_1857-1858. THE JOUNPORE FIELD FORCE_
The 10th ordered on service--The start--More defeats of
rebels--The Jounpore field force--Preparing for work--Action
at Chanda--Hummeerpore--Forced marches--Sooltanpore--Captured
relics--Reinforcements--Rebel messengers--An attack--A wounded
officer--Arrive at Lucknow.
Orders to take the field had been expected, and preparations made
accordingly in the 10th, so that when they did arrive all was in
readiness to carry them out immediately. Uncertainty for some time
prevailed with respect to the 73rd N.I., professedly and somewhat
demonstratively “loyal,” but known to be in a dangerous state of
disaffection, ready to sweep over the indigo-yielding places in
Tirhoot, some of the planters from which, abandoning houses and
factories, had betaken themselves to Dinapore for safety. A report
spread that a body of rebels had crossed the river Gogra and threatened
the “Pearl” Brigade at Sewan; a steamer accordingly started to Benares,
conveying detachments of the 10th and 37th Regiments, to be in
readiness to act from that base as circumstances might require. Reports
at the same time told that the 11th Irregulars had broken away from
Berhampore; that they had been severely handled by the 5th Fusiliers,
but that they were making their way towards Tirhoot.
By daylight on December 23, a detachment of our men and officers was
in progress of embarking on board a steamer for conveyance towards
Chuprah, at and from which place they were intended to act in concert
with bodies of Ghoorka troops for the assistance of threatened stations
in Tirhoot. Equally early on the 24th our headquarters marched away
from barracks. Arriving in due time at the point where the Ganges
was to be crossed, much delay resulted from the incompleteness of
arrangements made for the purpose. Evening had far advanced when we
arrived on our camping-ground; tents were far behind; so were the
messing arrangements. From such “reserves” as our haversacks supplied
our first meal was taken, after which we bivouacked “on the cold
ground,” under shelter of a mango grove. Next day being Christmas
Day, equipment and arrangements were got into working order and ready
for eventualities. On the 26th the sound of firing, as if at Sewan,
indicated that the arrival of the 10th was none too soon, and shortly
thereafter news came in that an attack, not determined in character,
by the mutineers had been repulsed. In the course of the next few days
the Nepaulese contingent captured a considerable number of mutineers
belonging to the 11th Irregulars, but those of the 5th Irregulars
succeeded in joining the body of rebels assembled under Koer Singh.
New Year’s Day brought the welcome news that the rebels had been
severely beaten at Alumbagh by Sir James Outram, great loss inflicted
upon them, and four of their guns captured; also that Colonel Seton
had defeated a body of mutineers at Futtyghur. Having moved our camp
to a position north-westward of the town, we discovered a saltpetre
manufactory for the use of the rebels. Firing was again heard in our
near vicinity, indicative, as we soon learned, that our Nepaulese
allies had attacked a rebel village, which they captured and destroyed.
The 10th were ordered to advance towards Azimghur, to be joined _en
route_ by other regiments, the combined force to be named the Jounpore
Field Force, commanded by Brigadier-General Franks. On the second
day of our progress, at a place called Muttyala, the first active
signs of disaffection were shown by some of the villagers; it was
quickly suppressed, however, by the simple method of handing over to
the Provost Marshal those who had so acted, and having them flogged.
No further trouble with natives was experienced; and so, without
adventure, on the fourth day of our march we crossed the river Gogra,
and entered the district of Azimghur. Thence to the provincial city our
progress was cautious and wary; villages through which our route lay
were seen to be deserted by their ordinary inhabitants, except the old
and very young, by women and the infirm.
At Azimghur--once a pretty and otherwise favoured station--the public
buildings, including the church, had been reduced to charred and
roofless walls, gardens wasted and disfigured; a series of huts in
course of being erected for the faithless sepoys at the time, when on
June 3 the 17th N.I. broke into mutiny, left standing as they then
were; the gaol strongly fortified, everything destructible bearing
an aspect of ruin. Within the intrenched position at the gaol a
small force of Ghoorkas kept at defiance the rebel sepoys who had
already made two unsuccessful attacks, with considerable loss in life
and of two of their guns. Resuming our progress, the 10th reached
Aroul on January 26. There the various portions[182] of the force
of which we were to form a part united, and was organized for its
prospective duties. A halt of three days sufficed. On the 29th a march
of twenty-three miles was performed by our little army, the minimum
quantity of equipment and transport accompanying it. Several houses in
ruins, belonging to planters, were passed in our progress to the river
Goomtee; that river was crossed, and about midnight we bivouacked on
Oude territory. By break of day our force was again in motion towards
its objective point, now known to be Lucknow. That day’s march was
uneventful, except that the water in the roadside wells was rendered
unpalatable by branches of neem tree (_Melia Azadirachta_) thrown into
them by the rebels.
A short halt was made at Singramow, during which preparation was made
for eventualities. Intimation was there received that the rebels were
collecting their forces at Chanda, about a dozen miles in front of
us, and that their pickets had advanced to within four or five miles
of our camp. On February 19 our force was under arms at daylight, and
then began its advance towards the enemy. About nine o’clock a halt
was ordered; men and officers partook of such “breakfast” as under the
circumstances they could get, while staff officers rode to the front
to reconnoitre. A long line of rebels was seen to occupy a somewhat
elevated position at a little distance from us. Our guns immediately
advanced, opened fire upon them, their fire being for a short time
returned. The 10th--Colonel Fenwick at their head--threw out their
skirmishers, and thus covered, advanced at steady pace towards the
point where the rebels seemed thickest. They, however, did not long
stand their ground; before our men came within striking distance the
sepoys gave way and took to flight. Pursuit was impossible, by reason
of want of cavalry; but the small band of mounted infantry, recently
extemporised from the 10th, managed to come up, with some of the enemy,
of whom, in the language of the day, they “gave a good account.” We
subsequently learned that the forces against whom we had been engaged
comprised 8,000 men, commanded by Bunda Hussun, a lieutenant of Mendhee
Hussun.
It was intended that our force should encamp on the field whence the
rebels had fled. While halting for that purpose, it was found that a
second engagement was to take place; that the enemy had taken up a
position at Hummeerpore, a little distance from their former, and
under shelter of a wood. From there their guns soon opened fire upon
us. Ours quickly replied; a few casualties in our ranks were the
result, when darkness having put an end to the duel we bivouacked on
our ground. When morning dawned, it was seen that the position they had
occupied was abandoned; our camp was accordingly pitched, and so we
remained, prepared for the next move.
Resuming our advance towards Lucknow, two successive marches of great
length, and consequently fatiguing, were performed, considerable
numbers of our transport animals completely breaking down, and so being
the cause of much inconvenience to our force.
On the 23rd, about 10 a.m., our skirmishers drew upon them fire from
a position taken up by the rebels at Sooltanpore. That position was
attacked, and from a direction unexpected by them; thus disconcerted,
their fire was comparatively little destructive in our ranks, nor was
it long before--having discharged upon us a volley of grape--they
abandoned their artillery and fled, leaving fourteen guns, besides
stores and a large quantity of equipment, in our possession, also much
ammunition and loot. Again the mounted men of the 10th[183] did good
service in pursuit of the fugitives; some of our artillery followed,
and it was said destroyed large numbers of them, the loss to our
troops engaged being again comparatively small. Thus were the forces
of Mendhee Hussun defeated, though numbering 6,000 regular sepoys and
6,000 matchlock men; the station of Sooltanpore recovered after being
held by the rebels since the previous month of June.
After some delay our camp was pitched on the ground our men had won,
and we halted for a day. A party dispatched to destroy a manufactory
of gun carriages deserted by the rebels came upon various relics, with
which doubtless were connected sad and painful associations; these
included what had been an elegant barouche, a palkee garree, and a
metal toy--the whole pertaining to victims of the first outburst of
mutiny among the troops there stationed. Near our camp the artillery
were occupied in bursting the guns deserted by the enemy.
On the 25th our force resumed its march at daylight, and so continued
till late in the afternoon, making one short halt to allow the troops
to draw water from some village wells, a second to cook and distribute
food. Shortly after we had started a very hideous object presented
itself to view; it was the body of a native suspended by the feet from
a branch of a tree, his arms dangling in mid-air, and so doubtless
indicating the cruel manner of his death. Arrived at Mosufferkhan,
where it was arranged that our camp should be pitched we found awaiting
to join us a reinforcement of Sikh and Pathan Horse, together with some
mounted men comprising half-castes and Christians who had belonged to
mutinied or disbanded regiments all of whom had been sent by forced
marches to our aid. Some stray mutineers were discovered in near
proximity to camp by our scouts and by them duly “disposed of.”
A long and arduous march through difficult country; the villages along
our route deserted by their inhabitants, the fields destitute of
labourers. On arrival at our camping ground near Jugdispore, it was
ascertained that our advance guard had fallen in with and captured two
messengers conveying a purwana, or order, from the Ranee of Lucknow
to the zemindars of the district just traversed by us, intimating to
them the advance of a small body of English, and calling upon them
to destroy the intruders at Sooltanpore; also to send without delay
provisions for the rebel troops holding Lucknow. A day’s halt and
much-needed rest for man and animal. On 28th a long march, in the
course of which we passed through some villages strongly fortified and
loopholed, but deserted by inhabitants. Reinforced as we now were by
cavalry, they scoured the vicinity of our route, in the course of their
proceedings coming upon seventeen rebels, some wearing the uniform of
their former regiments, all of whom they killed.
With rain and boisterous weather the month of March began; it was
therefore somewhat late in the morning of the 1st when our advance was
resumed. As we proceeded, the discovery was made by our scouts that a
considerable body of rebels occupied a point at some little distance
on our flank. The main body of our force was accordingly halted, while
a portion was sent against the mutineers, the result being that in
the attack upon them the latter had sixty of their numbers killed or
wounded, and lost two of their guns. Resuming progress, we traversed
a number of towns and villages, all strongly fortified, but sparsely
occupied. Night had closed in when we reached our halting-place.
While tents were being pitched, lurid flames at intervals in our near
vicinity told the fate of villages and isolated houses.
During the attack just mentioned several hand-to-hand conflicts took
place between the Sikh troopers and the rebels. In one of these an
officer received a tulwar cut which severed an artery. By-and-by I came
upon him, prostrate on the ground, alone, and bleeding to death. A
ligature was applied to the divided vessel; he was placed in a dooly,
and so carried to my tent, where he remained during the following
night. While there he was visited by some of his men, who laid
before him various articles of loot--some valuable--of which they had
possessed themselves, and now presented to him. In contrast with an
incident shortly to be related, and also in its way characteristic of
a class, the fact made an impression upon me that under the particular
circumstances of time and place, the officer alluded to[184] offered to
me--who in all likelihood had been the means of saving his life--not
one thing of the many laid out for display on the floor rug of my tent.
Early on March 3 the sound of heavy guns from the direction of
Lucknow told that active work was in progress there. Later in the day
a staff officer, escorted by a squadron of the 9th Lancers and two
Horse Artillery guns, arrived in camp as bearer of dispatches. These
contained orders that on the morrow our force should advance and
take up the position assigned to it in relation to the contemplated
attack on that capital. They informed us that already the Dilkhosha
had been captured. On the following day our force was accordingly in
motion towards Lucknow. It had not proceeded far when information
was received that a small body of rebels occupied the inconsiderable
fort of Dowraha, situated at the distance of a mile or so from our
line of route. A body, unfortunately, as events proved, too small for
its intended purpose, was detached with the object of effecting its
capture; but with the loss of one officer killed and several casualties
among the rank and file, the position had to be left untaken, while our
force continued its march. In the afternoon we took up the position
assigned to us on an extensive plain between Dilkhosha and Bebeepore,
and so merged into the general force under the Commander-in-Chief.