In the meantime, the Admiral, having put himself at the head of the seamen and marines, marched some way along the walls, where they had been already cleared by the 55th, and, as the heat of the sun at this time (past noon) was almost insupportable, he had directed the men to take shelter for a little while, in one of the watch-houses upon the ramparts. The heat was quite overpowering, and the men being already much fatigued, several of them died from sun-stroke. Here it was that the gallant Major Uniacke, R.M., fell, from the effects of the sun, and in the list of casualties of the day no less than sixteen men are included, who died from the same cause.
Having rested something less than an hour in the guard-house, a heavy firing was heard within the Tartar city, and the men were instantly formed, and advanced in the direction of the firing, under Captain Richards and Captain Watson. On passing through a narrow street in the Tartar part of the city, a sudden fire was poured upon them by a body of Tartars drawn up across the street, behind a small gateway, where they seemed prepared to make a most determined stand. Several men were wounded, and it was necessary to advance with caution, taking advantage of shelter when it could be found. Here Lieutenant Fitzjames was wounded while endeavouring to get a rocket off.
Captain Watson was now sent round by a side-lane, to endeavour to turn the flank of the Tartars, but there also the latter were prepared for them, behind a temporary barricade. However, a cheer, and a sudden rush from both divisions at once, upon the front and flank of the Tartars, carried the point, and the enemy were driven back with heavy loss, after shewing individual instances of the most desperate valour, in several hand-to-hand encounters. When the brave Tartars at length saw that their utmost efforts were of no avail, then began the scenes of horror, and the tragedy of self-immolation, which makes one's very blood run cold to hear of. The Admiral himself was a witness of what took place. Some of the Tartars kept the doors of their houses with their very lives, while others could be seen within, deliberately cutting the throats of their women, and destroying their children, some by strangulation, and others by throwing them into the wells. In one house in particular, a Tartar was found in the act of sawing his wife's throat with a rusty sword, as he held her over the mouth of the well into which his children had been already thrown. He was shot before the deed was completed, in order to save the woman, who was immediately taken care of, and had the wound, which was not severe, tied up. Yet the first use she made of her tongue, as soon as she could speak, was to utter the most violent imprecations upon the heads of the victors. The children who were in the well (in which there was little water) were all got up, and recovered.
In other houses, numbers of poor creatures were found dead, some by their own hands or the hands of each other, and the rest by the hands of their husbands. In one house no less than fourteen dead bodies were discovered, principally women; in others the men began to cut their own throats the moment they saw any of our soldiers approaching; while in other instances they rushed out furiously from some hiding-place, and attacked with the sword any one who came in their way.
Several of our officers had to defend their own lives with the sword, long after all systematic opposition had ceased. An officer of the 14th M.N.I. had a sword combat with three Tartars who rushed out upon him sword in hand, and by retreating so as to endeavour to take them singly, he was able to cut down two of them just at the moment when a fatal blow was about to be aimed at him by the third, who was fortunately shot at the very critical moment, by a soldier who was coming up to his officer's assistance.
It is impossible to calculate the number of victims to the barbarous practice of self-immolation and wholesale murder. Chin-keang-foo was a Tartar stronghold considered by them as impregnable; they could not brook defeat, or the desecration of their hearths, by the tread of the unknown but thoroughly-hated barbarian; every house had its victims; and to add to the horrors of the day, and the desolation of the city, the Chinese plunderers flocked in from the country in multitudes, pillaging in all directions. They even set fire to the streets in some parts, to enable them to carry on their work with less interruption in others.
On our side, although the place had been taken by storm, and not without heavy loss, the strictest orders were given to prevent the pillage of the town as much as possible. Measures were taken, not only to control our own men, (who, according to European custom, might have expected to be allowed to pillage a town taken by assault,) but also to arrest the violent proceedings of the Chinese rabble, who, in this as in other instances, were the worst enemies of their own countrymen.
The authorities and nearly all the respectable inhabitants had fled; and the Tartar general (who had complained bitterly to the Emperor of insufficient means for defence) had set fire to his own house, and buried himself and part of his family in its ashes.
Notwithstanding all the attempts to prevent the destruction of property, it was impossible altogether to arrest it in so large a city. Plunder was sometimes taken from the Chinese thieves outside the town, and occasionally articles of value were thrown over the walls, because they were not allowed to be carried through the gates. In this way, plunder was sometimes obtained, and many ingenious devices were adopted to endeavour to secure a few valuables; but nearly all the mischief was done by the Chinese themselves.