生平

同治三年舊曆六月（1864年7月），湘軍攻金陵（太平天國稱天京），李臣典的主要任務是摧毀金陵城牆。

1864年7月19日，李臣典部隊兩度引爆炸藥，炸破太平門，接連多次地震，李臣典率領600人的敢死隊，在破牆上進行了一場激烈的破城戰，終於破城，因為李臣典在破城戰中受傷。攻克天京後被評獎勵為「攻城第一功」，封一等子爵。

在李之前，已有湘軍將領攻進洪秀全宮殿，但無法發現洪秀全行蹤，李臣典判斷洪秀全已死，於是命令他的士兵四處挖掘，終於挖出洪秀全的屍骨。一說是總兵熊登武拷問洪秀全宮女，而掘出洪秀全屍骨。

洪秀全的屍體以白布包裹著，雙手交叉，放在胸前，手持一枚鐵十字，沒有棺材，身體嚴重腐爛，只有肩膀和右臀稍有皮肉，李臣典建議曾國藩把洪秀全屍體火葬，燒成骨灰，摻和著火藥裝入炮彈，然後接連發射出去，讓髮逆首魁洪秀全徹底灰飛煙滅，也可以使太平軍舊部失去精神象徵。

據聞，李臣典對於戰俘殺人無數，包括大量平民，時稱「戮絕妖男，虜盡良女」，日夜宣淫，一夜「連御十女」而當月七月馬上風暴亡。

家庭

• 嗣子：李長祿

Finding Hong Xiuquans body

During the final days of the Taiping Rebellion, Li Chendian's main task was to destroy the city wall of Nanjing.

On July 19, 1864, at 13:00 in the afternoon, attackers detonated explosives in a tunnel under the Taiping (太平) Gate. This is the first recorded time that men felt a light earthquake from an underground explosion. A second blast occurred about one minute later and then a large section of the wall exploded with pieces flying from 2 to 10 km away.

Li then led 600 soldiers and stormed into the city. A fierce battle was fought at the broken wall, continuing into the city, and finally occupying Hong Xiuquan's palace.

Li was the second general to arrive at Hong『s palace on the second day, the first general had not been able to locate Hong『s body. Li was unable to locate the body either. On 30 July, Li noticed a section of the ground had been tampered with in the pavilion. He ordered his soldiers to dig there and was surprised to find Hong『s naked body wrapped in white cloth. The body had long white hair, hands placed on the chest, and holding an iron cross. There was no coffin and the body had badly decomposed. Only the shoulders and right buttock were still covered with skin and flesh.