Original antique Chrmo-lithograph.
Major-General Charles George Gordon CB (28 January 1833 - 1885), also known as Chinese Gordon, Gordon Pasha, Gordon of Khartoum and General Gordon, was a British Army officer and administrator. He saw action in the Crimean War as an officer in the British Army. However, 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 which was 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 theKhedive of Egyptin 1873 (with British government approval) and later became theGovernor-General of the Sudan, where he did much to suppress revolts and thelocal slave trade. He then resigned and returned to Europe in 1880.
A seriousrevolt then broke out in the Sudan, led by aMuslimreligious leader and self-proclaimedMahdi,Muhammad Ahmad. In early 1884, Gordon was sent toKhartoumwith instructions to secure the evacuation of loyal soldiers and civilians and to depart with them. In defiance of those instructions, after evacuating about 2,500 civilians, he retained a smaller group of soldiers and non-military men. In the months before the fall of Khartoum, Gordon and the Mahdi corresponded; Gordon offered him thesultanateofKordofanand the Mahdi requested Gordon to convert to Islam and join him, which Gordon declined. Besieged by the Mahdi's forces, Gordon organised a citywidedefence that lasted for almost a yearand gained him the admiration of the British public, but not ofthe government, which had wished him not to become entrenched there. Only when public pressure to act had become irresistible did the government, with reluctance, send arelief force. It arrived two days after the city had fallen and Gordon had been killed.
