Gedong was a landscape on the east coast of Atjeh from which, in June 1878, an attack had been made on the friendly Edi. The state was the object of an expedition by the governor Van der Heyden in June 1878, in which the kampong Blang Pria was taken on 19 June 19 June and the radja of Gedong offered his submission on 21 June 21 June.
The Attack on Edi, June 1878
In June 1878 Van der Heyden’s presence was again necessary on the Oostkust, where by hostile Atjehers, principally from the landscape Gedong, an attack had been made on the friendly Edi. The situation became especially dangerous when on 15 May 15 May [1878] the commandant of Edi, with an officer and 52 rank-and-file, besides a population patrol of 100 men, had marched out. “They came just past Pedawa Tjoet, in a very overgrown terrain where one had not the least view, into contact with the enemy; and after a brief skirmish, in which five of our men were wounded, a panic arose among the auxiliary bands, which also communicated itself to the military detachment. The officers did not succeed in bringing the soldiers to a halt, and in the greatest confusion the troop returned to Edi. Both officers and 3 European soldiers, struck by sunstroke, succumbed shortly afterwards.”
The Expedition, June 1878
As this outcome made the danger for Edi still greater, and several chiefs now openly took the side against the Dutch, an expedition against Gedong was sent by the commander-in-chief, “the uitgangspunt der vijandelijkheden” (the starting-point of the hostilities). On 3 June 3 June the troops disembarked at the Paseirivier. From there the advance was made on the chief place of Gedong, which was stormed. As the submission did not follow, on 7 June 7 June a renewed advance had to be made. One could prepare for a strong resistance: “the heads had sworn on the Koran to wish to conquer or die; one spent the night praying, as a great part of the male population had dedicated itself to death; Blang Pria, Olir Blang and the gedei would be newly fortified and new fortifications would have been laid out therein,” according to the information received.
Indeed, when the troops approached the chief place, they met a strong resistance. “Soon a loud cheering and shouting announced to both columns the proximity of the enemy, who had hidden in the ditches between his two positions. Suddenly this opened a heavy fire and then went over to an impetuous klewang-attack. Thanks to the firm conduct of the officers, the soldiers held their ground bravely; both companies were for some moments in hand-to-hand combat with the enemy, but soon the hoerah of our men, replacing the war-cry of the attackers, proclaimed that these had been driven back and for the most part shot. The terrain was strewn with corpses, by estimate at least a hundred.” As the resistance, however, proved too strong and part of the ammunition was spent, the retreat had to be decided upon, which was continually harassed by the enemy.
The Submission, 19-21 June 1878
Now the governor himself came on 16 June 16 June with a considerable force, to bring the expedition to a decisive end and then to punish the still rebellious Pasanga. On 19 June 19 June the troops advanced from Kata-Karang to the chief place of Gedong. After a powerful storming Blang Pria was taken. On 21 June 21 June the attack on the hoofd-benting, Radja Gedong, was to take place, when the vorst offered his submission. The radja abdicated, and his son, who succeeded him, submitted wholly to the Dutch. The troops could then re-embark for Pasanga; but the events in Great Acheh itself made Van der Heyden’s immediate return thither necessary, so that the punishment of Pasanga was for the time being postponed.
See Also
Source
De geschiedenis van Nederland in onzen tijd, by J. A. de Bruyne, Directeur der Hoogere Burgerschool te Zierikzee. Deel IV. 1872-1883. Nieuwe uitgave. Schiedam: J. F. Dupont, 1912, Hoofdstuk I, pp. 96-99.