EARLY LIFE AND CRIMEAN WAR
Charles George Gordon was born on January 28, 1833, at Woolwich, so
that he began his life among soldiers. He was the fourth son of General
Henry William Gordon, who was in the Royal Artillery. His father came
from a good family, which for centuries had been associated with the
army. The old General appears to have been a good officer and a
kind-hearted man, and doubtless the son inherited not only the
instincts of a soldier, but a certain nobility of character which was
conspicuous in the father. When the father held a high command at
Corfu, he made a point of seeking out and paying attention to the
forlorn and uninteresting, who are usually overlooked by others. Those
who have been richly endowed by Nature have little difficulty in
gaining the smiles of society; but in all classes there are a few
unfortunate ones, who are not specially gifted and attractive, and who
consequently often have the cold shoulder turned towards them. It was
characteristic of Charles Gordon's father, as it was of himself in
later years, that these were the ones he befriended and looked after.
If Charles Gordon inherited from his father the instincts of a soldier,
there can be little doubt that on his mother's side he inherited a
spirit of enterprise. His mother was Elizabeth Enderby, the daughter of
an enterprising merchant, who had ships on every sea. It is men of this
class, quite as much as our soldiers and sailors, who have made England
what she is. Samuel Enderby was one of the best-known among the great
merchant-princes of England, and he it was chiefly who opened to
commerce the previously unknown waters of the South Pacific, after the
exploring expeditions of Captain Cook. It is supposed that the first
batch of convicts sent to Botany Bay were conveyed in one of his ships,
and, but for his whaling fleet, Australia might never have been peopled
by English emigrants. His ships carried on a busy trade with America,
and it was one of his fleet that carried the historic cargo of tea
which was thrown into Boston harbour when the Americans severed their
connection with the mother country. His daughter had a large family,
numbering five sons and six daughters. Three only of the sons survived,
and they all attained the rank of General in the army. One of them
became General Enderby Gordon, C.B., of the Royal Artillery, who
distinguished himself in the Crimean War, and also in the Indian
Mutiny. Another became General Sir Henry William Gordon, already
alluded to as the author of "Events in the Life of Charles George
Gordon." Charlie Gordon, to use the name by which the subject of this
memoir was always known among his friends, was a delicate lad, and,
perhaps for this reason, was the special favourite of his mother, who
appears to have been a fond parent and a sensible woman. She was always
proud of her boy, and once or twice even annoyed him by speaking of him
in terms of praise to others.
The Gordon family seems to have been a very happy one, which to a great
extent must have been the result of the mother's influence. One only
needs to read the published "Letters of General Gordon to his Sister"
to see how passionately fond the two were of each other. It might well
have been Gordon that Browning had in his mind when he said--
"I think, am sure, a brother's love exceeds
All the world's love in its unworldliness."
A few lines from a letter of one of his brothers, written from the
Crimea, show the fond and almost parental care that the elder exhibited
on behalf of the younger brother. The extract is as follows:--"Only a
few lines to say Charlie is all right, and has escaped amidst a
terrific shower of grape and shells of every description. You may
imagine the suspense I was kept in until assured of his safety."
Like all soldiers' sons, Gordon when young had plenty of opportunities
of moving about and seeing different parts of the world. In many ways
this roving life is disadvantageous to a lad, as in after years he can
never look back to one spot as his home, and consequently he can never
localise the charming associations connected with that word. A boy also
suffers considerably by being moved from one school to another. On the
other hand, his wits, as a rule, get sharpened by contact with new
people and new circumstances. Before Gordon was seven years old, he had
accompanied his father on successive moves to Dublin, and to Leith
Fort. In 1840 he went to Corfu, where his father was in command of the
Royal Artillery. It was here the Duke of Cambridge first made his
acquaintance, as they occupied quarters next to each other, and His
Royal Highness, just forty-five years afterwards, after Gordon's death,
said in a speech at the Mansion House, that he remembered the little
lad then. As Gordon returned to England with his mother at the age of
ten, the fact that the Commander-in-Chief remembered him at all is
another proof of the wonderful faculty of memory which the Royal Family
are said to possess. How differently the Duke would have thought of
that little fair-haired boy with the blue penetrating eyes could he
have looked into the future! It was in 1843 that Mrs. Gordon brought
her son to England for the sake of his education. He went to school at
Taunton for a few years, and then to Mr. Jeffery's, Shooters Hill,
Woolwich, preparatory to entering the Royal Military Academy. His
father had been given an appointment at the Arsenal at Woolwich, so
that his holidays, as well as much of his school life, were spent at
that great garrison town. There was nothing about the youth at this
time that indicated what his future would be. Indeed, the very energies
which in after life made him undertake so much, finding no other vent,
gave him a turn for mischief and fun of all sorts. Later in life, and
even amid all his troubles in the Soudan, he would in his letters
recall with pleasure the boyish days spent at Woolwich.
* * *
In 1848 he entered the Royal Military Academy at Woolwich, where he
remained till 1852, when, at the age of nineteen, he received his
commission in the Royal Engineers. Although he was an adept at
surveying and at fortification, two branches of military knowledge
which served him well in after years, he was deficient in mathematics,
and consequently did not make much progress. An event which took place
here might have had very serious consequences, and shows that even then
he had the daring nature which afterwards characterised him. For some
reason it became necessary to restrain the cadets when leaving the
dining-hall, the approach to which was by a narrow staircase. At the
top of this staircase stood the senior corporal, with outstretched
arms, facing the cadets. This was too much for one so full of fun and
energy and so reckless of consequences as Gordon; so, putting down his
head, he charged, and butting the corporal in the pit of the stomach,
sent him flying down the staircase and through a window beyond.
Fortunately the corporal was unhurt, but Gordon was perilously near
dismissal, and having his military career cut short. The act of
insubordination was, however, overlooked by the authorities, but that
it did not subdue his spirit is evident from the fact that on another
occasion, when told by Captain Eardley Wilmot that he would never make
an officer, he tore the epaulets from his shoulders and threw them at
the feet of his superior. This officer, afterwards General Eardley
Wilmot, became one of his greatest friends. Later on, for another
offence, in which many were concerned, and of which it is doubtful if
Gordon really was guilty, he was deprived of half a year's seniority in
the army. This punishment really did him a good turn, for it enabled
him to secure a commission in the Royal Engineers instead of the Royal
Artillery, to which he would otherwise have been posted.
On the 23rd June 1852 Gordon was gazetted to the Engineers, and on the
29th November 1854 he was ordered to Corfu. As the Crimean War was
going on he was much disappointed at this order, and at first
attributed it to his mother's influence, who, he thought, wanted him to
be sent to a safe place. Through the influence of Sir John Burgoyne, an
old family friend, his destination was changed, and on the 4th of
December, during that bitterly cold winter, he writes, "I received my
orders for the Crimea, and was off the same day." This was not the only
time that he exhibited such promptitude in leaving his native land at
the call of his country. Thirty years afterwards he left England for
the Soudan the very day he received his orders.
He arrived in the Crimea on New Year's Day 1855, when all the
celebrated historical battles were over. His martial ardour had
doubtless been stirred by hearing how bravely our men swarmed up the
heights at Alma, charged the Russian gunners at Balaklava, and drove
back the sortie at Inkerman. When he arrived, the siege of Sebastopol
had commenced in earnest, and for some time it was an engineer's
campaign, in which the spade did more than the rifle, or, to speak more
correctly, the musket; for very few of our men had rifles then. Disease
and exhaustion from hardship slew far more than the bullet. Altogether,
it was rather a trying time for a young officer full of fire and
spirit, anxious to see service of that more dashing kind that appeals
to the imagination. The slow advance of the trenches must have tried
his somewhat impatient spirit, which, even in later years, when it
might have been modified by time, was always more ready for a rapid
march, a brilliant flank movement, or something of that kind. But
though the trench-work must have been wearisome and distasteful to a
degree, he threw himself heart and soul into it, meriting the following
praise from Colonel Chesney, an eminent engineer officer: "In his
humble position as an engineer subaltern he had attracted the notice of
his superiors, not merely by his energy and activity (for these are
not, it may be asserted, uncommon characteristics of his class), but by
an extraordinary aptitude for war, developing itself amid the
trench-work before Sebastopol in a personal knowledge of the enemy's
movements such as no other officer attained. 'We always used to send
him out to find what new move the Russians were making,' was the
testimony given to his genius by one of the most distinguished officers
he served under." He not only exhibited the "aptitude for war" of which
Colonel Chesney speaks, but it appears that he also displayed on
several occasions a great deal of that personal courage for which he
afterwards became so renowned. A single incident may be taken as a
specimen of many. One day as he was passing along the trenches, he
overheard a heated altercation between a sapper and a corporal, both
belonging to his own corps. On inquiring into the cause, he discovered
that the corporal had ordered a man to stand on the parapet, where he
was exposed to the enemy's fire, while the corporal, under cover, was
going to hand him some gabions for repairing the parapet. Gordon at
once jumped on to the parapet himself and called the corporal to join
him, letting the sapper hand up the gabions from a place of safety.
Gordon remained until the work was completed, in spite of the fire of
the Russians, and then turning to the corporal said, "Never order a man
to do anything you are afraid to do yourself."
His warlike genius and his courage were by no means his only remarkable
characteristics, and it may not be out of place to mention here a
trifling event, which possibly had a marked influence on his whole
life. It so happened that Colonel Staveley, an officer who afterwards
attained to some eminence, but who at that time was of no great note
beyond being the second in command of a distinguished corps, the 44th
Regiment, mentioned in Gordon's hearing that he had been appointed
field-officer of the day for the trenches for the following day, but
owing to his having been on sick leave, was ignorant of the geography
of the place. Now considering that Gordon was at this time greatly
overworked in the trenches, he might well have been excused had he
allowed Colonel Staveley's remark to pass; for it must be remembered
that it is no part of the duty of a young engineer officer to instruct
infantry field-officers in their duties. But this was not Gordon's
style. He, at all events, never limited himself to a strict routine of
mere duty, and so he cheerfully volunteered assistance, saying, "Oh!
come down with me to-night after dark, and I will show you over the
trenches." Colonel Staveley says, "He drew me out a very clear sketch
of the lines (which I have now), and down I went accordingly. He
explained every nook and corner, and took me along outside our most
advanced trench, the bouquets and other missiles flying about us in, to
me, a very unpleasant manner; he taking the matter remarkably coolly."
Napoleon somewhere remarked that "the smallest trifles produce the
greatest results," an expression to which Gordon himself once referred.
This Colonel Staveley afterwards became General Sir Charles Staveley,
and he it was who first recommended Gordon, when quite a young captain
in China, to take command of that army for which he did so much, and
with which he acquired such renown. Had it not been for Sir Charles
Staveley, possibly Gordon would never have had the opportunity he
needed to show of what good stuff he was made; and who but the General
himself can tell how much that night adventure in the trenches had to
do with his selection later on?
* * *
As I have taken a later opportunity to enlarge on Gordon's simple
faith, I will only say here that up to this period there are no
indications that he was very decided. It appears that during the year
1854, when stationed at Pembroke, a distinct spiritual change came over
him; and if we may judge from one of his letters to his sister Augusta,
it was she who influenced him for good. But there can be no question
that he did not at this time enter into that full assurance of faith
which afterwards characterised him; still, his faith at this period,
though weak, was real. In a letter home, referring to the death of a
Captain Craigie, who was killed by a splinter from a shell, he says, "I
am glad to say that he was a serious man. The shell burst above him,
and by what is called chance struck him in the back, killing him at
once." It is interesting to note from the words "what is called chance"
that he had already learnt to recognise the hand of God in everything,
and that even at this early stage of his career there existed the germs
of that doctrine on which he spoke and wrote so much later on. It has
been said by some that his so-called fatalistic views were imbibed from
the Mohammedans in the Soudan. This sentence in a letter written by him
before he had ever held an intimate conversation with a Mohammedan
shows that such was not the case. Allusion is made to the incident here
merely to show what the condition of faith and state of mind of Charles
Gordon were during the Crimean War. There is one other letter on
record, written about this time, which is worthy of mention here. When
the Commander-in-chief of the Crimean army died, Gordon wrote, "Lord
Raglan died of tear and wear and general debility. He was universally
regretted, as he was so kind. His life has been entirely spent in the
service of his country. I hope he was prepared, but do not know."
* * *
Beyond a few deeds of personal daring, there is not much to record of
Gordon during the Crimean War. He went out, as has already been said,
when the principal battles were over, and his position being quite a
subordinate one, he had no opportunities of distinguishing himself. He
gained the esteem of all those who did come in contact with him; he
took every opportunity of gaining a professional insight into the
science of war; he had many narrow escapes of being wounded, and once
he was struck on the head by a stone thrown up by a round shot. He
formed a high estimate of the Russians as soldiers, with a
correspondingly low one of our allies the French. Writing home of a
favourable opportunity lost of assaulting Sebastopol, he says, "I think
we might have assaulted on Monday, but the French do not seem to care
about it. The garrison is 25,000, and on that day we heard afterwards
that only 8000 were in the place, as the rest had gone to repel an
attack (fancied) of ours at Inkerman."
The history of the Crimean War has been written so often, that it is
unnecessary to occupy much space with detail, especially in view of the
unimportant part Gordon had to play. On June 7th he accompanied the
attacking force under Sir John Campbell, which was severely repulsed in
the assault upon the Great Redan. A delay of over two months took
place, and then the French attacked the Malakoff, and the English again
attempted to seize the Redan. The French were successful, but we
failed, and so it was decided to renew the attack on the following day.
The Russians, however, seeing it was useless to continue the struggle,
evacuated the post on the night of the 8th September. As Gordon was on
duty in the trenches that night, his account of what he witnessed is
interesting. "During the night of the 8th I had heard terrific
explosions, and going down to the trenches at 4 A.M., I saw a splendid
sight. The whole of Sebastopol was in flames, and every now and then
terrible explosions took place, while the rising sun shining on the
place had a most beautiful effect. The Russians were leaving the town
by the bridge; all the three-deckers were sunk, the steamers alone
remaining. Tons and tons of powder must have been blown up. About 8
A.M. I got an order to commence a plan of the works, for which purpose
I went to the Redan, where a dreadful sight was presented. The dead
were buried in the ditch--the Russians with the English--Mr. Wright
reading the burial service over them."
On the fall of Sebastopol Gordon joined the force that besieged
Kinburn, and was present at the fall of that fortress in October. He
then returned to Sebastopol, and was engaged in destroying the defences
of that place, remaining there till the evacuation in February 1856.
Although he received no promotion at the end of the war, he was
selected for the French Legion of Honour, a distinction given to very
few subalterns. Apparently, however, he had already formed to some
extent the opinion which became more decided in later years on the
subject of decorations, for he said in a letter written home a month
before the fall of Sebastopol, "I for one do not care about being
'lamented' after death. I am not ambitious, but what easily earned
C.B.'s and Majorities there are in some cases! while men who have
earned them, like poor Oldfield, get nothing. I am sorry for him. He
was always squabbling about his batteries with us, but he got more by
his perseverance than any man before did." Although Gordon was only
twenty-two years of age at this time, we see the germs of the
characteristics which later in life marked him so prominently. He was
even then indifferent to earthly distinctions; he had a simple faith in
his Saviour; he had repeatedly exhibited courage; and men of eminence
who came in contact with him had recognised indications of peculiar
military aptitude. Though he had had no opportunity of making a great
name for himself at that early date, he had stood the severe test of
his first campaign under great hardships, and while he had not been
found wanting in a single respect, he had gained the professional
respect and esteem of all.
It is unnecessary to enlarge on the time between the Crimean War and
the China War. Suffice it to say briefly, that instead of being sent
home, Gordon had to remain as an assistant-commissioner to settle the
frontier line; for Russia had to give up a piece of territory that in
1812 she had taken from the Turks. For a whole year he was engaged on
this task, and then, when he thought that he was to be allowed to
return home, he was sent to Asia Minor to perform a similar duty, and
was not able to return till he had been abroad three years. He was then
granted leave for six months, and afterwards returned to his work in
Armenia, where he remained till the spring of 1858, thus missing all
chance of being employed in the Indian Mutiny, which broke out in 1857.
On his return to England in 1858, he went to Chatham, where he was
promoted to the rank of captain the following year.