1831 Andrew Jackson - Battle of Kuala Batu, First Expedition to Sumatra

On February 6, 1832, a US Warship destroyed a Sumatran village in retaliation for an attack on an American merchant ship. From the article:

"1831 Andrew Jackson - Battle of Kuala Batu, First Expedition to Sumatra

In 1831 President Andrew Jackson dispatched a U.S. warship to Sumatra on a punitive expedition in response to a vicious attack on a merchant ship by Malay pirates. The first officer and two other crew members were murdered, and the vessel’s cargo was plundered. Jackson informed Congress that there were no diplomatic proceedings because of the primitive state of Sumatra, so he immediately dispatched the USS Potomac “with orders to require immediate satisfaction for the injury and indemnity to the sufferers." It is known as the battle of Kuala Batu or ‘Quallah Battoo’. American’s only lost two lives in the battle, while estimates of the death toll among the Malay warriors are as high as 450.

The merchant Captain Charles Endicot sailed his merchant ship Friendship to Kuala Batu in 1831 on the island of Sumatra to secure a cargo of pepper, but his ship was attacked by three proas or small pirate sail boats. They killed the first officers and two other crew members and plundered her cargo. Endicott was ashore during the attack, and with the help of three other merchant captains was able to recover the vessel and sail back to Salem, Massachusetts. Back in the states, there was a general outcry against what was viewed as a massacre and the news reached President Andrew Jackson who demanded swift retribution and dispatched the frigate USS Potomac under Commodore John Downes. His order was to punish the Malay pirates for their treachery in what is known today as the First Sumatran expedition. It was the first ever armed intervention of America into Asia.

On December 6th, 1831 President Andrew Jackson briefly described the attack on Endicot as a "daring outrage having been committed in those seas by the plunder of one of our merchant-men engaged in the pepper trade at a port in Sumatra". Jackson went on to identify the perpetrators as pirates and explained that because "such a state of society" die not allow for normal diplomatic proceedings they could not be pursued. Thus, Jackson informed congress that he dispatched "a frigate with orders to require immediate satisfaction for the injury and indemnity to the sufferers."
"To China and the East Indies our commerce continues in its usual extent, and with increased facilities which the credit and capital of our merchants afford by substituting bills for payments in specie. A daring outrage having been committed in those seas by the plunder of one of our merchant-men engaged in the pepper trade at a port in Sumatra, and the piratical perpetrators belonging to tribes in such a state of society that the usual course of proceedings between civilized nations could not be pursued, I forthwith dispatched a frigate with orders to require immediate satisfaction for the injury and indemnity to the sufferers."
The USS Potomac was a large frigate with 32 short-range cannons and 35 long guns and a crew of 480 trained men in the use of cutlass swords and small arms. The ship reached Kuala Batu in Sumatra on February 5, 1832. Before entering the harbor, Commodore Downes disguised his ship as a Danish merchant ship to use the element of surprise to his favor. Downes found that the harbor was guarded not only by the three proas, but also five forts along the coastline. Downes ordered a detachment of 282 marines and sailors into the ship's boats some of which were equipped with a lighter cannon. From these boats, they burned the native vessels in the Kuala Batu harbor and assaulted the forts. Despite the superiority of the American muskets, the natives fought fiercely. In the initial battle at one of the town's fort, an estimated 150 Malay or native warriors died, while the Americans suffered only 2 deaths and 11 injuries. Commodore Downes ordered his men to attack the remaining forts. Instead of attacking the last fort, the men attacked the town itself, looting and plundering the town and killing many civilians. Downes ordered his men back to the ship and continued bombarding the fort and the town until its remaining leaders agreed to surrender. An additional 300 Malay warriors were killed in the process. Back home, there was some criticism of the use of military means rather than diplomatic, but overall the American people were satisfied with the result and no action was taken against Downes.

In 1832, President Jackson gave a summary of the situation in his Annual address.
"An act of atrocious piracy having been committed on one of our trading ships by the inhabitants of a settlement on the west coast of Sumatra, a frigate was dispatched with orders to demand satisfaction for the injury if those who committed it should be found to be members of a regular government, capable of maintaining the usual relations with foreign nations; but if, as it was supposed and as they proved to be, they were a band of lawless pirates, to inflict such a chastisement as would deter them and others from like aggressions. This last was done, and the effect has been an increased respect for our flag in those distant seas and additional security for our commerce."