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{{Short description|1858–1862 Franco-Spanish military expedition against Vietnam}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2019}}
{{Infobox military conflict
| partof            = the [[French conquest of Vietnam]] and [[Western imperialism in Asia]]
| conflict          = Cochinchina campaign
| casus             = Vietnamese executions of European missionaries
| date              = 1 September 1858 – 5 June 1862<br>(3 years, 9 months and 4 days)
| place             = Nam Kỳ, [[Nguyễn dynasty|Đại Nam]]
| territory         = [[Cochinchina]] becomes a [[French Cochinchina|French colony]]
| result            = Franco-Spanish victory
* [[Treaty of Saigon (1862)|Treaty of Saigon]]
| image             = Prise de Saigon 18 Fevrier 1859 Antoine Morel-Fatio.jpg
| image_size        = 300px
| caption           = ''[[Siege of Saigon|Capture of Saigon]]'', [[Antoine Léon Morel-Fatio]].
| combatant1        = {{ubl
 |{{flagdeco|Second French Empire}} [[Second French Empire|France]]}}{{flagdeco|Spain|1785}} [[History of Spain (1810–1873)|Spain]]
* {{flagdeco|Spain|1785}} [[Spanish East Indies]]
-----
'''Cobelligerent:'''
{{flag|United States}} ([[Bombardment of Qui Nhơn]] only) 
| combatant2        = [[File:Personal Flag of Emperor Minh Mang.svg|25px|bordures]] [[Nguyễn dynasty|Đại Nam]]
| commander1        = {{flagdeco|Second French Empire}} [[Charles Rigault de Genouilly]] <br /> {{flagdeco|Second French Empire}} [[Théogène François Page|François Page]] <br /> {{flagdeco|Second French Empire}} [[Léonard Charner]] <br /> {{flagdeco|Second French Empire}} [[Louis Adolphe Bonard|Louis Bonard]] <br /> {{flagicon|Spain|1785}} [[Carlos Palanca Gutiérrez]]
-----
{{flagicon|United States|1861}} [[James F. Schenck]] <br /> {{flagicon|United States|1861}} [[Frederick K. Engle]]
| commander2        = [[File:Personal Flag of Emperor Minh Mang.svg|25px|bordures]] Emperor [[Tự Đức]] <br> [[File:Personal Flag of Emperor Minh Mang.svg|25px|bordures]] [[Nguyễn Tri Phương]]
| strength1         = ~3,000 <br /> 1 frigate <br /> 2 corvettes <br /> 2 avisos <br /> 9 gunboats
| strength2         = 10,000+
| casualties1       = 1,000 killed and wounded
| casualties2       = Heavy
| campaignbox       = {{Campaignbox Cochinchina Campaign}} <br /> {{Spanish colonial campaigns}}
}}

The '''Cochinchina campaign'''<ref>({{langx|fr|Campagne de Cochinchine}}; {{langx|es|Expedición franco-española a Cochinchina}}; {{langx|vi|Chiến dịch Nam Kỳ}})</ref> was a series of military operations between 1858 and 1862, launched by a joint naval expedition force on behalf of the [[Second French Empire|French Empire]] and the [[History of Spain (1808–1874)|Kingdom of Spain]] against the [[Nguyễn dynasty|Nguyễn period Vietnamese state]]. It was the opening conflict of the [[French conquest of Vietnam]].

Initially a limited [[punitive expedition]] against the execution of two Spanish Catholic missionaries in Đại Nam, the ambitious French emperor [[Napoleon III]] however, authorized the deployment of increasingly larger contingents, that subdued Đại Nam territory and established French economic and military dominance. The war concluded with the founding of the [[French Cochinchina|French colony of Cochinchina]] and inaugurated nearly a century of [[French Indochina|French colonial rule]] in Vietnam in particular and Indochina in general.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.historicvietnam.com/les-colonies-francaises-1889-part-1/ | title =The Conquest and Settlement of Cochinchina in "Les Colonies Francaises," 1889 | date =7 March 2015 | publisher = Historicvietnam |access-date= January 1, 2019 }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal| title =Spain and the French Invasion of Cochinchina  |journal = Australian Journal of Politics & History|volume = 20|issue = 3|pages = 335–345|author=James W. Cortada | doi =10.1111/j.1467-8497.1974.tb01122.x  |year = 2008}}</ref>

==Background==
{{Main|Tây Sơn wars|Gia Long|Pigneau de Behaine|Citadel of Saigon}}
[[File:NamKyLucTinh1861.jpg|thumb|300px|Map of Cochinchina]]

During the mid-nineteenth century, European powers [[New Imperialism|quickly overran and annexed large portions of the world]] to their [[colonial empire]]s. France was one such nation, and sought opportunities to expand its influence in Asia, [[Africa]] and Latin America. Vietnam was an uncolonised and independent nation which became the main focus of French geopolitical and imperialist aspirations that were part of the broader trend of [[Western imperialism in Asia]]. Certain elements of the French establishment argued that the [[List of monarchs of Vietnam|Vietnamese emperor]] [[Gia Long]] owed France greater goodwill for the [[French assistance to Nguyễn Ánh|assistance]] that the [[Kingdom of France]] had provided him with in his struggle against his [[Tây Sơn dynasty]] opponents. However, Gia Long felt neither bound to France nor to the [[Qing dynasty|Qing Empire]], which had also provided help. Gia Long contended that the [[Government of France|French government]] had failed to honor the [[Treaty of Versailles (1787)]] and assisted him in the civil war since those who had helped him were volunteers such as [[Pierre Pigneau de Behaine]], or adventurers, not officials. 

Advanced fortification methods and technologies had already been adopted and implemented as trained Vietnamese planners had successfully reproduced the elaborate 18th century [[Sébastien Le Prestre de Vauban|Vaubanesque]] [[citadel of Saigon]] built by French engineers.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://digitalcommons.lsu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2326&context=gradschool_theses | title =French influence overseas: the rise and fall of colonial Indochina  | publisher = Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College |author=Julia Alayne Grenier Burlette
 |access-date= January 22, 2019 }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal| title =The Diplomacy of Imperialism: France and Spain in Cochin China, 1858–63 |journal = The Journal of Modern History|volume = 12|issue = 3|pages = 334–356|author=R. Stanley Thomson  |jstor = 1874762|year = 1940|doi=10.1086/236488| s2cid=145650836 }}</ref>

French missionaries had been active in Vietnam since the 17th century. Although the ultimate goal of a Catholic Vietnamese emperor had yet to be achieved, by the middle of the 19th century a community of 600,000 [[Roman Catholic Church|Roman Catholic]] converts existed in Annam and [[Tonkin]] according to Bishop Pellerin.<ref name="Addington2000">{{cite book|author=Larry H. Addington|title=America's War in Vietnam: A Short Narrative History|url=https://archive.org/details/americaswarinvie0000addi|url-access=registration|year=2000|publisher=Indiana University Press|isbn=978-0-253-21360-0|pages=[https://archive.org/details/americaswarinvie0000addi/page/8 8]–}}</ref><ref name="Chapuis2000"/> However, most of the bishops and priests were either French or Spanish and many Vietnamese disliked and suspected this sizable Christian congregation and its foreign leaders. The French clerics increasingly felt responsible for the communal safety as tension built up gradually. During the 1840s, persecution or harassment of Catholic missionaries in Vietnam by the Vietnamese emperors Minh Mạng and [[Thiệu Trị]] evoked only sporadic and unofficial French response and decisive steps towards military incursions and an eventual establishment of a [[French colonial empire]] in Indochina was not taken until 1858.<ref>Thomazi, ''Conquête'', 25–29</ref>

In 1857, the Vietnamese emperor [[Tự Đức]] approved the execution of two Spanish Catholic missionaries. This was neither the first nor the last such incident and on previous occasions the French government had overlooked such provocations. But this event coincided with France dispatching a military expedition to China during the outbreak of the [[Second Opium War]]. France used these forces to subsequently intervene in Indochina. In November 1857, [[Napoleon III of France|Napoleon III]], emphasizing the rationale of ''[[Civilizing mission|Mission Civilisatrice]]'', authorised Admiral [[Charles Rigault de Genouilly]] to lead a [[punitive expedition]] against Vietnam. In September 1858, a joint French and Spanish naval expedition force landed at [[Da Nang|Tourane]] (Da Nang) and captured the town.<ref>Thomazi, ''Conquête'', 29–33</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.britannica.com/place/Vietnam/The-conquest-of-Vietnam-by-France | title =The conquest of Vietnam by France | publisher = Encyclopædia Britannica |access-date= January 1, 2019 }}</ref><ref name=wfhistory/><ref name="Ooi2004">{{cite book |author=Ooi |first=Keat Gin |author-link=Keat Gin Ooi |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QKgraWbb7yoC&pg=PA357 |title=Southeast Asia: A Historical Encyclopedia, from Angkor Wat to East Timor |publisher=ABC-CLIO |year=2004 |isbn=978-1-57607-770-2 |pages=357–}}</ref>

==Tourane and Saigon==
{{Main|Siege of Tourane|Siege of Saigon}}
[[File:Rigault-de-genouilly.jpg|thumb|Admiral Charles Rigault de Genouilly (1807–1873)]]
<!-- Deleted image removed: [[File:Map of Tourane.jpg|thumb|The Siege of Tourane (Da Nang)]] -->
[[File:French capture of Saigon in 1859.jpg|thumb|French capture of Saigon, 17 February 1859]]

===Events at Tourane===
The Franco-Spanish force anticipated an easy victory, but the campaign did not go as planned. The Vietnamese Christian community did not rise in support of France, as Bishop Pellerin had confidently predicted they would, and a well organized Vietnamese military resistance was more formidable than expected. The French and Spanish, who had captured the city in a marine assault found themselves in no position to progress further inland and were pinned down in a long siege by a Vietnamese army under the command of [[Nguyễn Tri Phương]]. Allied reinforcements only replaced losses leaving a small force, that occasionally attacked sections of the Vietnamese positions, but were unable to break the siege. The [[Siege of Tourane]] lasted for nearly three years and despite relative little combat, casualties among the Franco-Spanish troops were high, as diseases took a heavy toll.<ref>Thomazi, ''Conquête'', 38–41</ref>

Realising that the French garrison at Tourane was not to achieve a strategic success shortly, [[Charles Rigault de Genouilly]] pondered options of operations in either Tonkin or Cochinchina in October 1858. As an expedition to Tonkin would require a rather unlikely large-scale uprising by the Vietnamese Christians to have any chance of success, in January 1859 he proposed to the [[Ministère de la Marine]] an expedition against [[Saigon]] in Cochinchina. This city was of considerable strategic significance as a source of food for the Vietnamese army.<ref name="Chapuis2000"/>

===Attack on Saigon===
The expedition was approved, and in early February Rigault de Genouilly sailed south for Saigon, leaving command of Tourane to ''capitaine de vaisseau'' (captain of the ship) Thoyon with a small French garrison and two gunboats. On 17 February 1859, after breaking the river defences and destroying a series of forts and stockades along the Saigon river, the French and Spanish captured Saigon. French [[Troupes de marine|marine infantry]] stormed the enormous [[Citadel of Saigon]], while [[Filipinos|Filipino]] troops under Spanish command repelled a Vietnamese counterattack. The allies lacked the manpower to hold the citadel and on 8 March 1859 demolished it and set fire to the rice granaries. In April, Rigault de Genouilly returned to Tourane with the bulk of his forces to reinforce Thoyon's hard-pressed garrison, leaving ''capitaine de frégate'' [[Bernard Jauréguiberry]] with a Franco-Spanish garrison of around 1,000 men at Saigon.<ref>Thomazi, ''Conquête'', 33–37</ref>

The Franco-Spanish division struggled to consolidate its position after the [[Siege of Saigon|capture of Saigon]]. Jauréguiberry's small detachment suffered substantial losses in a surprise attack on a Vietnamese fortification to the west of Saigon on 21 April 1859 and was forced to remain inside its defence perimeter thereafter. Meanwhile, the outbreak of the [[Austro-Sardinian War]] tied down large numbers of French troops in Italy. In November 1859, Rigault de Genouilly was replaced by Admiral [[François Page]], who had been instructed to obtain a treaty with focus on the protection of the Catholic faith in Vietnam and not to seek any territorial gains. In early November Page began negotiations, which, however, proved to be unsatisfactory.{{fact|date=March 2021}}

The Vietnamese, aware of France's distraction in [[Italy]], refused these moderate terms and spun out the negotiations in the hope that the allies would cut their losses and abandon the campaign altogether. On 18 November 1859 Page bombarded and captured the Kien Chan forts at Tourane, but this allied tactical victory failed to change the stance of the Vietnamese negotiators. The war continued into 1860.<ref>Thomazi, ''Conquête'', 40; ''Histoire militaire'', 27</ref>

===The siege===
During the second half of 1859 and throughout 1860, the French had failed to bring about a decisive breakout or made any territorial gains at Tourane and Saigon. Although the [[Austro-Sardinian War]] ended by early 1860 the French were again at war with China and Page had to divert most of his forces to support Admiral [[Léonard Charner]]'s China expedition. In April 1860, Page left Cochinchina to join Charner at [[Guangdong|Canton]]. Meanwhile, in March 1860, a 4,000 strong Vietnamese army began to besiege Saigon. The defence of Saigon was entrusted to ''capitaine de vaisseau'' [[Jules d'Ariès]]. The 1,000 men strong Franco-Spanish garrison in Saigon had to resist a siege by superior numbers from March 1860 to February 1861. Realising that they could hold only either Saigon or Tourane, the French evacuated the garrison of Tourane in March 1860, bringing the Tourane campaign to an unsuccessful end.<ref>Thomazi, ''Conquête'', 37–43</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://alphahistory.com/vietnamwar/conquest-and-colonisation-of-vietnam/ | title =The Conquest and Colonization of Vietnam | publisher = Alpha History |author=Jennifer Llewellyn, Jim Southey, Steve Thompson  | date =28 June 2012 |access-date= January 1, 2019 }}</ref><ref name=wfhistory>{{cite web |url=https://warfarehistorynetwork.com/daily/military-history/frances-nightmare-in-indochina/ |title=France's Nightmare in Indochina |publisher=Warfare History Network |date=December 8, 2018 |author=Steven M. Johnson |access-date=January 22, 2019 |archive-date=13 June 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190613073520/http://warfarehistorynetwork.com/daily/military-history/frances-nightmare-in-indochina/ |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/13030980 | title =The French in Cochin-China| publisher =  [[The Sydney Morning Herald]] |date=September 19, 1859 |access-date= January 22, 2019 }}</ref><ref name="Chapuis2000">{{cite book|author=Oscar Chapuis|title=The Last Emperors of Vietnam: From Tu Duc to Bao Dai|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9RorGHF0fGIC&pg=PA48|year=2000|publisher=Greenwood Publishing Group|isbn=978-0-313-31170-3|pages=48–}}</ref>

==Ky Hoa and Mỹ Tho==
{{Main|Battle of Ky Hoa|Capture of Mỹ Tho}}
{{See also|Trương Định|Nguyễn Trung Trực}}
In early 1861, the war with China ended as the admirals Charner and Page were now free to return to Cochinchina and resume the campaign around Saigon. A naval contingent of 70 ships under Charner (who was now in charge of all land and sea forces) and 3,500 soldiers under the command of General de Vassoigne were transferred from northern China to Saigon. Charner's squadron was the most powerful French naval force in Vietnamese waters prior to the creation of the French [[Far East Squadron]] on the eve of the [[Sino-French War]] (August 1884 to April 1885). It included the steam frigates ''Impératrice Eugénie'' and ''Renommée'' (Charner and Page's respective flagships), the corvettes ''Primauguet'', ''Laplace'' and ''Du Chayla'', eleven screw-driven despatch vessels, five first-class gunboats, seventeen transports and a hospital ship. The squadron was accompanied by half a dozen armed [[Lorcha (boat)|lorchas]] purchased in Macao.<ref>Thomazi, ''Conquête'', 45</ref>

These reinforcements eventually provided the allies with troops for [[Maneuver warfare|tactical maneuvers]] at Saigon. On 24 and 25 February 1861, the French and Spanish successfully assaulted the Vietnamese siege lines, defeating marshal Nguyễn Tri Phương in the [[battle of Ky Hoa]]. Nonetheless, the Vietnamese forces vehemently and skillfully defended their positions, which resulted in considerable allied casualties.<ref>Thomazi, ''Histoire militaire'', 29–31</ref>
<!-- Deleted image removed: [[File:Map of My Tho.jpg|thumb|The Mỹ Tho campaign]] -->
The victory at Ky Hoa allowed the French and Spanish to regain the operational initiative. In April 1861, the city of [[Capture of Mỹ Tho|Mỹ Tho]] southwest of Saigon fell to the French. An assault force under ''capitaine de vaisseau'' Antoine Louis Le Couriault du Quilio, supported by a small flotilla of gunboats, advanced on Mỹ Tho from the north along the Bao Dinh Ha creek, and between 1 and 11 April destroyed several Vietnamese forts and fought its way along the creek to the vicinity of Mỹ Tho. Le Couriault de Quilio gave orders for an assault on the town on 12 April. However, a flotilla of warships under the command of Admiral Page, sent by Charner to approach up the [[Mekong]] river to attack Mỹ Tho by sea, appeared off the town on the same day. Mỹ Tho was occupied by the French on 12 April 1861 without a shot being fired.<ref>Thomazi, ''Histoire militaire'', 32–33</ref>

In March 1861, shortly before the [[capture of Mỹ Tho]], the French again offered peace terms to Tự Đức, which were considerably harsher than those offered by Page in November 1859. The French demanded the free exercise of Christianity in Vietnam, the [[cession]] of Saigon province, an indemnity of 4 million [[piastre]]s, freedom of commerce and movement inside Vietnam and the establishment of French consulates. Tự Đức was only prepared to concede on the free exercise of religion and rejected all others. The war continued and after the fall of Mỹ Tho the French added Mỹ Tho province to the list of territorial demands.<ref>Thomazi, ''Conquête'', 60–61</ref>

Increasingly less able to confront the French and Spanish forces in open combat, Tự Đức was forced to shift to guerrilla warfare and sent his agents into the conquered Vietnamese provinces to organise resistance. Charner responded on 19 May by officially declaring a state of siege in the Saigon and Mỹ Tho provinces. French units roved through the Cochinchinese countryside, fanning popular resistance by the brutality with which they treated suspected insurgents. Although Charner had ordered his forces to restrain from violence against peaceful villagers, his orders were not always obeyed. Occasionally the Vietnamese guerrillas threatened the French troops as on 22 June 1861 the outpost at Gò Công was, although unsuccessfully, attacked by 600 Vietnamese insurgents.<ref>Thomazi, ''Conquête'', 61</ref>

==The Qui Nhơn incident==
{{Main|Bombardment of Qui Nhơn}}
[[File:USS Saginaw.jpg|thumb|225px|USS ''Saginaw'' at [[Mare Island]] naval yard]]
On 31 July 1861 the Vietnamese [[fort]] protecting [[Qui Nhơn]] city was destroyed by the {{USS|Saginaw|1859|6}}, a warship of the [[United States Navy]]. Under the command of Captain [[James F. Schenck]] a task force had been dispatched to Cochinchina in search of missing American citizens and sailors of the merchant ship ''Myrtle''.

The ship encountered cannon fire from the fort's garrison upon entering and anchoring at Qui Nhơn harbour. The ''Saginaw'' flew a white flag of neutrality, signalling no hostile intentions, but the fire continued. Eventually Schenck gave orders to withdraw to a secure position and responded with an hour long bombardment. Fire from the fort ceased after forty minutes and its walls collapsed shortly after. US forces reported no damage or casualties. As communication with the Vietnamese fort's garrison could at no time be established and the missing American sailors could not be found, the USS ''Saginaw'' retreated towards [[British Hong Kong|Hong Kong]] on the same day.<ref name="TuckerPierpaoli2011">{{cite book|author1=Spencer Tucker|author2=Paul G. Pierpaoli|author3=William E. White|title=The Civil War Naval Encyclopedia|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=q4mwAtj2r3UC&pg=PA615|year=2011|publisher=ABC-CLIO|isbn=978-1-59884-338-5|pages=615–}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/10/13/apocalypse-1861/ | title =Apocalypse 1861  | publisher = Geni.com |date=October 13, 2011 |author=Michael Schroeder |access-date= January 26, 2019 }}</ref><ref name="Tucker2013">{{cite book|author=Spencer Tucker|title=Almanac of American Military History|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TO2mx314ST0C&pg=PA831|year=2013|publisher=ABC-CLIO|isbn=978-1-59884-530-3|pages=831–}}</ref>
<!-- EDITORIAL NOTE:
Commander John Schenck was serving with the [[East India Squadron]] in June 1861 just before setting sail east to join the [[West Gulf Blockading Squadron]]. His last mission in the Far East was to proceed with the [[paddle steamer]] [[sloop]] {{USS|Saginaw|1859|6}} to Qui Nhơn. A boat filled with sailors from the American merchant ship ''Myrtle'' was reported missing so [[Flag Officer]] [[Frederick K. Engle]] ordered Schenck to search the area. The ''Saginaw'' was armed with one 50-pounder (23&nbsp;kg), one 32-pounder (15&nbsp;kg) and two 24-pound rifled guns. She had a complement of fifty officers and enlisted men. Commander Schenck arrived off Qui Nhơn of July 30 and prepared to enter the harbor the following day at 1:00 am. He wanted to ask the Vietnamese if they had seen the missing sailors. When the ''Saginaw'' was entering the harbor of Qui Nhơn on July 31, the nearby fort to the north, mounting a few guns, opened fire at a range of 600 yards.{{fact}}

USS ''Saginaw ''{{'}}s crew was just putting the anchor down when the first shot burst in the water next to the ship. Surprised, the Americans first raised a white flag to show their friendly intentions but then a second shot was fired along with a third. Trying to get up steam, the ''Saginaw'' turned around and withdrew slowly to 900 yards, by which time her crew were at station and ready for action. The American gunners returned fire with one of their 32-pounders and after only about twenty minutes the Vietnamese guns were silenced. A secondary explosion was observed and it was suspected that either the powder magazine of the fort, or one of the guns, blew up and killed their operators. After the explosion no further shots were fired from the fort. However, the ''Saginaw ''{{'}}s gunners continued their bombardment for another half-hour unopposed until the fort was in ruins. American forces suffered no damage or casualties and after the action, communicating with the natives proved fruitless so the ''Saginaw'' steamed back to [[British Hong Kong|Hong Kong]].{{fact}}

The men of ''Saginaw'' ultimately did not find the missing American sailors but they did engage in an unprovoked gunnery duel which ended with a clear victory. Commander Schenck went on the serve with distinction at the battles for [[Fort Fisher]] during the [[American Civil War]].-->

==Biên Hòa and Vĩnh Long==
{{Main|Capture of Biên Hòa|Capture of Vĩnh Long}}
<!-- Deleted image removed: [[File:Map of Bien Hoa.jpg|thumb|The capture of Biên Hòa]] -->
The [[Capture of Mỹ Tho]] was the last military operation under [[Léonard Charner]] as commander of the Cochinchina expedition. He returned to France in the summer of 1861 and was replaced by Admiral [[Louis Adolphe Bonard]], who arrived in Saigon at the end of November 1861. A mere fortnight later Bonard mounted a major campaign to overrun [[Đồng Nai Province]] in reprisal for the loss of the French lorcha ''Espérance'' and all her crew in an ambush. The provincial capital [[Biên Hòa]] was captured on 16 December 1861.<ref>Thomazi, ''Conquête'', 63–65</ref>

Admiral Bonard's forces proceeded by [[Capture of Vĩnh Long|capturing Vĩnh Long]] on 22 March 1862 in a brief punitive operation of Vietnamese guerrilla attacks on French troops around Mỹ Tho. On 10 March 1862 a French gunboat leaving Mỹ Tho with a company of infantry aboard suddenly exploded. Casualties were heavy (52 men killed or wounded) and the French suspected Vietnamese sabotage by insurgents directed by the governors of [[Vĩnh Long Province]].<ref>Thomazi, ''Conquête'', 67–68; ''Histoire militaire'', 35</ref>

Ten days later, Bonard anchored off [[Vĩnh Long]] with a flotilla of gunboats and eleven transport vessels and disembarked a Franco-Spanish landing force of 1,000 troops. In the afternoon and evening of 22 March, the French and Spanish assaulted the Vietnamese batteries entrenched before Vĩnh Long and captured them. On 23 March they entered the citadel of Vĩnh Long. Its defenders retreated to a fortified earthwork at My Cui {{convert|20|km|mi|abbr=on}} to the west of Mỹ Tho, but were soon overrun and forced to flee. Vietnamese casualties at Vĩnh Long and My Cui were heavy.<ref>Thomazi, ''Conquête'', 68–69; ''Histoire militaire'', 35–36</ref>
[[File:Vietnamese wooden cannon captured at the Vinh Long citadel by the French on 23 March 1862.jpg|thumb|Vietnamese [[wooden cannon]] [[Capture of Vĩnh Long|captured at Vĩnh Long]] by the French, 23 March 1862. [[Musée de l'Armée]], Paris.]]
The loss of Mỹ Tho and Biên Hòa and the [[Capture of Vĩnh Long|fall of Vĩnh Long]] seriously worsened the strategic situation for the [[Nguyễn dynasty|Court at Huế]] and in April 1862 Tự Đức announced that he wished to make peace.<ref name=":0">Thomazi, ''Conquête'', 69–71</ref>
In May 1862, following preliminary discussions at Huế, the French corvette ''Forbin'' anchored off Tourane where a Vietnamese delegation was to arrive in order to conclude peace. The Vietnamese were given three days to produce their ambassadors. The sequel was described by Colonel Thomazi, the historian of the French conquest of Indochina:
<blockquote>
On the third day, an old paddlewheel corvette, the ''Aigle des Mers'', was seen slowly leaving the [[Tourane River]]. Her beflagged keel was in a state of dilapidation that excited the laughter of our sailors. It was obvious that she had not gone to sea for many years. Her cannons were rusty, her crew in rags, and she was towed by forty oared junks and escorted by a crowd of light barges. She carried the plenipotentiaries of Tự Đức. ''Forbin'' took her under tow and brought her to Saigon, where the negotiations were briskly concluded. On 5 June a treaty was signed aboard the vessel ''Duperré'', moored before Saigon.<ref>Thomazi, ''Conquête'', 70</ref>
</blockquote>

==Peace==
The expedition had turned out to be longer and costlier than initially thought and from a position of strength the French intended to fully enforce their conditions of military and colonial dominance.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ncert.nic.in/NCERTS/l/jess302.pdf | title =The Nationalist Movement in Indo-China  | publisher = National Council of Educational Research and Training – India |access-date= January 26, 2019 }}</ref> Tự Đức's minister [[Phan Thanh Giản]] signed a treaty with Admiral Bonard and the Spanish representative Colonel [[Carlos Palanca Gutiérrez]] on 5 June 1862. The [[Treaty of Saigon (1862)|Treaty of Saigon]] required Vietnam to legalize the free practise of the Catholic faith within its territory, to cede the provinces of [[Biên Hòa Province|Biên Hòa]], [[Gia Định Province|Gia Định]] and [[Định Tường Province|Định Tường]] and the islands of [[Poulo Condore]] to France, to allow the French to trade and travel freely along the Mekong River, to open the ports of Tourane, [[Quảng Yên]] and Ba Lac (at the mouth of the Red River) to trade and to pay an indemnity of one million dollars to France and Spain over a ten-year period. The French placed all acquired territories under the administration of the [[Ministère de la Marine|Marine Ministry]], thereby establishing the colony of [[French Cochinchina|Cochinchina]] with its capital Saigon.<ref name=":0"/>

==Aftermath==
{{See also|Tonkin Campaign}}
[[File:Célébration de la fête de la reine d'Espagne à Saïgon, L'illustration le 17 Jan 1863.jpg|thumb|right|222px|Celebration of the feast of the [[Isabella II of Spain|Queen of Spain]] in [[Saigon]].]]
In 1864 the three southern provinces ceded to France were formally constituted as the [[French colonial empire|French colony]] of [[French Cochinchina|Cochinchina]]. Within three years, France's new colony doubled in size. In 1867 Admiral [[Pierre de la Grandière]] forced the Vietnamese government to cede the provinces of [[An Giang Province|Châu Đốc]], [[Hà Tiên Province|Hà Tiên]] and [[Vĩnh Long Province|Vĩnh Long]] to France. The Vietnamese emperor [[Tự Đức]] initially refused to accept the validity of this cession, but eventually recognized French dominion over the six provinces of Cochinchina in the 1874 [[Treaty of Saigon (1874)|Treaty of Saigon]], negotiated by [[Paul-Louis-Félix Philastre]] after the [[Garnier Expedition|military intervention]] of [[Francis Garnier]] in Tonkin.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=GjY7aV_6FPwC&pg=PA179&dq=Cochinchina+France+1874&lr=&sig=ACfU3U14_Eouc1qspwZcwlVQEECHyozOsg Brecher, 179]</ref>

The Spanish, who had played a junior role in the Cochinchina campaign, received a share of the indemnity but made no territorial acquisitions in Vietnam. Only a small force was kept in Saigon until it was withdrawn in 1863.<ref name = "Bowen">Bowen, W. H. (2011). ''Spain and the American Civil War''. University of Missouri Press. p. 50.</ref> The French encouraged the Spanish to seek a sphere of influence in Tonkin as an alternative, but nothing came of this suggestion, and Tonkin ultimately fell under French control and became a protectorate in 1883.<ref>Thomazi, ''Conquête'', 46–47</ref>

Perhaps the most important factor in Tự Đức's decision to make peace was the threat posed to his authority by a serious uprising in Tonkin led by the Catholic nobleman Le Bao Phung, who claimed descent from the old Lê dynasty. Although the French and Spanish rejected Le's offer of an alliance against Tự Đức, the insurgents in Tonkin were able to inflict several defeats on Vietnamese government forces. The end of the war with France and Spain allowed Tự Đức to overwhelm the insurgents in Tonkin and restore government control there. Le Bao Phung was eventually captured, tortured and put to death.<ref>McAleavy, 76–77; Thomazi, ''Histoire militaire'', 36, 37</ref>

==See also==
* [[Western imperialism in Asia]]

==References==
{{reflist}}

== Bibliography ==
* Bernard, H., ''Amiral [[Henri Rieunier]], ministre de la marine – La vie extraordinaire d'un grand marin, 1833–1918'' (Biarritz, 2005)
* Brecher, M., ''A Study of Crisis'' (University of Michigan, 1997)
* McAleavy, H., ''Black Flags in Vietnam: The Story of a Chinese Intervention'' (New York, 1968)
* Taboulet, G., ''La geste française en Indochine'' (Paris, 1956)
* Thomazi, A., ''Histoire militaire de l'Indochine français'' (Hanoi, 1931)
* Thomazi, A., ''La conquête de l'Indochine'' (Paris, 1934)

{{Cochinchina campaign}}
{{French Indochina}}
{{French colonial campaigns}}
{{Philippines conflicts}}
{{Nguyễn dynasty topics}} 

[[Category:Cochinchina campaign| ]]
[[Category:1858 in Vietnam]]
[[Category:1859 in Vietnam]]
[[Category:1860 in Vietnam]]
[[Category:1861 in Vietnam]]
[[Category:1862 in Vietnam]]
[[Category:France–Vietnam relations]]
[[Category:Military history of Nguyen Vietnam]]
[[Category:Punitive expeditions|Cochinchina]]
[[Category:Punitive expeditions of France]]
[[Category:Spain–Vietnam relations]]
[[Category:Wars involving the Philippines]]
[[Category:Military history of the Pacific Ocean]]