The Siege of Beijing's Diplomatic Quarter

On June 20th, two days before the international relief force was ultimately turned back from Beijing, the siege of Beijing's diplomatic quarter began. Missionaries were reluctant to leave their missions and most foreigners were convinced that they would be killed as soon as they left the city. The US involvement in this whole thing was really quite historic. President McKinley chose to get them involved in the conflict on his own. It set a precedent for how presidents handled later conflicts.