Ever Victorious Army Gordon's stringent discipline led to an increase in desertions and several small scale mutinies. Accordingly, by June 1863 the force had declined in numbers to 1,700 men. In the final year of its existence, the Ever Victorious Army was largely recruited from former Taiping rebels who had been taken prisoner and persuaded to change sides. By April 1864 the Army had become less effective and had suffered several setbacks. It was disbanded in May 1864 with 104 foreign officers and 2,288 Chinese soldiers being paid off. The bulk of the artillery and some infantry was transferred to Chinese Imperial forces. Literary allusions Robert Jordan named the Seanchan army in his Wheel of Time fantasy series after the Ever Victorious Army. Ward turns up in George MacDonald Fraser's fictional The Flashman Papers series novel Flashman and the Dragon as a Yangtse opium smuggler (apocryphal) and as the leader of the embryonic Ever Victorious Army. In the time-travel novel This Is How You Lose the Time War by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone, the character Red refers to Blue and the Ever Victorious Army burning down a palace. Notes Further reading Carr, Caleb. "The Devil Soldier" MHQ: Quarterly Journal of Military History (Spring 1992) 4#3 pp 48-55, on Frederick Townsend Ward Carr, Caleb. The Devil Soldier: The American Soldier of Fortune Who Became a God in China (1995). on Frederick Townsend Ward. Heath, Ian. The Taiping Rebellion 1851-66: Smith, Richard J. Mercenaries and Mandarins: The Ever-Victorious Army in Nineteenth Century China (1978) External links Military history of the Qing dynasty Military units and formations of the Qing dynasty Mercenaries Military units and formations established in 1860 Military units and formations disestablished in 1864 1860s in China 1860 establishments in China Taiping Rebellion