However, They Did
Not Act As Prudence Would Have Dictated, And During The Whole Of February
Their Raids Continued Round Shanghai.
The suburbs suffered from their
attacks, the foreign factories and boats were not secure, and several
outrages on the persons of foreigners remained unatoned for.
It was
impossible to tolerate any longer their enormities. The English and French
commanders came to the determination to attack the rebels, to enforce the
original agreement with Tien Wang, and to clear the country round Shanghai
of the presence of the Taepings for the space of thirty miles.
On February 21, therefore, a joint force composed of 336 English sailors
and marines, 160 French seamen, and 600 men from Ward's contingent,
accompanied by their respective commanders, with Admiral Hope in chief
charge, advanced upon the village of Kachiaou, where the Taepings had
strengthened their position and placed guns on the walls. After a sharp
engagement the place was stormed, Ward's men leading the attack with
Burgevine at their head. The drilled Chinese behaved with great
steadiness, but the Taepings were not to be dismayed by a single defeat.
They even resumed their attacks on the Europeans. On one occasion Admiral
Hope himself was compelled to retire before their superior numbers, and to
summon fresh troops to his assistance. The re-enforcements consisted of
450 Europeans and 700 of Ward's force, besides seven howitzers. With these
it was determined to attack Tseedong, a place of great strength,
surrounded by stone walls and ditches seven feet deep. The Taepings stood
to their guns with great spirit, receiving the advancing troops with a
very heavy fire. When, however, Ward's contingent, making a detour,
appeared in the rear of the place, they hastily evacuated their positions;
but the English sailors had carried the walls, and, caught between two
fires, they offered a stubborn but futile resistance. More than 700 were
killed and 300 were taken prisoners. The favorable opinion formed of "the
Ever-Victorious Army" by the action at Kachiaou was confirmed by the more
serious affair at Tseedong; and Mr. Bruce at Pekin brought it under the
favorable notice of Prince Kung and the Chinese government. Having taken
these hostile steps against the rebels, it necessarily followed that no
advantage would accrue from any further hesitation with regard to allowing
Europeans to enter the imperial service for the purpose of opposing them.
Ward was officially recognized, and allowed to purchase weapons and to
engage officers. An Englishman contracted to convey 9,000 of the troops
who had stormed Ganking from the Yangtse to Shanghai. These men were Honan
braves, who had seen considerable service in the interior of China, and it
was proposed that they should garrison the towns of Kiangsu accordingly as
they were taken from the rebels. The arrival of General Staveley from
Tientsin at the end of March, with portions of two English regiments (the
31st and 67th), put a new face on affairs, and showed that the time was at
hand when it would be possible to carry out the threat of clearing the
country round Shanghai for the space of thirty miles.
The first place to be attacked toward the realization of this plan was the
village of Wongkadza, about twelve miles west of Shanghai. Here the
Taepings offered only a brief resistance, retiring to some stronger
stockades four miles further west. General Staveley, considering that his
men had done enough work for that day, halted them, intending to renew the
attack the next morning. Unfortunately Ward was carried away by his
impetuosity, and attacked this inner position with some 500 of his own
men. Admiral Hope accompanied him. The Taepings met them with a tremendous
fire, and after several attempts to scale the works they were repulsed
with heavy loss. Admiral Hope was wounded in the leg, seven officers were
wounded, and seventy men killed and wounded. The attack was repeated in
force on the following day, and after some fighting the Taepings evacuated
their stockades. The next place attacked was the village of Tsipoo; and,
notwithstanding their strong earthworks and three wide ditches, the rebels
were driven out in a few hours. It was then determined to attack Kahding,
Tsingpu, Nanjao, and Cholin, at which places the Taepings were known to
have mustered in considerable strength.
The first place was taken with little resistance, and its capture was
followed by preparations for the attack on Tsingpu, which were hastened
rather than delayed by a desperate attempt to set fire to Shanghai. The
plot was fortunately discovered in time, and the culprits captured and
summarily executed to the number of two hundred. Early in May a strong
force was assembled at Sunkiang, and proceeded by boat, on account of the
difficulties of locomotion, to Tsingpu. The fire of the guns, in which the
expedition was exceptionally strong, proved most destructive, and two
breaches being pronounced practicable the place was carried by assault.
The rebels fought well and up to the last, when they found flight
impossible. The Chinese troops slew every man found in the place with arms
in his hands. A few days later Nanjao was captured, but in the attack the
French commander, Admiral Protet, a gallant officer who had been to the
front during the whole of these operations, was shot dead. The rebels,
disheartened by these successive defeats, rallied at Cholin, where they
prepared to make a final stand. The allied force attacked Cholin on May
20, and an English detachment carried it almost at the point of the
bayonet. With this achievement the operations of the English troops came
for the moment to an end, for a disaster to the imperial arms in their
rear necessitated their turning their attention to a different quarter.
The troops summoned from Ganking had at last arrived to the number of five
or six thousand men; and the Futai Sieh, who was on the point of being
superseded to make room for Li Hung Chang, thought to employ them before
his departure on some enterprise which should redound to his credit and
restore his sinking fortunes.
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Page 138 of 188
Words from 139705 to 140721
of 191255
