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| == The Assault on Quinsan ==
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| "On May 4 the victorious force appeared before Quinsan, a place of
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| considerable strength and possessing a formidable artillery directed by a
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| European. The town was evidently too strong to be carried by an immediate
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| attack, and Major Gordon's movements were further hampered by the conduct
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| of his own men, who, upon their arrival at Quinsan, hurried off in
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| detachments to Sunkiang for the purpose of disposing of their spoil.
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| Ammunition had also fallen short, and the commander was consequently
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| obliged to return to refit and to rally his men. At Sunkiang worse
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| confusion followed, for the men, or rather the officers, broke out into
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| mutiny on the occasion of Major Gordon appointing an English officer with
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| the rank of lieutenant-colonel to the control of the commissariat, which
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| had been completely neglected. The men who had served with Ward and
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| Burgevine objected to this, and openly refused to obey orders. Fortunately
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| the stores and ammunition were collected, and Major Gordon announced that
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| he would march on the following morning, with or without the mutineers.
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| Those who did not answer to their names at the end of the first half-march
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| would be dismissed, and he spoke with the authority of one in complete
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| accord with the Chinese authorities themselves. The soldiers obeyed him as
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| a Chinese official, because he had been made a tsungping or brigadier-
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| general, and the officers feared to disobey him as they would have liked
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| on account of his commanding the source whence they were paid. The
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| mutineers fell in, and a force of nearly 3,000 men, well-equipped and
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| anxious for the fray, returned to Quinsan, where General Ching had, in the
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| meanwhile, kept the rebels closely watched from a strong position defended
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| by several stockades and supported by the "Hyson" steamer. Immediately
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| after his arrival, Major Gordon moved out his force to attack the
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| stockades which the rebels had constructed on their right wing. These were
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| strongly built; but as soon as the defenders perceived that the assailants
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| had gained their flank they precipitately withdrew into Quinsan itself.
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| General Ching wished the attack to be made on the eastern gate, opposite
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| to which he had raised his own intrenchments, and by which he had
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| announced his intention of forcing his way; but a brief inspection showed
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| Major Gordon that that was the strongest point of the town, and that a
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| direct attack upon it could only succeed, if at all, by a very
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| considerable sacrifice of men. Like a prudent commander Major Gordon
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| determined to reconnoiter; and, after much grumbling on the part of
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| General Ching, he decided that the most hopeful plan was to carry some
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| stockades situated seven miles west of the town, and thence assail Quinsan
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| on the Soochow side, which was weaker than the others. These stockades
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| were at a village called Chumze. On May 30 the force detailed for this
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| work proceeded to carry it out. The "Hyson" and fifty imperial gunboats
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| conveyed the land force, which consisted of one regiment, some guns, and a
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| large body of imperialists. The rebels at Chumze offered hardly the least
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| resistance; whether it was that they were dismayed at the sudden
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| appearance of the enemy, or, as was stated at the time, because they
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| considered themselves ill-treated by their comrades in Quinsan. The
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| "Hyson" vigorously pursued those who fled toward Soochow, and completed
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| the effect of this success by the capture of a very strong and well-built
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| fort covering a bridge at Ta Edin. An imperialist garrison was installed
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| there, and the "Hyson" continued the pursuit to within a mile of Soochow
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| itself.
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|
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| The defenders of Quinsan itself were terribly alarmed at the cutting off
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| of their communications. They saw themselves on the point of being
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| surrounded, and they yielded to the uncontrollable impulse of panic.
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| During the night, after having suffered severely from the "Hyson" fire,
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| the garrison evacuated the place, which might easily have held out; and
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| General Ching had the personal satisfaction, on learning from some
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| deserters of the flight of the garrison, of leading his men over the
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| eastern walls which he had wished to assault. The importance of Quinsan
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| was realized on its capture. Major Gordon pronounced it to be the key of
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| Soochow, and at once resolved to establish his headquarters there, partly
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| because of its natural advantages, but also and not less on account of its
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| enabling him to gradually destroy the evil associations which the men had
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| contracted at Sunkiang."<br>[http://forum.kungfumagazine.com/forum/showthread.php?p=841498 Post from Kung Fu Forum]
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| == External Links == | | == External Links == |
| [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taiping_Rebellion Taiping Rebellion] Wikipedia<br> | | *[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taiping_Rebellion Taiping Rebellion] Wikipedia<br> |
| [http://www.oxforddnb.com/index/101011029/ Charles George Gordon] Dictionary of National Biography | | *[https://archive.org/stream/historychina02boulgoog#page/n405/mode/2up Description of Assault on Quinsan] from end P387 ''The History of China Volume 2'' by Charles Boulger (pub 1898) |
| | *[http://www.oxforddnb.com/index/101011029/ Charles George Gordon] Dictionary of National Biography |