USA ATTACKING KUALA BATEE ACEH
Potomac arrived in Kuala Batee on February 5, 1832. There, Downes met Poh Adam who said that the local authorities were not willing to pay compensation for the attack on Friendship. Commodore Downes then decided to disguise his ship as a Danish merchant ship so as not to be known by the surrounding population. The disguise went so smoothly that when some of the surrounding residents boarded the Potomac to sell the pepper cargo, they were suddenly arrested so that the residents of Kuala Batee were unaware that there were US ships preparing for retaliation. Downes then sent a group of scouts to the port, but was driven out by local residents. [3] Next to 3 ships at the port, 5 strongholds are known to guard the city near the coast. [4]
Downes ordered 1 detachment from 282 marines and captain to the boat, some of which were equipped with light cannons. From that boat, Potomac captains and marines burned the Acehnese ships at the port of Kuala Batee and attacked the city fort while assistance from the Potomac rifles themselves was used to return fire from the fortress of Kuala Batee. Modern rifles used by the US are far better than those of the opponent's outdated match key rifles, but the population fights fiercely and the battle shifts to a hand battle where one of the kings who control the fortress is killed along with 150 other champions. [5] On the US side, only 2 were killed during the attack and 11 other captains and marines were injured. [6]
After the coastal fortress fell, the remaining enemies fled inland where there was another fortress, but instead of using the remaining fortress, the US attacked the city itself. Large-scale robbery and looting occur in almost all cities accompanied by the large number of people killed. Downes then ordered his men to return to the ship and bomb the 5th fortress and also the city itself until the survivors agreed to surrender. The attack claimed the lives of 300 other residents. Sum Wiki (kuala batee plan)
