In his dealings with the Chinese people he displayed remarkable tact, sympathy and understanding. He was unfailingly successful in gaining their confidence, respect and sincere ftlendship. His Chinese troops looked-upon him with fanatical devotion.
While his training was primarily in seamanship because of his father's calling, his. natural bent from his earliest boyhood was toward the life fof a soldier. He enjoyed the best schooling available in New England In his day because his parents, if not wealthy, still were people "of substance. While still In Sigh school sought an appoinimeré to West Point, but failed to secure it, At sixteen he tried {0 steal off to join A company of volunteers being Taised in. Massachusettes for the Mexican War, but was prevented by his parents, " To distract his mind from this obsession, hhis father shipped him as second mate on lunate's clipper ship, "Hamilton", In her he made his frst voyage (o China Upon his return he persuaded his father that he could not be content with a life at sea and he was then sent to Norwich University In Vermont for two years, While the course there was literary, scleritic and military, it, was the latter study. to which Ward most assiduously applied himself. The knowledge of tactics and military engineering gained there stood him in good stead in Tater life. Supplemented and amplified by his lite on the sea which developed self-reliance and gave him experience in discipline and the handling of men. it developed into that genius for military leadership by which he was enabled to organize and train a Chinese force to the point where they formed an army worthy of the name "Ever Victorious",
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.