The righteous army at Yesan, Chungnam had the same way of doing activities consistently in line with the Hongju righteous army which was a symbol of Chungnam righteous army unit. It was one of the conspicuous characteristics in the history of the righteous army at Yesan that the force of the righteous army at Yesan had close ties with Hongju righteous army from the former period of the year 1896 until the middle period of the year 1906.
The righteous army at Yesan took on an aspect of being assembled to Hongju righteous army. As a result, the first Hongju righteous army, which is considered to be the origin of Hongju righteous army, was raised at Gwangsi-myeon, Yesan-gun around March, 1906. After Hongju castle fell to the enemy on May 31, 1906, Yesan district became a center when Hongju righteous formulated the plan for a comeback fighting. In other words, Yesan is the source and also the place for ending Hongju righteous army.
According to the integrated plan for the righteous army forces of Samnam district covering Chungchenong-do, Jeonla-do, and Gyeongsang-do which was conceived by Choi, Ik-hyeon-one of the principal leaders of the righteous army, Hongju righteous army in Chungcheong-do and Taein righteous army in Jeonla-do were mobilized and the persons in charge of liaison between Hoseo righteous army and Honam righteous army were Nam, Kyu-jin at Yesan and Kwak, Han-il at Asan.
The fact that Nam, Kyu-jin and Kwak, Han-il were active as central figures from beginning to end at Hongju righteous camp led by Min, Jong-sik can be construed as the result from the fact the two persons had Choi, Ik-hyeon at their back.
Lee, Nam-kyu, who was the supreme leader of Yesan righteous army, formed Hongju righteous army by mustering the anti-Japanes forces in Chungnam together with both Choi, Ik-hyeon and Min, Jong-sik and further backed up the anti-Japanese struggle. Particularly, in the process of staging a counter attack after the collapse of Hongju righteous army, Lee, Nam-kyu aggressively backed up the activities of Lee, Yong-kyu and Min, Jong-sik centering on Yesan, which eventuated in Lee, Kyu-nam and his son"s martyrdom. In other words, Yesan was a base of the counter attack of Hongju righteous army, and Lee, Nam-kyu was at the center of the struggle.
In short, the most noticeable characteristic of the righteous army at Yesan is that it was concentrated on the mid-period righteous army which was raised in 1906 after the compulsory Protectorate Treaty between Korea and Japan in 1905, and it staged a joint anti-Japanese war while having close ties organically with the anti-Japanese forces at Cheongyang, Asan, and Hongseong, etc.