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Chapter 20

Captain Dawson’s assault on the City – Spirited conduct of Military Police – An Irishman’s honour proved by surrendering to the enemy – The leader’s charger captured – A loyal Talukdar hastens the retreat of Prince Firuzshah – Chowdry Hashmat Ali left in Sandela with 700 matchlock-men – Return to Munched – Thanks for ow victory – Revenue settlements – Dawson reinforced – Troops remove to Sandela – A hasty assault repulsed – Wounded in two places – Bharat Singh Talukdar – Removed to Lucknow – Dawson besieged in Sandela – Relieved by Brigadier Sir George Barker, who gained a signal victory

Captain Dawson was resisted in the streets as he endeavoured to push on to the main body defending the guns. Stones, bricks, and earthen pans were flung from the roofs on to the heads of his men, who eventually discovered an outlet, and pressed forward to the right, led by the native Adjutant and Subahdar Ram Singh, while Dawson engaged them on the left. The matchlock-men were of no use except to cover his rear, where they crowded together in a fright after the first discharge of grape. The steady and spirited conduct of the Military Police at last overcame all opposition, and, as the enemy attempted to carry off their best gun, the gallant Ram Singh rushed through a lane, and in capturing it received two severe wounds which disabled him20. Dawson fell

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upon a large party defending a garden and compelled all to retire but twenty-five, who threw themselves into a large masonry house surrounded by a brick enclosure, and obstinately resisted the efforts of the Sikhs to bring away the tumbril of the gun from under their fire. Another large house was carried by assault, and the town cleared of the enemy who had been some time flying towards the Fort of Birwa, when I engaged their rear.

I afterwards rejoined Captain Dawson in the town, and found him urging his Sikhs to bring in the tumbril, near which three of his men had already been killed. I suggested that it would be better to put his men under cover, and leave the rebels and mutineers in the house till we refreshed ourselves, for there was now no occasion to expose his fine fellows, who were jabbering away in great -joy at the success. The attention of the enemy was, in the meantime, withdrawn from the tumbril by feigning to make a mine under a corner of the house on the opposite side; and, on our return, they were so completely occupied watching the proceedings there, that we succeeded in removing the tumbril to the side of the captured gun, from which I sent two chain shots through the door of the upper room filled by the rebels. Dawson wanted to take the house by a rush; but he must have suffered severely, and as the battle was won, it would have been a needless sacrifice of life. They maintained a deadly fire on the doors leading into the yard. From the side of one of the doors I summonsed them to surrender, which they refused to do, declaring that it was better to die fighting than yield to a foe who would hang them.

“I will spare your lives.” I spoke from under cover.

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“We do not believe you! Who have you spared to-day? Have you not hitherto killed or imprisoned all who ever fell into your hands?”

“I cannot offer you free pardon, but I swear that you shall not be killed if you surrender. You cannot escape, and we could soon overcome you.”

“We would surrender if we believed you,” one of them replied.

I could think of no other way of assuring them. Divesting myself of my arms, and pulling the Sikhs back from the passage, I walked from under cover into the centre of the yard, and placed my life at their mercy.

“Now do you believe me?”

Three of the defenders had been killed. The others at once threw down their arms and fell at my feet! The Sikh soldiers, however, clamoured for their blood, and I had much difficulty in preserving their lives, for Dawson, not liking what I had done, kept aloof till his better feelings returned, when the uproar was subdued and the prisoners properly cared for.

During the forenoon I captured the white charger of the leader Namdar Khan, but the animal was so wild and difficult to manage that I afterwards gave him away. Bharat Singh, the loyal Talukdar, joined us as soon as he saw the enemy on the wing homewards, and he greatly accelerated the speed of Prince Firuzshah, as he accidentally crossed the fire of his two guns. Captain Dawson and myself rode out to the neighbouring villages to encourage the people back to their homes, for our victory was incomplete while the town was empty of its inhabitants. The defeat of the rebel army, by so small a force, gained us great renown in the country, and alarmed the malcontents far off. Formal

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letters of congratulation poured in from Talukdars, and offers of men and money – the mere effects of fear, which I took pains to increase by threats of attacking them if the enemy were let return to Sandela during my absence.

Chowdry Hashmat All had extensive property in the town, which the rebels levelled to the ground for his desertion to the English. But his influence among the-peasantry was undiminished, and our victory now gave him sufficient authority to induce him to hold the place with his own men, and with assistance from Bharat Singh, and other Talukdars. We slept at Sandela, and in the morning started back to Maliabad, the villagers on our road turning out to look at the little force that had vanquished so many of the enemy, and were taking home their largest gun. The sensation everywhere was considerable, and we took advantage of it to reinforce Hashmat Ali, and to invite the villagers to keep him there till we made other arrangements for securing our conquest. At Rahimabad the police post was strengthened by the addition of a company of Sikhs, and workmen were engaged to complete a fortification bagan some time before. As we left for Maliabad the guns of Bharat Singh were heard announcing that the assistance promised by an important Talukdar had reached Hashmat Ali, who was able to report to me, in a couple of days, that he had seven hundred matchlock-men and seven Talukdars by his side.

Sir Robert Montgomery and my immediate superior, Colonel Barrow, were delighted at the success of the Military Police, and the Governor-General thanked us for our gallantry. The most forward of the cavalry and infantry were selected for promotion by the Chief of

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Police, and so excellent a spirit was infused into these raw levies, that Captain Dawson was now ready to attempt anything with them.

Long rides in the sun and rain began to affect my health, and I was glad that this victory enabled me to repose for a while, and attend to civil duties which the extension of territory had increased. Disputes of every kind were filed, involving troublesome enquiries; and small landholders came from distant places hoping that their early submission would exclude the recusant Talukdars from the settlement. Many, with no right whatever, obtained engagements, pretending to be the owners of villages not in their possession, and these were afterwards greatly disappointed because we ignored them. The war had stopped all petty crimes in towns and villages, and our Courts were closed for the present against civil suits. I hope to be excused for stating here that I never hung, or, (excepting in fair fight,) never shot a native, and I rejoice that the resentment roused by the cruelty of some of the enemy, never provoked me to revenge it on men only guilty of resisting the foreigner. Many executions were justified by the emergencies of the time, but many more resulted from intemperance, notwithstanding the efforts made by Lord Canning and others, to stop indiscriminate slaughter. His Lordship is doubtless not ashamed to be called “Clemency Canning.”

On the 21st of August Dawson was reinforced by a regiment of Police Infantry commanded by Capt. Graham, (one of the gallant defenders of the Residency,) and a regiment of Police Cavalry, under Captain Melvill, with Lieut. Hawkins as its Adjutant. Lieut. Ffrench, of H.M. 53rd Foot, was Dawson’s Adjutant, and Dr.

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Cape was Surgeon of the whole force. With so many English officers we had the presumption to think that the Military Police could be led through the whole Province; and, as we marched on to garrison Sandela, extravagant schemes of conquest were laughingly discussed. We were welcomed into the town by a salute from the guns of the Talukdars, whose followers, in their picturesque robes, looked on from high mounds and houses lining our route to an immense grove of lofty trees, under which we pitched our tents. The town of Sandela is beautifully wooded, and the country around was then luxuriant in the crops of the season. It rained incessantly, and the floors of our canvas homes were often buried in pools of water. Our arrival drew in many lukewarm landholders, and, at a parade of the auxiliaries, we counted over a thousand armed men who professed a willingness to go on to the fort of Birwa.

The cavalry patrolled daily towards that fort, and once went round it under fire of the guns of the enemy, who had no horse to oppose them, for Prince Firuzshah got so bad a character by his flight from fifty Sikhs, that he went twenty miles further off to other friends. On the evening of the 24th of August Captain Dawson decided upon reconnoitring Birwa with a, force of five hundred infantry and three hundred Cavalry, but, when he started the following morning, I learnt that it was his intention to attempt the capture of the fort, of which neither of us knew anything whatever! I ordered the native Chiefs to follow quickly with their two guns and their matchlock-men, and in vain recommended that ladders and hand grenades should be taken on.

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Nearly all the villages on our route were deserted, and the guides were so terrified that they led us astray through high and wet fields of cultivation, and only recovered themselves as we neared the first fortified post of the enemy, which was precipitately abandoned by everybody but an idiot, who was – shot! From the walls of the fort, which was built of mud on a high mound overlooking the country, we saw the long outer defences of Birwa: the inner works being completely concealed by graceful bamboo trees with their branches closely entwined. To the east, west, and north, the defences were hidden altogether by the same plant, which grew close up to the walls, and seemed to be impenetrable. The ramparts of the south front were crowded with armed men, and some of the enemy loitered in a hamlet below us, till Captain Melvin advanced with his cavalry, and drove them into the fort. Under cover of the brushwood the infantry approached and stopped on the plain facing the south line.

I again ventured to urge that the assault be delayed till the native Chiefs arrived with their men and guns, when they could be usefully employed in diverting the attention of some of the enemy to the west. But Dawson despised them, and at once advanced against the fort, from which a rapid fire of guns and matchlocks were directed against him. I succeeded in drawing him, from the whole of the front fire, to the west angle, where he was able to form up his men, under cover, within a few yards of the walls. The native officers here asked to be led to the assault by me, and Dawson readily consenting, they followed me to the nearest bastion, from which we dislodged the enemy. With

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only fourteen men it was impossible to cross the ditch, which was twelve feet broad, and fourteen feet deep. But the suddenness of the assault drove the enemy from the breastwork overlooking us, and none of them would return till they observed me unsupported by the main body, which lingered in the jungle. My comrades now begun to fall, and I was myself only saved by the devotion of two Sikhs, who threw themselves before me, and were killed. I sent back a Sikh to urge on the reserve, and, as he left, a bullet struck the revolver in my belt, and threw me down. I rose and was then slightly wounded in the shoulder as I pointed to the loop-holes before us to frighten the enemy, who did not perceive that my pistol was unloaded. There was still time to benefit by the position I had gained, but no one advanced from the jungle, and I was again wounded by a bullet which passed into the right shoulder, and splintered the top of the bone. The gallant fellows with me were killed or disabled, and I was alone for half-a-minute, when some Sikhs and Hindustanis rushed to my assistance, followed by Captain Dawson, who went back for support on my offering to hold my ground. My wounds bled profusely, and in another minute my companions were all disabled. I was now weak and helpless, and with difficulty staggered back to the jungle, pursued by the fire and yells of the rebels, and protected by a miracle. Captain Dawson, supported by his spirited Adjutant, Lieut. Ffrench, attempted to force the defences, but the right moment for action was missed, and he was repulsed with the loss of many gallant men.

To attempt to capture one of the strongest forts in

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f Oudh without ladders and without guns was pre. ‘sumptuous; but it was not impracticable, for the two ‘defeats of the enemy at Rahimabad and Sandela had greatly disheartened them, and, if the first assault ‘had been followed up, the place would have been =abandoned. The native Chiefs reached us after the repulse, and, carried in a sedan, I employed their two guns, and matchlock-men, to check any impudent attempt to pursue us while the wounded were cared ‘for, and the police rested under the shade of the trees -at a distance. Captain Melvill, with his cavalry, cut up some of the rebels who flew from the fort at the first attack, and he prevented reinforcements reaching them -from a neighbouring Talukdar. My wounds were bound up with a wet cloth, and in the evening the police force returned to Sandela.

I posted Bharat Singh, Talukdar, in the fortification abandoned by the rebels on our advance, and with three hundred of his followers, and two guns, he subsequently prevented their taking any advantage of our mishap. Dr. Cape skilfully extracted the bullet from my shoulder, and I endeavoured to discharge my office duties; but the pain increased, and I became so weak, that Captain Alexander Orr had to be sent out to relieve me and I was carried into Lucknow, where I was attended by the civil surgeon, Dr. Douglas.

A month after my departure a force of about twenty thousand rebels, with guns and cavalry, crossed the river Gumti – the Military Police did nothing to stop them – and they were soon surrounded and besieged in the town of Sandela. The infantry, under the command of Captain Dawson, with Graham, Ffrench, and Dr. Cape, successfully resisted the efforts of the

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enemy to reach the large buildings in which they were entrenched; and, when Sir George Barker arrived, two days after, with a small force, (composed of the Rifle Brigade of the 2nd Battalion, the 38th and 88th Foot, and two squadrons of the 2nd Dragoon Guards,) the ‘police sallied out, and assisted to clear the town, which the rebels gave up with little opposition.

The enemy stopped at a village five miles off, and prepared to defend an admirable position on a mound with low brush-wood protecting their flanks. The following afternoon Sir George Barker attacked them. The police carried the right; the cavalry drove back the left; and the European infantry broke in upon the centre ‘and captured the guns. The 2nd Dragoon Guards, commanded by the dashing Colonel Seymour, and the Police Cavalry, led by Captains Graham and Chamberlain, and Lieutenant Hawkins, followed the enemy for several miles; and, before the pursuit closed, over fourteen hundred of the enemy encumbered the line of retreat, among carts, cattle, litters, tumbrils, and loose baggage abandoned in their great haste to get away.

Footnotes

20. This excellent officer was sent into Lucknow for medical treatment, and mysteriously disappeared from the hospital before he had recovered. He was with Sir Hugh Wheeler at Kanhpur during the siege, and escaped with a letter from him to Sir Henry Lawrence, who promoted him for his gallantry.’

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