The ships and sailors of old Salem

by Ralph Delahaye Paine

“The death of General Ward deprived the Imperialists of an able leader. The career of this man had been a strange one, but his success in training his men was endorsed by honorable dealings with the mandarins who had reported well of him at Peking. He was buried at Sung Kiang, where a shrine was erected to his memory and incense is burned before him to this day.”

It was difficult to find a successor, and the command was entrusted to his second, an American named Burgevine, who was accepted by the Chinese, but proved to be incapable. He was superseded by Holland and Cooke, Englishmen, and in April, 1863, the entire command was placed under Colonel Peter Gordon of the British army.

“During the interval between May, 1860, when Ward took Sung Kiang, and April 6, 1863, when Gordon took Fushan, the best manner of combining native and foreign troops was gradually developed as they became more and more acquainted with each other and learned to respect discipline as an earnest of success. Such a motley force has seldom if ever been seen, and the enormous preponderance of Chinese troops would have perhaps been an element of danger had they been left idle for a long time. The bravery of the “Ever Victorious” force in the presence of the enemy had gradually won the confidence of the Allies, as well as the Chinese officials in whose pay it was; and when it operated in connection with the French and British contingent in driving the Tai-pings out of Ning Po prefecture, the real worth of Ward’s drill was made manifest.”

General Gordon won a far greater fame in China than Frederick Townsend Ward, but the Salem soldier of fortune might have done much bigger things than the inscrutable fates permitted if he had been suffered to live his allotted years. He was cut off in the flower of his youth, in the flush and glory of romantic success against the most desperate odds, and he had played the game of life astonishingly well.

Until death overtook Ward at thirty his career singularly paralleled that of “Chinese” Gordon. Gordon served as a lieutenant in the Crimean War before he was twenty; next acquitted himself most ably on the Russo-Turkish frontier in Asia; began his career in China at the age of twenty-seven and had won his fame in the Tai-ping Rebellion at thirty.

The Chinese tributes to Ward’s memory were both eloquent and sincere, and as presented in official decrees make a unique tribute from an alien people, such as has been bestowed by China upon no other American. The death of Ward was conveyed to the notice of the Emperor of China by Li Hung Chang, whose memorial read:

“Li Hung Chang, Governor of Kiangse, on the 6th day of the intercalary 8th moon, in the first year of the reign Tungche, memorializes the Throne.... It appears that Brigadier Ward is a citizen of New York, in the United States, who in the tenth year of the reign Hienfung came to China. Afterwards he was employed by Wuhyu, Taotai of Shanghai, to take command of a contingent of men from India to follow the regular army in the attack on Kiating and Taet’sang, and twice to the capture of Sung Kiang, as well as to the repeated attack on Tsing-pu, where, leading his officers and men, he was several times seriously wounded. Later, after the contingent of Indians had, by an Imperial decree, been dismissed, Ward petitioned the Taotai, stating that he was willing to become a Chinese subject; whereupon Wuhyu retained him and gave him command of the Ever Victorious Army, to support the Imperial troops in the defence of Sung Kiang.

“In the first moon of the present year Ward defeated, with 500 troops, above 100,000 rebels at Yin-hai-pang, Tien-mashan, and other places in the Prefecture of Sung Kiang. Thus with few he overcame the many; a meritorious deed that is very rare. Again he arranged for the destruction of the rebel fortifications of Kau Keaou, Sian t’ang, Chow-pu, Nanking, Che-ling, Wang-keasze, and Lung-chuan, having the coöperation of British and French troops. From a petition of Wuhyu it appears that in the early part of spring of the present year, Sung Kiang and Shanghai were threatened by the rebels, and that the turning away of the danger and the maintenance of tranquility in those places was chiefly due to the exertions of Ward.

“By Imperial favor he was repeatedly promoted—from the fourth rank with the peacock’s feather to the decorations of the third rank, again to the rank of titulary Futsiang, Brigadier, and again to Futsiang gazetted for employment in office; and praise was repeatedly bestowed on him by your Majesty’s decree. From the time of the arrival of Your Majesty’s Minister, Li Hung Chang, at Shanghai, to take charge of affairs, this Futsiang Ward was in all respects obedient to the orders he received, and whether he received orders to harass the city of Kinshwanei or to force back the rebels at Linho, he was everywhere successful. Still further, he bent all his energy on the recapture of Tsing-pu, and was absorbed in a plan for sweeping away the rebels from Soochan. Such loyalty and valor, issuing from his natural disposition, is extraordinary when compared with these virtues of the best officers of China; and among foreign officers it is not easy to find one worthy of equal honor.

“Your Majesty’s Minister, Li Hung Chang, has already ordered Wuhyu and others to deck Ward’s body with a Chinese uniform, to provide good sepulture, and to bury him at Sung Kiang, in order to complete the recompense for his valiant defence of the dynasty. Brigadier Ward’s military services at Sung Kiang and Ning Po are conspicuous. At this time he lost his life by a wound from a musket ball. We owe him our respect, and our deep regret. It is appropriate, therefore, to entreat that your Gracious Majesty do order the Board of Rites to take into consideration suitable posthumous rewards to be bestowed on him, Ward; and that both at Ning Po and at Sung Kiang sacrificial altars be erected to appease the manes of this loyal man.