armies joined forces at Nonsan on the ninth day of the tenth lunar month (November 6 in the solar calendar); the Korean Encyclopedia of Culture's entry on the "Battle of Ugeumchi" puts their strength at 40,000.

Battles around Gongju

The peasant army's objective was Gongju, the site of the Chungcheong provincial office and a gateway on the road to Seoul. The government established the Sunmu Office and dispatched government troops led by Yi Gyu-tae and Yi Du-hwang, while the Japanese army deployed the 19th Battalion of the Second Reserve Infantry (battalion commander Minami Koshiro).