It Must Be Remembered
That These Were Not Chinese, But Manchu Tartars Of The Dominant Race.
The losses of the English army at this battle - 40 killed, and 130 wounded
- were heavy, and they were increased by several deaths caused by the heat
and exhaustion of the day.
The Chinese, or rather the Tartars, never
fought better, and it appears from a document discovered afterward that if
Hailing's recommendations had been followed, and if he had been properly
supported, the capture of Chinkiangfoo would have been even more difficult
and costly than it proved.
Some delay at Chinkiangfoo was rendered necessary by the exhaustion of the
troops and by the number of sick and wounded; but a week after the capture
of that place in the manner described the arrangements for the further
advance on Nankin were completed. A small garrison was left in an
encampment on a height commanding the entrance to the Canal; but there was
little reason to apprehend any fresh attack, as the lesson of Chinkiangfoo
had been a terrible one. That city lay beneath the English camp like a
vast charnel house, its half-burned buildings filled with the self-
immolated Tartars who had preferred honor to life; and so thickly strewn
were these and so intense the heat that the days passed away without the
ability to give them burial, until at last it became absolutely impossible
to render the last kind office to a gallant foe. Despite the greatest
precautions of the English authorities, Chinkiangfoo became the source of
pestilence, and an outbreak of cholera caused more serious loss in the
English camp than befell the main force intrusted with the capture of
Nankin.
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