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These Times History Took a Turn for the Batty

Khalid Elhassan November 3, 2019 34 min

An artillery unit of the Ever Victorious Army. Emerging Civil War

32. The American Soldier of Fortune Who Set The Stage for Defeating the Taiping

The Taiping rebels repeatedly routed the imperial Chinese armies. When Taiping armies approached Shanghai in 1860, the city’s business community pooled resources to hire an American, Frederick Townsend Ward, to lead a mercenary force and protect the city. Officered by westerners who led Chinese rankers drilled in modern warfare, Ward’s force, which came to be known as the “Ever Victorious Army” (EVA), turned the tide. Although never exceeding 5000 men, the EVA’s well-trained mercenaries routed far bigger Taiping armies, and secured Shanghai.

The EVA then operated as a crack unit, spearheading the Manchu Dynasty’s counterattack, and helping the imperial forces recapture Taiping fortresses and strongholds along the Yangtze River. Ward did not see the final victory, as he was killed in battle in 1862. His army was then taken over by a British officer, Charles “Chinese” Gordon, who led the EVA until the Taiping were finally crushed in 1864.

Written by

Khalid Elhassan

A lifelong history buff, I developed a particular passion for WW2 history as a child, when I spent hours listening to my grandfather, enraptured, as he recounted his wartime experiences in the British East African Campaign and with the British 8th Army in North Africa.

I graduated with a history BA from George Mason University, then went on to get a JD from the University of Virginia School of Law. After lawyering for a decade, I moved to sunny Rio de Janeiro and a less demanding career, opening a tourism agency in Copacabana.

A big chunk of my free time is spent blogging (you can follow me on Quora https://www.quora.com/profile/Khalid-Elhassan ) or freelance writing, mostly about my favorite subject, history.