Charles George Gordon | British general | Britannica.com Charles George Gordon Evelyn Baring, 1st earl of Cromer Charles George Gordon, byname Chinese Gordon (born Jan. 28, 1833, Woolwich , near London , Eng.—died Jan. 26, 1885, Khartoum, Sudan ), British general who became a national hero for his exploits in China and his ill-fated defense of Khartoum against the Mahdists . Charles George Gordon, portrait by Lady Julia Abercromby; in the National Portrait Gallery, London. Courtesy of The National Portrait Gallery, London Gordon, the son of an artillery officer, was commissioned a second lieutenant in the Royal Engineers in 1852. During the Crimean War (1853–56) he distinguished himself by his reckless bravery in the siege trenches outside Sevastopol . He was promoted to captain in 1859 and volunteered the following year to join the British forces that were fighting the Chinese in the “ Arrow ” War. He was present at the occupation of Beijing (October 1860) and personally directed the burning of the Chinese emperor’s summer palace.

In May 1862 Gordon’s corps of engineers was assigned to strengthen the bulwarks of the European trading centre of Shanghai, which was threatened by the insurgents of the Taiping Rebellion . A year later he became commander of the 3,500-man peasant force, known as the “ Ever-Victorious Army ,” raised to defend the city. During the next 18 months Gordon’s troops played an important, though not a crucial, role in suppressing the Taiping uprising. He returned in January 1865 to England , where an enthusiastic public had already dubbed him “Chinese Gordon.” For the next five years he was commander of the Royal Engineers at Gravesend , Kent; he spent his spare time developing his own unorthodox, mystical brand of Christianity and engaging in philanthropic activity among poor youths. Charles George Gordon (1833 - 1885) - Find A Grave Memorial Khartoum Al Khartoum, Sudan British Army General. Known as "Chinese Gordon" or "Gordon Pasha.�, he is best remembered for his heroic and sacrificial role in the siege of Khartoum, Sudan during the Mahdist Rebellion, which lasted a year and ended with his death.

He had earned the name "Chinese Gordon" in 1864 for his work in China in leading the "Ever-Victorious Army," a band of peasants and adventurers, in the Taiping Rebellion against the Manchu dynasty. Gordon is regarded by some historians as one of Britain's greatest military leaders, and by others as charismatic, yet quixotic and impulsive. He is the subject of several biographies, and was portrayed by actor Charlton Heston, opposite Sir Laurence Olivier as The Mahdi, in the 1966 movie "Khartoum." He was originally interred in Khartoum, but moved to England following Sudanese independence. He is honored via various memorials, including a statue outside the gate of Robert Gordon University in Schoolhill, England. A charismatic statue depicting Gordon astride his favorite camel was also moved from Khartoum to England. First Sudan War 1884-1885 First Sudan War 1884-1885 The Gordon Highlanders were one of the British Army's most celebrated regiments.

It was the local regiment of the North East of Scotland, was first raised in 1794 by the Duke of Gordon, and was assisted by the Duchess. It was said she offered a kiss as an incentive to join up.Always known as the Gordon Highlanders, the Regiment was officially designated the 100th Regiment of foot, becoming in 1798 the 92nd Regiment of foot. The numbering with which it has since been associated.The 1st battalion of the Gordons was sent to Sudan, and was issued grey wool jackets, which were worn throughout the campaign.This was the uniform worn by the Gordons at the Battles of El Teb, and Tamai in 1884. There were seven companies at Tamai, and they formed the left side and front corner of General Buller's square. Their "machine-like" volleys of gun fire were one of the main reasons that the pressure was relieved on the second British square which had been broken by the Dervish onslaught. At Kirbekan, 10th February 1885, only Captain Ian Hamilton's D Company was present in the last desperate attempt to relieve Gen.

Charles Gordon in Khartoum.At the close of 1885 the regiment returned to Egypt for a rest and was then reassigned to duty at Malta. The Naval Brigade was a generic term used to define a body of Seamen, and Royal Marines, drawn from their ships and landed for active service under the orders of an army commander. Numbers were immaterial, and it did not relate to an army Brigade. Often it would not even be of battalion strength. Generally the armament of the Naval Brigade was made up of what was available from the parent ships, from where the Brigade was drawn.The Gatling gun or its variants was the main weapon of the Naval Brigade in Egypt and the Sudan.The original Gatling gun was a field weapon which used multiple rotating barrels turned by a hand crank and firing loose (no links or belt) metal cartridge ammunition using a gravity feed system from a hopper. The Gatling gun's innovation lay neither in the rotating mechanism nor the use of multiple barrels to limit overheating; rather, the innovation was the gravity feed reloading mechanism which allowed unskilled operators to achieve a relatively high rate of fire of 200 rounds per minute.

It cannot be said that the seamen of the naval brigades were well trained in land/infantry warfare. Those that had passed through HMS Excellent, the Naval Gunnery School at Whale Island, had received instruction in naval gunnery and gun drill, as well as bome elementary drill on the parade ground for forming fours and squares. Some rifle drill was taught, but the standards of marksmanship was not high, and for those that had not passed through Whale Island, were even less accomplished. When landed for service in a naval brigade, the individual seaman was armed with a rifle and a cutlass-bayonet. When fixed as a bayonet, the cutlass-bayonet made the rifle very muzzle-heavy and even less accurate than it already was in the hands of the sailors. The Gordon at Khartoum Vignette is based on the famous painting by George William Joy, an Irish painter born in 1844. He was probably best known for his painting of the death of General Charles Gordon, a British national hero and icon, who died defending Khartoum against the Mahdi (Painted in 1885 and on display in the Leeds City Art Gallery).

In the early 1880's, a Muslim uprising began in the Sudan, threatening Egypt and British Colonial interests. The leader of the revolt was Muhammad Ahmad, who called himself the "Mahdi" or expected one. His objective was to restore Muslim practices and eradicate foreign influences. Through fear and awe, the Mahdi managed to gather thousands of loyal followers. Ultimately, Great Britain was obliged to address the situation, and did so by sending a national hero to Khartoum, General Charles Gordon, known as "Chinese" Gordon for his leadership in suppressing the Taiping Uprising in China some years earlier. Charles Gordon was seen as a "Christian Soldier," who as previous Governor General of Equatoria and then the full Sudan, ended slavery.

He knew the Bible well and had even managed to locate the site of the Genesis "Garden Of Eden."As a soldier, Gordon was a military engineer, which would serve him well when forced to fortify Khartoum.Gordon was also fiercely independent and whose personal view of justice conflicted with political prerogatives.Stubborn, insubordinate, and frequently arrogant, he traveled up the Nile River to evacuate the Europeans and Egyptians, despite having publicly criticized this policy in the British press only weeks before his assignment was posted. Gordon’s own agenda was to defend Khartoum against the Mahdi. In 1884 it became apparent that Gordon was not leaving Khartoum. The Prospect of his death and the loss of the Sudan prompted national outcry in Britain, including Queen Victoria who pressured Prime Minister Gladstone into sending a relief force. On March 25th, the Queen wrote to the Secretary of War, Lord Hartington, "Gordon is in Danger: you are bound to try and save him." The Forces of the Mahdi breached Khartoum's defences in January 1885, slaughtering the inhabitants and murdering Governor-General Charles Gordon.

His severed head was paraded before the Mahdi on a Pike. Gordon at Khartoum A "MOST SAVAGE BATTLE": ABU KLEA, 1885 - Deadliest Blogger - Scout A "MOST SAVAGE BATTLE": ABU KLEA, 1885 Barry C. Jacobsen Tuesday at 8:10 AM ln 1881, in the Sudan, a leader emerged from out of the sands of the desert. He was a man of the desert; a mystic and a man of God. His name was Muhammad Ahmad and claimed to be the “Expected One”, the true “Mahdi”. He soon gathered a force of followers from the desert tribes, and declared jihad. The Mahdi’s Army grew and his revolt spread. The Dervishes (as they came to be known) captured towns and defeated small Egyptian forces sent to destroy them.

The Mahdi (R), and as portrayed by Sir Lawrence Olivier (L) in the 1966 film, "Khartoum" Then, in 1883, the Turkish governor of Egypt hired William "Billy" Hicks , a retired British Colonel and several British subordinates to lead a modern army into the Sudan and crush the Mahdi. Hicks Pasha had at his disposal 10,000 regular infantry armed with modern rifles, 1,000 irregular cavalry, 14 field pieces and 6 Nordenfelt multiple barrel machine guns. On paper it was an imposing force. But the infantry had been recruited from pardoned rebels and the cavalry were undisciplined bashibazouks. In the words of Winston Churchill , it was "perhaps the worst army that has ever marched to war": unpaid, untrained, undisciplined, its soldiers having more in common with their enemies than with their officers. The Mahdi awaited them, with 40,000 spear and sword-armed tribesmen. They had few rifles and no field guns; but they had something perhaps even greater. The Mahdi promised them a miracle, and they believed him.

Dervish weapons, shields and armor They also knew the desert. The Mahdi retreated, and Hicks pursed. Further and further the Mahdi drew his enemy, and Hicks followed; slowed by an immense train of 5,000 camels. The Egyptians withered in the blistering desert heat, their water supplies dwindling. Day after day, they marched on, the Dervishes always just beyond their reach. Finally, his army spent, Hicks ordered a retreat back to El Obied. It was then the Mahdi stopped retreating, and turned on his enemy. The Egyptians were soon surrounded. For two days their square held, until it collapsed. Hicks and all of the European officers perished; and only 500 survivors returned to Egypt. They left in the Mahdi’s hands all of their equipment. If formidable with spear and sword, how dangerous would the Dervishes now be with modern weapons? The harsh, forbidding Sudanese desert. It was in just such terrain that Hick's column was destroyed by the Dervish Army. The loss of Hick’s army was a deep embarrassment to both Egypt and British government.

While technically a part of the Ottoman Empire, Egypt was effectively under the protection of the British Empire. Its army was trained and led by British officers. Pride aside, of more concern was the loss of more than 8,000 rifles and the 14 pieces of modern artillery. The government of Prime Minister William Gladstone was forced by an outraged public to take action. In contrast to his arch political rival, Disraeli, Gladstone was a staunch anti-imperialist; and was loath to commit British forces to a war in the Sudan. However, to ease British public opinion, Gladstone appointed a retired national hero, General Charles “Chinese” Gordon , as Governor-General of the Sudan. While most famous for having led the Chinese Imperial government’s “Ever Victorious Army” to final victory in the Taiping Rebellion; Gordon had served as Governor of the Sudan in the 1870s, where he had suppressed the slave trade. It was a popular appointment both in Britain and in the Sudan.

Charles "Chinese" Gordon (right), and Charlton Heston, who portrayed Chinese Gordon in the film "Khartoum" (1966) But Gordon was not sent to the Sudan to fight the Mahdi. He had no troops at his disposal, and none were promised should he get himself into trouble. He was sent in hopes that his name alone would rally support to the government and against the Mahdi; and failing that, to organize the evacuation of all European personnel from the Sudanese capital, Khartoum. Gordon arrived in Khartoum in February, 1884. However, Gladstone had overestimated both the dampening effect Gordon’s arrival in the Sudan would have on the Mahdist revolt; and Gordon’s willingness to obey orders. Once ensconced in the Governor’s palace in Khartoum, Gordon began calling for Gladstone to send troops to help his beloved Sudanese in resisting the Dervishes. Meanwhile, he spent the year preparing Khartoum to stand siege till relief arrived. As the Mahdist revolt spread, Gordon and Khartoum were increasingly isolated.

A loose Dervish blockade of the city began on March 18, 1884, with the telegraph line to Cairo being cut and river traffic interdicted. Fearful for their hero’s life, the British press and public called for a relief expedition. A stubborn and incensed Gladstone resisted as long as was politically possible. Then, in August 1884 he ordered a British relief force to Gordon’s rescue. Called the Khartoum Relief Expedition (or, more popularly in the press, the Gordon Relief Expedition), a force of 4,500 crack British regulars were placed under the command of Field Marshal Garnet Wolseley , Britain’s most eminent general. Steaming from England to Alexandria, the expedition then set out from Egypt and up the Nile in two columns. The largest was led by Wolseley himself, and traveled south down the Nile by riverboats. The other, the elite Camel Corps, was commanded by Sir Herbert Stewart . These took the direct route from Wadi Halfa across the desert. Stewart’s force, 1,400 strong, was composed of some of the best units in the British army: 1.

The Heavy Camel Corps, comprised of the Household Cavalry, Dragoon Guards, Dragoons and Lancers. 2. The Guards Camel Corps, comprising Grenadier, Coldstream and Scots Guards and Royal Marine Light Infantry. 3. The Mounted Infantry Camel Corps, drawn from the 1st Battalion the Sussex Regiment. 4. Four light field pieces and a small Naval Brigade manning a Gardner machine gun completed the force. The actual men of the Camel Corps, posing for a photo, 1885 Contrary to what was portrayed in the 2002 film, The Four Feathers, the men of Stewarts command did not wear the traditional British redcoat. Instead, they wore grey tunics, cord breeches and pith helmets stained brown. The infantry of the Sussex Regiment wore khaki tunics. The British troops were all armed with the Martini-Henry breach-loading rifle, equipped with a 22 inch sword-bayonet. Both infantry and cavalry units were mounted on camels, except for the 19th Hussars. These retained their horses; and carried carbines and swords instead of rifles.

As Stewart’s column neared the oasis of Abu Klea on January 16, 1885, pickets of the 19th Hussars encountered parties of Dervishes. It could be seen that a large force was waiting at the wells and ready to give battle. The British had left the last water some 43 miles before and were in need of replenishment. Nevertheless it was apparent that Abu Klea could only be taken by assault. Stewart halted two miles short of Abu Klea and camped. The following morning, January 17 the British waited a Dervish attack behind a zereba (hedge) of thorn brush they had erected around their camp. Mounted parties were sent out to skirmish with the Dervishes, in hope of stinging them into a costly assault on the well-defended British camp. When the Mahdist failed to take the bait, Stewart broke camp. Forming up his command into a large, hollow square with the camels in the center, Stewart’s dismounted force advanced on the wells of Abu Klea. A 13,000 strong Dervish force waited for Stewart.

Among these were the Mahdi's fiercest warriors: the Hadendoa. Noted for their bushy, “Afro” style hair, they were nicknamed the “Fuzzy Wuzzies”. In battle they wielded a long broadsword (called a “kaskara”, right) and broad-bladed spears, and for defense a round hippo-hide shield. Making good use of terrain and cover to come to close quarters, they were feared for their ferocious charges. In these years of conflict they earned an unenviable reputation for their hideous mutilations of the dead on the battlefields. Photo taken of Hadendoa warrior ("Fuzzie Wuzzie") The British “Tommy” learned a healthy respect for the Hadendoa warriors.

Rudyard Kipling , the poet-laureate of Queen Victoria’s army, immortalized them in his famous poem, “Fuzzy Wuzzy”: "We've fought with many men acrost the seas, An' some of 'em was brave an' some was not: The Paythan an' the Zulu an' Burmese; But the Fuzzy was the finest o' the lot." For Herbert Stewart and the British, the Battle of Abu Klea began with inauspiciously with mishap. At around 9:30am, as the British square wheeled to the right to move onto higher ground, the Dervishes emerged from the concealment of a nearby gully and charged the square. At this critical juncture, the British fire was hampered by the presence of their own skirmishers between them and the enemy. These had to be permitted to regain the square before volley fire could commence. The rapidly approaching Dervishes followed close on the retreating skirmishers, consequently coming to within 200 yards or less of the square before the first volleys could be delivered; depriving the British of long-range fire.

The Martini-Henry rifle with bayonet types Near disaster loomed when, at this most inopportune moment, a potentially fatal gap opened in a corner of the square. This was partially due to the uneven nature of the ground, and to the inexperience of the Naval Brigade and the dismounted cavalry contingents, who were attempting to fight as infantry. The Dervish charge was delivered at the section of the square held by the Mounted Infantry Regiment of the Camel Corps. Captain Lord Beresford of the Naval Brigade brought his Gardner gun from its position at the rear of the square and took it out through the Mounted Infantry line and opened fire on the charging warriors. But after firing just some 70 rounds, the Gardner gun jammed; something it had an unfortunate tendency to do. Before it could be cleared the Dervish spearmen swarmed over and overwhelmed the detachment; slaughtering all but Lord Beresford, who fell under the gun, along with one of the junior men.

Despite this reverse, the heavy volley firing from the Mounted Infantry and shrapnel from the 3 guns in their front repulsed the Mahdist charge; which coursed around the left face of the square to fall on the gap in the square, where the Heavy Cavalry Camel regiment was posted. The troopers of this Regiment were defending themselves with the long infantry rifle, a weapon they were unfamiliar with. The cavalry officers had no experience in defending an infantry square. The result was perhaps predictable: Swarming forward, the Dervishes penetrated through the gap and into the square. At this moment Colonel Frederick Burnaby of the Horse Guards rushed forward to stem the tide. A large man who famously loved a good fight, Burnaby waded into the oncoming horde. Fighting with sword from horseback, Burnaby fenced with onrushing warriors; till a thrusting spearman, coming from his flank, caught him in the throat, mortally wounding him. Rushing past the dying Burnaby and on into the interior of the square, the Dervishes were balked by the mass of camels packed into the interior; preventing the Dervishes from smashing into the exposed rear ranks of the British troops on the opposing faces of the square.

As the camels scampered out of the way, the rear rank of the Mounted Infantry in the front-face of the square, and the Foot Guards and Royal Marines on the right-face turned about, and opened a devastating fire on the blood-mad Dervish warriors. Their attack was soon broken, and thrown back. The battle was only ten, frantic minutes long. It resulted in 76 dead and 82 wounded British soldiers. The Mahdists took approximately 1,500 casualties. By 4pm, the British had taken the wells and the Dervish force was in retreat. Winston Churchill, in his book "The River War" called the fight at Abu Klea “The most savage and bloody action ever fought in the Sudan by British troops...” Two days later, Stewart was mortally wounded by a stray bullet in a skirmish. The advance continued unabated. Concerned with Wolseley’s column approaching as well along the river, the Mahdi decided to order an assault on Khartoum, before the relief columns could arrive to break the siege. Despite his careful preparations, Gordon’s defenses crumbled and the city fell. Gordon died on the steps of his palace to a Dervish spear.

The death of Gordon The Gordon Relief Expedition arrived at Khartoum two days later. Finding Gordon and the European nationals dead, the British withdrew; and the Mahdi took complete control of the Sudan. Six months later, the Mahdi died of typhus. But the Dervish state continued on for another 14 years; till Britain sent a second army under Sir Herbert Kitchener to finish what Wolseley and Stewart had begun. Scene from the 1966 film, Khartoum, depicting (inaccurately) the Battle of Abu Klea. Note the total lack of Dervish foot, among other flaws. (At least music is stirring!) Share on Facebook BBC - History - Historic Figures: General Charles Gordon (1833 - 1885) z General Charles Gordon © British general Charles Gordon became a national hero for his exploits in China and his ill-fated defence of Khartoum against Sudanese rebels. Charles Gordon was born on 28 January 1833, the son of a senior army officer. He was commissioned into the Royal Engineers in 1852.

He distinguished himself in the Crimean War (1853 - 1856) and in 1860 volunteered for the 'Arrow' war against the Chinese. In May 1862 Gordon's corps of engineers was assigned to strengthen the European trading centre of Shanghai, which was threatened by the insurgents of the Taiping Rebellion. A year later he became commander of the 3,500-man peasant force raised to defend the city. During the next 18 months Gordon's troops played an important role in suppressing the Taiping uprising. He returned to England in January 1865, where an enthusiastic public had already dubbed him 'Chinese Gordon'. In 1873, he was appointed governor of the province of Equatoria in the Sudan. Between April 1874 and December 1876 he mapped the upper Nile and established a line of stations along the river as far south as present day Uganda. He was then promoted to governor general, where he asserted his authority, crushing rebellions and suppressing the slave trade. However, ill health forced him to resign and return to England in 1880 before travelling once more to places including India, China and South Africa.

In February 1884 Gordon returned to the Sudan to evacuate Egyptian forces from Khartoum threatened by Sudanese rebels led by Muhammad Ahmad al-Mahdi. Khartoum came under siege the next month and on 26 January 1885 the rebels broke into the city, killing Gordon (apparently against al-Mahdi's instructions) and the other defenders. The British relief force arrived two days later. The British public reacted to his death by acclaiming 'Gordon of Khartoum', who had had a strong Christian faith, a martyred warrior-saint and by blaming the government, particularly William Gladstone, for failing to relieve the siege. However, historians have since suggested that Gordon defied orders and refused to evacuate Khartoum even though it remained possible until late in the siege.

Military History Books - online military history bookshop Military History - Political & Biographies - Gordon of Khartoum Collection Political & Biographies - Gordon of Khartoum Collection A selection of works on the life & military achievements of General Charles George Gordon, Victorian hero who gave his life in January, 1885 defending Khartoum from the Dervish Rebellion Listed by Author & Title - 10 Titles per page GENERAL GORDON by Lord Elton The life of Charles George "Chinese" Gordon, one of the remarkable British military commanders of the 19th Century. His service took him from Africa to China, and eventually to the Sudan and his death at the hands of the Dervishes at Khartoum. The remarkable story of a Victorian Christian hero. 1954, Collins, , ,< J-02>,447pp, ills, maps, blue boards with white cup ring and other marks, faded spine - no d/w, , Subject...Political & Biographies - Gordon of Khartoum CollectionWeb No.

870-03..............................£4.00 Charles George Gordon | Military Wiki | Fandom powered by Wikia Legion of Honour Major-General Charles George Gordon, CB (28 January 1833 – 26 January 1885), also known as Chinese Gordon, Gordon Pasha, and Gordon of Khartoum, was a British army officer and administrator. He saw action in the Crimean War as an officer in the British Army , but he made his military reputation in China , where he was placed in command of the " Ever Victorious Army ," a force of Chinese soldiers led by European officers. In the early 1860s, Gordon and his men were instrumental in putting down the Taiping Rebellion , regularly defeating much larger forces. For these accomplishments, he was given the nickname "Chinese" Gordon and honours from both the Emperor of China and the British. He entered the service of the Khedive in 1873 (with British government approval) and later became the Governor-General of the Sudan , where he did much to suppress revolts and the slave trade . Exhausted, he resigned and returned to Europe in 1880.

A serious revolt then broke out in the Sudan, led by a Muslim reformer and self-proclaimed Mahdi , Muhammad Ahmad . Gordon was sent to Khartoum with instructions to secure the evacuation of loyal soldiers and civilians, and depart with them. After evacuating about 2,500 British civilians he retained a smaller group of soldiers and non-military men. As an ardent Christian evangelist he was determined to stand up to the Mahdi, a Muslim. In the buildup to battle, the two leaders corresponded, each attempting to convert the other to his faith, but neither would accede. Besieged by the Mahdi's forces, Gordon organized a city-wide defence lasting almost a year that gained him the admiration of the British public, but not the government, which had not wished to become entrenched (as Gordon was instructed before setting out). Only when public pressure to act had become too great did the government reluctantly send a relief force. It arrived two days after the city had fallen and Gordon had been killed.

Contents Edit Gordon was born in Woolwich, London, a son of Major-General Henry William Gordon (1786–1865) and Elizabeth (Enderby) Gordon (1792–1873). He was educated at Fullands School in Taunton, Somerset , Taunton School , and the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich . He was commissioned in 1852 as a second lieutenant in the Royal Engineers , completing his training at Chatham. He was promoted to full lieutenant in 1854. Gordon was first assigned to construct fortifications at Milford Haven, Pembrokeshire, Wales. When the Crimean War began, he was sent to the Russian Empire, arriving at Balaklava in January 1855. He was put to work in the Siege of Sevastopol and took part in the assault of the Redan from 18 June to 8 September. Gordon took part in the expedition to Kinburn , and returned to Sevastopol at the war's end. For his services in the Crimea, he received the Crimean war medal and clasp .

[1] Following the peace , he was attached to an international commission to mark the new border between the Russian Empire and the Ottoman Empire in Bessarabia . He continued surveying, marking of the boundary into Asia Minor. Gordon returned to Britain in late 1858, and was appointed as an instructor at Chatham. He was promoted to captain in April 1859. [1] China Edit Charles Gordon as a tidu (Captain General). In 1860 Gordon volunteered to serve in China (see the Second Opium War and the Taiping Rebellion ). [2] He arrived at Tianjin in September of that year. He was present at the occupation of Beijing and destruction of the Summer Palace . The British forces occupied northern China until April 1862, then under General Charles William Dunbar Staveley , withdrew to Shanghai to protect the European settlement from the rebel Taiping army. Following the successes in the 1850s in the provinces of Guangxi, Hunan and Hubei, and the capture of Nanjing in 1853 the rebel advance had slowed.

For some years, the Taipings gradually advanced eastwards, but eventually they came close enough to Shanghai to alarm the European inhabitants. A militia of Europeans and Asians was raised for the defense of the city and placed under the command of an American , Frederick Townsend Ward , and occupied the country to the west of Shanghai. [3] The British arrived at a crucial time. Staveley decided to clear the rebels within 30 miles (48 km) of Shanghai in cooperation with Ward and a small French force. [3] Gordon was attached to his staff as engineer officer. Jiading , northwest suburb of present Shanghai, Qingpu and other towns were occupied, and the area was fairly cleared of rebels by the end of 1862. [3] Ward was killed in the Battle of Cixi and his successor H. A. Burgevine , an American was disliked by the Imperial Chinese authorities. [4] Li Hongzhang , the governor of the Jiangsu province, requested Staveley to appoint a British officer to command the contingent. Staveley selected Gordon, who had been made a brevet major in December 1862 and the nomination was approved by the British government.

[4] In March 1863 Gordon took command of the force at Songjiang , which had received the name of " Ever Victorious Army ." [4] Without waiting to reorganize his troops, Gordon led them at once to the relief of Chansu , a town 40 miles north-west of Shanghai. The relief was successfully accomplished and Gordon quickly won the respect of his troops. His task was made easier by innovative military ideas Ward had implemented in the Ever Victorious Army. He then reorganized his force and advanced against Kunshan , which was captured at considerable loss. Gordon then took his force through the country, seizing towns until, with the aid of Imperial troops, the city of Suzhou was captured in November. [4] Following a dispute with Li Hongzhang over the execution of rebel leaders, Gordon withdrew his force from Suzhou and remained inactive at Kunshan until February 1864. [4] Gordon then made a rapprochement with Li and visited him in order to arrange for further operations.

The "Ever-Victorious Army" resumed its high tempo advance, culminating in the capture of Changzhou Fu (see also Battle of Changzhou ) in May, the principal military base of the Taipings in the region. Gordon then returned to Kunshan and disbanded his army. The Emperor promoted Gordon to the rank of tidu (提督: "Chief commander of Jiangsu province"), decorated him with the imperial yellow jacket , and raised him to Qing's Viscount first class. The British Army promoted Gordon to Lieutenant-Colonel and he was made a Companion of the Bath . He also gained the popular nickname "Chinese Gordon." Africa Edit Gordon returned to Britain and commanded the Royal Engineers' efforts around Gravesend, Kent, the erection of forts for the defense of the River Thames. Following the death of his father he undertook extensive social work in the town including teaching at the local ragged school [5] and donated the gardens of his official residence Fort House (now a museum) to the town. In October 1871, he was appointed British representative on the international commission to maintain the navigation of the mouth of the River Danube, with headquarters at Galatz .

In 1872, Gordon was sent to inspect the British military cemeteries in the Crimea, and when passing through Constantinople he made the acquaintance of the Prime Minister of Egypt , who opened negotiations for Gordon to serve under the Khedive , Ismail Pasha . In 1873, Gordon received a definite offer from the Khedive, which he accepted with the consent of the British government, and proceeded to Egypt early in 1874. Gordon was made a colonel in the Egyptian army. The Egyptian authorities had been extending their control southwards since the 1820s. An expedition was sent up the White Nile , under Sir Samuel Baker , which reached Khartoum in February 1870 and Gondokoro in June 1871. Baker met with great difficulties and managed little beyond establishing a few posts along the Nile. The Khedive asked for Gordon to succeed Baker as governor of the region. After a short stay in Cairo, Gordon proceeded to Khartoum via Suakin and Berber. From Khartoum, he proceeded up the White Nile to Gondokoro.

Gordon remained in the Gondokoro provinces until October 1876. He had succeeded in establishing a line of way stations from the Sobat confluence on the White Nile to the frontier of Uganda , where he proposed to open a route from Mombasa. In 1874 he built the station at Dufile on the Albert Nile to reassemble steamers carried there past rapids for the exploration of Lake Albert . Considerable progress was made in the suppression of the slave trade. [6] However, Gordon had come into conflict with the Egyptian governor of Khartoum and Sudan. The clash led to Gordon informing the Khedive that he did not wish to return to the Sudan and he left for London. Ismail Pasha wrote to him saying that he had promised to return, and that he expected him to keep his word. Gordon agreed to return to Cairo, and was asked to take the position of Governor-General of the entire Sudan, which he accepted. Governor-General of the Sudan Edit As governor, Gordon faced a variety of challenges. During the 1870s, European initiatives against the slave trade caused an economic crisis in northern Sudan, precipitating increasing unrest.

Relations between Egypt and Abyssinia (later renamed Ethiopia ) had become strained due to a dispute over the district of Bogos, and war broke out in 1875. An Egyptian expedition was completely defeated near Gundet. A second and larger expedition, under Prince Hassan, was sent the following year and was routed at Gura. Matters then remained quiet until March 1877, when Gordon proceeded to Massawa, hoping to make peace with the Abyssinians . He went up to Bogos and wrote to the king proposing terms. However, he received no reply as the king had gone southwards to fight with the Shoa. Gordon, seeing that the Abyssinian difficulty could wait, proceeded to Khartoum. An insurrection had broken out in Darfur and Gordon went to deal with it. The insurgents were numerous and he saw that diplomacy had a better chance of success. Gordon, accompanied only by an interpreter, rode into the enemy camp to discuss the situation. This bold move proved successful, as many of the insurgents joined him, though the remainder retreated to the south.

Gordon visited the provinces of Berber and Dongola, and then returned to the Abyssinian frontier, before ending up back in Khartoum in January 1878. Gordon was summoned to Cairo, and arrived in March to be appointed president of a commission. The Khedive was deposed in 1879 in favor of his son. Gordon returned south and proceeded to Harrar , south of Abyssinia, and, finding the administration in poor standing, dismissed the governor. He then returned to Khartoum, and went again into Darfur to suppress the slave traders. His subordinate, Gessi Pasha , fought with great success in the Bahr-el-Ghazal district in putting an end to the revolt there. Gordon then tried another peace mission to Abyssinia. The matter ended with Gordon's imprisonment and transfer to Massawa. Thence he returned to Cairo and resigned his Sudan appointment. He was exhausted by years of incessant work.

In the early months of 1880, he recovered for a couple of weeks in the Hotel du Faucon in Lausanne, 3 Rue St Pierre, famous for its views on Lake Geneva and because celebrities such as Giuseppe Garibaldi (one of Gordon's heroes, [7] possibly one of the reasons Gordon had chosen this hotel) had stayed there. Other offers Edit In March 1880, Gordon visited King Leopold II of Belgium in Brussels and was invited to take charge of the Congo Free State . In April, the government of the Cape Colony offered him the position of commandant of the Cape local forces. In May, the Marquess of Ripon , who had been given the post of Governor-General of India, asked Gordon to go with him as private secretary. Gordon accepted the offer, but shortly after arriving in India, he resigned. Hardly had he resigned when he was invited by Sir Robert Hart, 1st Baronet , inspector-general of customs in China, to Beijing. He arrived in China in July and met Li Hongzhang, and learned that there was risk of war with Russia. Gordon proceeded to Beijing and used all his influence to ensure peace.

Gordon returned to Britain and rented an apartment on 8 Victoria Grove in London. But in April 1881 left for Mauritius as Commanding Royal Engineer. He remained in Mauritius until March 1882, when he was promoted to major-general . He was sent to the Cape to aid in settling affairs in Basutoland . He returned to the United Kingdom after only a few months. Being unemployed, Gordon decided to go to Palestine, [8] a region he had long desired to visit; he would remain there for a year (1882–83). After his visit, Gordon suggested in his book Reflections in Palestine a different location for Golgotha , the site of Christ's crucifixion . The site lies north of the traditional site at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre and is now known as "The Garden Tomb ," or sometimes as "Gordon's Calvary." Gordon's interest was prompted by his religious beliefs, as he had become an evangelical Christian in 1854. [9] King Leopold II then asked him again to take charge of the Congo Free State.

He accepted and returned to London to make preparations, but soon after his arrival the British requested that he proceed immediately to the Sudan, where the situation had deteriorated badly after his departure—another revolt had arisen, led by the self-proclaimed Mahdi , Mohammed Ahmed . The Mahdist revolt File:"At Last!" (1885) - TIMEA.jpg The Egyptian forces in the Sudan were insufficient to cope with the rebels, and the northern government was occupied in the suppression of the Urabi Revolt . By September 1882, the Sudanese position had grown perilous. In December 1883, the British government ordered Egypt to abandon the Sudan, but that was difficult to carry out, as it involved the withdrawal of thousands of Egyptian soldiers, civilian employees, and their families. The British government asked Gordon to proceed to Khartoum to report on the best method of carrying out the evacuation. Gordon started for Cairo in January 1884, accompanied by Lt. Col. J. D. H. Stewart . At Cairo, he received further instructions from Sir Evelyn Baring , and was appointed governor-general with executive powers.

Traveling through Korosko and Berber, he arrived at Khartoum on 18 February, where he offered his earlier foe, the slaver-king Sebehr Rahma , release from prison in exchange for leading troops against Ahmed. [10] Gordon commenced the task of sending the women and children and the sick and wounded to Egypt, and about 2,500 had been removed before the Mahdi's forces closed in. Gordon hoped to have the influential local leader Sebehr Rahma appointed to take control of Sudan, but the British government refused to support a former slaver. The advance of the rebels against Khartoum was combined with a revolt in the eastern Sudan; the Egyptian troops at Suakin were repeatedly defeated. A British force was sent to Suakin under General Sir Gerald Graham , and forced the rebels away in several hard-fought actions. Gordon urged that the road from Suakin to Berber be opened, but his request was refused by the government in London, and in April Graham and his forces were withdrawn and Gordon and the Sudan were abandoned. The garrison at Berber surrendered in May, and Khartoum was completely isolated. Gordon organized the defense of Khartoum.

A siege by the Mahdist forces started on 18 March 1884. The British had decided to abandon the Sudan, but it was clear that Gordon had other plans, and the public increasingly called for a relief expedition. It was not until August that the government decided to take steps to relieve Gordon, and only by November was the British relief force, called the Nile Expedition , or, more popularly, the Khartoum Relief Expedition or Gordon Relief Expedition (a title that Gordon strongly deprecated), under the command of Field Marshal Garnet Wolseley , ready. The force consisted of two groups, a "flying column" of camel-borne troops from Wadi Halfa . The troops reached Korti towards the end of December, and arrived at Metemma on 20 January 1885. There they found four gunboats which had been sent north by Gordon four months earlier, and prepared them for the trip back up the Nile. On 24 January, two of the steamers were sent on a reconnaissance mission to Khartoum, with orders from Wolseley not to rescue Gordon or bring him ammunition or food.

[11] On arriving there on 28 January, they found that the city had been captured and Gordon had been killed two days previously (two days before his 52nd birthday). The small force was driven back down the river. The British press criticized the army for arriving two days late but it was later argued that the Mahdi's forces had good intelligence and if the army had advanced earlier, the attack on Khartoum would also have come earlier. Also the boats sent were not there to relieve Gordon and would have offered scant military support for the besieged. [11] Death George W. Joy 's portrayal of Gordon's death The manner of his death is uncertain but it was romanticized in a popular painting by George William Joy - General Gordon's Last Stand (1885, currently in the Leeds City Art Gallery), and again in the film Khartoum (1966) with Charlton Heston as Gordon. Gordon was killed around dawn fighting the warriors of the Mahdi. As recounted in Bernard M. Allen’s article "How Khartoum Fell" (1941), the Mahdi had given strict orders to his three Khalifas not to kill Gordon.

However, the orders were not obeyed. Gordon died on the steps of a stairway in the northwestern corner of the palace, where he and his personal bodyguard, Agha Khalil Orphali, had been firing at the enemy. Orphali was knocked unconscious and did not see Gordon die. When he woke up again that afternoon, he found Gordon's body covered with flies and the head cut off. [12] Reference is made to an 1889 account of the General surrendering his sword to a senior Mahdist officer, then being struck and subsequently speared in the side as he rolled down the staircase. [13] When Gordon's head was unwrapped at the Mahdi's feet, he ordered the head transfixed between the branches of a tree "...where all who passed it could look in disdain, children could throw stones at it and the hawks of the desert could sweep and circle above."[ citation needed ] His body was desecrated and thrown down a well. [14] After the reconquest of the Sudan, in 1898, several attempts were made to locate Gordon's remains, but in vain.

Many of Gordon's papers were saved and collected by two of his sisters, Helen Clark Gordon, who married Gordon's medical colleague in China, Dr. Moffit, and Mary, who married Gerald Henry Blunt. Gordon's papers, as well as some of his grandfather's (Samuel Enderby III), were accepted by the British Library around 1937. Memorials Edit News of Gordon's death led to an "unprecedented wave of public grief across Britain." A memorial service, conducted by the Bishop of Newcastle, was held at St. Paul's Cathedral on 14 March. The Lord Mayor of London opened a public subscription to raise funds for a permanent memorial to Gordon; this eventually materialized as the Gordon Boys Home, now Gordon's School in West End, Woking . [15] [16] Statues were erected in Trafalgar Square, London, in Chatham, Gravesend, Melbourne and Khartoum. Southampton, where Gordon had stayed with his sister, Augusta, in Rockstone Place prior to his departure to the Sudan, erected a memorial in Porter's Mead, now Queen's Park, near the town's docks.

[15] On 16 October 1885, the "light and elegant structure" was unveiled; it comprises a stone base on which there are four polished red Aberdeen granite columns, about twenty feet high. The columns are surmounted by carved capitals supporting a cross. The pedestal bears the arms of the Gordon clan and of the borough of Southampton, and also Gordon’s name in Chinese. Around the base is an inscription referring to Gordon as a soldier, philanthropist and administrator; the inscription mentions those parts of the world in which he served, and closes with a quotation from his last letter to his sisters: "I am quite happy, thank God! and, like Lawrence, I have tried to do my duty." [17] The memorial is a Grade II listed building . [18] Gordon Lodge, close to Queen Victoria's Osborne House on the Isle of Wight, was demolished in the 1980s to be replaced by a retirement complex of the same name.

Gordon's memory, as well as his work in supervising the town's riverside fortifications, is commemorated in Gravesend; the embankment of the Riverside Leisure Area is known as the Gordon Promenade, while Khartoum Place lies just to the south. Located in the town center of his birthplace of Woolwich is General Gordon Square, while one of the first Woolwich Free Ferry vessels was named Gordon in his memory. [19] In 1888 a statue of Gordon by Hamo Thornycroft was erected in Trafalgar Square , London, exactly halfway between the two fountains. It was removed in 1943. In a House of Commons speech on 5 May 1948, then opposition leader Winston Churchill spoke out in favor of the statue's return to its original location: "Is the right honorable Gentleman (the Minister of Works) aware that General Gordon was not only a military commander, who gave his life for his country, but, in addition, was considered very widely throughout this country as a model of a Christian hero, and that very many cherished ideals are associated with his name?

Would not the right honorable Gentleman consider whether this statue [...] might not receive special consideration [...]? General Gordon was a figure outside and above the ranks of military and naval commanders." However, in 1953 the statue minus a large slice of its pedestal was reinstalled on the Victoria Embankment , in front of the newly built Ministry of Defense. An identical statue by Thornycroft—but with the pedestal intact—is located in a small park called Gordon Reserve, near Parliament House in Melbourne, Australia (a statue of the unrelated poet, Adam Lindsay Gordon , lies in the same reserve). Funded by donations from 100,000 citizens, it was unveiled in 1889. Statue in Gordon Reserve, Melbourne Statue on the Victoria Embankment , London The Corps of Royal Engineers, Gordon's own Corps, commissioned a statue of Gordon on a camel. It was exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1890 and then erected in Brompton Barracks, Chatham, the home of the Royal School of Military Engineering, where it still stands. Much later a second casting was made. In 1902 it was placed at the junction of St Martin's Lane and Charing Cross Road in London.

In 1904 it was moved to Khartoum, where it stood at the intersection of Gordon Avenue and Victoria Avenue, 200 meters south of the new palace that had been built in 1899. It was removed in 1958, shortly after the Sudan became independent. This is the figure which, since 1960, stands at the Gordon's School in Woking. The Royal Engineers Museum adjoining the barracks has many artifacts relating to Gordon including personal possessions. There are also memorials to Gordon in the nearby Rochester Cathedral . A statue of General Gordon can be found in Aberdeen outside the main gates of The Robert Gordon University . In St Paul's Cathedral, London, a slightly larger than life-size effigy of Gordon is flanked by a relief commemorating general Herbert Stewart (1843–1885), who had commanded the "flying column" of camel-borne troops, and who was mortally wounded on 19 January 1885. Stewart's grave can still be found at the Jakdul Wells in the Bayuda Desert.

The commander of the Khartoum Relief Expedition 1884-1885, Sir Garnet Wolseley , lies buried beneath the effigies of Gordon and Stewart in the crypt of St Paul's. There is a bust of Gordon in Westminster Abbey, just to the left of the main entrance when entering the building, above a doorway. A rather fine stained-glass portrait is to be found on the main stairs of the Booloominbah building at the University of New England , in Armidale , New South Wales, Australia. The Fairey Gordon Bomber , designed to act as part of the RAF's colonial 'aerial police force' in the Imperial territories that he helped conquer (India and North Africa), was named in his honor. The City of Geelong , Australia, created a memorial in the form of the Gordon Technical College, which was later renamed the Gordon Institute of Technology. Part of the Institute continues under the name Gordon Institute of TAFE and the remainder was amalgamated with the Geelong State College to become Deakin University . The suburbs of Gordon in northern Sydney and Gordon Park in northern Brisbane were named after General Gordon, as was the former Shire of Gordon in Victoria, Australia.

An elementary school in Vancouver, British Columbia, is named after General Gordon. Gordon Memorial College is a school in Khartoum. A grammar school in Medway, Kent, England, called Sir Joseph Williamson's Mathematical School , has a house named in honor of Charles George Gordon, called Gordon. In Gloucester, there is a rugby union club called Gordon League which was formed in 1888 by Agnes Jane Waddy. The club plays in Western Counties North. The Gordon League Fishing Club uses the rugby club as its home. Gordon's Boys' Clubs were organized after General Gordon's death and the Gloucester Gordon League may be the last remaining example. The Church Missionary Society (CMS) work in Sudan was undertaken under the name of the Gordon Memorial Mission. This was a very evangelical branch of CMS and was able to start work in Sudan in 1900 as soon as the Anglo-Eygyptian Condominium took control after the fall of Khartoum in 1899. In 1885 at a meeting in London, £3,000 were allocated to a Gordon Memorial Mission in Sudan.

[20] In Khartoum, there is a small shrine to Gordon in the back of Republican Palace Museum. The museum was previously the city's largest Anglican Church, and is now dedicated primarily to gifts to Sudanese Heads of State. In the rear corner, there is a plaque commemorating those who fell with Gordon during the siege. Above is an encomium in brass letters, most of which have long since fallen off the wall leaving only silhouettes. It reads "Charles George Gordan [sic], Servant of Jesus Christ, Whose Labour Was Not in Vain with the Lord." In the Presidential Palace in Khartoum (built in 1899), in the west wing on the ground floor, there is (or once was) a stone slab against the wall on the left side of the main corridor when coming from the main entrance with the text: "Charles George Gordon died - 26 Jan 1885," on the spot where Gordon was killed, at the foot of the stairs in the old Governor-General's Palace (built around 1850). Personality and beliefs Edit Gordon, who never married, was 5-feet 5 inches tall[ citation needed ]; the Rev.

Reginald Barnes, who knew him well, describes him as "of the middle height, very strongly built," [21] He was a Christian evangelist who visited the sick and old and set up a boys' club in Gravesend in Kent.[ citation needed ] He was an ardent Christian cosmologist who believed, amongst other things, that the Earth was enclosed in a hollow sphere with God's throne directly above the altar of the Temple in Jerusalem, the Devil inhabiting the opposite point of the globe near Pitcairn Island in the Pacific.[ citation needed ] He also believed that the Garden of Eden was on the island of Praslin in the Seychelles. [22] Gordon believed in reincarnation . In 1877, he wrote in a letter: "This life is only one of a series of lives which our incarnated part has lived. I have little doubt of our having pre-existed; and that also in the time of our pre-existence we were actively employed.

So, therefore, I believe in our active employment in a future life, and I like the thought." [23] Media portrayals and legacy Edit Charlton Heston played Gordon in the 1966 epic film Khartoum, which deals with the siege of Khartoum. Gordon's heroics have also been drawn on in the 2005 novel The Triumph of the Sun by Wilbur Smith . The 2008 novel After Omdurman by John Ferry deals with the reconquest of the Sudan and highlights how the Anglo-Egyptian army was driven to avenge Gordon's death. Many biographies have been written of Gordon, most of them of a highly hagiographic nature. By contrast, Gordon is one of the four subjects discussed critically in Eminent Victorians by Lytton Strachey , one of the first texts about Gordon that portrays some of his characteristics which Strachey seems to regard as weaknesses. Another attempt to debunk Gordon was Anthony Nutting's Gordon, Martyr & Misfit (1966).

In his Mission to Khartum—The Apotheosis of General Gordon (1969) John Marlowe portrays Gordon as "a colourful eccentric—a soldier of fortune, a skilled guerrilla leader, a religious crank, a minor philanthropist, a gadfly buzzing about on the outskirts of public life" who would have been no more than a footnote in today's history books, had it not been for "his mission to Khartoum and the manner of his death," which were elevated by the media "into a kind of contemporary Passion Play." More balanced biographies are Charley Gordon—An Eminent Victorian Reassessed (1978) by Charles Chenevix Trench and Gordon—the Man Behind the Legend (1988) by John Pollock. In Khartoum—The Ultimate Imperial Adventure (2005), Michael Asher puts Gordon's works in the Sudan in a broad context. Asher concludes: "He did not save the country from invasion or disaster, but among the British heroes of all ages, there is perhaps no other who stands out so prominently as an individualist, a man ready to die for his principles.

Here was one man among men who did not do what he was told, but what he believed to be right. In a world moving inexorably towards conformity, it would be well to remember Gordon of Khartoum." [24] See also Allen, Bernard M. "How Khartoum Fell," Journal of the Royal African Society, Vol. 40, No. 161 (Oct., 1941), pp. 327–334. Asher, Michael. Khartoum—The Ultimate Imperial Adventure, (2005), 450 pp. Barnes, Reginald. Charles George Gordon—A Sketch, London: Macmillan & Co. (1885), 104 pp., available online Beresford, John. Storm and Peace, London: Cobden-Sanderson [1936] (1977), 269 pp. Charles George Gordon. Reflections in Palestine. London: Macmillan & Co. (1884). [1] Churchill, Winston, Sir.

The River War, New York: Carroll & Graf [1899]; Partridge Green: Biblios (2000), ISBN 0-7867-0751-8 Faught, C. Brad. Gordon: Victorian Hero, Washington, D.C.: Potomac Books (2008), ISBN 978-1-59797-144-7 Hill, George Birkbeck , ed. Colonel Gordon in Central Africa, 1874-1879] London: Thomas De La Rue and Co.(1881). [2] Latimer, E.W. "Gordon and the Mahdi," in Europe in Africa in the Nineteenth Century, 4th Ed. A.C. McClurg, Chicago (1895, 1903). MacGregor-Hastie, Roy. Never to be Taken Alive—A Biography of General Gordon, (1985) ISBN 0-283-99184-4 Neufeld, Charles. A Prisoner of the Khaleefa], London: Chapman & Hall (1899).

[3] Platt, Stephen R. Autumn in the Heavenly Kingdom: China, the West, and the Epic Story of the Taiping Civil War, Knopf (2012), ISBN 978-0-307-95759-7 Pollock, John. Gordon : the Man Behind the Legend, London: Constable (1993), ISBN 0-09-468560-6 Smith, George Barnett. General Gordon The Christian Soldier and Hero, London: S.W. Partridge & Co. (1896), 160 pp. Strachey, G. Lytton. Eminent Victorians, Illustrated Ed., London: Bloomsbury [1918] (1988). ISBN 0-7475-0218-8 , available online at Trench, Charles Chenevix. Charley Gordon, An Eminent Victorian Reassessed, London: Allan Lane [1978], 320 pp. ISBN 0-7139-0895-5 , Wortham, Hugh Evelyn.

Gordon : An Intimate Portrait, London: Harrap (1933), 342 pp. White, Adam. Hamo Thornycroft & the Martyr General, Leeds: The Henry Moore Centre for the Study of Sculpture (1991), 72 pp. Moorehead, Alan. The White Nile, London: Hamish Hamilton, (1960, rev. 1971), 366 pp. Gillmeister, Heiner. "The Maloja Mystery, or the Case of the Living Pictures," in ACD-The Journal of The Arthur Conan Doyle Society, Vol. 7 (1996/7), pp. 53–69. External links Charles Gordon - General Charles Chinese Gordon By Kennedy Hickman Charles Gordon - Early Life & Career: Charles George Gordon was born January 28, 1833, at Woolwich Arsenal in London. The son of Major General Henry Gordon and his wife Elizabeth, Charles initially received his education at the Fullands School before entering the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich. Graduating, he received a commission as a second lieutenant in 1852 and was assigned to the Royal Engineers.

Dispatched to Chatham to complete his military training, Gordon's first engineering project was overseeing the building of fortifications at Milford Haven, Wales. Charles Gordon - Crimea: Promoted to lieutenant in 1854, he was dispatched to the Crimea the following year for service in the Crimean War. Arriving at Balaklava, he served in the Siege of Sevastopol and the expedition to Kinburn. With the conclusion of hostilities in 1856, Gordon was directed to join an international commission for marking the border between the Russian and Ottoman Empires. Returning to Britain in late 1858, he was assigned to Chatham as an instructor. Promoted to captain in 1859, he volunteered for service in China during the Second Opium War and Taiping Rebellion. Charles Gordon - China: Landing at Tianjin in September, he joined European forces and took part in the occupation of Beijing. With the end of the war, he remained in China as part of General Charles William Dunbar Staveley's command. With the Taiping Rebellion raging, Staveley withdrew his men to Shanghai in early 1862 in order to protect the European settlement in the city.

Arriving, the British joined with a locally-raised force commanded by an American, Frederick Townsend Ward. Collaborating with Ward, Staveley worked to push the rebels back from Shanghai. Serving on Staveley's staff, Gordon provided engineering services during the successful campaign against the rebels. Following Ward's death at the Battle of Cixi in September 1862, the governor of Jiangsu province, Li Hongzhang, requested that Staveley appoint a British officer to lead Ward's "Ever Victorious Army." Assigned to the post in March 1863, Gordon embarked on a series of successful campaigns that saw him relieve Chansu, capture Kunshan, and win the Battle of Changzhou. For his achievements, Emperor Tongzhi elevated him to titu (commander of a provincial military). Charles Gordon - To Africa: Returning home, Gordon was promoted to lieutenant colonel and knighted. His exploits in the Far East also earned him the nickname "Chinese" Gordon. Following work on the Thames defenses, Gordon was tasked in 1872 with serving on a commission to maintain navigation at the mouth of the Danube River. While in the region, he met the Prime Minster of Egypt.

Interested in Gordon's military service, he began negotiations for the British officer to serve under Khedive Ismail Pasha. Two years later, Gordon accepted the offer and was made a colonel in the Egyptian Army. Arriving in Egypt, he was sent south to oversee operations at Gondokoro in southern Sudan. Working to suppress the slave trade, he built a line of way stations and assessed the possibility of opening a route through to Mombasa. Clashing with the Egyptian governor of Sudan, Gordon returned to Cairo and then departed for London. Eager to retain Gordon's services, the Khedive offered the British officer the post of Governor-General of Sudan. Accepting, Gordon returned and traveled up the Nile. Assuming his new position, he attempted to make peace with the Abyssinians and worked to suppress a revolt in Darfur. Charles Gordon - Interlude: Resigning in 1879, Gordon spent several weeks relaxing in Lausanne, Switzerland and assessing new offers of employments. Turning down positions in the Belgian Congo Free State and South Africa, he elected to become the secretary to the new Governor-General of India, the Marquess of Ripon.

This position proved short-lived and he quit after a brief time in India. After traveling to China he was appointed Commanding Royal Engineer on Mauritius in 1881. Arriving on the island, he was soon promoted to major general and ordered to South Africa to aid in settling disputes in Basutoland. Charles Gordon - The Mahdist War: With this task completed, Gordon embarked on a personal exploration of Palestine and remained there into 1883. Approached again by the Belgians, he accepted a post in the Congo Free State. As he prepared for this position, the British government requested that he immediately return to Sudan to deal with a rebellion by Mohammed Ahmed. The self-proclaimed Mahdi (redeemer of Islam), Mohammed Ahmed's troops were overwhelming the thinly-stretched Egyptian forces in the region. With the situation deteriorating, London instructed the Egyptians to withdraw from Sudan in December 1883. Departing in early 1884, Gordon was tasked with reporting on the best means for extracting the Egyptians from the crisis. Reaching Cairo, he was re-appointed Governor-General of Sudan with full executive powers. Moving up the Nile, he arrived at Khartoum on February 18.

Directing his limited forces against the advancing Mahdists, he began evacuating women and children north to Egypt. Though London desired to abandon Sudan, Gordon believed the Mahdists needed to be crushed or they could overrun Egypt. Citing a lack of boats, Gordon ignored his orders and began organizing a defense of the city. On March 18, 1884, the Mahdists laid siege to Khartoum . Though the government was displeased by Gordon's actions, it came under severe public pressure to rescue the besieged men. In August 1884, Prime Minister William Gladstone relented and issued ordered for a relief expedition. Forming under the leadership of General Sir Garnet Wolseley it began moving south in October 1885. Under increasing pressure, Gordon informed Wolseley in mid-November, via messenger, that he could only hold out for another forty days. Meeting stiff resistance, the Nile Expedition pushed on. Aware of the expedition's approach, the Mahdists launched a massive assault on Khartoum on January 26. Overwhelming Gordon's starving men, they slaughtered the entire garrison.

Though the Mahdi had issued orders that Gordon was to be spared, he was killed in the fighting near the governor's palace. In the wake of the city's fall, Gordon's body was beheaded. The lead elements of Wolseley's forces reached the outskirts of Khartoum two days later. Upon finding that the city had fallen, they withdrew north. Khartoum would remain in Mahdist hands until 1898 when Major General Herbert Kitchener defeated them at the Battle of Omdurman . Though a search was made for Gordon's remains after the city was retaken, they were never found. Acclaimed by the public, Gordon's death was blamed on Gladstone who delayed forming a relief expedition. Selected Sources BBC - Radio 4 Empire - Battle of Omdurman Battle Of Omdurman View more images The Battle of Omdurman started at first light on 2 September 1898. British, Egyptian and Sudanese troops under Sir Horatio Hebert Kitchener, later Field Marshal Lord Kitchener, defeated the Mahdist army that had ruled a large part of Egyptian Sudan since the Mahdi's rebellion in 1881.

This was the same Madhi whose fighters had beheaded General Chinese Gordon in 1885. The Mahdi's died of natural causes in 1885 and his followers, under his successor Khalifa Abdullahi, established their capital at Omdurman. Kitchener sought revenge for the circumstances of Gordon's death that had become a political scandale as well as restoring Sudan to Egypt. Kitchener's revenge was sweet and not entirely compatible with the heroic soul of Gordon, whom he revered. It was noted that many of the Khalifah's followers were summarily shot at the orders of John Maxwell, later General Sir John. It's said that he regarded a dead fanatic as the only one to which any sympathy might be extended. The British tactic at Omdurman, was the late 19th century version of shock and awe. The Dervishes were well armed, but Kitchener's army had artillery from gunboats in the Nile and the latest in machine gunning. It would certainly seem that this uncompromising firepower decided the battle and so the destruction.

By 24 August, Kitchener had about 26,000 men plus twelve gun boats whose fire power would be crucial to bombarding both Omdurman and the 40,000 or so Dervish fighters. Yet, at a crucial point in the battle it seemed Kitchener's army was separating. The army still talks of brigadier general Hector Macdonald who ignored Kitchener's orders and saved the day. Kitchener trusted him to do both. If he had not? The British army might not have won the battle. The death of Kitchener's hero, General Gordon of Khartoum would have remained unavenged and Egypt would not have recovered Sudan. Related Links

Question: Which city was the site of the dervish rebellion and the death of the British General Gordon in 1885?
Answer: Khartoum