During his passage to China, Lea visited the American-owned islands of Hawaii, Guam and the Philippines, each of which he examined as a potential battlefield. Upon his arrival in Canton, Lea’s contacts gave him a letter of introduction to Kang Yu-wei, the former prime minister who now led the plot to re-throne the deposed emperor. Somewhere along the line Lea, in regard to his reputation and abilities, had been rather economical with the truth, for Kang’s jaw dropped when he first saw him. Why have you come? he asked. What can you do? I have come to help you save China from the old tigress, replied Lea. You are too young to do that, said Kang. Lea, not one to be swayed, retorted, I am the same age as Napoleon was at Rivoli. He was given a scroll appointing him the rank of lieutenant general and a package containing the Star of the Order of the Emperor Kwang Hsü. Lea promptly took over a small force of volunteers in Shensi province.

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Setting out in a palanquin, Lea was about 100 miles into his journey when he was overtaken by a messenger bearing grave news. The dowager empress’ spy network had uncovered the plot, and Kwang, with a $20,000 price on his head, had fled for his life. Imperial troops were also hunting down the Yang kuei-tzu, or foreign devil, in league with the conspirators. The neck that the executioner would have difficulty in finding was now worth $10,000. To make matters worse, his local command had been wiped out. Lured into a trap set by the viceroy of Shensi, Lea’s officers had arrived at the provincial palace thinking that the region was about to be surrendered. They found the executioner’s sword waiting for them instead. To emphasize the futility of the rebellion, the viceroy had their heads impaled on spikes atop the city walls.

Those around Homer Lea suggested he make his escape. But the little general was unfazed, sending the messenger on ahead to tell his troops to hide in the mountains and wait for his arrival. The Boxer Rebellion was in full swing by the time Lea reached the ragtag remnants of his command. After a short period of intensive training, Lea’s men began their march toward Peking.

He arrived in the imperial capital just as the 20,000-strong multinational army was relieving the besieged foreign legation compound. Lea’s contingent was too unskilled to have much impact upon events. Yet the Westerner, wearing the lavish golden uniform of a Chinese general, was noted by the international press and by Maj. Gen. Adna Chaffee, whose American contingent was followed into the capital by Lea’s army of undisciplined coolies.

Tzu-hsi, disguised as a peasant, fled the city in a horse-drawn cart. Her armies withdrew, pursued by Homer Lea’s force, while the multinational troops remained in Peking, busily plundering its portable treasures. No match for the imperial army’s rear guard when it turned on them, Lea’s irregulars were soundly defeated. Bereft of any support, he decided to flee to Hong Kong and wait for a turn of events.

Far from overthrowing the dowager empress, the Western powers decided to leave the tigress in place, albeit severely curtailing her authority by imposing the humiliating 1901 Boxer Protocol, in which China was forced to accept unprecedented foreign interference in its affairs. Tzu-hsi, who had lost face in the eyes of her subjects, was especially keen to exact her revenge on those who had helped the foreigners in their victory. And although Hong Kong was a British possession, the dowager empress’ network could easily seek out Lea there. Sensing that his life was threatened, he fled to Japan, where he met the leading figure in China’s budding republican movement, Sun Yat-sen.

In his memoirs, Sun recalled that first encounter. A tiny, stooping stranger with a pallid countenance approached him, saying: I should like to throw in my lot with you. I believe your ideas will succeed. Baffled, Sun asked an aide, Who was that little hunchback? The little hunchback had obviously been working hard on boosting his image within the Chinese émigré community, for Sun’s aide replied: That is Homer Lea…perhaps the most brilliant military genius alive. He is the perfect master of modern warfare. The following day Sun called on Lea. He recalled saying, Should I succeed and my countrymen give me the power to do so, I will make you my chief military adviser. Quick off the mark, Lea said, Make me that now, and you will succeed. Some time was to pass before that would come about, but the American was now a member of, and held an influential position within, Sun’s camp.

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