First Sumatran expedition | |||||||
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Part of the Sumatran expeditions | |||||||
U.S. Infantry assaulting the Acehnese forts at Kuala Batu in 1832 | |||||||
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Belligerents | |||||||
United States Netherlands | Chiefdom of Kuala Batee | ||||||
Commanders and leaders | |||||||
Commodore John Downes Governor-General Johannes van den Bosch | Uleëbalang Po Muhammad | ||||||
Strength | |||||||
Land: 282 marine infantry and sailors Sea: 1 frigate |
Land: ~500 warriors 5 forts Sea: 3 proas | ||||||
Casualties and losses | |||||||
2 killed 11 wounded |
~300 Civilians killed or wounded ~150 Warriors killed or wounded 5 forts destroyed 3 proas sunk |
The First Sumatran expedition, which featured the Battle of Quallah Battoo (Aceh: Kuala Batèë, Indonesian: Kuala Batu) in 1832, was a punitive expedition by the United States Navy against the village of Kuala Batee, presently a subdistrict in Southwest Aceh Regency. The reprisal was in response to the massacre of the crew of the merchantman Friendship a year earlier. The frigate Potomac and its crew defeated the local uleëbalang (ruler)'s forces and bombed the settlement. The expedition was successful in stopping Sumatran attacks on U.S. shipping for six years until another vessel was plundered under different circumstances, resulting in a Second Sumatran expedition in 1838.