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Chapter 2 – The Pacification of Oudh

Hope Grant

When I last referred to General Hope Grant125, he was marching to the fort of Jalalabad near Lakhnao. The date was the 16th of May. Leaving his force to enter that place, the general, just then nominated a Knight Commander of the Bath for his services in the field, rode into Lakhnao to consult with Mr. Montgomery, the recently appointed Chief Commissioner. Montgomery informed him that the Kanhpur road was again endangered by Beni Madhu, an influential talukdar, who had likewise caused proclamations to be distributed in Lakhnao, warning the inhabitants to quit that city, as it was to be attacked. On receiving this information, Hope Grant, taking with him the 53rd Foot instead of the 38th, and substituting Mackinnon’s battery for Olpherts’s, returned to Jalalabad, and started thence in pursuit of Beni Madhu on the 25th of May.

follows up Beni Madhu

For some time Beni Madhu was invisible. Hope Grant followed him to Jasanda, eight miles from Banni, where he had been reported to be “with a force of eighty-five thousand men”: but the talukdar and his men had vanished. On the 4th of June the Sikh Rajah of Kaparthala joined Sir Hope with nine hundred Sikhs and three brass 6-pounders.

Then, leaving the pursuit, marches

Hope Grant posted this reinforcement at the Banni bridge, and, leaving the pursuit of Beni Madhu, marched against a body of rebels, less fabulously numerous, but more really formidable – being fifteen thousand strong – who had taken up a strong position at Nawabganj, on the Faizabad road, eighteen miles from Lakhnao. Grant’s division was tolerably strong126. Leaving, then, a small force at the other Nawabganj,

Map of the North-West Provinces Including the Territory of Oudh

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on the Kanhpur road, he marched on Chinhat. There he found another column, twelve hundred strong, under Colonel Purnell. Placing his baggage under charge of that officer, he quitted Chinhat at 11 o’clock on the night of the 12th of June to march against the rebels.

Strong position of the rebels

These latter had taken up a position exceptionally strong. They occupied a large plateau, covered on three sides by a stream crossed by a bridge at a little distance from the town. On the fourth side was jungle.

Grant halts near the rebels

Hope Grant, having with him a trustworthy guide, led his force across the complicated country between Chinhat and the plateau during the night, and reached the bridge mentioned about half an hour before daybreak. He halted his column to allow his men to rest and get their breakfast, and then marched on the rebels. His plan was to turn their right and interpose between them and the jungle. His men would do the rest.

And surprises them

At daybreak Hope Grant crossed the bridge and fell on the rebels. He took them completely by surprise. Their forces, divided into four parts, each commanded by separate leader, had no time to concentrate, and had made no plan to act with unanimity. Hope Grant had struck at their centre, and this move had greatly contributed to their confusion.

Gallantry of the rebels

Still, they fought very gallantly. “A large body of fine daring zamindari men,” wrote Sir Hope in his journal127, “brought two guns into the open and attacked us in rear. I have seen many battles in India, and many brave fellows fighting with a determination to conquer or die, but I never witnessed anything more magnificent than the conduct of those zamindaris.” They attacked Hodson’s Horse, who could not face them, and by their unsteadiness imperilled the two guns attached to their regiment. Grant at once ordered up the 7th Hussars, and directed one of the batteries to open on the zamindaris. The fire from four

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guns of this battery mowed them down with terrible effect, but did not force them to retire.

who after a desperate contest, are defeated

After the guns had played upon them some time, the 7th Hussars came up, and, charging through them twice, forced them to give way. The fact that round the two guns of Hodson’s Horse there lay, after the combat was over, a hundred and twenty-five rebel corpses, testifies to the valour of these gallant levies. After three hours’ fighting, the rebels fell back, leaving on the field six guns and about six hundred dead. The British lost sixty-seven in killed and wounded. In addition, thirty-three men died from sunstroke, and two hundred and fifty were taken into hospital.

and disperse

This victory had very important results. The rebels had from all sides been flocking to Nawabganj to swell the formidable column already there. But Hope Grant struck dismay all around. The defeat was so crushing that the fugitives left the vicinity of Lakhnao, each of the four parties taking a different direction. The concentrating movement was thus effectually stopped.

Sir Hope is sent to relieve Man Singh

Sir Hope left his force at Nawabganj and returned to Lakhnao to consult with Montgomery, whom this victory had allowed for the first time to breathe freely. From Lakhnao he was ordered by Sir Colin Campbell, in the third week of July, to march to the relief of Man Sing, a famous Rajah128, who, having at one time taken part with the rebels, had listened to the advice of Mr. Montgomery, and returned to his allegiance. For this he had been denounced by his former associates, and at the moment was attacked in his fort by a body of them twenty thousand strong with twenty guns.

Hope Grant starts to carry out the order

It being of great importance to retain the adherence of so powerful a chieftain, Hope Grant at once despatched the 90th regiment, the 1st Bengal Fusiliers, Brasyer’s Sikhs, Mackinnon’s troop of horse artillery, and four hundred cavalry to Nawabganj to supply the place of the troops he should take on thence, and with these latter129 he set out on the 22nd of July.

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The position of the rebel parties in Oudh

Before starting with Sir Hope on this expedition it may be convenient to the reader to realise as far as possible the exact position at the moment of the several rebel parties in Oudh. Of these, counting as one the forces of the Begam and her alleged paramour, Mamu Khan, there were nine of great and many of smaller dimensions. The nine greater divisions disposed at the time of sixty or seventy thousand armed men, with forty or fifty guns. More than half of these were said to have their head-quarters under the command of the Begam and Mamu Khan at Chauka Ghat, on the Gaghra, not far from Faizabad; but a considerable body of them were besieging Man Singh. The remainder – led by such men as Rambakhsh, Bahunath Singh, Chandalabakhsh, Gulab Singh, Narpat Singh of Ruiya notoriety, Bhopal Singh, and Firuzshah – were scattered all over the province, never long at the same place, hoping that a chance blow might give them victory or plunder.

The rebels abandon the leaguer of Shahganj on Sir Hope’s approach

Hope Grant, urged by letters from Man Singh to the effect that, unless speedily relieved, he could not answer for the consequences, pushed on rapidly, so rapidly, indeed, that the rumour of his advance had all, or almost all, the effect of the advance itself. When within a few days’ journey of Man Singh’s stronghold of Shahganj, he learned that the besieging force had melted away!

And break up into three divisions

It was perfectly true. On hearing that the English army was advancing by rapid marches, the besiegers took fright, and broke up into three divisions. One of these fled towards Gondah, a second to Sultanpur, on the Gumti, a third to Tanda on the Ghagra.

Hope Grant moves on to Faizabad

Hope Grant moved then, not the less rapidly, on Faizabad; thence he proceeded to the ghat of Ajudhia, and found a considerable body of rebels pushing forth in boats to the opposite side of the river. He opened on these and sank all but one. The crews for the most part escaped. The next day he had an interview Rajah Man Singh.

And sends Horsford to Sultanpur

But he did not rest idle at Faizabad. Sultanpur having been indicated to him as the next point of attack, Hope Grant detached thither a column composed of the 1st Madras Fusiliers, the 5th Panjab Rifles, a detachment of 7th Hussars, three hundred Hodson’s Horse,

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and a troop of Horse Artillery under the command of Brigadier Horsford. Horsford was delayed by heavy rain, but at last, on the 7th of August, he set out, and on the 12th arrived within four miles of the town, separated from it by the river Sai.

Hope Grant learns the strength of the rebels at Sultanpur

Horsford, having ascertained by means of a reconnaissance that the enemy were in force, that the river was peculiarly favourable for defence and that his passage would be disputed, reported that state of affairs to Hope Grant. Almost simultaneously with the arrival of that report, Hope Grant received a telegram front the Commander-in-Chief informing him that the Sultanpur rebels numbered fourteen thousand men, that they had fifteen guns, and that it was advisable that he should reinforce Horsford with the Rife Brigade.

and pushes on to aid Horsford

Nothing loth, Hope Grant ordered up the 53rd from Daryabad, and, taking the Rifles with him, pressed forward to reinforce Horsford. He reached that officer on the 24th of August, and, at once changing the position of the British camp, resolved to cross the following morning. The remainder of that day he employed in making rafts. On these, early on the morning of the 25th, he sent over the 1st Madras Fusiliers and the 5th Punjab infantry, then, though with great difficulty and after one or two mishaps, he landed on the opposite bank two 9-pounder guns. Colonel Galwey, who commanded, then gallantly attacked and carried two villages in his front, at a point where the river forms a bend and where the rebels had a picket. The Rifles were sent over in support of this advanced party.

After crossing the river,

It was not till the 27th of August that the main body had completed the passage of the river, and even then the heavy guns, artillery park, hospital, and a wing of the 53rd were left on the further bank.

And a series of combats, the rebels abandon Sultanpur

Nor did the British force even then attack. On the evening of the 28th, however, the rebels became the assailants, but, after a sharp fight, they were repulsed and fled, abandoning Sultanpur to the conqueror.

The marches and counter-marches of the rebels

It is difficult to follow the Oudh rebels in their continuous marches and counter-marches. But few of the old Sipahis, the men who had been the backbone of the mutiny, were now among them. Their fluctuating numbers were composed almost entirely of the adherents

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and vassals of the talukdars and landowners of the province, aided by the scum of the population, the refuse of the gaols. Their movements were extremely irregular. One day they appeared to retire into Amethi, a fort twenty-five miles from Sultanpur, seven miles in circumference, composed of mud walls and surrounded by a jungle, the residence of Lal Singh, a young chief determined in his hostility to the British then they were heard of near Muzaffarnagar, then at Rampur Kasia.

Sir Hope Grant determines to postpone further operations till after the rainy season

It became evident to Sir Hope that nothing would drive them to submission but force, and he had full instructions to use it. The season, however, was unhealthy, and, when he entered Sultanpur, he resolved, with the concurrence of Sir Colin Campbell, to postpone further operations till the middle of October.

The story returns to Rohilkhand

Whilst the gallant soldiers of Sir Hope Grant’s force are waiting with anxious hearts for the period of renewed action, it may not be inopportune to take a rapid glance at the events which had been occurring in the meanwhile in other parts of the disturbed province.

In the last volume130 I recorded the close of the Rohilkhand campaign and the death of the Maulavi, the daring ,Ahmad Ulla of Faizabad; but, although the campaign was terminated, some time elapsed before the border lands of Oudh and of Rohilkhand were completely pacified. Many landowners on both sides of the border resented the conduct of the Rajah of Powain, and took up arms to punish, if they could, an act which they regarded as treachery in its basest form. It soon appeared, however, that the rebels could not agree amongst themselves, and they soon began to act independently of each other.

Nizam Ali Khan

Khan Bahadur Khan

The Farrukhabad Nawab

Walayat Shah

One leader, named Nizam Ali Khan, with a considerable following, threatened the station of Pilibhit. Then there appeared in the field the whilom pseudo-viceroy of the province, the treacherous pensioner Khan Bahadur Khan, with about four thousand followers; the Nawab of Farrukhabad with five thousand; and Walayat Shah with about three thousand. The authorities, however, were on their guard. They sent a small force, including the cavalry commanded

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by the gallant De Kantzow, to protect Powain, and they urged the corpulent Rajah of that place to keep his levies, two thousand strong, in constant training. This measure saved Powain; but in other parts of Rohilkhand it was found difficult to put down disorder.

The rebels menace Nuriah

Towards the end of August, indeed, Ali Khan Mewati, acting in concert with the Nizam Ali Khan above alluded to, approached so near Pilibhit as to menace Nuriah, a large village ten miles only from that British military post.

The force at Pilibhit was commanded by Captain Robert Larkins, 17th Panjab infantry. It consisted of the 2nd Panjab cavalry under Captain Sam Browne131, the 17th Panjab infantry132 under Captain Larkins, the 24th Panjab pioneers133 under Ensign Chalmers, and a detachment of Kumaun levies under Lieutenant Cunliffe.

Larkins sends a body of men under Craigie to hold the village

Both Captain Larkins and the chief civil officer, Mr. Malcolm Low, considered that the occupation of Nuriah by the rebels was at all hazards to be prevented. Larkins accordingly detached a hundred men of the 24th pioneers and one hundred 2nd Panjab cavalry, under Lieutenant Craigie, to hold that village, Mr. Low accompanying the party.

Craigie encounters the rebels

Craigie – who, as senior officer, commanded – reached Nuriah on the 28th of August. On the following morning the rebel chiefs I have named came down with three guns, three hundred infantry, and a hundred cavalry to attack the place. Craigie made excellent dispositions to meet them outside the town, and checked their advance. So well did the rebels fight, however, that, when nineteen of their cavalry met in a hand-to-hand encounter a party of the 2nd Panjab cavalry under Risaldar Hakdad Khan, fourteen of the nineteen were killed fighting. This occurred on the left flank.

And compels them to fall back

On the right flank Craigie repulsed them in person. They then fell back on Sirpurah, three miles distant.

Larkins, hearing at Pilibhit the enemy’s fire, thought it advisable to reinforce Craigie. Accordingly he directed a hundred and fifty 2nd Panjab cavalry, and a hundred

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Kumaun levies to proceed at once,. under the orders of Captain Sam Browne, to Nuriah.

Browne is sent to reinforce Craigie

Browne set off at once, and reached Nuriah at 4 o’clock that evening.

Browne reconnoitres

He at once reconnoitred the rebel position. It was on a rising ground or mound, amid the débris of the ruined village of Sirpurah, separated from Nuriah by an inundated tract of country nearly a mile in width, the inundating water varying from one to two feet. From that side Browne saw that it was impossible to attack.

and resolves to make a detour and attack the rebels

It was possible, however, to assail the position from the other side. The energetic magistrate, Mr. Malcolm Low, having procured him guides in the persons of an old woman and a boy, Browne started at midnight to make the detour necessary for the success of his plan.

He gains a position on the left rear of the rebels, when he is discovered

Taking with him two hundred and thirty Panjab cavalry, a hundred and fifty 17th Native Infantry, a hundred 24th pioneers, and a hundred Kumaun levies, Browne worked round the enemy’s right flank, and by daybreak reached a position on his left rear admirably adapted for his purpose. The fatigue had been great, and Browne halted for a few minutes to refresh men and horses. Whilst so halting the rebels discovered him, and at once made preparations to resist him, bringing three 9-pounders to bear on his advance, and posting one on their proper right flank.

He then advances

There was no time for further rest, so Browne at once moved forward.

Covering his front with skirmishers, and giving them strict orders not to fire, but to use the bayonet only, Browne pushed his infantry forward through some grass jungle which served to screen their movements.

The enemy’s gun annoying the advance

Very soon, however, the enemy’s guns began to play on his cavalry on the left, which were marching on the open road. Browne, who was with that cavalry, seeing the effect which one of them, fired with grape at eighty yards, was producing, galloped up to it, accompanied only by an orderly, and at once engaged in a desperate hand-to-hand encounter with the gunners, hoping to prevent them working their piece till the skirmishers should come up. Surrounded by the enemy, who attacked him with great fierceness, Browne attained his object.

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Browne charges the gunners

He did prevent the working of the gun until the skirmishers came up and relieved him.

and is severely wounded

In the fight, however, he was first wounded on the knee; immediately afterwards his left arm was severed at the shoulder. As he received this terrible wound, his horse, struck in the face, reared up and fell back on him. Just then the Wirdi-major of his regiment, followed by two or three others, rushed in, and, though the former was severely wounded, they kept the rebels at bay, and saved their commanding officer. Immediately afterwards the infantry came up, bayoneted the gunners, and secured the gun which Browne had captured134.

Meanwhile the Infantry push on

To go back for a moment. Whilst Browne was thus engaging the gunners, the skirmishers had advanced steadily without firing a shot until, close to the position, when a body of the enemy’s infantry lying in the grass jumped up and fired. On this the skirmishers, firing a volley, dashed on, secured the gun, and, aided by the supports and reserve, carried the position.

Complete defeat of the rebels

The cavalry on the right, meanwhile, pushing on, had, simultaneously with their comrades on the left, attacked the enemy’s flank, and captured one gun. This completed their discomfiture. They broke and fled into the jungle, followed, as far as it was possible to follow them, by the victorious horsemen. Their loss had been heavy, amounting to three hundred men killed, their four guns, their ammunition, and their stores. The two rebel leaders escaped, though one of them, Nizam Ali Khan, had been wounded.

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Eastern Oudh

In eastern Oudh, near Allahabad, there were about this time many bold and daring talukdars, the men who had already caused trouble to Longden at Azamgarh, and who were at this time exerting themselves to the utmost to stimulate opposition to the British. They went so far, indeed, as to threaten with condign punishment any member of their class who should submit to or accept the friendship of the common enemy. On these threats they acted.

Suraon is sacked by the rebels

Baba Ramparshad Singh, a talukdar of Suraon who had displayed British sympathies, was attacked by some of these confederated rebels, who burned his house, sacked the town, and took himself and his family prisoners.

A British force is sent under Berkeley to clear the district

On the intelligence of this outrage reaching Allahabad Lord Canning hastily organised a small force; to be designated the Suraon field force, composed of two hundred and sixty of the 32nd foot, eighty of the 54th foot, the 7th Panjab infantry, seventy men Brasyer’s Sikhs, fifty-two troopers 6th Madras light cavalry, sixty sabres Lahor light horse, detachments of horse and foot artillery, and nine guns and mortars, and placed them under the command of Brigadier Berkeley, C.B., with directions to reassert British authority in that part of the country.

Dahain

Berkeley crossed the Ganges on the 12th of July, and on the 14th came in sight of a body of rebels at Dahain. Dahain was not properly a fort. It was rather large area of jungle surrounded by a dilapidated earthen wall and ditch, and fenced with a thorny abattis. In the centre of the enclosure was a square brick house. On Berkeley’s approach the rebels retired within the enclosure, allowing the British to occupy the village and the jungle outside without opposition. Berkeley awaited for the arrival of his heavy guns, and then opened fire; but the result, owing to the dense nature of the jungle, not being satisfactory, he sent on his infantry to storm.

Is captured by Berkeley

The result was entirely successful. About two hundred and fifty rebels were killed in the ditch alone; as many more, chased through the jungle, were cut down by the cavalry and the horse artillery.

Resting on the 15th, Berkeley proceeded on the 16th to the fort of Tirul, seven miles north of Suraon. He found this fort in the middle of an impenetrable thorny or jungle, through which a few paths were cut in directions only known to the natives of the place; and it had walls, bastions,

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ditches, escarps, like a miniature fortress, with a stronghold in the centre, into which the garrison could retire on being closely pressed.

Under pressure

There were only three guns on the bastions, but the walls were loop-holed for musketry. So thick was the jungle around that Berkeley could scarcely gain a view of the fort; he therefore deemed it prudent to employ his mortars and a 24-pounder before sending in his infantry.

The rebels evacuate it

This plan succeeded. The enemy evacuated the place during the night, leaving behind them their three guns and their guns’ ammunition. The fort was then destroyed.

Berkeley clears the forts of Oudh as far as Partabgarh

By a somewhat similar train of operations, Berkeley captured and destroyed a fort at Bhairpur. Having thus completed the work entrusted to him, he returned with his field force to Allahabad. After a brief interval, he was again sent out to demolish other forts in Oudh at distances accessible from Allahabad.

and touches Hope Grant’s

In this manner he extended his force as far as Partabgarh. Pushing on, then, to Sultanpur, he touched Hope Grant’s force, and they united the line of posts direct from Allahabad to Lakhnao.

Rowcroft’s force and the Pearl brigade

The force under Rowcroft, and the Pearl brigade acting with it under Captain Sotheby, whom wo left at Amorha at the end of April, had fallen back on Captainganj. In the interval there was occasional sharp fighting. On the 9th of June a detachment of both services, led by Major Cox, the sailors commanded by Lieutenant Turnour, and some twenty marines by Lieutenant Pym, marched on Amorha, where, it had been ascertained, Muhammad Husen had arrived in force. Cox divided his detachments into two parts; one led by himself, the other – to which were attached the sailors and marines – by Major J. F. Richardson.

defeat the rebels at Amorha

Setting out at 2 o’clock in the morning, and arriving at daybreak within a mile of Amorha, they were suddenly met by a heavy fire from skirmishers thrown out by the rebels. Pym and the marines drove them in: Cox then opened fire with his guns. Then, foiling an attempt made to outflank him, he drove the rebels out of the place.

and Harha

Nine days later a larger detachment of Rowcroft’s force again attacked the same rebel leader at the head of four thousand men at Harha, and inflicted on him a defeat so crushing that he fled from that part of the country.

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Rowcroft falls back on Hir

A little later Rowcroft moved with his force to Hir, in the Gorakpur district, to guard the frontier until the advance of Sir Hope Grant in force should sweep the districts below him.

The rebels attack Mohan

Isolated actions in the more western part of the province produced results not less beneficial. It happened that on the 7th of August a rebel band, the advance of the force of the rebel Firuzshah, attacked the station of Mohan, on the river Sai, seventeen miles from Lakhnao on the road to Fathgarh. Mohan was one of the places in which British rule had been re-established, and was at the time the head-quarters of the Deputy Commissioner of the district, Mr. Pat Carnegy, already mentioned in these pages135. At Mr. Carnegy’s disposal was a native police battalion. The river Sai, close to Mohan, was traversed by a bridge. On the evening of the 7th of August the rebel band referred to, numbering two hundred infantry and a hundred and fifty cavalry – the advance guard of a larger force – drove in the police pickets, crossed the bridge, and made every preparation to attack the town the following morning.

Evelegh marches against them

Information of this attack reached Colonel Evelegh, C.B., commanding at Nawabganj, at 5 o’clock on the morning of the 8th. An hour later Evelegh set off with three hundred Sikh cavalry under Godby, two horse-artillery guns, twenty-five gunners mounted to support the guns, and twelve rank and file of the 20th foot, mounted on limbers, and reached a point three miles from Mohan. Conceiving that were he to continue his direct advance the rebels would acquire information of his approach, Evelegh turned off from that point to the village of Husenganj – a village between Mohan and Rasulabad, the general headquarters of Firuzshah, and the occupation of which would cut the rebels’ line of retreat. His foresight was justified; for, on coming within a mile of he perceived the rebels falling back on that place from Mohan. He immediately pursued them with his small force, but, finding that his guns could not travel fast enough to overtake them, he pushed forward his cavalry under Godby. The result was satisfactory. Godby laid low forty-five of the rebels and captured

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their only gun, a brass 3-pounder, together with one elephant and two camels136.

Nearer to Lakhnao, between the Rohilkhand frontier and that city, a gallant deed performed by the Kavanagh whose immortal heroism was recorded in the last volume137, tended greatly to the pacification of the district in which it occurred.

Kavanagh and Dawson capture Sandela

Of the district of Maliabad, twelve miles north-west of the capital, Mr. Kavanagh was Assistant Commissioner. Eighteen miles further to the north-west, lay the town of Sandela. occupied chiefly by Pathans, possessing many brick-built houses and a small mud fort, and situated in a level plain. The Pathans of this place had displayed a determined hostility to the British, and had lost no opportunity to threaten their posts and to intercept their communications. It occurred to Kavanagh, a daring man, fertile in resources and full of the love of adventure, that it would be possible to put an end to these excesses by the capture of the town. He proposed, therefore, to Captain Dawson, commanding one of the new police levies, to attack Sandal. Dawson agreeing, they stormed the place on the 30th of July, and drove out the rebels. Thenceforward the town remained in the occupation of the British. Kavanagh displayed great daring on this occasion. Nor was his tact inferior to his courage. By a ready display of that quality, he won over several zamindars to the British cause, and even engaged them to maintain a number of matchlockmen at their own expense for its support.

The Oudh banks of the Ganges

The banks of the Ganges in Oudh, even so far down as Allahabad, required during these three months of July, August, September, very close watching. They were infested by bands of rebels, some of whom pillaged the villages in Oudh; others, crossing the river, attacked and plundered those in British territory. To remedy this evil, river steamers were employed during the rainy season, when the river was navigable. On one occasion, towards the end of July, information having reached the authorities that the rebels had collected many boats, ready, whenever a favourable opportunity should offer, to cross into

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British territory, a force of a hundred and twenty Sikhs and two guns were despatched in a steamer to destroy the boats. They did destroy some twenty boats, but the forts which the rebels occupied were too well armed and too strong to be attacked. The expedition against these was deferred, but on several occasions in August and September small detachments were sent up the river to check the predatory instincts of the rebels, and in most cases this object was accomplished.

Position in Oudh occupied by the rebels

At the period at which we have arrived, the end of September 1858, the position occupied by the British in Oudh was very peculiar. They held a belt of country right across the centre of the province, from east to west; whilst the districts north and south of that belt were either held by the rebels or were greatly troubled by them. North of the belt were the Begam, Mamu Khan, Firuzshah, Narpat Singh, and leaders less notorious, with their followers; south of it were Beni Madhu, Hanmant Singh, Harichand, and others. Besides these, in the north-eastern corner of the province, near the Nipal frontier, Nana Sahib and his adherents were believed to be actively intriguing.

The rebels attack Sandela

In October the cessation of the rains made the movement of troops again possible. The rebels were the first to take advantage of the change of season. On the third of October Harichand, with six thousand men and eight guns, crossed the Gumti ten miles north of Sandela. His force, increased by the junction of several zamindars and their following to twelve thousand men and twelve guns, arrived within three miles of that post on the morning of the 4th.

are held in check by Dawson

Sandela was occupied by the Captain Dawson already spoken of, with his newly-raised police battalions and other infantry levies, fourteen hundred strong, and five hundred irregular cavalry levies. On the approach of the rebels in such overwhelming force, Dawson placed his infantry in the small mud fort, and sent his cavalry to Maliabad. He kept the rebels at bay till the 6th, when Major Maynard, with a detachment of the 88th foot, two 9-pounder guns, two 2½-inch mortars, two hundred and fifty police cavalry, and six hundred police foot, joined him, taking up the five hundred cavalry on the way. Maynard at once attacked the rebels and drove them to Panu, about four miles distant, where they took up a very strong position.

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and completely defeated by Barker

On the evening of the 7th, Brigadier Barker reached Sandela with a strong column138, attacked the rebels on the morning of the 8th, and, after a desperate battle, completely defeated them. His loss, however, was severe, being eighty-two of all ranks killed and wounded.

Gallantry of Seymour

of Maynard

of Green

Major Seymour, Queen’s Bays, Major Maynard, whose charger was hacked to death with talwars when in the thick of the fight, and Lieutenant Green, of the Rifle Brigade, who received thirteen wounds, including the loss of his left arm and the thumb of his right hand, greatly distinguished themselves on this occasion. The rebels lost a large number of men, especially in the pursuit, which promptly followed on the victory. A few days later, after a hard day’s fight, accompanied by many casualties, the victors stormed the fort of Birwah.

Successes of Evelegh and Seaton

About the same time, the 5th of October, Brigadier Evelegh defeated the rebels at Mianganj, between Lakhnao and Kanhpur, took two guns, and placed about two hundred of them hors de combat; and on the 8th Sir Thomas Seaton added to his former laurels by intercepting a large body of the rebels on the frontier near Shahjahanpur, killing three hundred of them and taking three guns. The same day an attack upon Powain was repulsed by the Rajah of that place, with trifling loss.

Lord Clyde’s plan of pacification

These were the small actions which indicated the re-opening of the campaign. The comprehensive plan which the Commander-in-Chief, now become Lord Clyde, had drawn up during his stay at Allahabad, came into operation only on the 15th of October. This plan was devised on the principle of acting by columns in all the districts simultaneously, so that, driven out of one district, the rebels might not be able, as they had previously, to take refuge in another.

In general

Thus, by Lord Clyde’s plan, one column was drawn from Rohilkhand for operations in the north-west of Oudh, clearing Mohamdi, Naurangabad, and similar places of importance, and proceeding then to establish itself at Sitapur. For operations in the Baiswara country, four brigades were detailed. Another column was posted to

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guard the Duab; another to guard the Kanhpur road; whilst other smaller columns, starting from Lakhnao, Nawabganj, Daryabad, and Faizabad, were ordered to be kept movable.

The plan more in detail

The reader will at once conceive the general purport of the plan. The brigades detailed for duty in the Baiswara country would occupy the whole of the Faizabad district between the Ganges and the Ghaghra. Pushing then northward, they would reconquer the country between the Ghaghra and the Rapti, holding out hand to Rowcroft’s force, on their right, in the Gorakhpur district. Simultaneously the Rohilkhand force would reconquer Sitapur and the, places in the Khairabad division. Then, with his right firmly fixed, as a pivot, at Balrampur and a point beyond the Rapti, Lord Clyde would wheel his main force round to the right till its left point should touch the Rohilkhand column, when the whole, sweeping onwards, would clear the northernmost parts of the province, and drive the surviving rebels, who should refuse to surrender, into the jungles of the kingdom of Nipal.

Instructions sent to Hope Grant

On the 23rd of October Lord Clyde despatched instructions in the same spirit to Sir Hope Grant. That officer was directed, in co-operation with Brigadiers Pinckney and Wetherall, to make a circuit, moving up the Gumti as far as Jagdispur, then, turning sharp to his left and moving southward by Jais, place himself between Parshadapur and Amethi, dispersing any rebels on his way. The brigadiers mentioned received at the same time detailed instructions as to their action, so as to make it co-operate with Sir Hope’s movement, and thus ensure the success of the general plan.

Wetherall marches on Rampur Kasia

Hope Grant, in obedience to these instructions, started immediately, arranging with Brigadier Wetherall, who was marching, up from Sariam to join him on the 4th of November, and attack the fort of Rampur Kasia. hell by an active partisan named Ram Ghulam Singh. But Wetherall, reaching the vicinity of Rampur Kasia, on the morning of the 3rd, resolved, despite of the orders he had received to wait for Sir Hope, to assail the place at once. Fortune greatly favoured him. Rampur Kasia was in very deed a stronghold. Its outer fortifications, formed of mud ramparts, had a circumference of three miles. Within this area, surrounded up to the outer works by a dense jungle,

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was another fort, and within this again a stone building.

Description of the place

So much for the interior. But beyond, and surrounding the outer ramparts, there was again a dense jungle in every direction save in that of the north-west; and beyond the ramparts was a formidable abattis. The ditch was deep but narrow, and there were rifle-pits in the part which, in fortification, would correspond to the berme139.

Wetherall lights upon an unguarded point and takes the place

It happened, however, that on one side the ditch and ramparts had not, for a very small space, been completed, and it fortunately happened that Wetherall lighted on this particular spot. At any other point he would certainly have been repulsed, but at this he effected . an entrance, and carried the place and its twenty-three guns, with a loss of seventy-eight men killed and wounded. The rebels lost about three hundred men.

Amethi surrounded by the jungle

Hope Grant first heard of Wetherall’s success on the afternoon of the 3rd. He at once joined him at Rampur Kasia. Thence, in pursuance of his instructions, he proceeded to Amethi. This fort likewise was almost covered by jungle. It was garrisoned by four thousand men, fifteen hundred of them Sipahis, and thirty guns. Grant arrived within two miles of its north-eastern face at 2 o’clock on the afternoon of the 7th of November. A reconnaissance, promptly made, assured him that the rebels were bent on resistance. On returning from this reconnaissance he found a messenger from Lord Clyde, stating that he was encamped three miles to the east of the fort.

surrenders to Lord Clyde

The Commander-in-Chief, in effect, having failed to induce the Rajah of Amethi to come to terms, had marched from Partabgarh on the 6th, to bring him to reason. This active measure succeeded. The Rajah rode into camp on the morning of the 8th, and tendered his submission, yielding his stronghold.

Shankarpur is invested on three sides

Amethi taken, Grant, carrying out the orders of Lord Clyde, proceeded to Shankarpur to attack it from the north, whilst Wetherall and Pinckney should invest it on the east and south, and Evelegh on the west. In performing his part of the combined movement, Evelegh was delayed by the bad roads and the opposition of the rebels. He defeated these on the 8th at Moraman, and on

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the 9th he took the fort of Simri. but these operations so delayed him that he was unable to arrive in time to take up a position to cut off the retreat of the chief of Shankarpur and his followers.

The fort surrenders

The chief was no other than Beni Madhu, and he had with him a following estimated at fifteen thousand men. The Commander-in-Chief, anxious to avoid bloodshed, had offered him very favourable terms if he would surrender. Beni Madhu had returned the proud reply that he would yield his fort as he could not defend it, but that he would not yield himself as he belonged to his King!

But Beni Madhu escapes

That night he and his followers evacuated the fort by its uninvested face. Not, however, with the freedom from molestation they had hoped for.

and is encountered and beaten by Evelegh on his retreat

Fleeing hastily to Dundia Khera, they were encountered on the way by Evelegh, and defeated, with the loss of three of their guns.

Converging marches of Grant

Shankarpur was at once occupied by Grant, who then marched on the Ghaghra, which he crossed in face of the rebels, led by the Rajah of Gondah and Mehndi Husen, on the 27th of November, pursued the enemy of grant, twenty-four miles, and captured four guns. Marching thence towards Rai Bareli, he beat the rebels again at Machhligaon on the 4th of December, taking two guns, reached the fort of Banhasia, whence he extracted five guns, on the 5th, Gondah on the 9th, and Balrampur on the 16th.

Lord Clyde

Lord Clyde, meanwhile, having learned the direction taken by Beni Madhu, took Evelegh’s brigade with him, marched on Dundia Khera, and attacked and completely defeated that chief on the 24th of November, taking all his guns. Beni Madhu however, escaped.

and the other columns

The other columns had by this time formal a complete cordon round the circumference of eastern Oudh. They now closed in, and marching from their different points of departure, and on a common centre, traversed the whole territory, demolishing forts and strongholds, and re-establishing the civil power as they advanced.

The column from Bareli

Whilst the east was being thus pacified, the Bareli column, commanded by Colin Troup, employed all its efforts to bring about a similar result on the western side. Crossing the Rohilkhand frontier in the end of October, Troup advanced on Sitapur, dispersed the talukdars

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takes up his position in the converging line

who attempted to oppose him in the vicinity of that place, captured Mithauli on the 8th, and gave a final defeat to the rebels at Mehndi on the 18th of November.

and sweeps chiefs before it

Columns, meanwhile, under Gordon, Carmichael, and Horsford, were engaged in clearing the country south of the Ghaghra, and before these the irreconcilable chiefs, men of the stamp of Beni Madhu, and Beni Madhu himself, fell back.

Hope Grant touches Rowcroft

Hope Grant, I have said, had reached Balrampur on the 16th of December. There he learned that Bala Rao, brother of Nana Sahib, had taken refuge in the fort of Tulsipur, twelve miles distant, with a number of followers and eight guns, and that he had been joined there by Muhammad Husen and his adherents. Grant at once directed Rowcroft to move from his position at Hir, and, reinforcing him with the 53rd, directed him to attack Tulsipur. Rowcroft obeyed orders, found the enemy drawn up to receive him, beat them after a feeble resistance, but could not pursue them from want of cavalry.

and sweeps the rebels into Nipal

Hope Grant, fearing lest the rebels should escape into the Gorakhpur country, then took up the pursuit himself, and, cutting off Bala Rao from Gorakhpur, ascertained that he had retreated with six thousand men and fifteen guns along the margins of the jungle to a place near Kandakot, where there was a half-ruined fort at the confluence of two rivers. Manoeuvring with great skill, and placing his columns in a position to that escape to any other quarter but Nipal was impossible, Grant moved against them on the 4th of January, 1859, and drove them across the border, taking all their guns.

On his side

Whilst Grant was thus engaged, Lord Clyde, sending Evelegh to the west to join Troup, was engaged in sweeping the country from the points occupied by his troops, towards the frontier.

Lord Clyde sweeps the remaining rebels into Nipal

Moving on to Sikroni, with Grant’s force forming his right, touching, as we have seen, Rowcroft’s force on the extreme right, and which formed, as it were, the pivot, Lord Clyde drove the Begam and Nana Sahib before him from Bondi and Bahraitch; then advancing on Nanpara, cleared the country between it and the Ghagra; then marching on Banki, close to the Nipal frontier, he surprised the camp of the rebels, defeated than with great slaughter, and drove them

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into Nipal. This action and that of Hope Grant at Tulsipur, referred to in the preceding paragraph, cleared Oudh of the last remnants of the rebels.

Considering the mutiny crushed, he makes over command to Hope Grant and leaves

Sir William Mansfield wrote that he considered the mutiny crushed out, and Lord Clyde, sharing that opinion, left the province under the military care of Sir Hope Grant, instructing him to keep the frontier of the border of Nipal closely shut up, so as to prevent, if possible, the escape of any rebels into the lower country.

The spirit of the rebels is not, however, extinguished

The spirit, however, which had animated the rebel chieftains to sustain against the British a struggle which, during six months at least, had offered not a single ray of success, was not entirely extinguished.

Danger of fording Indian rivers

Sir Hope Grant, taking leave of the Commander-in-Chief, proceeded to join Brigadier Horsford’s force on the Rapti. An incident had occurred just before his arrival, which showed the great care required in attempting to ford Indian rivers. Horsford had driven a strong rebel force across that river, and, in fording it in pursuit of them, many men of the 7th Hussars and the 1st Panjab cavalry had been swept away by the force of the current and lost. Amongst these was Major Home, of the 7th Hussars. After some search his body was drawn out of a deep hole, his hands having a fast grip of two of the rebels, whilst the bodies of two troopers who perished with him were found, each with his hands clutching a rebel sawar!140

The Nipal Border

From one side only, from the side of Nipal, was further danger to be apprehended. On this side the frontier had a length of about a hundred miles, formed of mixed hill and jungle; and with such a frontier it was always possible that, despite the best dispositions on both sides, the strictest precautions would be evaded.

Loyalty of Jang Bahadur

At this crisis the real ruler of the Maharajah Jang Bahadur, behaved with the loyalty that had throughout characterised his dealings with the British. Not only did he inform the armed rebels who had crossed the border that he would afford them no protection, but he allowed British troops to cross the border to disarm any considerable body there assembled.

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Gradual dispersion of the rebels

Under this permission, Brigadier Horsford early in the year, entered the Sonar valley, and, crossing the Rapti at Sidonia Ghat, came upon a body of rebels and captured fourteen guns; and, later on, Colonel Kelly, of the 34th, caused the surrender of six guns, after having chased the rebels with great loss under the hills. Under the pressure thus exercised, a moiety of the fifty thousand who had crossed into Nipal, one by one threw away their arms, and returned to their homes, trusting they would be allowed to settle down unmolested.

A few more hardened

A few, more hardened in crime, and therefore more hopeless of mercy, still continued to hold out, and some of these – the regiments which had perpetrated the Kanhpur massacre, the 1st, the 53rd, and the 56th Native Infantry, led by Gujadar Singh, a rebel whose hate to the British had not been lessened by the loss of an arm when fighting against them –

invade Oudh

succeeded in crossing the border, in marching on Sikrora, and filching thence two elephants, and finally, when pursued from that place by Colonel Walker and the Queen’s Bays, with two guns, in taking up a position at Bangaon, a small dilapidated fort on the river Nadi, at the entrance of the Ghungle jungles.

and are defeated

There, at the end of April 1859, Colonel Walker, reinforced by four hundred men of the 53rd, and sixty of the 1st Sikh cavalry, attacked and completely defeated them.

Grant drives the remainder of the rebels from the jungles

Notwithstanding that the hot weather had set in, Sir Hope Grant deemed it of pressing importance to drive the remainder of the rebels from the jungles. Learning that the last remnant of their disorganised forces was at the Serwa pass, Grant moved against them in person, dislodged them by a turning movement, and then pursued them across the hills.

State of destitution to which they had been reduced

The pursuit gave ample evidence of the state of exhaustion to which the rebels had been reduced. Without food and without arms, without money and without artillery – for they lost here their last two guns – they were thenceforth powerless. Pursuit ceased, and Grant contented himself with posting troops at different points along the frontier as a precautionary measure. His only regret now was that Nana Sahib and his brother Bala Rao had found refuge in Nipal. To the very last the former had been

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defiant and daring as became his assumed position. Bala Rao, on the other hand, had expressed penitence, and denied participation in the Kanhpur massacre.

Oudh finally becomes British

At last, then, Oudh was at peace. The province had become British by a right far more solid and defensible than the pretext under which it had been seized in 1856. Then, the country of the ruler who had ever been true to his British overlord was, in disregard of treaty, seized in the dead of the night, against the wishes alike of the sovereign and the people.

Defeat of the first title

Fifteen months experience of British rule, administered by doctrinaires who preferred the enforcement of their own theories to considerations of justice and policy, far from reconciling the people to their new master, had caused them to regret the sovereigns whom the British had expelled because of their misgovernment of that very people.

Its consequences

They hailed, then, the opportunity, ingeniously fomented by the more influential of their countrymen, which seemed to promise them a relief from regulations which perplexed and from changes which irritated them. They joined in the revolt inaugurated by their brethren the Sipahis – the majority of them Oudh men – and fought for independence. How pertinaciously they waged the contest has been told in these pages. No other part of India gave an example of a resistance so determined, so prolonged, as did Oudh. Throughout the struggle, the sense of the injustice perpetrated in 1856 steeled the hearts of its people and strengthened their resolution. If on some occasion they too precipitately fled, it was in the hope of renewing the struggle with some chance of success another day. When, finally, the sweep made over Oudh by Lord Clyde forced the remnant of the fighting class to take refuge in the jungles of Nipal, the survivors often preferred starvation to surrender141. The agricultural population, the talukdars, the landowners, the traders, accepted the defeat when, after that long struggle, they felt that it was final. Thenceforward Great Britain

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possessed Oudh by a title far sounder than that which she had set up in 1856, the title of conquest.

That of the post-mutiny period the best of all

She holds it now on a that of the basis even stronger, on the basis of the affections of a people whom she has conciliated, and of a territorial aristocracy whose rights, whilst defining, and in some instances curtailing, she had made inalienable.

Footnotes

125. Vol. IV page 319.

126. It consisted of the 1st and 2nd battalions Rifle Brigade, the 5th Panjab Infantry, five hundred Hodson’s Horse under Lieutenant-Colonel Daly: one hundred and fifty Wale’s Horse, under Prendergast; two hundred and fifty Bruce’s Horse Police, under Hill; the 7th Hussars, under Colonel Sir William Russell; two squadrons Queen’s Bays; Mackinnon’s Horse Artillery; and Gibbon’s and Carleton’s batteries. The whole of the cavalry was commanded Colonel Hagart.

127. Incidents of the Sepoy War, by Sir Hope Grant and Captain Knollys.

128. Vol. III. page 2177.

129. The 1st Madras Europeans, the 2nd battalion Rifle Brigade, the 1st Panjab Infantry, the 7th Hussars, five hundred Hodson’s Horse, twelve light guns, and a train of heavy guns.

130. Vol. IV. pages 380-7.

131. Now Lieutenant-General Sir Samuel Browne, V.C., K.C.B.

132. Now the 25th Native Infantry.

133. Now the 32nd Native Infantry.

134. Few more gallant deeds than this were performed during the war. Mr. Malcolm Low, who was near Brow ne at the time, considered the daring act of prowess to have been the means of preventing the rebel gunners reloading and firing upon the infantry at the most critical period of the whole action. Sir William Mansfield stated that in his opinion and in that of Sir Colin, the affair vas “very brilliant,” and as “quite one of the best things we have seen of the sort, the attack by you having been made in a most soldierly manner and secundum artem.” Captain Browne received the Victoria Cross for his daring. The reputation of this gallant officer as a man of great ability and conduct had already been made, and he had subsequently shown himself as qualified to conduct large operations in the field as he was willing to risk his life in the cause of duty.

135. Vol. IV page 237

136. This action had the effect of clearing the rebels from many of the districts of Unao and Malaun.

137. Vol. IV. page 116.

138. Two field batteries, two squadrons Queen’s Bays, six hundred and seventy native cavalry sabres, two hundred and fifty 88th Foot, one hundred 3rd battalion Rifle Brigade, nine hundred police battalion.

139. Sir Hope Grant’s Incidents in the Sepoy War.

140. Grant’s Incidents in the Sepoy War.

141. “Further on,” wrote Sir Hope Grant, describing his last pursuit. “we discovered two of the rebels in a state of helpless exhaustion, dying from their wounds and from starvation. It was sad to see many of the poor wives of the Sipahis, who had accompanied their husbands, deserted and left to die on the bare ground,” and more to the same effect.

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