Small War, Quiet Spring – Taiping Trouble – The Ufa Raid – The Public Story
April 1859 to May 1859
April began well for China, with as substantial victory for the recovering Chinese in Nerchinsk in eastern Siberia where the depot had been seized by the Cossack raiders from Amur Fort, who were now exhausted and exposed behind enemy lines. On April 16 the Cossacks retreated before battle but the Russian depot garrison that had just been established was cut in half by over 3000 well-supplied Chinese regulars and native horse, and there were only a few remnants after being engaged again on May 2. Zeng Guofan, meanwhile, ordered another concerted advance against Fort Amur.
On the western front on April 8 the 575 remaining men the 183rd Mixed Brigade eliminated the 400-man Governor’s garrison at St. Paul’s Mission in Pavlodar, south of Omsk. The Russians burned the adjoining school as they fled. The 164th Regular Banner arrived on the scene as well with supply train, but its cohesion was exhausted. There being no direct crossings back over the Irtych south of Omsk or much north of Semipalatinsk, this column fell back to the southeast to draw nearer to the Altai supply chain while the 183 Mixed battalion roving to the west began south toward the fort, trading post and school at Karaganda – the Russian Prospecting force there was unable to retreat but then won a lucky engagement on May 5. The Imperial detachment fell back, but late in May some cavalry drawing on a supply unit that moved up to Tarbagtai (next to two depots of the Irtych line) advanced along the Kokand-Russian border through Alataou to establish order there and push control towards the Aral Sea on a route south of the Russian outpost at Karaganda. Scouts, however, reported that the 6th Cossack Host (Div) previously seen north along the Irtych had moved south in to the steppes to the school in Tenghiz, west of Karaganda, from which it could block any small probes.
With warmer weather, in the area between Tomsk and Omsk and all along the northern fringe of the advance, small detachments set out to secure the northern wastes and few outposts flying the Russian flag. Even in better weather, wear and tear on the forces in the wilds beyond civilized China continued. Fortunately, replacements could be raised – however, supply was not an easy issue on the front line.
May 2 saw a glorious victory in Nerchinsk, crushing the garrison. In the Far East, a small force was embarked on the Sea of Okhotsk to travel by coastal transport to secure Kolyma north of Kamchatka, the last Russian-controlled province in the east.
The Russians were found in unexpected strength at Bratsk Fort north of Irkutsk. The Banner sent up was exhausted, so was followed by Shuan Ma Xinyi’s Shensi Banner from Irkutsk and the Russian garrison, outnumbered more than 10:1, was defeated without Imperial loss and Ma Xinyi was commended.
In the Urals, the probing cavalry division lost cohesion and evaded south from Ekaterinburg toward Ufa, which was undefended but the cavalry, lacking all cohesion, could not take control until early May, when hundreds of supplies and ammunition wagons fell into their hands. This was well west of the most advanced Russian force, the 6th Cossack Host probing the Irtych river line between Omsk and Tobolsk. While the strong forces on the Irtych line considered a strike against this force, the news from Ufa had not yet reached them so there was no cause to think of changing Guanwen’s defensive strategy. Russian troops arrived at Ufa from the west late in May but lacked the strength to make an assault.
The bandits driven northeast from Ekaterinburg pillaged the far northern Irbit region which lay between the Ural towns and the Russian outposts of Tyumen and Kurgan along the upper Irtych, facing Guanwen’s own 15,000 men and 48 guns across the river at the stronghold of Tobolsk. This size 1 city and size 3 depot was the most westward Imperial base, the northern end of the Irtych defensive line, which followed the river southeast past the central bastion of Omsk, Semipalatinsk farther southeast, and lastly the depot of Ulungur in the Altai, just inside de jure China. Tobolsk may be visualized on the globe as being well due north of Afghanistan, or as somewhat north of halfway between St. Petersburg and Lake Baikal – in other words, quite a long way through trying terrain.
Thinking to take advantage of the distraction of the Siberian War, in April Taiping rebels reappeared in widespread locations – suffering defeats in Changde, Nanning, Zhanjiang and Anshun, but a strong force seized control of Beihai on the southern coast and fortified themseves. Fortunately, the response was rapid and well-practiced, with mobile forces quickly converging to deal with the Taiping. At Guiyang in West Hunan Sengge Rinchen’s largely cavalry force of nearly 6000 men easily demolished the opposing Taiping regulars and levies, taking 2000 prisoners while the rest fled north to Chungking, where they were brought to bay and defeated on May 16, but broke off west to Luzhou. Near the Yangtze farther east, the 1100 Taiping besieging Changsha were outnumbered and also reduced to a remnant which was driven east into neighboring Dijan and overrun by pursuers on May 7. At Nanning in the south, however, 2000 Imperial levies were defeated by a similar number of Taiping, who seized the strategic province when other Imperial troops failed to arrive in time. Reinforcements in early May dislodged the Taiping from the city, but the strong (51 power) brigade remained in the field, so reinforcements were sent in from Mengzi. The 5250 Taiping were caught by the 13,050 men and 48 cannon of Kweichow Banner on May 16 and evaporated after a relatively light defeat.
Just north in Luzhou, the Taiping besiegers were scattered to the winds, but in coastal Beihai the Taiping Fortress artillery battalion was well-entrenched to stand siege and remained unbreached despite the efforts of the 96 cannon of the besiegers.
At home, Governors’ consulates were completed in Seoul, Korea, in Ulaan Bator, Mongolia, and in Tarim (for Xizang in far west China). Technology advanced, with Early Railroad being first understood – and its enormous material costs realized. Tobacco field development commenced in Annam because China was unable to purchase what it desired on the market.
National morale drifted up from 72 to 73 during these two months. A Russian peace offer was made including 269 cash and the regions of Ulan Ude and Chita south of Baikal, and a further offer of 269 cash for three years. The provinces were strategically significant, since the route south of Lake Baikal ran through them, but this was considered quite insufficient for a secure and beneficial peace. Evidence of dissent in eastern Russia became known when it was announced that rebels in two provinces were given amnesty.
Elsewhere in the world, Spain declared war on Morocco in early April, the USA remained at war with holdout fragments of the CSA, and Persia continued its war on the rump of northern Afghanistan not already acquired by the British. On the more peaceful side, Prussia courted Baden with a state visit, and Belgium repeatedly rejected curbs on Noble privilege and authorized a new roads program in April, then banned child labor in May. How strange and cruel are the Belgians! Legislators approve a beneficial project of building roads for the people and then starve the weakest of the people by denying them employment in the construction.
The lack of heavy fighting for months meant there was little news coming out of Russia for the European and American newspapers, which grudgingly only admitted there had been a repulsed raid on Ekaterinburg and skirmishes east of the Urals. With much heavier fighting being expected, Russian reticence was interpreted as masking more dire developments and therefore creative accounts of ambushes, raids, and desperate struggles against Chinese hordes in the woods and snow began to color the pages of European tabloids hungry for news copy. These fictitious engagements started to shift the initial public sympathies for the Chinese to the suffering Russian bear, praised by some as the gallant shield of Europe against the new hordes from the east. Both the ambitious and the curious speculated as to whether the events revealed that China was impossibly strong, or that Russia was unexpectedly weak.
What effect could such reports have upon the Chinese population when the news reached them? The Imperial government issued sparing bulletins downplaying the difficulties and immense distances surmounted and emphasizing that the main forces of the fierce and tricksome Russians had not yet been engaged. This was a prudent precaution against any unfortunate reverse. In the Forbidden City, however, not only in the circles concerned with military affairs, there was increasing sentiment that the advance was over-cautious. The Russians had offered no forceful opposition to the advance to the Urals, and the strength and importance of the Urals made it obvious on the map that advantages must be taken to conclude the war favorably. In the event of a reverse, the Irtych line would remain as a bulwark of defense.