Photograph of the interior of Mann's Battery, Canton. The battery is on a raised area, with a flagpole at the centre and guns spaced at intervals. There are two small wooden huts and piles of ammunition. The city can be seen beyond the battery and there is a low building and a tree in the foreground to the left. Just to the right of the building there is a man sitting on a wheelbarrow, with another wheelbarrow upturned beside him.

This is one of a series of photographs taken in the aftermath of the Battle of Canton. British and French soldiers captured the city of Canton at the start of January 1858 with relative ease. This victory was a contributing factor in the Chinese signing the Treaty of Tientsin, ending the Second Opium War.