Colonel Chesney thus writes:--"If General Staveley had made a mistake in the operations he personally conducted the year before, he more than redeemed it by the excellence of his choice of Gordon. This strange army was made up of French, Germans, Americans, Spaniards, some of good and some of bad character, but in their chief they had one whose courage they were bound to admire, and whose justice they could not help but admit. The private plundering of vanquished towns and cities allowed under their former chief, disappeared under the eye of a leader whose eye was as keen, as his soul was free from the love of filthy lucre. They, however, learned to respect and love a general in whose kindness, valour, skill, and justice they found cause unhesitatingly to confide; who never spared himself personal exposure when danger was near. In every engagement, and these numbered more than seventy, he was to the front and led in person. His somewhat undisciplined army, had in it many brave men; but even such men were very reluctant at times to face these desperate odds. Whenever they showed signs of vacillation he would take one of the men by the arm, and lead him into the very thick of the fight. He always went unarmed even when foremost in the breach. He never saw danger. A shower of bullets was no more to him than a shower of hailstones; he carried one weapon only, and that was a little cane, which won for itself the name of "Gordon's magic wand." On one occasion when leading a storming party his men wavered under a most withering fire. Gordon coolly turned round and waving his cane, bade his men follow him. The soldiers inspired by his courage, followed with a tremendous rush and shout, and at once grandly carried the position. After the capture of one of the Cities, Gordon was firm in not allowing them to pillage, sack and burn such places; and for this some of his men showed a spirit of insubordination. His artillery men refused to fall in when ordered; nay more, they threatened to turn upon him their guns and blow him and his officers to pieces. This news was conveyed to him by a written declaration. His keen eye saw through their scheme at a glance, and with that quiet determination which was his peculiar strength, he summoned them into his presence and with a firmness born of courage and faith in God, he declared that unless the ringleader of this movement was given up, one out of every five would be shot! At the same time he stepped to the front and with his own hand seized one of the most suspicious looking of the men, dragged him out, and ordered him to be shot on the spot at once, the order was instantly carried out by an officer. After this he gave them half an hour to reconsider their position at the end of which he found them ready to carry out any order he might give. It transpired afterwards that the man who was shot was the ringleader in this insubordination."