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Chapter II – The Second Relief of Lakhnao, November, 1857

Sir Colin starts for the seat of war

Sir Colin Campbell left Calcutta for Allahabad on the 27th October. The insecurity of the road was almost illustrated by his capture76. The two revolted companies of the 32nd Native Infantry had pushed northwards, travelling on the elephants they had purloined. Sir Colin and his staff travelled without an escort. They reached Sherghati in safety.

and runs a risk of being captured

Again setting out, they had proceeded ten or twelve miles, when a turn of the road revealed to the driver of the foremost carriage fourteen elephants laden with native soldiers, and escorted by some twenty-five sawars. Fortunately the bullock train with a British detachment was some short distance behind. On this train the carriages at once fell back. But for the good look-out and prompt action of the drivers, the Commander-in-Chief could not have escaped capture – and worse.

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On the evening of the 1st November, Sir Colin arrived at Allahabad.

The troops as they reach Allahabad are sent on in strong detachments to Kanhpur

The troops of the Line and the Naval Brigade, pushed to that station by the energy of the Commander-in-Chief, had, under his instructions, left it in strong columns or detachments for Kanhpur. Some of these had reached that place without encountering an enemy on the road. The case was otherwise with the column of which a detachment of Peel’s Naval Brigade, under Peel himself, formed a considerable portion.

The Naval Brigade and 53rd detachment

One detachment of the Naval Brigade, consisting of a hundred men and four officers, escorting the siege train, had left Allahabad for Kanhpur on the 23rd October; the second detachment, under Peel himself, followed on the twenty-eighth.

commanded by Colonel Powell

Accompanying this second detachment, were a wing of the 53rd Regiment, a company of the 93rd, drafts for different regiments, and a company of Royal Engineers, the whole under the command of Colonel Powell, C.B., of the 53rd. It is with this last detachment that I have at present to deal.

Powell learns at Fathpur that the rebels are close at hand

This column reached Fathpur, about midway between Allahabad and Kanhpur at midnight of the 31st October. That afternoon, information had reached

Powell that the revolted regiments of the Danapur

garrison, the same whom Eyre had driven out of Bihar, their ranks swollen by other mutineers, were then occupying a strong position at the village of Kajwa, some twenty-four miles north-west of Fathpur. Their numbers were estimated at, in round numbers, two thousand Sipahis, and about the same number of untrained adherents.

Kajwa

Kajwa, is rather a famous place in Indian history. Here it was, in January 1659, that Aurangzib gained the empire of Hindustan by a decisive victory over his brother Shuja. Close to the town is a spacious garden, walled and turreted, flanked by enclosures, capable, when held by good soldiers, of offering a solid resistance to an advancing foe. Moreover, troops occupying this place barred the road to any column marching from Fathpur to Kanhpur.

Colonel Powell C.B.

Powell possessed the truest instincts of a soldier. He had been in Fort William in command of his regiment when the mutiny broke out. He had watched every turn it had taken, and throughout, when our fortunes seemed lowest, had proclaimed his certain confidence

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in the ultimate success of our arms. He had panted for action. Now, unexpectedly, the opportunity came to him. He marched on at once to Fathpur and arrived there at midnight. That night he made all his preparations for a forced march and an attack on the following morning.

He marches against the rebels at Kajwa

At half past 5 o’clock on the morning of the 1st November, Powell set out with a detachment, increased before coming into action to five hundred and thirty men. It consisted of a hundred and three officers and men of the Naval Brigade under Peel; one company of Royal Engineers, under Captain Clarke; two companies (one hundred and sixty-two men) of the 53rd; one company of the 93rd, under Captain Cornwall, and a company made up of the men of different detachments, under Lieutenant Fanning. It had two 9-pounder guns, under Lieutenant Anderson. Captain William Peel was the second in command.

November 2

False position of the enemy

It was not till 3 o’clock on the afternoon of the following day that Powell came in sight of the enemy. He saw at a glance that he had them. Instead of taking advantage of the walled garden and the buildings in Kajwa, they had placed their right on open ground, covered by some sand hillocks, forming a sort of embankment; their left on higher ground on the other side of the road. They had three guns posted on the road, two somewhat in advance, the third on a bridge near the village behind. A field of standing corn in front of their position concealed their skirmishers.

Powell attacks them; is killed just as he had captured two guns

Powell attacked at once. Pushing the enemy’s skirmishers out of the corn-fields, he made a dash at the two foremost guns, the fire of which had done great execution amongst his men. He had just secured these when he fell dead with a bullet through his forehead. The command then devolved on Peel.

The Naval Brigade force back the enemy’s left

Whilst the 53rd, under Powell, had been marching on the guns, the Naval Brigade, on the right, had forced back the enemy’s left. The position of the battle was then changed.

Peel then cuts their force in two and defeats them

The enemy, driven back on the left, now faced the road, and the British, whose right had been thrown forward, faced them. Peel gave them no time to rally. Posting a strong force to secure his new

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position, he carried his troops round the upper end of the embankment, cut the enemy’s force in two and drove them from their positions, capturing their camp, two of their guns, and a tumbril.

Result of the action

Pursuit was impossible. The infantry had marched seventy-two miles in three days, and Peel had no cavalry. His losses, too, had been severe, amounting in killed and wounded to ninety-five. That of the enemy was estimated at three hundred. The captured guns and tumbril, as well as a third gun, and three tumbrils, abandoned by the rebels in their flight, were brought into camp the same evening. Peel then regained the high road and pursued his march to Kanhpur.

Sir Colin reaches Allahabad

This successful action was fought the day Sir Colin Campbell arrived at Allahabad. It made the way clear for his further progress. Sir Colin stayed at Allahabad only one day. He did not quit it, however, until he had perfected all the arrangements for the districts he had left, those especially by which a force under Colonel Longden, of the 10th Foot, was to clear of rebels the district of Azamgarh and its neighbourhood.

and, pushing on

The movements of this force will be referred to hereafter.

arrives at Kanhpur

November 3

The Commander-in-Chief reached Kanhpur on the 3rd November. Rejecting the counsels which conceited men attempted to thrust upon him, he had resolved, before doing anything else, to relieve Lakhnao. Oudh was the ulcer which had up to this time swallowed up all the reinforcements which had been pushed up from Calcutta, which was attracting to it the hardened warriors released by the fall of Dehli.

His resolve to of march on Lakhnao justified

At all costs the heart of Oudh must be pierced: Lakhnao must be really conquered before a single step could be taken to subdue enemies still rising up on many sides.

The immediate effect of the fall of Dehli is to add to the enemies of the British

I use the expression, “still rising up,” advisedly. It had been very generally believed that the fall of Dehli would terminate the revolt. It did nothing of the sort. It is true that it saved India: that is, occurring when it did, it prevented the insurrection of the Panjab. On the other hand, it added greatly to the number of our enemies in the field. The rebellious Sipahis, cooped up till its fall in Dehli, spread in detachments over the country. But, perhaps, its most important result was

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the manner in which it affected the trained soldiers of the Maharajah of Gwaliar.

Its effect on Sindhia and on the Gwaliar contingent

In the volume immediately preceding I have narrated how, whilst the troops of Sindhia had mutinied, Sindhia himself had remained loyal to his British overlord. Sindhia continued loyal to the end. When, on the. 22nd. September, he received certain tidings of the complete conquest of Dehli, his joy could not contain itself. At last he was free from the tension that had almost killed him. He could breathe: he could talk: he could even laugh. It often happens that sudden transition from anxiety to its opposite can find relief only in exaggerated expressions of pleasure. It was so in this instance. Sindhia’s joy was so unmistakable, that the trained soldiers, whom till then he had succeeded in detaining at Gwaliar under various pretences, broke loose from his grasp, and sought a chief who would lead them against the English. After brief negotiation they agreed to the terms offered by the Rani of Jhansi and her confederate, Tantia Topi, the Maratha chief, who, under the orders of Nana Sahib, had superintended the massacre of Kanhpur. Tantia at once assumed command of the rebel forces. A wary, capable, astute man, he alone of all the natives brought by the mutiny to the front – Kunwar Singh and the Oudh Maulavi alone excepted – showed any great qualities of generalship. Tantia, was a man to be feared. Fortunate was it for the British that the Gwaliar soldiers had not earlier placed themselves under his orders, for his first act on taking up his office was to march them southwards to occupy a position which should threaten Kanhpur.

Reasons which prompted Sir Colin to march, in the first instance, on Lakhnao

A weaker mind than that of Sir Colin Campbell might have been deterred, by the action of Tantia, Topi, from leaving Kanhpur with a small garrison and marching to a contest which must be desperate, and might be doubtful, at Lakhnao. But, in war, something must always be risked. The information from Lakhnao was to the effect that the store of provisions could not well last to the end. of the month. There we had our soldiers, our women, our prestige. That was the decisive point – and Sir Colin had a way of always striking at the decisive point.

Before he reached Kanhpur, then, he had made all his arrangements for an advance on Lakhnao. I have already stated that

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Hope Grant’s position beyond the Banni bridge.

Hope Grant’s column had reached Kanhpur on the 26th October, and had been there increased to an effective strength of five thousand five hundred; that he had crossed the Ganges on the 30th, and, pushing forward, had encamped on the plain between Banni and the Alambagh, to await there the arrival of Sir Colin. In this position Grant formed the point d’appui upon which all the detachments and store carts, as they came up, were to mass themselves. Daily there arrived something in the way of provisions and carriage – for the certainty of having to carry back with him the women and children had not been lost sight of by the Commander-in-Chief.

November 9

Sir Colin Campbell joined Hope Grant on the 9th. The interval – from the 3rd to the 9th – had been spent by the Commander-in-Chief in arranging for the protection of his base – that base being Kanhpur.

The force left at Kanhpur

He left behind him at that station about five hundred Europeans. These consisted of four companies of the 64th Regiment, strengthened by men belonging to other regiments to four hundred and fifty men; forty-seven men of the Naval Brigade; and some eighteen or twenty artillerymen. There were besides a few Sikhs, who, with the artillerymen, manned a field battery of four guns, which had been hastily improvised.

Commanded by Windham

This garrison was placed under the command of Major-General Charles A Windham, C.B., of Redan celebrity.

instructions given to Windham

Windham was directed by the Commander-in-Chief to place his troops within the intrenchment which, on the reoccupation of Kanhpur by Havelock in July, had been hastily constructed on the river; not to attack any enemy unless by so doing he could prevent the bombardment of the intrenchment; to send into Oudh, by wings of regiments, the detachments of European infantry which might arrive; on no pretext to detain them unless he should be seriously threatened, and, even in that case, to ask for instructions from the Commander-in-Chief. Windham was authorised, however, to keep back the brigade of Madras native troops, expected the following day, the 10th November, until the intentions of the Gwaliar contingent should become developed.

Having, by these instructions, secured, as he believed, his base, Sir Colin Campbell started on the 9th, accompanied by his staff, to join Hope Grant’s camp in the sandy plain four

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miles beyond Banni.

Sir Colin joins Hope Grant

He reached it that afternoon, had a cordial meeting with Hope Grant and his old friends of the Dehli force, and, after a short conversation, gave his orders for the following day. In pursuance. of these orders, Colonel Adrian Hope was sent forward

to the Alambagh, the following day, in charge of a large convoy of provisions. The provisions were to be left there, and the carts laden with sick and wounded to be sent back to Kanhpur. That same day a portion of the siege-train, escorted by the Naval Brigade, arrived in camp. This had been expected. But it had been preceded by an arrival which had not been altogether anticipated.

Nov. 10

Kavanagh joins Sir Colin from the Residency

Suddenly, in the early morning of the 10th, there presented himself to the astonished gaze of Sir Colin Campbell, a European gentleman, disguised as a native, and who, in that disguise, had managed to make his way through the beleaguering forces, carrying on his person important despatches. His name was Kavanagh. To understand thoroughly the nature of the information he brought, I must ask the reader to return with me to Lakhnao, and to view the Residency on the morrow of the arrival of the relieving force under Outram and Havelock.

September

Outram and Havelock in the Residency

On the night of the 25th September, the advanced portion of Havelock’s force had entered the Residency. They were followed the next morning by all but the rearguard. Thanks to the splendid exertions of Colonel Napier, R.E., and the valour and skill of Crump, of Olpherts, of Fraser, of Private Duffy – of the artillery – of Lowe of the 32nd, who covered the movement, of Dodgson and of others, the wounded men and the guns were brought safely to the new ground occupied by the British, and to which reference will be presently made, on the 27th. It had been already discovered that the advent of Outram’s force constituted not a relief but a reinforcement; that means of transport for the ladies and children, the sick and the wounded, were wanting; that an enormous addition had been made to the hospital list; and that, even had transport been available, the combined force was not strong enough to escort it to Kanhpur. But one course, then, remained open to Outram, and that was to hold the Residency until he should be effectively relieved by Sir Colin Campbell.

Outram’s first care was to provide accommodation for the

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largely increased force.

The manner in which Outram provides accommodation for the increased force

With this view, he at once caused the palaces extending along the line of the river, the Tarawala Kothi, the Chatar Manzil77, and the Farhat Bakhsh, to be occupied, the enemy’s works and guns in the vicinity being at the same time destroyed.

The palaces extending along the river are taken

These posts were taken on the morning of the 26th September. One party, composed of a hundred and fifty men of the 32nd Regiment, under Captain Lowe, Commanding that regiment, attacked the rebels in the Captain Bazaar, drove them into the Gumti with loss, and captured three large and four small guns. Another, composed of the 13th Native Infantry, under Lieutenant Aitken, assaulted the gateway leading to the Farhat Bakhsh palace, and carried it with considerable loss to the enemy. It was mainly in consequence of these sorties that the palaces above mentioned fell into the hands of the British.

and occupied

These new posts were held by the troops forming Havelock’s command, and were under his personal orders. The old garrison, reinforced by the Madras Fusiliers, continued, under Brigadier Inglis, to occupy their posts in the Residency.

The Alambagh

There remains to be mentioned the Alambagh. The reader will remember that this place had been occupied by Havelock on the 23rd September, and that he had stored there the baggage of the force, and left in it a guard of two hundred and fifty men. This small party had under its charge many of the wounded, several of whom speedily became convalescent and able to bear arms. Separated from the Residency as was the Alambagh by the city, which was still and was likely to remain in the hands of the rebels, it was very defensible. A fortified enclosure, the garrison brought to defend it two heavy guns and two 9-pounders, besides other guns taken from the enemy. They had ammunition and water, every necessary of life except a large store of provisions. It was very desirable to maintain the position as a touching point for a relieving army. But the want of provisions constituted a difficulty. Outram therefore instructed Major

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McIntyre, 78th Highlanders, the senior officer at the post, to hold it as long as he could do so, and only in case of absolute necessity to fall back on Kanhpur.

He attempts to get rid of the native cavalry

To rid himself entirely of his native cavalry, useless inside a fortified enclosure, Outram, at an early period after his arrival, directed Lieutenant Hardinge to endeavour to arrange so that they should all quit the enclosure in the dark of the night, and, if successful in this, make at once for Kanhpur. Hardinge got his men under arms and endeavoured to lead them out. But the sound of his horses’ hoofs was the signal for a heavy and concentrated fire upon them from the loop-holed houses of the streets through which they had to pass – a fire so heavy and so concentrated that the attempt had to be abandoned. It was clear that the enemy were well on the alert.

but the enemy baffle him

The result was that the horses, reduced in the absence of grass to feed on the bark and branches of the trees, died in great numbers, and those that survived became so emaciated as to be utterly unfit for service.

Difference between the period prior, and that subsequent to the relief

The six weeks which followed the arrival of Outram’s force have not been inaptly described as the blockade. His arrival had terminated the siege. The danger of being overwhelmed by the masses of the enemy, had in a great measure passed away. But, in spite of this change in their condition, events. were of frequent occurrence which served to keep up the soldierly excitement of the garrison. There was only this difference in the feeling. Before the reinforcements had reached it, it had generally been the excitement of defence; it had now become the more stirring excitement of attack.

Sortie of the 27th September

On the 27th September, for instance, a party of the 1st Fusiliers, and some men of the 32nd Regiment, under the command of Major Stephenson, made a sortie for the purpose of taking some guns in the enemy’s Kanhpur battery. The British troops were met by a very heavy fire from the enemy, and, although they succeeded in spiking three of the enemy’s guns, they were unable to bring them back within the defences. On their return, they were exposed to so destructive a fire from the tops of houses and loopholes that they found it most difficult to carry in their killed and wounded. One sergeant, severely

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wounded, must have been left on the ground, had not a private of the 32nd, William Dowling by name, in the most gallant manner, and with the assistance of Captain Galway 1st Madras Fusiliers, carried him to a place of safety. Lieutenant Huxham of the 48th Native Infantry, was wounded78.

The 32nd Foot

The unexampled losses which the 32nd Regiment had suffered may be gathered from the fact that, on this occasion, they were commanded by Lieutenant Warner, of the 7th Light Cavalry, solely because there were no regimental officers available. Tried as this gallant regiment had been during the siege, its men were yet detailed for every sortie and for every attack.

Subsequent sorties and their results

Thus, on the 29th September, three sorties were made simultaneously. One of these proceeded from the left square of the Brigade Mess; the second from the Sikh Square; the third from the Redan. The party charged with the last-named sortie, and which I will distinguish as the third party, composed of two hundred men, with a reserve of a hundred and fifty, from the 32nd and 5th Fusiliers, drove the enemy from their guns, and advanced till they came to a lane commanded by an 18-pounder. In this advance they lost Captain McCabe of the 32nd, a most distinguished officer, who was then leading his fourth sortie. Major Simmons of the 5th Fusiliers was also shot dead; and, it being ascertained that no further advance could be made without considerable loss, the party was recalled. The second party, from the Sikh Square, commanded by Lieutenant Hardinge, was composed of men from the 32nd, 78th, and 1st Madras Fusiliers, two hundred in all, and supported by some men of the 13th Native Infantry, under Lieutenant Aitken. They succeeded in demolishing several houses and batteries. The first party, from the Brigade Mess, commanded by Captain Shute, and composed of men from the 32nd, 64th, and 84th, succeeded in destroying a 24-pounder gun, and in spiking two mortars, and four native guns of small calibre. Their loss was very severe, quite disproportionate to the service rendered. Again, on the 2nd November, Lieutenant Hardinge led a party composed of the 32nd, 84th, 1st Madras Fusiliers, and seven

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artillerymen, to destroy some guns on the Kanhpur road. This was done effectively and almost without opposition.

To write a detailed account of these operations would require a volume devoted wholly to the siege of Lakhnao. Dealing with a large subject, I unwillingly confine myself to a simple statement of deeds in which every man was a hero.

The officers and men of the Indian army

In these the officers of the Indian army were not one whit behindhand. Constantly recurring are the names of Wilson, Aitken, Ouseley, Apthorp, Forbes, Graham, and Cubitt, of the Infantry; the Engineers, McLeod Innes, Anderson, and Hutchinson; there were, too, many others. Some, not less prominent, and whose names will be found mentioned further on, were killed. With them, too, Thornhill of the Civil Service, one of the most daring of men79.

October

Napier attacks Phillips’s Garden battery

On the 2nd October, Outram, finding that the garrison were greatly annoyed by a fire from a very strong batter – known as, on the Kanhpur road – ordered out a party formed of detachments from several regiments under

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Colonel Napier to storm it.

and captures three guns

Napier conducted the attack with his usual combination of science and daring, and took the battery – a very strong one – with the loss of two men killed and eleven wounded. He captured three guns – two 9-pounders and a 6-pounder.

Remarkable rescue of a soldier

There was nothing strange in this: but it was remarkable that he should have rescued a private soldier of the Madras Fusiliers, who had been three days in the power of the enemy, without their knowing it. The man had fallen down a well, and had remained there, undiscovered by the rebels who were occupying the place.

Outram endeavours to open out the Kanhpur road

Outram had been very much impressed with the advantage which must accrue from adopting the direct Kanhpur road as the mode of communication with Alambagh. To carry out this idea, he directed Major Haliburton, of the 78th Highlanders, to extend the position in that direction, working from house to house. This operation, which was full of danger, was begun on the 3rd. The next day Haliburton was mortally wounded. Stephenson of the Madras Fusiliers, who succeeded him, shared the same fate on the 5th. Still the work was persevered with. Several houses were pierced through. At last, on the 6th, a large mosque was reached.

but is baffled

This place was of great strength in itself, and was occupied in considerable force. To reduce it would have required more extensive operations than, in the state of the garrison, would have been convenient. The operations, therefore were relinquished, but the intermediate houses were blown up and the 78th were located in the garden, in which rested the battery captured on the 2nd. This became an important permanent outpost, and not only protected a considerable portion of the old intrenchment, but connected it with the palaces which had been occupied on the 26th and 27th.

Development of the work of mining and countermining

The work of mining and countermining, so remarkable during the siege, was, during the blockade, still further developed under the superintendence of Colonel Napier. Ably seconded by the engineer officers, Crommelin, Anderson, McLeod Innes, Hutchinson, Russell, Limond, and by others, all the efforts of the enemy in this direction were frustrated. The post to which I have alluded as occupied by the 78th Highlanders, and called Phillips’s garden, from its situation outside the intrenchment,

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offered temptations to the enemy’s minors which were irresistible. But Hutchinson successfully countermined them. The Sikhs of the Firuzpur regiment (Brasyer’s) became very skilful in this work, and always baffled the enemy. Some of the 32nd, trained during the siege, likewise made themselves remarkable for their dexterity. For general purposes, a company of miners was formed of volunteers from the several corps, and placed under the orders of Captain Crommelin. These “soon gave him the ascendancy over the enemy, who were foiled at all points, with the loss of their galleries and mines, and the destruction of their miners in repeated instances80.”

The limits of the British position are extended

The occupation of Phillips’s garden by the 78th Highlanders formed a part of the plan conceived by Outram for relieving the old garrison from all molestation on its east, north-east, and south-east faces; that is from the Kanhpur road to the commencement of the river front. The plan was completed by the occupation as outposts of three strong positions commanding the road to the iron bridge. Whilst these posts and that held by the 78th received the brunt of the enemy’s attacks, the defences of the original intrenchment were thoroughly repaired, and new batteries to mount thirteen guns were constructed.

Altered tactics of the rebels

The effect of the occupation of these outposts on the enemy was remarkable. During the siege they had occupied positions within a few yards of our intrenchments. From these they were now driven back to a distance so great, that their musketry fire had no chance of doing mischief inside the old position. They accordingly, with considerable skill, altered their tactics. They withdrew their guns to a point whence the balls would clear the outer defences and fall within the intrenchment. The plan was ingenious, and was so far well worked that the point of fire was constantly shifted. But for one defect, it might have been very damaging. That defect consisted in want of confidence

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in the success of the plan, which produced, therefore, want of continuity in the working of it. This defect was fatal.

The garrison hear of the complete success at Dehli and of Greathed’s march

On the 9th of October, the garrison were cheered by news that Dehli was completely in our power; that the King was a prisoner; and that Greathed had set out to lead a brigade to Kanhpur. This news was confirmed the following day by the further intelligence of the victory gained by Greathed at Balandshahr.

From this date the chief enemy to combat was impatience. Relief was a question of time, and, if relief would but arrive before the 20th November, Outram felt that all would be well.

November

Mistake regarding the quantity of provisions in stock

He ought to have known that his stock of provisions would last much longer. But on this point an utterly mistaken impression prevailed. Outram believed, from the information officially given him, that, even on the reduced scale of rations allowed, the supplies in the Residency would not feed the force longer than the 20th. But this was an entire misconception on the part of the supply department. The supplies would have lasted for a far longer period. The error might have had evil consequences. For it was mainly the belief that Outram’s supplies were nearly exhausted that induced Sir Colin Campbell to march to Lakhnao before disposing of Tantia Topi and the Gwaliar troops. And the non-disposal of them by him almost landed us in disaster.

Some casualties of the siege

Still, though the greatest enemy was impatience, the efforts of the enemy outside the walls never slackened; nor were they wholly without effect. Between the 25th September and the 10th November, Lieutenant Graydon of the 44th Native Infantry, an excellent officer, in command of Innes’s post, was shot dead while superintending the works beyond that post. I have noticed the death of McCabe whilst gallantly leading his fourth sortie. Captain Hughes of the 57th Native Infantry, doing duty with the 32nd, was mortally wounded at the attack of a house which formed one of the enemy’s outposts. Captain Lowe, commanding the 32nd, was severely wounded. Wounded also were Browne, Edmonstone, and Assistant-Surgeon Darby, of the same regiment. On the south side of the intrenchment the fire continued to be specially galling, several bullets entering the loop-holes. Complete exposure on this side was certain

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death. On the 4th November, Dashwood, of the Bengal army, a very gallant officer, lost both his legs by a round shot, whilst sketching in the Residency compound. He had been warned by a first shot passing near him, but he would not stir.

The garrison hears of the advance of Hope Grant.

On the 6th November, news reached the garrison that Hope Grant had encamped on the ground on the Lakhnao side of the Banni bridge, and that he was to wait there for Sir Colin Campbell, whose arrival at advance of Kanhpur was also announced

Outram devises a plan of communication with the Commander-in-Chief

It now became a point with the generals to devise some plan of communicating with the Commander-in-Chief. Sir James Outram had previously forwarded to the Alambagh a despatch for Sir Colin, in which were contained plans of the city and its approaches, and his own ideas as to the best mode of effecting the junction of the relieved with the relieving forces.

He had advised the Commander-in-Chief to make a detour from the Alambagh to the right of the Dilkusha, and to advance thence by the Martinière and Sikandarbagh. By means of a preconcerted signal, he ascertained that his despatch had safely reached the Alambagh. The success of this mode of communication suggested the improvising of a semaphore telegraph, and the idea was no sooner conceived than it was carried out81.

Necessity felt in the garrison for personal communication with Sir Colin Campbell

But, though written descriptions might be useful to the Commander-in-Chief, their value could in no respect equal that which might be conveyed by an intelligent member of the garrison, by one who had undergone the siege and withstood the blockade, and who could cast the light of personal experience on the insufficient description of a despatch. But where was a man to be found who would dare the risk – who would undertake to penetrate the serried lines of the enemy, knowing that death was synonymous with discovery? Disguise was necessary, an almost impossible disguise, for the fair skin of the European, the light hair, the foreign accent, could scarcely escape detection.

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To ask a man to attempt this was to ask him to encounter something worse than death in its ordinary aspect, to expose himself to the ignominious fate of the spy!

To ask a man to dare this risk was, every one felt, impossible. But every one felt, at the same time, that it was a risk which it was most desirable should be undertaken. Such was the common thought: such the whisper of the garrison. It has often been found, amongst Englishmen, that the occasion produces the man.

Thomas Henry Kavanagh

It produced him, even on this, when the risks of death were enormous, and when the death would be an ignominious death. A clerk in one of the civil offices, by name Thomas Henry Kavanagh, caused General Outram to be informed, some time on the 9th November, that he was prepared to traverse in disguise the hostile lines, and to convey a letter to the Commander-in-Chief in his camp near Banni.

notwithstanding his thoroughly European characteristics

Mr. Kavanagh’s offer was the more heroic, inasmuch as, of all the garrison, he was perhaps the most difficult man to disguise. Tall, taller than the ordinary run of natives, he was very fair – fair of a freckly fairness – and his hair glittered as gold. But, perfectly cognisant of these drawbacks to disguise, Mr. Kavanagh offered himself. General Outram loved a gallant deed: but, bravo as he was, and loving bravery in others, he yet shrunk from exposing a man blindly to the consequences of a deed such as that which Kavanagh proposed. He told him frankly the risks he ran, the almost certain fate that would befall him.

volunteers to traverse the enemy’s lines in disguise

But Kavanagh had made up his mind. Dangers there were, he knew. But, having in view the all-important consequences of his mission, he would brave them.

The garb he chose

Having made up his mind, and received his commission, Kavanagh proceeded to disguise himself. He chose the garb of a Badmash – a native “swashbuckler” – a soldier for plunder, of the sort which abounded in the ranks of the rebels. He put on a pair of tight silk trousers, fitting close to the skin, a tight-fitting muslin shirt, and over this a yellow silk short jacket. Round his waist he bound a white waistband, over his shoulders he threw a coloured chintz cloth, on his head he placed a cream-coloured turban, his feet he inducted into the slipper-like shoes worn by the natives of India. His face down to the shoulders and his hands down to the wrist, he caused to be stained with lamp-black dipped in

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oil. His hair he cut short.

He sets out

Thus disguised, and wearing the shield and sword peculiar to the swashbuckler, Kavanagh, at 9 o’clock on the evening of the 9th November, accompanied by a faithful native spy, by name Kanauji Lal, set out.

November 10

and succeeds

His journey, though not without its alarms82, proved that Mr. Kavanagh had not counted vainly on his brave and resolute heart. He could not, indeed, reach the Alambagh, but, passing by it, he fell in on the morning of the 10th, with a party of Panjab Cavalry, by whom, after receiving their warm greeting and hearty congratulations, he was escorted to Sir Colin Campbell.

The information thus received by that gallant commander supplied the one link which, till then, had been wanting to his complete mastery of the position.

November 11

The following morning his engineer park arrived, and orders were issued for an advance the next day. But that afternoon Sir Colin devoted to an inspection of the men with whom he was to accomplish the relief of the long-beleaguered garrison – to deal the first deadly blow at the revolters of Oudh. Who and what were those men?

Sir Colin Campbell’s force

They were composed mainly of the remnants of regiments which had already fought and bled against the mutineers. They were, of the Line, the 8th, a wing of the 53rd, the 75th and 93rd Regiments; of Sikhs, the 2nd and 4th Panjab Infantry; of Cavalry, the 9th Lancers, and detachments of the 1st, 2nd, and 5th Cavalry, and of Hodson’s Horse; of Artillery, sixteen guns, all tried at Dehli; a few Bengal sappers, and some Panjabi pioneers; and of the Naval Brigade, two hundred and fifty men, with eight heavy guns, and two rocket tubes, mounted on light carts. The total number of fighting men, European and Native, was estimated at three thousand four hundred men.

Sir Colin inspects them

Such were the men whom Sir Colin Campbell inspected on the afternoon of the day prior to the advance. “The scene,” writes one who was present on the occasion83, “was striking. The small army was

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drawn up in quarter-distance columns in the centre of a vast plain, surrounded by woods. On the edge of these the pickets were posted. A mere handful it seemed. The guns of the troops and batteries who came down from Dehli looked blackened and service-worn, but the horses were in good condition, the harness in perfect repair, the men swarthy, and evidently in perfect fighting trim.

Their different costumes and appearance

The 9th Lancers, with their blue uniforms and white turbans twisted round their forage caps, their flagless lances, lean but hardy horses, and gallant bearing, looked the perfection of a cavalry regiment on active service. Wild and hold was the carriage of the Sikh cavalry, riding untamed- looking steeds, clad in loose fawn-coloured robes, with long boots, blue or red turbans and sashes, and armed with carbine and sabre. Next to them were the worn and wasted remains of the 8th and 75th, clad entirely in slate-coloured cloth. With a wearied air, they stood grouped round their standard – war, stripped of its display, in all its nakedness. Then the 2nd and 4th Panjab Infantry, tall of stature, with eager eyes overhung by large twisted turbans, clad in short sand-coloured tunics – men swift to march forward in the fight – ambitious both of glory and of loot. Last stood, many in numbers, in tall and serried ranks, the 93rd Highlanders.

Reception of Sir Colin by the 93rd

A waving sea of plumes and tartans they looked, as, with loud and rapturous cheers, which rolled over the field, they welcomed their veteran commander, the chief of their choice. It was curious to mark the difference between the old Indian troops and the Highlanders in their reception to Sir Colin.

by the veterans of Dehli.

Anxious and fixed was the gaze of the former as he- rode down their ranks – men evidently trying to measure the leader who had been sent to them from so far. Enthusiastic beyond expression was his reception by the latter. You saw at once that to him was accorded their entire confidence – that, under him, they would go anywhere and do anything.”

November 12

Plan of operations

At sunrise the following morning the troops advanced. The plan upon which Sir Colin Campbell, well instructed by Sir James Outram and possessing the advantage of the presence by his side of Mr. Kavanagh, had determined, was to move on the Alambagh; to store within that enclosure all the tents, and, having drawn to himself the detachments still in rear, to make, with a wide sweep,

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flank march to the right, on the Dilkusha park and the Martinière; starting afresh from these points, to force the canal close to its junction with the Gumti; then, covered by that river, to advance, up its right bank, on the Sikandarbagh. This point once secured, a portion of the force could make a dash southwards on the barracks north of Hazratganj, and having seized them, would erect three batteries to play on the outworks of the Kaisarbagh. The main body, meanwhile, forcing the Shah Najaf and the Moti Mahall, would open out the way for a junction with Outram. To support this operation, Outran would co-operate by a heavy fire on the intermediate positions held by the enemy from all the guns in the Residency; having forced these, he would move out, with all his sick and wounded, women and children, and treasure, between the Gumti and the Kaisarbagh, and effect a junction with the Commander-in-Chief. It was based upon the plan drawn up by Outram, and transmitted. to Sir Colin by the hands of the gallant Kavanagh, on the 9th84.

The army advances

To carry out this plan, the little army set out at sunrise on the morning of the 12th November. It had marched barely three miles when the advanced guard, headed by a squadron of Hodson’s Horse, commanded by Lieutenant Gough, striking the road leading to Jalalabad85, came at once under the fire of some light guns, covered by a line of field-works.

Bourchier silences, and Gough pursues the rebels

The moment the sound was heard, Captain Bourchier brought up his field battery, and opened a fire which soon silenced the hostile guns. The rebels then attempted to remove these guns, but Gough, dashing forward, was amongst

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them like lightning, and drove them from the field with the loss of two of their pieces.

The force encamps near the Alambagh

No further opposition was offered to the progress of the force to the Alambagh86. That same evening the camp was pitched close to that enclosure: tat, as it thus came under the fire constantly directed by the enemy on that place, its position had to be changed to another, which brought it under cover of the Alambagh. Here the force halted for the following day.

The Alambagh

The Alambagh was, at this time, held by Major McIntyre of the 78th Highlanders, nine hundred and thirty Europeans, a few Sikhs, and eight guns. McIntyre’s original garrison of two hundred and eighty men had been from time to time augmented by parties from Kanhpur, escorting the provisions which had maintained his garrison.

and Major McIntyre

It is a proof of Major McIntyre’s skill, energy, and arrangement, that although from his first occupation of the post, on the 25th September, to the date of his relief – a period of forty-nine days – he had been incessantly annoyed by the fire of the batteries erected by the enemy about the place, he had only lost one European soldier, and that two only had been wounded. The native camp-followers and the cattle had, however, suffered severely.

November 13

On the evening of the 12th he was, I have shown, relieved. The following day was devoted by Sir Colin Campbell to making arrangements for a decisive advance on the 14th.

Adrian Hope carries the fort of Jalalabad

First he despatched a small brigade, under the command of Colonel the Hon. Adrian Hope of the 93rd Highlanders – an officer of great attainments and brilliant promise – to take possession of the fort of Jalalabad, in the right rear of the position at Alambagh. Hope found that the fort, which might have been advantageously held, being constructed of thick mud with good flanking defences, had been evacuated. He therefore rendered it useless by blowing in one of its faces, and returned.

Preparations made on the 13th for an advance the following day

Whilst one brigade was engaged in this operation, Sir Colin caused to be stacked within the enclosure all the camp equipage not required for the hard work in prospect. He directed, also, that whilst supplies for fourteen days for himself and the troops

Sketch of operations for relief and withdrawal of Lakhnao Garrison

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in Lakhnao should accompany him, every soldier should carry in his haversack provisions for three days’ consumption. Then, too, he received his last reinforcements from Kanhpur, distributed to their several regiments the men brought up by various detachments he found in the Alambagh, and made a fresh division of his force into brigades.

Rearrangement of the force

By successive reinforcements, and the junctions with the Alambagh garrison,- the force had now been augmented to about five force thousand men of all arms87, with forty-nine guns.

the Alambagh detachment

It was then thus re-arranged: the 75th regiment, not three hundred strong, and which had suffered much from previous service, was directed to occupy the Alambagh, aided by fifty Sikhs of the regiment of Firuzpur, and a detachment the detachment of artillery under Captain Moir. The detailing of these troops for the purpose indicated reduced the force effective for field operations to about four thousand seven hundred men.

the naval brigade and artillery

The naval brigade, commanded by Captain William Peel, consisted of two hundred and fifty men of the crew of the Shannon, seamen and marines, having with them eight heavy guns and howitzers, drawn by bullocks, and two rocket tubes mounted on light carts. Vying with these in zeal and ardour was the artillery brigade, composed of Travers’s 18-pounder battery, Remmington’s and Blunt’s troops of Horse Artillery, half a troop of Madras Horse Artillery under Captain Bridge, and Bourchier’s battery. This brigade was commanded by Brigadier Crawford, R.A.

the cavalry

The cavalry brigade, commanded by Brigadier Little, was composed of two squadrons of the 9th Lancers, and one each of the 1st, 2nd, and 5th Panjab Cavalry, and of Hodson’s Horse.

the engineers

The Engineers’ Department, commanded by Lieutenant Lennox, R.E., was composed of a company of Royal Engineers, a company of Madras Sappers, a few Bengal Sappers who had served at Dehli, and two companies of newly raised Panjab Pioneers.

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the infantry

The infantry brigades were the third, the fourth and the fifth. The third, commanded by Brigadier Greathed, was composed of the remnant of the 8th Regiment; of a battalion of detachments of three regiments shut up in Lakhnao; and of the 2nd Panjab Native Infantry. The fourth, led by Brigadier Adrian Hope, was the strongest of all. It was composed of the 93rd Highlanders and a wing of the 53rd, the former fresh from England, the latter from Calcutta; of the 4th Panjab Infantry, and a weak battalion of the regiments shut up in Lakhnao. The fifth brigade, commanded by Brigadier Russell, was composed of the 23rd Fusiliers and a detachment of the 82nd Regiment.

Hope Grant has general supervision of the force

Hope Grant, with the rank of Brigadier-General, had the general direction of the force under the supervision of the Commander-in-Chief88.

November 14

The order to advance is given

On the evening of the 13th Sir Colin rode out to reconnoitre. The following morning, at 9 o’clock, the troops having first partaken of a good breakfast, he gave the order to march. The advance was made from the right, through the fields, crossing the several roads leading from the city at right angles. The enemy had not evidently anticipated this circuitous movement, as, whilst their scouts watched the route of the British from the tops of trees, small bodies of them were seen hastily endeavouring to throw up cover at the several points by which it was likely that the head of the advanced column would turn towards the city.

and carries the Dilkusha

The turning movement was made at the point expected, and the advance, bringing forward their right shoulders, moved directly on the wall of the Dilkusha, park. Up to this moment no opposition had been offered by the rebels; but, as the advance neared the enclosure, a heavy matchlock fire was opened upon it from the left. Reinforcements were at once sent to the front, and the British guns opened upon the group whence this fire proceeded, and silenced it. Some rebel skirmishers then showed themselves emerging from the park, but the British skirmishers, horse, foot, and artillery, advancing, drove them speedily back, and pushed them through the grounds of the Dilkusha park, over the crest of the plateau, to the Martinière, about a mile

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below it, on the banks of the Gumti. The Dilkusha was thus carried, almost without a blow.

This operation, described though it be in a few lines, had occupied two hours. The loss on both sides had been inconsiderable, as the enemy did not stand to receive, but retreated after discharging their pieces. The work had been easy for the assailants, and they were ready for more.

The British skirmishers dash at the Martinière

They did not halt then in the Dilkusha, but, running and cantering across the park, pressed on to the Martinière. The rebels were in advance of them, and the sight of these men running in panic had inspired their comrades, entrusted with the defence of the Martinière, to do something to check the pursuit. They succeeded, by considerable exertions, in turning two guns on the advancing cavalry, but, before they could produce any perceptible effect, Bourchier and Remmington opened upon them. Their fire was quickly followed by discharges from Travers’s 18-pounders, and from a heavy howitzer brought up by Captain Hardy, R.A.

which they carry

Many rounds had not been fired when the infantry, composed of a battalion made up of companies from the 5th Fusiliers, the 64th and 78th Foot, and the 8th Foot, commanded by Lieutenant-Colonel Hamilton of the 78th, came up, dashed down the slope, and carried the Martinière, the enemy not waiting to receive them, but retreating across the canal with all speed, followed by our cavalry.

Watson’s hand-to-hand encounter

In the course of the pursuit Lieutenant Watson89 of the Bombay Army, commanding the squadron of the 1st Panjab Cavalry, encountered and slew in a hand-to-hand encounter the leader encounter of the enemy’s party, a native officer of the 15th Irregular Cavalry. Watson had a narrow escape, his opponent having discharged his pistol at him within a few feet of his body.

Sir Colin Campbell makes arrangements for holding the ground up to the edge of the canal

Both these important places having been carried, and the ground up to the edge of the canal being held by our troops, it devolved upon the Commander-in-Chief to make arrangements for securing his new position. He accordingly brought up Adrian Hope’s brigade (the 4th), and arranged it in position in the ground up the gardens of the Martinière. He located there likewise Remmington’s troop of horse artillery.

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Russell’s brigade (the 5th) he posted on the left in front of the Dilkusha, whilst on the plain in front of the Martinière, occupying a line drawn from the canal on their right to the wall of the Dilkusha, park on their left, he placed Little’s brigade of cavalry and Bourchier’s battery. Somewhat later in the afternoon, in pursuance of orders issued by Sir Colin, with a view to guard his communications with the Alambagh from being cut off by a turning movement on his left, Brigadier Russell pushed forward several companies of his infantry to occupy two villages on the canal, covering the left of the British position.

The enemy prepare to attack him

These arrangements had not been made one moment too soon. They were hardly completed, when it became evident, from the massing of troops on their centre, that the enemy were contemplating an aggressive movement. To gain information as to its probable nature, Captain Grant of the 9th Lancers galloped forward to reconnoitre. He was received by a crashing musketry fire, which, however, left him unscathed. Little at once ordered Bourchier to the front, supporting him with his cavalry.

but the attack had been previously discounted

It was then seen how wise had been the occupation of the two villages already referred to, for the enemy, creeping down to the bed of the canal, had opened upon them a heavy and continuous fire; but as soon as Bourchier’s guns opened upon their supporting masses they fell back very rapidly to the city. A few more discharges cleared the canal bed.

They make a second attempt

Little, having accomplished his mission, withdrew to the Martinière compound, and orders were at once issued for a night bivouac. But scarcely had the horses been untraced than the enemy, regathering courage, made a second and more desperate attempt to turn the British position. About four hundred yards to the proper right of the wall of the Dilkusha park, as one faces the canal, is the bridge connecting the Martinière plain with the Hazratganj main street. It was on this bridge that the rebels now, about 5 o’clock in the afternoon, came down in great numbers and with several guns. If they had counted on finding the British troops unprepared, they were disappointed.

but are baffled by Adrian Hope

Stealthy as had been their movements, they had been watched by a man who never missed an opportunity. As they approached the bridge Adrian Hope brought up his brigade

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with an alacrity not to be surpassed. The 93rd he placed lining a mud-wall opposite the bridge. On either side of them were the 53rd and the 4th Panjabis. Remmington’s troop galloped at once to the front, closely followed by the remainder of the artillery, and opened fire on the enemy. The cavalry were handy. As each successive regiment came up, it lined the banks of the canal.

aided by William Peel and Bourchier

Bourchier’s battery and Peel’s 24-pounders occupied a position on some high ground on the left of the bridge, whence they were able to direct a concentric fire on the angle formed by the canal near the bridge, and where the enemy were massed in large numbers. Their fire speedily “crushed90” the enemy out of this position. Then Adrian Hope, forming up his brigade, pushed across the bridge, drove back the enemy with heavy loss, and secured a lodgment on the other side. The attack of the rebels had failed91.

They bivouac for the night

Then did the British troops bivouac for the night, Adrian Hope’s brigade, flanked by Bourchier’s battery, two guns of the naval brigade, and a troop of cavalry,. on the canal; Russell’s brigade on their right; Greathed’s in the rear; the bulk of the artillery on the high ground to the left, and the cavalry on the summit of the plateau round the Dilkusha, house behind the centre. The men slept with their arms by their side, ready for prompt action.

November 15

The following day, the 15th, was spent in making preparations for the grand advance. The Dilkusha, palace was to be made a second depot for the stores and baggage, which would have needlessly encumbered an army that had to fight in the streets.

Ewart, 93rd Highlanders, commands the rear-guard

The heavy baggage, consisting of everything pertaining to the officers and soldiers, had been placed in charge of a strong rear-guard, commanded by Lieutenant-Colonel Ewart, H.M.’s 93rd Highlanders. This officer, whose splendid gallantry was soon to be displayed in a position more advanced and still more dangerous, had had no easy time of it. Although his men had been under arms on the 14th at the

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same time as the rest of the army, his progress, charged as he was with a large convoy, had necessarily been slow. The enemy, hovering about the main force, but afraid to attack it, had singled out the rear-guard as their prey.

Aided by Blunt and Crawford, he repulses every attack

The attacks which they made upon it were incessant. But, well aided by Blunt of the Bengal, and Crawford of the Royal Artillery, Ewart beat back every assault. The attacks had, however, necessarily delayed him, and he was unable to bring his convoy into camp before the 15th. He brought it then, having accomplished skilfully a difficult and harassing task.

Arrangements made at the Dilkusha

Then did Sir Colin make his final arrangements. The whole of his heavy baggage, his supplies for fourteen days, he stored in the Dilkusha. Into the palace all the sick and wounded were conveyed. Defences were thrown up round that building, and a force was detailed to guard it. This force consisted of five field guns, half the 9th Lancers, the Military Train, a squadron of Panjab Cavalry, and the remnant of the gallant 8th, about three hundred strong – the whole under the command of Brigadier Little of the 9th Lancers.

The afternoon and night prior to the advance.

But, though the 15th was a day of preparation, the enemy did not leave the fighting qualities of our soldiers untested. About mid-day, huge masses of infantry supporting two horse artillery guns, made a strong demonstration against the extreme right of the British position. Their pickets, however, ,were on the alert, and, the guns (two guns of the Madras Native Horse Artillery) speedily opening fire, the enemy fell back. As the point thus threatened was that from which it was intended to make the advance the following morning, Sir Colin deemed it advisable to draw the enemy’s attention to another quarter. He accordingly a little later in the day made a strong reconnaissance in front of our extreme left, and subsequently massed all our artillery on that point. He further directed that, during the night, a fire of mortars should be directed on the point opposite our left, so as to keep the enemy’s attention fixed there, whilst silence should be preserved at the other end of the line.

Sir Colin signals to Outram his intention to advance

Having made all the arrangements which skill and foresight could suggest, Sir Colin signalled to Sir James Outram, by a code previously arranged, that he would advance on the morrow.

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November 16

The advance on the 16th

Early on the morning of the 16th the heavy guns were withdrawn from the advanced pickets on the canal, and the detachments of Adrian Hope’s brigade which had been sent to the front rejoined their regiments. The men first breakfasted. Then, a strong body of cavalry, with Blunt’s troop of Horse Artillery and a company of the 53rd, forming the advance guard, moved forward from the extreme right. The way crossed the canal, then dry; followed then for about a mile the bank of the Gumti, led them through a narrow line, through thickly wooded enclosures, and then made a sharp turn to the left on to a road which, turning again, ran between low mud houses, for about a hundred and twenty yards parallel to the Sikandarbagh. Following the advance guard marched Adrian Hope’s brigade; then Russell’s; then the ammunition and engineers’ park. Greathed’s brigade, now reduced by the retention of the 8th at the Dilkusha, remained till mid-day occupying the position on the canal, so as to protect the left rear of the main body. It then followed the remainder of the force as its rear guard.

The precautions taken by Sir Colin the preceding afternoon and evening had been successful, for the enemy’s attention had been completely diverted from the line of advance he had contemplated. His advanced guard, then, marched along the bank of the Gumti, through the lane and enclosures, without meeting an enemy.

The British advance comes in contact with the enemy

Suddenly it made the sharp turn to the left already described. Then the enemy for the first time took the alarm. First from men occupying huts and enclosures in advance of the building, then from the mass of men in the Sikandarbagh92 itself, poured an overwhelming fire on the troops forming the advance. Their position was, in a military point of view, desperate, for they were exposing their flank to the enemy. For a distance of a hundred and twenty yards to the walled enclosure of Sikandarbagh, they were broadside on to the enemy’s fire. Our officers saw the position clearly.

Before a shot had been fired a staff officer remarked to his right-hand comrade, “If these fellows allow

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one of us to get out of this cul de sac alive, they deserve every one of them to be hanged93.”

The situation was indeed critical. The gallant 53rd (one. company only), in skirmishing order, lined indeed the enclosures bordering on the lane; but their numbers were few, and the fire of the enemy was concentrated; the cavalry were jammed together, unable to advance, and the high hanks on either side seemed to offer an impassable barrier to artillery.

The splendid gallantry of

But only “seemed.” Up the steep bank the daring Blunt led his gallant troop, and, “conquering the impossible,” brought them, guns and all, into an open space between the Sikandarbagh and another large loop-holed building, exposed as he galloped on to a terrific cross-fire. Here unlimbering, with remarkable coolness and self-possession, he opened with his six guns on the Sikandarbagh. Never was anything done better.

Adrian Hope’s brigade

Whilst Blunt was engaged on this gallant deed, Adrian Hope’s brigade, disengaging itself, had come up with a rush and driven the enemy first from the enclosures bordering the lane, and then from the large building of which I have spoken opposite the Sikandarbagh.

Travers and his heavy battery

This gave it access to the open space on which Blunt had unlimbered. Travers followed with his heavy battery, and, the sappers and miners having demolished a portion of the high bank, he too was able, by the aid of the infantry, to bring two of his 18-pounders into position and to open fire against the angle of the enclosure. In less than half an hour their fire opened a hole in the wall which might be practicable for stormers.

The assault of the Sikandarbagh

Meanwhile the infantry of Adrian Hope’s brigade, after the achievement already related, had been ordered to lie down, covered by a small bank and some trees. But the moment the breach was considered practicable the bugle-sound gave the signal for assault. It was made by the 93rd Highlanders and the 4th Panjab Rifles, supported by the 53rd and a battalion of detachments. Springing to their feet, the Highlanders under Lieutenant-Colonel Ewart, and the Sikhs under Lieutenant Paul, dashed

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forward. “It was,” writes an eye-witness94, “a glorious rush. On went, in generous rivalry, the turban of the Sikh and the dark plume of the Highlander. A native officer of the Sikhs” – Subahdar Gokal Singh, specially mentioned by the Commander-in-Chief in his despatch – “waving his talwar above his head dashed on full five yards in front of his men. The Highlanders, determined not to be left behind, strained nerve and limb in the race. Their officers led like gallant gentlemen, shaking their broadswords in the air. Two young ensigns springing over a low mud wall gave the colours of the regiment to the breeze. Paul with voice and accent urged on his wild followers.” All ran towards the hole – a small hole in a bricked-up doorway, about three feet square and about the same distance from the ground. A Sikh of the 4th Rifles reached it first, but he was shot dead as he jumped through. A similar fate befell a Highlander in his track.

Richard Cooper

A young officer of the 93rd, Richard Cooper by name, outstripping the majority of his comrades, was more fortunate. Flying, so to speak, through the hole, he landed unscathed. “ His jump into it,” wrote the gallant Blunt, who witnessed it, “ reminded me of the headlong leap which Harlequin in a pantomime makes through a shop window, and I thought at the time that if he was not rushing to certain death life would be very uncertain to those first making entrance by that ugly blind hole.”

Ewart, Lumsden

Cooper was almost immediately followed by Colonel Ewart of the 93rd; Ewart by Captain John I. Lumsden, of the 30th Native Infantry, but attached, as interpreter to the 93rd Highlanders; Lumsden by three privates of that regiment, they again by eight or nine men, Sikhs of the 4th Panjab Rifles and Highlanders. Another officer, Captain Burroughs95 of the 93rd, also penetrated within the enclosure, but was almost immediately attacked and severely wounded. Altogether, besides the three officers, about a dozen men, Sikhs and Highlanders, had jumped within the enclosure, when, from

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some reason yet undiscovered, the supply from outside suddenly stopped.

and twelve Sikhs and Highlanders jump into the enemy’s walled enclosure

The enclosure in which these fourteen men found themselves was a hundred and fifty yards square, with towers at the angles, and in the centre of the eastern face a building, consisting of a room opening out into a courtyard behind it, the grass growing all over the ground of the enclosure sufficiently high to conceal the enemy from view.

There were, however, two pathways – the one to the left leading to the gate; the other, to the right, to the building in the centre of the eastern face.

Cooper, Ewart, Lumsden, and their followers

Losing not a moment after he had daringly jumped in, Cooper dashed along the path to the right, closely followed by Ewart, Lumsden, and about a dozen soldiers. No other officer accompanied them. Following the path, they reached an angle of the enclosure, turned it, and in three seconds more found themselves in front of the square building I have already described.

come face to face with the enemy’s masses

There were rebels in front of it, rebels within it, rebels in the courtyard behind it. But on this occasion, as on so many others, boldness was prudence. The rebels outside, astonished by the sudden appearance of the three British officers and their following, ignorant of their numbers, and believing, it may be presumed, that the main entrance had been forced, ran hurriedly into the building, and attempted to make their way through a small door into the courtyard behind. The three officers and their men dashed after them, and a hand-to-hand encounter ensued.

Cooper is slashed across the head

Cooper, after greatly distinguishing himself and laying many low with a sword wielded by an arm of more than ordinary strength, was singled out by a native officer of the regiment of Lodiana, and received from him a slash across the forehead at the same moment that he laid his antagonist dead at his feet. Lumsden, emulating Cooper, was clearing a way for himself, when he was killed by a musket shot96. Ewart, forcing his way into the courtyard, pushed forward with his following

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against the men at the other end of it.

notwithstanding the splendid achievement of Ewart, the contest is doubtful

Some of these men had muskets, some swords and shields. They allowed Ewart to approach within ten yards of them, when those who had muskets fired a volley. Fortunately they fired high. One ball pierced Ewart’s bonnet. The few Highlanders and Sikhs then rushed at them, and a desperate hand-to-band encounter ensued.

when the remainder of the storming party arrive

One tall rebel, armed with sword and shield, singled out Ewart for destruction, but that gallant officer was beforehand with him, and shot him, and five others who followed him, dead with his revolver. Still in the end numbers might have prevailed, when at the critical moment the bulk of the Brigade, Highlanders, the Sikhs, and the 53rd, poured in to the rescue.

How they had been delayed

How these had forced their way remains now to be told. Impatient of the delay which would be caused by jumping singly through a narrow hole, the bulk of the storming party had turned to the left to force a way by the gate of the enclosure. This gate was locked and barred; and although the men used all their efforts, firing their pieces at the lock, some time elapsed before it gave way. But at last it yielded, and the 93rd and Sikhs dashed through it. Almost simultaneously the 53rd forced a barred window to the right of it and joined in the rush to the rescue of Ewart, of Cooper, still fighting in spite of his wound, and their comrades.

The splendid gallantry of Ewart, Cooper and Lumsden unnoticed and unrewarded

I have been particular in describing in full detail the services of these two gallant officers, both belonging to the 93rd Highlanders, of Lumsden attached to the same regiment, and of Burroughs, not only because they and the ten or twelve men who followed them were the first to penetrate within the enclosure of the Sikandarbagh, nor because their action had a direct effect on the ultimate issue, holding, as they did, the rebels in check while the main body of the storming party were engaged in endeavouring to force an entrance by the main gate, but because, whilst many officers were mentioned in the despatch97, the splendid services of these two gallant men did

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not receive even a bare notice. It is fit that, even after the lapse of twenty years, history should atone, as far as atonement is possible, for official neglect.

The stormers drive back the rebels

To return, I have already stated that, whilst Ewart and Cooper and their small following were making fierce head against the mass of rebels opposed to them, a considerable body of the 93rd and the 4th Panjab Rifles, outside the enclosure, had, by strenuous exertions, succeeded in forcing the main doorway, whilst the 53rd had driven in the window on its right. Through these, and through Cooper’s hole, which the sappers had succeeded in enlarging, the stormers poured as fast as they could make their way. As they entered, the rebels fell back into the towers at the angle of the enclosure, and opened a heavy and continuous musketry fire on our men, occasionally diversifying this mode of fighting by descending to a hand-to-hand encounter.

Ewart captures a colour, cutting down its defenders

In one of these, Colonel Ewart succeeded in cutting down two native officers who guarded a colour, and in capturing the colour98, which he presented with his own hand to Sir Colin Campbell.

The fight for the possession of the enclosure was bloody and desperate, the rebels fighting with all the energy of despair.

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Nor did the struggle end when our men forced their way inside. Every room, every staircase, every corner of the towers was contested.

After a desperate slaughter, the Sikandarbagh is gained.

Quarter was neither given nor asked for, and when at last the assailants were masters of the place more than two thousand rebel corpses lay heaped around them. It is said that, of all who garrisoned it, only four men escaped, but even the escape of four is doubtful.

The “Barracks” captured

Meanwhile, whilst detachments of the 93rd, of the 53rd, and the 4th Panjab Rifles were gradually overcoming resistance in the enclosure, some companies of the 93rd and 53rd, supported by two guns of Blunt’s battery, had pushed forward through the opening, and following the plain nearly southward for almost half a mile, had attacked and effected a lodgment in a large building called “The Barracks,” and which formed at about half the distance the angle of the rectangular road, used in contradistinction to the direct road which connected the Sikandarbagh with the Kaisarbagh.

Captain Stewart, 93rd

In this attack Captain Stewart, of the right wing of the 93rd, greatly distinguished himself by capturing two guns which commanded the approaches to the Barracks. But the shorter road from Sikandarbagh to the Residency ran directly westward between the large loop-holed building, stormed in the first instance by Adrian Hope’s brigade and the Sikandarbagh itself, across an open plain about twelve hundred yards broad.

The Shah Najaf

“About three hundred yards along this road there is a small village, with garden enclosures round it; “while about two hundred and fifty yards further on, and a hundred yards to the right of the road, stood the Shah Najaf99, a large mosque, situated in a garden enclosed by a high loop-holed wall. This wall is nearly square and very strong. Between it and the plains is a thick fringe of jungle and enclosures, with trees, and scattered mud cottages, which make it impossible to get a distinct view of the place until you come close on it. Between it and the Sikandarbagh, amidst jungles and enclosure, to the right of the little plain, was a building on a high mound called the Kadam Rasul100.”

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Sir Colin determines to carry the Shah Najaf

The afternoon was now waning, and Sir Colin Campbell deemed it essential to carry the Shah Najaf. The operation was dangerous and most difficult. Success, to most men, would have seemed uncertain. Failure was ruin. Of all the actions in the campaign this was the most critical. How it was done has been described by an actor in the scene, with a vigour of touch and with lifelike freshness which it is impossible to surpass. I have read nothing which conveys the scene more vividly to the mind I am sure, then, I shall be pardoned, if, instead of using my own language, I borrow the account of the daring action from one who saw it, and who wrote what he saw101.

Preliminaries to the attack

“Hope,” says the writer, taking up the story from the point where I left it, “having now drawn off his brigade from the Sikandarbagh, led it against the village, which he cleared and occupied without much difficulty; while Peel brought up his 24-pounders, mortars, and rocket frames, and placed them in battery against the Shah Najaf in an oblique line, with their left resting on the village. The musketry fire which streamed unceasingly from that building and the surrounding enclosures was most biting and severe; and after nearly three hours battering it was still unsubdued. An attempt, made with great gallantry by Major Barnston with his battalion of detachments, to drive the enemy from the fringe of jungle and enclosures in front, by setting fire to the houses, proved unsuccessful; but on the right the Kadam Rasul was assaulted and carried by a party of Sikhs.

The confusion in the lane communicating with the rear

“In the narrow lane leading up from the rear, meanwhile, the utmost confusion prevailed. The animals carrying the ordnance and the engineer supplies, unable to advance from the enemy’s fire in front – unable to get out on either side, and pressed forward by those in rear – got completely jammed, insomuch that an officer, sent to bring up ammunition and all Greathed’s disposable infantry to the now hard-pressed front, had the utmost difficulty to get the men on in single file; whilst, some houses having been wantonly set on fire by the camp-followers, the passage was for a time entirely blocked up; and it was only when the flames were abating that a string of camels, laden with small-arm ammunition, which was urgently required by

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the troops engaged, could with great risk and toil be forced through the narrow and scorching pass. Even then, however, the confusion near the Sikandarbagh had got to such a pitch, that all passage had become impossible; and, had it not been that a staff officer discovered a by-path leading into a broad road which abutted on the Sikandarbagh, neither men nor ammunition could have been brought up.

The battle makes no way against the Shah Najaf

In front of the Shah Najaf the battle made no way. The enemy, about 4 o’clock, got a heavy gun to bear upon us from the opposite bank of the river, and their very first shot blew up one of Peel’s tumbrils, whilst their deadly musketry had obliged him to withdraw the men from one of his pieces and diminished the fire of the others. The men were falling fast. Even Peel’s usually bright face became grave and anxious. Sir Colin sat on his white horse, exposed to the whole storm of shot, looking intently on the Shah Najaf, which was wreathed in volumes of smoke from the burning buildings in its front, but sparkled all over with the bright flash of small arms. It was now apparent that the crisis of the battle had come. Our heavy artillery could not subdue the fire of the Shah Najaf; we could not even hold permanently our present advanced position under it. But retreat to us there was none. By that fatal lane our refluent force could never be withdrawn. Outram, and Havelock, and Inglis, with our women and children, were in the front, and England’s honour was pledged to bring them scatheless out of the fiery furnace. What shot and shell could not do, the bayonets of the infantry must accomplish. But the crisis was terrible. Even as the fate of the French empire hung at Wagram on the footsteps of Macdonald’s column, so did the fate of our Indian dominions depend that day on the result of the desperate assault now about to be undertaken.

Sir Colin harangues the 93rd

“Collecting the 93rd about him, the Commander-in-Chief addressed a few words to them. Not concealing the extent of the danger, he told them that he had not intended that day to employ them again, but that, the Shah Najaf must be taken; that the artillery could not bring its fire under, so they must win it with the bayonet. Giving them a few plain directions, he told them he would go on with them himself.

“To execute this design, Middleton’s battery of the Royal

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Artillery was to pass Peel’s guns on the right, and, getting as close as possible to the Shah Najaf, to open a quick and well-sustained fire of grape.

and determines to win it with the bayonet

Peel was to redouble his, and the 93rd to form in column in the open plain, close to the village, ready to rush on.

Middleton

William Peel

“Middleton’s battery came up magnificently. With loud cheers, the drivers waving their whips, the gunners their caps, they galloped forward through that deadly fire to within pistol-shot of the wall, unlimbered, and poured in round after round of grape. Peel, manning all his guns, worked his pieces with redoubled energy, and under cover of this iron storm, the 93rd, excited to the highest degree, with flashing eyes and nervous tread, rolled on in one vast wave.

Sir Colin

The grey-haired veteran of many fights rode, with his sword drawn, at their head. Keen was his eye, as when in the pride of youth he led the stormers of St. Sebastian. His staff crowded round him.

Adrian Hope

Hope, too, with his towering form and gentle smile, was there, leading, as ever was his wont, the men by whom he was loved so well. As they approached the nearest angle of the enclosure, the soldiers began to drop fast; but, without a check, they reached its foot. There, however, they were brought to a stand. The wall, perfectly entire, was nearly twenty feet high, and well loop-holed; there was no breach, and there were no scaling-ladders. Unable to advance, unwilling to retire, they halted and commenced a musketry battle with the garrison. But all the advantage was with the latter, who shot with security from behind their loops, and the Highlanders went down fast before them.

The Shah Najaf baffles them all

At this time nearly all the mounted officers were either wounded or dismounted. Hope and his aide-de-camp were both rolling on the ground at the same moment, with their horses shot under them: his major of brigade had just met with the same fate: two of Sir Colin’s staff had been stricken to the earth: a party, which had pushed on round the angle to the gate, had found it covered so well by a new work in masonry as to be perfectly unassailable. Two of Peel’s guns were now brought up to within a few yards of the wall. Covered by the fusilade of the infantry, the sailors shot fast and strong; but, though the masonry soon fell off in flakes, it came down so as to leave the mass behind perpendicular, and as inaccessible as ever.

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Success seems impossible

“Success seemed now impossible. Even Hope and Peel, these two men, iron of will and ready of resource, could see no way. Anxious and careworn grew Sir Colin’s brow. The dead and wounded were ordered to be collected and carried to the rear. Some rocket frames were brought up, and threw in a volley of these fiery projectiles, with such admirable precision, that, just skimming over the top of the rampart, they plunged hissing into the interior of the building, and searched it out with a destroying force. Under cover of this, the guns were drawn off.

As a last resource Hope attempts a flank movement

The shades of evening were falling fast – the assault could not much longer be continued. Then, as a last resource – the last throw of a desperate game –Adrian Hope102, collecting some fifty men, stole silently and cautiously through the jungle and brushwood away to the right, to a portion of the wall on which he had, before the assault, thought he perceived some injury to have been inflicted. Reaching it unperceived, a narrow fissure was found. Up this, a single man was, with some difficulty, pushed. He saw no one near the spot, and so helped up Hope, Ogilvy (attached to the Madras Sappers), Allgood the Assistant-Quartermaster-General, and some others.

which succeeds

The numbers inside soon increased, and as they did so they advanced, gradually extending their front. A body of sappers, sent for in haste, arrived at the double: the opening was enlarged, the supports rushed in. Meanwhile, Hope’s small party, pushing on, to their great astonishment, found themselves almost unopposed. Gaining the gate, they threw it open for their comrades. The white dresses of the last of the garrison were just seen gliding away amidst the rolling smoke into the dark shadows of the night. Panic-stricken apparently by the destruction caused by the rockets, and the sudden appearance of some of the assailants within the walls, they fled from the place and gave up the struggle just when victory was secure.

“Never had there been a harder-fought day103, but never was a result gained more satisfactory.”

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A lodgment had been gained for the night. Every man felt now that the work was virtually accomplished. It is true that between the position gained and that occupied by Outram there were still buildings which the rebels would fight to maintain. But those buildings taken all together did not equal one Shah Najaf. The men who had, under the circumstances narrated, stormed that mosque, might justly feel confident that the difficulties of the morrow could not be insuperable. No wonder that “there was joy now in every heart – there was light in every eye.”

The order then was given to bivouac for the night. The main body of the 93rd garrisoned the Shah Najaf; another portion of that regiment, under Colonel Ewart, occupied the barracks, already adverted to. The troops not occupying these two posts lined the roads, maintaining the communications between the three points – the Barracks, Sikandarbagh, and the Shah Najaf. The field hospital for the wounded was established in some huts opposite the Sikandarbagh, which might be regarded as the central point of the position taken up for the night. The men lay down in line with their arms in their hands.

How justice is not done to deserving officers in despatches

Whilst they are sleeping I may advert, I fear too briefly, to some of the deeds of gallantry accomplished during that eventful day. Not all the brave actions performed on the battle-field can come under the notice of a commander; nor coming under his notice, are they always mentioned. The stereotyped form of despatch-writing prevailing in, if not peculiar to, the British army necessitates the mention of all officers on the staff of the commander, of the divisional and brigade commanders and their staffs, of the officers commanding regiments and batteries, of all heads of departments. Not to mention any one of these officers is to disgrace him. It follows that such stereotyped mention is without real value. This hard-and-fast rule is unjust. It may sometimes happen that a particular staff officer or a particular regimental commander fails to distinguish himself, that he makes serious blunders. Such matters are at once known in the camp. But, when the despatch appears, the capable finds himself bracketed in one chorus of praise with the incapable, the clear-headed with the dullard, and the general public knows no difference between them. Hence, I repeat, the stereotyped praise of despatches is really without value.

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How justice might be done

But there is some praise which is not stereotyped. Such is the praise, for instance, awarded for special deeds of daring. Applause of this sort is real and genuine. Yet, while its genuineness when applied cannot be questioned, it is undeniable that many greatly distinguish themselves whose names are never brought forward. No stranger can be sure, when addressing an officer of the British army, that he is not speaking to an undecorated hero.

The heroes of the day

I have mentioned, in the proper place, the splendid achievements, in the early part of the day, of Ewart, of Richard Cooper, of Lumsden, and of Burroughs. Those “undecorated heroes” were undoubtedly the men who made the first entrance into the Sikandarbagh. But on a day when so many distinguished themselves they were not the only heroes. One non-commissioned officer and two privates of the 93rd, Dunley, Mackay, and Grant, effected their entrance into the Sikandarbagh by the hole through which Cooper had leapt, though after him, and gallantly supported their officers. More fortunate than these, they received the Cross for their daring. Sergeant Munro of the same regiment received the Cross for distinguished conduct in the same enclosure. In the 53rd Regiment, Lieutenant Ffrench, and Privates Kenny and Irwin, and, in the 84th, Captain the Hon. H. A. Anson104, deservedly received the Cross for conspicuous daring in the capture of the Sikandarbagh. Later in the same day, Captain Stewart of the 93rd secured the Cross for the capture of two of the enemy’s guns at the Barracks. I have already mentioned Sergeant Paton of the 93rd105. The Cross was given to this daring non-commissioned officer “ for distinguished personal gallantry in proceeding alone round the Shah Najaf under an extremely heavy fire, discovering a breach on the opposite side, to which he afterwards conducted the regiment, by which means that important position was taken.” There were many others not less deserving even than this man. What could exceed the gallantry of Blunt of the Bengal Horse Artillery, taking his guns over an “ impossible “ wall, and calmly unlimbering on the plain between a heavy fire on either side of him; the imperturbable coolness of William Peel, the daring of Travers, of

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Middleton, of Bourchier, of Longden, of Walker, of Hardy – killed fighting with his guns, – of Ford, of Brown, and of Bridge – all gunners, Royal and Bengal? “It is impossible,” wrote Sir Colin Campbell, “to draw any distinction between any of these officers. They all distinguished themselves under very arduous circumstances.” Of Adrian Hope I have already spoken. The bare statement of his action is sufficient. Not less deserve to be mentioned the two Alisons, sons of the historian, Paul, MacQueen, Biddulph, Oldfield, Barnston, Wood, Keen, Welsh, McNamara, Lumsden – killed at the Sikandarbagh, – all of whom were spoken of in the camp. But the list is too long, for there are many others.

Outram, during this day, is endeavouring to effect a diversion

Whilst the men are still sleeping on their arms, it is fit, too, that I should state that, during the hours employed, by troops under Sir Colin Campbell in attacking the Shah Najaf, the Residency garrison, under Sir James Outram, were using all their efforts to effect a diversion. They captured some of the positions to the east of the Residency, and from these maintained a continuous fire of guns and mortars on the rebels. I shall give a more detailed account of their proceedings in the proper place.

The action of the rebels during the day

But I must not omit to record here the fact that, whilst our men had been struggling onwards, winning with difficulty those important posts, the enemy had threatened their flanks and their communications. They had attacked, fortunately without result, the Martinière and the Dilkusha, and had even shown themselves in force on the road to the Alambagh.

indicates a resolve to wait for the failure of the direct attack.

They were seen too in numbers on the opposite bank of the Gumti. What would have been the position of the army, with the enemy all about it, and the lane by which it had advanced completely blocked up, had the attack on the Shah Najaf failed, the reader may imagine. Happily, it did not fail.

The night of the 16th

The British and Sikh troops, lying in unbroken order, their arms by their sides, slept the sleep of men who had earned their rest that sixteenth night of November. They were awakened early in the morning of the 17th, not by their own bugles, but by the bells of the city and the beating of the enemy’s drums.

and morning of the 17th

It seemed as though an attack was imminent. The British soldiers sprang up with alacrity, each man

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in his place, ready for action. But the enemy did not come on. Sir Colin Campbell was, therefore, able to carry out his own plan and to choose his own time.

Sir Colin’s plans for the 17th

His plan was, first, to carry the Mess-house, a large masonry building, defended by a ditch twelve feet broad, surmounted by a loop-holed wall behind, about midway between the Shah Najaf and the Kaisarbagh. The Mess-house carried, the Moti Mahall, lying due north of the former, and on the direct road from the Shah Najaf to the Residency, would be the next point of attraction. Could the Moti Mahall be carried, a junction with Outram would be the certain consequence. That alone would be a good day’s work. Much would still remain to be accomplished.

The difficulties before him

The strong positions of the Kaisarbagh – covered by the Tara Kothi – and of the Begam’s palace, covering the vast city behind them, would still remain in the occupation of some 30,000 unsubdued foes, and it was in the face of these that Sir Colin would have to withdraw the women and children, the sick and the wounded.

Sir Colin secures his left flank

Knowing all this – that absolute success on the 17th would be the prelude to difficulties of a new kind on the 18th and the days following the 18th – Sir Colin marked the commencement of his operations on; the first-named day with great caution. First, he deemed it advisable to secure his left flank. It was true that he had a force at the barracks, connected with the Sikandarbagh; but, as the enemy commanded all the massive buildings south of the Barracks, and even to the eastward of them, it would not be difficult for them to make a detour, avoiding the Barracks, and to act on our left rear.

determines to attack Banks’s house and the bungalows

To prevent this, Sir Colin detached the 5th Brigade under Brigadier Russell to carry the house called Banks’s house and four bungalows close to the Barracks, to convert them into military posts. To make the plan clear to the reader, I may state that Banks’s house occupied a position on the edge of the city, on the city side of the canal, directly south of the Barracks, and somewhat south of an imaginary straight line, from west to east, drawn from the Kaisarbagh to the canal. The four bungalows were to the north of it, close to the Barracks. A direct road led from Banks’s house across the canal to the Dilkusha. It will thus be seen that, possessing now the Barracks and the Dilkusha, the

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occupation of Banks’s house and the bungalows would sever the communication between the Kaisarbagh and the Dilkusha and would cover the left rear of the attacking force.

William Peel cannonades the Mess-house

Having thus made arrangements to secure his communications, Sir Colin directed William Peel to open fire with his heavy guns on the Mess-house – formerly the Mess-house of the 32nd Foot. He “was determined to use his guns as much as possible in taking it106.” The fire continued from the early morning till 3 o’clock in the afternoon. At that hour, the musketry fire of the enemy having been almost completely silenced, it appeared to Sir Colin that the Mess-house might be stormed without much risk.

The troops ordered to storm it

He ordered on this duty a company of the 90th Foot, under Captain Wolseley107, and a picket of the 53rd, sixty strong, under Captain Hopkins, Major Barnston’s battalion of detachments under Captain Guise of the 90th108, and some of the 4th Panjab Rifles, under Captain Rowlett.

The feat of arms devolving upon these men to attempt was no light one. The Mess-house, a building of considerable size, was surrounded by a loop-holed mud wall, covering a ditch about twelve feet broad, scarped with masonry. The ditch was traversed by drawbridges, but whether these were down or up was unknown to the storming party.

Captain Hopkins storms it

Never was a daring feat of arms better performed. Leading his men at the double across the intervening space, exposed to a hot fire from the neighbouring buildings, Hopkins of the 53rd, known as one of the most daring men in the British army, reached the mud wall of which I have spoken, dashed over it, crossed the drawbridge, fortunately left down, and entered the Mess-house. He had but just gained the place when Roberts, now the Commander-in-Chief in India, galloped up, handed him a Union Jack, and requested him to hoist it on one of the turrets. Followed by one of his men, Hopkins climbed upon the roof, and, giving three cheers, planted the flag on the summit. The cheers were responded to by a shout from his men, but the flag had not been up ten minutes before a round shot cut the staff, and sent

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it down into the garden. Again did Hopkins plant it, and again was it knocked down. He asked to hoist it again, but, just at the moment, an order arrived from the Commander-in-Chief forbidding the further display of it. Whilst searching for the flagstaff in the garden, Hopkins had come across Sir Colin, and the latter, after a brief colloquy, placed him in command of the Mess-house. He did not quit it till relieved the following morning by Captain Rolleston of the 84th109.

Simultaneously Wolseley, moving on a different point, had attacked the houses to the right of the Mess-house, whilst Irby, with a company of the supports, attempted to clear those on the left. Both attacks were successful, and the rebels, driven out, fled in panic to the Moti Mahall.

and follows the enemy to the Moti Mahall

The victorious stormers followed the fleeing enemy, Wolseley being determined to push his advantage to the utmost. He had, it is true, no orders to attack the Moti Mahall, but the inborn instinct of the soldier had taught him that nothing tended so much to bloodless victory as immediate pressure upon a defeated foe. He hurried on therefore to the wall of the Moti Mahall, but the opposition offered was great, and the wall was solid, and the gateway had been blocked up. He had, therefore, to send back for the sappers. These promptly came up, and

which, after a keen resistance, he storms

succeeded after a time in making narrow openings in the wall. Through these Wolseley and his men, he eagerly rushed, and attacked the network of buildings within. The resistance they encountered was, however, stout and even desperate, every room being contested. At length, however, he expelled the enemy, and the Moti Mahall, the last building held by the rebels on the line communicating with Outram and Havelock, came completely into British possession110.

An open space, nearly half a mile in width, still intervened between the assailants and the advanced positions of Outram

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and Havelock. This space was exposed to a heavy musketry fire from the Kaisarbagh and could not be crossed without imminent risk. But the risk did not prevent the two gallant generals and their staff from crossing the space to meet the Commander-in-Chief. They started – eight officers and one civilian. They were Outram, Havelock, Napier (now Lord Napier of Magdala), Vincent Eyre, young Havelock (now Sir Henry Havelock), Dodgson, the Deputy Adjutant-General, the aide-de-camp Sitwell, the engineer Russell, and the gallant Kavanagh. They had not gone many paces before they were seen by the enemy, and the musketry fire from the Kaisarbagh redoubled. Napier was struck down, young Havelock was struck down, Sitwell and Russell were struck down. Outram, Havelock, Eyre, Dodgson, and Kavanagh, alone reached the Moti Mahall uninjured. Then, to borrow once again the appropriate language of Sir Colin Campbell, “the relief of the garrison had been accomplished.”

Outram, Havelock, Dodgson, and Kavanagh return

The conversation between the Commander-in-Chief and his four visitors, though animated and joyful, was not long. The visitors had to return across the terrible space. They set out at a run. Outram and Kavanagh were able to keep it up. But Havelock, weak and ill, soon tired.

Havelock and Dodgson

Turning to Dodgson, he exclaimed, “I can do no more, Dodgson, I can do no more.” Dodgson, than whom no braver, no more modest, and no more deserving, soldier ever lived, at once supported the gallant veteran. Resting on Dodgson, then, the illustrious soldier traversed, at a slow and measured pace – the only pace of which his strength was capable – the ground still remaining to be gone over, the enemy’s balls striking all around them, at their feet, just short of them, just before them, just behind them, but all missing their mark.

The proceedings of Outram and Havelock

I propose now to devote a few moments to explain in detail the manner in which Outram and Havelock had accomplished their portion of the allotted task. I left Outram on the 9th November, sending off the devoted Kavanagh, disguised as a native, to the camp of the Commander-in-Chief. From that date Outram was made aware, by means of preconcerted signals, of each move of Sir Colin Campbell’s force; of his successive arrivals at the Alambagh and the Dilkusha, and of his movement against the Sikandarbagh and the Shah Najaf on the morning of the 16th.

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November 16

Havelock assumes command of the advance

The time, so long and eagerly looked for, had now when it would be possible for the troops pent up in the Residency and the adjoining buildings to co-operate actively with the relieving force. With his usual self-denial, Outram once again assigned to the illustrious Havelock the honour of conducting this critical operation. In pursuance of his instructions, Havelock selected from his division a body of about twelve hundred men, and held them in readiness, on the first signs of the successful storming of the Sikandarbagh, to drive the enemy from the strong positions which would still intervene between him and the advancing columns of the Commander-in Chief.

Composition of the advance

The force selected by Havelock consisted of a hundred and sixty men of the 5th Fusiliers, under Lieutenant Mara; of forty-eight of the 64th Regiment, under Captain Shute; of a hundred and sixty of the 84th,. under Captain Wills; of a hundred and forty-two of the 78th Highlanders under Captain Lockhart; of a hundred and eighty-one of the 90th Light Infantry, under Lieutenant-Colonel Purnell; of a hundred of the Regiment of Firuzpur, under Lieutenant Cross. Of artillery, he had three batteries of heavy guns, howitzers, and mortars, commanded respectively by Vincent Eyre (with the rank of Brigadier), Olpherts, and Maude, R.A. Each column was likewise accompanied by a party of miners, with tools and powder-bags, under the command of an engineer officer. The engineer officers were Russell, Hutchinson, and Limond. To these also was attached Captain Oakes. The reserve was composed of two hundred men from the 5th Fusiliers, 78th Highlanders, and Regiment of Firuzpur.

Havelock’s plan

Havelock had occupied the Farhat Bakhsh palace. It was his intention, as soon as the attack on the Sikandarbagh should be pronounced, to blow up, by means of mines previously prepared, the outer wall of the Farhat Bakhsh palace, and open a continuous fire upon the enemy from the heavy batteries which had been constructed behind it. As soon as that fire should produce a certain effect, the infantry would rush forward and storm two buildings between Farhat Bakhsh palace and the Moti Mahall, known as the Haran-khana111 and the steam-engine house. Under these, mines had been constructed. It may be convenient to state that, on the two

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batteries constructed behind the outer wall of the Farhat Bakhsh were mounted four 18-pounder guns, one 8-inch iron howitzer, four 9-pounder field guns, and two 24-pounder field howitzers. In position behind these were six 8-inch mortars, under Captain Maude, R.A.

He gives orders for action

At about 11 o’clock Havelock learned that the advancing force was operating against Sikandarbagh. He at once gave orders for the explosion of the mines under the outer wall of the Farhat Bakhsh. It happened, unfortunately, that the result of the explosion was not nearly so effective as he had hoped, and it devolved upon the batteries to complete the work which the mines had only very partially accomplished. Vincent Eyre and the officers serving under him were, however, in no way discouraged. A continuous fire, lasting over three hours, not only demolished the remaining obstacles of the wall, but produced a very considerable effect on the buildings beyond it. So great was it, indeed, that at 3 o’clock Havelock formed his columns of assault in the square of the Chatar Manzil – outside the battered wall of the Farhat Bakhsh – and ordered his engineers to fire the mines laid under the two buildings beyond.

and carries the enemy’s position as far as the engine-house

At a quarter past 3, two of the mines of the Haran-khana exploded with good effect. A quarter of an hour later the signal for assault was given. “It is impossible,” wrote Havelock in his despatch, “ to describe the enthusiasm with which this signal was received by the troops. Pent up in inaction for upwards of six weeks, and subjected to constant attacks, they felt that the hour of retribution and glorious exertion had returned.” Their action corresponded to the feelings which swayed it. Dashing forward with a cheer, they carried the Haran-khana, then the engine-house, and were thus in a position to extend their hands to their friends of the advancing force, as soon as these should have captured the Moti Mahall. I have already shown how this was done.

The difficulties that yet remained

“The relief of the garrison was accomplished.” Yes – but to quote once again from the gallant writer whose account of Lord Clyde’s campaign is a masterpiece of description of military movements112, “a most difficult and dangerous task still remained. The

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garrison, with women and children, sick and wounded, guns and stores, had to be withdrawn; and to effect this in the face of the vast force of the enemy was no easy task. One narrow winding lane alone led to the rear, and through it the whole force had to be filed. To protect the march of the convoy, the whole of the immense line, extending from the ruined walls of the Residency to the wooded park of the Dilkusha, required to be held, and this gave a most hazardous extension to our forces – far too weak for the maintenance of so extended a position. To keep any considerable reserve in hand was impossible.”

Sir Colin Campbell is equal to cope with them

The circumstances were indeed such as to merit the earnest care and consideration which the Commander-in- sir Chief devoted to them. Fortunately, Sir Colin Campbell was a man of iron nerves, of splendid resolution. He could act promptly and steadfastly even when confronted by so great a difficulty as that which now presented itself. His plans were quickly formed. The enemy still occupied the Kaisarbagh in great force. From the Kaisarbagh they threatened the flank and the left rear of the British army. To permit an enemy so numerous to occupy a position so strong and so threatening whilst carrying out the delicate operation which it had now devolved upon Sir Colin Campbell to attempt, was more than any prudent commander could agree to. Sir Colin’s first object, then, was to silence the fire from the Kaisarbagh. This silenced, two lines of retirement might be open to him.

His plans

I have already stated113 that on the 17th November Sir Colin had detached the 5th Brigade, under Brigadier

Brigadier Russell carries Banks’s house and the bungalows

Russell, with some artillery and rockets, to carry the house called Banks’s house and four bungalows, adjacent to the Barracks, with a view of converting them into military posts covering his left rear. Russell found the positions well fortified, and strongly garrisoned. But he was equal to the occasion. The four bungalows were first stormed. A detachment of the 2nd Panjab Infantry, led by a gallant subaltern, Lieutenant Keen, was then pushed forward to Banks’s house. This officer occupied that house without difficulty and remained there with fifty Sikhs, during the remainder of the operations for the relief of Lakhnao. His position was extremely

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dangerous, for the enemy were in great numbers, and, in his comparatively isolated position, he might at any moment be overwhelmed before assistance could reach him. But he showed a bold front which daunted the enemy.

Russell’s position

The chain of posts covering the British left rear was now complete. The proper right of this chain was the Barracks, occupied by Lieutenant-Colonel Ewart and three hundred of the 93rd, its proper left Banks’s house; the right centre was formed of the four bungalows referred to, the left centre by gardens. But, precisely at the moment when Russell’s brigade had succeeded in occupying the right centre and left of the position, there rose in the minds of the rebels the conviction that such occupation barred to them the road by which they intended to operate, and that they must at any cost expel the British.

November 18

is fired upon by the rebels

Throughout the night of the 17th and during the whole of the 18th, then, they kept upon the right and right centre of the position, a vigorous and unceasing fire from muskets and from an 18-pounder.

Reasons why the retention of the post was important

Had it been Sir Colin Campbell’s intention simply to occupy these posts whilst his large convoy was being withdrawn by the line he had advanced, this incessant fire, however annoying, would have had no important result. But Sir Colin Campbell having resolved, as I have shown, to dominate in the first instance the fire of the Kaisarbagh, and thus to secure properly a second line of retirement by the Barracks and Banks’s house, the line of posts had become a base from which to attack and occupy certain buildings between them and the Kaisarbagh. In this view the heavy fire kept up by the enemy during the 18th possessed a far greater importance.

Russell reconnoitres the roads

The first building Russell had decided to attack was the hospital, the nearest important post to the four bungalows and the Barracks. But, before he could move, it was necessary to silence the enemy’s fire. This could only be done by means of artillery. Early on the morning of the 18th, then, Sir Colin directed Colonel Biddulph of the Bengal Army, head of the Intelligence Department, to proceed in company with Major Bourchier, to reconnoitre the roads leading to the Barracks and the canal, with the view of discovering whether guns could not be taken down to co-operate with Russell.

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Bourchier and Biddulph

To no nobler and more zealous men could this dangerous task have been entrusted. Bourchier, to whose splendid services I have already referred, was one of the most daring officers of his unsurpassed regiment – the Bengal Artillery. Biddulph was cool, intelligent, and a thorough soldier. They quickly found a road, and then with the utmost speed brought down a 9-pounder and a 24-pound howitzer, and four 51-inch mortars. The gun and the howitzer were placed in position in front of the bungalow, on the extreme right, the mortars behind the bungalow.

Russell is wounded

The fire then opened. Brigadier Russell was almost immediately placed hors de combat by a contusion114. Colonel Biddulph then assumed the command. The fire continued with great effect, and the rebels withdrew their 18-pounder.

Biddulph is killed

Biddulph then organised a column for an attack on the hospital. But as he was explaining his plans to the officer next to him in command, Lieutenant-Colonel Hale of the 82nd, a bullet, which had previously traversed the cap of the latter, penetrated his brain.

Hale assumes command

Hale then assumed command. At 4 o’clock in the afternoon, he led his column to the assault, covering it with a quick fire from the 24-pound howitzer. Traversing some intermediate gardens, he attacked the hospital. The resistance, however, was obstinate, nor did he drive out the enemy until they had inflicted a severe loss on his column. Nor, unfortunately, was he able to maintain himself in the hospital after it had been stormed.

but can make no progress

Its thatched roof was kindled by the enemy, and the heat of the flames alone forced him to retire. He withdrew, then, in perfect order, to his original position115.

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The enemy attack the centre pickets

Whilst the struggle, followed by the retirement, had been going on at the hospital, the rebels, thinking that the central position, that between the Barracks and Sikandarbagh, must have been thereby weakened, attacked the pickets in considerable force. But Sir Colin Campbell, attentive to every detail, was no sooner cognisant of the situation, than he himself brought up Remmington’s troop of Horse Artillery, a company of the 53rd, and a company of the 23rd, to meet the attack. These were absolutely the only troops of which he could dispose, but they were sufficient.

Splendid conduct of Remmington’s troop

The conduct of Remmington’s troop elicited the admiration of the whole army. “Captain Remmington’s troop of Horse Artillery,” wrote Sir Colin, “was brought up, and dashed right into the jungle with the leading skirmishers, and opened fire, with extraordinary rapidity and precision. Captain Remmington distinguished himself very much. I superintended this affair myself, and I have particular pleasure in drawing your Lordships’ attention to the conduct of this troop on this occasion as an instance of the never-failing readiness and quickness of the horse artillery of the Bengal Service.” The attack was repulsed.

The roads on the left again reconnoitred

Thus ended the 18th. The British had maintained the position covering their left rear, but had made no substantial progress towards gaining a second line of retirement. The difficulties experienced in seizing the posts which would command such a line rendered it advisable once more to reconnoitre the ground between the positions actually held and the canal, to ascertain whether it was possible, abandoning the projected line of retirement by the direct road from Sikandarbagh to Banks’s house, to withdraw the guns and the troops by one of the unmetalled roads behind the bungalows already occupied.

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and are found practicable for guns

The reconnaissance showed that the roads in that locality, though heavy, were practicable for artillery. On receiving a report to this effect, Sir Colin determined to withdraw his force by the road by which he had advanced.

November 19–22

Sir Colin’s plan of retirement

He therefore directed Colonels Ewart of the 93rd, Hale of the 82nd, and Wells of the 23rd, commanding the posts covering the left rear, simply to maintain their positions, whilst he would himself personally superintend the delicate operations of the withdrawal, by the road already traversed, of the sick and the wounded, the women and the children. The order was simple, comprehensible to the meanest capacity, and was carried out to the letter.

The retirement

On the morning of the 20th, whilst Captain Ogilvy, already mentioned in these pages, was, under the direction of Colonel Hale, engaged in intrenching the positions covering the loft rear, Sir Colin Campbell began to carry out the withdrawal.

William Peel opens fire on the Kaisarbagh with signal effect

As a preliminary measure, William Peel, on the morning of that day, opened on the Kaisarbagh a tremendous fire from his heavy guns. This fire continued during that day, the day following, and the 22nd, increasing every hour in intensity. It gradually assumed the character of a bombardment. The enemy suffered enormous losses, and on the evening of the 22nd three breaches in the walls of the Kaisarbagh invited assault.

The rebel expect an assault, under Colin withdraws

They expected it. Such, however, was not the intention of Sir Colin. The bombardment had, in fact, been used to cover the withdrawal of the women and children, sick and wounded. Long before it concluded, these had reached the Dilkusha in safety. The effecting of the three breaches on the evening of the 22nd was used to carry out the retreat of the glorious garrison of Lakhnao. Whilst the rebels passed that night in devising measures to meet the assault which they expected on the morrow, the garrison which had so long held them at bay, the veterans of Inglis’s force, the victors in many fights of Havelock’s and Outram’s, began, at midnight, their retirement. The guns which they could not carry away they rendered useless. Then, “behind the screen of Campbell’s outposts, Inglis’s and Havelock’s toilworn bands withdrew. Then these began also to retire; the pickets fell back through the supports, the

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without being molested

supports glided away between the intervals of the reserve – the reserve, when all had passed, silently defiled into the lane – thick darkness shrouded the movement from the gaze of the enemy – and, hours after the position had been quitted, they were firing into the abandoned posts. Hope’s brigade, which had so nobly headed the advance, had also covered the retreat. Before daylight on the 23rd, the last straggler had quitted the camp at Dilkusha116.”

How Hale covered the left rear

Whilst the Commander-in-Chief was thus effecting the well-planned retirement, in the security gained by his skilful operations against Kaisarbagh, his lieutenants, Hale, Ewart, and Wells, covering his left rear, had remained occupying the positions they had gained and intrenched. During the three days of the bombardment of the Kaisarbagh, the rebels had never relaxed their musketry fire against those positions. But they had attempted no assault. The fact that they made no attempt at all is another remarkable proof, added to the many already cited, of the absolute deficiency of military ability amongst their leaders. For Banks’s house was not only entirely separated from the other posts, but it was garrisoned only by fifty Sikhs, who might have been overwhelmed ere succour could have reached them.

Hale rejoins Sir Colin at the Dilkusha

But no such attempt was made, and Hale and his lieutenants, as soon as he had ascertained that the Commander-in-Chief had advanced far enough on his line of retreat, evacuated the barracks and bungalows, and fell back on the Dilkusha by the road which had been selected after the reconnaissance of the 19th. They rejoined the main force at this place early on the morning of the 23rd.

where the army halts, but does not rest

The re-united force remained at the Dilkusha during that day and the ensuing night. But there was no rest for officer or private. The detachment parties who had come up with the relieving force had to be distributed to their several regiments; carriages had to be allotted; arrangements for the formation of the convoy of the women and children under responsible officers had to be made. In a word, there was made on this day a reorganisation of the whole force to remain in operation as far as the Alambagh.

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The cavalry

Looking back from this place – the first halt – after the successful relief, I find a sincere pleasure in paying the tribute of the historian to the splendid exertions of one arm of the service, whose place on the field of action has not yet been specifically mentioned. The storming of the Sikandarbagh, of the Shah Najaf, of the Moti Mahall, of the bungalows adjacent to the Barracks, was the united work of the artillery and the infantry; the bombardment of the Kaisarbagh, of the artillery and the sailors. During this time the cavalry, ever ready, always on the alert, prompt to take advantage of every opening, had been engaged in covering advanced movements, in keeping up the long line of communications, and in repelling the counter attacks of the enemy on the extreme right.

Their leaders

Such services were necessary to the safety of the force, and, though they might be less prominent, they were not inferior in value to those of the other arms. The names of Little and of Ouvry, of Probyn, of Watson, of Younghusband and of Gough, still live in the memory of those who served under them.

Havelock dies

Nor, when writing of the halt at the Dilkusha, dare I omit to chronicle the one mournful event which tinged the joy of the relief. That day Havelock, who had been long ailing, passed away to his last home. He had lived long enough to hear that his Queen and his countrymen had appreciated his noble qualities, that his name had become a household word among the homes and the hearths of England.

Havelock

The life of Havelock had been a life devoted to his profession. He had made the strict performance of duty his polar star. Gifted with military abilities of a very high order, and conscious that he possessed those abilities, he had borne without repining the sapping torment of slow promotion, and its inevitable results – employment in positions below his capacity. But every trial of Fortune had found Havelock cheerful, resolute, and devoted. To the smallest office he gave his best abilities. And, whilst thus labouring, he had striven also to prepare himself for the eventualities which were to follow.

A story is told of the famous Scot-Austrian Marshal, Loudon, that, when he was a Major on frontier duties in Croatia, he used to spend his leisure in studying an enormous map of the .

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Austrian dominions. This map he had placed on the floor of one of his rooms. His wife, jealous of this devotion, burst open, one day, the door of his study, and, seeing Loudon on his knees, tracing a particular route on the map, exclaimed, in a pet, “I wonder what pleasure you can find in eternally studying that map?” Loudon, turning to her, replied: “Leave me alone, my dear; the knowledge I am now acquiring will be useful to me when I become a Marshal of the Empire.” Not only did Loudon become a Marshal of the Empire, but he came also to be recognised as the one Austrian general whom the great Frederick respected117.

Similar was the course pursued by Havelock. He studied all his life for the future. Similar, too, was the result. When the opportunity did come, he used it in a manner which electrified his contemporaries, which gained for him the confidence and devotion of his soldiers. His daring march from Allahabad to Kanhpur against enemies excited by the slaughter of our countrymen; the splendid defiance of rule which he showed by, to effect a great end, fighting the battle of Kanhpur with a river in his rear; the skill with which he gained it; the inspired audacity which characterised his marches into Oudh; the confidence with which he resolved, at all risks, to hold on to the position he had taken up at Kanhpur – a position in a military sense false, inasmuch as his communications were liable to be severed; – all these deeds stamp him as a general of the very first order. He was bold and daring in conception, prompt and sudden in execution, persistent and unshaken in his resolves. The jealousy of men, in whose hands the opportunities granted to Havelock would have shattered, has attempted, since his death, to diminish his glory. But the poisoned darts have rebounded, blunted, from the iron cuirass of the warrior. His deeds speak for themselves. The incidents of that Kanhpur campaign will live, an imperishable record of his glorious qualities. The statue which adorns Trafalgar Square, whilst it will show his outward form to the generations which shall have known him not, will whet their curiosity to inquire regarding the early training

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and later deeds of one who, in a short and glorious campaign, illustrated all the qualities which combine to form a commander of the first rank.

Havelock buried at the Alambagh

Havelock died on the 24th. On the morning of the 26th his remains were consigned to a humble grave in the Alambagh. His gallant son, the leaders who had been associated with him, Campbell, Grant, Outram, Napier, Inglis, and others, and a crowd of officers, followed him to his last resting-place. He had fought a good fight: he had died, as he had lived, in the performance of duty.

Sir Colin and his convoy reach the Alambagh

To return. On the afternoon of the 24th, Sir Colin, having made all his arrangements, marched with his men and the train of women and children whom they guarded, leaving Outram’s division, in front of the Dilkusha, to cover his retirement. That evening Sir Colin, with his long convoy, reached the Alambagh. The rebels had made no demonstration against Outram, and that officer, having received a supply of carriage from Sir Colin, fell back and rejoined his chief on the 25th.

November 25

As Outram was preparing to fall back, the rebels showed themselves for a moment – only, however to disappear. They had not forgotten the rough lessons of the preceding days.

Fresh distribution of the force at the Alambagh

With the junction of the divisions of the army at the Alambagh came the necessity for making a new distribution of it. Three matters pressed themselves particularly on Sir Colin’s attention, viz. the safe transport of the ladies and children to Kanhpur, the necessity of dealing with the Gwaliar mutineers, and the occupation by a sufficient force of the Alambagh. The second of these matters was a cause of considerable anxiety, inasmuch as Sir Colin had for many days received no communication from General Windham, commanding at Kanhpur, and it was impossible to say how circumstances had gone with him subsequently to the 9th November.

November 26

Outram ordered to remain at the Alambagh

The third matter was, naturally, that first settled. Sir Colin decided on the 26th that Sir James Outram should remain at Alambagh with a force augmented to about four thousand men of all arms, twenty-five guns and howitzers, and ten mortars. Outram would thus occupy a position. threatening Lakhnao, and would retain it till the Commander-in-Chief, having placed his convoy in

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safety and disposed of the Gwaliar mutineers, should return, to act offensively against the city of Lakhnao. To maintain the communication with Kanhpur, a post at the Banni bridge, up to that time occupied by the wing of a Madras native regiment and two guns, was strengthened by a detachment of European troops.

November 27

Sir Colin and the remainder of the force start for Kanhpur

Having made this disposition on the 26th, Sir Colin set out for Kanhpur at 11 A.M. on the 27th. He had with him about three thousand men, including the wasted remnant of the 32nd Regiment, and the few survivors of the native pensioners who had responded to the call of Sir Henry Lawrence. Under the convoy of the troops were the ladies, the children, the sick and the wounded, numbering altogether about two thousand, and the treasure which had been rescued from Lakhnao.

reaches Banni,

That same evening Sir Colin encamped at the Banni bridge.

but can hear nothing of Windham

In reply to an inquiry as to whether any communication had been received from Kanhpur, the officer there commanding reported that not only had he heard a cannonade during that day, but during the day previous also.

His position should Windham have been overwhelmed

This information was of an alarming nature. If Windham had been overwhelmed, the rebels would certainly have destroyed the bridge of boats and the British have would be cut off from their own provinces, which for the moment would be in the power of the rebels. There was nothing for it but to march on with the utmost expedition.

A cannonade is heard in the distance

Early on the following morning, the force pressed onward. “At every step the sound of a heavy and distant cannonade became more distinct; but mile after mile was passed over, and no news could be obtained118.” Just before noon, however, a native who had been concealed behind a hedge, ran forward, and delivered a missive to the Staff at the head of the advance guard. “He had a small rolled-up letter in the Greek character, addressed ‘Most urgent, to General Sir Colin Campbell, or any officer commanding troops on the Lakhnao road.’

Receives news of an impending disaster to Windham, unless he were speedily relieved

The letter was dated two days previously, and said that, unless affairs shortly took a favourable turn, the troops would

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have to retire into the intrenchment; that the fighting had been most severe; and that the enemy were very powerful, especially in artillery. It concluded by expressing a hope that the Commander-in-Chief would therefore see the necessity of pushing to their assistance with the utmost speed119.”

The information contained in this note converted into certainty the impressions which the sound of the cannonade had produced. It deepened the anxiety of the leaders, the impatience of the troops.

The scene that followed described by an eye-witness

The scene that followed has thus been painted by an eye-witness120 “The impatience and anxiety of all became extreme. Louder and louder grew the roar – faster and faster became the march – long and weary was the way – tired and footsore described by grew the infantry – death fell on the exhausted wounded with terrible rapidity – the travel-worn bearers could hardly stagger along under their loads – the sick men groaned and died – but still on, on, on, was the cry.”

The tension too great for Sir Colin

After progressing in the usual order for a short time, the tension became too great for Sir Colin. Leaving the infantry to march on with the convoy, he pressed forward with the cavalry and horse artillery.

he announces his approach by salvoes

On reaching Mangalwar, about five miles on the Lakhnao side of the Ganges, he halted his troops, directed the artillery to fire salvoes to announce the approach of assistance, and galloped forward with his staff, in mingled hope and fear regarding the condition in which he might find the bridge of boats. As he approached the river a glance dissipated every doubt on this head. Through the glimmering light, for evening had set in, the bridge was seen to be intact.

then gallops on with his staff

Flames rising in every direction, mingling with the state light of the setting sun, showed that the enemy must have taken the city and a large part of the cantonments; that the tents intended for the ladies and children, the sick and wounded from Lakhnao, and the stores of clothing intended for the defenders of the Residency, must have been destroyed; whilst the artillery fire occasionally directed at the bridge, and

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musketry fire near the river bank, proved that a sharp crisis was impending.

has a glimpse of the disaster

In a word, to use the language of an officer on Sir Colin’s staff, “ the veil which had so long shrouded us from Windham was rent asunder, and the disaster stood before us in all its calamity121.” What that disaster was, and how it came about, will form the theme of the next chapter.

as he gallops across the bridge into Kanhpur

I leave Sir Colin and his staff galloping, on the dusky evening of the 28th November, across the bridge, the preservation of which might yet enable him to repair the evil that had been accomplished.

Footnotes

76. A few hours before the occurrence narrated in the text Sir Colin met, travelling by “dak gari” (post) to Calcutta, Lieutenant Turnbull of the 78th, late A.D.C. to Sir Archdale Wilson, conveying duplicate despatches to Calcutta, with the account of the successful assault on Dehli.

It is interesting to note how, in those difficult times, an energetic officer was able to traverse the long distance between Dehli and Calcutta. Sir Archdale Wilson had left Dehli the 4th of October. On leaving he entrusted to Turnbull duplicate despatches for Lord Canning, giving full particulars of the assault. Turnbull started, accompanying reinforcements for Greathed’s column; reached that column the day after the fight at Agra; then pushed on to Kanhpur; then by “dak gari” to Allahabad and Banaras; thence by mail-cart to Raniganj. Meeting Sir Colin in the manner already noted, he pushed on to Calcutta, and reached Government House early the 31st May, being the first European to reach the Presidency from the zone north of the Mutiny since its outbreak.

77. Tarawala Kothi, literally “the Star Mansion: “ the Observatory, built for one of the Kings of Oudh under the superintendence of Colonel Wilcox, Astronomer Royal; Chatar Manzil, literally “the Umbrella Palace;” Farhat Bakhsh is a proper name.

78. For his conduct on this occasion, following on previous acts of distinguished gallantry, Private William Dowling, of the 32nd Foot, received the Victoria Cross.

79. As a proof of the fidelity and gallantry of the native troops, I may mention that every native officer of the 13th Bengal Native Infantry was either killed, wounded, or died during the siege. The Subahdar-Major of the regiment, Amar Singh, a gallant old Rajput, received two wounds at Chinhat, but struggled back into the Residency with the beaten troops from that fatal field. and served throughout the siege and for many years afterwards as Subahdar-Major of the Regiment of Lakhnao.

Debidin Misr, the drill hawaldar of the 13th, got through the siege without a wound, in spite of his conspicuous gallantry, and was for many years subsequently, after the retirement of Amar Singh, Subahdar-Major of the Regiment of Lakhnao.

Hira Lal Misr, a Sipahi of the 48th, at the commencement and throughout the siege was the right-hand man of Captain James, the head of the Commissariat. He displayed the greatest gallantry and intelligence, and died a few years ago a Subahdar of the Regiment of Lakhnao. He, like many of the distinguished native officers, who served throughout the defence, received a village in perpetuity.

Many other gallant Sipahis, especially of the 13th, may be mentioned. Seoraj Singh (severely wounded on the 20th June under Loughnan, defending Innes’s post), Indra Singh, both Sipahis of the 13th when the siege commenced, and native officers when Sir Colin Campbell came to the relief of the Residency, are worthy of mention, as are Amika Singh and Hira Singh, both Sikhs; Ramnarain Pandi, who greatly distinguished himself, under Lieutenant Aitken, in the sortie of the 26th of September. All ranks of this gallant regiment, the 13th, as well as the 48th and 71st Native Infantry, received the Order of Merit.

80. Sir James ()dram’s official report. “I am aware,” wrote Outram in the same report, “of no parallel to our series of mines in modern war. Twenty-one shafts, aggregating two hundred feet in depth and three thousand two hundred and ninety-one feet of gallery, have been executed. The enemy advanced twenty mines against the palaces and outposts; of these they exploded three which caused us loss of life, and two which did no injury; seven had been blown in, and out of seven others the enemy have been driven and their galleries taken possession of by our miners.”

81. “All necessary particulars,” writes Mr. Martin Gubbins, “being fortunately found under the head ‘Telegraph,’ in the Penny Cyclopaedia in my library, the General ordered the immediate erection of a semaphore on the top of the Residency, and copies of the necessary instructions were sent to the Alambagh.”

82. Mr. Kavanagh wrote an account of this journey, How I Won the Victoria Cross, Ward and Lock. He died, in St. Thomas’s Hospital, about five years ago (1883).

83. Blackwood’s Magazine, October 1858. The writer was, I believe, Sir Archibald Alison, whose share in the events, the description of which will follow, gave brilliant promise of the soldierly excellence which has followed.

84. Vide Appendix A. Objection has been taken to the statement made in the text to the effect that Sir Colin Campbell’s plan was based on the plan furnished by Outram. It has even been asserted that Sir Colin’s plan differed, in all respects save one, from that proposed by Outram. But Sir Colin Campbell admitted that he deviated from Outram’s in one particular only. To avoid street fighting he kept away from the ambush indicated by Outram, and took his course by the open ground near the Gumti. The question, then, resolves itself into this: Outram, anxious to assist Sir Colin by conveying to him the knowledge he had acquired on the spot, transmitted to him, by the hands of the daring Kavanagh, most valuable information; Sir Colin used that information largely though not blindly, that is, he carried out the main plan, though he did not rigidly adhere to all the details. Outram’s plan will be found detailed in Appendix B., I have ascertained that it was drawn out by himself alone. In stating, then, in the text, that Sir Colin’s plan was based on Outram’s, I am stating the literal truth.

85. Jalalabad, Anglice, “the town of splendour.”

86. Alambagh, Anglice “the Garden of the Universe.”

87. Naval Brigade and Artillery, four hundred and fifty; cavalry, nine hundred; infantry, three thousand five hundred and fifty; sappers, two hundred; heavy guns, twelve; mortars, ten; light field guns, twenty-seven.

88. Sir Hope Grant’s Incidents of the Sepoy War, page 179.

89. Now Lieutenant-General Sir John Watson, K.C.B, and V.C.

90. Blackwood’s Magazine, June 1858.

91. In this action our force lost two very promising officers, Captain Mayne, of the Bengal Artillery, and Captain Wheatley, of the Carabineers, doing duty with the 9th Lancers. A few hours before, Wheatley, talking with some comrades of the approaching Christmas, had remarked, “I wonder how many of us will then be alive.” He was a very gallant officer.

92. The Sikandarbagh, Anglia “the garden of Alexander,” is a high-walled enclosure about a hundred and fifty yards square, with towers at the angles.

93. Blackwood’s Magazine, October 1858. The writer of the article quoted either made or heard the remark. He was, as I have already stated, himself a distinguished actor in the campaign.

94. Blackwood’s Magazine, October 1858.

95. Colonel Ewart wrote me in December 1880. “I cannot tell you positively who was first in through the hole. Captain Burroughs claimed the honour, and certainly he was in before me, as, when I jumped through, I noticed him inside with his head bleeding from a sabre cut.” On this I would observe, that possibly Captain Burroughs entered by another aperture. The preponderance of evidence goes to show that through “that ugly blind hole” the officers jumped in the order stated in the text.

96. Colonel Ewart wrote me, after the appearance of the second edition of this work: “Lumsden behaved in a most gallant manner, immediately before his fall I saw him waving his sword over his head, at the same time calling out: ‘Come on, men, for the honour of Scotland.’ He belonged to Aberdeenshire, and was a fine fellow. His conduct was the more creditable, as, being only an interpreter, he need not have joined the stormers.”

97. “The attack on the Sikandarbagh had now been proceeding for about an hour and a half, when it was determined to take the place by storm through a small opening which had been made. This was done in the most brilliant manner by the remainder of the Highlanders, the 53rd and 4th Panjab Infantry, supported by a battalion of detachments under Major Barnston.” – Official Despatch of Sir Colin Campbell, dated 18th November, 1857. It will be observed that neither Ewart nor Cooper is mentioned. Yet Cooper’s splendid deed was well known in camp. I have seen letters from distinguished officers stating that he was pointed out to them as the man “who had leapt into the breach.” When, a few days later, the officers of the 93rd were called upon to elect from among themselves one member whom they considered entitled to receive the Victoria Cross for distinguished conduct and bravery under fire in the field, although the majority of the officers voted for Captain W. D. Stewart, many voted for Ewart and Cooper. No other officer was voted for. “On that occasion,” wrote three years later one, not the least distinguished amongst them, “I, for one, gave my vote in Cooper’s favour, conscientiously considering that he had justly earned the distinction. ... I know that this was the opinion of others besides myself. ... Cooper and Ewart both deserved to receive the Victoria Cross.” Yet their gallant deeds were not even mentioned. It is true that Colonel Ewart was subsequently made a Companion of the Bath and Aide-de-Camp to the Queen, but Cooper was left out in the cold – where he still remains.

98. This was another splendid deed buried till now in silence. Ewart had observed the colour in question in one of the rooms into which the rebels had retreated. He determined to get possession of it, and made a dash quite unassisted, at the room. He found the entrance to it defended by two native officers armed with talwars, each on either side of the doorway. He fought them both and killed them, receiving himself two sabre cuts.

99. So called from ‘Najaf,’ a town 98 miles from Baghdad, where Ali, the successor of the Prophet Muhammad, was buried.

100. Blackwood’s Magazine, October 1858.

101. Blackwood’s Magazine, October 1858.

102. I believe that, in point of fact, Adrian Hope’s attention was drawn to this portion of the wall by Sergeant Paton, 93rd, who was the first to discover its weakness. For this act Paton received the Victoria Cross.

103. It was an action almost unexampled in war.” – Sir Colin Campbell’s Despatch, 18th November, 1857.

104. Captain Anson’s gallant conduct at Balandshahr, already mentioned, had previously entitled him to the Cross.

105. Page 137, note.

106. Sir Colin Campbell’s Despatch, dated 18th November.

107. Now Lord Wolseley.

108. Major Barnston had been severely wounded the previous day in the attack on the Shah Najaf.

109. In previous editions the credit of the flag incident was erroneously given to Captain Wolseley. The error was corrected in the Appendix to the 3rd Volume, corresponding to the 5th of this edition, published in 1880.

110. In his life of Lord Wolseley Mr. Lowe states that the Commander-in-Chief was very angry with Captain Wolseley for thus exceeding his instructions, though the result was so satisfactory and beneficial. Ultimately Sir Colin’s anger cooled down, and he recognised the value of the achievement, accomplished with so much dash and gallantry.

111. Anglice; Deerhouse.

112. Blackwood’s Magazine, October 1858.

113. Page 141

114. The story is thus told by Colonel Bourchier (Eight Months’ Campaign against the Bengal Sepoys): “ The 18-pounder (rebels’) was not about one hundred and twenty yards distant, and, to avoid giving notice to the enemy of our intentions by opening an embrasure, the muzzle of the 9-pounder was crammed through a hole that a shot had just made. The riflemen declared they had not been able to load again. As we fired, so did they. A cloud of dust is all I remember. Brigadier Russell, Captain Ogilvy, and I were on our backs. Poor Russell had just been grazed on the back of the neck: the clods broken from the wall had knocked us over.”

115. Colonel Bourchier thus mentions a gallant deed, performed on this occasion, which deserves a permanent record in history. “Lieutenant Harrington, Bengal Artillery, and another officer (whose name I regret I never knew) belonging to H.M’s service, with a gunner of artillery and a drummer of infantry, did most gallant service. A man of the storming column had been wounded and left in the garden for an hour and a half. The drummer stuck by him, and dashed into the picket to report the fact. The little party above mentioned, under a very hot fire, rushed out and brought in the wounded man. As they left the picket, a round shot struck the ground under their feet.” Lieutenant Harrington received the Victoria Cross.

116. Blackwood’s Magazine, October 1858.

117. On one occasion after the Seven Years’ War, when Joseph II. entertained Frederick at Neustadt, in Moravia, Loudon had modestly taken a seat towards the end of the table on the opposite side to that on which Frederick was seated. “Come up to here and sit near me,” called to him the latter. “I would rather see you by me than opposite to me.”

118. Blackwood’s Magazine.

119. A Lecture on the Relief of Lucknow, by Colonel H. W. Norman, C.B.. Sir Colin stated that he received three notes in succession, vide Bourchier’s Eight Months’ Campaign.

120. Blackwood’s Magazine, October 1858.

121. Blackwood’s Magazine, October 1858.

This collection transcribed by Chris Gage
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