Tae-pings, or Tai-pings. The name given to the Chinese rebels who made their appearance in 1850, and desolated some of the best provinces of China. Peking was taken by the English and French on October 12, 1860. Its capture was followed by the ratification of the treaty of Tien-tsin, which, granting important privileges to European merchants, made it the direct interest of the English, French, and American governments to re-establish order in China. The repulse of the rebels at Shanghai in August, 1860, had been followed by several engagements between them and the imperialists, in which they were defeated. Ward, an American, who had taken service under the emperor, and who showed a remarkable talent for organizing irregular troops, had wrought a wonderful improvement in the imperialist army, and he was the chief means of their success. In the beginning of 1862, the Tae-pings again advanced on Shanghai, and were twice defeated. In the autumn of the same year, Ward was killed; Ward’s force was handed over to an English officer, and took the name of Gordon’s brigade. Gordon’s brigade rendered essential service to the imperial government. The rebels were defeated in upwards of sixteen engagements; and in 1864, almost every important city was taken from them. The conduct of the imperial authorities at Su-chow, where a horrible massacre took place, led to the withdrawal of the English military force; but the rebellion had been effectually checked. Toward the end of 1864, the Tae-pings, however, still offered an opposition to the imperialists in Kiang-tsu, all the more formidable in consequence of the prevalence of brigandage and insurrectionary movements in parts of the empire not affected by the Tae-ping rebellion. In January, 1865, the Mohammedan Tartars of Songaria, on the Siberian frontier, assisted by the free Kirghis tribes, took the town of Tarbagatai, and afterwards Kouldja. In the following June, a still more serious insurrection broke out in China proper, that of the Nien-fei, or rebels of the north, whose special object was to overturn the reigning dynasty. One body of them, in the beginning of 1866, caused serious alarm in Hankow, and would have attacked the European settlement but for the arrival of some English gunboats. It is believed that the last embers of the Tae-ping rebellion were trodden out in February, 1866, when from 30,000 to 50,000 rebels were routed by the imperial army at Kia-ying-chou in Kwan-tung. The victorious general then set out to attack the Nien-fei, or northern rebels, at Hankow, and the imperial troops were several times defeated by them in 1867; but late in 1868, their operations became unimportant.
Taganrog. A town of Russia in Europe, in the government of Ekaterinoslav, near the northwest extremity of the Sea of Azov, 172 miles northeast from Kertch. The town was bombarded by a fleet of French and British gunboats in 1855.
Tagliacozzo. A town of Southern Italy, in the Aleruzzi Mountains, where on August 23, 1268, Charles of Anjou, the usurping king of Naples, defeated and made prisoner the rightful monarch, young Conradin, who had been invited into Italy by the Ghibelline party; their opponents, the Guelphs, or papal party, supporting Charles.
Tagliamento. A river in Lombardy, Northern Italy, near which the Austrians, under the Archduke Charles, were defeated by Bonaparte, March 16, 1797.
Tail of the Trenches. The post where the besiegers begin to break ground, and cover themselves from the fire of the place, in advancing the lines of approach.
Taishes. Armor for the thighs.
Take. To lay hold of; to seize. To obtain possession of by force or artifice; to capture; to make prisoner. To attack; to seize; as, to take an army, a city, or a ship. To take aim, to direct the eye or weapon; to aim. To take arms, to commence war or hostilities. To take advantage of, to avail one’s self of any peculiar event or opening, whereby an army may be overcome. To take ground to the right or left, is to extend a line, or to move troops in either of those directions. To take down, is to commit to paper that which is spoken by another. To take on, an expression in familiar use among soldiers that have enlisted for a limited period, to signify an extension of service by re-enlisting. To take the field, is to encamp, to commence the operations of a campaign. To take up, to seize; to catch; to arrest; as, to take up a deserter. To take up quarters, to occupy locally; to go into cantonments, barracks, etc.; to become stationary for more or less time. To take up the gauntlet, is to accept a challenge.
Takel (Anglo-Saxon). The arrows which used to be supplied to the fleet.
Talavera de la Reyna. A town of Spain in New Castile, in the modern province of Toledo, on the Tagus, 75 miles southwest from Madrid. Here on July 27 and 28, 1809, Sir Arthur Wellesley, with 19,000 English and German troops, and about 34,000 Spaniards, who, however, with very trifling exceptions, were not engaged, defeated upwards of 50,000 veteran French troops under Joseph Bonaparte and Marshals Jourdan and Victor.
Talk. Among the Indians of North America, a public conference, as respecting peace or war, negotiation, and the like; or an official verbal communication made from them to another nation or its agents, or made to them by the same.