Chinese Employ the Service of ForeignersShortly after the fall of Soochow the Chinese residents atShanghai， under the direction of Wu Taotai and a wealthy bankernamed Ta Chi （Yang Fang）， formed a Patriotic Association for thepurpose of resisting the Taipings.
In the meantime Tseng Kuo-fan， who had become titular Viceroyof Nanking and High commissioner， with jurisdiction over theprovinces of Kiangsu， Kiangsi， Chekiang and Anhwei， called to hisassistance Li Hung-chang. The latter came into prominence by hisvigorous actions against the rebels in Anhwei， and in consequence inJuly， 186 2， had been appointed titular Governor of Kiangsu. Thesetwo offcials adopted a bold and aggressive policy against the Taipingsand saw the advantage of employing foreigners to assist the Imperialistforces in resisting the rebels.
Engagement of F. T. WardFrederick Townsend Ward， born in 183 1 in Salem， of an oldMassachusetts family， took to the sea at the early age of fifteen. Hefound his way to Shanghai as master of a barque in 185 1， and spentseveral years in the seafaring world on the coast and the Yangtze River.
He was a born adventurer and entered into an agreement with Ta Chi，Chairman of the Patriotic Association， to recapture Sungkiang， whichhad fallen into the hands of the rebels， for a sum of Tls. 30，000， thepayment of the money to be conditional on his success.
He proceeded to enlist a hundred men， chiefly foreign sailorsattracted by the prospect of plunder， and with these he attemptedto take the city of Sungkiang， but failed. Undiscouraged， he thenenlisted the same number of Manila-men （Filipinos） with two foreign1ieutenants， E. Forrester and Henry Andrea Burgevine. With this forcehe delivered a second assault， this time successfully， and drove out theTaiping garrison. Next he undertook to retake Tsingpu （Chingpoo）
with a force of 200 men， accompanied by 10，000 Chinese troops， buthere he found foreigners were assisting the rebels， and was repulsed，being himself severely wounded. He was obliged to retire to Sungkiang，and for over a year made it his headquarters， while he drilled his troops.
Foreigners generally regarded Ward as a filibuster， and theAmericans objected to his actions， as up to this time the policyof neutrality bad been adopted by their government. The Britishauthorities were incensed because the temptation to join Ward"s forceand to enrich themselves by plunder led to many desertions fromthe Navy. In May 186 1， Admiral Hope arrested Ward on the chargeof enticing sailors to leave their ships and he was brought before theAmerican Consul for trial. He secured his acquittal by declaring he hadrenounced his nationality and had become a Chinese subject.
Being obliged to abandon his policy of enlisting foreigners， heundertook to raise and drill a body of Chinese troops to serve underforeign officers， retaining his own body-guard of Manila-men. In thisnew venture he showed marked powers of organization， and developeda force which proved capable of winning many victories.
Owing to the fact that their uniforms were semi-foreign andbecause they wore foreign hats， at first his men were nicknamed “theimitation foreign devils.“The Second Attack on ShanghaiOn January 11th， 186 2， some 30， 000 Tai-pings， with 200
foreigners enlisted in their service， began an advance on Shanghaifrom the direction of Woosung. They reached a point a mile and a halfnorth of the British Consulate， but withdrew when they found theywere opposed by the Volunteers and a battalion of Indian troops. Atthe same time another force threatened Sungkiang， and a third armyadvanced from Hangchow. The force attacking Sungkiang was defeatedat Kwangfuling （a town half-way between Sungkiang and Tsingpu） byWard"s well disciplined troops， and retreated to Pootung. The rebelsadvancing on Shanghai were prevented from taking the field by a heavyfall of snow， early in January， which lasted 58 hours and covered theSettlements and country to a depth of 3 feet in many places. This gavethe forces in the Settle-ments time to organize their defence.
On February 24th， a combined force of English and French sailorsled by Admiral Hope， and 700 of Ward"s men attacked the Taipingsat Kaokiao （Kajow） on the Pootung side between Shanghai andWoosung—and defeated them， and a short time afterwards anotherbody of bout 6，000 Taipings were put to rout by this same force atNankiao （Najow）。 For these victories Ward was Promoted by Imperialdecree to the rank of Brigadier-General in the Chinese army， and thetitle of the “Ever Victorious Army” was bestowed on his force.