Taitsan Was Thus Captured, And The
Three Previous Disasters Before It Retrieved.
On May 4 the victorious force appeared before Quinsan, a place of
considerable strength and possessing a formidable artillery directed by a
European.
The town was evidently too strong to be carried by an immediate
attack, and Major Gordon's movements were further hampered by the conduct
of his own men, who, upon their arrival at Quinsan, hurried off in
detachments to Sunkiang for the purpose of disposing of their spoil.
Ammunition had also fallen short, and the commander was consequently
obliged to return to refit and to rally his men. At Sunkiang worse
confusion followed, for the men, or rather the officers, broke out into
mutiny on the occasion of Major Gordon appointing an English officer with
the rank of lieutenant-colonel to the control of the commissariat, which
had been completely neglected. The men who had served with Ward and
Burgevine objected to this, and openly refused to obey orders. Fortunately
the stores and ammunition were collected, and Major Gordon announced that
he would march on the following morning, with or without the mutineers.
Those who did not answer to their names at the end of the first half-march
would be dismissed, and he spoke with the authority of one in complete
accord with the Chinese authorities themselves. The soldiers obeyed him as
a Chinese official, because he had been made a tsungping or brigadier-
general, and the officers feared to disobey him as they would have liked
on account of his commanding the source whence they were paid.
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