Page 209

Chapter 3 – The Panjab and the North-West

The Panjab

Before proceeding to recount the other great military measure with which the story of the mutiny fitly closes, it is necessary that I should ask the reader to accompany me to the Panjab to see how the fall of Dehli, made possible by the noble self-denial of Sir John Lawrence, affected that border province. From the Panjab the reader will return through the pacified provinces of the north-west to Agra, in close vicinity to that Gwaliar but just reconquered by Sir Hugh Rose. In the succeeding book I shall record the most romantic episode in the history – the pursuit, from many starting points and by many independent columns, of the famous Tantia Topi.

Sir John Lawrence’s position early in September 1857

The decision at which Sir John Lawrence had arrived at the end of July 1857 to denude the Panjab of troops in order to reinforce General Wilson’s army before Dehli, had not been formed without most serious and anxious consideration. On the one side, he had had before him General Wilson’s letter announcing that unless he were reinforced from the Panjab he would not be able to maintain his position, still less to assault the city; and the inner certainty that if General Wilson were to raise the siege of Dehli the Panjab would rise in insurrection. On the other, he had the knowledge that the effective force of Europeans at his disposal, including the sick and convalescent. but not including the fierce under Nicholson, did net exceed four thousand men, and that these were not more than sufficient to maintain order in the Panjab, even whilst the general feeling of the Panjabis should remain loyal; most insufficient should a striking reverse of fortune, such as the raising of the siege of Dehli, turn the Panjabis against him. He had before him, in fact, a choice of two risks – the risk of a general rising in the Panjab, caused by the effect which would certainly he produced in the minds of the Panjabis by a retreat from Dehli; and the

Page 210

risk of rebellion induced by the knowledge that the Panjab had been denuded of British.

Comparison of the two risks, one of which he was obliged to run

Of the two risks, the second was undoubtedly really the lesser. To a nervous man, to a man fearing responsibility , however, the second risk would present dangers affecting to such a degree his position, that he would certainly shrink from incurring them. A man of that stamp, charged with maintaining British rule beyond the Satlaj, would have argued that his primary duty was to protect the Panjab, and that he dare not, for the sake of the uncertain chance of conquering Dehli, risk the safety of that province. “True,” he would have said, “true it is that, if the march of Nicholson’s column enable Wilson to take Dehli, oar situation will be ameliorated. But Wilson might be repulsed; Wilson himself thinks it is quite a toss-up whether he will succeed or whether he will fail. And, if he fail, the situation of the Panjab without Nicholson’s column will be a thousand times worse than if I were to retain it.

Reasons for his decision in favour of the bolder policy

Everything, then, depends upon a very doubtful ‘if’: and, responsible for the Panjab as I am, I dare not incur the risk.” But Sir John was not a nervous man, and he had no fear of responsibility. He saw clearly that the one chance of preventing the further spread of the mutiny was to strike a blow at its heart. That heart palpitated at Dehli. Every risk, then, which strengthened the blow to be struck at Dehli was a prelude to safety.

The Panjab when Nicholson left it at the end of July

How Nicholson’s column successfully worked out the great result aimed at has been already recorded in these pages. Dehli fell. But in the interval Sir John Lawrence had to meet the other risk of which I have spoken. Nicholson’s departure at the end of July had left in the Panjab about, four thousand European troops, including those sick and convalescent.

How Sir John prepared to encounter the possible evil

Of these, three regiments were in the Peshawar valley, but so reduced by sickness, that for the active work of a campaign they could not muster more than a thousand bayonets; one regiment, the 24th, held Lahor; one, sent from Sindh, held Multan and Firuzpur; another furnished detachments to hold Rawalpindi, Amritsar, and Jalandhar. Sir John at once made preparations to meet the new situation. He first formed a movable column. For this purpose he drew from the 24th Foot from

Page 211

two to three hundred men, and joined with them four hundred Punjab infantry and a few horsemen. The other troops alluded to being required for the purpose of watching, as at Peshawar, the frontier, and elsewhere, the disarmed native troops, eighteen thousand strong, this column really constituted the only force which could be used in the event of an insurrection provoked by the hopes which the march of Nicholson’s column might inspire in the minds of the disaffected.

Disaffection in the lower Hazarah country

The doubts which Sir John Lawrence had entertained regarding a prolonged continuation of the loyalty of the Panjabis were quickly justified. Nicholson had crossed the Satlaj on the 30th of July. Early in September it was discovered that the inhabitants of the lower Hazarah country had conspired to revolt. Mostly Muhammadans, the people of that tract and of the adjoining hills had been tempted by the long successful resistance of Dehli to plot the downfall of their English masters. They had evidently been close observers of the state of affairs, for they had arranged that their continued loyalty should depend on the turn affairs should take at Dehli. If that royal city should not fall before the 10th of September, on that day they would revolt.

Their plot is discovered and baffled

In this case to be forewarned was sufficient. Lady Lawrence, who was then at the hill station at Marri, received the first intimation of the intended revolt. She quickly entered into communication with Mr. Edward Thornton, Commissioner of Rawalpindi. That gentleman concerted at once with the other officials to baffle the conspirators. In a few hours their leaders were arrested, and the plot was thus nipped in the bud.

Rising in the country between Lahor and Multan

A few weeks later, a conspiracy of a similar nature actually came to a head in the country between Lahor and Multan. On the evening of the 14th of September, the very day on which the assault of Dehli was delivered, a Muhammadan official of the postal department arrived at Lahor from Gughaira, and, making his way to Sir .John Lawrence, reported “with somewhat of a malicious twinkle of the eye142,” that all the wild tribes inhabiting the jungle country between Lahor and Multan had risen. Questioned further, he declared that the insurgents

Page 212

timbered a hundred and twenty-five thousand. Though Sir John knew this number to be greatly exaggerated, yet, well aware of the wild and reckless character of the tribes, to whom the tale referred, he felt certain that a rising of a formidable character had taken place, and that it was a case to meet which it was necessary to take prompt and decided action.

Sir John meets

Within three hours, then, of the receipt of the message, he had despatched one company of European infantry, two hundred Sikh cavalry, and three guns to the headquarters of the insurgents. Small though the force was, totally inadequate to deal with any large body of rebels, the celerity with which it had been organised and despatched compensated for every disadvantage. The very rumour of its advance struck terror into the insurgents. They at once took refuge in the almost impenetrable jungles which formed their normal habitation. Their retreat did not in the least relax Sir John’s endeavours to crush them. He sent reinforcement after reinforcement to his small column, and very speedily ensured the submission of the disaffected tribes.

Thenceforth, order throughout the Panjab

This was the last attempt made by any portion of the population of the Panjab to rise in revolt. The fall of Dehli occurred about the same time to convince even the most disaffected that the star of England was still in the ascendant. The occurrences that followed seemed to add daily confirmation to this opinion. The relief of Lakhnao, the capture of that place, followed by the reconquest of Rohilkhand, and accompanied, almost, by Sir Hugh Rose’s splendid campaign in Central India, came as proof upon proof that the power which had won India was resolved to maintain it.

Is disturbed but slightly

In the latter half of the year 1858 one or two disturbances occurred which, by their exception to the general rule and by their easy suppression, served to prove the real tranquillity of the province.

First at Dera Ishmail Khan

In July 1858 a portion of the 18th Panjab infantry, stationed at Dera Ishmail Khan on the Indus, planned a mutiny. The portion referred to was composed of Sikhs, known as the Malwai Sikhs, and numbered about a hundred. For some cause unknown they proposed, it was said, to murder their officers, to seize the magazine and the fort, and to rearm the 39th regiment native infantry, which had been disarmed some time previously.

Page 213

Suppressed by Major Gardiner

Fortunately, on the 20th of July, the plot was discovered. Major Gardiner of the 13th Panjab native infantry, and Captain Smith of the artillery, proceeded at 10 o’clock in the evening of that day, to the lines of the regiment and summoned two of the Malwais. One, a Sipahi, came out at once, when Major Gardiner ordered him to be confined. On hearing the order he ran off, pursued by the guard. Just as the foremost men of the guard had reached him a Malwai Jamadar rushed out, cut down one man and wounded another, and fled with the Sipahi.

A few days later they were captured, and the revolt, of which they had been the ringleaders, was suppressed.

Multan

At Multan an attempt made, the following month, to dispose quietly and peaceably of some of the disbanded regiments, terminated in bloodshed. At that station there were the 62nd and 69th native infantry and a native troop of horse artillery.

Embarrassment caused to the authorities there by the disarmed regiments

These men were a source of great embarrassment to the authorities, for it was considered unsafe to re-arm them; whilst, disarmed, they required European troops to guard them. It was resolved, as a middle course, to disband them by there by fractions, and allow them to depart quietly to their homes. The Sipahis acquiesced in the decision when the decision was made known to them.

The men of which, under the impression that they are about to be massacred, rise In revolt

Subsequently, however, they conceived the impression that it was intended to attack and destroy them piecemeal on their way home. Imbued with this idea, they rose in revolt. When the mid-day gun fired on the 31st of August, they seized clubs and whatever else they could find in the shape of weapons, and rushed to attack the European and Sikh troops. Those troops consisted of a hundred and seventy artillerymen, a wing of the 1st Bombay Fusiliers, the 11th Panjab Infantry, and the 1st Irregular Cavalry. The men of this small force who happened to be on guard were taken by surprise, and five of their number were beaten to death with clubs. Lieutenant Miles, Adjutant of the Bombay Fusiliers, who came up at the moment, was dragged from his horse and killed in the same manner.

Suppression of the revolt

As soon, however, as the bulk of the Europeans and Panjabis realised the state of affairs, they came up in strength, and showed no mercy to the assailants. The 11th Panjabis were especially furious at the unprovoked attack.

Page 214

Of the thirteen hundred men who made it, few lived to return to their native land.

The reader traverses the loyal Cis-Satlaj states

and the Dehli districts

to Itawah

Passing downwards through the territories of the loyal chieftains of the Cis-Satlaj states – of the Rajah of Patiala, who, at the very outset, cast in his lot with the British, protected the stations of Ambalah and Karnal when the British army marched on Dehli, guarded the grand trunk road from Karnal to Philur, co-operated with Van Cortlandt in Hisar, and maintained a contingent of five thousand troops for service with the British; of the Rajah of Jhind, who, emulating his brother Rajah in loyalty, left his own country undefended to march against Dehli, and in many other ways rendered assistance to the good cause; and of the Rajah of Nabha, who aided in holding Lodiana, supplied an escort for the siege-train, gallantly opposed the Jalandhar mutineers, and performed various other excellent services – the reader will traverse the pacified Dehli territory till he reaches the district of Itawah. Here he will make a short sojourn before proceeding to Agra.

The position at Itawah

The Itawah district had, in common with other districts in the Jamnah Duab, been included in the brigade command assigned to Sir Thomas Seaton143. The attention of that gallant soldier was, however, more constantly directed to the side of Rohilkhand than to the more peaceful districts to the south of him. In those districts he had restored order and had generally re-established the civil administration. The only chance of a renewal of disturbance in them arose from the possibility of some fugitive rebel from the country west of the Jamnah endeavouring to restore the fortunes of his followers by a raid into a settled but little-guarded country. It was this possibility which occurred in the Itawah district.

Inundated by rebels from across the Jamnah.

The defeat of Sindhia’s rebellious troops at Gwaliar by Sir Hugh Rose had let loose on the country a number of turbulent partisans, who, escaping from the battle, had sought refuge in the ravines of the Jamnah. Prominent among these was an adventurer named Rup Singh. This man, followed by a few soldiers of the regular Gwaliar contingent, a certain number of the fugitives

Page 215

of Sindhia’s army, and other rabble, crossed the Jamnah and made his appearance at Ajitmal, twenty-five miles from Itawah, in the month of July.

Rup Singh

Though he was routed by a force sent from Itawah and forced to flee, he did not abandon the district. And, what was of more consequence, other adventurers, animated by similar aims, sprang up about the same time, and rivalled him in his endeavours to harass and plunder the newly pacified territories. Amongst all those marauders, however, Rup Singh maintained the pre-eminence. Often beaten, he always managed to elude his pursuers. During long periods he was not heard of.

and his river piracy

But during those periods daily accounts of robberies and stoppage of traffic on the Jamnah, reached the authorities. It was then discovered that Rup Singh had taken possession of a fort at Barhi, near the junction of the Chambal with the Jamnah, and that from this place he levied contributions on travellers by land and water.

A force proceeds against him from Itawah

The exactions of this adventurer and of others like him reached at last so great a height that, in the month of August, a small force, five hundred and fifty men of all arms144, was despatched from Itawah to destroy or disperse them. This force, commanded by Lieutenant Lachlan Forbes, of the 2nd Grenadier N. I., accompanied by Lieutenant Gordon of the Madras Engineers, in command of his sappers, and by Mr. Lance, the able and energetic magistrate of the district, embarked in boats, and proceeded down the river towards Barhi. It had reached Garha Kudat, a fortified village three miles from that place, and was still in the boats, when Rup Singh attacked it. Gordon’s men at once disembarked, in spite of opposition, drove away the rebels, re-embarked, dropped down to Barhi. and took the place.

Destroys Barhi and occupies Chakarnagar

After destroying three of the bastions of the fort and rendering it generally indefensible, Lance pushed on to Chakarnagar, the resort of another rebel chief, completely defeated the rebels there, and fixed that place as the headquarters of a small detachment to control the country. In these operations Lance was greatly assisted by Lieutenant Forbes.

Page 216

This energetic officer raised, drilled, and led the local levies, and on more than one occasion during the trip down the Jamnah, when the fire was most severe, he landed with a few of his men, drove off the rebels, and thus enabled Lieutenant Gordon and his Madras sappers to pass unscathed. Mr. James Collett, an engineer on the East India Railway, and who volunteered to work a gun on board Lance’s boat, displayed likewise great courage and great skill. He was badly wounded. The operations thus gallantly carried on for a time pacified the districts. But in October Rup Singh reappeared on the Kuari145 with a following of four hundred men. and attacked a British picket on the Itawah side of that river.

Allan beats Rup Singh on the Kuari

Captain Allan, in command of a few levies – a hundred and forty infantry and twenty-five sawars – happened to be at the moment at Sahson, not very far from the point of Rup Singh’s action. He at once went in pursuit of him, caught him near the village of Kuari, completely defeated him, and captured all his camels and. pack-cattle.

When the band disperses

The band of the rebel leader then dispersed, and from that time the Itawah district was undisturbed.

Showers at Agra

In Agra, since the relief of that place by Greathed, matters had remained fairly tranquil. In the early part of 1858 Brigadier Showers had been sent to command the district and to perform in its vicinity the work which he had so successfully accomplished in the Dehli districts after the capture of the imperial city146.

One of Showers’s first acts was to work vengeance on some local rebels who had plundered the town of Bah and murdered the authorities. This was done on the 20th of March. Showers, making a long night-march, surprised the rebels at Kachni and captured the ringleaders.

Disturbed state of the districts

But the task allotted to him and to the civil authorities in the fort was long and difficult. Not only were the districts swarming with small bands of insurgents, but the whole of the

Page 217

country west of the Jamnah was in a state of complete insurrection. Gwaliar lies but sixty-five miles from Agra, and it is no exaggeration to state that, until the capture of Gwaliar by Sir Hugh Rose in June 1858, the influence of Maharajah Sindhia over his own people was not to be counted upon, and that Agra was at any moment liable to an attack in force front any number of rebels.

Apprehensions at Agra

This situation was entirely appreciated in Agra. The guns of the fort remained pointed at the native town –the focus of a rebellion which might at any moment break out. Every precaution was, indeed, taken to prevent, or rather to ward off, such an event; but the fact that no European living beyond the range of the guns of the fort felt his life secure for a moment shows how deep was the impression that a revolt was a mere question of opportunity. The slightest event might bring it on. The news of a disaster in the Duab or in central India, the appearance on the Jamnah of a mutinied contingent or of Tantia Topi – any one of these eventualities would most certainly precipitate a catastrophe.

Colonel Fraser and Mr. E. A. Reade

Throughout this crisis the civil authorities at Agra – Colonel Fraser, Mr. E. A. Reade, and their colleagues – displayed a coolness of judgment and a readiness of resource which left nothing to be desired. The and self-denying energy with which they devoted themselves to the task of reorganising where reorganisation was possible, of meeting great and pressing wants from exhausted resources, of providing all the military and civil requirements day by day, and of infusing their own brave spirit into those whose fortunes were at the lowest, deserve a far longer and a fuller notice than I am able to give them in these pages. The history of the occupants of Agra is the history of men who, deprived of the stimulus of action, of the excitement of the camp, of the joyous sound of the clash of arms, devoted all their energies to their country, and deserved fully the credit and the glory always assigned to deeds more showy but not more meritorious.

Meade’s Horse

Amongst the useful measures carried out during the period of which I am writing was the raising of a corps of cavalry, subsequently known as Meade’s Horse. At the end of the year 1857 the want of native troopers and mounted orderlies at Agra had been greatly felt, and as

Page 218

there were in the fort officers whom the mutiny had deprived of their employment, it was considered advisable to raise a regiment on a military footing. The task of raising it was, in December 1857, committed to Captain R. J. Meade.

Captain Meade

This officer, who will occupy a conspicuous figure towards the close of the next chapter, had been for some years brigade-major of the Gwaliar contingent, and in that office had won the confidence of the officers under whom he had served. He possessed a thorough acquaintance with the language of the people, and he invariably gave all his energies to the duties confided to him. It would have been impossible for a general in command to have had under his orders an officer who would more resolutely carry into execution the orders he received.

Process of formation of Meade’s Horse

A body of a hundred Sikhs and Panjabi Muhammadans formed the nucleus of this new regiment. To them Meade added some forty odd Eurasians and native Christians, chiefly drummers and bandsmen, taken from the disbanded native regiments. These were ultimately increased to eighty-five, and were formed into a Christian troop. As none of these men had ever previously crossed a horse, some of Meade’s difficulties may be imagined.

At the end of January 1858 Meade obtained an accession of forty-five mounted Jats, sent from Rohtak under a Jamadar of good family by Mr. J. Campbell, collector of that district; and a little later the new commandant induced Baldeo Singh Thakur of Jhara to raise, from men of his class in the neighbourhood of the Chambal, a troop of seventy horsemen. In this manner the regiment was formed, and Meade was, in a short time, able to form it into six class troops147. The labour of drilling the men and teaching many of them to ride may be imagined when it is considered that none of the men had served in the cavalry or as soldiers at all.

The regiment is formed

Working incessantly himself, and aided by such men as Sergeant Hartigan, V.C., of the 9th Lancers, and who subsequently gained a commission in the 16th; by Cockburn, whose gallantry has been referred to in a previous volume; and by others, Meade was able, by the beginning of March, to show a fair proportion of his regiment fit for service. Brigadier

Page 219

Showers, who inspected them during that month, expressed himself well satisfied alike with men and horses.

And renders good service in the vicinity of Agra

From this time up to the beginning of June Meade’s Horse were constantly employed in maintaining order in the neighbourhood of Agra, and it would be difficult to exaggerate the services they rendered in this respect to the administrative and military authorities in the place.

Sindhia, after his defeat, is escorted to Agra

But in June the aspect of Agra suddenly changed. How on the 1st of that month Maharajah Sindhia was attacked and driven to flight by the rebels under Tantia Topi, I have recorded in a previous chapter. The Maharajah, abandoned by all but a few faithful men, fled to Dholpur, intending to push on to Agra. The news of his misfortune had, however, preceded him. Showers instantly despatched a squadron of Meade’s Horse to escort the fleeing sovereign with all honour into the capital of the north-west provinces. The Maharajah, who reached Agra on the 2nd of June, remained there till the 14th, and left it that day escorted by two squadrons of Meade’s Horse to

Dholpur, thence to proceed to join Sir Hugh Rose, expected to reach Morar on the 16th. News of Sir Hugh’s arrival on that day having reached the Maharajah, he set out on the morning of the 17th, still escorted by the two squadrons, and made the march, fully sixty-five miles, within twenty-four hours. The events which followed have been recorded in the preceding book.

Showers moves to prevent Tantia Topi from fleeing northward

Returning to Agra, I have only to record the fact that on the defeat of Tantia Topi on the 17th and 19th of June, at Morar and at Gwaliar, Brigadier Showers sent out a detachment, consisting of the 3rd Europeans and a battery of guns, to cover Bharatpur, upon which place he believed the rebels to be marching. The demonstration was successful, inasmuch as the presence of the detachment induced Tantia Topi to bend his steps southwards. As soon as his march in that direction was definitely known, the detachment returned by way of Fathpur to Agra.

Relief felt at Agra by the recovery of Gwaliar

Thenceforward that city and the districts east of the Jamnah experienced the full relief caused by the crushing defeat, at a point so close to the British districts, of the one chieftain whose name up to that time had been a beacon of hope to the marauder.

Page 220

Tantia Topi had fled from Sir Hugh Rose at Gwaliar; had fled from Napier at Jaora Alipur; but whither? All that was known was that when he had fled from the last-named battlefield he had taken a southerly direction. Who could say how long he would maintain that direction? It is time now that we should follow him, and recount in some detail the measures adopted by his pursuers to overtake him.

Footnotes

142. Panjab Military Report, page 16

143. Vol. IV. page 218.

144. During 1858-9, the force at Itawah commanded by Lieutenant Lachlan Forbes, consisted of six companies of infantry, three troops of cavalry, and three guns, called “the Itawah Yeomanry Levy’’, also four companies of infantry and one troop of cavalry, styled “the Itawah Military Police Battalion.”

145. The Kuari rises about sixty miles to the north-west of the fort of Gwaliar, flows first to the north-west, subsequently east, and finally south-east. Its course is semi-circular in its general outline and has a length of one hundred and eighty-five miles. The route from Agra to Gwaliar crosses it at Hingona, and that from Itawah to Gwaliar, near a village also called Kuari, forty-five miles above its mouth.

146. Vol. IV, page 75

147. 1. Sikhs; 2. Panjabi-Muhammadans; 3. Jats; 4. Christians; 5. Gwaliar Thakurs; 6. Mixed.

This collection transcribed by Chris Gage
hosted by ibiblio Support Wikipedia