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Book IX – Oudh

[March–November, 1857]

Chapter I – Oudh and Henry Lawrence

Whatever may be the justification offered for the annexation of Oudh, it cannot be questioned that the manner in which that policy was carried out tended to alienate from the British every class in India. The absorption of an independent Muhammadan kingdom was alone sufficient to afford to the already disaffected section of the Musalmans throughout India, especially in the large cities, not only a pretext, but a substantial reason for discontent and disloyalty.

Effects of the annexation of Oudh

But the annexation of Oudh did far more than alienate a class already not too well affected. It alienated the rulers of Native States, who saw in that act indulgence in a greed of absorption to be satiated neither by unswerving loyalty nor by timely advances of money on loan to the dominant power. It alienated the territorial aristocracy, who found themselves suddenly stripped, by the action of the newly introduced British system, sometimes of one-half of their estates, sometimes even of more. It alienated the Muhammadan aristocracy – the courtiers – men whose income depended principally upon the appointments and pensions they received from the favour of their prince.

in alienating every class from the British

It alienated the military class serving under the king, ruthlessly cast back upon their families with small pensions or gratuities. It contributed to alienate the British Sipahis recruited in Oudh, – and who, so long as their country continued independent, possessed, by virtue of the privilege granted them of acting on the Court of Lakhnao by means of petitions presented by the

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British Resident, a sure mode of protecting their families from oppression121. It alienated alike the peasantry of the country and the petty artisans of the towns, who did not relish the change of a system, which, arbitrary and tyrannical though it might be, they thoroughly understood, for another system, the first elements of which were taxation of articles of primary necessity. In a word, the annexation of Oudh converted a country, the loyalty of whose inhabitants to the British had become proverbial, into a hotbed of discontent and of intrigue.

Sir Henry Lawrence arrives

On the 20th of March, 1857, Sir Henry Lawrence had assumed the Chief Commissionership of Lakhnao. His clear and practical eye saw at a glance that the new system was not working satisfactorily; that his predecessor had thrust it en masse on the province, and that its effect had been – alienation.

His fitness for the office

Of all the men who have ever attained a prominent position in India, Sir Henry Lawrence was, perhaps, the most qualified to remove a discontent engendered by action on the part of the Government too fast, too hard, and too reckless. He had great sympathies with the people. He thoroughly understood them. He knew that their feelings, their instincts, were thoroughly conservative; that they distrusted change in the abstract; that, if one thing more than another would rouse their long-suffering and docile nature, it would be change coming upon them suddenly, harshly, unaccompanied either by warning or compensation.

He at once detects the discontent

Sir Henry Lawrence noted, then, not only that there was discontent, but , that there was reason for that discontent; and he at once made it his business to lessen, as far as he could, the oppressive action of the newly imposed regulations.

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Which he regards as justifiable

The correspondence of Sir Henry Lawrence with the Governor-General and with his family shows clearly not only how the discontent of the people had impressed him, but how deeply he regretted the too hasty and too zealous action of the officials who had unwittingly fomented the ill-feeling. Suddenly to introduce a system which will have the immediate effect of depriving the territorial aristocracy of a country of one half of its estates is not a policy consistent with the diffusion of a spirit of loyalty, – and yet within a month of his installation in Lakhnao Sir Henry Lawrence wrote to Lord Canning to inform him that in the Faizabad division of Oudh the Talukdars had lost half their villages – that some had lost all!

on the grounds which he assigns

Nor did he find that the peasantry had benefited. Heavy assessments and increased duties had driven them frantic, which he whilst the large towns were inundated by the disbanded adherents of the late regime, all discontented and disaffected.

The “caste question”

Amongst the population thus seething the dangerous spark of the caste question was suddenly thrown. Who threw it? Was it, as some have asserted, the ill-judged order of a thoughtless official? Was it, as others maintain, the angry retort of a low-caste lascar?

Was it an original cause or a pretext, of discontent?

Or was it rather the eager grasp, the clever appropriation of a clique thirsting for an opportunity? That is a question on which perfect agreement is perhaps impossible.

Reasons for believing that there was a cause of discontent independent of the caste question

This, at least, is clear to me, that the hold which this question took of the minds of the Sipahis was due mainly to the fact that they were for the most part men of Oudh, and that annexation and its consequences had prepared the minds of the men of Oudh to accept any absurdity which might argue want of faith on the part of the British. That the Sipahis believed that the greased cartridges were designed to deprive them of their caste is, I think, not to be questioned. But they believed that calumny mainly because the action of the British Government, with respect to their own province, had so shattered their faith in the professions of the ruling power, that they were ready to credit any charges that might be brought against it. Mr. Beadon spoke of the action of the Sipahis, and the effect of that action upon others, as “a passing and groundless panic.”

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which, though a cause, was only a secondary cause

But, as I have said elsewhere, if it was a panic, it was not a groundless panic. In a greater degree the annexation of Oudh and the measures which followed that annexation; in a lesser degree the actual employment of animal fat in the composition of the cartridges, constituted ample grounds for the distrust evinced by the Sipahis.

Sir Henry studies the position

In the earlier hours of his arrival in Oudh the attention of Sir Henry Lawrence had been mainly occupied by the condition and the discontent of the people he had come to govern. He felt that, could peace be maintained, there was yet time to remedy the main evil. In a very few days he had weighed the higher officials in Lakhnao and had satisfied himself that he could manage them.

and fears the evil is too far advanced

The question to be solved was whether the little cloud rising in the horizon near Barhampur would not develop into a tempest, fierce enough to disturb the tranquillity of the entire country, before he should have time to instil confidence in the minds of the people of the newly annexed province.

The reason why the danger in Oudh was likely to be excessive

This question was unhappily solved in the negative. The feeling which had animated the Sipahis at Barhampur, in the month of March, was more widely spread in Oudh than in any other province in India. For Oudh was the home of the Sipahis. Oudh supplied three-fifths of the recruits annually enlisted in the Bengal army. Every feeling engendered in the ranks permeated through Oudh, whilst the notions imbibed in the homesteads of the peasants found an echo in every regiment of the native army.

Sir Henry Lawrence was not slow to detect the increasing feeling of mistrust in the very class on whose loyalty the British empire in India seemed to depend. Reports reached him from every corner of the province, all conveying the same story.

The surging of the storm

He could not conceal from himself that the spirit of the people was deeply excited, and excited on the one subject on which to be excited was to be dangerous. He saw that credit was very generally accorded to the whisper that the British Government was bent on destroying the caste of the Sipahis, and he knew that to maintain that caste inviolate the Hindu would risk his property, his homestead,

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all that he valued in this world; that he would gladly sacrifice his life.

In the wars waged by Aurangzib against the princes of Rajputana, to maintain the jizya or poll-tax upon all who did not profess the religion of Muhammad, the Emperor possessed the advantage of counting upon the religious bigotry of his Muhammadan subjects. But Sir Henry Lawrence was not blind to the fact that, in any contest which might be impending with the Hindus, the sympathies of that class would be denied him. Amongst the original fomenters of the rising disaffection many certainly were Muhammadan.

The secondary cause enables the Muhammadan leaders to work on their followers

The desire to recover their lost over-lordship, the ambition to revive their vanished empire, the longing to enables the avenge themselves on the conqueror, were the motives which prompted them. But the Muhammadan customs have so much in common with the Christian customs, the food partaken of by the two communities is, with one exception, so similar, that they would have found it difficult under ordinary circumstances to persuade their brethren in the ranks of the army that their religion was in danger. The opportune discovery of the use of lard in the manufacture of the cartridges came to these conspirators as an inspiration from heaven. They used it with an effect that was decisive. The Muhammadan rank and file, disaffected on other grounds, determined from the moment of that revelation to cast in their lot with their Hindu comrades.

The one slight chance in favour of a peaceful issue

That a crisis of no ordinary magnitude was approaching became apparent, then, to Sir Henry Lawrence very soon after he had assumed the reins of office at Lakhnao. He did not despair. His intimate acquaintance with the natives of India had satisfied him that there were no people in the world more tractable when once their reason had been satisfied. Fanatics, it is true, never reason. But there might, he thought, be some chance of enlisting on his side that divine faculty, if an opportunity could be secured of appealing to it before the stage of absolute fanaticism had been arrived at. On these slender grounds he built such hopes as he entertained.

Almost from the very moment of his arrival, Sir Henry Lawrence had laid himself out to remedy the most pressing material grievances complained of by the various classes of the population. The evil already effected had been too great to

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admit of his being perfectly successful.

Sir Henry Lawrence tries to repair the faults of his predecessors

The aristocracy of the Court, indeed, who, as I have already stated, had been ruined by the abrupt action which followed annexation, were propitiated by the immediate payment to them of the pensions which had been promised, but till then had been withheld. An early opportunity likewise taken of assuring the officials, who had served under the previous regime, that their claims to employment would receive prior consideration, and that, as a rule, the natives of Oudh would be preferred to immigrants from the British provinces. The case of the disbanded soldiers was more difficult. These men were promised preference in enlistment in the local corps and in the military police. Only a comparatively small number of the cavalry availed themselves, however, of this privilege. In many cases they did not hesitate to state the reason of their refusal. “I have eaten the king’s salt, and will not touch that of another122.” With the small traders in Lakhnao itself Sir Henry succeeded better.

and partially succeeds

They were pacified by the personal interest displayed by the new Chief Commissioner in their welfare, and by the practical measures he took before their eyes to put a stop to the seizures and demolition of houses in the city, which had formed one staple of their grievances. With the territorial magnates, Sir Henry, in spite of no slight opposition, dealt in the same enlightened spirit. He held Durbars to receive them, to listen to their views, to remedy their just complaints. And he did greatly pacify them by the enunciation of a policy, by the action of which they would be reinstated in the position they had occupied at the time of the annexation.

Might have wholly succeeded if he had, in the first instance, been sent to Oudh

In this way, in a few weeks, the material evils complained of were placed in a fair way of being remedied. It was a more difficult and a more delicate task to remove the rising religious discontent. The mischief had been virtually accomplished before Sir Henry Lawrence reached Lakhnao. I think it quite possible that had he succeeded Wajid Ali Shah

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it would never have arisen. But in all such questions prevention is easier than cure. I repeat – fanatics never reason. And Sir Henry Lawrence soon discovered that before he had reached Lakhnao the religious question had assumed all the proportions of fanaticism.

The first practical intimation that the contagion of the cartridge question had reached Oudh was manifested early in April. Before adverting to it, it is necessary that I should state the troops by whom the newly annexed province was garrisoned.

Garrison of Lakhnao

At Lakhnao itself were quartered H.M.’s 32nd Regiment, about seven hundred strong; a weak company of European artillery; the 7th Regiment Light Cavalry (native) the 13th, 48th, and 71st Regiments of Native Infantry. Besides these, there were at Lakhnao, or in its immediate environs, two regiments of Irregular Native Infantry, raised for local service in Oudh, the 4th, and the 7th; one regiment of Military Police, the 3rd; a large proportion of the mounted Military Police;123 one regiment of Oudh Irregular Cavalry; and two batteries of Native Artillery. Thus the native armed troops were in the proportion of nearly ten to one, the actual numbers being seven thousand to seven hundred and fifty.

and of the districts

At Sitapur in addition to local troops, was stationed the 41st Native Infantry, having a detachment at Malaun; at Sultanpur the 15th Irregular Cavalry. The other stations, Daryabad, Faizabad, and Bahraich were garrisoned only by local corps.

First symptoms of disaffection at Lakhnao

The intimation that the caste contagion had reached Lakhnao occurred in this wise. The surgeon of the 48th First Regiment had incautiously applied his mouth to a bottle of medicine. The Sipahis attributed the surgeon’s action to design, and, although the bottle which had been tasted was broken in their presence, they seized an early opportunity to burn down his house. The authors of this outrage, though known to belong to the 48th, escaped detection.

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In ordinary times the incident of the bottle would have had little significance. But the vengeance wreaked on the surgeon showed the importance attached to it, in the month of April 1857, by the men of the 48th. Further indications soon intimated very plainly to the authorities that the feeling which had manifested itself in Barhampur was not less strongly rooted in Oudh124.

Sir Henry makes earnest appeals to the native officers and soldiers

Sir Henry Lawrence, I have said, whilst not insensible to the extreme difficulty of the task, had deemed it might just “be possible to dispel, by plain reason appeals and to facts, the cobwebs from the minds of such men as had not become absolutely fanatical on the subject of the alleged attempt on their caste. He made an earnest appeal, then, to the loyalty of the men. He pointed out to the native officers how contrary it was to the experience of a century that the English should attempt to produce by fraud a result which they would consider only valuable if brought about by conviction. He explained to them the danger which threatened them – the danger of being persuaded by evil-disposed men to become false to their salt. He warned them at the same time of the consequences. He would not palter with mutiny. Sharp and summary should be the punishment of those who should fail in their duty. “It is impossible,” writes one125 who was at his elbow at this period, “it is impossible here to mention the various steps taken by Sir Henry Lawrence to preserve the soldiery in their duty and the people in their allegiance.

Partial success of the appeals

Every conciliatory measure was adopted consistent with the dignity of the British Government; and there is no doubt that by his untiring energy, discretion, ability, and determination, he did fan into a flame for a while the wavering loyalty of many of the native officers and men, and that the army and people generally felt that his was a firm and

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experienced hand.” This is most true. All that it was possible to do to check the mutiny was done in Oudh. Firmness combined with conciliation, fairness of speech with fairness of action, prompt punishment with prompt reward.

Too late

Yet this policy – in the circumstances a model policy – though not wholly fruitless, though checking the outbreak for a time, did not ultimately prevent it. The reason is not difficult to find. Oudh had been undermined – the point of fanaticism had been very generally reached before Sir Henry Lawrence arrived there. He came too late indeed to repair the mischief, though not too late to save the British honour – not too late to preserve from the hands of the despoiler the plot of ground which constituted the seat of Government, and which will be referred to in future ages as the monument of his sagacity and of the prowess of his countrymen.

He sees the full extent of the coming danger

For he did not confine himself solely to the work of pacifying and of reasoning with the people. He realised almost at a glance the danger that threatened India. He felt that at any moment the handful of Englishmen in the country might have two hundred. millions on their hands. Whilst, then, he used every persuasive argument, and put into action every precautionary measure to avert a crisis, he prepared to meet one.

He takes early precautions

He began his preparations in April. His own head-quarters were at the Residency situated in the city, close to the river Gumti, and upwards of a quarter of a mile from the iron bridge leading to the Mariaun cantonments. At Mariaun were the native infantry regiments, a light horse battery of European artillery and a battery of native artillery. At Mudkipur, a mile and a half further still from the Residency, was one native cavalry regiment. In an opposite direction, in a line in fact forming a right angle with the road to Mariaun and at a distance of a mile and a half from the point of the angle, the Residency, was H.M.’s 32nd Regiment, about seven hundred strong. Nearly a mile anti a half directly north of the barracks of the British Regiment, and on the opposite bank of the river Gumti, was the only remaining regiment of native cavalry. South of the river again, at or near Musa Bagh, three miles from the Residency, were two irregular native regiments, and between them and the Residency was a magazine containing a considerable stand of arms.

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The Residency

About the Residency itself were clustered several substantial buildings of solid masonry occupied by the higher European officials. Here also were the Treasury, the Hospital, and a gaol. A detachment of native troops guarded the Residency and the Treasury. One company occupied a curved line of buildings outside the principal gate leading to the Treasury. The whole of the Residency buildings were known to the natives throughout Oudh by the name Baillie Guard126.

Rather less than one mile from the Residency, on the same side of the river Gumti, and close to the brick bridge spanning it, is a castellated and picturesque stronghold called the Machchi Bhawan – the fortress of the rebellious Shekhs in the time of the vice-royalty of Asufu’d-daulah, but for many years used only as a depository of lumber – occupying a very commanding position.

Sir Henry prepares to meet any possible emergency

The attention of Sir Henry was, in the first instance, directed to the making the Residency defensible, and to a better location of the European troops. With this end in view he began to clear away the huts and. other obstructions which occupied the ground close to the Residency: to lay in supplies of grain of all sorts and European stores: to accumulate powder and small ammunition and to dig pits for their reception: to arrange for a constant water supply; by degrees to send for the treasure from the city and outlying station; and to form outworks in the ground encompassing the Residency. At the same time he moved to the vicinity of the barracks of the 32nd Foot four guns of the native battery stationed at Mariaun.

His preparations had not been made a moment too soon. On the 30th of April the storm threatened. On the 3rd of May it broke.

April 30

The 7th Oudh Irregulars mutiny

It happened in this wise. The 7th Regiment of Oudh Irregular Infantry was stationed at Musa Bagh, about three miles from the Residency. The adjutant of the regiment was Lieutenant Mecham of the Madras Army, a cool, determined, and resolute officer. On the 30th of April when he took his men to ball-practice, these suddenly showed a disinclination to use the new cartridge. Mecham pointed out to them that the cartridge was similar to that which they had been using the previous fortnight.

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This seemed to satisfy the men, and they proceeded with the practice. But the next morning the sergeant-major reported that the men positively refused to bite the cartridge, that many even declined to receive or even to touch it.

May 3

They are induced to return to their lines

The day following was spent by the men in brooding over their grievances. They worked themselves to the state of fanaticism which will not hear reason, and at 10 o’clock, on the 3rd, they had arrived at the conclusion that they must kill their European officers. The latter, warned in time by the quartermaster-sergeant of the disposition of their men, nobly did their duty, and succeeded after a time in inducing the Sipahis to return to their lines127, though they refused to surrender their arms.

Sir Henry Lawrence deprives them of their arms

But Sir Henry Lawrence was not content with this doubtful triumph. Having organised a force to suppress any attempt which the Sipahis might make to display insubordination, he sent that afternoon two officers with instructions how to act. The men of the 7th were paraded. The question was put to them whether they would continue to bite the cartridge or whether they would refuse. The men, after some hesitation, promised to obey, but their manner was so sullen and so insolent that Sir Henry felt he could not trust them. He at once proceeded to the spot with the force he had organised, consisting of the 32nd Foot, a European battery, three regular native regiments of infantry and one of cavalry. It was dark, but Sir Henry at once brought the 7th to the front and ordered them to lay down their arms. In the presence of the imposing force in their front and on their flanks and of the lighted port-fires of the gunners, the courage of the mutinous Sipahis oozed out at their fingers’ ends. Many of them, panic-stricken, fled wildly from the spot, but, on being followed and assured that no violence would be used if they would obey orders, they returned, and before midnight all their muskets were secured. The next day the ringleaders were seized, and it transpired from their

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admissions that a treasonable correspondence with the view to a general rising had been going on for some time between them and the men of the 48th Regiment of Native Infantry.

The Durbar at Lakhnao

In the events which immediately preceded, and immediately followed, the affair of the 7th Oudh Irregulars, Sir Henry Lawrence had received valuable information from native officers and others. In the crisis which he saw advancing with rapid strides he considered that rewards should go hand in hand with punishment, that the justice – “the truth in action128” – which had always been the maxim of the British Government, should at all hazards be maintained. He considered it advisable, moreover, that the bestowal of the rewards should be made the occasion for a solemn ceremony, at which he might speak the mind of the Government.

May 12

With this view he invited the native aristocracy, the European and native civil officials, the European and native officers, and others to a Durbar on the evening of the 12th of May. Every arrangement had been made to give solemnity to the scene.

Touching ad dress of Sir Henry Lawrence

At 6 P.M. Sir Henry Lawrence entered, followed by his staff. Near him were deposited in trays the presents and rewards to be bestowed upon the loyal native officers and soldiers. But before distributing these Sir Henry addressed in Hindustani the assembled company. He went straight to the point; spoke of the fears for their religion entertained by the Hindus; reminded them how, under the Mughul rule, that religion had never been respected; how Aurangzib had imposed the jizya, or tax upon all who held to a faith differing from the Muhammadan; and how the flesh of the cow had been thrust down the throats of unwilling converts. Turning then to the Muhammadans, he reminded them that Ranjit Singh would never tolerate their religion at Lahor. Passing on from that, he begged them to recall to mind the toleration which for a century the English Government had afforded to both religions. He adverted next to our power, to our exploits in the Crimea, to our ships, our resources; pointed out how hopeless of ultimate success would be a crusade against the British. He next dwelt on the long and intimate connection between the Sipahis and their officers, on the community of danger and the community

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of glory between them, and begged the men to cherish as their most precious heirlooms the deeds of their ancestors. He concluded an eloquent speech, delivered, be it borne in mind, in the language of the people, by warning his listeners against becoming the dupes of designing men, and of the fate which would inevitably follow the neglect of his advice. He then caused the deserving native officers and soldiers to be brought up to him, and, in the name of the Government, delivered to them the rewards they had merited129.

Its effect passing and transitory

The speech of Sir Henry Lawrence had, undoubtedly, some effect at the moment. His earnest manner, his character so trusted and so respected, added weight to his words. When the Durbar broke up there was not probably a man present who was not loyal. But the opposite feeling was too deeply rooted to be dissipated by a passing sensation. The listeners went from the Durbar into the society of the plotters and intriguers against whom Sir Henry had warned them. The whispers, constantly repeated, of these men, at first weakened, and ultimately effaced the effect which had been produced by the scene at the Durbar.

May 13

News of the Mirath revolt arrives

That Durbar was held on the 12th of May. The Mirath mutiny had broken out on the 10th. A telegram conveying information that something serious had happened in the North-West reached Sir Henry on the 13th. A second telegram giving fuller details of the Mirath revolt and an account of the seizure of Dehli reached him on the 14th. Averse as he was from any measures which might show premature distrust of the Sipahis, Sir Henry felt that a crisis had come upon him which must be met by prompt action.

Prompt measures taken by Sir Henry

His plans had been arranged beforehand. During the 16th and 17th they were carried out. The morning of the last-named day saw a moiety of the 32nd Foot occupying the ground about the Residency and commanding the iron bridge. The second moiety was brought up from the city into the cantonments of Mariaun. The bridge of boats was moved nearer to the Residency and brought under control, whilst a selected body of Sipahis was detached to occupy the Machchi Bhawan, not yet sufficiently cleansed to be fit for occupation by European troops.

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He still longs for “time”

A central position was thus secured for the Chief Commissioner, for his officials, and his European soldiers. Sir Henry had by one movement prepared himself to meet any emergency. But, whilst prepared, he had not altogether abandoned the hope that the emergency might not arise. He apprehended danger less from the native population than from the native troops. But with time he hoped that the difficulty might still be surmounted.

May 18

“Time,” he wrote in a memorandum dated the 18th of May, “time is everything just now. Time, firmness, promptness, conciliation, prudence ... A firm and cheerful aspect must be maintained; there must be no bustle; no appearance of alarm, still less of panic; but at the same time there must be the utmost watchfulness and promptness; everywhere the first germ of insurrection must be put down instantly.”

Sir Henry is nominated to supreme military command in Oudh

Immediately on receiving information of the occurrences at Mirath and Dehli Sir Henry Lawrence telegraphed to the Governor-General a strong recommendation to send for European troops from China, Ceylon, and other places, and for the Gurkhas from the Hill Stations and from Nipal. Feeling, moreover, that at such a crisis it was necessary that the Chief Commissioner of the province should be invested with plenary military authority, he asked the Governor-General to confer such power upon him. Lord Canning promptly replied. On the 19th he bestowed upon the Chief Commissioner the plenary power asked for, and on the 22nd. he gave him authority to apply to Jung Bahadur for his Gurkha troops.

Sir Henry Lawrence assumed the military command on the 19th. To understand the military arrangements which had been carried out two days previously under his instructions, it will be advisable to give an outline sketch of the city of Lakhnao.

The city of Lakhnao

The city of Lakhnao, forty-two miles distant from Kanhpur, extends for about three miles on the right bank the river Gumti. All the principal palatial buildings, the Residency and the Machchi Bhawan, are between the city and the river bank. South of these buildings, and covering an immense space, is the city. This is intersected by a canal which falls into the Gumti close to the Martinière College, about three miles south-east of the Residency. A little to the south of this is the Dilkusha, a hunting-box or

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palace, within an enclosed park. The space between the Residency and the Martinière is occupied by palaces, among which the Moti Mahall, the Shah-Manzil, the Sikandrabagh, and the Farhat Bakhsh Palace, are the most conspicuous. South of the city, about four miles from the Residency on the southern side of the road leading to Kanhpur, is the Alambagh, a large walled garden, with a high and pretentious gateway.

Sir Henry’s military arrangements

Not counting the position of the native cavalry at Mudkipur, Sir Henry possessed now three military posts. Two of these, the Residency and the Machchi Bhawan – he made as strong as he could. Having regard to;; possible eventualities he removed the spare ammunition from the magazines into the Machchi Bhawan. He seized the earliest opportunity of garrisoning that place with Europeans, of storing supplies there, and of mounting on the ramparts guns of all sorts. Many of these were taken from the King’s palaces, and were useful only to make a show. In the Residency compound, over the Treasury, he posted a mixed guard of two hundred Sipahis, a hundred and thirty Europeans, and six guns – the guns being so placed that they could, at the first alarm, be brought to bear on any mutineers. The third post was at the old cantonment of Mariaun. It was garrisoned by three hundred and forty men of the 32nd Foot, fifty European artillerymen, and six guns; the three native regiments and a battery of native artillery. Here Sir Henry, for the time, took up his quarters.

The ladies and children are brought into the Residency

Having made these preparations, Sir Henry Lawrence took an early opportunity to move the ladies and children into the houses within the Residency enclosure. Here also were brought the families and the sick men of the 32nd Regiment. At the same time the clerks, copyists, section-writers, and others of that class, were armed and drilled. On the 27th of May he was able to write to Lord Canning, “both the Residency and the Machchi Bhawan are safe against all probable comers.” Whilst thus preparing to meet all possibilities Sir Henry betrayed none of the anxiety which he felt, but went freely amongst the people, endeavouring to calm their minds, to reason with them, to lay bare to them their folly. It was, however, too late, and he was made every day to feel it. “I held,” he wrote to Lord Canning early in May, “I held a conversation with a Jamadar of the Oudh artillery for more than an hour, and was startled

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Mistrust shown by a native officer

by the dogged persistence of the man, a Brahman of about forty years of age, of excellent character, in the belief that for ten years past Government has been engaged in measures for the forcible, or rather fraudulent, conversion of all the natives. ... My interview with him was occasioned by his commanding officer having ‘specially mentioned his intelligence and good character.”

May 27

Towards the end of May the long smouldering discontent of the turbulent Musalmans of the Malihabad district burst into a flame, and on the 27th of that month Sir Henry Lawrence detached thither Captain Gould Weston, the Superintendent of Military Police, to endeavour to restore order.

Mutinous feeling in the districts

Weston’s escort consisted of a troop of his own cavalry and a company of the mutinous 7th Oudh Irregular Infantry, under the command of the gallant Mecham. In the midst of an insolent Muhammadan population, to whom everything was a grievance, and from whom Captain Weston could elicit no real tangible cause of the rebellion, these two officers, leading men who were not to be trusted, were in imminent danger130. Their lives depended not less upon their own coolness and daring before their avowed foes than upon the personal influence they might exercise on the wavering fidelity of their escort. Happily these essential qualities were conspicuous; had it been otherwise, neither Weston nor Mecham would have fought his way back to Lakhnao when recalled thither by Sir Henry Lawrence the day after the mutiny of the troops at Mariaun.

On the same day, the 27th, Captain Hutchinson, of the Engineers, Military Secretary to the Chief Commissioner, an officer of great talent and daring, was ordered by Sir Henry Lawrence to accompany into the district, as political officer, a column composed of two hundred men of the 7th Cavalry, and two hundred men of the 48th Native Infantry. The object of sending this column was to rid Lakhnao of the presence of men who might there be dangerous, but who, posted on the northern frontier of Oudh, might be employed with advantage to restrain the turbulence of the inhabitants. The idea emanated from Mr. Christian, through whose districts the column would pass.

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Marching from Lakhnao on the 27th, the column passed through Malihabad on the 28th – scowled upon by the armed villagers – and reached Sandila, thirty-two miles to the westward of Lakhnao, on the 1st of June. There Hutchinson received accounts of the mutiny of the 30th of May at Lakhnao. The Sipahis heard of it by the same post. It became at once apparent that they were biding their time.

May 30

Mutiny of detached parties of the 48th Native Infantry and 7th Light Cavalry

Hutchinson endeavoured to calm them by the disbursement of almost the entire contents of the treasure chest in the shape of pay. For the moment they seemed pacified. Their own senior officers, Captains Burmester and Staples, believed in them implicitly. Meanwhile the column was pressing on towards the Ganges. Hutchinson, who noted the increasing insolence of the men, urged the officers not to allow themselves to be taken in the net which was preparing for them on the other side of the river. But they were deaf and would not hear. The regiment crossed the sacred stream. On the 7th or 8th the men rose, massacred all their own officers but one, Lieutenant Boulton, who fled to perish elsewhere, and went off to Dehli. Hutchinson, accompanied by the paymaster of pensioners, Major Marriott, who with him had declined to cross the river, returned in safety to Lakhnao.

The Sipahis at Lakhnao mutiny

The precautions I have before referred to had not been taken at that city at all too soon. On the night of the 30th of May the insurrection broke out. At 9 o’clock the evening gun fired as usual. The men of the 71st Regiment, previously told off in parties, started off at this signal to fire the bungalows and murder their officers. A few men only of the other infantry regiments, and some men of the 7th Cavalry, joined them. Their further proceedings will be related presently.

Warning given to Sir Henry

Sir Henry Lawrence was dining that night at the Residency bungalow at Mariaun. An officer of his staff had informed him that he had been told by a Sipahi that at gun-fire (9 P.M.) the signal to mutiny would be given. The gun fired; but all for the moment seemed quiet. Sir Henry leaned forward and said to the officer, “Your friends are not punctual.” The words were scarcely out of his mouth when the discharge of muskets proved that his staff officer had been well informed, and that his friends were punctual.

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A strange incident happened a few minutes later. Sir Henry Lawrence, surrounded by his staff, was standing on the steps of the Residency bungalow, waiting for the horses which had been ordered up from the stables. They were in the full glare of Mr. Couper’s house, which, fired by the mutineers, had burst almost instantaneously in a blaze. Suddenly the Subahdar of the Sipahis on duty at the Residency brought up his guard, and halted it facing Sir Henry and his staff at a distance of about forty paces. The Subahdar then came up to Captain Wilson, and saluting him, said, “Shall I order the guard to load with ball?” Wilson referred the question to Sir Henry, who replied, “Yes, let them load.”

Danger of Sir Henry and staff

The loading then began – Sir Henry and the officers still standing in the glare of the fire. The thud of ramming down the leaden balls was distinctly heard. The Sipahis then brought up the muskets to the capping position. The caps were adjusted. The next movement of the Sipahis was eagerly waited for. They had the elite – the chiefs – of the British force at their mercy. One disaffected man bold enough could, then and there, have decided the fate of Lakhnao. The group standing on the steps of the Residency bungalow felt this in their inward hearts. But not an action, not a gesture, betrayed the thought within them. Yet they must have been relieved when the shouldering of arms followed the capping. The next moment the horses were brought up, and Sir Henry followed by his staff started for the lines.

Sir Henry’s movements to suppress the mutiny

On his way he found three hundred men of the 32nd, four guns, Major Kaye’s battery, and two of the Oudh force, posted in a position on the extreme right of the 71st lines, and contiguous to the road leading from cantonments to the city. Recognising the necessity of preventing as far as possible communication between the mutineers and the evil-disposed in the city, Sir Henry took with him two guns and a company of the 32nd to occupy the road leading from the cantonment to the bridge. He sent back shortly for the remainder of the Europeans, and for two more guns. Meanwhile, the officers of the native regiments had hastened to the lines to endeavour to reason with the men.

Action of the mutineers

Many of these, however, had already. of the begun the work of plunder. A considerable body had marched straight on the 71st mess-house, and failing to find the officers – who had but just left – they fired it.

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Very soon after a musketry fire from the 71st lines opened on the Europeans. These replied with grape, and with such effect that the Sipahis made a rush to the rear. In their hurried course they passed the infantry picket, composed of natives, and commanded by Lieutenant Grant, 71st Native Infantry. Some of his own men tried to save this officer by placing him under a bed. But a Sipahi of his own regiment, who was on guard with him, discovered the place of concealment to the mutineers, and by these he was brutally murdered.

The main street patrolled

Meanwhile, Lieutenant Hardinge, taking with him a few of the Irregular Cavalry, had been patrolling the main street of cantonments, in the endeavour to maintain order and to save life and property. He was not, however, in sufficient force to prevent the burning and plundering of the officers’ houses and the bazaars. The mutineers were prowling about in all directions. One of them fired at Lieutenant Hardinge, and when his shot missed fire he came at him with his bayonet and wounded him in the arm. During this time there had been great excitement in the lines. Gradually, however, some satisfactory symptoms evinced themselves.

Many Sipahis prove loyal

First, about three hundred of the 13th Native Infantry, with their British officers, their colours, and the regimental treasure, marched up and enrolled themselves with the British. They were followed by a very few of the 71st, without, however, their colours, or their treasure. Of the 48th nothing was heard that night. The Europeans still remained formed up in the position assigned to them in case of alarm by Sir Henry Lawrence, their front flanking that of the several native regiments. About 10 P.M. some of the mutineers crept up to and occupied some empty lines bearing on that position, and opened a musketry fire. Brigadier Handscomb, riding from his house straight into the 71st lines, was immediately shot.

The mutineers baffled

The fire, however, soon ceased, and arrangements having, been made to protect the Residency bungalow and the part of the cantonment next the city road, and strong guards having been posted, the force piled arms and waited for the morn.

At daylight next morning, Sir Henry placed himself at the head of the force, and learning that the rebels had retired on Mudkipur, followed them-thither. Crossing the parade ground his men came upon the body of Cornet Raleigh, a newly joined

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officer, who, left sick in his quarters, had been murdered by the rebels.

pursued,

Almost at the same moment the mutinous regiments were discovered drawn up in line. At this critical moment an officer on Lawrence’s staff noticed, or thought he noticed, a mutinous disposition on the part of the, till then loyal, 7th Cavalry. Their attitude appeared to him to betoken an intention to charge the British guns. To set the matter at rest the officer directed the guns to open fire on the distant line.

and dispersed

Then the men of the 7th Cavalry, with the exception of about thirty, raised a fearful yell, and galloped over to join the enemy, who turned and fled with them. Our troops followed them up for about ten miles and took sixty prisoners. In this pursuit Mr. Gubbins greatly distinguished himself, capturing several of the enemy with his own hand. By 10 A.M. our force had returned to cantonments, the heat being excessive.

In announcing the suppression of this rising to Lord Canning Sir Henry Lawrence wrote: “We are now positively better off than we were. We now know our friends and enemies. The latter have no stomach for a fight, though they are capital incendiaries.”

The position is improved by the mutiny

In the respect to which he referred he was indeed better off. He was rid of doubtful friends. Nearly the whole of the 7th Cavalry, a few men of the 13th, more than two-thirds of the 71st, a very large proportion of the 48th, and almost all the irregular troops, had shown their hand and departed. He could now concentrate his resources. But in other respects the day was full of foreboding. Intelligence received from the districts soon made it clear that the entire province was in arms against British rule.

Sitapur

Three days indeed prior to the rising at Lakhnao an incident had occurred at Sitapur which showed very plainly that the train was laid at that station, and that a single spark would ignite it. Sitapur, the head-quarters of the north-west division of Oudh, lies about fifty-one miles from Lakhnao, midway between that city and the Shahjahanpur referred to in the last chapter. In 1857 it was garrisoned by the 41st Regiment of Native Infantry, commanded by Lieutenant-Colonel Birch, and by the 9th and 10th Regiments of Oudh Irregular Infantry. The Commissioner of the Division, Mr. Christian, resided there, together with Mr. Thornhill and Sir Mountstuart Jackson, civil officers of the Oudh Commission.

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Precursors of the mutiny

About noon of the 27th of May the vacant lines of the 2nd Regiment of Military Police, commanded by Captain John Hearsey131, were fired. It had not then become generally recognised that incendiarism was the invariable precursor to rebellion. Although, therefore, the firing of the lines caused some uneasiness, no absolute suspicion was directed to any particular body of men.

Incendiarism

The Sipahis aided in extinguishing the fire, and the incident was not immediately followed by any overt act of mutiny.

It would appear that the firing of the lines had been a tentative measure. The Sipahis were anxious to feel their way, to test the credulity of their officers, before taking the step which would be irrevocable.

June 2

Plea that the flour has been adulterated

Of all the regiments I have mentioned the 10th Oudh Irregulars were regarded as the most trustworthy. Great, then, was the surprise in Sitapur when, five days later, the 2nd of June, it became known that the Sipahis of that regiment had rejected the flour sent from the city for their consumption, on the plea that it had been adulterated for the purpose of destroying their caste. They insisted that the flour should be thrown into the river. The flour was thrown into the river.

They now became bolder. The same afternoon the men of the same regiment plundered the gardens of the European residents of the ripe fruit growing in them. Their officers rebuked them, and, after some time, the plundering ceased.

Confidence in regiment of Lieutenant-Colonel Birch

But every day furnished additional proof that the men were practically out of hand. Still, strange infatuation! the officers, whilst suspecting the other regiments, believed in their own. Lieutenant Colonel Birch, commanding the 41st Native Infantry – a regiment which132 showed itself as truculent as any which mutinied – had the most absolute confidence in the loyalty of his men. He put that loyalty to the test by marching his regiment out on the 1st of June on the Lakhnao road to meet the mutineers advancing along it from the capital, and his men had justified

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his confidence by firing on their comrades and forcing them to alter their route! After such behaviour it was treason in Sitapur to doubt the loyalty of the 41st.

Mr. Christian prepares to meet the coming danger

Yet Mr. Christian, a man of intellect and intelligence, did not feel secure. The idea of abandoning his post never crossed his mind. Like all the members of the noble service to which he belonged he felt that his place was where the Government had sent him. For himself he had no care; but reading rightly the signs of the times, he had deemed it his duty to invite all the ladies of the station to occupy his house with their children. All responded except four, who preferred to remain with their husbands. The house was well situated for defence, being cut off on one side from the adjoining ground by a rivulet. In front of it, and between it and the lines of the 41st, were posted four guns. The flanks were guarded by the irregular regiments, in whom Mr. Christian was inclined to place confidence.

Major Apthorp reports the disaffection of the 41st

The incidents of the flour and of the fruit robbery on the 2nd of June had been sufficient to warn the residents that a crisis was approaching. But Lieutenant-Colonel Birch still believed in the loyalty of the 41st. At sunrise on the morning of the 3rd, however, Major Apthorp of that regiment satisfied himself that the Sipahis were no longer to be trusted. He communicated his suspicions to Mr. Christian and his Colonel. They were soon verified. At 8 o’clock a company of the regiment went off to the treasury to seize the public money, whilst the others advanced in a menacing attitude against the guns covering Mr. Christian’s house, and against the irregular regiments on either side of it.

They mutiny and murder Colonel Birch

The safety of the Europeans seemed now to depend on the fidelity of the irregulars and native gunners. But before this could be tested Colonel Birch determined to make one effort to recall his men to duty. Accompanied by Lieutenant Graves he galloped towards the treasury. Mr. Christian, having first strengthened the garrison of his house by a small party of military police, about twenty, started to follow the Colonel, when Captain John Hearsey, who had preceded him, rode hurriedly back with the information that that officer and Lieutenant Graves had been shot by their men. It was clear now that the Sipahis were bent

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on the blood of their officers.

The irregulars also mutiny

The 9th Irregulars almost immediately followed the example of the 41st, killing their officers; the 10th were not slow to imitate them. They suddenly rushed with yells against the bungalow, bent on slaughter.

Slaughter of the English

It is not easy to describe the scene that followed. The only possible safety lay in flight, and flight was difficult. The rivulet Sarayan, which protected the rear of the bungalow against attack, was now an obstacle to the fugitives. However, it was an obstacle that must be attempted. Mr. Christian, who had boldly started, rifle in hand, to meet the mutineers, seeing that all was lost, returned to his house to flee with his family. Preceded by his wife with an infant in her arms, he succeeded in crossing the rivulet, but he had scarcely reached the opposite bank when he was shot dead by the pursuing rebels. A similar fate befell his wife, her baby, and the nurse. The elder child, a girl taken across the river by Sergeant-Major Morton, was conveyed by him to the estate of the Mitauli Rajah and ultimately to Lakhnao, where she died. Mr. and Mrs. Thornhill were shot dead either crossing the stream or just after.

Some escape to Mitauli

Sir Mountstuart Jackson, his sister, Captain Burnes, and some others likewise reached the estate of the Mitauli Rajah. There Mrs. Orr had already found shelter, and thither Captain Patrick Orr escaped from the Mohamdi party to be presently referred to. The Mitauli Rajah afforded to the fugitives only a half-hearted protection. Timid and fearing for himself, he allowed them to remain in the jungles in the vicinity of his fort unmolested – and he provided them with food. They stayed there till the end of October, when, as will be told, the rebel troops took the survivors prisoners into Lakhnao.

Some to Lakhnao

Of the other fugitives from Sitapur, one party guided by Lieutenant Lester, who was intimately acquainted with the country, made straight for Lakhnao, which they reached. Another party, consisting of nine ladies, ten children, and three men, reached the same place, by circuitous paths, concealing themselves in the daytime, and indebted very much to the zamindar of Ramkot, on the 28th of June.

Some lie concealed

A third party, composed of Mrs. Phillipps and a few friends, found shelter in a village, and remained in concealment there for ten months, when they were rescued by a column of Sir Colin Campbell’s army. A

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Some reach Makimpur

fourth party escaped to Makimpur, forty-eight miles from Bareli, and proceeded thence with the residents of that place and fugitives from Shahjahanpur to the estate of the Dhaurahra Rajah, eighty miles north from Lakhnao. Here they remained in safety till discovered by a party of rebel Sipahis, who took them prisoners towards Lakhnao. They managed, however, to escape on the road, and, whilst some fled into Nipal, the majority, after concealing themselves for some time, were recaptured, and taken into Lakhnao. A fifth party found their way to the estate of the Mitauli Rajah as already related.

Results of the mutiny at Sitapur

But if many thus escaped, some of them only for the moment, more succumbed. On that terrible 3rd of June, twenty-four English, men, women, and children, were murdered by the Sipahis. This slaughter but whetted the appetite of the loyal 41st. How they proceeded from Sitapur to Farrukhabad, and how there they incited the 10th Regiment to mutiny and murder, has been told in the preceding Book.

Malaun

One detachment of that loyal regiment, and a detachment of the 4th Oudh Irregulars, were, however, stationed at Malaun, a town in the Hardui district, thirty-eight miles north of Kanhpur, and forty-four north of Sitapur. Here the only civil officer was Mr. Capper the Deputy Commissioner. His position had been long full of peril, for Malaun was on the high road to Farrukhabad, and the population of that district was the most disorderly in India. Long before the mutiny at Sitapur Mr. Capper had felt the loneliness and the danger of his position. The natives round about his station had intimated in the plainest manner possible, short of actual speech, that they knew that the Sipahis were watching their opportunity. But Mr. Capper did not flinch from his duty. He was at his post when the Sipahis at Sitapur mutinied. He remained there after they had mutinied.

Mr. Capper reaches Lakhnao

Nor did he entertain the idea of leaving it until the detachment at Malaun had shown unmistakably that they, too, were about to take the law into their own hands. He then mounted his horse and rode into Lakhnao.

Muhamdi

The third district in the North-West Oudh is Muhamdi. The Deputy Commissioner there was Mr. Thomason: his assistant Captain Patrick Orr133.

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In a previous page134 I have recorded how some of the fugitives from Shahjahanpur reached Muhamdi. I propose now to recount the condition of that station before, and the events which happened subsequently to, their arrival there.

Its position

Neither Mr. Thomason nor Captain Orr had been blind or deaf to the signs of the times. The position of Muhamdi, almost on the frontier of Rohilkhand and but a short distance from Shahjahanpur, rendered it peculiarly sensitive to the insurrectionary feeling of the population in the British provinces.

Its garrison

The garrison consisted of a detachment of the 9th Oudh Irregulars, a regiment formerly raised and commanded by Captain Patrick Orr, under the King of Oudh, before the annexation; two companies of military police, and about fifty troopers.

Mr. Thomason hears of the mutiny at Shahjahanpur

Alive as were both Mr. Thomason and Captain Orr to the gravity of the crisis, they were yet hopeful that so long as Rohilkhand should remain quiet they would manage to weather the storm. Nor was it until a letter written by Mr. Jenkins from Shahjahanpur, reaching Mr. Thomason on the evening of the 31st of May, revealed the catastrophe at that station, that the two Englishmen felt that every faculty they possessed was about to be tried to the utmost.

receives a letter from the fugitives thence

The letter from Mr. Jenkins informed Mr. Thomason that the troops at Shahjahanpur had mutinied, that he and a body of fugitives, amongst whom were ladies and children, had reached Powain, that the Rajah of that place had refused them shelter, and it begged that all the available carriage might be sent out to bring in the fugitives to Muhamdi.

Mr. Thomason complied with Mr. Jenkins’s request. At the same time he and Captain Orr, feeling that the crisis was upon them, determined to take active measures for the safety

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of their own belongings and of the expected fugitives.

He scents the coming storm

Their first step was to despatch Mrs. Orr and child to Mitauli , a distance of twenty-six miles. The Rajah of that place was under considerable obligations to Captain Orr, and he was indebted to Mr. Thomason for many acts of kindness and courtesy. Thither, therefore,

Mrs. Orr is sent to Mitauli

Mrs. Orr and her child were sent under the guard of some Sipahis of Captain Orr’s old regiment, the native officer commanding which swore fidelity. He kept his word. Marching all night, Mrs. Orr and the party reached Mitauli at 8 o’clock on the morning of the 1st of June. The Rajah, however, was asleep and would not be disturbed. When at the end of two hours he did awake, he sent a message to Mrs. Orr that he could not receive her in his fort, but that she must proceed to a place called Kachauna, in the jungles, where she would be safer – less likely to attract the notice of roving mutineers.

thence to Kachauna

To Kachauna accordingly Mrs. Orr proceeded. After a weary journey of two hours she found herself and child in a mud fort, desolate and dreary, devoid of all furniture – the very picture of discomfort. There she had to remain. The Rajah came to see her that same evening, and, whilst promising to protect her as far as lay in his power, did not disguise from her that troublous times were upon them, and that the Sipahis all over Oudh were pledged to revolt.

Meanwhile, Thomason and Patrick Orr, having thus despatched Mrs. Orr to a place of comparative safety, turned to provide for their own security and for that of their expected guests. They first caused the treasure to be moved into the fort of Muhamdi. They then marched with their troops into that fort (1st June).

The fugitives reach Muhamdi

The day following the Shahjahanpur fugitives arrived from Powain. Weary, with naked feet, all exhausted, some badly wounded, they had with difficulty reached the place, which was not to

be a place of refuge. Muhamdi was too close to the borders of Rohilkhand to be secure.

They resolved to retire on Sitapur

It was considered certain that the mutinous regiments of that province would soon be upon the fugitives. On the other hand, up to that date no mutiny had, to their knowledge, broken out in Oudh. Sitapur was regarded as safe. To Sitapur, then, Mr. Thomason wrote for

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carriage for the party. His letter reached Mr. Christian before mutiny had broken out at that place. Mr. Christian at once despatched the carriage – under charge of an escort of Sipahis of the Oudh Irregulars.

An escort arrives

The terrible tragedy which ensued began with the arrival at Muhamdi of this carriage – and of this escort. The escort brought infection with it. Immediately on arrival the men composing it disseminated the report that their brethren had been cut up at Lakhnao for refusing to become Christians, and that they were resolved to be revenged. Captain Orr reasoned with the native officers. They knew him as an old servant of the King of Oudh, and his influence with them was not wholly extinct. After some conversation they announced their intention of marching back to Sitapur. They solemnly swore, at the same time, that they would spare the lives of the Europeans; that they would take with them only Mr. Thomason and Captain Orr, and allow the others to go away unmolested. It remains now to tell how they kept their oath.

June 4

Their first proceeding was to take possession of the treasure; their next to release the prisoners. Then, at half-past 5 o’clock on the afternoon of the 4th of June, they started. The Europeans accompanied them, two or three ladies crammed into a buggy, the remainder prone on baggage-carts. The first march of ten miles was accomplished without incident. Of the second march only about three miles had been walked when the halt was sounded, and a trooper told the Europeans they were at liberty to go where they liked. They pushed on at once towards the nearest town, Aurangabad, in the Kheri district.

The fugitives are all murdered

They had arrived within half a mile of that place, when the mutineers, regardless of their oaths, set upon them, and began the work of butchery.

but one

Of the whole party one alone was spared to tell the tale, and it is from his narrative that I am able to collect this story of perjury and murder135. It remains to add that Captain Orr, after some adventures, and communicating by the way with one of the fugitive parties from

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Sitapur – that led by Sir M. Jackson – succeeded in joining his wife and child at Kachauna.

Fugitives from Sitapur reach Mitauli

On arriving there he received a communication from the Rajah that the mud fort at that place was required for the Sitapur fugitives; that it would not be safe for so many to be together; and that it was advisable that he and his wife and child should migrate to and live in the jungles about Mitauli. This they did. By this term, jungles, the reader must not understand an ordinary forest, the noble trees of which would have afforded a grateful and necessary shade: he must picture to himself a vast and dreary extent of land, covered with thorny brushwood, and where it was necessary to light fires at night to scare away tigers, wolves, and other wild animals. Only the coarsest food was provided for them. The other fugitives were then sent from Mitauli to occupy Kachauna136.

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Bahraich

Adjoining the Sitapur division was the north-eastern or Bahraich division of Oudh, bounded on the south by the river Ghagra, separating it from the Faizabad division, on the west by the Chauka or Sarda river, dividing it from Sitapur and Sheri, and on the north by Nipal. The principal civil station, and the headquarters of the Commissioner of the division, Mr. Charles Wingfield137, was close to the town which gave its name to the division – the town of Bahraich. The other stations were Melapur to the west, Sikrora to the south, Gondah to the south-east.

Sikrora

Of these, Sikrora was the principal military station. In the month of April, 1857, it was garrisoned by the 1st Regiment of Oudh Irregular Cavalry, commanded by Captain Daly, by the 2nd Oudh Infantry, under Captain Boileau, and by a local horse battery, under Lieutenant Bonham.

Mr. Wingfield

During the month of April Mr. Wingfield had been driven by circumstances entirely unconnected with the rising storm to remove his head-quarters to Sikrora. A man of ability, of culture, and of large views, he had not sympathised with the sweeping change of system which had inaugurated the transfer of Oudh from its Muhammadan king to British rule.

His sound views

He had ever been in favour of dealing gently with the territorial aristocracy. A system, roughly, even rudely introduced, which scarcely veiled its animating principle of raising the peasantry and small proprietors to a position which would enable them ultimately to oust the great landowners, was not in accordance with his ideas. He had done, then, all that lay in his power to make the transfer easy, to smooth down the rough edges, to mitigate the worst effects of the process. The appointment of Sir Henry Lawrence as Chief Commissioner, coming even when it did, was a great support to him. It would have been still greater, still more weighty, had it been made earlier.

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Early foresees the tendency of the policy adopted

Like his chief at Lakhnao, like that chiefs brother at Lahor, like Durand at Indur; like William Tayler at Patna, Mr. Wingfield had never been a partisan of the “passing and groundless panic” theory of Mr. Cecil Beadon. He had fully appreciated the events at Barhampur and at Barrackpur. The revolt at Mirath he regarded as the practical answer of the Sipahis to the policy of the Government. He felt, then, that an outbreak at the military station of Sikrora was a mere question of time – that, given all the circumstances of the case – the composition of the native army, the annexation of Oudh – the province, a portion of which he was administering, would not be the last to feel the shock of mutiny.

Gratitude felt towards him by the landowners

Impressed with this belief, and having absolutely no faith in the men who composed the garrison of Sikrora, Mr. Wingfield had endeavoured to enlist on the side of the British the members of that territorial aristocracy whom the annexation of Oudh had done so much to injure. Chief among these was Digbijai Singh, Rajah of Balrampur, a town in the north-east corner of his division, and close to the Nipal frontier. Rajah Digbijai Singh was a man of character and sense. He entertained towards Mr. Wingfield friendly – even grateful – feelings. He had not been inoculated with the poison that pervaded the atmosphere. He received, then, Mr. Wingfield’s advances with courtesy; he responded to them, and even engaged to afford refuge, in case of necessity, to him and to the officers serving in his division.

Captain Forbes escorts the ladies and children to Lakhnao

The views entertained by Mr. Wingfield regarding the general untrustworthiness of the Sipahis were fortunately shared by many other officers at Sikrora. Neither he nor they, therefore, thought that either wisdom or courage required that the ladies and children should be left in a position, defenceless and incapable of being defended, until an actual outbreak should occur. It happened that an officer of Daly’s Horse, Captain Forbes, was in Lakhnao early in June. He was confident that his own men would mutiny, and he knew that at Sikrora there was no place of refuge in case of an outbreak. Anxious, therefore, for the safety of his wife, his children, and his countrywomen, he set out from Lakhnao with a party of Sikh and volunteer cavalry, reached Sikrora, mounted the ladies on elephants and in doolies, and conveyed them safely to the capital. Mr. George Lawrence, the Deputy Commissioner,

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by the express order of his uncle Sir Henry, accompanied them. This move was accomplished on the 9th of June.

Mr. Wingfield scents the mutiny at Sikrora

The same day the temper of the troops manifested itself in a way not to be mistaken. Intelligence had reached Sikrora of the revolt of the troops at Faizabad on the previous day. Mr. Wingfield accordingly, mounting his horse, rode to the neighbouring station of Gondah, where was stationed the 3rd Oudh Irregulars, commanded by Lieutenant Miles. There I must leave him for a moment, whilst I narrate the occurrences at Sikrora after his departure.

It breaks out

The day of the 9th of June was a day of great excitement at that station. So violent was the manifestation, that early the following morning the officers of the. infantry regiment – Boileau, Hale, and Kendall – mounted horse and rode straight for Balrampur. Lieutenant Bonham, of the artillery, refused to accompany them. He believed in his men – he certainly possessed great influence over them – and he was confident that they would stand by him in the cause of order. He elected, therefore, to remain at Sikrora, alone of all the officers, and supported only by two farrier sergeants and the quartermaster-sergeant of the infantry regiment. Had there been no other native troops at Sikrora, his courage and his influence might have prevailed. But the men of the cavalry and infantry had broken out; they had plundered the treasury, and they were thirsting for blood. Even over these men Bonham attempted to assert authority.

Devotion of Lieutenant Bonham

Strong feeling towards him of his men

But it was in vain. His own men would save his life, but they would not fire on their comrades. They told him at last that he must go. They brought him at the same time money and a horse, and warned him not to pursue a certain road, which they knew to be occupied by the rebels. Forced to leave, Bonham started with a heavy heart, accompanied by his three sergeants, crossed the Ghagra by an unfrequented ferry, and reached Lakhnao the next day.

Mr. Wingfield at Gondah

Meanwhile Mr. Wingfield had arrived at Gondah. He brought the intelligence that the troops at Faizabad had mutinied, and that those at Sikrora were on the verge of mutiny. He found the troops at Gondah scarcely behind their comrades in that respect. They too had heard the news; they too were aware of all that had happened

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at Faizabad. Before the night fell they had received accounts of the mutiny at Sikrora. In vain they were harangued by their commanding officer. Their demeanour showed that they too were preparing for action.

He takes refuge with the Raja of Balrampur

The next day they mutinied. Mr. Wingfield had not waited for the overt act, but had started for Balrampur. The officers and the women138 who remained at the station started as soon as the outbreak had pronounced itself, and reached the same place in safety. The number of individuals who thus received the protection of the Rajah was nineteen, exclusive of children. They all succeeded in crossing into British territory, and in reaching

The station of Bahraich

At Bahraich, the head-quarters of the division, were cantoned two companies of the 3rd Oudh Irregulars, commanded by Lieutenant Longueville Clarke. The Deputy Commissioner was Mr. Cunliffe and his assistant was Mr. Jordan. The main body of the 3rd Oudh Irregulars mutinied, as we have seen, at Gondah, on the 10th of June. As it was very clear that the two companies of the same regiment would at once follow their example, the three officers I have named wisely resolved to take advantage of their earlier information and to escape. They started off at once, then, northward, in the direction of Nanpara, twenty-two miles north of Bahraich, the seat of a minor Rajah.

The officials scent the mutiny and leave it

There, however, admission was refused them, and they were forced to retrace their steps. Returning to Bahraich, they started for Lakhnao by way of Bairamghat. This was the road against which the native gunners of Sikrora had warned Bonham. The fugitives, who had disguised themselves as natives, found the passage over the Ghagra occupied here by the mutineers. Trusting to their disguise, however, they embarked on the ferry-boat with their horses. The ferry-boat started.

They are murdered crossing by the ferry

At first the fugitives appeared to attract no attention, but they had crossed scarcely one-third of the river when the cry arose that Europeans were escaping. Instantly there was an uproar. The Sipahis, crowding into other boats, made for the ferry-boat, opening at the same time a fire of musketry. The boatmen at once abandoned the ferry-boat.

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Exposed to a concentrated fire, our three countrymen were unable effectively to work the boat, nor to prevent it, thus left to itself, from being borne back by the current to the bank whence it started. Before it reached the bank Cunliffe and Clarke had been shot dead. Jordan, taken alive, shared the same fate a few days later.

Malapur

At Malapur; in the Kheri district, sixty-three miles north-north-east from Lakhnao, there were no troops – consequently there was no open mutiny. The general disorganisation of the country soon, however, spread even here, and the civil officers, prominent amongst whom was the Deputy Commissioner, Mr. Gonne, were forced to leave.

The officials leave

Having been joined by other fugitives, they first attempted to make their way down the Sarju river by boat. But, warned that all the landing-places were occupied, they abandoned this attempt; they set off northward and gained the fort of Mathiara, belonging to the minor Rajah of Dhuraira. Thence Mr. Gonne made more than one unsuccessful attempt to reach Lakhnao.

and eventually all perish

At last even the resource of remaining at Mathiara failed even-them. The adherents of the minor Rajah proved faithless. In imminent danger of their lives, they had to flee. Three of the party were seized.

but one

The remainder gained the Nipal hills, where they found shelter till, gradually, with one exception only139, they yielded to the deadly climate of the Tarai.

Faizabad

Faizabad is the eastern division of Oudh. It lies immediately south of the Bahraich division, and was divided into the three districts of Faizabad, Faizabad: Sultanpur, and Saloni. The Commissioner was Colonel Philip Goldney.

Its garrison

Colonel Goldney, and the Deputy-Commissioner of the district, Captain Reid, were at the head-quarter station of Faizabad. The troops here consisted of a horse battery of native artillery, the 22nd Regiment of Native Infantry, the 6th Oudh Irregular Infantry, and a squadron of the 15th Irregular Cavalry – the whole commanded by Colonel Lennox, of the 22nd Native Infantry.

The officers at Faizabad entertained no delusion regarding

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the intentions of the mutineers.

Precautions taken by the officials

The events that had taken place during the second week in May at Mirath and at Dehli had made it clear to them that their turn would come. They took precautions then, at an early date, to prepare for the rising storm.

May

With this view they began in May to store supplies in a house occupied by Captain Thurburn, Special Assistant Commissioner. This house was chosen because it was surrounded by a walled enclosure. This walled enclosure was now fortified. So far the authorities at Faizabad acted with wisdom and forethought. But they counted likewise upon resources which were certain to fail them. They counted upon the aid of the pensioned Sipahis, and of the landholders of the district. To count upon both these classes proved that they had not fully gauged the depth of the crisis.

Value of reliance on the pensioners

It would seem, however, that it was but natural to count upon the aid of the pensioned Sipahis. The yearly stipends drawn by these men were paid by the British Government, and their continuance depended on the existence of the British Government. The material interests of this class were, therefore, bound up in the maintenance of British authority. Old associations too, in many cases stronger than caste, bound them to the British. In its proper place it will be related how these men responded to the appeal made to them by Sir Henry Lawrence. But at Faizabad their numbers were too small, their influence was too slight, to weigh much in the balance against the rising discontent.

on the talukdars

The case with respect to the landowners was different. It must not be forgotten that Faizabad was the division regarding which Sir Henry Lawrence wrote thus to Lord Canning in April, 1857: “The talukdars have also, I fear, been hardly dealt with. At least in the Faizabad division, they have lost half their villages. Some Talukdars have lost all.” It may be said that the remark of Sir Henry applied only to the higher order of the territorial aristocracy. But in reality it referred to the assessment as it touched every class connected with the soil. It could not have been seriously expected that the men who had suffered most from our rule would risk their lives to maintain it. No surprise, then, ought to be felt at the laconic record of the Deputy Commissioner: “We found that the zaminders, however well-disposed, would not fight against disciplined troops, with guns.”

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The plan of defending Captain Thurburn’s house was then, on the 5th of June, abandoned. For a moment, Colonel Goldney entertained the idea of sending the ladies and children into Lakhnao. But it was too late. The road to Lakhnao passed through Daryabad, a station in the Lakhnao division; and disorder reigned in Daryabad.

Rajah Man Singh

But another plan had a little before been presented to Colonel Goldney. The principal talukdars of the Faizabad division, prominently amongst whom may be named Rajah Man Singh, Udres Singh, Thakur Narain, Mir Bakir Husen, and Nadir Shah, had scented the mutiny from afar, and had warned Colonel Goldney of its approach. At this time the most considerable of these men, Rajah Man Singh, was in disgrace. He was even under arrest. It happened that one of the assistant commissioners at Faizabad was Captain Alexander Orr. Captain Orr had well and truly served the old régime when Oudh had her king, had known intimately Man Singh, and had conceived for him a great regard.

is communicated with by Captain Alexander Orr

When, then, the Rajah fell into disgrace, Captain Orr earnestly begged his release by Captain from arrest. His prayer prevailed. Man Singh was released from arrest, and, in return for Captain Orr’s efforts on his behalf, he offered protection to his wife and children in his fort of Sholganj during the troublous times that were coming. Captain Orr communicated the offer to the Commissioner. Colonel Goldney received it just about the time when the journey of the ladies to Lakhnao had been pronounced impracticable.

He agrees to protect the civil officers and their families

He, in consultation with the other officers, determined to ask the Rajah to enlarge his offer as to include all the ladies in the station. Rajah Man Singh was communicated with by Captains Reid and Orr. He agreed to receive the wives and families of the civil officers, but demurred to a larger number, on the ground that secrecy would thus be rendered impossible.

and finally those of the officers generally

Finally, however, he agreed to receive all, provided that due caution were observed in moving them.

With one exception the wives of the regimental officers declined to accept the offer of Man Singh. Not only did they distrust him, but they and their husbands considered that the movement would serve as a signal to the Sipahis to mutiny. On the night of the 7th of June, however, the wives and children

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Some take advantage of his offer

of the civil officers, and the wife and children of the Executive Engineer, Captain Dawson, started for and reached Shahganj. They were followed to the same place, the following morning, by the wives and children of the staff-sergeants.

The Sipahis rise in revolt

That night the Sipahis rose in revolt. More audacious than their comrades elsewhere, they did not pretend a grievance, but loudly asserted that, feeling they were stronger than the English, they intended to turn them out of the country. The senior Risaldar of the 15th Irregular Cavalry took command of the brigade, and endeavoured to induce the men to murder their officers. But the Sipahis had not then wound themselves up to the pitch of blood-thirstiness. They were anxious to rid themselves of their officers, but not to take their lives.

but procure boats for their officers

Keeping under restraint all night in the quarter-guard, they procured four boats for them, and in the morning gave them money and told them to be off. The boats were unprovided with boatmen, but they had oars.

The boats set out

Faizabad is on the river Ghaghra, navigable thence to Bhalia, where it joins the Ganges. Four boats containing the fugitive Europeans, and propelled by them, started before sunrise on the morning of the 9th of June. The mutineers, who had plundered the treasury and sacked the houses, did not interfere with them.

The Sipahis send intimation to their brethren of the 17th Native Infantry

But – strange contradiction – whilst protecting them against the more blood-thirsty of their own clan, whilst aiding them to depart, they sent a messenger begging the men of the 17th Regiment of Native Infantry to slay them on their way. The 17th, stationed at Azamgarh, a station in British territory near the eastern frontier of Oudh, had arrived within a few miles of Faizabad on the 8th of June. Their line of march lay along the right bank of the Ghaghra. Their hands were already red with blood. They were willing to shed more.

who intercept the boats

The men of the 17th responded then to the call. They intercepted the two first boats at Begamganj, about twelve miles by the road from Faizabad, though far longer by the river. Here, at a point where the stream was the most narrow, they opened fire on the fugitives.

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A few moments later, and from the opposite bank there started boats full of armed men to attack their left flank. Recognising the impossibility of resistance, Colonel Goldney counselled a run for life. Too old to run himself, he remained to die. Seven, however, including, curious to relate, a Muhammadan Sipahi of the 22nd, Tez Ali Khan, who had linked his fate to that of the British, followed the recommendation and ran across country. Two of the party were drowned endeavouring to cross a stream. The remaining five reached Amorah in safety. Here they were joined by the three officers, who had formed the crew of the fourth boat, and who had abandoned her on account of her slowness of pace before she had reached the point where the men of the 17th had been lying in wait. The party, thus augmented to eight, pushed on across country. Betrayed at Mohadaba by two policemen whom they had trusted, they were attacked by the villagers. Crossing a rivulet waist-deep, hotly pursued, they lost first Lieutenant Lindsay, then Lieutenants Thomas, English, Ritchie, and Sergeant Edwards. There now remained only Lieutenant Cautley, Sergeant Busher, and Tez Ali Khan. In the chase that followed Lieutenant Cautley was caught and killed.

Of the Englishmen in three boats only one escapes

Sergeant Busher escaped for the moment, but was captured the next day. His life, however, was spared, and at the end of ten days he was released. He ultimately joined Colonel Lennox at Captainganj, where he found also his fellow fugitive, Tez Ali Khan. The fugitives who had remained in the first and second boats, numbering eight, were all massacred.

Fate of those in the remaining boat

Three boats have now been accounted for, the first, the second, and the fourth. But there was another manned by five officers, headed by Colonel O’Brien. This boat, following the first and second, had put in at the town of Ayudhya140, the birthplace of Ram – the town that gave its name to the province. Here they exchanged their boat for a larger one, and hired native rowers to row it. They then lay down, hidden by the thatch and matting from the gaze of inquiring eyes, whilst the natives pulled away singing a national air. The boat ,thus passed unsuspected

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through the hostile array, and the fugitives reached Danapur in safety.

Sufferings of Mrs. Mills and her children

But some had remained at Faizabad. Amongst these were Mrs. Mills, wife of Major Mills, of the artillery, and her three children. Mrs. Mills had refused to accept the hospitality offered by Man Singh. When the mutiny broke out, she attempted to conceal herself in the city; but sinking from want of food she was obliged to discover herself to the leader of the mutineers. He sent her and her children across the Ghaghra into the Gorakhpur district. Here she wandered for eight or ten days from village to village. A tender and delicate lady, her sufferings were terrible. Her youngest child died from the exposure. At last Rajah Man Singh, hearing that there was an English lady in distress, sent for her to Shahganj, provided for her wants, and, after a few days’ rest, despatched her and the sergeants’ wives into Gorakhpur. Her husband was one of those murdered in the second boat.

Escape of Colonel Lennox and family

Colonel Lennox and his family had not started with the other officers in the boats. At 2 P.M., however, finding the Sipahis becoming riotous and insolent for plunder, he and they set out. They soon came upon the bloodthirsty 17th. But it was night. Realising their danger, they crept, unobserved, from their boat, and made their way into the Gorakhpur district. They were soon, however, taken prisoners, and confined in the fort of Nazim Mir Muhammad Husen Khan. The Nazim was disposed to be friendly. Threatened by the mutineers, he concealed the fugitives in a reed but in rear of his zenana, and kept them there for nine days. He then made them over to an escort sent for them by the Collector of Gorakhpur. On their way to the station, they picked up Sergeant Busher, and the Sipahi, Tez Ali, whose adventures have been already related.

The civil officers of Faizabad

There is still a party of the officials of Faizabad whose fate has to be recorded. I allude to the civil officers who had not started in the boats. These were Captain Reid, Captain Alexander Orr, Captain Thurburn, and Mr. Bradford. The wives and children of these gentlemen were under the protection of Man Singh at Shahganj, where also were Captain Dawson, Executive Engineer, Corporal Hurst of the Sappers, and a clerk named, Fitzgerald.

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When the mutiny broke out the four gentlemen just mentioned were together. Momentarily separated from, but soon rejoined by, Mr. Bradford, they reached Shahganj on the 11th. Man Singh was not there.

They take refuge with Man Singh

He had gone to Ayudhya, probably to watch the course of events. Thence he had sent a message to say that he had made a compromise with the mutineers, by virtue of which he would be able to afford protection to the women and children, but not to the men; that these must depart instantly, as his house was to be searched the day following.

That day a boat was secured, and that night the party, including ladies and children, and consisting of thirty-eight souls, set out for the river. Twenty-nine of them reached its bank, eight miles below Faizabad, just before sunrise. The carriage containing the remaining nine had broken down141. It was impossible to wait for them. The country, especially that in the vicinity of the river-bank, was swarming with mutinous cavalry. The twenty-nine then started. Their boat proceeded for some time with only occasional alarms; but on the second day it was lured by the agent sent with it by Man Singh into a position between two forts by both of which it was commanded. Here the fugitives were forced to give up their money, their arms, and their valuables. There was no help for them. After suffering much from hunger, from exposure, and other causes, and after constant detention, the fugitives reached Gopalpur on the 21st of June.

Loyalty of the Rajah of Gopalpur

By the loyal Rajah of that place they were cordially received, hospitably entertained, and provided with Gopalpur. the means of proceeding to Danapur, where they arrived the 29th of June.

Sultanpur

Sultanpur, the chief town of the district of that name, lies on the right bank of the river Gumti, almost in a direct line between Faizabad and Allahabad. The principal civil officer was Mr. Block, C.S. Sultanpur was the head-quarters of the 15th Regiment of Irregular Cavalry, commanded by Colonel S. Fisher, one of the most gallant and daring officers in the service.

On the 5th of June, Mr. Block received intimation from a

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Symptoms of mutiny

native official, a Muhammadan, whom he had sent on duty to Chandah, that mutinous Sipahis from Jaunpur in British territory had arrived at that place, professing themselves to be in correspondence with the troops at Sultanpur, and declaring their resolve to kill all the Europeans. This intimation was repeated the following day. Mr. Block at once ordered the man back to Sultanpur, and communicated the intelligence he had received to Colonel Fisher, who at once despatched all the ladies in the station in the direction of Allahabad under charge of two officers. The Muhammadan returned to Sultanpur the 8th of June, saw Colonel Fisher and Mr. Block; told them that the Jaunpur Sipahis had plundered Chandah and were on their way to Sultanpur; that their own men were not to be depended upon; and advised them, whilst there was yet time, to leave the place. But Colonel Fisher and Mr. Block could not make up their minds to do this.

Early next morning the 1st Regiment of Military Police, commanded by Captain Bunbury, rose in revolt. Colonel Fisher rode down to their lines, followed by his men, to endeavour to recall them to order.

Murder of Colonel Fisher

Whilst he was addressing them, a policeman came round and shot him in the back. He fell mortally wounded from his horse. His own men had been passive spectators of the deed. They would now not approach him, although they allowed the adjutant, Lieutenant Tucker, to tend him in his last agony.

of Captain Gibbings

Whilst they permitted this, however, they turned upon the second in command, Captain Gibbings shot him, and then shouted to Lieutenant Tucker to be off. By this time Colonel Fisher’s last agony was over, and Tucker, having nothing more to do, mounted, and, riding for his life, succeeded in reaching the fort of Rustam Sat, on the banks of the Gumti. By this chief he was sheltered. He eventually reached Banaras in safety142.

and of Messrs Block and Stroyan

Meanwhile, the Muhammadan already referred to had conveyed to Mr. Block and Mr. Stroyan news of Colonel and of Fisher’s death, and of the mutiny of the troops. The two gentlemen started off to flee, and reached a small house in the vicinity of the station. Imprudently stopping here, whilst their guide was sent to

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ascertain how matters were progressing in the station, they were attacked and murdered.

Thus did Sultanpur pass into the hands of the rebels. These, after plundering the houses and securing the treasure started off in the direction of Lakhnao.

Saloni

The other district station in the division of Faizabad was Saloni. The Deputy-Commissioner here was Captain L. Barrow143. The troops consisted of six companies of the 1st Oudh Irregulars, commanded by Captain Thomson. By the exertions of the officers tolerable order was maintained here for the first nine days in June. On that day intelligence arrived of the mutinies at Sultanpur and elsewhere, and of the approach of mutineers from other stations. The next day the troops threw off the mask and revolted.

Generosity of Rajah Hanmant Singh

The officers succeeded in leaving the station in safety, and in reaching the fort of Darapur, possessed by a talukdar, Rajah Hanmant Singh of Kala Kankar144, who not only sheltered them, but escorted them to the ferry opposite Allahabad. It deserves to be recorded that ten of Captain Thomson’s Sipahis continued faithful and never left him. We come round now to the division from whose capital we started – the division of Lakhnao. The other two district stations here were Purwa and Daryabad.

Daryabad

At Daryabad, on the high road from Faizabad to Lakhnao, was quartered the 5th Oudh Irregular Infantry, commanded by Captain W. H. Hawes. This officer was zealous, active, and much liked by his men. It is scarcely

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possible that even had no extraordinary temptation assailed them they would have remained faithful, for they were bound by the ties of blood and caste to the men who all around them were rising in revolt. But they were tempted beyond the ordinary temptation. In the public treasury of Daryabad lay stored £30,000 in silver – and they knew it. Captain Hawes knew it too, and, knowing that fact, and the inevitable consequences which would ensue were the money to remain at Daryabad, he had made an effort, in the early part of the last week of May, to escort it into Lakhnao.

Mutiny of the Sipahis

In this attempt he was baffled by the ill-will of some of the men of his regiment. But Captain Hawes was a man who did not lightly resign a well-digested idea.

June 9

On the 9th of June, he made a second effort. On this occasion he succeeded, amid the cheers of his men, in escorting the money outside the station. But he could not persuade them to take it further. A portion of them suddenly mutinied, gained the upper hand, and drove their officers away. Captain Hawes escaped by a miracle. “He was repeatedly fired at, sometimes a volley being directed at him, and, at others, single deliberate shots145.”

Escape of Captain Hawes

But he escaped, and not only he, but, after various adventures, all the other officers, civil and military, with their wives and children, belonging to Daryabad. After the departure of the Europeans, the mutineers proclaimed Wajid Ali Shah, ex-King of Oudh, as their king.

Purwa

Purwa is about twelve miles from the Ganges, not far from the high road between Kanhpur and Lakhnao. There were no troops there. The Deputy-Commissioner there, Captain Evans, maintained his position in his district till the end of June, sending in all the information he was able to glean regarding affairs at Kanhpur. His own wife and children, his assistant, Mr. Arthur Jenkins, were at that ill-fated station. Captain Evans, loyally assisted by his Muhammadan officer of police, Mansab Ali by name, was able to keep open communications till Sir Hugh Wheeler’s force had succumbed. After that catastrophe, it was impossible for him to remain at his post. He, therefore, retired on Lakhnao.

To that city we must now return. We left it on the 31st of

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May, just after the outbreak there had been suppressed by the vigour and energy of the Chief Commissioner.

June 12

Lakhnao on the 12th of June

We return to it on the 12th of June. In the interval every station in the province had been lost to the British. Writing on that day to the Lieutenant-Governor of the North-West, Sir Henry Lawrence thus expressed his sense of the situation:– “We still hold the cantonment, as well as our two posts, but every outpost (I fear) has fallen, and we daily expect to be besieged by the confederated mutineers and their allies. The country is not yet thoroughly up, but every day brings it nearer that condition. ... All our irregular cavalry, except about sixty Sikhs of Daly’s corps, are either very shaky or have deserted The irregular infantry are behaving pretty well, but once we are besieged it will be black against white, with some very few exceptions. More than a hundred police deserted last night, and since I began this page I have received the report of the military police post having deserted the great central gaol over which they were specially placed. ... Then, again, we ought to have only one position. I put this question to some sixteen officers five days ago, but all stood out for the two positions. I am convinced they were wrong, and the best of them now think so, but we are agreed that, on the whole, the Residency is the point to hold. ... The talukdars have all been arming, and some have already regained possession of the villages of which Mr. Gubbins dispossessed them.” On the day following he expressed a similar opinion in a letter to Lord Canning. After enumerating the native troops still faithful, about five hundred and thirty, he added: “few of them can be expected to stand any severe pressure.

The situation

We, however, hold our ground in cantonment, and daily strengthen both our town positions, bearing in mind that the Residency is to be the final point of concentration.” These extracts will suffice to show how fully Sir Henry Lawrence appreciated the situation. I propose to describe in the next chapter the manner in which he met the storm when it actually burst over his head.

Footnotes

121. On this subject, after the appearance of the earlier editions of this work, I received from a retired officer of the Bengal Army a letter of which the following is an extract: “Fifty years ago, when Adjutant of the 15th Bengal N. I., the Subahdar Major brought me a petition to be forwarded to the Resident in Oudh, and, on my remarking that John Company would soon take possession of that country when the Sipahis would not require to send any more petitions, he exclaimed in perfect astonishment, ‘No, no, that would be an evil day for us, for then all would be alike, whereas now all who have relatives in the service (and their name is Legion) have the protection of the Company whenever they have any complaint to make against the Oudh authorities.’ ”

This expresses exactly the feelings of the Sipahis; I have heard it again and again from their lips.

122. This was especially the case with respect to enlistments in the regular regiments, and in the military police. The disbanded soldiers accepted service more readily in the district police, in which a like amount of drill and discipline was not enforced. The district police were under the civil authorities alone.

123. The Oudh Military Police consisted of a thousand cavalry and three regiments of infantry, This force was commanded by Captain Gould Weston, an officer of great ability, who, prior to the annexation of the province, had been engaged for some years in the suppression of Thagi and Dakaiti in Oudh, and had rendered excellent service as Superintendent of the Frontier Police, and as one of the assistants to the Resident. – Sir William Sleeman’s Journey through Oudh.

124. “Not long after it became known that the regiment was disaffected. Some of the native officers were reported by the police to be intriguing with relatives of the Ex-King of Oudh, residing in the city Not long after, Captain Adolphus Orr, commanding one of the regiments of military police, the 3rd, reported that an attempt had been made by some Sipahis of the 48th to tamper with a native guard of his regiment.” – Gubbins, The Mutinies in Oudh.

125. Narrative of the Mutinies in Oudh, by Capt. G. Hutchinson, now Major-General Hutchinson, C.B., C.S.L, then Military Secretary to Sir H. Lawrence.

126. The Guard in question, commanded by a Subahdar, was first stationed at this gate by Colonel Baillie, whilom Resident at the Court of Oudh. Hence the name.

127. It was related at the time of Lieutenant Mecham that he owed his life on this occasion to his coolness and presence of mind. Taken unawares by the mutineers and told to prepare to the, he replied: “It is true you may kill me, but what good will my death do to you? You will not ultimately prevail. Another adjutant will take my place, and you will be subjected to the same treatment you receive from me.” The mutineers did not injure him.

128. “It has been said by a great writer that ‘Grace is Beauty in action.’ I tell you that ‘Justice is Truth in action.’ ” – Speech of Mr. Disraeli in 1850.

129. Strange contradiction! Some of the men who were thus rewarded for loyalty were shortly afterwards hanged for proved disloyalty!

130. Hutchinson’s Narrative of Events in Oudh, published by authority. Captain Hutchinson adds: “Nothing but the bold determined firmness of Captain Weston over-awed the 3000 fanatic wretches who surrounded him.”

131. Captain Hearsey was formerly in the King of Oudh’s service. He was a most amiable and excellent officer, much respected by his men.

132. Vide page 227.

133. Captain Patrick Orr was the second of three brothers, all, prior to the annexation, in the service of the King of Oudh. The eldest brother Alexander, had then rendered excellent service as Assistant to the Superintendent of Frontier Police. After the annexation he was made an Assistant Commissioner. He was as able as he was hard-working. The second brother, Patrick, commanded originally one of the King’s regular regiments of infantry. On the annexation he, too, was made all Assistant Commissioner. He was a brave, zealous, and able officer. The youngest brother, Adolphus, was, under the King, adjutant of one of his infantry regiments. On annexation he was appointed to command the 3rd Regiment of Oudh Military Police, which, on the outbreak of the mutiny, was stationed at the Moti Mahall, Lakhnao.

134. Book VIII. Chapter V. page 215.

135. Captain Patrick Orr. The following is his account of the slaughter. “Next morning, Friday, the 5th, we marched towards Aurangabad. When we had come about two kos the halt was sounded, and a trooper told us to go on ahead where we liked. We went on for some distance when we saw a party coming along. They soon joined us, and followed the buggy which we were pushing on with all our might. When within half a mile of Aurangabad a Sipahi rushed forward and snatched Key’s gun from him and shot down poor old Shiels who was riding my horse. Then the most infernal struggle ever witnessed by man began. We all collected under a tree close by, and put the ladies down from the buggy. Shots were firing in all directions amidst the most fearful yells. The poor ladies all joined in prayer, coolly and undauntedly awaiting their fate. I stopped for about three minutes amongst them, but, thinking of my poor wife and child here, I endeavoured to save my life for their sakes. I rushed out towards the insurgents and one of our men, Gurdin, 6th company, called out to me to throw down my pistol and he would save me. I did so, when he put himself between me and the men, and several others followed his example. In about ten minutes more they completed their hellish work ... They killed the wounded and the children, butchering them in the most cruel way. With the exception of the drummer boy every one was killed of the above list, fugitives from Shahjahanpur, besides poor good Thomason and our two clerks. They denuded the bodies of their clothes for the sake of plunder.” The list above referred to comprised one civilian, three captains, six lieutenants, three ensigns, a sergeant, a bandmaster, eight ladies, and four children. Of the drummer, who was not a European, I can find no further mention.

136. They consisted of Sir M. Jackson and his sister; Lieutenant Barnes; Sergeant-Major Morton, and Mr. Christian’s little girl. Joined after a time by the party from the jungle, the fugitives remained in this fort, suffering great privations and subject to repeated attacks of jungle-fever, till the 25th of October. They were then ordered to depart, no one knew whither, under a guard furnished by the Rajah of Mitauli. With scant clothing, bare-footed, the men loaded with chains, they were taken to Lakhnao, and imprisoned in the Kaisar-bagh, one of the regal palaces, then strongly occupied by the rebels. The sufferings of the men did not last long. On the 16th .of November they were taken out and shot by a party of Sipahis of the 71st Native Infantry. A few days later the surviving daughter of Mr. Christian died. There remained then Mrs. Orr, Miss Jackson, and the child of the former. To save the child her death was simulated, and she was conveyed in safety to the house of Min Singh, and ultimately to the British camp. The ladies remained in confinement till the 19th of March, when they were rescued by a party of Gurkhas commanded by two British officers, and conveyed safely to the camp of Sir James Outram.

137. Now Sir Charles Wingfield, K.C.S.I.

138. The ladies had been sent to Lakhnao, via Sikrora, on the 5th of June.

139. Captain John Hearsey, commanding 2nd Regiment Oudh Military Police.

140. The name Ayudhya, has been gradually corrupted to Avadh, and Avadh to Audh or Oudh.

141. This contained the sergeants’ wives and children. They returned to Shahganj and were ultimately sent into Gorakhpur with Mrs. Mills, as already related.

142. Captains Bunbury and Smith, Lieutenant Lewis and Dr. O'Donel also received hospitality from the same chieftain. They all reached Banaras.

143. Subsequently Chief Commissioner of Oudh.

144. This noble Rajput had been dispossessed, by the action of the revenue system introduced by the British, of the greater part of his property. Keenly as he felt the tyranny and the disgrace, his noble nature yet declined to regard the fugitive chiefs of the nation which had nearly ruined him in any other light than as people in distress. He helped them in that distress; he saw them in safety to their own fortress. But when, on bidding him farewell, Captain Barrow expressed a hope that he would aid in suppressing the revolt, he stood erect, as he replied: “Sahib, your countrymen came into this country and drove out our king. You sent your officers round the districts to examine the titles to the estates. At one blow you took from me lands which from time immemorial had been in my family. I submitted. Suddenly misfortune fell upon you. The people of the land rose against you. You came to me whom you had despoiled. I have saved you. But now, – now I march at the head of my retainers to Lakhnao to try and drive you from the country.” It is satisfactory to be able to add, that after the suppression of the mutiny his lands were restored to this true-hearted gentleman.

145. Gubbins’s Mutinies in Oudh.

This collection transcribed by Chris Gage
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