The Devil Soldier

by Caleb Carr

The American Soldier of Fortune Who Became a God in China...

A courageous leader who became the first American mandarin, Frederick Townsend Ward won crucial victories for the Emperor of China during the Taiping Rebellion, history's bloodiest civil war. Carr's skills as historian and storyteller come to the fore in this thrilling account of the kind of adventurer the world no longer sees. Photographs.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, China, Biography, War, Asia, Biography Memoir

398 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1992

About the author

Caleb Carr was an American novelist and military historian. The son of Lucien Carr, a former UPI editor and a key Beat generation figure, he was born in Manhattan and lived for much of his life on the Lower East Side. He attended Kenyon College and New York University, earning a B.A. in military and diplomatic history. He was a contributing editor of MHQ: The Quarterly Journal of Military History and wrote frequently on military and political affairs.

Reviews

[John · Rating 3 out of 5]

An intruiging bit of obscured history within a greater event largely forgotten in the west. I knew extremely little about the Taiping rebellion, and was utterly clueless that western officers played a notable role - let alone that Fredrick Townsend Ward raised, trained, and led a large force of Chinese soldiers in the western model which, operating independently, played a significant role in the downfall of the Taiping cause. I have enjoyed Caleb Carr's historical writing, as well as his fiction, but must admit this book did not hold my interest as thoroughly as other of his works. Perhaps it was a skosh too long; perhaps it is in the nature of the subject material. To whit, perhaps 1860 Shanghai and Jiangsu province are a little too much the analog of the three-dimensional chess game going on in Afghanistan-Pakistan now - colonial powers being unable to decide minute to minute whether to support crumbling and corrupt regimes, acquiesce or even aid in their overthrow and humiliation, and so end up doing some of both at the same time (as the British did here during the 2nd Opium War). It took a little effort occasionally to fully graps the ebb and flow of the players in the shifting tides of Jiangsu as rebellion and counter-attack surged across Jiangsu.

Carr perhaps treats Ward with a light touch - but isn't afraid to highlight his flaws. And none can truly claim to know Ward's full thoughts and motivations, given the modest remaining records and their sometimes conflicting viewpoints and accounts. Nonetheless, Ward was clearly a remarkable individual who stepped into a pivotal moment in history to no small effect. The fact that Ward's achievements and those of his "Ever Victorious Army" are little remembered does not change that fact at all.

[Beth Cato · Rating 3 out of 5]

My reaction to this is mixed. First of all, that subtitle "The American Soldier of Fortune Who Became a God in China" is horribly cringe-worthy and misleading, and is contradicted by the explanation within the book. The publisher should not have used such a sensational subtitle.

The events here are absolutely fascinating: the true historical escapades of an American man who ventures to China as a freelance soldier, battled the rebellious pseudo-Christian Taipings on behalf of the Manchu government, and died in battle. Frederick Townsend Ward sounds like a truly intriguing fellow. The problem is, almost all the information about him has been destroyed. His family correspondence was purposely destroyed by his sister-in-law (gah!) and his shrine, grave, and written material in China was destroyed in waves through revolutions, the Japanese invasion, and then the Communist government. Carr still created a fascinating narrative, but it does often read as tedious with unavoidable gaps of data. The Chinese names used are a different transliteration than I am used to, so that made it more frustrated to keep track of who was who, and there are a lot of names thrown in here of Chinese, British and French soldiers, and Americans. At several points I debated whether to continue reading, but I kept on because I wanted to find out how events played out. I did make a few notes for my research interests, too.

[Paul Cornelius · Rating 5 out of 5]

Caleb Carr brings to light a time in China's history neglected in the West (as indeed almost all Chinese history is neglected essentially) as well as the biography of a fascinating American adventurer and soldier who came to command a Chinese army and be awarded honors and titles never before or since bestowed on any other American. Nevertheless, even after reading this very good history, Frederick Townsend Ward remains something of a mystery. That is not because Carr does a bad job. Quite the opposite. Carr's work is sober, balanced, and restrains from speculation until all but the end. Instead, he contextualizes Ward's life from the available documents, letters, and evidence, all of which is scant. And much of which may have disappeared over the nearly 160 years since Ward's death fighting the Taiping rebels on behalf of the Manchu emperor of China. Ward's family, says Carr, destroyed most of his letters and papers. And the Japanese during their occupation of Shanghai destroyed many documents and much evidence in China during the 1930s and 1940s. And, so, Ward remains difficult to grasp for historians. Carr has done as good a job at revealing him, however, as can be expected. I don't know if Carr has a PhD but I do know of many PhDs who can only wish they achieve this level of historical clarity and persuasion. A very good history that I will return to often in my own research.

[Patrick · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well researched and well written. Caleb Carr has written a couple of well known historical crime novels, THE ANGEL IN DARKNESS and The ALIENIST. However, prior to writing those he was best known as a military historian, and this book on an American mercenary operating in Imperial China during the 1860's falls in that category. Fans of his two novels moentioned above may not enjoy this book.

That said, this is an enjoyable read. Frederick Ward Townsend was a controversial figure in his own day who was involved in a number of foreign adventures before ladning in Shanghai in the 1860's. Sizing up the reason for the lack of success that the Manchu Imperial Forces were having in putting down the Taiping Rebellion, he volunteered to raise a small army and fight on behalf of the Manchus. Despite some initial setbacks and a lot of hostility from the majority of the Westerners in China at the time, he eventually was able to recruit, equip, train, and fight successfully with a force of about 4000 Chinese "peasants," although the officers of this force were still Westerners. During his life his force, eventually named the Ever Victorious Army, was renowned as the most disciplined Imperial military organization in China, and he won several victories in a short period against much larger Taiping forces. Of course, this being China, the story ends tragically -- that's not a total spoiler, since the author foreshados that right from the start of the book.

To Carr, Ward represents a lost opportunity for China and also for American and Western relations with that country. Ward's real accomplishment was in slowly getting Chinese leaders to see that Western values, technology, and organizational concepts could be adapted and accepted by the Chinese people, and that this could be used to strengthen China in standing up to the Western powers. In addition, for those Westerners who knew him well, he was able to develop in them a new resepct for the potential of the Chinese soldier, which in time might have translated into better treatment of China's government and its people. But, with Ward's death, the Westerners and the Imperial forces quickly returned to their former ways, and this eventually led to the Boxer Rebellion about forty years later.

A couple of notes on the book:

This is a military history, and while the edition I had contained some basic maps in the frontspiece and endpiece, more maps throughout the book would have helped. Most of the "action" in book consists of military forces moving from one location to another to attack or defend, and it gets confusing as to who was going where, even with the maps that are included.

Second issue, about which really nothing can be done...Chinese place names and person names, when translated into English, all have a tendency to look very similar. That can get pretty frustrating and confusing. Caleb Carr includes an appendix with the names and descriptions of the major characters...you may want to read that first, as I would have found it helpful. What worked for me was reading the book without much regard to the locations, and just paying attention to the actions and motivations of the characters and the organizations being described.

In summary, a pretty good book. If you're a fan of Chinese or military history, you will probably enjoy it.

[Stefanie Robinson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Frederick Townsend Ward was born in Massachusetts in 1831. He was a fairly rebellious kid, and left school to serve aboard a clipper ship in 1847. He briefly returned to school, but left again to serve aboard another ship, captained by his father. He served in several capacities at sea throughout the years. He did a stint filibustering. He joined the French Army and served in the Crimean War. Eventually, he just simply turned into a mercenary. He died in China in 1862. He crammed a lot of adventure into his short thirty years, that is for sure. He has a headstone in Salem, Massachusetts, but his body is not buried there. He also has a memorial in China, but the actual whereabouts of his remains are unknown.

I have had this book on my shelves for quite a while, and finally made it around to reading it. I had never heard of Frederick Townsend Ward, nor had I known that mercenaries from the United States participated in the Taipan Rebellion. This was only very briefly covered in one of my history classes in college, so this book was very valuable to me as far as educating myself went. The research was done well, and you could tell the author had studied up on this topic and knew what he was talking about. I just discovered that this author has several more books that look very interesting, so I will probably order those. I accidently ran across this one at my local used book store for a dollar. It was actually in the Civil War section, so it was a big surprise to me that it was not a Civil War book. The events in this book did take place at the same time that the United States was going through the Civil War, so perhaps that is why it was shelved that way. At any rate, I enjoyed this book. It wasn't very long either, which is helping me meet this reading challenge this year and emptying out my TBR stack.

[Zeke Chase · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fascinating biography one of the most interesting figures in the Taiping Rebellion, Frederick Townsend Ward. Ward was the American mercenary that formed the Ever Victorious Army in Shanghai and held the city by facing off against numbers several times his strength and became an indispensable piece of Li Hongzhang's Anhui Army that ultimately squeezed the Taipings back to Nanjing

I'm going to approach this review as though my reader has little knowledge of the Taiping. So, the Taiping Rebellion breaks out in 1850 led by a messianic madman claiming to be Jesus' younger brother and threatens to overthrow not just the ruling Qing Dynasty, but all established Confucian society. The Taiping rebels are iconoclastic, militaristic, theocratic and satirically puritanical (for a time, all sex was banned and punishable by execution). The ruling Qing Dynasty don't take the Rebellion seriously for a few reasons, namely the Emperor's libertine lifestyle in comfy Beijing. Xianfeng, the emperor, comes to power also in 1850, and proceeds to drink and eat and fuck himself to death. He dies of overindulgence in 1860, after a shameful defeat to the British in the Second Opium War. It is the Confucian general Zeng Guofan whom is ultimately responsible for quelling the Rebellion, by forming the provincial armies (Hunan Army under his command, Anhui Army under that of his student, Li Hongzhang), which forms a giant nutcracker to crunch from both east and west along the Yangtze River back to Nanjing. The Rebellion is put down in 1864, leaving a body count of 30 million, about twice the death toll of World War I. Shanghai, at the mouth of the Yangtze, holds out as a Qing enclave entirely surrounded by Taiping occupation and forms the base of operations for Li's Anhui Army and the port from which the West observes this war. Shanghai is held by an American mercenary, Frederick Townsend Ward, and his Ever Victorious Army.

This biography covers Ward specifically, and covers his childhood, his time as a ship's mate, a filibuster for William Walker during his Mexico campaign (Walker had the plan of forming his own kingdom or state in northern Mexico that could be admitted to the Union as Lower California, a slave state – Ward abandoned Walker after too long, not least because Ward was a diehard supporter of the North), his short campaign in the Crimean War, his service to the Mexican government and his eventual contracting in China. Banker Yang Fang and Taotai (basically a mayor) Wu Xu form a business arrangement to keep funds flowing for the defence of Shanghai. Carr is well aware that the average western reader has never heard of history's deadliest civil war, so he fills his reader in with a narrative following Loyal King Li Xuecheng, or the Chung Wang, the strategic genius of the latter half of the Rebellion. Through the Chung Wang, we get a sense of what is happening outside the Shanghai area and the religious politics that are driving the war.

This is the third book I've read on the Taiping Rebellion (the others being Autumn in the Heavenly Kingdom by Stephen R. Platt and God's Chinese Son by Jonathan D. Spence), so it's hard to say if this is a good introduction to the war or not. Certainly there's enough in this war that an entirely encyclopedia could be written on it. For one to grasp the war without diving headlong into it, it's best done through using specific figures as looking glasses. Platt uses Hong Rengan and Zeng Guofan, Spence uses Hong Xiuquan. Carr uses Frederick Ward.

What I found fascinating about this book was that it explored, as much as possible, the notion that Ward perhaps had his own ambitions for a kingdom in China, or control of the entire empire. With the state of Chinese military technology at the time, a small force of say 25,000 (which Ward had hoped to accumulate) properly trained and equipped, probably could overthrow the ruling Manchus and establish a dynasty with Ward as emperor, or at the least a small kingdom in China with Ward as warlord. Sadly, Ward died in 1862 and whatever his inclinations were, he kept his ambitions quiet, so we get only a few glimpses of this notion through close confidants.

If there's criticism of this book, it's that reading about the loss and retaking of the same town around Shanghai again and again gets a little tedious. I understand that this is a biography and it wouldn't do Ward justice to cut out the repetitiveness of his career, but it does start to feel like you're reading the same thing over again at times. I found myself bored in the battle sequences and more interested in the squabbling fears of the Manchus.

I'll note that this book uses the Wade-Giles system of transliteration instead of the more commonly accepted Pinyin. Wade-Giles is more phonetic, whereas Pinyin is more uniform. This means that, for example, Hong Xiuquan (Pinyin) becomes Hung Hsiu-ch'üan (Wade-Giles), Li Xuecheng becomes Li Hsiu-ch'eng, Zeng Guofan becomes Tseng Kuo-fan, Li Hongzhang becomes Li Hung-chang, Prince Gong becomes Prince Kung and so on. I understand why Carr chooses this older more archaic system of transliteration – because it's easier for a Western audience to pronounce, and it's clearly written for the West. The problem, therefore, that arises is that his dramatis personae is lacking. There are many characters missing from this appendix, not the least of which is Li Heng-sung, the commander of the Green Standard Braves in Shanghai and the principal Chinese defensive force prior to the arrival of Li Hung-chang. Do you see the problem? Now add Li Hsiu-ch'eng into the mix. If this is for a Western audience, Carr should have realised that the West is a little Anglo-centric and will probably confuse
Li Heng-sung
Li Hung-chang
Li Hsiu-ch'eng
when read in quick succession, especially if one is missing from the dramatis personae. I'm not complaining about the transliteration, merely the lacking appendix. I spent at least a portion of this novel confusing Li Heng-sung and Li Hung-chang as the same person, and wondering why the brilliant commander of the Anhui Army was such a corrupt tool.

But that's just nitpicking. Ultimately, a fine book on the Taiping and a great addition to my growing wealth of knowledge on the subject.

[Paul Edlund · Rating 3 out of 5]

DNF. Pretty interesting story, but a bit dry and dense.

[David · Rating 5 out of 5]

A very intriguing read about a little known historical figure whose life, while short, was crammed with adventure enough to fill several people's lifetime, even if they lived to their late 80's. It takes place in China during the time of the American Civil War. The central figure a New Englander who went to sea as a 3rd mate on a sailing ship sailing around the "Horn" several times to the far east and the small seaport of San Francisco. He served in Mexico and several other countries as a soldier of fortune finally ending in Shanghai, China. He had visited China several times prior and had an innate ability to judge and understand people and their cultures. At this time there was a major rebellion that had a core belief based on the Bible. The main character becomes friends, as much as a foreigner might become, with the appointed Chinese governor of Shanghai prefect and sells them on the idea of forming an army of Chinese who would be trained by himself and led by him and western officers.

He forms and trains his Chinese Army, while British and French military leaders and diplomats all are attempting to arrest him and his officers. In spite of all this, he arms with western arms, uniforms his Chinese in western style uniforms and begins to demonstrate they are able to defeat the rebels, with his small Army against overwhelming odds. He is promoted to the rank of Brigadier General in the Chinese Imperial Army and awarded the rank of Mandarin, an exceptionally rare rank of which very, very few occidentals were ever able to attain in China.

The book is an intriguing look into a pivotal moment of Chinese history as the Manchu Dynasty is coming to its end. The "what if" potential, had he not been killed at the front of his "Victorious Army" not occurred, and IF the Imperial Chinese Court had adopted many of his proven by success tactics and training what might have been. Possibly the Imperial dynasty might have continued and China might have been able to defeat the first Japanese invasion and given a far more successful resistance during WWII to the Japanese invasion. The "What If's" are intriguing and well pointed out by the author who did a great deal of research gleaning information about the intriguing, and little known hero of this true story.

[Ensiform · Rating 4 out of 5]

("The American Soldier of Fortune Who Became a God in China." A rather over-dramatic and not exactly true subtitle...) This often engrossing work is a biography of Frederick Townsend Ward, the first commander of the Ever Victorious Army. Carr does an excellent job, considering that the Chinese Communists downplayed Ward’s role in history, even paving over his gravesite, and that a distant relative of Ward’s destroyed all his personal papers after his death. Carr is no Sinologist and thus the Taipings’ motives and actions are not adequately represented, but the Western side of the fighting (and the conniving that went on by the Manchu elite concerning foreign intervention) is well documented. The main focus is of course Ward, who is represented as a man of astonishing bravery and tactical skill, and who, after demonstrating said skill, was amazingly popular with Chinese soldiers and Western officers alike. If he hadn’t been killed in battle, he may even have become a warlord in his own right.

[Mariano Solores · Rating 4 out of 5]

Este libro, del mismo autor de la novela policial histórica "El alienista", cuenta la biografía de Frederick Townsend Ward, un mercenario norteamericano que logró destacar en el ejército imperial chino de mediados del siglo XIX.
Mediante numerosos documentos y textos de la época, el autor desarrolla la historia de Ward desde su llegada a China hasta su muerte, ocurrida en combate poco tiempo después. Si bien resume también la historia previa del protagonista, el grueso del relato se circunscribe a un plazo de no mucho más de tres años.
El libro vale la pena. Pese a su naturaleza documental, por la forma en que está narrado, por momentos parece una novela, dinámica y emocionante. Además, arroja luz sobre un período de la historia china (la rebelión taiping y los últimos años de la dinastía Manchú) que no es demasiado conocido en los países occidentales, especialmente los hispanohablantes.
Una lectura 100% recomendable.

[Tzit · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 Me gustó la recreación que el autor hace de la época de la que yo no tenía ningún conocimiento por lo que me pareció muy interesante.
Más allá de la biografía de Townsed, los acontecimientos como por ejemplo hasta que grado puede influir la decisión de una persona el curso de la historia y qué pensaban los chinos de la religión cristiana.
Algunas cuestiones que no me parecieron fue algunos juicios de valor del autor como que justificara la intervención de E.U en China: "tomar por la fuerza lo que les correspondía por derecho" p.82 o describir a los chinos como unos necios cuando los gobiernos Inglaterra, E.U y China sólo perseguían sus intereses dejando de lado a los civiles y me acordé de que ningún personaje es bueno o malo, sino que todos tenemos matices.
Me parece un libro bien documentado para quiénes se interesen por la historia de China.

[Lee Gordon · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fascinating and unusual history

Caleb Carr is an adept story-teller, and his account of Frederick Townsend Ward is both interesting and entertaining to this history-lover. At first I experienced some confusion with Chinese locations and names, but after they became familiar, I enjoyed the book. Understanding things like Hua being used for Ward as a linguistic characteristic of the difference between Chinese and English facilitates reading and comprehension. Carr is a capable writer and historian, and this book demonstrates his talent.

[Value Investor · Rating 3 out of 5]

It took me several nights to get through this book because of how repetitive and verbose it is. I’ve noticed this from Carr’s The Alienist novels as well. A good editor would have helped here.

There were ad nauseum mentions in every chapter of how foresighted and brilliant Ward was, how corrupt everyone else is, etc. There’s a quite a bit of hero worship in this book. It reminds me of Jon Krakauer’s hagiographic book on Pat Tillman.

The names of the towns start to blend together. A timeline of events would have helped.

Nonetheless, the subject matter is fascinating: a quasi Christian rebellion in 1860s imperial China, a soldier of fortune, Shanghai, raising an army and fighting sieges etc. I certainly learned a lot.

[Stephanie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Though I knew going in that this was a work of nonfiction, I still was not quite ready for the immediate plunge into the deep military academia side of Carr's writing career. Since I care little for warfare, combat maneuvers, or battle strategy, I considered baling multiple times. But I clung on to the end because I was learning so darn much about a place and time I've little thought of (i.e., China during the mid-1800s). As an American, and particularly a Southerner, I can be guilty of wearing history blinders during the American Civil War. It was refreshing to learn and consider a global story and setting completely new to me.

[Stuart Malcolm · Rating 3 out of 5]

An exhaustively researched book about a period of history I knew very little about. It is an interesting read but needed much better editing - there are way too many detailed descriptions of essentially identical military actions; and a lot of repetition in the descriptions of Ward by others, and the author second guessing Wards motivations. A shame as it could have been a really excellent popular history book.

[Toby Allison · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good read

Enjoyed the book overall. The pace of the story slowed down in the middle, but picked up considerably at the end. I found myself, surprisingly angered at the end. He seemed to be betrayed by everyone he cared about. I ended the book with questions. I will have to go research myself, so I guess the book serves its purpose. I'm a "Ward" fan.

[Todd Cheng · Rating 5 out of 5]

I great visit into a 1860s period of history where a fearless American attempts to create his place in China building and leading a large Chinese military group to quell Taiping uprising.

The journey captured Fredrick Townsend Ward’s early years, failures, rise to success, end, and challenges in later politics attempting to hide his impacts on the nation.

[Joseph · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting read, though somewhat disjointed; the period is 1860-1862, and it keeps revolving around in circles, or so it seemed. Light biographical sketch, also an introduction to *The Taiping Revolution*. Also sounded like a war-game, with details of various battles and campaigns.

Guess I am slightly biased, having read Carr's fiction *The Alienist* and *Angel of Darkness*. Still, I wouldn't mind reading other historical works if he had them.

[Matthew · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an incredible account of an almost forgotten aspect of history. It is well written and an enjoyable read. The amount of research that the author needed to do in order to write it is awe inspiring.

[Jordan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very interesting story

Would recommend to history buffs. A fun, unique tale of a real life adventurer. I've never been very interested in Chinese history but Ward's tale, and the drama of the Taiping rebellion, were worth learning about.

[Ann · Rating 2 out of 5]

Actually, I stopped about page 100. Too dense and too many characters to follow as Carr goes deep into Chinese history to set up background for Ward. Maybe it's the current news, but I just couldn't concentrate. Obviously, Carr has done a lot of research.

[Bryan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting topic, about an American soldier who led a celebrated regiment of the Chinese imperial army to put down a rebellion in the 1860s. But very dense in the details. I made a bad choice in opting for the audiobook version.

[Richard · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fascinating read

Interesting look at the Chinese civil war which happened to occur just before and during our,.US that is. That an American was so central to war effort made this very relatable.

[Daniel Farabaugh · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting read although the parts about the Taiping Rebellion were better than the parts about the American military leader.

[Phil Clymer · Rating 4 out of 5]

All of this was new to me having never pondered 19th century China history. Mr Carr has researched the topic exhaustively and applied his superior writing skills to advantage.

[Beth · Rating 2 out of 5]

So detailed and battle-by-battle, with speculation on motivations and possibilities - what would have been a fascinating story got lost in the historical analysis.

[Shannon · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting....will need to go back to the Essex museum. I had no idea!

[S2 Mc · Rating 2 out of 5]

Book seriously needs maps.

[BT]

Fascinating character; a piece of history most of us know little or nothing about. Read years ago; want to read again.

[Edwin Voll · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was a well researched book but difficult to complete. The subject matter was interesting but I felt as if I was reading a list of events and would have enjoyed more context.