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Chapter 2 – Kirwi and Bandah

The composition of General Whitlock’s force

On the 16th of November, 1857, Brigadier-General Whitlock, of the Madras army, was appointed to the command of a division for service in the Nagpur, Sagar, and Narbada territories. His force was to consist of an artillery brigade, composed of two troops of horse artillery and three companies of foot artillery, with two light field-batteries attached, commanded by Lieutenant-Colonel W. H. Miller; of a cavalry brigade composed of the 12th Lancers and the 6th and 7th Madras Light Cavalry, commanded by Colonel A. W. Lawrence; of one brigade of infantry, composed of the 3rd Madras Europeans and the 1st and 5th Madras Native Infantry, commanded by Colonel Carpenter, M.A.; of a second infantry brigade, composed of the 43rd Light Infantry and the 19th and left wing of the 50th Madras Native Infantry, commanded by Colonel McDuff, 74th Highlanders. There were also details of sappers and miners. The force was to be massed at Jabalpur, and to march thence towards Bandah.

The force at Jabalpur is directed

A small force, previously detached from the Madras presidency, or serving in the central provinces, was already at Jabalpur92. This force consisted of six hundred and fifty men of the 33rd Madras Native Infantry, under Colonel Miller; a hundred and twenty men 28th Madras Native Infantry, under Lieutenant Standen; a hundred and twenty men of the 1st Nagpur Rifles93; three hundred men 4th Madras Light Cavalry, under Lieutenant-Colonel Cumberlege; three hundred men 6th Madras Light Cavalry, under Lieutenant-Colonel Byng; a hundred and fifty men 2nd Nizam’s Cavalry, under Captain Macintire;

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to halt pending Whitlock’s arrival

a total of eight hundred and ninety infantry and seven hundred and fifty cavalry. This small column had orders to halt at Jabalpur pending the arrival of General Whitlock and his force.

Whitlock reaches Jabalpur

General Whitlock reached Kaman on the 10th of January. He was unable, from various causes, to leave that place till the 23rd of the same month. Setting out on that date, he arrived at Jabalpur on the 6th of February94. Part of his 1st brigade reached on the 6th, the remainder a few days later.

He sets out with part of his force for Sagar

On the 17th of February General Whitlock, leaving a small garrison at Jabalpur, soon to be increased by the arrival of Brigadier McDuff’s brigade to a tolerable strength, set out for Sagar. He moved in the direction of Jakhani, with the object of overawing the mutinous landowners in the Rewah district. reached that place, previously captured by Willoughby Osborne, on the 24th, and was there met by the loyal Rajah of Urchah. Halting here one day, he set out on the 26th for Damoh, and arrived there on the 4th of March.

His movements are characterised by extreme caution

It is worthy of remark that during this march of fifteen days General Whitlock, though strongly urged by Major Erskine, the political officer accompanying his force, to drive the rebels from the strong places they occupied which they still continued to harass the districts between Jabalpur and Damoh, refused to send a single detachment for that purpose from his force.

He preferred, he said, to keep it massed in his hand. The result was that, although Whitlock’s column secured the ground on which it encamped, scared in to submission the villages through which it marched, and even recovered Damoh, it left the population of the districts still occupied by rebels astonished at the regard paid to the latter.

Whitlock reaches Sagar

On the 5th Whitlock rode into Sagar, accompanied by some horse artillery and cavalry. Sagar had previously been relieved by Sir Hugh Rose, but on reaching it Whitlock at once sent an express to Damoh for two hundred European and seventy native infantry to come in by forced marches; he also detached a small body of Europeans to escort treasure from Jabalpur, whilst the remainder of the force he kept halted at Damoh under the command of Brigadier

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Carpenter. He, however, returned and resumed command on the 12th.

Whitlock is ordered to march on Nagod, and to communicate with Sir Hugh Rose

On the 17th Whitlock, still halted at Damoh, received the Governor-General’s orders to march on Nagod and Panah by way of Hattah, and to afford aid to the loyal Rajahs of Bundelkhand, notably to the Rajah of Charkhari. Lord Canning’s despatch further directed Whitlock to communicate his movement to Sir Hugh Rose, so as to enable that officer to work in concert with him.

Whitlock reaches Panah and halts to obtain information

In compliance with this order, Whitlock left Damoh on the 22nd of March, and, entering Bundelkhand, arrived at Panah without molestation on the 29th. Evidently a man of extreme caution, Whitlock halted here to obtain information regarding the position of the enemy and the practicability of the roads. The reader, if he refer to the preceding chapter, will see that this was the precise period when the Government would have diverted Sir Hugh Rose from his attack on Jhansi in order to succour Charkhari, then besieged by Tantia Topi; and that activity on the part of General Whitlock was specially desirable.

His extreme caution

But no activity was displayed. The force remained halted at Panah till the 2nd of April. Whitlock, having by that time come to a resolution, marched on it by Marwa Ghat, a route almost impossible for guns and vehicles.

Proceeds by a difficult route towards Bandah, still slowly and cautiously

So difficult was the road that on reaching Mandala, at the foot of the pass, Whitlock had to halt for three days to repair damages. Whilst thus halted, he received (3rd of April) a despatch from Sir Hugh Rose, directing him to move with all expedition upon Jhansi. Whitlock was unable to leave Mandala till the 6th of April.

And eventually reaches Bandah

He then marched, by way of Chatrpur, on Bandah, reached Chatrpur on the 9th, surprised the rebels the following night whilst evacuating the fort of Jhigan, then marched on Mahoba, and thence on Bandah.

The Nawab of Bandah endeavours to draw Whitlock into a trap

The rebel Nawab of Bandah was playing the part of an independent prince in the district which took its name from the chief town. The Nawab had been well supplied with information regarding Whitlock’s movements, and, judging him to be a man of a cautious and anxious temperament, determined to attempt to lead him into a tray. No sooner, then, had he been

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certified of the advance of the English general than he directed the troops he had stationed at Mahoba, and which consisted of eight hundred and fifty men of the mutinied 50th Bengal Native Infantry, two hundred men of the 23rd Native Infantry, the 2nd Regiment Irregular Cavalry Gwaliar contingent, and half a battery of guns, to evacuate that place and take up a position in ambush at Kabrai, whence they should fall upon English troops as they would pass it before dawn. At the same time the Nawab took care that Whitlock should be informed that he would encounter no enemy south of Bandah. Had the courage of his troops equalled the cleverness of the Nawab, the plan would have succeeded.

and succeeds

Whitlock so far fell into the trap that he believed there wean no rebels before him.

The Nawab’s troops surprise the English, but the latter, soon recovering, defeat them.

His troops were actually marching through Kabrai hour an before daybreak, when the enemy opened upon them a heavy fire. The surprise was but for a moment. The Horse Artillery, the Lancers, and the Haidarabad Irregulars galloped forward, and soon compelled the rebels to retreat. Unfortunately, in the pursuit which followed, the principal body of the British force took, in the dark, a wrong direction, so that but few of the enemy were cut up. The attempt, however, clearly indicated to Whitlock what was in store for him at Barnhill.

The Nawab’s troops take up a strong position in front of Bandah

He pushed on, however, and on the early morning of the 19th found the rebel forces, headed by the Nawab, occupying the plain south of the town, and barring his entrance into it. The Nawab’s forces consisted of seven thousand men, of whom rather more than one-third were regular troops. The position he had taken up was strong. The ground was very much intersected by ravines and watercourses, and of these the rebels had taken skilful advantage.

Where he is attacked by Whitlock

Whitlock had broken up his camp at 4 o’clock on the morning of the 19th. At 5 o’clock his advance guard, commanded by Colonel Apthorp, and consisting of three companies 3rd Madras Europeans, two guns Mein’s troop Horse Artillery, some Haidarabad Irregulars under Macintire, a few of the 12th Lancers, and a detachment 1st Madras Native Infantry, came upon the enemy. Apthorp was at once directed to turn the right of the rebel position, whilst the main body should threaten it in front. These orders were carried out to the letter. Apthorp’s men had, however, no easy task.

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Gallantry of Apthorp, Colbeck, Macintire, Miller, Alford and Clifton

It was difficult to get at the rebels. When Apthorp had carried one ravine he found them in force in the next. There must have been much in the nature of the ground to screen human life, for though the fight lasted seven hours, from 5 o’clock till noon, the casualties on the British side amounted only to thirty-nine, of whom four were officers. Several deeds of heroism were performed. The coolness of Apthorp was the admiration of every one. Young Colbeck, of the 3rd Europeans, met a glorious death leading his men to the charge of the first nullah. Captain Macintire, of the Haidarabad cavalry – which lost twenty killed and wounded – greatly distinguished himself, as did likewise Brigadier Miller, Sergeant-Major Alford, of the Madras Artillery, and Captain Clifton, 12th Lancers.

The Nawab is completely defeated

At length the position was forced, and the Nawab fled, with two thousand followers, to Kalpi, leaving behind him seventeen guns, the town of Bandah, and a palace filled with property of great value. The rebel loss in the battle was variously estimated at from four to six hundred men. General Whitlock established his head-quarters in Bandah, to wait there till the remainder of his force should join him.

Whitlock is joined by McDuff’s brigade

The second brigade, under Brigadier McDuff, reached Jabalpur on the 18th of March, and set out for Sagar on the 24th. In order, however, to prevent the mutineers from heading backwards into the Mirzapur district, Whitlock sent instructions to this brigade to change its course and to proceed to Nagod. McDuff, therefore, only reached Bandah on the 27th of May. He found Whitlock still halted there.

Whitlock, on being joined by McDuff’s brigade, resolved to march to the assistance of Sir Hugh Rose at Kalpi, and had indicated the 20th as the day of departure on that errand. But Sir Hugh Rose, as we have seen, had completely defeated the rebels before Kalpi on the 23rd, and had entered that place on the 24th of May. Information of this reached Whitlock in time to change his plans regarding Kalpi.

In every particular Sir Hugh Rose had cleared the way for Whitlock

The reader who has followed me through this and the preceding chapter, will not have failed to see how, in every particular, the action of Sir Hugh Rose had cleared the way for the action of General Whitlock. It was Sir Hugh, who at Garhakota, and on the Betwa, had disposed of the enemies with whom, but for that,

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Whitlock would have had to deal. The defeat of Tantia Topi on the Betwa alone made it possible for Whitlock to march on Bandah.

Perversity of fortune

Yet – extraordinary perversity of Fortune – whilst Sir Hugh and his force endured all the hardships of the campaign, and did by far the most important part of the fighting, Whitlock and his little army, up to the time of the capture of Bandah, gained all the substantial advantages. The spoils of Bandah, which would not have been gained but for the action of Sir Hugh Rose, were allotted to Whitlock’s force alone!

Whitlock is ordered to march on Kirwi

The same blind goddess, not content with one perverse distribution of her favours, now set about to perpetrate another. Whitlock had but just renounced his intention to march to the assistance of Sir Hugh Rose at Kalpi, when he received orders from Lord Canning to march against the Rao of Kirwi.

Sketch of Kirwi

Kirwi, formerly better known as Tiroha, is forty-five miles from Bandah, and seventy from Allahabad. The Rao of Kirwi, Madhava Rao, had succeeded to the throne by adoption, when he was only four years old. When the mutiny broke out in 1857, he was then a boy of but nine years, under the tutelage of Ram Chandra Ram, a man enjoying the confidence of the Government of India, and appointed by it to watch the interests of the young Rao during his minority. The Rao was thus, in equity, the ward of the Government of India. It has been commonly asserted that there were two Raos of Kirwi95. This statement has no foundation. There was, indeed, a discarded relative of the immediate predecessor of Ram Chandra Ram, to whom he, Madhava Rao, was required to pay a monthly stipend of two hundred rupees, and to whom the title of Rao was granted by courtesy. But this person, Nardyan Rao, was absolutely without position or influence, and he would not have presumed even to whisper an interference in the affairs of the state.

The situation at Kirwi, then, was simply this: that the Rao was a minor, only nine years old, and the affairs of the principality were practically conducted by Ram Chandra Ram, the nominee of the Government of India. But, though Ram Chandra was the nominee of the Indian Government, and though he practically managed the state of Kirwi, the feeling amongst the landowners

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of the principality, great and small, was, in 1857, inimical to the British. It seems to me very natural that it should have been so. Many years before, in 1827, Amrit Rao, the then ruler, had deposited two lakhs of rupees, at 6 per cent. interest, in the hands of the Government of India, for the perpetual maintenance of charities and temples which he had established in the holy city of Banaras. Ten years later, in 1837, the Government of India had reduced their rate of interest to 4 per cent., and Venayak Rao, the son and successor of Amrit Rao, in order that neither the charities nor the temples might feel the loss, and in the view, moreover, of increasing their resources, had then deposited in the hands of the Government three additional lakhs, making a total of five lakhs, the interest of which was to be paid annually for the purposes above stated. The interest was punctually paid during the lifetime of Venayak Rao and for three years after his death, when, for some reason which the Government of India has never divulged, the payment of the interest ceased.

Their adviser, Radhava Govind stimulates their disaffection

Madhava Rao was then only seven years old, and no suspicion of treason, or felonious intent, attached then to the child; but his advisers, and other pious Hindus, men of blameless life and integrity of purpose, were so shocked at the sacrilegious and fraudulent withholding of the interest on sums deposited for a special purpose by the Raos of Kirwi, that they paid the missing amount out of the estate of the principality. But a very bitter feeling was engendered throughout its broad lands. Princes, priests, and people alike felt that no faith could thenceforward be placed in the promises of the Supreme Power.

Who declare for Nana Sahib

When, then, the mutiny broke out in the North-West Provinces; when the Rani of Jhansi, whose cause, judged from the standard of the prescriptive rights of native princes was eminently a just cause, broke into rebellion; when the earlier occurrences in the vicinity of Bundelkhand seemed to presage, the fall of British rule, it is not surprising. that Ram Chandra Ram, noting the outraged feelings of the people, and their sympathy with the leader of the movement in the Duab, the heir of the Peshwa, Nana Sahib, to whom the Rao of Kirwi, was collaterally related, should have found his task more than ordinarily difficult. But, loyal to the British overlord, he did his duty truly and zealously. sahib’.

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Causes which prompted the Rao still to hope after Bandah had fallen.

Up to the third week of May, 1858, the young Rao, himself innocent of mischief, for, it cannot be too often insisted, he was only nine years old, had enjoyed blissful visions of a fortunate future. He did not know that Kirwi had been placed on the list of the places to which a severe lesson was to be administered, for the discontent of his people had taken a very passive form. For a long time it was covered from danger by the Nawab of Bandah, but, when Bandah fell on the 19th of April, the young Rao was made to write to Sir Robert Hamilton, professing loyalty to the British, and offering to admit British troops into his capital.

On hearing that Whitlock is marching on Kirwi, they ride out and surrender

A little later, when he, Sir Hugh, unaided by Whitlock, had taken Kalpi, and when, on the 2nd of June, Whitlock left Bandah, to march on their palace, the Rao waited till that general had reached Bharatkup, ten miles from Kirwi, and then rode out and tendered to him the welcome only offered to those supposed to be friends.

By this act the spoils of Kirwi devolve without fighting on Whitlock’s force

Whitlock’s march on Kirwi had been made possible by the annihilation of the forces of the Nawab of Bandah at Kalpi. That chieftain fled from Bundelkhand, never again, during the war, to reappear within its borders. Still, the young Rao had committed no overt act of rebellion; he was yet virtually a ward of the British Government; he had surrendered without resistance to the British general; and there was assuredly no reason why the great disaffection of his people should be punished in his person as though it had been active treason.

But, at Kirwi there was an accumulation of treasure. The young Rao was very rich, and it was found not difficult to trump up a case against him.

Enormous amount of treasure found at Kirwi

For Whitlock, moving from Bandah on the 2nd of June96, had entered Kirwi without opposition on the 6th. Not a shot hail been fired against him, but he resolved nevertheless to treat the young Rao as though he had actually opposed the British forces. The reason for this perversion of honest dealing lay in the fact that in

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the palace of Kirwi was stored the wherewithal to compensate soldiers for many a hard fight, and many a broiling sun. In its vaults and strong rooms were specie, jewels, and diamonds of priceless value!

It was nothing that the young Rao, to whom this wealth belonged, was himself but a lad of nine years, innocent in his own person of treason; that the Indian Government was his guardian, and, as such, responsible, during his minority for his acts; that the tutor of the young boy, Ram Chandra Ram, who doubtless had been the interpreter of the outraged feelings of the nobles of Kirwi, had been appointed to his post by British authority. The wealth was coveted, and the wealth was taken – taken as prize money, to be squabbled over by those who took it without firing a shot97.

The right to the booty subsequently argued before the High Court of Admiralty

The question of the proprietary right in this booty, strangely declared to be prize-money, was ultimately argued before the High Court of Admiralty.

Its decision

By this court the claim of Sir Hugh Rose’s force to share in the prize, which had come into British possession mainly in consequence of his action, was rejected; the claims of the commanders of other co-operating but independent divisions and columns were rejected; the claims of the Commander-in-Chief in India and his staff, who were hundreds of miles from the spot, and whose action did not influence the capture, and the claims of the officers and men of General Whitlock’s force, were admitted to an exclusive right in the prize of Bandah and Kirwi.

Possibly the reader may feel some interest as to the future of the innocent boy, Madhava Rao, whose property was thus unceremoniously disposed of. A treatment similar to that meted out by the Government of India to another of their wards, Dhulip Singh of the Panjab, was extended to this boy of nine. His estates were confiscated. He was then98 “pardoned in consideration of his youth, and is now being educated at Bareli as a ward of the British Government. A provision of Rs. 30,000 a year has been made for him99.”

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What became of him subsequently to 1863 I have been unable to ascertain. It is to be hoped that the guardianship announced in the record from which I have quoted has been more faithfully administered than was the first.

After the capture of Kirwi. Whitlock’s force was distributed so as to maintain order in the Bundelkhand and Jamnah districts. A portion was sent to Kalpi on the requisition of Sir H. Rose; one was left at Kirwi, other portions were sent to Mohaba, Jalaun, Bandah, Kirka, Sagar, Damoh, and Hamirpur. The general’s headquarters were fixed at Mahoba. Here we must leave him, to return to Tantia Topi and Sir Hugh Rose.

Footnotes

92. Vide page 70 of this volume.

93. The Nagpur local force had been rearmed by Mr. Plowden.

94. The distance is a hundred and forty-eight miles.

95. I fell into this mistake in the first edition of this work.

96. The very day on which, it will be seen, one of Sir Hugh’s columns started to encounter more dangers at Gwaliar.

97. Vide Appendix A.

98. “Aitchison’s Treaties.” vol. iii. p. 112 (edition 1863).

99. The proof that the Government of India were actually the trustees of the Rao’s estate is to be found in the fact that in 1857 they were actually regulating the property, making all-important appointments and authorising all the expenditure, through the Administrator-General of Bengal and his officers. It is a recognised law, that the malfeasances of agents appointed by a trustee are not to be attributed to the ward.

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