Early years

Liu Yongfu was born on 10 October 1837 in the town of Qinzhou (Ch'in-chou, 欽州) in southern China, close to the Vietnamese border. Qinzhou, now in Guangxi province, was at that time in the extreme southwest of Guangdong province. The ancestral home of Liu's family was the village of Popai in Guangxi province, and when he was eight his parents moved to Shangsizhou (Shang-ssu-chou, 上思州) in Guangxi. Liu's family was poor, living by manual work for others, and was only just able to scrape a living. In 1857 Liu joined a local militia force commanded by Wu Yuanqing (Wu Yuan-ch'ing, 吳元清), who claimed to hold a commission from the Taipings.

The fall of Nanking and the collapse of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom in 1864 altered Liu's prospects dramatically for the worse. Imperial forces gradually began to reassert their control over southwest China, and it was only a matter of time before they secured Guangxi province. To escape their vengeance, Liu needed to make himself sufficiently powerful to give the Imperial generals pause. His first step was to buy some time by retreating into the mountains of northern Tonkin. In 1868 he abandoned Wu Yuanqing's rebels and crossed into Vietnam with a force of 200 soldiers whose loyalty he could trust. He had dreamed as a youth that he would one day become a famous 'General of the Black Tiger', and christened his tiny band of adventurers the Black Flag Army, heiqi jun (hei-ch'i chun, 黑旗軍). The Black Flags marched slowly through northern Tonkin, recruiting men to their standard as they went, and eventually set up camp just outside Son Tay, on the northern bank of the Red River.

The mountain regions of western Tonkin were inhabited by tribesmen who did not acknowledge the writ of the Vietnamese government, and these montagnards resented the arrival of the Black Flag Army on Vietnamese soil. Fearing that Liu might eventually pose a threat to their own ascendancy in the area, they declared their intention of attacking the intruders. Liu struck first, however, and defeated a far stronger army of montagnards in a surprise attack. The short conflict enabled Liu to come to an early arrangement with the Vietnamese authorities, who had observed the performance of the Black Flag Army with great interest. The Vietnamese government, reasoning that it would be difficult to dislodge Liu from its territory and that he might also be a useful ally against the refractory montagnards, co-opted Liu into its service in 1869 and gave him military rank in the Vietnamese army. Provided that he continued to act in accordance with his technical status as a Vietnamese military governor, the Vietnamese authorities promised not to trouble the Black Flag leader.

Black Flags versus Yellow Flags

Having secured his base, Liu began to extend his ambitions. Ultimately, his intention was to carve out a small empire of his own controlling the upper course of the Red River. His first target was the border town of Lao Cai, which had recently been occupied by a force of Cantonese bandits under the command of He Junchang (Ho Chun-ch'ang, 何均昌). His band was allied with the Yellow Flag Army, a force established by Huang Chongying (Huang Ch'ung-ying, 黃崇英) on the model of the Black Flag Army and about three times its size. Liu's attempt on Lao Cai brought him into conflict with the Yellow Flags. Troops of both armies moved warily into the town while their leaders negotiated insincerely. Finally the Yellow Flags launched a surprise attack on the Black Flags, first setting off a mine in an unsuccessful attempt to kill the Black Flag leader. However, despite their superior numbers, they were defeated and driven from Lao Cai. The town remained in the hands of the Black Flags until 1885, and became Liu's main stronghold.

In 1869, having conciliated the Vietnamese, Liu also won favour with the Chinese authorities by committing the Black Flag Army to a Chinese punitive campaign against the Yellow Flags, which gave him the opportunity to cripple this rival bandit army. The Chinese expedition was commanded by the veteran general Feng Zicai, who would later win fame during the Sino-French War (August 1884–April 1885) by defeating a French column at the Battle of Zhennan Pass (24 March 1885). In one particular military exploit, known as 'the storming of the thirteen passes', Liu's Black Flags fought their way through the mountains and attacked Huang Chongying's headquarters at Hayang, a town on the Clear River near the border with Yunnan, forcing the Yellow Flag leader to take refuge with his montagnard allies. Although the Chinese and Black Flags failed to annihilate the Yellow Flags, they taught them a severe lesson, and Feng rewarded Liu for his help by offering him an honorary commission in the Chinese army.

In the next few years Liu Yongfu established a profitable protection racket on commerce on the Red River between Son Tay and Lao Cai. Traders were taxed at the rate of 10% of the value of their goods. The profits that accrued from this extortion were so great that Liu's army swelled in numbers during the 1870s, attracting to its ranks adventurers from all over the world. Although most of the soldiers were Chinese, many of the junior officers were Americans or European soldiers of fortune, some of whom had seen action in the Taiping Rebellion, and Liu used their expertise to transform the Black Flag Army into a formidable fighting force. Liu commanded 7,000 black flag soldiers from Guangdong and Guangxi around Tonkin.

Liu Yongfu and Francis Garnier

In 1873 the Vietnamese government enlisted the help of Liu's Black Flag Army to defeat the first French attempt to conquer Tonkin, led by the naval lieutenant Francis Garnier. On 21 December 1873 Liu Yongfu and around 600 Black Flags, marching beneath an enormous black banner, approached the west gate of Hanoi. A large Vietnamese army followed in their wake. Garnier began shelling the Black Flags with a field piece mounted above the gate, and when they began to fall back led a party of 18 French marine infantrymen out of the city to chase them away. The attack failed. Garnier, leading three men uphill in a bayonet attack on a party of Black Flags, was speared to death by several Black Flag soldiers after stumbling in a watercourse. The youthful enseigne de vaisseau Adrien-Paul Balny d』Avricourt led an equally small column out of the citadel to support Garnier, but he also died leading his men. Three French soldiers also were killed in these sorties, and the others fled back to the citadel after their officers fell. Garnier's death ended the first French adventure in Tonkin.

Liu Yongfu and Henri Rivière

In April 1882 the French naval captain Henri Rivière captured the citadel of Hanoi, again disclosing French colonial ambitions in Tonkin and alarming the Vietnamese and Chinese governments. In April 1883, in the wake of Rivière's capture of Nam Dinh (27 March), the Chinese and Vietnamese were again able to enlist the support of Liu Yongfu and the Black Flag Army against the French in Tonkin.

On 10 May 1883 Liu Yongfu challenged the French to battle in a taunting message widely placarded on the walls of Hanoi:

The valiant warrior Liu, general and military governor of the three provinces, has decided to wage war. He makes this proclamation to the French bandits: Everyone knows you are thieves. Other nations despise you. Whenever you come to a country, you claim that you have come to preach the faith, but you really wish to stir up the inhabitants with false rumours. You claim that you have come to trade, but in fact you are plotting to take over the country.

You act like wild animals. You are as fierce as tigers and wolves. Ever since you came to Vietnam, you have seized cities and killed governors. Your crimes are as numerous as the hairs on the head. You have taken over the customs and seized the revenues. This crime deserves death. The inhabitants have been reduced to misery, and the country is nearly ruined. God and man both loathe you. Heaven and earth both reject you. I have now been ordered to wage war. My three armies are massed like clouds. My rifles and cannon are as many as the trees of the forest. We are eager to attack you in your devil』s den and to suppress all disloyal subjects. But the country』s welfare weighs heavily with me. I cannot bear to turn Hanoi into a battlefield, in case I ruin its merchants and people. So I am first making this proclamation: You French bandits, if you think you are strong enough, send your rabble of soldiers to Phu Hoai to fight in the open field with my tiger warriors, and then we will see who is the strongest.

If you are afraid to come, cut off the heads of your chief men and present them to me. Then give back the cities you have taken. I am a merciful commander, and I will let you miserable ants live. But if you delay, my army will take your city and kill you all, and not even a blade of grass will mark where you stood. You must choose between happiness and disaster. Life is but a step away from death. Mark my words well.

«雄威大将军兼署三宣提督刘，为悬示决战事，照你法匪，素称巨寇，为国所耻。每到他国，假称传道，实则蛊惑村愚，淫慾纵横。借名通商，实则阴谋土地。行则譬 如禽兽，心则竟似虎狼。自抵越南，陷城戕官，罪难了发，占关夺税，恶不胜诛。以致民不聊生，国几穷窘，神民共怒，天地难容。本将军奉命讨贼，三军云集，枪 炮如林，直讨尔鬼祟，扫清醜類。第国家之大事，不忍以河内而作战场，唯恐波及于商民，为此先行悬示。尔法匪既称本领，率乌合之众，与我虎旅之师在怀德府属 旷野之地以作战场，两军相对，以决雌雄。倘尔畏惧不来，即宜自斩尔等统辖之首递来献纳，退还各处城池，本将军好生之德，留你蚊虫。倘若迟疑不决，一旦兵临 城下，寸草不留，祸福尤关，死生在即，尔等熟思之。切切特示！»

The French had no option but to respond to so stark a challenge. On 19 May Rivière marched out of Hanoi to attack the Black Flags. His small force (around 450 men) advanced without proper precautions, and blundered into a well-prepared Black Flag ambush at Paper Bridge (Pont de Papier), a few miles to the west of Hanoi. In the Battle of Paper Bridge the French were enveloped on both wings, and were only with difficulty able to regroup and fall back to Hanoi. Like Francis Garnier ten years earlier, Rivière was killed in the battle. Liu had now taken the scalps of two French naval commanders in remarkably similar circumstances.

Sơn Tây, Bắc Ninh and Hưng Hóa

Liu began an unconventional campaign against the French, with success. Liu fought two further actions against the French in the autumn of 1883, the Battle of Phủ Hoài (15 August 1883) and the Battle of Palan (1 September 1883). The Black Flag Army was mauled in both these battles, but was not seriously damaged as a fighting force. In December 1883, however, Liu Yongfu suffered a major defeat at the hands of Admiral Amédée Courbet in the Sơn Tây Campaign. Despite fighting with fanatical courage in the engagements at Phu Sa on 14 December and Sơn Tây on 16 December, the Black Flags were unable to prevent the French from storming Sơn Tây. Although there were also Chinese and Vietnamese contingents at Son Tay, the Black Flag Army bore the brunt of the fighting, and took very heavy casualties.

Angered that his Chinese and Vietnamese allies had done little to support the Black Flag Army at Son Tay, Liu stood on the sidelines during the Bắc Ninh Campaign (March 1884). After the French capture of Bắc Ninh, Liu retreated with the Black Flag Army to Hưng Hóa. In April 1884 the French advanced on Hưng Hóa with both brigades of the Tonkin Expeditionary Corps. The Black Flags had thrown up an impressive series of fortifications around the town, but General Charles-Théodore Millot, the French commander-in-chief, took it without a single French casualty. While General François de Négrier's 2nd Brigade pinned the Black Flags frontally and subjected Hung Hoa to a ferocious artillery bombardment from the Trung Xa heights, General Louis Brière de l'Isle's 1st Brigade made a flank march to the west to cut Liu's line of retreat. On the evening of 11 April, seeing Brière de l'Isle's Turcos and marine infantry emerging behind their flank at Xuan Dong, the Black Flags evacuated Hưng Hóa before they were trapped inside it. They set alight the remaining buildings before they left, and on the following morning the French found the town completely abandoned.

Liu now fell back up the Red River to Thanh Quan, only a few days march from the frontier town of Lào Cai. He was now in a position to retreat into China if the French pursued him. Several hundred Black Flag soldiers, demoralised by the ease with which Courbet and Millot had defeated the Black Flag Army, surrendered to the French in the summer of 1884. One of Millot's final achievements was to advance up the Clear River and throw the Black Flag Army out of Tuyên Quang in the first week of June, again without a single French casualty. If the French had seriously pursued Liu Yongfu after the capture of Tuyên Quang, the Black Flags would probably have been driven from Tonkin there and then. But French attention was diverted by the sudden crisis with China provoked by the Bắc Lệ ambush (23 June 1884), and during the eventful summer of 1884 the Black Flags were left to lick their wounds.

Tuyên Quang and Hòa Mộc

Liu's fortunes were transformed by the outbreak of the Sino-French War in August 1884. The Empress Dowager Cixi responded to the news of the destruction of China's Fujian Fleet at the Battle of Fuzhou (23 August 1884) by ordering her generals to invade Tonkin to throw the French out of Hanoi. Tang Jingsong, the commander of the Yunnan Army, knew that Liu's services would be invaluable in the war with France. Although Liu had bitter memories of his previous service as an ally of China, he respected Tang (the only Chinese commander to have contributed troops to the defence of Sơn Tây), and agreed to take part with the Black Flag Army in the forthcoming campaign. Appointed a divisional general in the Yunnan Army, Liu helped the Chinese forces put pressure on Hưng Hóa and the isolated French posts of Phu Doan and Tuyên Quang during the autumn of 1884. In the winter and spring of 1885 he commanded 3,000 soldiers of the Black Flag Army during the Siege of Tuyên Quang. At the Battle of Hòa Mộc (2 March 1885), the Black Flag Army inflicted heavy casualties on a French column marching to the relief of Tuyên Quang.

One of the conditions of the peace treaty between France and China that ended the Sino-French War was that Liu Yongfu and the Black Flag Army should leave Tonkin. By the end of the war Liu had only around 2,000 troops under his command and was in no position to resist pressure from Tang Jingsong and the other commanders of the Yunnan Army to remove the Black Flag Army. Liu crossed into China with some of his most loyal followers, but the bulk of the Black Flag Army was disbanded on Tonkinese soil in the summer of 1885. Unpaid for months and still in possession of their rifles, most of the unwanted Black Flag soldiers immediately took to banditry. It took months for the French to reduce them, and the route between Hung Hoa and the border town of Lào Cai was only secured in February 1886. Meanwhile, the Qing government rewarded Liu Yongfu for his services in the Sino-French War with a minor military appointment in Guangdong province.

Liu's Black Flag forces continued to harass and fight the French in Tonkin after the end of the Sino-French War.

Defence of the Democratic Republic of Formosa

In 1895, under the Treaty of Shimonoseki which ended the First Sino-Japanese War, Taiwan was ceded by China to Japan. The Taiwanese attempted to resist the Japanese occupation, and a short-lived Democratic Republic of Formosa was declared by the Chinese governor Tang Jingsong on 25 May 1895. Tang became president of the new republic, and Liu Yongfu was made a brigadier general and given command of resistance forces in southern Taiwan. Ten days after declaring independence Tang Jingsong fled to Mainland China, and Liu replaced him as head of government (though he did not, as is often claimed, succeed to the presidency). At the end of May 1895 Japanese forces landed near Keelung, on the northern coast of Taiwan, and proceeded to conquer the island. Between June and August the Japanese defeated the Formosan forces in northern and central Taiwan, and in October 1895 three Japanese columns advanced on Tainan, sweeping aside Liu's forces. On 20 October 1895 Liu fled to the mainland aboard the British-flagged merchant ship SS Thales with the Japanese cruiser in close pursuit. Yaeyama caught Thales in international waters outside of Amoy, but her boarding party was unable to apprehend Liu, who was disguised as a coolie. The incident provoked a diplomatic protest from the United Kingdom and resulted in an official apology by the Japanese government. On 21 October Tainan capitulated to the Japanese. The collapse of Formosan resistance inaugurated five decades of Japanese rule in Taiwan.

Final years

Liu Yongfu outlived the Qing dynasty and survived into the second decade of the twentieth century, his reputation growing with the passing years:

He continued until the closing years of the dynasty in the employment of the Kwangtung provincial administration, and is said to have been a notable suppressor of bandits and a pacifier of clan feuds, those twin curses of the south China countryside. The advent of the Republic in 1912 found him in retirement, listening with interest to the news of public affairs as others related it to him from the papers, for he himself never learned to read. Most of the time, though, his mind dwelt in the past. He would take out Garnier』s watch and show the picture of the young wife inside the cover. He would tell of his challenge to Rivière and describe the battle at Paper Bridge. But he soon wearied of the incomprehensible foreign devils, and turned instead to what for him had been beyond comparison the most serious business of his life. The talk would then be all of the Black and Yellow Flags, and of the long years of feuds and hatreds in the steaming malarial jungle and on the silent reaches of the great river. His published memoirs, for his reminiscences were reverently taken down in writing, have as their main theme the story of this interminable vendetta between expatriate Chinese. But when he died, in January 1917, it was as the scourge of a foreign enemy, the hero whose achievements were nullified by the cowardice of his own government, that he was mourned by his countrymen, and that is the way they still remember him.

Legacy

The Yongfu Road and Yongfu Elementary School in West Central District, Tainan City, Taiwan, are named after Liu Yongfu.

生平

山賊時期

根據《清史稿》的記載，劉永福原名劉義，8歲時隨父流浪到廣西上思縣平福鄉，給人當佣工。少有大志，為人俠義有膽略。1857年，劉永福投奔上思縣反清組織三合會（又稱洪兵）首領鄭三的麾下。後至新寧州（今扶綏縣），投奔吳凌雲，在吳凌雲長子吳亞終（又名吳鯤）麾下擔任副帥。吳凌雲戰敗被殺後，于同治二年（1863年）六月，自逐卜入下雷州的化峒，投王士林部。同治四年（1865年）正月，左江和右江皆為天地會勢力所據，各路勢力共推吳亞終為首領、小張三為副首領。劉永福被封為左翼大帥，率領二百餘人據守安德，同據守郎家圩的吳亞終、黃崇英互相呼應。劉永福的部眾以黑底北斗七星為旗號，這就是黑旗軍的前身。不久，清廣西提督馮子才率軍討伐，劉永福軍糧幾絕，自廣西波斗逃入越南的茶靈，又禮安圩和高平圩。後吳亞終亦自歸順州（今廣西靖西市）逃入越南北部。吳亞終隨後向越南阮朝投降，獲得嗣德帝阮福時的允許。然而不久之後，吳亞終便舉兵反叛阮朝。

1868年，劉永福攻盤踞陸安州的盤文二（一作盤文義），聯合其部將覃採元以計殺之。後又攻滅盤踞興化省水尾縣保勝（今屬老街省）一帶的廣東土匪何均昌，佔領了其地盤。劉永福便以保勝為根據地，將部眾更名為中和團黑旗軍，在此處開山設寨、闢田屯兵，並逐漸兼併周圍的中國山賊勢力。

1870年，吳亞終在攻打北寧省城的時候，被越南的剿撫使擊斃。其部眾分裂為三支，分別是劉永福的黑旗軍、黃崇英的黃旗軍和梁文利的白旗軍。

而吳亞終的外甥黃崇英則盤踞河江一帶，與黑旗軍同為這一帶的兩大山賊勢力。黑旗軍和黃旗軍在宣光、太原一帶爭奪地盤，並在各自轄境之內徵收賦稅。而當時越南北部山賊和叛軍林立，阮朝根本無法制之。嗣德帝派段壽為總督北圻軍務，赴諒山指揮鎮壓，但不久遭到另一路起義軍首領蘇泗（蘇國漢）擒殺。嗣德帝在無奈之下派遣駙馬黃繼炎為諒平寧太統督軍務大臣，會同山西贊襄尊室說前去鎮壓。黃繼炎採取分化策略，拉攏招安劉永福，劉永福便向阮朝上表投降。嗣德帝接受了黃繼炎的建議，允許劉永福的黑旗軍繼續據守保勝之地，以抵禦盤踞在河江地區的黃旗軍。

參與越南抗法戰鬥

當時，法國已經佔領了越南的南圻。法國將其作為在東南亞的一個殖民據點。法國商人逆湄公河而上，將武器販賣給中國雲南的官員，還參與了販賣私鹽的活動。這引起越南的不滿，並與法國殖民者發生爭執。1873年，南圻總督馬里·儒勒·杜白蕾（越南稱作「游悲黎」）少將派安鄴大尉前去北圻，聲稱要處理此事。然而，安鄴突襲並攻佔了河內，是為北圻變故。嗣德帝派陳廷肅、阮仲合、張嘉會去河內談判，又派黎峻、阮文祥去西貢抗議。另一方面，令黃繼炎率軍至山西防禦。嗣德帝又封劉永福為三宣副提督，轄宣光、興化、山西三省，設局於保勝，榷釐稅助餉，令其率黑旗軍支持官軍。劉永福進兵至懷德府，趁安鄴與陳廷肅談判之際突襲河內。安鄴領兵追擊，至紙橋中伏，被黑旗軍擊斃。1878年，劉永福之父病逝，嗣德帝曾發給劉永福之父誥封文書，追贈中順大夫，翰林院侍讀學士的官職，以表彰劉永福的作戰功績。

1881年底，因法國商人前往雲南貿易的途中受到越北中國山賊的阻攔，法國要求越南鎮壓這些山賊，但越南沒有同意。1882年，法國殖民者以保護法國商人為由，派李威利上校發起北圻遠征，攻破河內，並佔領紅河沿岸的一些城池。李威利要求越南接受法國保護。越南群臣激憤，紛紛聲稱「我國內有劉永福，外有中國，為何束手就擒忍辱接受」。嗣德帝一面派戶部尚書范慎遹向清朝求救，一面以黃繼炎為節制，命令官軍和黑旗軍攻打法軍。清軍應越南的請求入駐越南協防，清將唐景崧對劉永福說：「越為法逼，亡在旦夕，誠因保勝傳檄而定諸省，請命中國，假以名義，事成則王，此上策也；次則提全師擊河內，驅法人，中國必助之餉，此中策也；如坐守保勝，事敗而投中國，此下策也。」劉永福答稱：「微力不足當上策，中策勉為之。」

黃繼炎以劉永福為先鋒，率黑旗軍駐紮懷德府。李威利派兵攻佔南定，在返回河內途中得知此事，率軍攻打懷德府，在紙橋遭黑旗軍伏擊，大敗被殺。1883年，嗣德帝以其戰功顯著，任命他為三宣副提督，封英勇將軍，賜刻有「山西、興化、宣光副提督英勇將軍」字樣的印信一枚。後又封為三宣提督、義良男。

同年嗣德帝病逝，越南朝政悉歸於阮文祥、尊室說二人，先後廢黜育德帝、協和帝，改立建福帝，政局不穩。而此時法軍兵臨首都順化城下，阮朝不得已同法國媾和，承認接受法國的保護。時清朝軍隊已經進入越南北部支援阮朝，唐景崧駐軍山西省，徐延旭駐軍北寧省。劉永福的黑旗軍則駐軍於馮屯。

在岑毓英的奏請下，清軍雖對越北各地的土匪進行剿滅，唯獨留下了劉永福。同時，清廷任命劉永福為提督、賞戴花翎。歸順法國的阮朝順化朝廷命令越南官軍停止抵抗並返回順化，但越南官軍倚仗清軍和黑旗軍的勢力，無人遵循命令。黃繼炎、張光憻兩位統帥皆公然抗旨，而各地官員不欲投降者紛紛棄官，招募鄉勇抵抗法軍。少將召誘黃旗軍並與之結盟，共同抵抗黑旗軍。波滑親自攻打馮屯，黑旗軍在一番激戰之後主動撤退到山西，與唐景崧會合。12月，波滑的繼任者孤拔少將攻打山西，雙方激戰六天。此戰甚為慘烈，雙方都傷亡慘重。但最後因為法軍槍炮過於兇猛，而黑旗軍被迫撤離山西，逃回興化。尼格里少將率法軍追擊，清軍與黑旗軍見法軍強大，燒毀興化省城，又放棄宣光省城，撤往紅河上游。

1884年5月11日，法國同清朝簽訂《第二次順化條約》，承認越南為法國的保護國，並規定清朝從北圻立即撤軍。然而，觀音橋的軍事衝突使中法雙方關係再度緊張。8月，中法戰爭爆發。1885年正月初八，尼格里率軍攻打鎮南關，清軍與黑旗軍乘虛圍攻宣光城。吉奧瓦內尼勒上校（Giovanninelle）率法軍救援，將黑旗軍擊退。二月，馮子才率清軍在鎮南關大破法軍，黑旗軍與清軍隨後乘勝攻下諒山，並收復興化，並在臨洮大破法軍。1885年6月9日，清朝與法國簽訂《中法新約》，清朝放棄對越南的宗主權，將清軍撤回鎮南關內。張之洞命令劉永福撤離越南、駐防思州和欽州，但遭到劉永福的拒絕。唐景崧危詞脅之，劉永福才被迫率黑旗軍兩千人撤離越南回國。但仍有一千名黑旗軍官兵拒絕回國，由梁三奇率領，滯留越南北部繼續與法國對抗。

1891年（光緒十七年）在欽州營建公館，命名為「三宣堂」，以紀念劉永福援越抗法的光榮歷史

歸國後

劉永福歸國後，回到廣東，被授予南澳鎮總兵職務。清廷對黑旗軍頗為猜忌，不斷削減黑旗軍人數、減少武裝實力，最後只剩下三四百名老兵跟隨劉永福，其餘全部遣散回鄉。

在台灣

甲午戰爭爆發之後，劉永福於光緒二十年（1894年）被清廷調往臺灣協防，並重新招募黑旗軍。劉永福至台灣後，與巡撫唐景崧不睦，唐景崧命其鎮守台南，自己則鎮守台北。

《馬關條約》簽訂後，臺灣被割讓給日本。清廷令唐景崧等駐台官員都棄島內渡，但台灣仍有不少漢人拒絕向日本投降。台北士紳丘逢甲擁立巡撫唐景崧為臺灣民主國大總統，並以劉永福為大將軍。

光緒二十一年（1895年）5月29日，日軍在澳底登陸，乙未戰爭爆發。6月4日，唐景崧棄職逃往廈門。駐紮在臺南府的劉永福得知後，於6月26日自立為大總統，設立議會，發行鈔票以籌軍餉。清廷封鎖大陸與臺灣的交通，斷絕一切往來。劉永福派謝維岳向張之洞等人求援，均未獲支持；又派遣總統特使告急並致電中國沿海督撫乞助餉銀，也無人接應。10月18日，日軍兵臨台南城下，劉永福於布袋嘴與乃木希典軍隊交戰失利，寫信求和，遭到拒絕。10月20日，劉永福率20名隨從離開台南城，至安平港，變裝隱匿於中國籍戎克船船艙內，翌日改乘英國籍商船「塞里斯輪」（Thales），計劃內渡廈門。然而，「塞里斯輪」在距離廈門港15海哩上遭日本海軍巡洋艦「八重山艦」攔截並登船搜查。日軍發現劉永福，欲以「叛亂嫌疑犯」為由將其帶走，「塞里斯輪」船長當即以「不合國際公法」為由拒絕。此事件即1895年台海登船臨檢事件。10月23日，在英國駐日公使的抗議之下，日本軍艦方才放行，劉永福得以回到廈門。

棄台內渡之後

光緒二十八年（1902年），劉永福任廣東碣石鎮總兵。

1911年辛亥革命後，以七十二歲高齡，被推為廣東民團總長，後告老回家。

民國四年（1915年），日本向袁世凱提出二十一條，劉永福要求重上戰場遭拒。

民國六年（1917年）1月，病卒于家中。

評價

《清史稿·劉永福傳》：「永福骨瘦柴立，而膽氣過人，重信愛士，故所部皆盡死力云。」

一般觀點認為劉永福在對中國大陸和台灣的防衛上有其正面意義，因此在中國大陸和台灣都在不同層面上保持著對劉永福的紀念。然而，也有人認為劉永福招募廣勇來台誓死抗日，卻在日軍兵臨城下時和台北的唐景崧一樣潛逃，留下一片驚恐混亂。曾分別發降書給當時的日本台灣總督樺山資紀與北白川宮能久親王，告知欲抗日者只有台灣人，望能返回唐山，全遭拒。最後逃至英國籍的輪船返回唐山。

孫中山則稱「余自小即欽慕我國民族英雄黑旗劉永福！」

傳說

相傳清末武林高手黃飛鴻先後被提督吳全美、黑旗軍首領劉永福等聘為軍中技擊教練。

紀念

在廣西自治區欽州市劉永福舊居，建有三宣堂，以紀念劉永福，內設有展館，展品包括《中法戰爭歷史文物展覽》，清光緒帝及越南嗣德帝贈劉永福父親的誥封碑，鎮南關大戰捷報等等。

廣東省廣州市有劉永福親建的劉氏家廟，現已成為省級文物保護單位。此外廣州市還有永福村和永福路以紀念劉永福。廣州市華南理工大學五山校區的部分校園為黑旗軍原駐地，校內有劉永福營盤碉堡遺址及為紀念劉永福建造的劉義亭。

在臺灣，紀念劉永福的事蹟在各地亦很常見，例如在臺南市中西區的永福路、永福國小均以劉永福之名命名。

劉永福抗日時所發布的檄文，用「臺灣民主國」名義印行的郵票等，已成為稀世的歷史文獻，現收藏在臺北市國立臺灣博物館。

相關影視

• 《大將軍》，1982年香港麗的電視製作，以黑旗軍為主題，劉永福由鄭雷飾演，但此劇的主角是何家勁飾演的王守忠。

• 《台灣1895》，中國中央電視台製作，從中法戰爭到台灣割讓的歷史悲歌。

• 《乙未》系列電影

　• 《乙未之風雨摧城》

　• 《乙未之臺島遺恨》