The Devil Soldier: The American Soldier of Fortune Who Became a God in China

It seems fitting that one of the most implausible films ever made should be based "loosely" on a book about one of the most implausible real-life figures of history. Frederick Townsend Ward, the Devil Soldier, had nothing to do with the civil war in Japan; neither did any other American officer. But Ward did play a huge role in the defense of the Manchu imperial government against the forces of Chun Wang, the syncretic Sino-Christian rebel, in the Taiping civil war, supposedly the bloodiest conflict of the 19th Century. My five-star rating of this book is contingent upon also reading Jonathan Spence's book about the Taipings, God's Chinese Son. Otherwise you will have less than half the story. Caleb Carr writes very well, but this is not a novel, and as a history it is far too partial. In his prologue, Carr declares: "No man's life can be truly understood out of context, but in Ward's case the context is especially vital." No kidding, Caleb! In Ward's case, the context is virtually all we have, since nothing of Ward's own letters or thoughts has survived. Thus Carr is writing a biography so much as a social history of a moment in time, that moment when the vast culture of China first "discovered" the West. Carr's short moment of importance was his organization and training of the "Ever Victorious Army" of Chinese soldiers using Western military training and tactics. For better or worse, Ward's model army became the nucleus of the forces that destroyed the Taipings, though the man who replaced Ward as commander after Ward was killed, the scoundrel known as Chinese Gordon, has replaced him in historical memory also. More novelist than historian, Caleb Carr might fairly be criticized for overdrawing his sources, or for not maintaining sufficient academic reserve. It would be wrong to ignore this book, however, if you have any interest in the history of modern China, in which FT Ward was a meteor in the sky, an omen of things to come.

In 1859 a 28 year-old sailing officer from Salem Massachusetts took service under the Chinese Empire to defend it from mortal danger. When this young man died in battle in 1863 he had put down the largest and bloodiest civil war in human history (the American Civil War raging at the same time pales in comparison), he had been made a general and a mandarin, he had married a Chinese princess, and he was interred in his own temple. Perhaps most impressively was the fact that he did all of this while retaining the reputation among his friends and foes of being a man of decency, fairness, honor and incorruptibility. And yet for all this, he is nearly forgotten in both his native and adopted country. Frederick Townsend Ward's history was erased largely because he was feared by both his Manchu masters and by the European powers that were seeking to dismember China for their own mercenary ends. The author speculates that due to his contempt for the cruelty and corruption of the Manchu's, that had he survived, he might have turned the instrument of his "Ever Victorious Army" against them in order to restore the Ming Dynasty. Had that happened, the history of China could have far different in the century that followed. It is clear that Ward found the concept of ending the Empire as unthinkable- which is why the later republic never honored his memory. One other thing struck me while reading this book: Ward wanted to attend West Point but was not able to obtain an appointment because he lacked "connections." In the long run this didn't seem to hurt him too much.... If this story were fiction it would surely be dismissed as too far-fetched to ever be believed.

This is a bit of a stretch for the conventional Western military history, but an excellent one. Most readers will probably think of General Ward's biography in terms of traditional 19th century nation state narratives. Let me propose a different one, the context is 'opium wars'. The story goal is defeating the merchants of opium, the English. The outcome is bittersweet. This requires the reader to do more 'reading between the lines' than usual, but the rewards are there for those interested.While the book's focus is Fredrick Ward, a true soldier of fortune, the 'Chinese drug wars' are really more central. The period covered begins with the British winning the 'Opium War'. To make sense of this, imagine Columbian drug lords defeating the US Army and demanding control of an airport in Miami. By treaty right, the Columbian drug lords would we granted the right to fly cocaine to any airport in America. If you can imagine this, substitute Queen Victoria for the Columbian drug lords and Shanghai for Miami.As should be required, the book begins by discussing hypocrisy. England's Royal navy is primarily in China to help the East India Company sell opium. The 'Christian' leader of the Taiping rebellion preaches puritanical virtues, but surrounds himself with concubines. Our hero emerges from the New England merchant class, a class that simultaneously smuggles slaves to the American slave states and finances abolitionist politics. Unfortunately, the theme is not followed throughout. The final chapter dwells on legal battles over Ward's treasures rather than the continuing twists in the drug wars and associated hypocrisy.The narrative spends most of its time on Ward's invention, the 'Ever Victorious Army' or 'Ward's Chinese Corps'. As evidence that necessity is the mother of invention, the 'Ever Victorious Army' came into existence through the whim of fortune. Western powers in Shanghai had no desire to see it emerge, since it represented a threat to the British control of the opium trade. The Imperial Chinese were to entrench in tradition to accept the innovation. It was only the existence of a 100,000 man rebel army 30 miles from Shanghai that provided Ward his 'opportunity' to build his vision. Fredrick Ward remains something of a mystery in his biography. He died in action before we could really tell what he was building. Few of his letters escaped destruction, so we rarely hear his own voice. Instead, Carr is forced to infer from events and news paper accounts. Most readers will have to overcome their skepticism about Ward's career being ample material for a full-fledged biography. In this context, Ward seems the forgotten inventor. Charles 'Chinese' Gordon won the publicity war and his buddies wrote the history books. Gordon 'China' role is limited compared to Ward. Gordon took over Ward's cross-cultural invention, the 'Ever Victorious Army', and won the army's last battle. His job was simply to maintain it long enough to win one b

When you mention to most (Americans) about the civil war of the 1860's, most likely they'll think you're talking about "The War Between The States", The American Civil-War.However, roughly around the same time that America's North & South were slowly edging towards that great tragedy over the issue of slavery, a different civil war was gripping another of the Earth's great nations half a world away in a struggle that would claim millions(!) of more lives than even that more famous (to the American mind) struggle. The Taiping Rebellion (1851-1864), initiated by Hung Hsiu Chuan, a man who had failed in China's examinations to become a civil-servant, was a war over religious beliefs, ideology, & class-struggle. Hung, in a "vision" had believed himself to be the younger brother of Jesus Christ(!) His Taipings, made up of neo-Christian Chinese converts, frustrated & angered over the corruption & poverty imposed upon them by their inept Manchu rulers, captured several Chinese cities, established their base in Nanking, & nearly succeeded in toppling the Chinese (Manchu) empire. Hung's Christian learnings came from an American, Issachar Roberts. One of his oppoenents, an important adversary, a soldier for hire who had worked in Mexico, California, & Texas as a professional mercenary, who came to China & trained Chinese soldiers in the most up to date weaponry & tactics (as well as absorbing much of China's military culture), was an American also: Fredrick Townsend Ward.Ward was a loner, a man who worked for prestige rather than money, a man who was stern yet fair to his band of mercenaries, & a man free of racial prejudices. He was the classic warrior, a character you would expect to find in westerns & adventure movies. However, he was real! He fought against both the Taiping Rebels, who he respected in battle & who respected him, as well as the corruption of his Manchu employers & the British military, who saw Ward's actions as a threat to the West's (Europe & the U.S.A.'s) strict policy of neutrality. In the end, he died in battle, but he won what he prized above anything else, recognition for his outstanding achievements in this most deadly of occupations. For a brief moment in history, thanks to Ward, East met West in a joint-collaboration to form a team of fighting men the likes of which the world had never seen. (Imagine the sight. American & European mercenaries armed not only with rifles & cannon, but also being acquainted with Chinese martial-arts weapons, including swords, spears, & bamboo-clay "bombs", filled with gun-powder, natural poisons, & (yuck!) human feces. Fighing alongside with them are Ward's Chinese troops, wearing the traditional Manchu queue (pigtail) & also armed with traditional martial-arts weapons, but also instructed (by Ward) in the use of Sharp's rifles, Colt revolvers, & modern cannon & mortars! Again, this isn't a comic-book fantasy or a Jackie Chan movie, this was r

The author has done excellent research in developing a biography of the life and times of Frederick Townsend Ward during China's Taiping rebellions during 1860 through 1863. But as a historian seeking accuracy of facts, the author commits several types of "avoidable" error in just writing.In attempting to get the who, what, where, when, and why about people and places, he clouds these issues with such overwhelming "context", that it becomes difficult to read at times to see the forest because of the trees. Quite often his sentences are just too long, many running 200 words or more, with the result that the reader has to go back and re-read them again. It's easy to get lost because of his verbosity in spite of the fact that he uses simple words.The author makes excessive use of parentheses to slide extra context into his sentences; where in itself this isn't bad, but when his writing contains sub-context within sub-context of a context in one single sentence, before he tells us of an event happening, his writing is difficult to read (like this sentence).Moreover, what is surprising is that the author, Caleb Carr, is not guilty of any of these stylistic errors in anything else of his that I have read. He has always gripped my attention.But my criticisms aside, the author goes out of his way to be an independent observer and commentator about the events concerning Ward's battles, based on a plethora of well documented research and opinion. He is very careful to imply just this, as opposed to fact, as a responsible historian should. In so doing, he does a very credible job in showing Frederick Townsend Ward to be an honourable, honest, responsible, and loyal warrior of the Manchu imperialists who were just not at all deserving of the services of\a man of such integrity.Also because of the author's research into the cultural attitudes of the Chinese, it becomes easier to understand how China's people fell into another form of personal domination, by the same calibre of government it has today.