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Chapter V – Agra and Sassiah

Agra in the last fortnight of June

The events recorded in the three preceding chapters affected, more or less intensely, the situation at Agra. That situation was becoming, towards the latter end of June, difficult to maintain. During that month the entire country on the right bank of the Jamnah, on which the city stood, had pronounced against the British.

Its gradual isolation

Nor were any reassuring signs visible on the left bank. There, where the light of day was not entirely shut out, the lurid flame of insurrection alone was visible. In a word, towards the fourth week of June, the capital of the North-West Provinces had become entirely isolated. But her worst days had not even then dawned upon her.

Reception of the fugitives from Gwaliar

The mutiny at Gwaliar had occurred on the 14th of June. During the following days the fugitives had been gradually arriving at Agra. They were received there with all the kindness and consideration due to suffering humanity, their wants were supplied, and their comforts were attended to. Up to this time the idea of retiring within the fort had not again been mooted.

Disposable troops at Agra

The defence of the station had been entrusted to the volunteer levies, and these had latterly been placed under the command of an officer in active service, Major Prendergast. Besides these were the regular European troops before alluded to, numbering altogether about six hundred and fifty fighting men.

Mr. Colvin and Mr. Drummond place confidence in the native police

In addition to these defenders was another body in whom the Lieutenant-Governor, Mr. Colvin, and the magistrate, Mr. Drummond, were unhappily disposed to place confidence. These were the native police, the leading spirits of whom were, to a man,

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Muhammadans87. If the evidence of those who were at Agra, and who enjoyed opportunities of noting the conduct of these men is to be trusted, the confidence reposed in them was entirely misplaced. They were in communication with the several bodies of mutinous men on the right bank of the Jamnah. It was in response to their entreaties that these latter turned their steps towards Agra.

who are untrustworthy

They harassed and opposed the officers who were engaged in victualling the fort; they intercepted communication with the world outside Agra; and they showed in various ways, unmistakably to all except to Mr. Drummond and the Lieutenant-Governor, that they too were watching their opportunity88.

Rumours from outside

Meanwhile, towards the end of the third week of June, the rumour gradually filled the air that the regular troops who had revolted at Nimach and at Nasirabad, recruiting their strength by taking up stray revolted bodies in their course, were marching direct upon Agra. Every item of ascertained information pointed to the conclusion that the rumour was true. The strength of the force was then estimated to be about two thousand six hundred men with twelve guns.

Mr. Colvin authorises retirement within the fort

The virtual confirmation of this rumour decided Mr. Colvin. Certain now that the rebels were approaching Agra, with the intention of attacking it, the Lieutenant-Governor felt how his position would be hampered by the necessity of defending the non-combatant population of a large and straggling station. At the end of June, therefore, he authorised the retirement within the fort of the helpless members of the Christian population.

but limits the amount of property to be stored

But, whilst he did this, he, with a fatuity which is inexplicable, forbade the transfer to the place of refuge of “any property beyond the sort of allowance which a French Customs’ officer at Calais or Marseilles passes there under the term of a sac de nuit89.” This extraordinary prohibition entailed subsequently “the loss and destruction of books, furniture, archives, records, public and private, and the ruin of hundreds of families90.” The victualling of the fort was, however, pushed on from this time with greater earnestness than before.

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The rebels reach Fathpur Sikri

These measures of precaution were taken not a day too soon. On the 2nd of July the rebel army had reached Fathpur-Sikri, only twenty-three miles from Agra. This propinquity of an enemy who might, by a forced march, rush into the fort, still further opened the eyes of the authorities. How they acted in consequence I shall endeavour now to describe.

Disposition of the native troops and levies at and near Agra

I have already stated91 that native troops from Gwaliar had been despatched to Agra by Maharajah Sindhia, on the requisition of Mr. Colvin, as soon as the intelligence of the Mirath outbreak had been received. These troops had been promptly despatched to endeavour to restore order in the Agra and Aligarh districts and were no longer at Agra92. Subsequently a detachment of the Kota contingent had arrived and had been retained at the capital. Besides these there was at the same place, under the command of Saifulla Khan, a native civil officer of high character, a body of about six hundred Karauli matchlockmen and three hundred Bharatpur horse, with two nine-pounder guns. Lieutenant Henderson of the 10th Foot acted as the agent of the Lieutenant-Governor with this force.

Changes made on the approach of the rebels

As soon as it was known that the rebel army was at Fathpur-Sikri a disposition was made of these two bodies of men by which they should command the flanks of a force marching on Agra from the west. The detachment of the Kota contingent was brought into the cantonment, whilst Saifulla Khan’s levies were ordered to the neighbourhood of Shahganj, four miles on the road to Fathpur-Sikri. This disposition took effect on the 2nd of July.

July 3

Mr. Colvin is forced by sickness to resign temporarily his office

On the following morning there happened an event which took the supreme power out of the hands of the statesman who had up to that time directed it. Mr. Colvin was threatened with an apoplectic attack. If his measures had not been successful, his task, it must be admitted, had been most difficult. He had at least maintained his post at the helm and had done his best. Throughout a most trying period he had displayed great personal courage, an unselfishness not to be surpassed, whilst his kindness of heart and sympathy with suffering had endeared him to all with whom he had come in contact. Feeling himself,

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for the time, incapable of the direction of affairs, Mr. Colvin made over charge of the Government, by warrant, the same day, to three officers – Mr. E. A. Reade, Brigadier Polwhele, and Major Macleod.

Mr. E. A. Reade

Mr. Reade was the senior member of the Board of Revenue. He was a man of considerable capacity, calm judgment, and coolness in danger.

Major Macleod

Major Macleod of the Engineers, Mr. Colvin’s Military Secretary, had served with credit in the first Afghanistan campaign, and had a high character in the army.

Brigadier Polwhele

Brigadier Polwhele was the officer commanding the station. As it is action which is the truest test of the stuff which is in a man, and as the action of Brigadier Polwhele against the mutineers is now about to be recorded, I prefer that the reader should draw his own conclusions regarding his character from the manner in which he conducted himself on the occasion which called forth all his mental powers.

July 4

Active measures of the new Council

The day following the nomination of this Council active measures were taken for the defence of the place. Feeling that the prisoners in the large gaol might in the impending attack be released, and that their presence within our defences would be most undesirable, the Council had the able-bodied men removed from the prison to the opposite side of the river and there set free. The pontoon-bridge close to the fort, by which rebels from that side might cross, was broken down; the native Christians were all brought into the fort; the two nine pounder guns with Saifulla Khan’s force were removed to the magazine; at the same time, orders were transmitted to the officer commanding the Kota contingent to march out and attack the advancing rebels.

The first three of these measures were carried out successfully and with good effect. The two last produced a crisis – a crisis, which, whilst it materially diminished the number of fighting men at the disposal of our countrymen, yet cleared the air.

The native levies not to be depended upon

When Lieutenant Henderson, for instance, reached the camp of the Karauli and Bharatpur levies and required that the guns should be returned to the magazine, great excitement was manifested. But no open opposition was shown, and by a mixture of tact and firmness the guns were brought in. That night, however, Saifulla Khan reported that he could no longer depend upon his

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levies; that the Bharatpur horse had deserted, and that the Karauli men were discouraged by the removal of the guns, and would not fight. Prompt action followed this report. Saifulla Khan and his levies were ordered to leave Shahganj, and to start at once for Karauli. They obeyed that night.

Mutiny of the Kota contingent

Even before the guns had been taken from these levies the Kota contingent had mutinied. The order to them to advance had been designedly a tentative order – a test of their fidelity. It did test it – and to some purpose. No sooner had the men received the order to march than the leading spirit amongst them, a native sergeant, shot down the European sergeant in charge of the stores. This was the signal. Firing hastily at their European officers, happily without effect, the men rushed off to join the rebels. They were in such a hurry that a loyal gunner, by name Mathura, had time to spike the guns, whilst their European medical officer, Dr. Mathias, aided by his servants and others, strewed in the sand their powder, ammunition, and case-shot93. The most serviceable portion of their armament was thus rendered useless. A party sent out from Agra brought the guns to the fort.

Mr. Colvin enters the fort and resumes his authority

On the evening of that day, the 4th of July, Mr. Colvin entered the fort. An improvement in his health enabled him to resume his authority. The movement into the fort had become absolutely necessary, the behaviour of the native troops who formed the two wings of the British force having left the station quite exposed. Still Mr. Colvin changed his residence with great reluctance and under the pressure of his advisers. He could not but see, however, that the advance of the enemy had made -Brigadier Polwhele, for a time, master of the situation. And Brigadier Polwhele wished to have his hands entirely free.

July 5

Approach of the rebels

The time for military action had indeed arrived. A strong picket of the volunteer cavalry, posted at Shahganj, only four miles from Agra, notified to the Brigadier, on the morning of the 5th, the approach of the enemy. The question as to whether the British force should

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wait to receive the rebels in Agra, or whether it should go out and meet them, had previously been debated.

Considerations before Brigadier Polwhele

Brigadier Polwhele had had to consider whether, having under his orders the only European force available between Agra and the Bombay Presidency on the one side, and between Agra and that forming at Allahabad on the other, he would be justified in courting an engagement with an enemy about eight times as strong in numbers as he was, and in which defeat might be fatal. He felt that with his European force be could maintain the fort of Agra against all corners. To attempt to defend the station, without advancing, was impossible. Was he justified in risking his force, and possibly the loss of the fort, by advancing to meet the enemy in order to save the station of Agra from destruction?

He decides to meet the enemy

Brigadier Polwhele was a brave man. Beset by advisers, he had seemed at first to incline to a policy of defence, but when, on the morning of the 5th, he received the information that the enemy was advancing upon Agra, his soldierly instincts at once asserted themselves. He determined, on his own responsibility, to go and meet them.

Wisdom of his resolve

It was a wise and prudent resolve. The history of India shows us that there is but one plain and simple mode of beating Asiatics, and that is to move straight forward. Their numbers may overwhelm a general if he tries to manoeuvre, but a steady advance is irresistible. It will be seen that Polwhele lost the battle of Sassiah because he did not sufficiently bear in mind the truth of this radical principle.

Numbers of the opposing forces

The enemy’s force had received considerable reinforcements at Fathpur-Sikri. It consisted now of about four thousand infantry, fifteen hundred cavalry, and eleven guns94. To meet these Brigadier Polwhele could dispose of five hundred and sixty-eight men of the 3rd European Regiment; one battery with sixty-nine Europeans, including officers, and fifty-four native drivers; fifty-five mounted militia; and fifty officers and civilians who had taken

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refuge in Agra. The European Regiment was commanded by Colonel Riddell; the Artillery by Captain D’Oyly. In the disposition of battle, however, the battery was divided, – Captain D’Oyly taking three guns on the right flank – an equal number on the left being commanded by Captain Pearson.

The British force advances to Shahganj

The British force left the Agra parade-ground about 1 o’clock. It took the road to Fathpur-Sikri and moved along it till it reached Begam Samru’s walled gardens. On arriving at the village of Shahganj, a halt was to sounded to wait the return of the reconnoitring parties. These came in about half-past 2 o’clock with the information that the enemy were in strength at the village of Sassiah, about a mile distant. The force then advanced, but, after clearing the village of Shahganj, it quitted the road, and forming up in the order indicated, the infantry in line in the centre, with the guns and a handful of cavalry covering either flank, inclined to the right over a sandy plain.

The enemy are descried

As they marched across this they descried the enemy. Polwhele noticed that their infantry appeared to be posted in and behind the village of Sassiah; that their artillery likewise was on either flank, but that their guns were screened by rising ground, forming a natural breastwork, and by thickly planted trees. He observed that their cavalry was massed in considerable strength behind their flanks.

They open fire

The English force continued to advance to within half a mile of the enemy’s position when the latter opened with a fire from their left battery. Brigadier Polwhele then, halted his men, and ordered the Europeans to lie down and the guns on the flanks to return the fire. Owing to the screened nature of the enemy’s position it soon became evident that the British fire was ineffective, and that, to drive the enemy from the village, it was necessary that the infantry should charge.

and make excellent practice

In a short time, in fact, the enemy had acquired the exact range and had made such excellent practice that they exploded two tumbrils, and dismounted one of the guns in the half battery on the left, besides inflicting severe loss amongst the horses and drivers.

Captains D’Oyly and Pearson, promptly realising the situation; that the exchange of artillery fire at the range was all to the advantage of the sheltered enemy; and that a continuance

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Captains D’Oyly and Pearson urge an advance

of the same game would exhaust, without any corresponding advantage, the reserves of ammunition at their disposal; had sent repeated messages to the Brigadier reporting the fact, and urging him to attack the village with his infantry. The enemy, far from being checked, had been encouraged by the success of their guns to throw out skirmishers and to threaten our flanks with their cavalry.

but without success

Every one in the British ranks who had an eye to see, realised that, if the battle were to be confined to a mere exchange of artillery fire, the enemy would have the advantage. Still, for two hours, the Brigadier seemed content to pursue that fatal course, keeping his infantry still lying down.

Probable reasons influencing the Brigadier

Those about the Brigadier saw that, in continuing stationary, the Brigadier was simply courting disaster. At any period within those two hours Polwhele was in a more favourable position than Eyre had enjoyed in his fight near Arah. On that occasion Eyre, after pounding his enemy until he found that pounding alone would not win the day, had let loose his infantry upon him. He did not wait till his caissons had been exhausted, till every shot had been fired away! But this is just what Polwhele did do! The fact is, that, tenderness for the lives of the only European infantry available for the defence of Agra had made him over-cautious. His men were comparatively safe, there, lying down. He could not make up his mind to give, in sufficient time, the order to advance. Fatal caution! Lamentable oblivion of the history of former wars! It needed but an onward movement of that thin red line to drive the enemy out of the village.

Inaction of the infantry

The guns would then have completed their discomfiture. But minute succeeded minute, and our infantry still lay, prone and motionless, on the ground.

till too late

Brigadier Polwhele was yet considering whether the time had arrived to give the order to advance, when the explosion of another tumbril in the half battery on our left warned him that it had all but passed. That explosion was greeted by the enemy with a frantic shout of joy.

Charge of the enemy’s cavalry

Their cavalry, emerging in order from behind the village, swept round the left flank to the rear of our force, and from that point made a desperate charge at the disabled guns. Calm and collected, Captain Pearson wheeled

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round one of his guns and awaited their approach. The company of the 3rd Europeans nearest him rose likewise, and wheeled to face them.

but are driven off

A volley of grape and musketry greeted then the enemy as they charged the guns shouting and waving their swords. That volley sufficed to turn them. They rode back discomfited.

Almost immediately after the incident just related one of the enemy’s horsemen was seen to approach our right flank, as if to ascertain our condition there. The horseman returned and apparently made his report.

They attack the right flank

At once about two hundred of the enemy’s cavalry advanced with the evident intention of charging Captain D’Oyly’s half-battery.

Gallant charge of Prendergast

At this sight, Captain Prendergast, who commanded eighteen mounted volunteers, could not contain himself, but with his small following charged the two hundred. As a manoeuvre to stop the enemy’s advance this gallant charge was effective, but in other respects it was disastrous. In the hand to hand conflict which followed, the volunteers lost more than one-third of their number. Had the enemy not shown abject cowardice, not one of them would have escaped.

The artillery-ammunition is exhausted

Two hours and a half had elapsed. Captain D’Oyly now reported that his ammunition was all but exhausted. Then, and then only, did the Brigadier give the order to advance. The result showed how decisive would have been the movement had it been made earlier.

when the Brigadier orders the advance

The British infantry started to their feet, moved forward, and, though suffering severely from the enemy’s guns and from the fire of marksmen stationed on the roofs of the houses, gallantly forced their way into the village. One of the enemy’s guns was captured and spiked. But our loss in this advance had been severe. The gallant D’Oyly, whose horse had been shot under him early in the day, was mortally wounded by a grape-shot whilst endeavouring to set right one of his guns.

Lifted on to a tumbril, he still, however, strong in splendid the spirit of a soldier, continued to direct the fire of conduct. his battery. Careless of his own sufferings, his duty to his guns, his corps, his country, mastered every other thought. Overcome, at last, by intense pain, he turned to the man nearest him and said; “They have done for me now; put a stone over

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my grave and say that I died fighting my guns95.” He died, the second day after, in the fort.

Our losses in the village

In the village itself Major Thomas of the 3rd Europeans, a brave and accomplished officer, was mortally wounded. Many men fell with him. Every house, lane, and gateway was disputed. At last the enemy were driven out. It required now but the support of artillery to complete the victory. But here the fatal result of the delay in the advance became apparent. There was not a single round of ammunition left!

Fatal consequences of the delay in advancing

To continue the contest with small arms was useless, for the enemy, though driven out of the village itself, still occupied detached houses whence they continued to pour a heavy fire on our men. D’Oyly was mortally wounded: Pearson, with the other half-battery a complete wreck, had lost his only subaltern, Lamb, early in the action, and had suffered so severely in men and horses, and by the desertion of his native drivers with the spare horses, that he could not make a pretence of assisting. Meanwhile the enemy, attributing to the right cause the silence of our guns, and gathering courage, began to make a strong demonstration with all three arms. For all practical purposes Polwhele had only infantry to oppose to them. These, too, occupying the village, in face of a force largely superior in all arms, were liable, at any moment, to be severed from their base, the fort of Agra. The British object had been to defeat the rebels; failing that, to guard the fortress of Agra. The rebels had been repulsed, not defeated, and in the repulse the British had exhausted the material which would have sufficed to render it decisive. Under the circumstances the only possible course seemed to be to fall back to secure the base, if indeed even this were possible.

The force retires on Agra

Polwhele then ordered the retreat. To fall back in face of an enemy is always grievous to brave soldiers, but on this occasion with grief were mingled rage and contempt. There was not one, even amongst the privates, who did not feel that the day had been lost by bad generalship; that an early advance would have gained the victory. They showed the stuff that was in them when the

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enemy’s horsemen seemed disposed to endeavour to hinder their movement. Waiting calmly till the enemy approached, somewhat hesitatingly, within musket range, they then delivered a volley which made many a horse riderless.

In good order

Again and again the rebel cavalry tried the same manoeuvre, but always with a similar result. The fire from the rebel guns, which had been at first alarming, now gradually slackened, and, from the fact that in the last round they fired copper coins, it was inferred that they too had run short of ammunition.

Pearson tries to save his gun

Meanwhile Pearson had made superhuman exertions to mount and get away his disabled gun. But horses, drivers, men, and time alike failed him. It did not, however, adorn the enemy’s triumph, for it remained on the ground, and a day or two later was brought into the fort.

The enemy, wanting ammunition, move on Dehli

Baffled by the result of their attempts to charge, and, probably, by the failure of their ammunition, the, rebels, as they followed the retreating force, marked their triumph by setting fire to every building they reached. Returning then to Shahganj, they took there a hasty meal, and set off that very night for Dehli. They reached the imperial city on the 8th of July, and were received there with a grand salute in honour of their victory of Sassiah.

The villagers “improve” our defeat

The beaten little army reached the fort as the day was closing. They had lost in killed forty-five, in wounded and missing one hundred and eight, of their number.

Before the survivors entered, the blaze, advancing from house to house in the cantonments and civil station, had told the non-combatants and ladies within the fort how the battle had been appreciated by the natives. Hordes of villagers who had watched the contest from afar had at once dispersed to burn and to plunder. The previously released prisoners, and their comrades, now set at large, joined in the sport. All night the sky was illuminated with the flames of burning houses, and a murmur like the distant sea told what passions were at work. It was a magnificent though sad spectacle for the dispirited occupants of the fort.

The city and the station are plundered

During the two days following disorder was rampant in and outside the fort. The city, the cantonments, the civil lines were ruthlessly plundered. Of all the official records those only of the revenue department,

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were saved. Even these were secured by the unauthorised action of a high official – Mr. E. A. Reade.

and the King of Dehli is proclaimed

The others were burned with the buildings in which they were stored. At the same time the King of Dehli was proclaimed in the city96. The rabble, who had at first wondered at our inaction after a battle which, if we were beaten in it, had at least caused the enemy to move off to Dehli, soon began to attribute it to fear, and to take advantage of it accordingly.

July 7

Loyalty of Rajaram

But there were men amongst them of a higher stamp who knew us better. One of these, by name Rajaram, a resident in the city, managed on the evening of the 7th to have conveyed to the magistrate within the fort a note in which he informed him that there were no rebel troops in Agra; that the confusion which reigned was the work of the rabble; and that the entry of the magistrate into the city with a sufficient force would restore order.

An intimation of this nature was quite sufficient to stir to action a man possessing the energetic character of

Mr. Drummond restores order in the station

Mr. Drummond. The following morning he issued from the fort, escorted by a company of Europeans and some guns, made a circuit of the principal streets and of the station, and proclaimed the restoration of order and British rule. Then, too, he became for the first time aware of the manner in which the rabble had vented their fury upon the Christian population who had hesitated to avail themselves of the protection of the fort. It happened that whilst the great bulk of the European and Eurasian inhabitants had taken advantage of that protection, there had been men of the latter class, born in India, natives in habits, in modes of thought, in everything save religion, who preferred to confide in the friendship of their native friends: these had been sought out and slaughtered. At the same time, too, some Europeans on their way to the fort had been intercepted and murdered. The

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number of both these classes who thus fell outside the fort amounted to twenty-two97.

Order also revives in the fort

The restoration of order in the fort followed Mr. Drummond’s action in the town. The natives of the lower class, prompt to appreciate decision, returned as if by magic to their duties. Prior to Mr. Drummond’s triumphant tour through the city, there had been a great dearth of servants in the fort; but the day following small shopkeepers flocked in with provisions; domestics of every grade were eager to renew or proffer service. The battle of Sassiah had at all events cleared the air. The natives had seen the utmost the rebel troops could accomplish; and their faith in British ascendancy revived.

Life in the fort

Now began that long life in the fort of Agra, – so tedious for soldiers, so conspicuous for the display of those splendid qualities which render a noble woman in very deed a ministering angel. The story has been told in graceful and touching language by one, herself a widowed fugitive from Gwaliar, – from whose account of the tragedy there I have already quoted98 – and whose own sufferings never made her forget the griefs and necessities of others. There are some points it which demand a place in History.

Difficulties which had at first to be overcome

As soon as the restoration of order outside the fortress had been completed, arrangements were made to provide for the necessities of the Christian population within. In addition to the residents of Agra

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there were congregated there fugitives from many stations. The majority of these had lost all their property. Some had reached Agra only with the clothes which they wore. A not inconsiderable proportion were children. It was difficult to provide for these all at once. For, it must be remembered, the non-combatant population of Agra had been prohibited, prior to the mutiny of the Kota contingent, to take with them into the fort more than the contents of a small hand-bag. Nor had this state of things been wholly remedied by the removal of Mr. Colvin and the civilians to the same protection. No one had seriously contemplated the defeat of our troops at Sassiah. Our force had marched out of the station the better to defend the station. No one had anticipated the actual result. The blaze of the burning bungalows which announced it gave to many, then, the first intimation that the bulk even of their wearing apparel had been lost to them for ever.

But, notwithstanding these and other more serious losses, the love of order, of arrangement, and of comfort, so characteristic of the British nation, quickly manifested itself.

Preparations for the reception of the sick and wounded

The first necessity had been to set apart one of the buildings

as a hospital for the sick and wounded. At first a barrack was selected for this purpose. At a later

period the Moti Masjid, or Pearl Mosque, was also

appropriated to the same object. This building, built

entirely of a beautiful creamy white marble, was well fitted to be

used as a hospital on account of the cloisters and cells by which

its inner court was surrounded. These, formerly inhabited by

priests and devotees, were now made over to those suffering from

their wounds, their privations, or the climate.

of the civilians

The civilians of Agra were lodged in the small apartments ranged along three sides of the beautiful garden near the Diwani khass or privy-council chamber.

the ladies and children

For others, fugitive ladies and children, huts, separated the one from the other by grass screens silky, strong, and flexible, were arranged in the stone gallery, twelve feet wide, the roof supported on arches, which runs round the Diwani’am, the public hall of audience of Akbar99. To the senior officers and their families were allotted

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small tiled houses near the Moti Masjid. Separate houses were also made over to fugitives of distinction.

the officers

For officers of a lower rank tents were pitched on a large green plot near the same building. The Roman Catholic Archbishop and his ecclesiastical staff were similarly accommodated. To the nuns and their numerous pupils were assigned the sheds or store-rooms where the gun-carriages had stood100. The Protestant chaplains had comfortable quarters, and the missionaries lived in the Palace garden.

the soldiers

To the unmarried soldiers was assigned one set of barracks, whilst the married with their families occupied another set. These latter had saved their furniture and lived in comparative comfort.

the shop-keepers, and the Eurasians

Those of the Europeans most to be pitied, in point of accommodation, were the merchants and shopkeepers. They had to content themselves with erecting small grass huts on the archways and tops of buildings. The Eurasians were still less comfortably provided for. They had to find an abiding place “anywhere101.” The total number of Europeans in the fort in July amounted to one thousand nine hundred and eighty-nine. Of these one thousand and sixty-five were men, the rest women and children.

The total number in the Fort

In addition there were three thousand eight hundred and fifty-six Eurasians and Natives.

So much for the accommodation. In the course of a few days the various habitations came to be classified as “blocks” alphabetically arranged.

Further arrangements for supplies

This was the first dawn of order and arrangement. Several of the archways or vestibules within the fort were about the same time converted into shops; one into a post office. In the shops were sold the European stores which had escaped the savage instincts of the rabble. For some days no butcher’s meat was procurable; but after the restoration of order in the city this defect was

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partly remedied, and the residents were supplied by the Commissariat Department. As time went on the natives began to bring in from outside, fowls, eggs, and butter.

Devotion of the ladies to the sick and wounded

But, if the accommodation was rough and the privations were for a long time great, there were those who were prevented by no personal suffering from devoting themselves to the wants of others. Before even the men wounded at the battle of Sassiah had been deposited in the first improvised hospital, mattresses, pillows, and quilts, which the ladies had been preparing for the event, had been arranged on hastily manufactured wooden cots. The ladies then formed themselves into a committee to assist the doctors in ministering to the wounded. At the request of the senior medical officer, Dr. Farquhar, one lady, Mrs. Raikes, undertook to preside over this committee. The ladies were then divided into watches, and to these watches certain hours during the day and night were apportioned. To avoid teasing the men by too much nursing, a small separate room was made up for the lady nurses. From this, at stated times, they issued and went their rounds distributing tea, jelly, soda-water, coffee, and soup, or helping to dress the wounds of the patients under the orders of the medical officers102.

Meanwhile the Government stores within the fort were opened for the supply of clothing to those who most needed it. By degrees tailors were admitted from outside, and, though the demeanour of these and other domestics was not always respectful, they showed yet the same regard as of yore for the punctually paid monthly stipend.

Charity knows no creed

It is gratifying to be able to record that the charity and devotion to the cares and sorrows of others displayed in the Agra fortress knew no differences of religion. There was no place for the display of narrowness on

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the one side or of bigotry on the other. The minute inquiries I have on this subject have convinced me that in their several spheres Catholic and Protestant strove to their utmost to do their duty to their neighbour.

Brigadier Polwhele is removed

The Civil Government all this time existed, but for all purposes of defence and provisionment the administration was in the hands of the military. Subsequently to his defeat at Sassiah Brigadier Polwhele had, by express orders from the Governor-General, been removed from command103. His place was taken by Colonel Cotton.

Measures taken by his successor

That officer speedily inaugurated vigorous measures. The defences of the fortress were strengthened and increased; numerous guns were mounted on the ramparts; the want of garrison artillerymen was supplied by the enlistment of promising Eurasians to form gun detachments; from the same class volunteers were called and selected and trained to serve as drivers; the powder magazines were covered by mud ramparts to protect them alike against treacherous attack and against the chances of being shelled.

Dangers to which the garrison were exposed

It must be recollected that all this time the Gwaliar contingent, possessing numerous field guns and a heavy battering train, was within seventy miles of Agra; that its leaders were constantly boasting that they would attack Agra; and that they were with difficulty restrained by Maharajah Sindhia. Inside the fortress was Major C. Macpherson, the agent for the Governor-General at Sindhia’s court. His communications with Sindhia were daily. The nature of them led the garrison to believe that they were always liable to an attack from that formidable contingent. They could not be certain that the loyalty of the Maharajah and his minister would for ever be able to restrain the pressure of the soldiers. And this uncertainty, whilst it added no little to the difficulties of the garrison, hastened the completion of defensive preparations.

The Commissariat Department

Amongst these was the provisionment of the fortress. The cares of the Commissariat Department in this respect were greatly lightened by the influence exerted by a character well known in Indian history, Lala Joti Parshad, a contractor whose successful

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provisionment of the army during the Afghan, the Sikh, and the Gwaliar wars had gained him a great and deserved reputation. A bazaar was established immediately outside the fortifications and quickly assumed the proportions of a regular market.

An expedition organised and sent to Aligarh

By degrees it began to be considered possible to organise an expedition for the relief of the neighbouring districts. Of these Aligarh, commanding the direct road to Dehli, was the most important. Colonel Cotton, accordingly, equipped a small force composed of three companies of Europeans, three guns, thirty of the volunteer cavalry, and a few trustworthy native mounted levies; placed the whole under the command of Major Montgomery, the Brigade Major, having under him, as commandant of the volunteer cavalry, the gallant de Kantzow, famous for his conduct at Mainpuri; and detached it for the purpose indicated.

August 24

Leaving Agra on the 20th of August, the force reached Aligarh on the 24th. They found the rebels, consisting of a large body of Ghazis (fanatics) and a detachment of the 3rd Cavalry, in the occupation of a walled garden. Montgomery found it difficult to ascertain the precise position of the main body of the enemy, but, some of their cavalry having been noted outside and on the left of the enclosure, he directed de Kantzow to dislodge them. That officer did not require more explicit instructions. Addressing a few words to the volunteers, he placed himself at their head and led them straight at the enemy. The rebels watched the approach of this handful of Europeans without flinching till they were within shot. They then raised their carbines and fired.

The rebels there are defeated

A second later, and without waiting to ascertain the result of their volley, they turned their horses’ heads and fled. Meanwhile the Ghazis emerging from the enclosure had attacked our infantry. A considerable number of them, dressed in garments white as the driven snow, suddenly dashed from the enclosure, flourishing their scimitars aloft, and crying out “Religion!” “Victory!” rushed on the advanced skirmishers of the Europeans. They fought with a desperation so furious and with a rage so frantic that it became necessary to bring up the guns to bear upon them. Then they retired, and our infantry, dashing after them, completed the overthrow. The Ghazis and their allies were then driven out of Aligarh.

This was the last operation on anything like a large scale

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in which the Agra force was engaged until after the fall of Dehli. But before relating the manner in which that “crowning mercy” was achieved, it is necessary to turn to the events which were happening during this period in the districts on the left bank of the Jamnah – events less affecting Agra than the operations in the vicinity of Lakhnao and of Dehli.

Mr. Colvin’s health fails

During a great portion of this period Mr. Colvin still continued to administer the duties attaching to his high office. But he was no longer the strong man hoping for the prompt repression of the rebellion that he once had been. It was not alone the revolt that had broken him. The uprooting of convictions deeply held and long clung to had been a blow hard to bear. But it was rather the sense of his inability to restore order in his own provinces; the forced isolation to which events condemned him; the compulsory inaction; that preyed most deeply upon him. Of the fine courage, the devotion to duty, the earnest consideration for others, which had characterised his career, there never was the smallest abatement. These noble qualities shone brightly to his very last hour. Warned by his medical advisers that continued attention to the details of office would be fatal, that he required perfect rest of body and mind, Mr. Colvin refused, nevertheless, to relinquish the smallest of the duties attaching to his high office.

He continues, nevertheless, to perform the duties of his office

He felt that it would ill become the captain to leave the deck of his ship when she was drifting on to a lee shore, the breakers almost in sight; that, ill as he was, it was his duty to set an. example; and that, as he must die some day, it was better that he should die in the performance of duties for which he yet had strength, rather than seek to prolong his existence by casting his cares upon another.

Few will question the nobility of soul which prompted Mr. Colvin to direct the course of the State-vessel to the very last. It has been thought that he might perhaps have advantageously consented to leave some of the minor details to his subordinates.

Faults of the red-tape system

But when Mr. Raikes, a judge of the Court of Appeal at Agra, wrote, so late as July, that if he wanted a sword or a pistol from the magazine Mr. Colvin’s countersignature was necessary, he only exposed the red-tape system of administration which flourished then, and which probably flourishes still, in other countries as well the as in India. He exposed a system which was then

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ingrained in the country. It was but a brick in the wall of Indian administration. The reform of the system was necessary, but it could scarcely have been undertaken during the mutiny. It was not routine duties of this nature that affected Mr. Colvin. The real pressure which broke him down has been already indicated.

September

Mr. Colvin dies

“Early in September,” wrote Mr. Raikes in his journal, “Mr. Colvin asked me to prepare a plan for the restoration of the Police in the North-Western Provinces, and I submitted a note on the subject; on the 7th I called to talk over the matter, but found the Lieutenant-Governor too ill to attend to business.

September 9

On Wednesday, the 9th, to our great sorrow, he died, and on the next day, I, as pall-bearer, paid my last tribute of respect to his memory. After ruling over the fairest provinces of India in her palmiest days he died without secure possession of an acre of ground beyond the Fort, and his body was interred within the walls.”

Tributes to his memory

Thus died in the performance of his duty, before the dawn of the triumph of which he never despaired, the brave, true-hearted, and noble Lieutenant-Governor of the North-West Provinces. Whatever failings or prejudices he may have had, they are all obliterated by the recollection of the earnestness, the single-mindedness, the devotion to duty that characterised him in a most critical period. He was sustained to the last by the consciousness that “he had not shrunk from bearing the burden which God had called upon him to sustain”; by the conviction that he had performed his duty to his God and to his country, and that he had ever striven to have a conscience void of offence towards God and man. His death was deeply felt by all with whom he was connected by private friendship or by official ties; and the Government of India only gave utterance to a feeling that pervaded all classes when by a notification in the Official Gazette it paid a just tribute to his name and memory104.

Footnotes

87. Raikes’s Notes on the Revolt.

88. Ibid.

89. Ibid.

90. Ibid.

91. Page 101

92. Their operations will be detailed in the next chapter.

93. Official narrative of events attending the outbreak of disturbances and the restoration of authority in the Agra district in 1857–58 by A. L. M. Phillipps, Magistrate of Agra.

94. In his official report, Brigadier Polwhele states that, from the most accurate information he was able to gather, the enemy’s force consisted of the 72nd Native Infantry; the 7th Regiment Gwaliar contingent; 4th and 6th troops 1st Light Cavalry; four troops of cavalry of Mehidpur contingent; part of the Kota contingent; one troop of horse artillery; and one horse field-battery; altogether more than five thousand men

95. “If glory be a distinction, for such a man death is not a leveller.” – Napier’s Peninsular War.

96. “On the morning after the battle the town crier, at the order of Murad Ali Kotwal, proclaimed the reign of the King of Dehli through the city. The armed procession that accompanied the crier was composed of most of the leading Muhammadan police officers attached to the Kotwali headed by the Kotwal himself, and followed by a crowd of inferior grades and rabble; there is no reason to suppose that a single Muhammadan of any respectability was in any way engaged or accessory to this proceeding.” – Mr. Phillipps’s Narrative, already referred to.

97. Of these fifteen were men, four were women, and three were children. Most of them were slaughtered by our own rebellious police. Amongst them were Mr. Hubbard, Professor of literature, Agra College; Mr. Hare, an old and paralytic man, and his son; Mr. Christie; Major Jacobs; Mr. and Mrs. Dennis; Mr. and Mrs. Derridon and their three children. A curious circumstance is related in connection with the murder of these last, illustrative of the fidelity, so often evinced during the mutiny, of native servants to their masters. Mr. and Mrs. Derridon and three children were murdered at the door of their house by a gang of Muhammadans. They had three other children and a Muhammadan nurse. Whilst her master and mistress were being killed this nurse was severely wounded. But with rare fidelity she carried two of the other children to the Kotwali, and watched over their safety there. They were made over to Mr. Drummond as he rode through the city on the 8th. The third surviving boy, aged twelve, escaped by creeping through the legs of the assassins, and alone traversed the city in safety till he arrived at the fort. – Phillipps’s Narrative.

98. A Lady’s Escape from Gwaliar, by Mrs. Coopland.

99. “The officers who had the allotting of the quarters (a task that was no sinecure) had appointed to us each one arch, which we divided as I have before described. The temporary partitions of grass were so thin that you could hear every word uttered in the next division.” – A Lady’s Escape front Gwaliar.

100. “They turned one large room or storehouse into a chapel and fitted it up marvellously well with crucifixes, altars, and candlesticks.” – A Lady’s Escape from Gwaliar.

101. I have taken these details from Mrs. Coopland’s book. Regarding the Eurasians she writes: “The half-caste, or ‘Kala Faringhis,’ as the natives call them, who are uncharitably said to have the vices of both different races and the virtues of neither, were in immense swarms and had to accommodate themselves anywhere. A large number of them lived in our ‘square’ just beneath our balcony” (the balcony of the Diwani’am); “the rest lived in holes tyrconnels, or on tops of buildings all over the fort”

102. Raikes’s Notes on the Revolt. Mr. Raikes adds the following tribute to the feeling and conduct of the British soldier. “For weeks that the ladies watched over their charge never was a word said by a soldier which could shock the gentlest ear. When all was over, and when such of the sick and wounded that recovered were declared convalescent, the soldiers, in order, as they expressed it, to show their gratitude for the conduct of the ladies, modestly asked permission to invite their nurses and all the gentry and society of Agra to an entertainment in the beautiful gardens of the Taj. There, under the walls of the marble mausoleum, amidst flowers and music, these rough veterans, all scarred and mutilated as they were, stood up to thank their countrywomen who had clothed, fed, and visited them when they were sick.”

103. This order, dated 26th of July, was received in Agra on the 5th of August.

104. The following is the text of the notification referred to: “It is the melancholy duty of the Right Honourable the Governor-General in Council to announce the death of the Honourable John Russell Colvin, the Lieutenant-Governor of the North-West Provinces.

“Worn by the unceasing anxieties and labours of his charge, which placed him in the very front of the dangers by which, of late, India has been threatened, health and strength gave way; and the Governor-General in Council has to deplore with sincere grief the loss of one of the most distinguished amongst the servants of the East India Company.

“The death of Mr. Colvin has occurred at a time when his ripe experience, his high ability, and his untiring energy would have been more than usually valuable to the State.

“But his career did not close before he had won for himself a high reputation in each of the various branches of administration to which he was at different times attached, nor until he had been worthily selected to fill the highest position in Northern India; and he leaves a name which not friends alone, but all who have been associated with him in the duties of Government, and all who may follow in his path, will delight to honour.

“The Right Honourable the Governor-General directs that the flag shall be lowered half-mast high, and that seventeen minute guns shall be fired at the seats of government in India upon the receipt of the present notification.”

This collection transcribed by Chris Gage
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