Third Battle of Nanking The Third Battle of Nanking was the last major engagement of the Taiping Rebellion , occurring in 1864 after the death of the king of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom , Hong Xiuquan . There were probably more than a million troops in the battle and the Taiping army sustained 100 , 000 dead ( and many more wounded ) in the three day clash . Following the defeat of the Taiping army the Imperial troops , commanded by Zeng Guofan , slaughtered much of the city ' s population . Nanking had been the capital of the Heavenly Kingdom and was known by the Taipings as Tianjing ( Heavenly Capital - the name should not be confused with Tianjin , China ' s third largest city ) . This battle was the effective end of the Taiping army and the last major Taiping city to fall back under Imperial control . Prelude . In June , 1863 , Imperial Chinese army General Bao Chao ( 鲍超 ) took Jiufu Island ( Jiu Fu Zhou , 九洑洲 ) and the Taiping Army had lost the control of the entire northern shore of the Yangtze River , and Imperial general Bao Chao ( 鲍超 ) subsequently led his force across the Yangtze River and camped on the southern bank of Yangtze River outside the Shence ( 神策 ) Gate of Nanking . In September , 1863 , Zeng Guofan ' s younger brother , a general of Imperial Army , General Zeng Guoquan ( 曾国荃 ) led his force attacked and took Upward Bridge ( Shangfangqiao 上方桥 ) region to the southeast of the city and Eastern Riverine Bridge ( Jiangdonqiao 江东桥 ) region to the southwest of the city . General Zeng Guoquan ( 曾国荃 ) continued his quest in the suburbs of Nanking and by early November , 1863 , he had succeeded in taking regions including Upward Gate ( Shangfangmen 上方门 ) , High Bridge Gate ( Gaoqiaomen 高桥门 ) , Twin Bridge Gate ( Shuangqiaomen 双桥门 ) , Seventh Bridge Jar ( Qiqiaoweng 七桥瓮 ) , Muling ( 秣陵 ) Pass , and Central Peace Bridge ( Zhongheqiao 中和桥 ) . The Taiping Army had therefore lost all of its positions in the southwestern part of Purple Gold ( 紫金 ) Mountain . By mid November , regions including Chunhua ( 淳化 ) , Jiexi ( 解溪 ) , Longdu ( 龙都 ) , Hushu ( 湖熟 ) , Tree Branches Town ( Sanchazhen 三岔镇 ) had fallen under the Imperial Chinese army ' s control . At the same time , the Imperial navy commanded by Imperial admiral Peng Yulin ( 彭玉麟 ) and his deputy , Yang Yuebin ( 杨岳斌 , also known as Yang Zaifu 杨载福 ) took important regions including Gaochun ( 高淳 ) and Eastern Dam ( Dong Ba 东坝 ) with the help of Imperial General Bao Chao ( 鲍超 ) ' s forces . By late November , the Taiping garrison at Lishui ( 溧水 ) had surrendered to Imperial Chinese army . As a result , the Taiping army was evicted from the vast region within 50 miles of Nanking . On November 25 , 1863 , General Zeng Guoquan ( 曾国荃 ) and his subordinate , general Xiao Qingyan ( 萧庆衍 ) deployed troops at Piety Tomb ( Xiaoling 孝陵 ) . The only links to the outside left were the Shengce ( 神策 ) Gate and Taiping ( 太平 ) Gate . On December 20 , 1863 , Li Xiucheng returned to Nanking from Danyang and urged Hong Xiuquan to abandon the Taiping capital the very next day . However , this suggestion was not accepted by Hong Xiuquan , who took overall command of the operation . Hong declared that anyone who disobeyed him and God would be immediately executed . This doomed the Taiping army and Nanking by creating widespread discontent , and coupled with other factors , eventually , over 200 , 000 Taiping troops went out of Nanking and surrendered to the Imperial Chinese army during the entire course of the battle . For those who refused to surrender but were also upset by Hong ' s decisions , chose to break out while they still could , when the siege was still incomplete . Hong , Li and others were unable to stop such acts . On February 28 , 1864 , Tianbao ( 天保 ) Castle at the highest peak of Purple Gold ( 紫金 ) Mountain fell under the Imperial Chinese army ' s control . On March 2 , 1864 , Imperial general Zeng Guoquan ( 曾国荃 ) deployed his troops to Shengce ( 神策 ) Gate and Taiping ( 太平 ) Gate , the siege of Nanking was completed . The battle . On March 14 , 1864 , Imperial general Zeng Guoquan ( 曾国荃 ) attempted his first attack on Nanking using ladders , but this first attempt was beaten back by the defenders . The imperial army then changed tactics , digging a total of ten underground tunnels at Chaoyang ( 朝阳 ) , Shence ( 神策 ) , and Jinchuan ( 金川 ) Gates , and the defenders in turn , countered by digging tunnels of their own and building a secondary wall behind the first . Five days after the death of Hong Xiuquan on June 1 , 1864 , Li Xiucheng was finally put in charge of all military and political affairs , but it was already too late , the fate of the city and its defenders were sealed . On July 3 , 1864 , Dibao Castle ( Dibao Cheng 地保城 , nicknamed Dragon ' s Neck 龙脖子 ) on Purple Gold ( 紫金 ) Mountain fell into the Imperial Chinese army ' s hands . This strategic location enabled the Imperial Chinese army to build several dozen artillery positions to bombard the entire city , thus suppressing the defenders ' firepower and providing cover for other preparations to take the city . One tactic of the attackers was to fill the space between the city wall and the mountain ridge at the Dragon ' s Neck with earth , sand , logs , rocks and grass , so the land surface was raised to the height of the city wall , thus paving the way to attack the city . Another tactic was to dig underground tunnels just 200 feet away from the city wall so that they could be filled with explosives to blow up the wall . Operations within such close proximity of enemy fire were possible due to sufficient covering fire , thanks to the taking of Dibao Castle . The defenders ' s attempts to disrupt the preparations were continuously beaten back with heavy loss due to heavy fire from attackers . Half a month later , the preparation was complete . Realizing the final attack was coming , on the night of July 18 , 1864 , Li Xiucheng ordered more than a thousand defenders to disguise themselves as attackers to sneak out of the city to destroy the tunnel , but the attackers were not fooled and beat back the thousand - man formation . The following afternoon at 13 ： 00 , the attackers detonated the explosives in the tunnel under Taiping ( 太平 ) Gate , the wall breaking and flying 2 – 10 km far down , killing several hundred people , and collapsing a large section of the city wall . The defenders put up a fierce fight , but were unable to drive back the attacking force of 60 , 000 . The attackers were divided into four fronts after entering Nanking as previously planned : The street fight was fierce and bloody and the resistance was much tougher than expected . The attackers ' artillery cover had to stop for fear of injuring their own . The defenders were very stubborn and expected to inflict heavy casualties on the attackers and hoped to drive the attackers back outside the city . After the fall of Chaoyang ( 朝阳 ) Gate , the defenders ' morale collapsed and imperial general Luo Fengyan ( 罗逢源 ) was able to lead his force to break into the city from Jubao ( 聚宝 ) Gate , while imperial general Li Jinzhou ( 李金洲 ) was able to break into the city from ( 通济 ) Gate , linking up with forces led by imperial general Peng Yuju ( 彭毓橘 ) . At the same time , imperial admiral Huang Yisheng ( 黄翼升 ) led the imperial navy to take Zhongguan ( 中关 ) and then took the remaining fortresses still in the defenders ' hands at the river banks , and helped imperial general Chen Ti ( 陈湜 ) take two Shuixi ( 水西 ) and Hanxi ( 旱西 ) gates . By the evening , every gate of the city was firmly in the hands of attackers . Li Xiucheng immediately returned to Hong Xiuquan ' s palace after the defeat at the Taiping ( 太平 ) Gate in the morning , and took Hong Xiuquan ' s son with him to escape via Hanxi ( 旱西 ) gate . However , Li ' s force of several thousand were beaten back with heavy loss by the imperial general Chen Ti ( 陈湜 ) force and was forced to go to Cool Mountain ( Qingliang Shan 清凉山 ) . At night , Li Xiucheng ' s remaining force of a thousand went to Taiping ( 太平 ) Gate and disguised themselves as Imperial Chinese Army forces , and successfully escaped toward Piety Tomb ( Xiaoling 孝陵 ) via the section of collapsed city wall because the imperial Chinese army troops were busy looting , and did not bother to stop them . After massive looting , the city was set on fire which lasted till July 26 , 1864 . Aftermath . Li Xiucheng did not get far after his initial breakout . Imperial general Zeng Guoquan ( 曾国荃 ) sent out a cavalry force of 700 after his force and Li lost contact with Hong Xiuquan ' s son . Most of Taiping army ' s commanders failed to escape : Lie ( 列 ) King Li Wangcai ( 李万材 ) was captured on July 21 , 1864 at Chunhua ( 淳化 ) Town , while Zhang ( 章 ) Lin Shaozhang ( 林绍璋 ) and Junior Western King ( 幼西王 ) Xiao Youhe ( 萧友和 ) was killed at Hushu ( 湖熟 ) Town on the same day . On July 22 , 1864 , Li Xiucheng himself was captured alive near Square Mountain ( Fangshan 方山 ) . On July 28 , 1864 , the overall commander of the battle , Zeng Guofan reached Nanking from Anqing and ordered Li to write his confession , and Li was executed after the completion on August 7 , 1864 . Only Zun ( 遵 ) King Lai Wenguang ( 赖文光 ) succeeded in breaking out with his 3 , 000 cavalry to eventually join the and lead Nien Rebellion to fight for another four years . The success of the Imperial Chinese Army was partially due to the advanced weaponry adopted , namely , the firearms . 1864 was the year when the first Chinese indigenously built bolt - action single - shot rifle appeared , and although the number was extremely few , they proved themselves over other firearms , and certainly over ancient weapons such as sword s , sabre s , spear s and lance s . The third battle of Nanking was a testing ground for the first modern Chinese firearms used in the battle .