Returning order and confidence--Arrival of Major Evans--Arrival
of Major Williamson--Keeping open communication--Attack on
Phesama--Visit to Manipur--General Nation arrives--Join him at
Suchema--Prepare to attack Konoma--Assault of Konoma.
Early on the morning of the 28th, I took out all the men I could
collect and set to work to clear away the jungle in the neighbourhood
of the stockade so as to give no covert to enemies. I also did my
utmost to collect supplies. Kohima, with its twelve hundred houses,
was able to give a little, and I sent to distant villages. I also sent
to the head-man of Konoma to ask for Mr. Damant's body. The man at
once sent in the head, but said that the body had been destroyed. A
true statement, I have no doubt, as the head is all the Nagas value,
and the body would have been given up instantly had it existed. His
signet ring, and several other little articles were also sent. The
head was buried with due honours, the Manipuri chiefs drawing up
their men and saluting as the funeral procession passed. The Jubraj,
Soor Chandra Singh, spoke very feelingly on the subject.
The watercourse, which formerly supplied the garrison, had been
diverted, and the only other supply had been, as already stated,
poisoned by a head being thrown into it. My first business was to see
that the water communication was restored, to every one's comfort. Some
of my old acquaintances among the Nagas began to come in, and there
was a great disposition to be friendly.
The next day a sepoy of the 43rd, who had escaped the massacre and
lived in the jungle, was brought in by some friendly Nagas. He was
almost out of his mind, and nearly speechless from terror, and could
not walk, so was carried on the man's back.
I made up my mind to attack Konoma as soon as I could, and the people
knowing this, tried negotiations with my Manipuri allies. So great
was the fear we inspired that at first I believe I could without
difficulty have imposed more severe terms than were obtained later
on after four months' fighting. With Asiatics especially, everything
depends on the vigour with which an enterprise is pushed forward. The
Nagas never expecting an attack from the side of Manipur, were at
first paralysed. All the villages were without any but the most
rudimentary defences, in addition to those which nature had given
them from their position; not one of them could have stood against
a well-directed attack.
I was in the midst of my preparations when, on the 30th October, Major
(now Major-General) Evans, of the 43rd Assam Light Infantry, arrived
with two hundred men, who had come with him from Dibroogurh. I also
received a telegram saying that General Nation was coming up with
one thousand men and two mountain-guns, and might be expected on the
9th November. I was also given strict orders to engage in no active
operations till his arrival. These orders I at first disregarded,
feeling the urgent necessity of instant action before the Nagas had
time to recover from their surprise. However, next day the order was
reiterated so strongly, and in the Chief Commissioner's name, that,
believing that the Government had some special reason for the order,
I accepted it, much to my disappointment, as I felt the urgent
necessity of an immediate advance. Konoma was still unfortified,
and a few days would have sufficed to capture it, and place the Naga
Hills at our feet. As it was, the delay, not till November 9th, but
November 22nd, owing to defective transport arrangements, gave the
enemy time to recover, and when we tardily appeared before Konoma, we
found a scientifically defended fortress, whose capture cost us many
valuable lives. The order, it subsequently appeared, was not issued by
Sir Steuart Bayley, [28] and was altogether due to a misapprehension.
As there was to be no immediate work, I urged Major Evans to take
up his post at Samagudting, where a magazine containing 200,000
rounds of ammunition was very inefficiently guarded; he, however,
left a subaltern, Lieut. (now Captain) Barrett with me, as I wanted
another officer. On their way, some men of the 43rd had shot two
Nagas, one a relation of the chief of the Hepromah clan of Kohima,
a most unfortunate proceeding, and quite uncalled for, as the men were
quietly working in their fields. I was already sufficiently embarrassed
by the promises made by the garrison to the so-called friendly clans
of Kohima, to induce them to be neutral during the siege, and which
I felt bound to keep, and this additional complication added to my
troubles. People situated as the garrison were should make no promises
except in return for real help.
All this time troops and supplies came pouring in from Manipur in
one long thin stream, and the greatest efforts were made to collect
supplies on the spot. I also forced the unfriendly Chitonoma clan of
Kohima to surrender six rifles they had captured, and to pay a fine of
200 maunds of rice. We had been expecting a force of Kuki irregulars
from Manipur; these now arrived, and I had a talk with the chief,
who said: "Our great desire is to attack that village," pointing to
Kohima, "and to kill every man, woman, and child in it!" He looked
as if he meant it.
One day a cat was caught that had given great trouble stealing
provisions, etc., we all wanted to get rid of it, but Hindoos do
not like having cats killed, and I respected their prejudices when
possible, and there were many Hindoos about us, so I said, "I won't
have it killed, unless some one wants to eat it." A Kuki soon came and
asked to be allowed to make a dinner of it, and then I gave my consent,
and our scourge was removed. I once asked a sepoy of my old regiment
why they objected to killing cats. He said, "People do say that if
you kill a cat now you will have to give a golden cat in exchange in
the next world as a punishment, and where are we to get one?"
To keep open communications, I established Manipuri posts in strong
stockades at all the principal villages on the road to the frontier,
and had daily posts from Manipur. To my great distress, I heard that
my youngest boy, Arthur, was ill, and my wife in much anxiety about
him; but I could not leave to help her.
Our forced inaction had, as I anticipated, been misinterpreted by the
Nagas. Some decisive action was much needed, and I attacked the hostile
Chitonoma clan of Kohima, and destroyed part of their village. On the
10th, as a party of men were bringing in provisions from Manipur,
they had been attacked by some of the Chitonoma clan in the valley
below our position. I heard the firing, and ran out of the stockade
with a party to drive off the enemy.
At the gate, a man who had just arrived, put a letter in my hand. I
read it anxiously, it told me that my child was dead. My wife and I
had chosen a spot at Kang-joop-kool where we wished to be buried in
case either of us died, and there she buried him.
We soon cleared out the Chitonoma men, and I found that with the
troops escorting the provisions was Dr. Campbell from Cachar, whose
arrival was very welcome. I remember in connection with him a striking
incident showing the courage of Manipuris in suffering. A man who
had been wounded in an encounter had to have an operation performed
on his arm. Dr. Campbell wanted to give him chloroform as it would be
very painful. But the man refused, saying, "I will not take anything
that intoxicates," and at once held out his arm and submitted to the
knife without flinching!
Every day the delay in the commencement of active operations made the
Nagas more and more confident, and some vigorous action on our part
was absolutely necessary. I heard from spies that our Manipuri post at
Phesama was about to be attacked by the people of the village, who held
nightly converse with emissaries from Konoma. I therefore determined to
punish Phesama, which was not far from Kohima, and on November 11th,
I sent a party of Manipuris and Kukis who destroyed the village in a
night attack, and killed a large number of people. They brought in
twenty-one women and children as prisoners whom the Manipuris had
saved from the Kukis, who would have spared neither age nor sex had
they gone alone.
The next day my old friend Captain Williamson arrived to act as my
assistant, I having been appointed Chief Political Officer with the
Field Force that was being formed. Having now a competent man to leave
in charge, I determined to go to Manipur for a few days, and marched
to Mythephum on the 13th, and rode thence on the 14th to Manipur,
accomplishing the whole distance of over 100 miles in thirty-one
and a half hours. I stayed one day in Manipur and then returned,
reaching Kohima on the 17th.
On November 20th, General Nation having arrived at Suchema, ten
miles from Kohima, Williamson and I left to join him. We were fired
at on the road, but got in safely and found all well and in good
spirits. The troops consisted of 43rd and 44th Assam Light Infantry and
two seven-pound mountain-guns under Lieut. Mansel, R.A. Lieut. (now
Major) Raban, R.E., was engineer-officer and Deputy Surgeon-General
(now Surgeon-General, C.B.) De Renzy was in charge of the Medical
Department. Major Cock, a well-known soldier and sportsman, was
Brigade Major.
On the 21st, the guns arrived on elephants, and feeling sure that
no proper carriage could have been provided for their transport, I
had taken the precaution to bring one hundred Kuki coolies to carry
them. The assault was to be next day. Mozuma remained neutral, and
even gave us a few coolies and guides. [29]
How well I remember the night of the 21st. Williamson and I dined
with the General and all the staff, and poor Cock, great on all
sporting subjects, told us in the most animated way, stories of whaling
adventures when he was on leave at the Cape. He warmed to his subject
and greatly interested us; he was a fine gaunt man of over six feet
in height, and great strength and ready for any enterprise; some of
the Mozuma Nagas knew him and liked him as they had, years before,
been on shooting expeditions with him in the Nowgong jungles. Besides
this we had a surgical address from Dr. De Renzy, who told us what to
do if any of us were wounded. How we all laughed over it, he joining
us. I knew we should have some hard fighting, but we all counted
on carrying everything before us with a rush, and who is there who
expects to be wounded? We are ready for it if it comes, but we all
think that we are to be the exception. It is as well that it is so.
We were under arms at 4.30 A.M. on the 22nd. The first party consisting
of two companies of the 43rd Assam Light Infantry and twenty-eight
Naga Hills Police, under Major Evans and Lieut. Barrett, conducted by
Captain Williamson, who knew the country, were directed to proceed to
the rear of Konoma and occupy the saddle connecting the spur on which
it is built with the main road, so as to cut off the line of retreat.
At 7.30 A.M., the remaining portion of the force marched off. We
all went together to the Mozuma Hill, where Lieut. Raban, R.E.,
was detached with part of a rocket battery, to take up a position on
the hillside and open fire on Konoma, simultaneously with the guns. A
small force was left in Suchema, to which, on my own responsibility, I
added one hundred and ten Kuki irregulars, as I thought it dangerously
small for a place containing all our stores and reserve ammunition. At
the General's request, I had posted a force of two hundred men in a
valley to intercept fugitives, and cut them off from Jotsuma.
After leaving Lieut. Raban, we crossed the valley dividing Mozuma
and Konoma, and when half-way between the hills, Lieut. Ridgeway (now
Colonel Ridgeway, V.C.) was sent with a company of the 44th to skirmish
up to the Konoma hill. The main body with the guns then gradually
ascended to the Government Road. Just before reaching it, we found
a headless Aryan corpse in a stream, it was probably that of a sepoy
of the 43rd, who formed part of Mr. Damant's ill-fated expedition.
After going for a short distance along the road, we found a
place up which the guns could go, and a party of fifty men under
Lieut. Henderson, 44th Assam Light Infantry, was sent ahead to skirmish
up the hillside, the guns carried by my coolies following with the
General and his Staff, including myself. As we ascended the hill,
Colonel Nuttall, with the remainder of the 44th, exclusive of the
gun escort, proceeded along the road, crossing the small valley
that divides the Konoma hill from the ridge of the Basoma hill
which we were ascending, a few hundred yards from where it joins
the main valley, and halted at the foot. After incredible labour,
we succeeded in getting the guns into position at about 1200 yards
distance from the highest point of Konoma, and at once opened fire,
while Lieut. Raban did the same with his rockets which, however, for
the most part fell short over the heads of Lieut. Ridgeway's party,
though once two struck the village. On being signalled, Lieut. Raban
withdrew his rockets and joined us. Meanwhile, the guns had made little
impression on the people, and none on the stone forts of Konoma, but
the 44th were advancing gallantly to the attack up the steep ascent
to the village, a brisk fire being kept up on both sides.
At about 2.30, the position of the guns was changed, and they were
advanced to within eight hundred yards of the works, here one of my
gun coolies was wounded by a shot from the village. The change of
position had little effect, and Lieutenant Henderson's party which
had skirmished along the hillside, effectually prevented the enemy
from evacuating his strong position.
At this time we saw a body of men on the ridge above Konoma, and a
gun and rocket fire was opened on them, but speedily stopped as the
regimental call of the 43rd sounding in the distance, followed by a
close observation with our glasses, led us to the conclusion that it
was the party with Captain Williamson and not the enemy who occupied
the point at which we had directed our fire. Subsequently it was
discovered that the stockade there had been captured and occupied
by the party of the 43rd. After firing a few shots from our new
position, and imagining that the force under Colonel Nuttall was in
full possession of the hill we unlimbered, and, crossing the small
valley before mentioned, we followed Mr. Damant's path up the hill,
entering the village by the gate where he met his death. As we neared
the place where we had last seen Colonel Nuttall's party, ominous
sights met our eyes, dead bodies here and there and men badly wounded,
while sepoys left in charge of the latter told us that the Nagas were
still holding out in the upper forts. After advancing a few paces
further we had to pick our way over ground studded with pangees, [30]
and covered with thorns and bamboo and cane entanglements, exposed
to the fire of the enemy, and passing the bodies of several Nagas
we ascended a kind of staircase, and after again passing under the
Naga fire climbed up a perpendicular stone wall and found ourselves
in a small tower, which, with the adjoining work, was held by a small
party of the 44th. I asked Colonel Nuttall where all his men were, and
he pointed to the handful around him and said, "These are all." The
situation was indeed a desperate one, and I felt that without some
immediate action our power in the Naga Hills for the moment trembled
in the balance. The needed action was taken as the guns had now arrived
under a heavy fire, and they opened on the upper forts at a distance of
eighty to one hundred yards, Lieutenant Mansel and his three European
bombardiers pointing them, fully exposed to the fire of the enemy. I
strongly urged on the General the necessity of making an attempt to
dislodge him before nightfall, and he was about to lead out a party
to the attack when it was deemed more prudent to try the guns from
another point first. After a series of rounds with such heavy charges
that the guns were upset at every shot, the order for the assault was
given, and we all rushed out in two parties, led by nine officers,
viz., General Nation, Colonel Nuttall, Major Cock, Major Walker,
Lieutenant Ridgeway, Lieutenant Raban, Lieutenant Boileau, Lieutenant
Forbes, and myself, with all the men we could collect. The party I was
with, which included the general, Colonel Nuttall, and Major Cock,
attempted to scale the front face of the fort, the other the left,
i.e., on our right. The right column of attack led by Ridgeway and
Forbes advanced splendidly; I seem to hear to this day Ridgeway's
shout of "Chulleao," i.e., "Come along," to his men as he dashed to
the front, and I saw him mounting the parapet.
The Nagas met us with a heavy fire and showers of spears and
stones. One of the spears struck Forbes, and Ridgeway was badly wounded
in the left shoulder by a shot fired at ten paces, and Nir Beer Sai,
a gallant subadar, shot dead. My faithful orderly, Narain Singh, was
also killed. Unfortunately we had no force to support the assaulting
parties and the men began to retire. While this was doing on the
right, our column, the left, was scaling an almost perpendicular wall
in front but unsuccessfully, as those of us not killed were pushed
back by showers of falling stones and earth, and as we alighted at
a lower level the remnants of the right column who were retiring
met us. I tried to rally them, but I was a stranger to them and it
was no use. Lieutenant Raban was equally unsuccessful, the men had
acted gallantly, but our party was too small, and as I had before
predicted the fire was concentrated on the European officers. Major
Cock walked back leisurely to get under cover, and just before he
reached it turned round to take a parting shot. I saw him thus far,
and immediately after heard that he had been shot. Seeing that our
only chance of safety lay in a retreat, I shouted to Mansel to open
an artillery fire over our heads which he did, this saved us. In
another minute, the general, Colonel Nuttall, myself and five sepoys
were the only men left. I suggested to the former that we had better
go too and retire, which we did over the embers of a burning house.
As I retired with the General we found Major Cock mortally wounded,
laid under cover in a sheltered spot; a little farther on under a heavy
fire we met Lieutenant Boileau bringing out a stretcher for him. As
Cock was being carried in, a bearer was shot dead, and Dr. Campbell
took his place and brought him into hospital.
It was a strange situation, as in our retreat we were alternately
exposed to a fire, and quite sheltered. Luckily the place selected
for a hospital was safe, and there a sad sight met my eyes. In the
short period that elapsed between the commencement of the assault
and my return, the hospital had been filled. Young Forbes was on his
back, pale as a sheet, but cheerful. Ridgeway flushed with the glow
of battle on him. "Certamis gaudia," I said, "I hope you are not
much hurt." "Only my shoulder smashed," he said. Colonel Nuttall
was slightly wounded, making four out of nine Europeans. Besides
these were men of the 44th of all ranks, some almost insensible,
others in great pain, some composed, others despondent. Outside lay a
heap of dead. Twenty-five per cent. of the native ranks had fallen,
killed or wounded. Some of my gun coolies were among the latter,
besides one or two killed.
I remember a wounded Kuki who was supporting himself by leaning
against a great vat of Naga beer prepared to refresh the defenders of
the fortress, and by him lay a dead Naga. The Kuki had a dao (sword)
in his hand, and every now and then he fortified himself with a deep
draught of the grateful fluid, and thus strengthened made a savage
cut at the body of his foe.
We had captured all but the highest forts, and a renewed attack with
our small numbers was out of the question, as night was closing in,
and we were very anxious as to the safety of our detached parties
under Evans, Macgregor, and Henderson. [31]
It was determined to remain where we were for the night, and Lieutenant
Raban represented to the General the necessity of fortifying our
position. This duty he and Mansel and I undertook, I bringing my Kuki
coolies to the work, which we accomplished by 7 P.M.