Chapter One Hundred and Thirty Four
1864 – A Year In Events
United States:
• The Coinage Act is passed under the guidance of Secretary Chase allowing the phrase “In God We Trust” to be inscribed on US coinage;
Montana Territory is organized;
• Union Mills National Cemetery is dedicated in Maryland;
• President Lincoln abolishes the commutation fee that could be paid to avoid subscription at General Kearny’s request; and
• Nevada is admitted as the 36th US state.
Internationally
• The Second Schleswig War between Denmark and an alliance of Austria and Prussia. After a Danish victory at sea and several allied victories on land Denmark sues for peace. In the Treaty of Vienna Denmark surrenders Schleswig and Lauenburg to Prussia and Holstein to Austria;
• The Second Maori War erupts in New Zealand;
• Choe Je-u, founder of the Donghak movement, is executed in Korea;
• War erupts between Uruguay and the Empire of Brazil. Before the end of the year Paraguay will join the anti-Brazil faction in Uruguay
• Alexander II of Russia introduces judicial reforms; and
• There are significant developments in both Mexico and China…
From “An Empire of Hubris – China and the Great Powers: 1793-1885” by Prof. Edgar McCartney
Oxford University Press 1982
“The death of Li-Hung-chang or of Charles Gordon was perhaps inevitable after the incident at Soochow. Certainly the deliberate attempts by Henry Burgevine, and the accidental attempts of Halliday Macartney, to escalate the situation made a confrontation inevitable…
Gordon suspected Li and his guards had come to arrest him on that February morning. Gordon’s tension was almost certainly reflected in the Filipinos and Europeans who made up his personal guard in the EVA. It was an explosive mixture…
Wreathed in scandal but with the support of the British commander in China, Gordon must revert to an officer of engineers
In the ensuing fracas Li and several of his guards were killed. The death of Li, the Emperor’s most talented servant in the South threw the Anwhei Army into chaos…
It is largely believed that Gordon considered taking the EVA over to the Taipings. There is no evidence to support that conclusion. Had he done so, it is inconceivable he could have remained a British officer…
In the end he followed General Brown’s advice and resigned his Chinese position. Brown, under advice from the old China hand, Harry Parkes, quickly sent Gordon off to New Zealand and out of the way…
On the other hand it is likely that Gordon at least turned a blind eye to the defection of Henry Burgevine to the Taipings with upwards of 300 Europeans, an unspecified number of Chinese EVA veterans and a large supply of arms and ammunition …
By the end of 1863 the Taiping army had been evicted from the vast region within 50 miles of Nanking. It appeared Nanking would come under direct assault early in 1864...
The Third Battle of Nanking. Gordon's actions, as well as Burgevine's, seem to buy the Taiping time
The news of the death of Li-Hung-chang was a god-send to the Taiping. The collapse of the Anwhei army and the uncertain surrounding the loyalty of the remaining EVA meant that troops were withdrawn from the Imperial Army eastwards. These included the handful of troops trained and armed with, almost, modern firearms…
Hung Hsiu-chuan’s declaration that God would defend the city seemed prophetic when the news arrived of Li’s death and Gordon’s resignation. Hung Hsiu-chuan declared Gordon the “prodigal son” come to God’s understanding at last. This renewed faith and the removal of the Imperial’s riflemen, coupled with the European mercenaries who were assisting the Taiping doomed the Imperial army…
Li Hsiu-ch’eng, the Loyal King, led the final great attack on the Imperials on August 1st. He had sent 10,000 Taiping dressed as peasants and Imperials to infiltrate the Imperial camp. Bedlam ensued. 60,000 Imperials died. Over a 100,000 surrendered many of whom would be later executed. The Loyal King brought 3 shackled Imperial Generals before the Heavenly King. Mercy was not forthcoming…
At the same time an Imperial admiral tried to take Zhōngguāncūn as a diversion but failed. By the end of the year the Taiping had once again driven the Imperials north of the Yangtze. The success of the Taiping Army was partially due to the advanced weaponry adopted, namely, the firearms brought by Burgevine and others. It was also due to the failure of the Imperials to make most use of their own indigenously built bolt-action single-shot rifle. The third battle of Nanking had been a testing ground for the first modern firearms used in Chinese battles and the Imperials had, at least in this round of fighting, been found wanting..."
From "The Mexican Adventure through American Eyes" by David Hofstedder
LUS 1996
“The French, under Marshal Bazaine, occupied Guadalajara in early January 1864, and troops under General Douay occupied Zacatecas in February. Further decisive French victories continued with the fall of Acapulco in May, occupation of Durango in June, and the defeat of republicans in the states of Sinaloa and Jalisco in October. The internecine warfare between Juarez and Vidaurri the previous year had fundamentally weakened Republican forces in the north…
French victories abounded in 1864
The only major repulse experienced by French arms was in late March 1864, as men from the French man-of-war Cordelière tried to take Mazatlán. They were repelled by Mexicans commanded by Colonel Gaspar Sánchez Ochoa…
Maximilian formally accepted the crown on 17 April, signing the Treaty of Miramar, and landed at Veracruz on 29 May 1864 in the SMS Novara. He was enthroned as Maximilian, Emperor of Mexico…
Maximilian was very much the product of the progressive ideas in vogue in Europe at the time. He favored the establishment of a limited monarchy sharing powers with a democratically-elected congress and inspired laws that abolished child labor, limited working hours, and abolished a system of land tenancy that virtually amounted to serfdom among the Indians. This was too liberal to please large sections of Mexico's conservatives, while the liberals refused to accept a monarch. This left Maximilian in a weak position. He had to rely on the French but he understood their support was unreliable in the long term. The Emperor realized he would have to work hard to establish his own support base in the country...
Not only did the Emperor extend an invitation to like-minded Europeans, which netted him Austrians, Hungarians, French and Belgian supporters but he also offered employment and asylum to many Confederate officers, troops and civilians. By the end of the year the numbers of Confederate refugees coming across the border was beginning to alarm the Juaristas. Matters became more serious when it became clear that Governor Viduarri, currently in exile in Texas, had been suborned by the Imperialists and was reorganizing his gubernational army. Vidaurri had French money, Confederate arms and some Confederate manpower…
Maximilian harbored dreams that the Confederates, mostly “conservative democrats” in Maximilian’s own words, might form the basis of his own mix of constitutional monarchy and democracy…
The end of the year was crowned by the victory of combined forces against Mazatlán. On Wednesday, 23 November 1864, four French men-of-war shelled Mazatlán as a prelude to an attack by Imperial Mexican forces under Manuel Lozada, who forced an entrance into the city that night. The next day the city fathers surrendered the city to the Emperor…”
General Jo Shelby is presented, with the first Confederate exiles, to the Imperial Court
