1860 China | British Headquarters at Pehtung Fort

British Headquarters at Pehtung Fort, China — August 1860 Photograph by Felice Beato

Taken during the Second Opium War, this photograph shows the British headquarters at Pehtung Fort, also known as Pehtang. British troops and Indian soldiers serving in the British forces, including Sikhs, pose around the fort’s earthen defences beneath a British flag.

Cannons, gun carriages, cannonballs and coils of rope fill the foreground, while tents stand on the upper ramparts. Near the centre, a man carries water using a shoulder pole. The scene was deliberately arranged for the camera rather than captured during combat.

The original caption dates the photograph to **1 August 1860**. Getty records a version as an albumen silver print made in 1862 from a negative dated that day. However, MIT’s Visualizing Cultures project gives an alternative date of **2–12 August 1860** for the scene, making **August 1860** the more cautious date for publication.

Sources:
[The J. Paul Getty Museum — Staff Headquarters, Pehtung Fort](https://www.getty.edu/art/collection/object/109BGG)
[MIT Visualizing Cultures — Felice Beato and Battlefield Photography](https://visualizingcultures.mit.edu/opium_wars_02/ow2_essay04.html)

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1860 china Felice Beato British Headquarters at Pehtung Fort
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