The UNION army was instructed to plan and prepare an invasion of China to start at dawn on 22 June 1870. All seven UNION armies would be involved with the exception of an Infantry brigade forming the garrison in Mexico and a Cavalry brigade on the border with Ukraine operating patrols in that country to enforce the peace agreement with Russia.
The UNION forces would be formed into two army groups . Army group A consisting of 1st, 5th and 6th armies would march north west close to the Atlas Mountains while army group B comprising 3rd, 4th and 7th armies would march parallel to but north of army group A. 2nd army would form a general reserve and march several days behind army group A. Cavalry patrols would cover the space between the army groups. The ultimate objective would be Harbin, one thousand miles from the border. The intention was to bring the Chinese army to battle within that thousand miles, hopefully surround it and destroy it totally. Upon reaching Harbin, having already destroyed the Chinese army, that city would also be destroyed and the UNION forces would then withdraw while carrying out a systematic program of scorched earth on as much of eastern China as UNION forces could reach. To facilitate the invasion, the railway from Denver was improved and supplies and material collected to extend the railway into China to support the advancing UNION forces. All the resources of the UNION railway companies were collected to deliver this critical requirement.
By early June preparations had been completed with troops assembled and huge quantities of supplies at rail head. At dawn on the appointed day UNION artillery launched a short but heavy bombardment on the Chinese border outposts while cavalry forces funneled between the outposts and then fanned out into China. The Chinese outposts were quickly overrun by the advancing infantry. By the end of the first five days UNION forces had moved about 100 miles with the leading cavalry units another 50 miles further ahead where they had found and secured the rail-head of the new Chinese railway. In fact UNION cavalry had seen the smoke of the last Chinese train departing the area carrying the construction workers.
Clearly alarm bells had rung in Peking and all Chinese armies were mobilised. The nearest major troop formations were at the new base near Harbin and they started south around day 3 of the invasion with instructions not to fully engage with the UNION armies but to fight rearguard actions and await reinforcements. In the meantime Chinese civilians, having little idea of the UNION, did not at first flee the advancing troops but merely watched them disinterestedly and continued to tend their fields and crops. The UNION saw no danger from these simple peasants and ignored them too.
Construction of the UNION railway followed the advancing armies urgently soon reaching an average of three miles per day. UNION forces were under instruction to halt the advance as soon as the distance from rail-head reached 100 miles. It was now decided however to continue the advance until the main armies had reached the captured Chinese rail-head some 150 miles from the border which they did on day 8. Meanwhile the cavalry continued to press forward until day 10, some 200 miles from the border, at which time they too halted. Chinese forces from Harbin , using their railway, had moved south but had decided to de-train around 200 miles north of the border to enable sufficient space for maneuvering. It so happened that the de-training took place under the eyes of the most advanced UNION cavalry units.
The Chinese forces were estimated to have a strength of only 10,000 with ten guns as they were observed spreading out and slowly moving south, clearly looking for the UNION army. It was decided to move only one UNION army forward to meet the Chinese in order to avoid the Chinese learning the full strength of the UNION forces. It was assumed the Chinese would soon fall back after the two sides met in battle, at which time the bulk of the UNION cavalry force of about 6,000 with 72 guns would attack the Chinese from the flank. On day 13 of the invasion the Chinese advance guard ran into the leading elements of the UNION 1st army. The opening battle of the UNION invasion of China had started.
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