[KS] General Sherman Incident

Joy Kim joykim at usc.edu
Fri Dec 9 03:10:10 EST 2011


Dear List,
I forwarded the discussions on this thread to a library patron who had inquired about General Sherman before.  She wishes to contribute some additional information based on her family history, so I am forwarding her message to the list.

Joy Kim
Curator, Korean Heritage Library
East Asian Library
University of Southern California
University Park
Los Angeles, CA90089-1825
Tel:  213-740-2329 or 213-740-2535
Fax: 213-740-7437
http://www.usc.edu/korea
http://libguides.usc.edu/korea

----- Original Message -----
From: SUN KIM <sun_20765 at msn.com>
Date: Thursday, December 8, 2011 5:18 pm
Subject: General Sherman Incident
To: joykim at usc.edu

> 
> Dear Joy,
> 
> Thank you for sending the discussion threads on General Sherman 
> Incident.  There were a couple of articles that I did not know 
> about before.  
>
> You had asked me if I want to contribute any information to the 
> discussion.  I’d like to point out that my statements are based on 
> bits of pieces that I overheard during family meetings when I was 
> young (I’ll refer it as a local story).  I also did additional 
> researches on the internet.  Whether it’s family or local people 
> gatherings, children was not allowed into the room at the beginning 
> of discussion.  From what I can gather, when previous older 
> generation of Pyung Yang residents met, they identify themselves by 
> which side their family was on during THE BATTLE.  It would be 
> great to interview these older generations (over 80 years old) to 
> find out more about this.  They are very reluctant to talk  about 
> it—I believe it has something to do with Kim Il Sung’s family.
>
> 1.      Wikipedia on Robert Jermain Thomas:  It has a pretty good 
> description of Mr. Thomas’s background including his first visit to 
> Korea in 1865.
> a.       According to the local story, Mr. Thomas was in Hwang Ju 
> or Hae Ju in Hwang Hae Do.  I was told this city was just cross the 
> river from Pyung Yang.  So, I assume it’s Hwang Ju.  Mr. Thomas was 
> selling bibles and my father’s grandfather who attended this secret 
> meeting on behalf of family was forced to buy a bible from him for 
> three times higher than local black market.  
> 2.      Question on the identity of Schooner General Sherman:  I 
> also heard there are debates on which ship this might have been and 
> whether the ship was destroyed in Dae Dong River at the time of 
> incident.  One of articles that you have forwarded to me claims 
> that the Ship was returned to the U.S. government and it was bought 
> by Samuel Cook on 1867 due to Chinese government’s pressure.  
> Personally, I don’t think it’s possible since Joseon was not open 
> to foreigners till 1876.
> 3.      Survivors:  Were there any survivors?  Everybody is 
> forgetting that Schooner General Sherman was led into Dae Dong 
> river by other Chinese junk ships.  Crews of General Sherman 
> perished but crews of other ships fled.
> 4.      Contact with locals:  Yes.  There was a secret rendezvous 
> between crews & locals according to my family.
>
> Best regards,
> 
> Sun Kim
> 
>                                                




More information about the Koreanstudies mailing list