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Chapter 3 – The Sagar and Narbada Territories, and Nagpur

The Sagar and Narbada territories

The territories known as the Sagar and Narbada territories formed an extensive tract, bounded on the north by the British districts of Bandah, Allahabad, and Mirzapur; on the south by Nagpur and the dominions of the Nizam; on the west by Gwaliar and Bhopal. Within these boundaries is comprehended the state of Rewah, whose Rajah recognised the overlordship of the British. The other native feudatories, the feudatories of Koti, Maihir, Uchahara, and Sohawal, held their lands under grants from the East India Company. Within the limits of those lands, however, they exercised a ruling authority, subject to the interference, when necessary, of the paramount power. The larger portion of the Sagar and Narbada territories were directly British. This portion comprised the districts of Sagar, Jabalpur, Hoshangabad, Sioni, Damoh, Narsinhpur, Betul, Jhansi, Chanderi, Nagod, and Mandlah.

Sketch of the later history of those territories

When, in 1843, the Gwaliar Durbar commenced those hostilities against the British which culminated in the battle of Maharajpur, the chiefs and people of the Sagar and Narbada territories, then ruled by Mr. Fraser, C.B., as Agent to the Governor-General, broke out into open rebellion. This rebellion was due partly to the great dislike felt by the people to the civil courts, and more particularly to the mode in which they were administered, and partly to the propaganda of the Gwaliar Durban. When, however, the pride of that Durbar had been lowered by the battle of Maharajpur, peace was restored to the Sager and Narbada territories. Lord Ellenborough, who, throughout his Indian career, always displayed a marked detestation of proved

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abuses, inaugurated the newly gained peace by making a clean sweep of the British officials serving in the territories, and by sending one of the ablest officers in the Indian services, the late Colonel Sleeman, to administer them on a new basis. Colonel Sleeman succeeded in pacifying the chiefs and in contenting the people. When, after a rule of two of three years, he was promoted to be Resident at Lakhnao, he handed over the territories to his successor, Mr. Bushby, in perfect order. Mr. Bushby’s administration for five or six years was characterised by ability and good judgment; but when, at the close of that period, he was promoted to the Residency of Haidarabad, the Sagar and Narbada territories were joined to the North-West Provinces, then ruled by Mr. Colvin, Major Erskine42 receiving the appointment of Commissioner of Jabalpur, and becoming Mr. Colvin’s representative in the territories. Subordinate to Major Erskine were, amongst others, Captain Skene, Commissioner of Jhansi, and Captain Ternan, Deputy Commissioner of Narsinhpur.

They fall under the rule of the Agra Board of Revenue

With their transfer to the North-West Provinces, the Sagar and Narbada territories came under the Sadr Board of Revenue. In accordance with its traditions, that venerable Board at once proposed changes in the administration so startling that, if carried out, they would inevitably have caused a violent rebellion.

Which proposes revolutionary changes

Before finally deciding in favour of the proposed changes, Mr. Colvin had the good sense to ask the opinion of the officer who had served longest in the territories, a man of remarkable sense and strength of character, Captain A. H. Ternan.

On Captain Ternan’s representations many of these are modified

Captain Ternan replied by pointing out the inapplicability of the rules of the Sadr Board of Revenue to the needs of the province, and the certain consequence which would follow any attempt to enforce them. Mr. Colvin, struck by Captain Ternan’s representations, withdrew nearly the whole of the proposed changes. It is to be regretted that he did not withdraw the whole, for the few that he allowed, relating chiefly to the sub-division of properties, roused a very bad feeling, and led to many agrarian outrages.

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Sufficient remains to sour the temper of the people

Such was the state of the territories in 1855. The temper of the people, kindled by the cause I have mentioned, had not wholly subsided into its normal conditions of contentment. The outbreak in the North-West Provinces came inopportunely to inflame it still more.

Captain Ternan at Narsinhpur

The small station of Narsinhpur on the Singri, sixty miles to the west of Sagar, was garrisoned at the outbreak of the mutiny by four companies of the 28th Madras Native Infantry, under the command of Captain Woolley, an excellent officer. The Deputy Commissioner of the district, Captain Ternan, to whose calm and cool judgment I have already referred, had his headquarters also at Narsinhpur. The district of which this town was the capital was largely inhabited by petty chiefs, who had gone into rebellion in 1843, and who had never submitted willingly to British jurisdiction. So early as December 1856 there were not wanting indications that some great event was looming before the eyes of these men, but no European could venture an opinion as to the form that event would take.

His first experience of the chapatis in circulation

It happened, however, that one evening, in January 1857, Captain Ternan was sitting outside his tent, smoking a cigar, when the Kotwal43 of the village came running to him, bearing in his hand some small chapatis or cakes of unleavened bread. On reaching Ternan, the Kotwal, out of breath and panting, stated that the cakes were the remnant of a large quantity he had received that morning, with instructions to leave them with the watchmen of every village to be kept till called for; that he had so distributed them in the neighbouring villages, and that those which he held in his hand constituted the surplus. “What,” he asked Ternan, “was he to do with them?”

Ternan divines the mystery

Ternan, naturally shrewd, and that natural shrewdness sharpened by the experience of the rebellion of 1842-43, at once divined the truth.

and reports his views to Major Erskine

In those small mystery, unleavened cakes he saw the fiery cross sent through the land to unsettle the minds of the great mass of the people; that, distributed broadcast as the Kotwal had distributed them in his district, they would indicate a sudden danger that might come at any moment upon the people, threatening their caste and

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undermining their religion. He at once embodied these ideas in a report, which he transmitted forthwith to his official superior, Major Erskine.

Major Erskine

Major Erskine was an officer who had written a book entitled “Forms and Tables for the Use of the Bengal Native Infantry.” That book was a reflex of his mind. His mind was a mind “of forms and tables.” His mental vision commanded the line of strict and formal routine. Out of that line be saw nothing, he was incapable of seeing anything. When, therefore, he received Ternan’s report and read the conclusions drawn by that officer regarding the unleavened cakes, he ridiculed them; he considered the idea far-fetched, absurd, impossible.

Utterly declines Ternan’s view

He wrote back to Ternan to that effect, adding that it was simply a case of “a dyer’s vat having gone wrong,” and that the owner of the vat was propitiating the gods by the distribution of cakes.

Ternan’s prescience is justified by events

Subsequent events made it abundantly evident that Erskine was wrong and Ternan was right. Distributed broadly over the North-West Provinces and in Oudh, in the earlier months of 1857, these cakes were the harbingers of the coming storm. It is certain now that they originated in the brain of the Oudh conspirators, of the men made conspirators by the annexation of their country, and they were sent to every village for the very object divined by Ternan – the object of unsettling men’s minds of preparing them for the unforeseen, of making them impressionable, easy to receive the ideas the conspirators wished to promulgate.

I may record here a decision of the Government promulgated in the same district a year or two prior to 1857, and of the remarkable consequence it produced after the mutiny had broken out, as illustrative of the influence which an able and conscientious English officer can almost always bring to bear upon native chiefs.

The Rajah of Dilheri

One of the most influential chieftains in the territories under Captain Ternan’s supervision was the Rajah of Dilheri, the feudal lord of all the Gond clans. This chief had ever been loyal. For his fidelity and good. conduct in the trying times of 1842-43, the Government had presented him with a gold medal. Like many of the Wild tribe, he had been somewhat too profuse in his expenditure and had incurred debts; but, by exercising a strict economy, he had paid off those debts.

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Falls under the displeasure of the Board of Revenue

Such was his condition in 1855, shortly after the Sagar and Narbada territories had been brought under the government of the North-West Provinces. It had been a principle of that , government, since the time when it was administered by Mr. Thomason, to discourage large landowners.

and is deprived of his title and Estates.

One morning in that year Captain Ternan received instructions, emanating from Agra, desiring him to inform the Rajah of Dilheri that, inasmuch as he was unfit to hold the title of Rajah and had proved himself incapable of managing his estates he was deprived of both; that his title was abolished, and that his property would be distributed among his tenants, he receiving a percentage from the rents!

He feels the insult bitterly

When this decision was most unwillingly announced to the Rajah by Captain Ternan, the old man drew his medal from the belt in which it was habitually carried, and requested the English officer to return it to those who had bestowed it, as they were now about to disgrace him before his clan and before the whole district. With great difficulty Ternan pacified him.

but, despite Ternan’s remonstrances, the decision is persisted in

It was generally expected that he would break out into rebellion. He might well have done so, for every member of the clan felt insulted in his person. Ternan, fearing an outbreak, pressed on the Government the mistake they had committed and urged them to rectify it. But the Government would not listen. The order was carried out. Ternan did all in his power to save the family from ruin; but even he could do little.

When the mutiny breaks out, his grandson and his clansmen

Before the mutiny broke out in May 1857, the old man hail died; his son, too, had died. The next heir took the title – for, however the Government might order, the representative of the family was always Rajah to the people. Then came the mutiny of May 1857. The Narsinhpur district felt its shock. Muhammadans from across the border invaded the district and pillaged the villages. The outlook became every day more gloomy. “Save yourselves while there is yet time,” said the loyal officials to Ternan. But Ternan stayed. One morning, however, early in June, his house was surrounded by a considerable body of armed men, with lighted matchlocks. Ternan saw at a glance that they all belonged to the Dilheri

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clan. He at once summoned the chief and asked him what had brought him and his clansmen in such numbers and in so warlike a garb. The chief replied that he would answer if he and the other chiefs were allowed a private audience with their interlocutor. Ternan admitted them into his drawing-room.

Offer their services to Ternan, and continue loyal under every change of fortune

The chief replied “You behaved kindly to us and fought our battle when the title and estate were confiscated, and you were abused for so doing. Now we hear disturbances are rife, and we come to offer you our services. We will stick by you as you stuck by us. What do you wish us to do?”

Ternan thanked them, accepted their offer, assured them they should be no losers by their conduct, and promised to do his utmost to see justice done them. The members of the clan remained loyal throughout under every the trying events of 1857-58, resisted the urgent solicitations made to them to join the rebels, and, what was of equal importance, they induced other clans to join them in rendering most valuable service to the British cause.

I turn now to the part of the territories the chief centres in which were more purely military stations.

Garrisons of the Sagar and Narbada territories

There were three military stations in the Sagar and Narbada territories – the stations of Sagar, Jabalpur, and Hoshangabad. Sagar was garrisoned by the 31st the and 42nd Bengal Native Infantry, the 3rd Regiment Irregular Cavalry, and sixty-eight European gunners; Jabalpur by the 52nd Bengal Native Infantry, and Hoshangabad by the 28th Madras Native Infantry. The commandant of the Sagar district force was Brigadier Sage, who had his headquarters at Sagar.

Brigadier Sage at Sagar

Neither the news of the mutiny at Mirath nor the tidings of the nearer and more horrible events of Jhansi44, affected, according to all appearance, the demeanour of the native troops at Sagar. Indeed, so conspicuous was their good conduct, that, early in June, Brigadier Sage, not trusting them, yet unwilling to openly display an opposite feeling, did not hesitate to send a detachment, consisting of five hundred infantry, a hundred and twenty-five cavalry, and two 9-pounders, against a Rajah who had rebelled, promising them a reward of six thousand rupees for the capture

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of the said Rajah, dead or alive. A few days later, however, the brigadier had reason to feel that the policy of concealing distrust was not likely to answer better in Sagar than in the places where it had been already tried and failed.

The position at Sagar

The station of Sagar was laid out in a manner which rendered it difficult for a commander with only sixty-eight European soldiers at his disposal, to exercise a general supervision over every part of it. At one end of it were the fort, the magazine, and the battering train. At the other end, distant from it three miles and a quarter, was a commanding position known as the artillery hill. Both these points could not be retained. The artillery hill, though in many respects important as a position, wanted water and storing-room for provisions. There was no question, then, in the ‘brigadier’s mind, as to the position which should be abandoned. Yet he laboured under this great difficulty, that the Sipahis guarded the fort and the treasury, and they took care to let it be surmised that they would yield neither the one nor the other. In a word, the station seemed to be at their mercy.

Mutiny at Lalitpur

Affairs were in this position when, on the 13th of June, Brigadier Sage received an application for assistance in guns from Lalitpur, a station in the Jhansi territory, though bordering upon that of Sagar, garrisoned by three hundred men of the 6th Infantry of the Gwaliar Contingent. The brigadier promptly despatched two 9-pounders, escorted by one company of the 31st Native Infantry, one of the 42nd, and seventy-five troopers of the 3rd Irregulars. The detachment never reached Lalitpur. The very evening before it left Sagar, the three companies of the Gwaliar regiment at that station had broken out into mutiny, had plundered the treasury, and had driven the European officers45 to flee for protection to the Rajah of Banpur, who, under the pretence of being a friend, had been for some days in the vicinity of Lalitpur, exciting the Sipahis to mutiny.

The Rajah of Banpur rebels

For a moment I follow the action of this Rajah. Finding that the rebel Sipahis had taken possession of the Lalitpur treasury, and were marching off with its contents, he attacked them, and was repulsed.

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Thus baffled, he sent off his European guests to the fort of Tehri, there to be confined, and then marched in haste to meet the detachment coming from Sagar, with the view of inducing the Sipahis composing it to join him.

Major Gaussen with a detachment from Sagar reaches Malthon

Major Gaussen, commanding that detachment, had reached Malthon, forty miles from Sagar, when he heard of the mutiny at Lalitpur and of the movement of the Banpur Rajah. He at once halted and wrote for reinforcements. Sage replied promptly by sending four hundred infantry and one hundred cavalry. The night previous to the clay on which those men were ordered to set out, great commotion reigned in Sagar, and it seemed as though mutiny might break out at any moment. The danger passed, however. Brigadier Sage, though urged by many of those about him to put an end to the terrible suspense by striking a blow with the few Europeans under his orders, remained impassive. He had resolved to act only when the Sipahis should commit themselves unmistakably to revolt.

The detachment marched the following morning, the 19th of June, and joined Major Gaussen on the 23rd. Gaussen then marched with his whole force against the fort of Balabet, held by the rebels, stormed it46, and took sixteen of the garrison prisoners. The Sipahi stormers promised these men their lives, and two days later, on the return of the detachment to Malthon, they insisted on their release. Major Gaussen being powerless to refuse the demand, they released the prisoners, and made them over to the Banpur Rajah. .No sooner had this act been accomplished than that Rajah entered the British camp, and openly offered the Sipahis a monthly pay of twelve rupees if they would leave their officers and go over to him with their arms and ammunition! The Sipahis agreed, dismissed their officers, and joined the Rajah.

Sage prepares for decisive movement

The information brought by the returning officers to Sagar decided Sage to act promptly. He saw that, if he were to wait till the rebel Rajah should march on Sagar, he and his sixty-eight men would be surrounded and lost. Accordingly he at once, and in the most judicious manner, began his operations. He first moved the contents of the treasury into the fort; to the same

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place he next conveyed the contents of the expense magazine and the artillery magazine; and, last of all, he removed thither the women, the children, and the baggage of the European artillery. As soon as this had been accomplished, he took a guard of Europeans and relieved the Sipahi guard at the fort gate. Thus, by a few decisive strokes, the one following the other with rapidity, Sage gained a place of refuge, secured the contents of the magazine, and saved the treasure.

He reasons with the native officers

The second day after; the morning of the 30th of June, whilst the ordinary grand guard-mounting was progressing, Sage marched the Europeans and sixty cavalry, who remained loyal, into the fort. He then sent for all the native officers, and, frankly telling them the reason of his action, added that they had suffered acts of mutiny to take place without opposing them, and had forfeited their character; that there was yet one method open to them of regaining it, and that was to have the leading mutineers seized and delivered up to justice.

The 3rd Irregulars and the 42nd Native Infantry break out into mutiny: the 31st Native Infantry remains staunch

The native officers of the three regiments, apparently very much affected, promised everything. The next morning however, the 3rd Irregulars and the 42nd Native Infantry broke into open mutiny and plundered the bazaars and the bungalows of the officers. The 31st held aloof, professing loyalty; and on the 7th of July, one of their men having killed a trooper who had fired at him, a desperate fight ensued between the two native infantry regiments. The 31st, being unable to make much impression on the 42nd, who had two guns, sent into the fort to implore assistance. Sage despatched to their aid the sixty loyal troopers.

Battle between the loyal and disloyal Sipahis

A good deal of fighting then ensued, but, in the midst of it, forty of the 31st deserted to the 42nd. Still the bulk of the loyal regiment persevered, and, when evening fell, they sent again to the fort to implore assistance in guns. Sage replied that it was too late to send them that night, but in the morning he would bring them victory.

Final victory of the loyal natives

The disclosure of this message to the two belligerent parties fixed the 31st in their loyal resolves, whilst it so dispirited their opponents that during the night they fled, pursued for some miles by the loyal Sipahis and troopers, who captured one of the guns. When the victors returned, it was ascertained that

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whilst the entire 31st, the forty above alluded to excepted, had remained loyal, fifty of the 42nd had followed their example, and the sixty loyal troopers had been joined by at least an equal number of the same temper from out-stations.

Life in the Sagar fort

The brigadier now devoted himself to strengthening the mud fort. He had supplies and medical stores for six months, and a sufficiency of guns and ammunition. The able-bodied men of the Christian community were gradually drilled, and, as they numbered nearly sixty, Sage soon had at his disposal a force of a hundred and twenty-three fighting men. The number was not at all too large, for the duties were heavy; there were a hundred and ninety women and children to be guarded, and occasionally parties of Bundela rebels, into whose hands the surrounding country had fallen, made known their presence by a sudden volley. They invariably, however, disappeared in the jungles on the first appearance of pursuit.

The districts held by the natives

The districts – in close vicinity to each other – of Jabalpur, of Saga; of Chanderi, of Jhansi, and of Jalaun, continued, from this time until the arrival of the relieving force under Sir Hugh Rose, to be over-run by rebels, Sipahi and other. These harried the country, captured forts, plundered villages, for a long time with impunity. Before I narrate the manner in which they were ultimately dealt with, it will, I think. be advisable to clear the ground by recording the events passing at the other stations in this part of India.

Jabalpur

Of Lalitpur I have spoken. Jabalpur, a hundred and eleven miles south-east from Sagar, has next to be noticed. This station was, in 1857, garrisoned by the 52nd Native Infantry, commanded by Lieutenant-Colonel Jamieson. It was the head-quarters likewise of Major Erskine, the chief political officer in the Sagar and Narbada territories. For a few weeks after the news of the mutiny at Mirath had reached Jabalpur the men of the 52nd showed no sign of disaffection, but it soon became clear that they, too, were only watching their opportunity.

Dubious conduct of the 52nd Native Infantry

On the 16th of June one of the men attempted to murder the adjutant; and, though the man in question was subsequently released on the ground of insanity, the conduct of his comrades a little later proved that there had been method in his madness. They assumed the usual airs of authority, treated

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their officers with patronising familiarity, and declared that they would only mutiny if a European regiment were sent to disarm them. The folly of retaining the ladies and children at the station – a folly which had been pointed out to Major Erskine, but upon which he had insisted – became then apparent.

For a time they do good work in the district

The news that a native brigade was advancing on Jabalpur from Kamthi would appear to have produced a good effect on the men of the 52nd, for in the interval between the period I have referred to and the arrival of the brigade, 2nd. of August, they were usefully employed by Major Erskine in repressing disturbances in the district.

The Kamthi column arrives

The Kamthi movable column – for it was no more – consisted of the 4th Madras Light Cavalry under Captain Tottenham, the 33rd Madras Native Infantry under Colonel Millar commanding the column, a battery of Field Artillery under Captain Jones, and one company Rifles of the Nagpur Irregular Force, under Lieutenant Pereira. This column marched into Jabalpur on the 2nd of August. After a halt there of a few days, the larger portion of it was sent into the neighbouring districts to restore order.

Shankar Shah and his son mutiny and are punished

During its absence an old Rajah of the Gond dynasty, Shankar Shah, his son, and some adherents of his house were convicted, on the clearest evidence, of plotting the destruction of the English at Jabalpur, and the plunder of the station. On the 18th of September the father and son were blown away from guns, the adherents being reserved for the following day. But little doubt was entertained that the incriminated Rajah and the incriminated son had made many efforts to seduce the men of the 52nd from their allegiance. To allay, then, the excitement which, it was apprehended, their execution might create in the minds of the rank and file, Colonel Jamieson and other officers of the regiment proceeded almost immediately to the lines, and explained to the men that the Rajah and his son had merely paid the penalty for proved misconduct. They judged, from the manner of the men, that they had removed all apprehensions from their minds.

The 52nd Native Infantry mutiny

At 9 o’clock that night, however, the entire 52nd regiment marched quietly out of the station, without noise or alarm, and proceeded some twenty miles without a halt to the Tahsildari of Patan. At that place

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was stationed a company of their own regiment commanded by Lieutenant MacGregor. MacGregor, who naturally had no intimation of the proceedings of the regiment, was surprised, and at once placed in confinement under sentries.

And kill one of their officers

The Sipahis then sent in to their colonel a letter, most respectfully worded, in which they announced their intention of marching to Dehli, and offered to release MacGregor in exchange for ten Sipahis left behind in Jabalpur. This offer not having been complied with, the rebels kept their prisoner till they were attacked, and then shot him47.

But, long before the commission of this atrocity, information of the high-handed action of the 52nd Native Infantry, and orders to return to Jabalpur, had been conveyed to the Madras column in the district.

A Madras column marches against the 52nd Native Infantry

That column, consisting of four hundred men of the 33rd Madras Native Infantry, the rifle company of the 1st Madras Native Infantry, one troop of the 4th Madras Light Cavalry, and four guns, manned by European gunners, happened to be at Damoh, sixty-five miles to the north-west of Jabalpur. It started at once, on the 21st of September. On the night of the 25th it encamped at Sangrampur, about twenty-five miles from its destination. Between this place and Jabalpur, close to a village called Katangi, flows a navigable river, the Hiran, the passage across which, it was thought possible, might be disputed by the 52nd.

An advanced party meets them

To secure the means of crossing it, a party, consisting of the grenadier company 33rd Madras Native Infantry, under Lieutenant Watson, and a few troopers of the 4th, under Major Jenkins, left the camp at 2 o’clock in the morning of the 26th. At daybreak, as they were nearing Katangi, Jenkins and Watson, who were riding in front of their column, were suddenly fired at, and almost immediately surrounded.

Fights its way through

How they escaped it is difficult to imagine. It is, however, a fact, that notwithstanding all the efforts made by the Sipahis, they fought their way through them and reached their men.

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and waits for the main body

These were not numerous enough to take the aggressive. Jenkins, therefore, drew them up on a hill difficult to escalade, and there awaited the arrival of the main column.

To this column, on the point of starting about 6 o’clock in the morning, information arrived, in an exaggerated form, of the events at Katangi. The two European officers were reported killed, and the rebels were said to be pressing on in force. Eager to avenge their officers and relieve their comrades, the gallant native soldiers of the coast army hurried forward. On reaching the mouth of the gorge leading to Katangi, they found the 52nd had taken up a very strong position, both flanks covered by thick jungle.

which totally defeats the rebels

Without hesitating, they opened fire from the guns, and then attacked the rebels with the bayonet and drove them before them. On reaching Katangi, they were joined by Jenkins and Watson. The . pursuit was continued beyond that place. In Katangi the body of MacGregor, murdered that morning, was found. The rebels suffered severely. A hundred and twenty-five dead were actually counted on the field, and it is certain that many more were wounded. On the side of the victors one man was killed and fifty were wounded. The column then returned to Jabalpur.

A force is sent from Sagar against the Banpur Rajah

This was not by any means the only skirmish which took place in the Sagar and Narbada territories during the autumn of 1857. In my story of the transactions at Sagar, I have alluded to the conduct of the Banpur Rajah. This rebel chief, still hoping to gain greatly by the downfall of the British, had, after a great deal of promiscuous plundering, taken up a position at Nirauli, about nine miles from Sagar, and had strongly intrenched it. Against this position a force was sent from the Sagar fort on the 15th of September, under the command of Lieutenant-Colonel Dalyell, 42nd Native Infantry.

It is repulsed with the loss of its leader, Colonel Dalyell

The expedition was not successful, for, though the rebels suffered severely from the fire of the British guns, Colonel Dalyell was killed and the loss of the attacking party in killed and wounded was very severe. The intrenchment was not stormed.

This affair did not increase the chances of the restoration of order. The remnant of the 52nd Native Infantry, numbering

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some five hundred and thirty men, continued, after its defeat at Katangi, to ravage the country.

The country is still ravaged by the rebels

Joining the adherents of rebel Rajahs, these men took advantage of the withdrawal of the Madras column from Damoh to plunder that place and to release the prisoners left there. They then took possession of a strong fort, about thirty miles from Sagar, called Garhakota, situated on a tongue of land in an angle formed by the rivers Sonar and Gadhairi, and from this they constantly sallied forth to plunder and destroy. In fact, as the year drew to a close, in spite of the fall of Dehli, the daring of the rebels increased, whilst the handful of British, shut up in the stations at long distances from each other, and powerless to interfere effectually, could do little more than hold their own. Several skirmishes, indeed, occurred, but with no decisive result. In one of those, early in November, near Jabalpur, the Madras troops defeated the enemy, but their commander, Captain Tottenham, was killed. In others, the defeat of the rebels merely signified a disappearance from one jungle to appear immediately in another.

In preceding pages of this chapter I have alluded to the conduct of Captain Ternan in the Narsinhpur district. I must , devote a few lines to the military operations in that quarter.

Military operations in the Narsinhpur district

The garrison of Narsinhpur consisted of four companies of the 28th Madras Native Infantry under Captain Woolley. These Sipahis, unlike the bulk of their brethren in Bengal, continued throughout the period of 1857-58 loyal and true.

Woolley

Ternan

Roberts

Mayne

In November 1857, led by Woolley and accompanied by Ternan, they restored order in the disturbed parts of the district, co-operating for that purpose with a detachment sent from Sager under Captain Roberts of the 31st Bengal N.I. and Captain Mayne of the 3rd irregular cavalry. Its action was most successful. The districts north of the Narbada were cleared. of rebels; and, in a hand-to-hand encounter with the largest body of them, the rebel leader, Ganjan Singh, a landowner of considerable consequence, was slain, and nearly all his followers were destroyed. Ternan, who had his horse shot under him in this encounter, then urged a rapid march upon Singhpur, a place held by a noted rebel called Dalganjan48.

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His advice was followed, and Dalganjan was taken and hanged. The following mouth another fatal blow was dealt to the insurgents near Chirapur. When Woolley reached this place it was found evacuated.

Energy displayed by Ternan at Chirapur

Ternan, however, pushing on a small party in search of the rebels, succeeded in surprising them, and capturing their tents, a 4-pounder gun, and many native weapons.

and at Madanpur

This enterprising officer followed up the blow in January 1858 by completely defeating the invading rebels from Ratgarh and Bhopal at Madanpur. By this vigorous stroke Ternan finally cleared Narsinhpur district of all rebels of consequence.

Before describing the measures ultimately taken to reassert British authority throughout this part of India, it is necessary that I should take the reader for a moment to Nagod.

Nagod

Nagod is a military station, in the Uchahara district, distant forty-eight miles from Rewah, a hundred and eighty from Allahabad, and forty-three miles from Sagar.

The 50th Native Infantry

The garrison in 1857 consisted of the 50th Bengal N.I., commanded by Major Hampton. Up to the 27th of August this regiment had displayed no mutinous symptoms, and the men were regarded by their infantry officers as staunch and loyal.

appear staunch and loyal

It happened, however, that at the time that the 52nd Native Infantry decamped from Jabalpur in the manner already described, a rumour reached Nagod that Kunwar Singh was marching on that place. The men of the 50th were accordingly ordered to prepare to march against that warrior. They appeared delighted at the order, made all the necessary preparations with alacrity, and on the date above mentioned marched. They had not, however, reached the second milestone from Nagod when a voice from the ranks gave the order to halt. The regiment halted. Some of the men then told the officers that their services were no longer required, and that they had better go.

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But they mutiny and ravage the district

Opposition was useless. A few faithful men escorted the officers and their families to Mirzapur, whilst the remainder, returning to Nagod, plundered and burned the place, and then inaugurated in the district a career similar to that of their brethren of the 52nd.

Rewah

Rewah, I have already stated, is a small native state, ruled by a quasi-independent Rajah, recognising the suzerainty of the British, bound to them by treaties, and having a British Resident at his court. In 1857 the resident political agent was Lieutenant Willoughby Osborne, an officer of the Madras army, possessing great strength of will, a courage that never faltered, and resolute to do his duty to the utmost. Left unfettered, Willoughby Osborne almost always did the right thing; but, like many other men conscious of their powers, he writhed under the sway of self-appreciative mediocrity. Happily, at Rewah, he was unfettered.

Description of the town of Rewah

The town of Rewah lies little more than midway between Allahabad and Sagar, being a hundred and thirty-one miles south-west of the former, and one hundred and eighty-two miles north-east of the latter. It is built on the banks of a small river, the Beher, tributary of the Tons49. Around it runs a high and thick rampart, still nearly entire, flanked by towers, many of which have fallen into decay. Within this outer defence a similar rampart immediately environs the town; and still further inward a third surrounds the residence of the Rajah. It is a decaying place, and the population in 1857 scarcely exceeded six thousand.

Glance at the political situation of Rewah

The residence of a Rajah whose ancestors had been proud of their independence, surrounded by districts in which mutiny was rampant, lying many miles from the route of the British armies between Calcutta and the North-West, Rewah, in June and July of 1857, seemed utterly lost. Not, however, to Willoughby Osborne. The first point to which that able officer directed his efforts was to win the Rajah.

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Tact and judgment displayed by Willoughby Osborne

His character had, indeed, already gained the respect and admiration of the prince, but in such times as were then upon them it became necessary that the princes of India, especially the small Rajahs, should feel that they had everything to lose, nothing to gain, by the success of the mutineers. Osborne succeeded in instilling that feeling into the mind of the Rajah.

He gains the Rajah

On the 8th of June he was able to announce that the Rajah of Rewah had placed his troops at the disposal of the Government of India; that the offer had been accepted; and that eight hundred of those troops, with two guns, had been sent to Amarpatan – a place commanding the roads to Jabalpur, Nagod, and Sagar – ready to oppose insurgents from any of those stations, and to intercept communications with the rebellious villages on the Jamnah.

and sends his troops to guard the districts.

He despatched, about the same time, eleven hundred of the Rajah’s troops and five guns to the Katra pass, about midway to Mirzapur, and whence a rapid advance could be made on that important commercial city, on Banaras, or on Chunar, as might be deemed advisable. A week later he obtained the Rajah’s sanction to send seven hundred troops to Bandah, and he induced him to issue a proclamation promising rewards to any of his soldiers who should distinguish themselves by their gallantry and loyalty.

Excellent effect of these measures on Bundelkhand

The measures taken by Willoughby Osborne had a very marked influence on affairs in Bundelkhand. There, as in the adjacent territories, the smaller chieftains, at mostly men of impoverished fortunes, thought the opportunity too favourable to be lost. They, too, rose in revolt. But Osborne was incessantly on the watch. By the skilful disposition of the Rajah’s troops, and by the display of an energy which never tired, he baffled all the earlier efforts of the rebels. By the exercise of similar qualities he kept open the important line of road between Mirzapur and Jabalpur, a necessary part of the available postal route between Calcutta and Bombay. In a few weeks he was able to take an active offensive against the insurgents.

He takes the field against the insurgents

He defeated them at Kanchanpar and Zorah, then advancing on their stronghold – Maihar – he stormed that city on the 29th of December, pushed on to Jakhani, captured that place, thus opening thirty-six miles of road in the direction of Jabalpur.

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At a date considerably later he, in the most gallant manner, captured the important fort of Bijeraghugarh.

and performs wonders

Owing solely to the indefatigable exertions of this gallant Englishman, the rebel cause not only found no footing in Bundelkhand, but it lost way in the adjacent territories.

Nagpur

Nagpur, till 1853 the capital of the Bhonsla dynasty, and since that period the chief town in the Central Provinces and the head-quarters of the Chief Commissioner, is a large straggling city, about seven miles in circumference, having in 1857 a population somewhat exceeding a hundred thousand.

Description of its position

Close to the city, on its western side, is a hilly ridge running north and south, known as the Sitabaldi, possessing two summits, one at each extremity, the northern being the higher, the southern the larger, but both commanding the city.

Outside of but near the city were the arsenal – containing guns, arms, ammunition, and military stores of every description – and the treasury of the province, containing a large amount of cash.

Mr. George Plowden

To protect these and the city, the Commissioner, Mr. George Plowden had, of European troops, one company of Madras artillery, whose head-quarters were at Kamthi, eleven miles distant. The local native troops at his disposal were thus stationed: at Kamthi or in Nagpur itself, the head-quarters of the 1st infantry, the 1st Cavalry, and the artillery of the Nagpur irregular force; at Chanda, eighty-five miles south of Nagpur, were the 2nd Infantry, and a detachment of the 1st, of the same force; at Bhandara, forty miles to the east of Nagpur, was another detachment of the 1st Regiment; the head-quarters and greater part of the 3rd Regiment were at __pur, a hundred and thirty-seven miles still further in the same direction; the remainder of that regiment was at Bilaspur on the Arpa, a town in the same division.

and those of the regular army at Kamthi

These, I have said, were local troops. Kamthi was likewise the head-quarters of a brigade of the Madras army. The troops stationed there in 1857 were the 4th Madras Light Cavalry, the 17th, 26th, 32nd, and 33rd Native Infantry, and the European artillery already alluded to. Brigadier H. Prior commanded the Nagpur subsidiary force.

Very soon after the events of May 1857 at Mirath became known to the native population of the Central Provinces, symptoms of disloyalty began to be manifested by the troops,

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Ill-feeling amongst the local troops

especially by the cavalry portion, of the local force. In the position he occupied, ruling a large city, dependent for physical aid upon a few European gunners and five native regiments, Mr. Plowden could not afford to pass unnoticed even the symptoms of mutiny.

Mr. Plowden and Colonel Cumberlege disarm the local troops

Still less could he afford it when all the circumstances of the intended rising, to the extent even of the signal which was to set it in action50, were, on the 13th of June, revealed to him. Mr. Plowden then resolved to act and to, act promptly. He arranged with Colonel Cumberlege, who entirely trusted the men of his own regiment – the 4th Light Cavalry – that the troopers of the local regiment should be disarmed on the 17th of June. Colonel Cumberlege performed the task with skill and tact, and without bloodshed.

Mr. Plowden prepares for eventualities

Mr. Plowden followed up this blow by so strengthening the two peaks on the Sitabaldi hill, that they might serve as a refuge for the residents of Nagpur in the event of an outbreak in or about the city. He at the same time converted the Residency into a barrack, in which the civil and military officers should congregate during the night.

Loyalty of the soldiers of the Madras army

These precautions were effective. Notwithstanding serious alarms, no outbreak actually occurred. The Madras soldiers remained faithful, and, when a column comprising many of them was despatched to Jabalpur51, the departing men were replaced by others of the same army not less loyal and true.

Isolated position of Nagpur

The position at Nagpur was the more difficult in that the province of which it was the capital was isolated. No part of it was used as a high road for troops. No Europeans could be spared for it from their more pressing duties of crushing the revolt in Oudh and in the North-West Provinces. Its safety was in the hands of the Commissioner. For it be was responsible. It was his duty, with most inadequate means, to assure it. Fortunately, Mr. George Plowden, who represented the Government at Nagpur, was a gentleman of lofty courage and imperturbable nerve.

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Great credit due to Mr. George Plowden

Without appliances, he acted as though he possessed them. Left without external resources, he regulated his conduct as though they were abundantly at his command. And he succeeded. Eventually, when the first fever-beat of mutiny had subsided, he restored their arms to the local troops. There is no truer test of a man than this capacity to meet dangers and difficulties when he is unarmed, to look them calmly in the face, to remain cool and imperturbable in their presence. If to do this thoroughly, to face disaffection boldly, and by daring self-assertion to force it to inaction, finally, to submission – if this be a proof of greatness, then most assuredly Mr. George Plowden deserves to be classed amongst the great men brought to the front by the Mutiny of 1857.

Footnotes

42. Afterwards Earl of Kellie.

43. A Kotwal is generally a chief officer of police.

44. Vol. III. page 120.

45. Captain Sale, commanding; Lieutenant Irwin, second in command, his wife and two children; Dr. O’Brien, and Lieutenant Gordon, Deputy Commissioner of Chanderi. They were made over to the Rajah of Shahgarh, by whom they were kindly treated. Ultimately they were all released.

46. In blowing open the gate, Ensign Spells of the 31st was accidentally killed, Lieutenant Willoughby of the artillery was wounded.

47. MacGregor’s body was found by the officers of the Madras column with one ball through the neck, both arms broken, and his body perforated with thirty or forty bayonet wounds. Major Erskine had previously offered eight thousand rupees for his release.

48. The following is the official report of this gallant operation: “On this occasion Captain Ternan took a party of the Irregular Cavalry (some of the 3rd Irregular Cavalry, known as Taits’ Horse, who had remained loyal) in advance of the rest of the troops, and, coming on Ganjan Singh” – of Singhpur, also called Dalganjan Singh – “surrounded by about two hundred armed followers, charged him at once under a sharp fire. The success of the troops was most complete. Captain Ternan behaved with much distinction, and his horse was shot under him.” Not a few days afterwards, as Erskine says, but then and there, being completely surrounded, Ganjan Singh and his chief followers were taken prisoners. and the chief himself and several others hanged the next day. Most of the rebels were killed during the action, however.

49. Vide list of places at the commencement of this volume. Of the three rivers known as the “Tons,” that here mentioned is the South-Western Tons, which rises in the state of Maihar.

50. The mutiny was to have broken out on the 13th of June; the signal to have been the ascent of three fire-balloons from the city. The confession of one of the ringleaders, caught in the act of seducing the men of the 1st local infantry, gave the first intimation of the plot.

51. Vide page 70.

This collection transcribed by Chris Gage
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