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Chapter 22

Operations for the complete conquest of Oudh begun – Reconnaissance – Fort of Birwa – The “ould Eighty-eight” won’t stay behind – Gallant assault of the Rifles, the Sikhs, and the “wild Irish” – A flock of geese overpowered by the 88th – Assault on the centre building and slaughter of the rebels – Moral effect of the capture – Narpat Singh prepares his fort for resistance – Advance of Brigadiers Hale and Barker to attack him – Fort evacuated – Colonel Seymour’s pursuit – Walpole and the Ghost of Adrian Hope – Return to Lucknow

The strategical movement of troops, which was to affect the complete subjugation of Oudh, began by the advance of a splendid column from Shahjahanpur, under the command of Brigadier Troup, and of a smaller force from Furruckabad, under Brigadier Hale of the 82nd Foot. Both were to co-operate with Brigadier Barker in expelling the enemy from the positions held south-west of the river Gogra. To the south-east of Oudh Lord Clyde had collected a large force, with his usual train of heavy guns and baggage, preparatory to marching against the stronghold of Beni Madhu, who continued to disregard the efforts of the Governor-General to save him. At Faizabad, our most active and fortunate General Sir Hope Grant had constructed a bridge of boats across the Gogra, and he was impatiently waiting for the order to go over and attack the army of the Begum. Brigadiers Whetherall, Evelegh, and Horsford, had taken their places for the

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contest, and the return of the cold weather had made the troops impatient for the final trial of strength.

Brigadier Barker and myself communicated with the columns coming from the west, through Chowdry Hashmat Ali, a man whom I never found backward; through Bharat Singh, a spirited little chief who still held the fort near Birwa where I had placed him after our repulse in August; and through Hardeo Bux, an influential chief Who, in the early days of the mutiny, risked his life and property to protect Messrs. Edwardes and Probyn when flying from the massacre of Furruckabad with their families, and never afterwards abandoned our cause. Brigadier Barker, (one of the most active and intelligent officers in the service,) was most eager to commence his share of the business, and, on receiving Lord Clyde’s instructions, he lost no time in reconnoitring the Fort of Birwa. I provided him with such plans and information as was obtainable, and it all tended to convince him that he had one of the most formidable forts in the province to capture at the very onset of the campaign. Accompanied by a strong escort he leisurely examined as much of the fortifications as were visible through the bamboo jungle, although the enemy, by opening their guns, attempted to keep him off. I had received my wound in leading an assault upon the south-western angle of the defences: now it was proposed to attack the eastern face from a small village perched on a mound, from which, we were told, the interior works could be bombarded. He made a demonstration towards the mound as if to force the enemy off; but the artifice did not dislodge them, and the Brigadier, having no wish to bring on an engagement, returned to Sandela with two of the escort wounded.

At two o’clock the following morning, and while it

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was yet dark, Brigadier Barker left Sandela with infantry, cavalry, artillery, and sappers, to attack Birwa. He reached it at dawn, but not before tidings of his approach had gone to Gulab Singh, who fired a salute of guns from the ramparts as the head of the column emerged from the low jungle fringing the south face of the fortress, to advise us of his determination to resist. Under shelter of the trees the troops breakfasted while the Brigadier arranged for the occupation of the mound, from which the enemy loudly challenged him to come on. At eight o’clock the Oudh Military Police, (led by Captain Dawson,) and the Rifle Brigade, (under the intrepid Major Oxenden,) were pushed across a morass for the purpose of attacking the north face of the village. A heavy fusillade from the mound was maintained at the infantry, and a couple of light guns that struggled through the water; but, as soon as they crossed it, the enemy slackened fire, and on observing some of them in full retreat towards the fort, I ventured to gallop into the village alone. The sight of a mounted Englishman, armed with a long sword, very much quickened their flight. The Rifles at once turned into the village, and the Brigadier searched in vain for the spot from whence he was to see the interior of the defences. Nothing but a green flag rising above the foliage of the bamboos was visible, which indicated the position of the fort, and served as a guide for the officer at the mortars.

The 88th Regiment was advanced to the south through high cultivation, and I was galloping across to a small party fearlessly pushing straight up to the outer works, when my attention was attracted to two privates who ran panting at the tail of my Arab.

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“Your regiment is behind men, and why are you leaving it? You will get into trouble.”

“Divil a bit we care yer honour!” answered one of them with a good Hibernian accent. “Don’t ye see the Rifles ahead, and the ould eighty-eight’ ain’t going to stay behind ‘ern! Surely ye won’t mind our sticking up for the karacter o’ the regiment?” And right well Sullivan and Malone did it, for throughout the day these gallant fellows kept in the front doing excellent service by “falling for the inimy,” as they said: and a very nasty feeling it doubtless was, to judge from the bloody effects of it.

The Rifles were sent down from the mound, through a splendid grove of trees, to the verge of the bamboo belt, where only a few yards of the south-west bastion of the inner fort were faintly visible. Dawson, with his Sikhs, was on the left, and the horse artillery, and 88th Foot, were on the right. With extraordinary boldness Brigadier Barker pushed up his eight-inch howitzer, and an eighteen-pounder gun, to within a hundred yards of the bastion, trusting to the cover afforded to the gunners by the jungle. The Sikhs crouched along to the north gate, which the enemy kept open for escape when in peril. Major Maynard, with his desperate Irishmen, gradually worked round to the point attacked by me in August, and thereby secured access to the eastern gate of the outer works. The rebels were a thousand strong in the morning, but in the afternoon it was clear, from the diminished resistance, that the faint-hearted had gone off through the jungle that extended for miles to the north and completely checked any attempt at pursuit. About two o’clock P.M. the noisy cheers of the 88th were heard eastward, and soon after the Brigadier learnt

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that they had effected a lodgment in the outer defences, and driven the enemy to the inner work: which was protected by a great ditch forty feet across, and thirty-five feet in depth, with water in some places.

The breach in the bastion being practicable by three o’clock, a storming party was formed, with a reserve, by the Rifle Brigade, and the Punjab Sappers carried the ladders. Lieutenant Carnegie, of the Bengal Engineers, was deputed to blow open the eastern gate, and Captain Dawson, of the Military Police, was instructed to seize the north escape, and prevent the rebels getting away through the jungle. The assault was admirably managed, and, in a few minutes, the breach was mounted, the gates forced, and the enemy driven into a large house in the centre of the fort, and cut off from every chance of escape. Major Maynard was met by a discharge of grape. Captain Carnegie succeeded in nailing a powder bag to the gate: thinking the fuse had failed, he intrepidly returned with a lighted port ire, and reached just as the powder exploded, shattering the gate to pieces and burning him in a frightful manner. He was so blackened that the assaulting party mistook him for a native as they rushed through the ruins, and he narrowly escaped being bayonetted! Ensign Richards, of the Rifles, was first in at the breach, and dangerously wounded; Major Goodenough followed, and was shot in the hand; Serjeant Malony, of the Rifle Brigade, and the assaulting party, with difficulty clambered after them through the rubbish, for the ladders proved to be too short for the ascent. Lieutenant Alexander, who commanded the storming party, came back with an arrow in his shoulder. Dawson reached the north escape in time to drive back the rebels, who

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got jammed in the gateway by their too great eagerness to get away.

Darkness was approaching, and the cavalry posted outside the jungle had no chance of meeting any of the rebels. The noise and confusion within the fort grew awful as all the assailants pressed in to crush the desperate men in the doomed house, from which the unfortunate wretches kept up a fatal fire through loopholes. The Brigadier sheltered his men, and was making arrangements to blow in the east wall of the house, when the Irish broke loose in chase of a flock of geese, and did not return to their places till all the birds were caught and many of the pursuers killed! After this excitement had subsided, the Brigadier was importuned by Captain Dawson to let him go into the house with his Sikhs and finish the day’s business. He thanked Dawson for the proposal, but declined to expose him to certain death: for the building just then could only be entered by a window little more than two feet square. The Chief turned to attend to the work of the engineers, and was immediately pulled round by the cheering of the men, which was excited by Captain Dawson’s passage through the window! Knowing the cruel fate that Dawson was recklessly braving, he called to the soldiers to follow him quickly; and a Rifleman reached in time to save Dawson: who scrambled out with one arm nearly off, while his saviour hopelessly struggled inside a narrow dark passage and was cut to pieces! The arm was amputated, and Dawson died soon after a victim to his own rashness.

The straw along the roof was set fire to, and the flames drove the defenders to the lower rooms, in which they were closely packed, when the barrels of powder

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piled against the east wall exploded with a tremendous crash, and filled the yard with the ruins. It was now dark. With loud cheers the assaulting party entered the inner apartments, stepping over the bodies of the rebels killed by the explosion, and fearlessly encountering the survivors in the midst of the burning building, where a horrid scene of carnage terminated the fight. Gulab Singh, the leader, and five more, escaped to an inner room, and there resolutely defended themselves. The Brigadier withdrew his soldiers from the house, and left the defenders to be devoured by the flames fast spreading to the apartment. At midnight he returned to Sandela with all but the 88th Foot, and a regiment of Military Police, which were left under the command of Major Boileau, Commandant of Police, who was present rendering good service throughout the attack. After warning the sentries to prevent the escape of Gulab Singh, he rested by my side on the floor of a cold room, and was talking of the gallantry that had captured so strong a fortress in eight hours, when we were called to arms by the rapid discharge of musketry. On running to the spot we discovered that Gulab Singh had suddenly dashed through the guards, leaped forty feet from the top of the nearest bastion to the bottom of a dry ditch, and escaped to the jungle! Two of his companions were suffocated in the burning room: two more were killed in the desperate leap: and only one accompanied Gulab Singh in his flight. It was a gallant – a very gallant – escape, and, great as was the disappointment at losing so dangerous a leader, his courage was highly extolled, and I could not lament his flying from the dreadful fate that awaited him. He was of humble origin, but shrewd and un, scrupulous. The widow of the Chief of Birwa had admired

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his manly proportions, and admitted him to her confidence. He assumed the management of her affairs, and, at last, ruled as lord over all. He afterwards died fighting against us in the mountains of Nepaul, and thus closed a career common enough in India.

In a week the fort was levelled to the ground, and made completely indefensible by the destruction of the dense bamboo jungle around it. The capture of this important stronghold instilled fear into the rebel leaders throughout the district, and produced offers of submission from chiefs beyond it, which the generous policy of the Government empowered me to accept: for it was distinctly announced to all civil officers with troops, and to the military commanders, that it was not to be a war of retribution, and that force was only to be used when persuasion failed to procure submission to our authority.

Raja Narpat Singh, of Ruiya, was the only Talukdar who rejected our pacific overtures, and he sent me word, by a spy, that he was in the hands of the mutineers, and powerless to accept them, supposing he could credit our forgiveness of the death of so many English soldiers in the ditch of his fortress. The influence he gained by that disaster was mildly exercised, and his part of the rebellious province was freer from violence than any other. Had General Walpole been more cautious there is no doubt that this man would not have had the death of so many Englishmen to frighten him from his allegiance. He was aged, and a cripple.

Narpat Singh repaired his defences, and spread it abroad that he meant to die within them rather than surrender. He had 1200 infantry, and about 200 cavalry, and eight guns were mounted on the ramparts. Brigadier Hale, from Furruckabad, forced the rebels

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from Sandee, and he was advancing towards Ruiya when Brigadier Barker broke ground at Sandela, and, leaving a police regiment behind to guard the stores, marched onward to meet him. On the afternoon of the second day he halted within seven miles of Ruiya, and I sent in the last invitation to Narpat Singh to surrender. No answer was returned. In the morning Brigadier Hale approached from the west, and Brigadier Barker advanced to a large village south of the fort, where they were to concert a plan of attack, and begin the bombardment. Within three miles of Ruiya a revenue defaulter, in irons, informed us that Narpat Singh, leaving his prisoners behind, had evacuated the fort during the night, and gone to the north with all his guns and treasure I We galloped forward to see if it was so, and were only stopped at the gate by a flock of geese, which were soon fastened to the saddles. of our escort. A few miserable villagers vanished through the opposite gate on hearing us approach. The Bays and Police Cavalry, under Colonel Seymour, were sent in pursuit of Narpat Singh; and, after being out all day, returned without discovering his track, for the villagers pretended ignorance or endeavoured to mislead him. The country for nearly twenty miles was so covered by brush wood that he could Make no progress without guides, while it afforded superior cover for the retreat of the enemy.

I rode over the walls up to the ruined citadel, and, on turning round, was amazed that so defenceless a place should have cost so many precious lives when General Walpole attacked it. All the angry feelings that disaster then provoked in the Highland brigade, were revived in us, as we examined the spot where Adrian Hope fell. Brigadier Barker set fire to the thatched

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houses within the enclosure, and the flames and smoke being seen by Brigadier Hale, he hurried forward to learn the cause, and an hour after the two commanders united and encamped together, and those interchanges of hospitality begun which are the delight of British officers when the fortunes of war bring them together. Mr. R. Berkely, (one of the best uncovenanted civilians in the Oudh Commission), accompanied the Furruckabad column, and we lost no time in beginning an acquaintance which I hope to renew on my return to India, for his social virtues are good as his official qualities.

A copy of the Queen’s proclamation assuming the administration of India and abolishing the cumbrous rule of the Court of Directors, was forwarded to me, in a sealed packet, to be opened on the 1st of November and read to the troops. Mr. Berkeley and myself, through the chiefs present, summoned the surrounding landholders to witness the interesting ceremony of turning out an old and substituting a new government destined to effect many remarkable changes in the condition of India. What a pity it is that so much of the old leaven has been left to sour the new mould The wonderful rise of the British empire under the rule of the Court of Directors imparted a grandeur to the poor old men who were to be discharged for too obstinately adhering to the traditions of the Company; and, if they had not behaved so shabbily to me21, I might have felt some remorse at proclaiming their degradation.

On the morning of the 1st of November the troops

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paraded, and the Proclamation was read. Three hearty cheers were given for the Queen – a right good Queen! – a royal salute was fired from eighteen-pounder guns that boomed the tidings many miles away – the National Anthem was played by all the bands – and the arms of our Most Excellent Sovereign displaced those of the defunct Court: which no one present regretted. Translations of the Proclamation were eagerly accepted by the people, who despatched them to their friends in the camp of the enemy, and the good effect of the gracious terms of peace offered in the name of Her Majesty soon manifested itself. The people never understood how the government of India was administered in England, and the corporate designation of the “Company Bahadur,” was most perplexing to them. Although somewhat amused at the idea of being ruled by a Lady, the fact was comprehensible, and carried in it a power with which they could not invest a company of merchants.

There being nothing more for the troops to do in this direction, my place with the force was taken by Major I. Carnegie, the Deputy Commissioner of the District; and I was directed to remain at Sandela, to disarm the people, to demolish fortifications of every kind, and to proceed with the summary settlement of the land revenue. I was only there a couple of days when I was urgently called into Lucknow to see my wife, who was said to be dying.

Footnotes

21. When I was recommended for the Victoria Cross by Lord Canning, these gentlemen declined to forward the proposal to Her Majesty’s Government, and thought it would soothe me to learn that “Mr. Kavanagh would be entitled to the medal which they anticipate Her Majesty will confer upon the garrison and relieving army of Lucknow!” Men who could think that a silver medal was enough for the services rendered by me at the relief of Lucknow, must have been unfit to govern an empire.

This collection transcribed by Chris Gage
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