Kaohsiung's importance grew in the latter decades of the Qing dynasty, and Taiwan's provincial governor Shen Baozhen hired a British engineer to install modern batteries at the northern and southern entrances to Kaohsiung Harbor.
旗津半島上的旗後山是扼守高雄港咽喉的要地，最早是清康熙年間設的「營汛砲台」，同治年間因高雄形勢日愈重要，沈葆楨特聘英籍工程師在高雄港南北各設新式砲台。