Rallied by their officers, the division of stormers again returned to the assault, only, however, to be met with equal determination by the Ti-pings, who again successfully repulsed them.
General Gordon now placed his men under cover, inflicting heavy loss upon the defenders of the breach by pouring continual discharges of grape and canister shot into their dense ranks. For some time this artillery practice was resumed; a fresh storming party was then told off, and the breach again attacked with much bravery, and again defended with equal courage. The trained troops wavered and were nearly driven back a third time, but being reinforced by fresh men, rallied, and finally carried the breach. This, however, was not effected until the commandant of the city had been severely wounded, and a great proportion of his officers killed or disabled. The Ti-pings then gave way and escaped, carrying off many of their wounded, with their wives and children, through the gates at the other side of the town. The snake flags of Tsah, the commandant, remained in the breach until the summit was in possession of the enemy, when they were carried off in safety.
The Imperialists were assisted by the steamer Hyson in their attack upon Tait-san, which vessel caused no little alarm to the garrison by steaming along the creeks encircling the city, and throwing heavy shell among them, besides seriously menacing their line of retreat. Another great help to the besiegers consisted in the presence of the British corps de réserve, stationed at the village of Wy-con-sin close by, and which the Ti-pings fully expected would attack them should the disciplined Chinese be defeated.
The loss of the Anglo-Manchoo force upon this occasion was about two hundred; the Ti-pings, soldiery and civilians, killed in action, or afterwards caught by the Imperialists and cruelly put to death, cannot have been less than two thousand.
At Tait-san, as at Kah-ding, Tsing-poo, and every other city wrested from the Ti-pings either before or subsequently, the capture was followed by the perpetration of most revolting barbarities by the Imperial troops and Mandarins, whenever the attention of the British officers who assisted them to capture the places was withdrawn. General Gordon and the commanding officers of other contingents saved some of the Ti-ping prisoners who had been captured; but for the destruction of many thousands of innocent men, including country people, non-combatant inhabitants of the cities, and women and children, they are criminally responsible.
Upon the first capture of Kah-ding by the British forces, when General Staveley's humane disposition led him to station the Imperialist troops so as to intercept the flight of the garrison from his artillery fire, the following scenes were enacted, as appears by a letter from the Rev. Mr. Lobschied, published in the Hong Kong Daily Press of June 28th:—
"A small gate being the only issue through which the women and children could escape from their deliverers, they rushed upon the wall, and threw themselves down a great height, rather than fall into the hands of the combined forces. Those that were immediately killed were lucky enough; for they were saved from the sufferings that awaited the survivors. Whilst looting and killing was going on within the walls, until darkness threw her veil over the scenes of horror, several hundreds of men, women, and children, whose only crime was that of being citizens of Kah-ding when taken by the rebels, were lying outside the city walls with broken limbs, helpless, and parched with thirst. When morning arrived, a few gentlemen passed outside the wall through the narrow gate, in order to take a retrospect of the field of action. What did they see? The Imperialists, having become aware of the large number of sufferers outside the wall, had resorted thither long before the rising of the sun, were just stripping the poor people, and cutting off their heads, which they would take with them as trophies of their victory, when the two gentlemen (one of whom was an officer) happened to disturb them."
The unfortunate people above referred to were a portion of those massacred by the troops of the Chinese general Le, the same worthy who, when reporting to General Staveley his execution of the duties assigned him, offered to produce the left ears of 1,300 rebels.
At Tait-san similar atrocities were committed by the forces of Sing, the Manchoo commander. Hundreds of civilians were killed for the sake of their heads, and some prisoners were actually taken to the camp of the British corps de réserve, formed in conjunction with an Imperialist one, and there cruelly tortured to death. The execution of seven victims in particular is fully attested by Dr. Murtagh,[47] 22nd B. N. I.; other "eye-witnesses," including the Bishop of Victoria, have personally assured me of their positive knowledge as to this and other atrocities more revolting, and upon a more extensive scale, that have been inflicted upon Ti-pings captured by means of the British alliance with the Manchoo. The following is an extract from a letter published in most of the Shanghae papers, and vouched for as being true by Dr. Murtagh:—
EXTRACT FROM THE "NORTH CHINA HERALD" OF JUNE 13, 1863.
Treatment of Ti-ping Prisoners.
(To the Editor of the Daily Shipping and Commercial News.)