Frederick Townsend Ward
Frederick Townsend Ward (; November 29, 1831September 22, 1862) was an American sailor and mercenary known for his military service in Imperial China during the Taiping Rebellion. He commanded the Ever Victorious Army, a joint Sino-foreign force, against the Taiping rebels. He remained in command of the Ever Victorious Army until his death in battle in 1862, after which leadership was taken over by Henry Andres Burgevine. Early life and education Ward was born in Salem, Massachusetts on November 29, 1831. Ward was rebellious in his youth, so his father removed Ward from school in 1847 and found him a position as second mate on the ''Hamilton'', a clipper ship commanded by a family friend. Another version is that Ward demanded to leave school. Life at sea proved difficult. Ward was given authority over many "old salts". He was thrown overboard after complaints that he gave too many orders for a youth. Captain William Allen recalled that Ward possessed traits of "reckless daring ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Salem, Massachusetts
Salem ( ) is a historic coastal city in Essex County, Massachusetts, United States, located on the North Shore (Massachusetts), North Shore of Greater Boston. Continuous settlement by Europeans began in 1626 with English colonists. Salem was one of the most significant seaports trading commodities in Colonial history of the United States, early American history. Prior to the dissolution of county governments in Massachusetts in 1999, it served as one of two county seats for Essex County, alongside Lawrence, Massachusetts, Lawrence. Today, Salem is a residential and tourist area that is home to the House of Seven Gables, Salem State University, Pioneer Village (Salem, Massachusetts), Pioneer Village, the Salem Maritime National Historic Site, Salem Willows, Salem Willows Park, and the Peabody Essex Museum. It features historic residential neighborhoods in the Federal Street District and the Charter Street Historic District. [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Henry Andres Burgevine
Henry Andres Burgevine () (1836–1865) was an American sailor of French ancestry, mercenary and soldier of fortune, who became famous for his military victories for Imperial China during the Taiping Rebellion. Family According to Caleb Carr in his biography of Frederick Townsend Ward, Burgevine was the child of a French officer who had served under Napoleon Bonaparte and who had moved to Chapel Hill, North Carolina where he became an instructor in French at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. His father, after having been caught misappropriating funds by the president of the university, then died in a brawl in South Carolina. Burgevine then lived with his grandparents and sister in Ashford, North Carolina. Career At age seven Burgevine moved to Washington, D.C., with his mother and became a Congressional and then a senatorial page until 1853. After travels in India, Hawaii and Australia, he then returned to Washington and then enlisted in the French Army for t ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Filibuster (military)
A filibuster (from the Spanish ''filibustero''), also known as a freebooter, is someone who engages in an unauthorized military expedition into a foreign country or territory to foster or support a political revolution or secession. The term is usually applied to United States American citizens who incited rebellions/insurrections across Latin America with its recently independent but unstable nations freed from royal control of the Kingdom of Spain and its Spanish Empire in the 1810s and 1820s. These occurred particularly in the mid-19th century, usually with the goal of establishing an American-loyal regime that could later be annexed into the North American Union as territories or free states, serving the interests of the United States. Probably the most notable example is the Filibuster War initiated by William Walker (filibuster), William Walker in the 1850s in Nicaragua and Central America. Filibusters are irregular military, irregular soldiers who act without official autho ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Chinese Steamer Confucius
''Confucius'' () was an early armed riverboat of the Qing dynasty, and one of the earliest modern vessels of China. ''Confucius'' was purchased in July or August 1855, funded by shipping merchants in Shanghai as a response to an increase in piracy due to the Taiping Rebellion. She was transferred to Shanghai's Pirate Suppression Bureau, where she was used as an armed patrol vessel. During her service as a patrol vessel, she was commanded by an American sailor called Gough, and American sailor Frederick Townsend Ward served as the ship's executive officer. Ward would later distinguish himself in battles and assigned the commander of the Ever Victorious Army. Thereafter, ''Confucius'' became part of the Army. In 1860, she took part in the recapture of Songjiang from Taiping rebels. In 1862, she took part in recapturing Ningbo, where she was commanded by Albert Édouard Le Brethon de Caligny. Later that year, she took part in the Battle of Cixi, where Ward was killed in action. ' ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Crimean War
The Crimean War was fought between the Russian Empire and an alliance of the Ottoman Empire, the Second French Empire, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, and the Kingdom of Sardinia (1720–1861), Kingdom of Sardinia-Piedmont from October 1853 to February 1856. Geopolitical causes of the war included the "Eastern question" (Decline and modernization of the Ottoman Empire, the decline of the Ottoman Empire, the "sick man of Europe"), expansion of Imperial Russia in the preceding Russo-Turkish wars, and the British and French preference to preserve the Ottoman Empire to maintain the European balance of power, balance of power in the Concert of Europe. The flashpoint was a dispute between France and Russia over the rights of Catholic Church, Catholic and Eastern Orthodox Church, Orthodox minorities in Palestine (region), Palestine. After the Sublime Porte refused Nicholas I of Russia, Tsar Nicholas I's demand that the Empire's Orthodox subjects were to be placed unde ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Westward Ho! (clipper)
''Westward Ho!'' was an 1852 clipper that made two very fast passages to San Francisco; 100 days from Boston and New York City. She had a very close race with ''Neptune's Car'', and ended her days in the coolie trade. Construction ''Westward Ho!'' had long, very sharp ends, with concave lines. Her frame was of white oak, and planking of hard pine. She was copper fastened, with yellow metal sheathing. The hull was painted black, the inside buff relieved with white, the waterways blue. The finish work below decks was quite fancy, with rosewood, mahogany, carvings, gold ornamentation, and paneled mirrors. Some of the cabins had stained glass windows with Venetian blinds. The figurehead was a Native American warrior giving chase. Voyages ''Westward Ho!'' made a very fast passage to San Francisco between January 12 and April 22, 1855, under Capt. Johnson. She arrived in San Francisco just 100 days and 18 hours from Boston Light. One day later, the clip ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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William Walker (filibuster)
William Walker (May 8, 1824September 12, 1860) was an American physician, lawyer, journalism, journalist, and mercenary. In the era of the expansion of the United States, driven by the doctrine of "manifest destiny", Walker organized unauthorized military expeditions into Mexico and Central America with the intention of establishing Colony, colonies. Such an enterprise was known at the time as "Filibuster (military), filibustering". After settling in California, motivated by an earlier filibustering project of Gaston de Raousset-Boulbon, Walker attempted in 1853–54 to take Baja California Territory, Baja California and Sonora. He declared those territories to be an independent Republic of Sonora, but he was soon driven back to California by the Mexican forces. Walker then went to Nicaragua in 1855 as leader of a mercenary army employed by the Nicaraguan Democratic Party (Nicaragua), Democratic Party in its civil war against the Legitimist Party (Nicaragua), Legitimists. He ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Tehuantepec
Tehuantepec (, in full, Santo Domingo Tehuantepec) is a city and municipality in the southeast of the Mexican state of Oaxaca. It is part of the Tehuantepec District in the west of the Istmo Region. The area was important in pre-Hispanic period as part of a trade route that connected Central America with what is now the center of Mexico. Later it became a secondary capital of the Zapotec dominion, before it was conquered by the Spanish in the early 16th century. The city is still the center of Zapotec culture in the Isthmus of Tehuantepec and is the second largest in the region. The city is known for its women and their traditional dress, which was adopted by Frida Kahlo. Tehuantepec has a reputation for being a matriarchal society. Women dominate the local markets and are known to taunt men. However, political power is still the domain of men. The city experienced a short economic boom in the early 20th century related to a rail line that was built linking the two ocean ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Coolie
Coolie (also spelled koelie, kouli, khuli, khulie, kuli, cooli, cooly, or quli) is a pejorative term used for low-wage labourers, typically those of Indian people, Indian or Chinese descent. The word ''coolie'' was first used in the 16th century by European traders across Asia. In the 18th century, the term more commonly referred to migrant Indian indenture system, Indian indentured labourers. In the 19th century, during the Colonial India, British colonial era, the term was adopted for the transportation and employment of Asian labourers via employment contracts on Sugar plantations in the Caribbean, sugar plantations formerly worked by enslaved Africans. The word has had a variety of negative implications. In modern-day English, it is usually regarded as offensive. In the 21st century, ''coolie'' is generally considered a racial slur for Asians in Oceania, Africa, Southeast Asia, and the Americas (particularly in the Caribbean). The word originated in the 17th-century India ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Giuseppe Garibaldi
Giuseppe Maria Garibaldi ( , ;In his native Ligurian language, he is known as (). In his particular Niçard dialect of Ligurian, he was known as () or (). 4 July 1807 – 2 June 1882) was an Italian general, revolutionary and republican. He contributed to Italian unification (Risorgimento) and the creation of the Kingdom of Italy. He is considered to be one of Italy's " fathers of the fatherland", along with Camillo Benso di Cavour, King Victor Emmanuel II and Giuseppe Mazzini. Garibaldi is also known as the "Hero of the Two Worlds" because of his military enterprises in South America and Europe. Garibaldi was a follower of the Italian nationalist Mazzini and embraced the republican nationalism of the Young Italy movement. He became a supporter of Italian unification under a democratic republican government. However, breaking with Mazzini, he pragmatically allied himself with the monarchist Cavour and Kingdom of Sardinia in the struggle for independence, subordinati ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Norwich University
Norwich University is a private university in Northfield, Vermont, United States. The university was founded in 1819 as the "American Literary, Scientific and Military Academy". It is the oldest of six senior military college, senior military colleges and is recognized by the United States Department of Defense as the "Birthplace of Reserve Officers' Training Corps, ROTC". History Founding The university was founded in 1819 in Norwich, Vermont, by Captain (United States), Captain Alden Partridge, military educator and former superintendent of United States Military Academy, West Point. Partridge believed in the "American System of Education," a traditional liberal arts curriculum with instruction in civil engineering and military science. After leaving West Point because of congressional disapproval of his system, he returned to his native state of Vermont to create the American Literary, Scientific and Military Academy. Partridge, in founding the academy, rebelled against ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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First Opium War
The First Opium War ( zh, t=第一次鴉片戰爭, p=Dìyīcì yāpiàn zhànzhēng), also known as the Anglo-Chinese War, was a series of military engagements fought between the British Empire and the Chinese Qing dynasty between 1839 and 1842. The immediate issue was the Chinese enforcement of their ban on the opium trade by seizing private opium stocks from mainly British merchants at Guangzhou (then named ''Canton'') and threatening to impose the death penalty for future offenders. Despite the opium ban, the British government supported the merchants' demand for compensation for seized goods, and insisted on the principles of free trade and equal diplomatic recognition with China. Opium was Britain's single most profitable commodity trade of the 19th century. After months of tensions between the two states, the Royal Navy launched an expedition in June 1840, which ultimately defeated the Chinese using technologically superior ships and weapons by August 1842. The British ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |