CHAPTER XV.

THE REIGN OF VICTORIA (_continued_).

Defect of the Delhi Fortifications--The Batteries are

constructed--An effective Cannonade--The Plan of Attack--The

British Advance--Nicholson's Column--The Cashmere Gate

exploded--Entry into the City--Campbell's Column--Nicholson

mortally wounded--Failure at the Lahore Gate--Cavalry and

Artillery save the Situation--A Lodgment in Delhi--Excesses of the

Troops--The British possess the City--Capture of the King--The

Princes shot--Significance of their Fate--Effect of the Fall

of Delhi--Greathed's Column--The Relief of Agra--Affairs at

Lucknow--Weakness of the Defences--The Garrison--Character of

the Attack--Effort against the Redan--Explosion of Mines--The

Daily Wear-and-Tear--Inglis's Report--Sir Colin Campbell at

Calcutta--Havelock superseded by Outram--Position of Havelock's

Army--Eyre's Exploits--Havelock crosses the Ganges--Combat of

Mungulwar--Battle at the Alumbagh--The Plan of Attack--The Charbagh

Bridge is won--Under the Kaiserbagh--The Goal is reached--The Scene

that Evening--Havelock's Losses--Outram determines to remain--Energy

of the Indian Government--The Force at Cawnpore--Sir Colin to

the Front--Kavanagh's daring Deed--The Canal is crossed--Capture

of the Secunderbagh--Sortie of the Garrison--The Relief

accomplished--Campbell retires on Cawnpore--Death of Havelock.

The crisis in the siege of Delhi had now arrived. Although the Sepoys had

shown some skill and some enterprise in defence of Delhi, our engineers,

scanning the place, had long seen that they had committed a capital fault.

We were forced to assail the north front of the city, because we were tied

to the plateau and the ridge, by the fact that our line of communications

lay in rear of the ridge, and because we could not establish any base

of supplies in any other quarter. Now, the fortifications on this side

consisted, starting from the Jumna, on our left, of the Water Bastion, the

Cashmere Bastion, and the Moree Bastion. A curtain wall, loopholed for

musketry, but not pierced or prepared for guns, connected each bastion

with the other. The consequence was that guns were mounted only on the

bastions, and not on the curtains; and the effect of this was that we were

enabled to erect a line of batteries strong enough to silence the guns on

the bastions and breach the curtain walls. Had the mutineers possessed

an engineer of ordinary faculty, he would have seen the use to which the

curtains could have been put. He would have caused a thick rampart of

earth to be piled up behind the curtains. On these he would have mounted

guns drawn from the magazine--there were 200 new pieces in store--and

thus the whole of the north front, from the Moree to the Water Bastion,

would have been one bristling line of batteries. Fortunately for us the

enemy did not find this out until it was too late. It was not likely that

an engineer so accomplished as Colonel Baird Smith would overlook the

capital defect of the enemy. He did not; and his plan of attack, executed

by Captain Taylor, took ample advantage of the opportunity afforded by the

negligence of the foe.

The active operations of the siege began on the 7th of September.

That night it was resolved that the right battery, No. 1, should be

completed and armed. It was an immense undertaking, but was successfully

accomplished.

As soon as it was light the mutineers in the Moree and along the curtain

beheld with indignant astonishment the newly built battery, and opened

upon it with a destructive fire, under which it had to be finished, gun

after gun opening as it was got into its place. The effect of our fire was

soon manifest, for by the afternoon of the 8th the Moree was a silent heap

of ruins. Nevertheless, at intervals throughout the bombardment, the enemy

sticking to the Moree, now and then opened fire from a gun until it was

knocked over. On the same day, the 7th, a strong force had surprised and

occupied Ludlow Castle, and the Koodsia Bagh, a garden to the left of it,

and under the Water Bastion. It was in this quarter that the real siege

batteries were to be constructed, and the work had been commenced on the

right with the double object of crushing the Moree, and drawing off the

attention of the enemy from the Cashmere Gate and Bastion. On this side

four batteries were speedily made, all under a heavy fire, for they were

within musketry range, and the broken ground between the batteries and

the place afforded excellent cover. There were two batteries in front of

Ludlow Castle, an array of eighteen guns; a mortar battery in line with

them, but farther to the left; and a fourth battery near the customhouse,

within 150 yards of the Water Bastion. Until all was ready the embrasures

were masked with gabions, and when the time came to open fire, these were

removed by volunteers, who for the time were exposed to the enemy's shot.

These were great and successful operations, and without native labour

could not have been accomplished. But the natives worked well for pay, and

readily plied the spade and pick under a searching fire. The losses were

heavy, but the work was very urgent.

The mortars had been in steady play from sunset on the 10th, and on the

11th the breaching battery of eighteen guns opened with such effect on the

Cashmere Bastion, and the curtain between it and the Water Bastion, that

the guns on the former ceased to reply, and the latter came clattering

down in huge cantles. The shot shook down the wall, the shells tore

open the parapets. Hour by hour the breach grew wider. The right of the

Cashmere Bastion and the left of the Water Bastion were crumbling away

under the ceaseless blows. But these were not given without a sharp return

of fire. The mutineers covered their whole front with a trench, and

lined it with infantry. They brought light guns on to the ramparts. They

skilfully planted a battery to the left of the Moree in such a position

that it took the right and centre batteries in flank, and could not itself

be seen by any gun of ours; while across the Jumna there was a second

battery, which enfiladed the left, though with less effect. In spite of

all this our troops worked their guns with unfaltering steadiness. For

three days this went on incessantly; the big guns firing by day, the

mortars shelling the breaches and parapets all night. On the 13th there

were two great breaches in the walls. If these were practicable, it was

determined that the place should be assaulted forthwith, as the Sepoys

were at length engaged in piling up earth behind the curtain connecting

the Moree and Cashmere Bastions in order that they might line the wall

with heavy guns. The engineers--no officers were called upon to do more,

or answered the call better, than the officers of this corps--were ordered

to examine the breaches, and reported that the attempt was quite feasible.

The general had already drawn up his plan of assault. The chief engineer

advised that it should be delivered at daybreak the next morning. His

advice was adopted, and accordingly the welcome order went through the

camp, and roused the soldiers for an encounter they so sternly desired.

In order to capture the city, the general formed five columns. Of these,

the first, under Nicholson, consisted of the 75th Foot, the 1st Fusiliers,

and the 2nd Punjabees. It was to break in at the Cashmere Bastion, through

the breach. The second, under Brigadier Jones, consisted of the 8th Foot,

the 2nd Fusiliers, and the 4th Sikhs. This column was directed to enter

the Water Bastion breach. The third column, under Colonel Campbell, of

the 52nd, consisted of the 52nd Foot, the Kumaon Battalion, and the 1st

Punjabees. To them was entrusted the duty of rushing in at the Cashmere

Gate after it had been blown open. The fourth column, under Major Reid,

the constant and gallant defender of the Hindoo Rao's house, was formed

of a detachment of British, his own Ghoorkas, and part of the Cashmere

Contingent. They were to carry the suburb of Kishengunge, the enfilading

battery under the Moree, and, if possible, the Lahore Gate. The fifth

column, under Brigadier Longfield, formed the reserve. The whole force did

not exceed 5,000 men.

Before daybreak the first three columns and the reserve moved down

from the ridge towards Ludlow Castle and the Koodsia Bagh. Just before

reaching the former, Nicholson marched to the left and Campbell to the

right of Ludlow Castle, while Jones led his men into the jungles of the

Koodsia Bagh. The whole then lay down under cover, while the 60th Rifles

in advance took post in open order within musket-shot of the walls,

their duty being to fire on the mutineers on the parapets of the curtain

flanking the breaches. It was now seen that the enemy had improvised

defences in the breaches during the night, and the batteries once more

opened on them to clear away the obstructions, and to shake the courage of

the Sepoys. The Rifles springing up with a cheer, and moving forward, was

to be the signal for the batteries to cease firing, and for the columns to

go in simultaneously. Presently the dark forms of the 60th rose from their

cover; their cheering shouts were followed by the crack of their rifles; a

burst of musketry from the walls replied with a steady vigour; the columns

emerged, and each went as straight at the object before them as the ground

would permit. With throbbing pulses, but firm, quick tramp, they swept

along. So the columns closed with the enemy who had kept them at bay four

months.

Nicholson's column, headed by the ladder party, which was led by the

engineers, Medley, Lang, and Bingham, rushed towards the breach. But the

mutineers shot closely and fast, and the party were so smitten on the

edge of the ditch, that minutes elapsed before the ladders could be got

down: at length the thing was done. Then the leaders and the stormers slid

down the slope, planted the ladders against the scarp below the breach,

and began to ascend. The enemy fought furiously and yelled furiously,

and rolled down stones and sustained a terrific fire, and dared our men

to come on. They got a speedy answer. Up went Lieutenant Fitzgerald, of

the 75th, the first to mount, but he was instantly shot dead. But others

followed fast, and seeing how resolute their assailants were, the enemy

fled, and the breach was won. Swarming in, the column poured down into

the main guard. They had assailed the proper right of the bastion. On the

proper left was the famous Cashmere Gate, and here an exploit had been

performed, which, for daring, ranks amongst the choicest exploits recorded

in the history of war.

That exploit was the blowing in of the gate in broad daylight. The men

ordered to perform this feat were the engineer officers, Lieutenants Home

and Salkeld; the sapper sergeants, Carmichael, Burgess, and Smith, and

Havildar Madhoo, with seven native sappers to carry powder-bags. With them

went Robert Hawthorn, bugler of the 52nd, whose duty it was to sound the

advance when the gate was blown in. Campbell's column, as we have seen,

was lying down awaiting the signal. As soon as it was given, the explosion

party started on their dreadful errand. Captain Medley has described the

scene that ensued so well that we must quote from his pages. There was an

outer barrier gate, which was found open. Through this went Home. Before

him stretched a broken drawbridge spanning the ditch. Over its shattered

timbers, accompanied by four natives, each carrying a bag of twenty-five

pounds of powder, he went, and placed them at the foot of the great

double gate. "So utterly paralysed were the enemy at the audacity of the

proceeding that they only fired a few straggling shots, and made haste to

close the wicket, with every appearance of alarm, so that Lieutenant Home,

after laying his bags, jumped into the ditch unhurt. It was now Salkeld's

turn. He also advanced with four other bags of powder, and a lighted

port-fire. But the enemy had now recovered from their consternation, and

had seen the smallness of the party, and the object of their approach. A

deadly fire was poured upon the little band from the top of the gateway

from both flanks, and from the open wicket not ten feet distant. Salkeld

laid his bags, but was shot through the arm and leg, and fell back on the

bridge, handing the port-fire to Sergeant Burgess, bidding him light the

fusee. Burgess was instantly shot dead in the attempt. Sergeant Carmichael

then advanced, took up the port-fire, and succeeded in the attempt; but

immediately fell mortally wounded. Sergeant Smith, seeing him fall,

advanced at a run; but, finding that the fusee was already burning, threw

himself down into the ditch, where the bugler had already conveyed poor

Salkeld. In another moment a terrific explosion shattered the massive

gate."

Ere the roar of the powder had died away, the bugle of the steadfast

Hawthorn rang out the well-known notes, which told his comrades to come

on. Campbell gave the word, and the column, headed by the noble old 52nd,

started forward. First went Captain Bayley and a company of the 52nd.

These, rushing over the drawbridge, and through the gate, were quickly

followed by fifty men from each battalion, and these by the whole force

of the column. There was no resistance. The exploding powder had killed

all the defenders of the gate but one, and he was soon despatched. As the

men were forming afresh for work, down came Nicholson's column from the

other side. So far the work had been well and quickly done. The second

column in its advance on the Water Bastion breach had suffered great

losses, three-fourths of the ladder-party falling, together with Greathed

and Hovenden, the engineers. Part of the column, however, got in at the

breach; but a large number straggled off to the right, and followed the

track of Nicholson. Once inside, Campbell and Nicholson got their men into

order. The work of the first was to clear the buildings near the Cashmere

Gate, and then march straight forward upon the Chandni Chowk, having for

object the possession of that High Street of Delhi, and the strong and

lofty Jumma Musjid, which rose up just beyond it. The second undertook to

sweep along the ramparts, capture in succession the Moree, Cabul, Burun,

and Lahore Bastions, give admission to Reid's column, if it carried the

suburbs, and, connecting with Campbell in the Chandni Chowk, press on to

the Ajmere Gate. We must follow each column in turn.

Colonel Campbell's column, before it started inwards, cleared the

cutchery, the church, and several houses, and sent a company into the

Water Bastion, where the enemy still lingered. Then gathering up his men,

and guided by Sir Theophilus Metcalfe, who knew every inch of the city, he

made his way through the streets and gardens towards the Chandni Chowk.

On the road the detached company, which had cleared the Water Bastion,

rejoined the main body, having worked its way through the narrow streets

from the waterside. The column met with little opposition. Working through

the Begum Bagh, the column found the gate closed; but an adventurous

native policeman, and half a dozen 52nd men, speedily broke open the gate,

and the force emerged into the Chandni Chowk, and at once occupied the

Kotwallee, or police-station. Then they tried the Jumina Musjid; but the

enemy had closed the gate and bricked up the side arches. He had swarmed

into the houses on each side, and his cavalry, even, were galloping about

the streets. As Colonel Campbell had neither powder-bags nor guns, he

could do nothing; so he fell back into the Begum Bagh under a smart fire.

Here he waited some time, in the hope of seeing Reid's and Nicholson's men

sweep up the Chandni Chowk from the Lahore Gate. They did not come; and he

therefore relinquished the ground won, and fell back upon the church.

In the meantime, Nicholson had led his men along the Rampart Road, which

runs the whole circuit of the city within the wall. He rapidly seized

the Moree Bastion and the Cabul Gate, and was pressing on for the Lahore

Gate, when the column met with a check. They had gone some distance, the

75th Foot in front, writes Mr. Cave Browne, when, "at a curve in the road,

a gun in the Burun Bastion opened fire upon them. In the lane, too, was

a slight breastwork with a brass gun to dispute the road; but this was

soon withdrawn before the brisk fire of the 75th. Unhappily, no rush was

made to capture it. The men in advance hesitated, and fell back to the

Cabul Gate, with three officers--Captain Freer (of the 27th), Wadeson,

and Darrell--wounded. Here Nicholson, who had mounted the Moree Bastion

to reconnoitre the movements of the enemy outside, joined them, and found

the aspect of affairs suddenly changed. In the lane, which had before been

comparatively clear, one of the guns (originally placed at the Lahore Gate

to sweep the Chandni Chowk) had now been run some distance down the lane,

and another placed at the entrance to support it. The windows and roofs

of the low houses on the left were also now swarming with riflemen; and

where a short time before a vigorous rush might have cleared the almost

empty lane, and taken the gun and carried the Lahore Gate in flank, with

probably but little loss, now every inch of ground had to be fought,

and the advance made in the face of a deadly fire from the field-piece,

through the lane alive with a concealed foe. Nicholson saw the emergency,

and resolved on recovering, if possible, the lost ground. He pushed on

the 1st Fusiliers, who answered to his call right gallantly. One gun was

taken and spiked; twice they rushed at the second. The grape ploughed

through the lane, bullets poured down like hail from the walls and houses.

Major Jobson fell mortally wounded at the head of his men; Captain Speke

and Captain Greville were disabled; the men were falling fast--there was

hesitation. Nicholson sprang forward, and while in the act of waving his

sword to urge the men on once more--alas for the column, alas for the

army, for India!--he fell back mortally wounded, shot through the chest by

a rebel from a house window close by, and was carried off by two of the

1st Fusiliers. The command of the column devolved on Major Brookes, of the

75th Regiment, who, on Colonel Herbert's retiring wounded at the glacis,

had taken command of that regiment. They now fell back on the Cabul Gate,

which was for some time to be our advanced position. The delay had lost us

the Lahore Gate and Nicholson."

[Illustration: SIR HOPE GRANT. (_From a Photograph by Elliott & Fry._)]

It was this check which compelled the retreat of Campbell from the Begum

Bagh, and of Ramsay, with his Ghoorkas from the Kotwallee, in the Chandni

Chowk, a post he had held for five hours. By this time the reserve had

entered the city, and Bourchier was bringing in his guns, when the aspect

of affairs outside directed attention to that quarter.

The attempt to reach the Lahore Gate, by carrying the suburb in front of

it, had failed. The Sepoys, who, as we have remarked, were not wanting in

military qualities, had prepared for an attack on Kishengunge. Indeed, one

reason for hurrying on the assault of Delhi was that they were known to be

making a battery for seventeen guns in this quarter, with which to take

in flank our whole line of batteries. So that when Major Reid, starting

from the ridge, led his weak column from the Subzee Mundi towards the

Kishengunge suburb, he found the gardens and houses full of troops, two

or three breast-works in his path, plenty of guns, and several squadrons

of horsemen hovering about on the watch for a chance. His troops were

under the fire of the western bastions of the city, and artillerymen were

so scarce that the three guns with him were under-manned. The column

moved on, and came in contact with the enemy. The Cashmere Contingent,

forming the right of the line, rushed prematurely into action, and ran as

prematurely out of it. Their conduct obliged the handful of Rifles and

Ghoorkas to precipitate their attack, and in the first onset they stormed

the first line of the enemy's defences. But at this crisis, Major Reid,

who had escaped scot-free in twenty-five actions, fell severely wounded in

this his twenty-sixth; and the enemy, developing an immense force of all

arms, Captain Muter, of the Rifles, who succeeded to the command, withdrew

the whole column, covered by the fire of the ridge batteries.

This was a moment of real peril. If the victorious foe wheeled to his

right, he might have swept along the line of the siege batteries, and

fallen on the flank and rear of the assaulting columns. Or he might

have tried to capture the ridge and camp. To prevent this, the cavalry

performed a rare exploit in war. Brigadier Hope Grant, whose horsemen had

been in the saddle since three in the morning, descended from the ridge

with 600 sabres and lances and a few guns, led by the gallant Tombs, and

rode under the city walls, so as to interpose between the assaulting

troops and the enemy. "In an instant," writes Hodson, "horse artillery and

cavalry were ordered to the front, and we went there at the gallop, bang

through our own batteries, the gunners cheering us as we leapt over the

sand-bags, etc., and halted under the Moree Bastion, under as heavy a fire

of round-shot, grape, and canister, as I have ever been under in my life.

Our artillery dashed to the front, unlimbered, and opened upon the enemy;

and at it they both went, 'hammer and tongs.' Now, you must understand

we had no infantry with us. All the infantry were fighting in the city.

They sent out large bodies of infantry and cavalry against us, and then

began the fire of musketry. It was tremendous. There we were--9th Lancer,

1st, 2nd, 4th Sikhs, Guide Cavalry, and Hodson's Horse--protecting the

artillery, who were threatened by their infantry and cavalry. And fancy

what a pleasant position we were in, under this infernal fire, and never

returning a shot.... Well, all things must have an end. Some infantry came

down and cleared the gardens in our front; and, as their cavalry never

showed, and we had no opportunity of charging, we fell back, and (the

fire being over in that quarter) halted and dismounted."

When the evening of the 14th arrived we had made a lodgment in Delhi.

We held the ramparts from the Cabul Gate, along the north front, to

the Jumna. We held the church and the college, and several houses.

The palace, the magazine, the Selimghur, the great gardens, the Jumma

Musjid--four-fifths of the city--were still in the hands of the enemy.

To win what we had won had cost the little army 66 officers and 1,104

men killed and wounded--nearly a third of the whole force engaged! The

position gained was fortified, and preparations were made for pushing on

the work next day. But, unhappily, the troops found plenteous stores of

liquor, and, demoralised by prolonged labour, with systems exhausted by

the burning climate, they drank without stint, and on the night of the

14th and the morning of the 15th the Sepoys might have driven the helpless

host out of the place. General Wilson was so alarmed that he talked of

retreating to the ridge! Happily there were firmer minds about him, and

he had sense enough to take their advice, and hold on. Nicholson's voice

pealed up from his death-bed against the madness of the thought, the bare

mention of which raised a storm of anger in our lines. To put a stop to

intoxication, General Wilson sent a party into the warehouses to destroy

every bottle of beer, wine, or spirits that could be found. It was done,

and the army was saved at the expense of the sick and wounded, who needed

the stimulants poured out in waste in the cellars of Delhi.

Once rescued from drunkenness, the troops steadily carried out their

arduous enterprise, and at the end of six days Delhi was ours. On the

16th the walls of the magazine were breached, and the 4th Punjabees and

Beloochees, going in with the bayonet, drove out or killed the defenders.

The enemy, losing courage, withdrew from Kishengunge, and the Ghoorkas

replaced them. On the 17th the Delhi Bank House was carried, and a mortar

battery planted to bombard the palace. All this time the enemy kept up a

heavy fire from every point of vantage; but this did not prevent us from

making progress. On the 18th the Burun Bastion was taken by surprise, and

the Rifles had sapped their way through the houses up to the palace, the

main gate of which was now exposed to a severe cannonade. The people and

the Sepoys were now hurrying out of the city on all sides. Hosts of women

had passed through our lines towards our camp, guarded by our soldiers,

for we did not make war on women. There were signs that the palace had

been deserted, and, rushing in, the troops found only a few fanatics

inside, and these soon received the death they sought. On the 20th we were

in entire possession of the city, every large building and fortified post

having been taken or abandoned.

But the King of Delhi, the descendant of Timur--the man around whom

insurrection would gather its thousands--had not been taken. With the

blood-stained princes of his house, he had found refuge in the Tomb of

Humayoun, and the ruins of old Delhi. Hodson, who always saw into the

heart of the business in hand, now felt that without the capture of the

king, the capture of Delhi would be shorn of half its fruit. He therefore

implored the general to allow him to take a body of his horse, and bring

in the king, on the sole condition that his life should be spared if he

surrendered. Wilson was obdurate. He did not want to be "bothered" with

the king and the princes. He could not spare European troops, and so on.

Neville Chamberlain threw the weight of his counsel into Hodson's scale,

and again the words of Nicholson were forthcoming on the same side. The

general gave way. He gave Hodson authority to spare the life of the king,

but he declined to be responsible for the enterprise. Hodson selected

fifty troopers from his Horse. The ruins were swarming with townspeople

and the followers of the king. The peril was very great. Here was one

white man; he had fifty faithful swordsmen with him; around him were a

host of natives, chiefly Moslems. But he did not hesitate, and the king

surrendered. The march towards the city began--the longest five miles,

as Captain Hodson said, that he ever rode; for of course the palkees

only went at a foot pace, with his handful of men around them, followed

by thousands, any one of whom could have shot him down in a moment. His

orderly said that it was wonderful to see the influence which his calm and

undaunted look had on the crowd. They seemed perfectly paralysed at the

fact of one white man (for they thought nothing of his fifty black sowars)

carrying off their king alone. Gradually as they approached the city the

crowd slunk away, and very few followed up to the Lahore Gate.

This adventure was followed by one still more striking, more tragic--the

capture and summary execution of the felon princes. Again the general

had to be entreated earnestly to permit their capture. Having obtained

permission, Hodson called up his lieutenant, Macdowell, and ordered him

to bring a hundred men. They set out about eight in the morning of the

21st, and arriving at the Tomb, the troopers were so posted as to invest

the huge building, in which were several thousands of armed men. In spite

of this support the princes surrendered. Writes Macdowell, recounting the

story to a friend, "As we got about a mile off, Hodson turned to me and

said, 'Well, Mac, we've got them at last;' and we both gave a sigh of

relief. Never in my life, under the heaviest fire, have I been in such

imminent danger. Everybody says it is the most dashing and daring thing

that has been done for years (not on my part, for I merely obeyed orders;

but on Hodson's, who planned and carried it out). Well, I must finish my

story. We came up to the princes, now about five miles from where we had

taken them, and close to Delhi. The increasing crowd pressed close on the

horses of the sowars, and assumed every moment a more hostile appearance.

'What shall we do with them?' said Hodson to me. 'I think we had better

shoot them here; we shall never get them in.' There was no time to be

lost; we halted the troop, put five troopers across the road, behind and

in front. Hodson ordered the princes to strip (that is, to take off their

upper garments), and get again into the cart; he then shot them with his

own hand. So ended the career of the chiefs of the revolt, and of the

greatest villains that ever shamed humanity. Before they were shot, Hodson

addressed our men, explaining who they were, and why they were to suffer

death. The effect was marvellous--the Mussulmans seemed struck with a

wholesome idea of retribution, and the Sikhs shouted with delight, while

the mass moved off slowly and silently." The bodies were taken into the

city, and flung down in the Chandni Chowk, in front of the Kotwallee, the

very place where, four months before, they had exposed the bodies of our

countrywomen whom they had slain! Our soldiers looked on this as poetic

justice. To the Sikhs it had a deeper significance. Two hundred years

before, the great King Aurungzebe, a fanatical Moslem, as intolerant as

an inquisitor, had cut off the head of the Sikh prophet, Tej Singh, and

had caused his body to be thrown on that very spot. Here, also, had come

retribution for them, and the awful fulfilment of one of their cherished

prophecies. There lay three scions of the hated house of Timur, on the

public way. Hodson, who had fulfilled their desire of vengeance, and who

had done rough justice at the same time, at once rose tenfold in their

estimation.

Delhi captured, the king in captivity, the Sepoy army routed, broken,

demoralised--and all without any aid from England--the back of the mutiny

in the North-West was broken. This was the work of Lawrence, and Edwardes,

and Montgomery, and the able men who were their assistants. That Delhi did

not fall a moment too soon is shown by the fact that, contemporaneously

with its fall, a rebellion broke out in Gogaira, the country lying between

Mooltan and Lahore, a wilderness inhabited by predatory tribes. Nearly

two months were occupied in quenching this fresh flame; but long before

that the road to Mooltan was cleared. The incident itself showed what

combustible material was scattered over the Punjab. Had Delhi not been

taken, there would have been perhaps a general revolt. As it was, the

"good fortune" of the British filled the people with awe and admiration,

for nothing succeeds like success, especially in Asia. The name of Sir

John Lawrence, always powerful in the Punjab, was now more powerful than

ever. All doubt of our might disappeared, and recruits to any amount were

forthcoming at the slightest hint that men were wanted. But this supremacy

had not been reasserted without measures of extreme severity. No mercy was

shown anywhere to mutineers or rebels. All caught in the act were hanged

or blown from guns. The only justification for this sweeping destruction

of life is the old one--necessity. It was their lives or ours. Sometimes,

no doubt, men were killed who may have been innocent, but on the whole,

considering the peril of the hour, justice was done.

[Illustration: RUINS OF THE RESIDENCY, LUCKNOW. (_From a Photograph by

Frith & Co., Reigate._)]

Once established in Delhi, it became of the utmost importance to clear

the Doab, or country between the Jumna and Ganges, as far as Agra, and

re-open communications with Calcutta by way of Cawnpore. It was reported

everywhere that we had been foiled at Delhi, and that the Padishah

was still a great king. Ocular and tangible proof of the contrary was

required, and on the 22nd a column 2,790 strong, with sixteen guns,

traversed Delhi, crossed the Jumna, and emerged into the purer air of the

open country. The whole were under Colonel Greathed. Crossing the Hindon

by the suspension bridge, the scene of Wilson's first successes, the

force swept round to the right, and marched on Bolundshuhur. Here a smart

action ensued; but in three hours the enemy was routed, driven through

the town, and his guns were captured. Crossing the Kalee Nuddee, it was

found that Walidad Khan, the rebel chief, had fled from Malaghur across

the Ganges. The fort was blown up, but in that operation Lieutenant Home,

who had earned the Victoria Cross by his exploits at the Cashmere Gate of

Delhi, was accidentally killed. Marching on, the column did justice on

the road upon well-known and flagrant offenders, and had passed Alighur,

when expresses came from Agra demanding instant help. For 10,000 mutineers

from Delhi and elsewhere were moving from Dholpore upon Agra, and Colonel

Fraser, who had succeeded Mr. Colvin, had got alarmed beyond measure.

[Illustration: THE MAUSOLEUM OF AKBAR, AGRA.

(_From a Photograph by Frith and Company, Reigate._)]

Greathed put his troops in motion at once, and on the 10th of October,

after two forced marches, filed over the Jumna, passed through Agra, and

pitched his camp on the other side. His wearied soldiers little thought

they were on the very threshold of a battle. He had been told that the

enemy had retreated. So much for the intelligence of Colonel Fraser. A

crowd of sight seers followed the soldiers to the Native Infantry parade

ground, a fine open plain. Many of the troops went to sleep immediately,

and officers rode off to see friends in the fort. Few tents were up, the

baggage was coming in, when suddenly a round shot crashed through the

camp; then another, and finally a salvo from twelve guns. The sight-seers

fled at the first gun; but the war-worn and war-trained troops sprang to

arms with admirable alacrity, turning out with such clothes as they had

on. The enemy had surprised the camp, but he was surprised in turn, for

our artillery soon answered his fire; our infantry and horse were promptly

in motion. The whole force closed with the enemy, and delivered such

stunning blows that he fled nine miles, almost without a halt to breathe.

On his track, swift and sharp, were the horse batteries and cavalry. This

splendid little action relieved Agra. After resting three days, a rest

well deserved, the column, now under Hope Grant, moved out for Cawnpore,

which it reached on the 26th of October.

The Punjab army had thus sent help towards, instead of receiving aid

from, Calcutta. Matters had greatly changed in this quarter since we

left Havelock a victor at Bithoor in August; and how the change had been

brought about we must now narrate. The reader will remember that we left

the small garrison of Lucknow beleaguered in its extemporised lines by the

rebel force of Oude; and that we narrated the first campaign of Havelock

to relieve the garrison, and its failure. The result of that campaign

simply enabled us to recover Cawnpore, and to show the mutineers that we

had still power to rout them in the open field; and this was an immense

gain at that time. We have now to recount the story of the defence of the

Lucknow Residency and its various outposts, and then to show how the noble

garrison was first succoured by Havelock and Outram, and finally rescued

by Sir Colin Campbell.

The defeat of the British forces at Chinhut, the abandonment of the Muchee

Bowun, the defection of all but a few hundreds of the native troops,

the suddenness of the disaster, created great confusion. The position

occupied consisted of a number of buildings around the Residency. The

defences begun early in June were still incomplete. There were large

gaps at vital points. The engineers had been permitted to level only a

few of the surrounding houses, and this only on the north side facing

the river. Hence the enemy, as soon as he closed around, was able to

occupy the near houses, and from these, as well as from the more distant

buildings, the vast palaces and stronger houses, to open at once, and

maintain almost without intermission, a terrible fire of shot, shell, and

musketry. Consequently, the defences had to be completed under fire; and

had the enemy shown the least courage, he might have stormed in at more

than one point; but, strong in numbers, he was weak in bravery, and he

feared to grapple at close quarters, even with the few hundreds encircled

by his fire. The position occupied was a piece of table land, on the

crown of which stood the Residency. The ground fell sharply towards the

river, and all along the northern face ran a low rampart, eked out with

sand-bags, and having a ditch in front. The north-eastern and eastern

fronts consisted of lines of buildings connected by barricades and banks

of earth. Here were the hospital, the Treasury, the Bailey Guard, a strong

gateway well banked up with earth, Dr. Fayrer's house and enclosures, the

Financial Garrison House and wall, Sago's house, and Anderson's house,

which was entrenched and formed the south-eastern angle of the position.

Then, looking south, came the Cawnpore Battery, so named because it swept

the Cawnpore Road. From this point the line of available buildings trended

in a westerly direction, until the house of Mr. Gubbins was reached. This

was made by that energetic civil servant into a very strong post at the

eleventh hour. The western face of the position was the series of houses

connected with the north face by an entrenchment running along the brow

of the high land on that side. Within the outer line were inner posts,

some of which commanded those in front, and at suitable points batteries

were constructed and armed with guns. Nevertheless, it was soon found that

there were few spots into which the projectiles of the enemy did not make

way. In fact the whole position was encircled by hosts of foes, who, from

batteries placed within a hundred yards, from houses still nearer, from

the roofs and upper storeys of the lofty and more distant palaces on the

east, kept up an incessant hail of shot.

The garrison consisted of the men of the 32nd Foot, under Brigadier

Inglis, portions of the 13th and 48th Native Infantry, some Sikhs of

the 71st, many officers of the mutinied regiments, the civil servants

of the East India Company, and several merchants: in all 1,692 men, of

whom 765 were natives. The force of the assailants varied in numbers.

Always formidable, never less than 30,000 men, the nucleus of whom were

the Oude Sepoys, the number sometimes rose to 100,000. Chiefs came in

from the country districts, bringing their retainers, stayed as long as

they deemed expedient, and went away. Then Havelock's advance drew off a

portion of the investing force for a long period. Nevertheless, the active

operations of the siege went on without cessation for nearly four months.

The investment all this time was so strictly maintained that until after

the arrival of Outram and Havelock in September, only one messenger, Ungud

by name, was able to go out with despatches and return.

Within the first week of the siege the enemy had established batteries

on every side. He had also manned the houses. The round shot and shell

brought down the walls of the larger buildings, and the bullets fell in

every part of the place like rain. It was only by keeping close under

shelter that any one escaped. In some spots balls fell so thickly that

soldiers and officers crossing the space on duty, were obliged to run

at speed. Many refused to run, and of these not a few fell, sacrificed

to an excessive spirit of honour. It was this perpetual fire, and not

the assaults of the enemy, that caused the greatest losses. The brave

men among the besiegers were few. They would lead an assault and fall,

and then, instead of pressing the charge home, their companions would

run back to the first cover. Strict watch had to be kept night and day,

and the sentries would often fire at anything mistaken for a dark form.

At night the garrison were compelled, not only to repair damages, but to

bury the dead, and not only the dead bodies of their comrades, and of

women and children, but of the cattle and horses--the latter at first

numerous--that fell under the enemy's fire. They had to cook their own

food, for there were few servants in the lines, and their food soon became

scanty. Fortunately they had an abundance of guns and an immense supply of

ammunition. They had, also, the one thing needful--a stoutness of heart

that never failed, a determination to perish rather than yield. Even the

sick soldiers came out of hospital of their own accord, looking like

ghosts of men, and when reproved and ordered back again, nobly replied,

"Well, sir, in these times a man must do his best." The ladies and women

shared in the labours and the dangers, ready to cook for the strong, and

to attend on the sick; and the virtues of the tender sex never shone out

more brightly than in this siege.

Up to the 20th of July the enemy contented himself with keeping up an

incessant fire of cannon and musketry, to which with musketry and cannon

we replied. They had been busy underground. They had begun to mine. Their

first effort was against the Redan. On the morning of the 20th they sprang

their mine, but it did no harm. "As soon as the smoke had cleared away,"

writes Brigadier Inglis in his famous report, "the enemy boldly advanced

under cover of a tremendous fire of cannon and musketry, with the object

of storming the Redan; but they were received with such a heavy fire, that

after a short struggle they fell back with much loss. A strong column

advanced at the same time to attack Innes' post, and came on to within

ten yards of the palisades, affording to Lieutenant Loughnan--13th Native

Infantry, who commanded the position--and his brave garrison, composed of

gentlemen of the uncovenanted service, a few of her Majesty's 32nd Foot

and the 13th Native Infantry, an opportunity of distinguishing themselves,

which they were not slow to avail themselves of, and the enemy were

driven back with great slaughter. The insurgents made minor attacks at

almost every outpost, but were invariably defeated; and at two p.m. they

ceased their attempts to storm the place, although their musketry fire and

cannonading continued to harass us unceasingly as usual."

The action thus described was a very severe one. The enemy, in more than

one place, got close under the defences, and some among our volunteers,

especially the half-castes, engaged in a war of insults with the enemy, in

which our own Sepoys joined. The defenders were few, the assailants many,

but in no place did the latter penetrate the lines. After this struggle

the old state of things recurred,--a ceaseless cannonade and fusilade,

constant deaths and wounds, sleepless watchfulness. Day after day passed

with a horrible monotony, varied only by the deaths of friends. Still the

garrison kept up its courage, and stood ever ready to fight. The besiegers

were again at work underground, and we had begun to countermine, doing

considerable damage to the works of the enemy. But on the 10th of August

they fired a mine on the south side, which entirely destroyed the defences

of the place for the space of twenty feet, and blew in a wall, forming a

breach "through which a regiment could have advanced in perfect order."

Another mine was sprung on the east side, and a general attack commenced.

A few went gallantly up to the first breach, but fell under a flank fire.

On the eastern side some ran up under the walls, and laid hold of the

bayonets through the loopholes: these were soon shot down. Another party

attacked the Cawnpore Battery. They rushed on with fixed bayonets and

trailed arms. They dashed through the stockade, and reached the mound in

front of the inner ditch; but no farther; the fire in front and flank

was too sharp and telling; the leading men all fell. Again and again the

chiefs cried, "Come on, the place is taken!" but those who obeyed were

soon driven back. About a hundred got under the Cawnpore Battery, carrying

ladders; but a few hand grenades, dropped among them, sent them flying.

In these encounters the enemy lost immense numbers, the killed alone

on the 10th amounting to 470 men, by the admission of the natives

themselves. "On the 18th of August," says the brigadier's report, "the

enemy sprang another mine in front of the Sikh lines with very fatal

effect. Captain Orr, Lieutenants Mecham and Soppitt, who commanded the

small body of drummers composing the garrison, were blown into the air;

but providentially returned to earth with no further injury than a severe

shaking. The garrison, however, were not so fortunate. No less than

eleven men were buried alive under the ruins, whence it was impossible to

extricate them, owing to the tremendous fire kept up by the enemy from

houses situated not ten yards in front of the breach. The explosion was

followed by a general assault of a less determined nature than the two

former efforts, and the enemy were consequently repulsed without much

difficulty. But they succeeded, under cover of the breach, in establishing

themselves in one of the houses in our position, from which they were

driven in the evening by the bayonets of her Majesty's 32nd and 84th

Foot." The enemy made one more serious assault, this time on the 5th of

September. He sprang two mines in succession, and strove to storm into the

place. He brought up scaling ladders, and tried to mount, but could not

stand against the fire of musketry and the explosion of hand grenades. On

this, as on other occasions, he was routed with immense slaughter.

But these actions were not what the garrison had most to dread. The

glory of the defence did not lie in these fierce combats, but in the

unfaltering fortitude which enabled all to bear the incessant fire, the

daily losses, the horrid stench, the ever-present dread of mines, the

absence of the common conveniences of life, the want of a knowledge of

the events occurring in the outer world, the fear lest all the natives

should desert. The unceasing cannonade knocked down the walls, and tore

through and through some of the buildings. It seemed as if, by sheer force

of heavy shot, the enemy would level the defences in one common ruin. But

it is astonishing what an amount of cannonading a clump of well-built

houses will bear. The enemy, fortunately, did not possess a good supply

of shells, so that the arrival of these destructive missiles was

comparatively rare. We had shells, but no howitzer to fire them from, and

to supply this want, Lieutenant Bonham ingeniously rigged a carriage for a

mortar. It was called "the ship," and did good service in horizontal shell

firing. The history of the mining operations is not the least remarkable.

The enemy was ever employed in digging and mining all round the place, and

hence we were compelled to countermine. Shafts were sunk and galleries run

out in the direction of the enemy's mines, that direction being discovered

by close observation above, and intense listening under, ground. In this

very severe work the Sikhs and Hindostanees behaved extremely well. As

there was more skill in the garrison than in the rebel army, so the

former were more fortunate in their mines.

[Illustration: INCIDENT IN THE DEFENCE OF LUCKNOW. (_See p._ 243.)]

The eloquent report of Brigadier Inglis contains at once the most

authentic and most touching account of the sufferings and endurance of

this illustrious garrison, and we cannot do better than quote it. After a

description of the mining operations, he says--"The whole of the officers

and men have been on duty night and day during the eighty-seven days

which the siege had lasted up to the arrival of Sir J. Outram, G.C.B.

In addition to this incessant military duty, the force has been nightly

employed in repairing defences, in moving guns, in burying dead animals,

in conveying ammunition and commissariat stores from one place to another,

and in fatigue duties too numerous and too trivial to enumerate here. I

feel, however, that any words of mine will fail to convey any adequate

idea of what our fatigues and labours have been--labours in which all

ranks and all classes, civilians, officers, and soldiers, have all borne

an equally noble part. All have together descended into the mine; all

have together handled the shovel for the interment of the putrid bullock;

and all, accoutred with musket and bayonet, have relieved each other on

sentry without regard to the distinctions of rank, civil or military.

Notwithstanding all these hardships, the garrison has made no less than

five sorties, in which they spiked two of the enemy's heaviest guns,

and blew up several of the houses from which they had kept up the most

harassing fire. Owing to the extreme paucity of our numbers, each man

was taught to feel that on his own individual efforts alone depended in

no small measure the safety of the entire position. This consciousness

incited every officer, soldier, and man to defend the post assigned to him

with such desperate tenacity, and fight for the lives which Providence had

entrusted to his care with such dauntless determination, that the enemy,

despite their constant attacks, their heavy mines, their overwhelming

numbers, and their incessant fire, could never succeed in gaining one

inch of ground within the bounds of this straggling position, which was

so feebly fortified that had they once obtained a footing in any of the

outposts, the whole place must inevitably have fallen. If further proof be

wanting of the desperate nature of the struggle which we have, under God's

blessing, so long and so successfully waged, I would point to the roofless

and ruined houses, to the crumbled walls, to the exploded mines, to the

open breaches, to the shattered and disabled guns and defences, and lastly

to the long and melancholy list of the brave and devoted officers and men

who have fallen. These silent witnesses bear sad and solemn testimony to

the way in which this feeble position has been defended. During the early

part of these vicissitudes we were left without any information whatever

regarding the posture of affairs outside. An occasional spy did, indeed,

come in, with the object of inducing our Sepoys and native servants to

desert; but the intelligence derived from such sources was, of course,

entirely untrustworthy. We sent messengers daily, calling for aid and

asking for information, none of whom ever returned, until the twenty-sixth

day of the siege, when a pensioner, named Ungud, came back, with a letter

from General Havelock's camp, informing us that they were advancing with

a force sufficient to bear down all opposition, and would be with us in

five or six days. A messenger was immediately despatched, requesting that

on the evening of their arrival on the outskirts of the city, two rockets

might be sent up, in order that we might take the necessary measures for

assisting them in forcing their way in. The sixth day, however, expired,

and they came not; but for many evenings after officers and men watched

for the ascension of the expected rockets, with hopes such as make the

heart sick. We knew not then, nor did we learn until the 29th of August,

or thirty-five days later, that the relieving force, after having fought

most nobly to effect our deliverance, had been obliged to fall back for

reinforcements; and this was the last communication we received until two

days before the arrival of Sir James Outram on September 25th. Besides

heavy visitations of cholera and small-pox, we have also had to contend

against a sickness which has almost universally pervaded the garrison.

Commencing with a very painful eruption, it has merged into a low fever,

combined with diarrhœa; and although few or no men have actually died

from its effects, it leaves behind a weakness and lassitude which, in the

absence of all material sustenance, save coarse beef and still coarser

flour, none have been entirely able to get over.... I cannot refrain from

bringing to the prominent notice of his Lordship in Council the patient

endurance and the Christian resignation which have been evinced by the

women of this garrison. They have animated us by their example. Many,

alas! have been made widows, and their children fatherless, in this

cruel struggle. But all such seemed resigned to the will of Providence,

and many--among whom may be mentioned the honoured names of Birch, of

Polehampton, of Barbor, and of Gall--have, after the example of Miss

Nightingale, constituted themselves the tender and solicitous nurses of

the wounded and dying soldiers in the hospital."

Sir Colin Campbell had just arrived in Calcutta. When the news of General

Anson's death reached London, the name of only one man occurred to the

Duke of Cambridge, as that of a soldier fit to restore to us an empire

in the East. By a sort of instinct, in moments of real peril, nations

select their commanders; and when the Duke of Cambridge sent for Sir

Colin Campbell, he only anticipated the national choice of a fit leader.

The scene at the Horse Guards was characteristic. The Duke offered the

command of the Indian army to the veteran who but a few months before was

simply a colonel. Sir Colin accepted the appointment, and when he was

asked how soon he would be ready to start, he replied--in four-and-twenty

hours. He was as good as his word, and embarking for India at once,

arrived in Calcutta on the 13th of August, two months and a half after

the death of Anson. But the army he was to command was slowly steaming

and sailing round the Cape of Good Hope. The French Emperor had offered

to our Government free passage for troops through France, but we had not

become so humiliated as a nation as to be in a position to accept that

offer, and for the same reason Lord Palmerston rejected the proffered

assistance of Belgium from full confidence that Britain "could win off

her own bat." Many persons urged the Government to send the Indian

reinforcements through Egypt as if Egypt were our own. Had the Government

done so, a doubtful precedent would have been set, one that might have

provoked unpleasant relations with certain Continental Powers. Therefore

the Government wisely sent the troops by the sea route, even though in

doubling the Cape an amount of time would be inevitably consumed that

could hardly be spared.

As soon as he heard of Sir Colin's arrival, Havelock reported to him,

and begged that he might be reinforced. The Indian Government, however,

had taken the unusual step of superseding Havelock by Sir James Outram,

and left the former to learn his supersession from the columns of the

_Calcutta Gazette_. Havelock felt this keenly, but he was a good soldier,

and did not complain. His friends supplied the required amount of

indignation, and his biographers, from excusable motives, have not failed

to censure the Government. It cannot, however, be contended that there

was anything unfit in placing over Havelock the man under whom he had so

recently served in Persia.

The position of Havelock at Cawnpore was one of great peril; enemies were

accumulating all around him. There was a mutinous force at Futtehpore;

the Gwalior Contingent, kept inactive by the skill of Scindia and his

able Minister, Dinkur Rao, nevertheless threatened to move on Calpee. The

Oude insurgents had occupied the abandoned position at Mungulwar, and

scouring the left bank of the Ganges, threatened to strike at his line of

communications with Allahabad. Agra, it must be remembered, was beset.

Delhi, it should be borne in mind, had not been taken; indeed, Nicholson

had only just entered the camp with the movable column. Central India

was ablaze with mutiny. To hold Cawnpore we had not more than 1,000 men.

Deducting the force required to guard an entrenched position covering the

point of passage over the river, and a hundred men sent down the Ganges in

a steamer to destroy the boats collected on the Oude bank for an inroad

into the Doab at Futtehpore, Havelock could only muster 685 Europeans.

Thus it was impossible that he could act in the field. Indeed, at the end

of August he was forced to contemplate the fatal step of retreating on

Allahabad, unless he were speedily reinforced.

But these reinforcements did not arrive very quickly. As soon as he

assumed command, Sir Colin Campbell requested General Outram to push

on the 5th and 90th from Behar to Allahabad, together with all the

detachments available, as fast as possible. The 90th had no sooner started

than the civilians called them back. Then Koer Singh reappeared in the

field, and part of the troops destined for Cawnpore had to be detained to

watch and counteract him. Moreover, Sir James Outram conceived a new plan

of campaign--a march up the Gogra or Goomtee, combined with the advance

of Havelock from Cawnpore, instead of the dash of a single column from

Cawnpore on Lucknow. To this both Sir Colin and Lord Canning were opposed.

And when Sir James Outram heard that Havelock could not hold Cawnpore

unless reinforced he gave up his own views at once, and set his face

towards Cawnpore. At the same time he apprised Havelock of his approach,

and told his old comrade in arms that he would not supersede him. "I shall

join you with reinforcements," so ran his message; "but to you shall be

left the glory of relieving Lucknow, for which you have already struggled

so much. I shall accompany you as civil commissioner, placing my military

service at your disposal, should you please, serving under you as a

volunteer." Well might Sir Colin Campbell say, "Seldom, perhaps never, has

it occurred to a Commander-in-Chief to publish and confirm such an order."

Outram's column had reached Aong, the scene of one of Havelock's

victories, when news arrived that a force from Oude had crossed the

Ganges, the forerunner of a regular irruption, intent on interrupting our

communications. Sir James saw at once how necessary it would be to put a

stop to that, and he detached Major Eyre at the head of 150 men, two guns,

and forty native troopers, under Captain Johnson and Lieutenant Charles

Havelock, to attack the invaders. Eyre put his infantry on elephants,

and, making a rapid march, came upon the enemy at daybreak. Detaching his

horsemen, to keep them in play, and urging on his elephants, he found

that the enemy had fled to his boats, and that the cavalry were gallantly

engaging him and holding him to the shore. The infantry went briskly

into action and the guns were brought to bear. The Oude men were smitten

with terror, and bundling into the river tried to escape by swimming. So

deadly was the fire of grape and musketry that only three men out of the

host succeeded in recrossing the Ganges. This was a deadly blow and left

a deep impression. Another body had come over, four miles above, and Eyre

at once turned upon them; but they had got news of the slaughter of their

comrades, and before Eyre could strike them, they had swept back into

Oude. Eyre then made a forced march and joined Sir James at Futtehpore.

To this swift and sharp blow the Lower Doab was indebted for future

security. The Oude borderers did not again get within reach by attempting

to molest the roads in our rear. Sir James Outram reached Cawnpore on the

evening of the 15th, and with him came the last of the reinforcements.

The two chiefs now had all the men they could possibly obtain. Brigadier

Inglis had named the 21st of September as the day he could hold out to.

There was no time to be lost. Indeed, Havelock had already begun to take

measures for the reconstruction of his bridge of boats. The bridge was

established in three days, the enemy watching the operation supinely from

Mungulwar. Leaving 400 men to guard the entrenchment at Cawnpore, Havelock

on the 19th crossed the Ganges with 3,179 men and 18 guns, confident that,

if he arrived in time, he should save the noble Lucknow garrison. The

heavy guns and stores for thirteen days were carried over the bridge on

the 20th, and on the 21st the army began its march in two brigades, the

first under General Neill, the second under Colonel Hamilton, of the 78th.

The progress of the force was far more rapid than that of Havelock when

he first crossed into Oude. Moving upon Mungulwar, he found the enemy

posted there with six guns. Mindful of former defeats, the enemy made no

stand, and being started from cover by the infantry and guns, were chased

by Outram with the Volunteer Horse as far as Busserutgunge, where two

guns, much ammunition, and a standard were captured. The whole force came

up the same night, and slept on the scene of Havelock's three brilliant

combats. The next day the troops marched fifteen miles. They found the

bridge over the Sye unbroken and they encamped on the opposite bank. On

the 23rd, ten miles from the Sye, they found the enemy in position at the

Alumbagh. This was a large park or garden, devised as a pleasaunce for one

of the favourite wives of a former King of Oude. The park was enclosed by

a wall, with turrets at each angle; it was entered by a handsome gateway

and contained a large palace.

The enemy had brought up 10,000 men, including 1,500 horse from Lucknow,

and supported them with many guns. Part of his front was covered by

a morass, his centre stood across the road, and his left was in the

Alumbagh. In order to get at him, the whole column had to move along his

front under fire, having the water of the swamp between it and the foe.

But when once this obstacle was surmounted, and it became possible to

open with heavy guns, both artillery and cavalry fell away to the rear in

confusion. One gun alone remained. Its gunners were gallant well-trained

regulars, and they went through their work without flinching. Suddenly a

little band of horse swept down upon them and, closing in, cut them down.

It was Lieutenant Johnson and his native irregulars. He was now more than

half a mile in front of our line, and of course could not keep the gun,

but the enemy did not go near it again. However he put two pieces into the

Alumbagh, making holes in the wall, to serve as embrasures. This stood the

foe in no stead, for the 5th Foot charged him, and drove him out of the

garden and palace. We captured five guns, and pressed the enemy back upon

Lucknow, with the Volunteer Horse at his heels.

Havelock was now in actual contact with the assailants of the garrison in

Lucknow. He was within sight of the goal he had done so much to reach.

It had been comparatively easy to defeat the enemy in the open field.

The task of breaking into Lucknow, through its tortuous lanes and mighty

buildings, was far more arduous. It had to be undertaken with resolution,

but also very circumspectly: it was needful to temper daring with craft.

The 24th was spent by the generals in devising a plan of attack. First,

it was wisely proposed to hold the Alumbagh, which thus served as an

intermediate base of operations. It was highly defensible, and plentifully

supplied with water. All the baggage was to be deposited here, and a

garrison of 250 men, under Colonel M'Intyre, was entrusted with the

defence. The next step--the choice of a route into Lucknow--was more

difficult. One plan was to force the Charbagh Bridge, and to cut a passage

to the Residency along the Cawnpore road. This plan was at once abandoned

because the route which the column would have to take lay through the

heart of the city, and because every yard presented an obstacle. Another

plan was to move the whole column to the right, seize the Delkoosha Palace

and park, and, under cover of its excellent defences, bridge the Goomtee,

throw the column over, and sweeping up the left bank of the river, capture

the iron bridge, and so release the garrison.

The actual plan adopted was a compromise between the two. It was resolved

that the Charbagh Bridge should be carried, but that, instead of pushing

forward into the city, the column should wheel to the right, and fight

its way through the palaces and large houses lying to the east of the

Residency. There is reason to believe that the second plan would have

been adopted, as the safer and less costly in life, but it would have

taken some days to execute it, and the latest communications from

Brigadier Inglis painted the dangers of the garrison from mines, and the

possible defection of the native troops, in such colours, that the idea

was abandoned and the deadlier project adopted. Havelock determined to

take with him his heavy guns, and well it was that he did so. Therefore,

leaving in Alumbagh, including the sick and wounded, about 400 men, the

force paraded on the 25th to fight its way into Lucknow.

The troops moved off between eight and nine. First went a brigade of

infantry, followed by the guns, under Sir James Outram; then the remainder

of the infantry, under Havelock himself. As soon as the skirmishers had

passed the picket the column came under fire. But, in spite of this fire,

on it swept; and, led by Captain Maude, the artillery got through, but

with a loss of a third of the men. On the right was a large garden called

the Charbagh, on the left clusters of enclosures, in front the bridge

over the canal. The enemy had planted a battery of six guns to defend

the bridge, and had filled all the neighbouring houses with infantry.

Meeting the storm of shot at a turn in the road, the troops were ordered

to lie down until the guns could be got into position. But the narrowness

of the road did not enable our artillery captains to place more than two

upon it, and with these two Maude contended with six. In order to bring a

flank fire to bear on the bridge, Outram led a body of infantry into the

Charbagh. The unequal artillery combat continued. Maude's gunners fell

rapidly; infantry soldiers replaced them. General Neill, now leading the

first brigade, listened anxiously for the sound of Outram's musketry. All

was silent in the Charbagh. Feeling that this protracted artillery duel

would not help them into Lucknow, Neill resolved to carry the bridge with

the bayonet. The word had scarcely been given ere Lieutenant Arnold and

a few of the Madras Fusiliers charged on to the bridge. With them went

Colonel Tytler and Lieutenant Henry Havelock. The first blast of the

enemy's grape swept them all down, Havelock excepted. For a moment he was

seen standing alone on the bridge, a target for scores of muskets, waving

his sword, and calling to the Madras Fusiliers. The next moment they were

with him. With a loud cheer the Fusiliers dashed over the bridge, and

bayoneted the gunners at their pieces before they had time to load again.

Thus was the bridge of the Charbagh won. Sir James Outram and his men

appeared on the bank of the canal just as the guns were captured.

Now the whole column rolled over the bridge. As if they were about to

storm along the Cawnpore road, the 78th moved up the street, contending

with the enemy in the houses, and occupied its outlet. But this was only

a feint. To the surprise of the Sepoys the main column wheeled to the

right, and disappeared from view. The baggage followed in a steady stream.

Enraged at being thus foiled, the enemy, seeing the Highlanders without

support, turned upon them. For three hours the gallant 78th kept the

street against all odds. They held the houses at a point where two roads

met. When the enemy became too audacious, they sallied out and scared him

away. When he brought up two guns, the 78th dashed out of the houses and

captured the guns, a feat which won for Captain Macpherson the Victoria

Cross. The surgeon of the regiment, Macmaster, was to be seen nobly doing

his duties under the hottest fire, and a Cross was granted to him also.

At length the last waggon passed over the bridge. Young Havelock, who had

been charged with the safety of the convoy, was now shot in the arm, just

as he had ordered the 78th to withdraw.

[Illustration: LIEUT. HAVELOCK AND THE MADRAS FUSILIERS CARRYING THE

CHARBAGH BRIDGE AT LUCKNOW. (_See p._ 248.)]

Once through that fiery passage of the Charbagh Bridge, the column went

on between the canal and the city with comparative ease, for the enemy's

defences had been turned. The interval of comparative quiet was the

hour occupied by the march of the main column from the bridge through

the tortuous lanes as far as the building known as the Motee Munzil. On

approaching this, the column moved to the left, facing westward towards

the Residency; and the enemy, massed in the Kaiserbagh, a vast palace of

the Kings of Oude, and in the houses, catching sight of our troops, opened

a tremendous fire. Eyre brought his heavy guns to bear on the enemy's

battery at the gate of the Kaiserbagh, and twice compelled the gunners to

flee within the gate; while our troops and trains got under cover in the

walled passages and buildings. Halting for a time, to wait for the 78th

and the Volunteer Horse, the force moved once more, and crossing a narrow

bridge partially under fire, they plunged into the Chutter Munzil and

Furhut Buksh Palaces, out of the storm.

In the meantime the 78th and the horsemen, guided by the sound of the

guns, had, on reaching a point where two roads met, quitted the track of

the main body, and boldly advanced along a cross lane leading directly

to the gate of the Kaiserbagh. Here they came suddenly on the flank of

the enemy's battery, which they stormed at once, driving the foe into the

palace. Spiking the largest gun, they pressed on and came up with the main

body in the palaces above-mentioned. Here they found the whole body in

great confusion, and here for a moment there was a pause.

For the generals were debating the important question whether they should

rest there for the night, or push on. Outram was for halting; Havelock

for completing the work that night. Little more than a quarter of a

mile intervened between the troops and the Bailey Guard. The garrison

were eagerly expecting them, for the watchers had seen officers in

shooting-jackets and men in sun helmets, and European soldiers coming

towards them, and trembled with the near prospect of deliverance. The

distance, though so short, was every inch under fire. But at length Outram

consented. The troops formed up, the generals rode forth at their head,

the Highlanders and Sikhs leading the column; and giving a loud cheer,

they dashed through an archway into the main street which led to the

Bailey Guard Gate. The enemy occupied the windows and roofs of the houses

on each side, and poured forth a torrent of fire. The road was cut by deep

trenches, so that the artillery had to seek another road, but neither

musketry nor trenches could stop that column. It was while seeing that

the rear was properly brought up that Neill was shot by a party of the

enemy through the ceiling of the archway under which the whole column had

passed. No man who fell was more regretted. But the work had been done.

Lucknow was relieved.

The garrison had seen the advance of that noble column; seen the

Highlanders and Sikhs charge up the main street at a rapid pace, loading,

shouting, firing as they stormed along; and almost before a cheer could

be raised, Outram rode up, and dismounted at the embrasure of Aitken's

Battery, near the Bailey Guard Gate. "Nothing," writes Mr. Gubbins, "could

exceed their [the soldiers'] enthusiasm. The Highlanders stopped every one

they met, and with repeated questions and exclamations of 'Are you one of

them?'--'God bless you!'--'We thought to have found only your bones,' bore

them back towards Dr. Fayrer's house, into which the general had entered.

Here a scene of thrilling interest presented itself. The ladies of that

garrison, with their children, had assembled in the most intense anxiety

and excitement under the porch outside, when the Highlanders approached.

Rushing forward, the rough and bearded warriors shook the ladies by the

hand, amidst loud and repeated gratulations. They took the children up in

their arms, and fondly caressing them, passed them from one to another to

be caressed in turn; and then, when the first burst of enthusiasm and

excitement was over, they mournfully turned to speak among themselves of

the heavy loss which they had suffered, and to inquire the names of the

numerous comrades who had fallen on the way. It is quite impossible to

describe the scene within the entrenchment that evening. We had received

no post, nor any but the smallest scrap of news, for 113 days since the

date of the outbreak at Cawnpore. All had relatives and friends to inquire

after, whose fate they were ignorant of, and were eager to learn. Many

had brothers, friends, or relatives in the relieving force, whom they

were anxiously seeking. Every one wished for news of the outer world, of

Delhi, Agra, Calcutta, and of England. Everybody was on foot. All the

thoroughfares were thronged; and new faces were every moment appearing of

friends which one had least expected to see."

It was the Sikhs and Highlanders who had carved out a road to the

Residency by the main street. The remainder of the column, with all

the guns except two, were guided by Lieutenant Moorsom--a brave and

accomplished young soldier--along streets and lanes that turned some of

the Sepoy defences, and brought them to the place with little loss. At

the same time, Lieutenant Aitken, with some of the faithful Sepoys of the

13th Native Infantry, sallying forth, materially aided the progress of

the guns, and secured a parallel route to the Chutter Munzil. The loss of

Havelock's force, since it crossed the Ganges on the 19th of September,

was 535 killed and wounded. Thus Lucknow was relieved at the cost of a

sixth of the little band that had started from Cawnpore.

It was anticipated that Sir James Outram, who now assumed command, would

carry off the garrison. This was not found to be practicable, except at

great risk and heavy cost of life. On making due inquiry, it was found

that, with the supplies brought in, there was abundance of provisions for

several weeks. Sir James, therefore, determined to remain. He divided his

force into two parts. Colonel Inglis was left in command of the lines

he had so long defended. Havelock was directed to take the remaining

troops, and establish himself in the palaces and buildings to the east,

on the road through which the troops had come in. This was done in three

days. The soldiers now made themselves at home in the luxurious palaces

of Lucknow. They were in comparative comfort and safety, but shut out

from the rest of India: comparative, for the enemy renewed his mining

operations; directing them now against the buildings under Havelock's

charge. But at this work he was foiled by the skill and science of Colonel

Robert Napier and Captain Crommelin. Guarding against these tricks of the

enemy, enduring a fire of guns and musketry less severe and less deadly,

and poorly fed, our men, without a murmur, held on for eight more weeks,

when the Commander-in-Chief himself arrived, and snatched them, as it

were, from the jaws of death.

The Government of India had now become fully aware of the character of the

mutiny, which in Oude, Rohilcund, and Central India, had been supplemented

by an insurrection. In Oude a strong spirit of hostility was manifested;

and although many talookdars held aloof from the rebels, they did not

join the Europeans. In Rohilcund and Central India the insurrectionary

forces were masters of the field from the Ganges to the frontiers of

Oude, from the Nerbudda to the Jumna. In Bombay there were intermittent

signs of disaffection, and sharp remedies had to be promptly applied.

Lord Elphinstone ruled with an iron hand--clad in a velvet glove, it is

true, but none the less effective for that. He had his own difficulties

to contend against--hostility in Kolapore, and Sattara, and Candeish;

mutiny also in some recently-raised regiments--but all these he overcame.

Madras was quiet, and as Bombay sent troops to the Nerbudda Valley and

Rajpootana, so Madras sent a column to cover the frontier of Nagpore, and

reinforcements to Bengal--European infantry, who took part in several

battles, and native infantry and native guns, which did good service.

Except during the spring, neither the Indian nor the Home Government

underrated the magnitude of the struggle, and the thousands of troops

embarked in the summer began to pour into Calcutta by battalions at the

end of September. The China troops had all been intercepted before that

time, and had been sent up the country. The sailors of the _Pearl_ and the

_Shannon_ had been landed with some of their heavy guns, and had been sent

up the Ganges, with Captain William Peel and a sailor brigade, forming a

part of the army rapidly gathering at Allahabad and Cawnpore. For as soon

as it became certain that Outram and Havelock could not bring off the

Lucknow garrison, treasure, women and children, guns and ammunition, Sir

Colin began to organise a force for their relief and rescue. Throughout

the month of October this force was being collected at Cawnpore. Except

the China regiments, all the troops employed were those already in India.

The whole strength was about 4,550 men, with forty-nine guns, including

Peel's eight heavy pieces, manned by his gallant tars. This force,

gradually collected, was completed by the arrival of Greathed's force from

Delhi, which, we have already stated, arrived at Cawnpore on the 26th of

October.

As soon as he heard of Greathed's arrival, Sir Colin Campbell quitted

Calcutta, and "travelling like a courier," reached Cawnpore on the 5th of

November. Part of the troops had already gone on, with large convoys, to

the Alumbagh, which, it will be remembered, was held by part of Outram's

force, now under the orders of Brigadier Hope Grant, who arrived in time

to repel a smart attack made by the enemy. The troops had commenced the

passage on the 30th of October, and the bulk of the troops were near

Alumbagh by the 5th of November. On the 9th Sir Colin reached that place,

and on the 11th he reviewed his army. As the Gwalior Contingent--a force

of all arms, the nucleus of a large native army--had come up to Calpee, it

was not without some apprehensions that Sir Colin left General Windham,

of Redan renown, with about 500 men, to guard the small entrenchment

that protected the bridge over the Ganges. Nevertheless, as he knew

Windham would be reinforced by the troops coming daily up the Ganges from

Calcutta, and as it was imperative that Lucknow should be relieved, he

left Windham to do his best, and gathered up his strength for a deadly

blow at the Oude insurrection.

As soon as General Outram was informed of the early approach of Sir Colin

Campbell, he sent plans of the city and its approaches to the Alumbagh,

and arranged with Brigadier Grant a code of signals to be worked by means

of the old semaphore. The garrison also sent a guide. Fired with the

desire of winning the Victoria Cross, Mr. Kavanagh, of the uncovenanted

service, volunteered to join the Commander-in-Chief. The offer was

accepted. Staining his face, shoulders, and hands with lampblack, putting

on the gay dress, and carrying the simple arms of an irregular mutineer,

Kavanagh, guided by a native scout, forded the Goomtee at night, dressed

on the opposite bank, walked up the river, and recrossing at the iron

bridge, made his way through the heart of the city of Lucknow. Emerging

in the open country through the enemy's pickets, he pushed on and reached

Sir Colin's camp. This is one of the most daring acts ever done in India,

since James Outram made his way from Afghanistan to Bombay disguised as

a groom. And Kavanagh had his reward, obtaining not only the Victoria

Cross in due time, but a reward of £2,000 and admission into the regular

civil service. The telegraph soon told not only that Kavanagh had come in

safely, but that on the 14th Sir Colin would march on Lucknow.

At nine o'clock on the 14th the army was in motion. Passing to the rear

of the Alumbagh, Sir Colin directed his columns upon the Delkoosha Palace

and Park, and a fantastic building a little to the west of it, called

the Martinière. This side of Lucknow was a mass of groves, gardens,

enclosures, and palaces, with stretches of green-sward and cultivated

patches between. By sweeping so far to the eastward Sir Colin avoided the

defences which the Sepoy mutineers and their allies had accumulated on

the canal, and about the bridge stormed by Havelock. They had dammed the

canal, in order to deepen the water above, and thus outwitted themselves,

for they left it dry below, and easy of passage even for heavy guns. After

a brief march, the skirmishers came under fire, but pressing on, they

chased the enemy through and out of the park, and entered the palace.

Then, turning half left, the troops made for the Martinière. Here there

was a smarter defence, for the enemy had begun to comprehend the drift

of Sir Colin's manœuvre. A number of guns opened on both sides, and the

rattle of musketry shook the air; but the infantry leaped over the wall,

and with the bayonet soon cleared the building and the enclosure, while

the horsemen, dashing through, hunted the enemy over the canal into

the suburb on the other side. The troops were now in position from the

canal on the right to the Delkoosha Park wall on the left. To cover that

flank and protect the road to the Alumbagh, Brigadier Russell seized two

villages in front of the left and garrisoned them with Sikhs. Thus posted,

the troops prepared to pass the night, when suddenly the enemy assailed

the whole position. The troops turned out rapidly and drove them back

with great slaughter, and to guard against a similar occurrence, a strong

force of all arms bivouacked on the canal. The next day the troops rested

in position, and completed the arrangements essential for the safety of

the baggage and the line of communications. The garrison of Lucknow were

disappointed, and looked on with apprehension; but on the evening of the

15th they were rejoiced to see the telegraph at work, and to read off the

signal, "advance tomorrow." For they had prepared the means of making a

diversion in favour of the assailants, and the powder in the mines was

getting damp during this delay.

Early on the 16th the guns and infantry, except the Sikhs, were withdrawn

from the left, and the columns were formed to attack the enemy's position.

This consisted of the Secunderbagh across the canal, and near to the

Goomtee. Sweeping to the right, the troops moved on, and about mid-day

reached the front of the enemy's lines. The Secunderbagh was surrounded

by a high wall, loopholed on all sides, and flanked by towers. The whole

formed a formidable front, as each group of buildings was supported by

another. Nevertheless, the exterior defences were rapidly carried. The

guns dashed up under a cross fire and opened on the villages, and the

infantry, in open order, closing with the defenders, expelled them. The

bulk of the leading brigade then turned upon the Secunderbagh, while the

skirmishers stretched away to the left, sweeping the foe before them, and

seizing each post of vantage. In the meantime two 18-pounders had been

engaged in breaching the main wall of the garden. They had broken down a

part of the wall, a small hole through which three or four men could enter

abreast. Sir Colin thought his men could carry it, and he started the 93rd

and 53rd and 4th Punjabees at the place. They bounded in with a cheer.

The houses and the garden were full of Sepoys. Four regiments, upwards of

3,000 men, were caught in this trap. Burning with rage, our troops plied

the bayonet with such good will that the enclosure, 120 yards square,

became a mere pile of carcases. "There never was a bolder feat of arms,"

wrote Sir Colin; and rarely, perhaps never, such a horrible slaughter.

Still on went the column. The work was not over. Several strong places

intervened between the assailants and their friends inside. A little

farther on was the Shah Nujeef. Here was another feat of arms. "Captain

Peel," says Sir Colin, "led up his guns, with extraordinary gallantry,

within a few yards of the building, to batter the massive stone walls.

The withering fire of the Highlanders effectually covered the naval

brigade from great loss. But it was an action almost unexampled in war;

Captain Peel behaved very much as if he had been laying the _Shannon_

alongside an enemy's frigate." This terminated the operations of the day.

Indeed, the closing scenes were acted in darkness, illumined only by the

fire of the guns, the rockets, and the shells. Thus far had Sir Colin

penetrated towards the Chutter Munzil. Between him and it lay the Motee

Munzil, to reach which he must come under the guns and musketry of the

Kaiserbagh. During this contest outside, Havelock and Outram had not been

idle. By dint of mine and battery they had so wrought that, not only had

they cleared a part of the road between them and their friends, but had

materially assisted in engaging the Kaiserbagh and other buildings full

of men and guns. They had made a desperate sortie, and wrought a passage

by powder, bayonet, and torch. From the top of the Chutter Munzil the

whole scene--domes, minarets, palaces, groves and gardens, all alive with

combatants, and mantled in smoke--was visible, and there, aloft, Outram

and others, under fire from the other side of the Goomtee, watched the

progress of Sir Colin, till night fell.

[Illustration: SIR JAMES OUTRAM.]

The next day the first step of Sir Colin Campbell was to make his left

rear and line of communications more secure, and with that view he caused

a body of troops to occupy a large building near the canal, called Banks's

House, and a series of bungalows on the south of the lanes leading to

the Delkoosha Park. When this was accomplished, he turned his attention

to the Mess House of the 32nd, and the Observatory, which stood on the

flank of his road into the Residency. Determined to use his guns as

much as possible, Sir Colin directed them upon the Mess House, while

Outram caused Eyre's Battery in our lines to join in the fire. Then

the place was stormed and found to have been abandoned; but the fire

from the Observatory was so heavy that the flag of the 90th, planted

by Captain Wolseley, was twice shot away. Wherefore the troops turned

furiously upon the Observatory, drove out the enemy, and set it on fire.

Only the Motee Munzil remained, and the obstacles here offered were

soon overcome. Pouring into this palace under fire from the Kaiserbagh,

the troops rapidly filled it; the sappers broke through into other

buildings, and the lines of the Residency were won. Forth from them came

Lieutenant Moorsom, of the 52nd, ever foremost, and greeted the army

of rescue. The troops emerge, Outram and Havelock issue forth, and Sir

Colin has the "inexpressible gratification" of greeting them before the

fighting is quite at an end. Thus the relief of the besieged garrison was

accomplished, and great was the rejoicing among the battered walls, and

broken minarets, and gorgeous palaces of Lucknow.

The chiefs of the relieved garrison, ignorant of the state of affairs

on the Jumna and in the Doab, thought that Sir Colin would immediately

complete the conquest of the city. Sir Colin knew better. Nothing but

imperative necessity led him to advance on Lucknow before he had defeated

the Gwalior Contingent. He did not know but that, at the very moment

when he entered the Chutter Munzil, the enemy might not have fallen upon

Windham, and driven him from Cawnpore. To withdraw the garrison and

treasure was therefore his first care and his first duty. He had no secure

base of operations. His army was, indeed, scattered about in groups, and

every man for a week had been constantly on duty. He therefore set himself

to devise a plan of taking all away with him as soon as possible. His

device was very simple, yet very ingenious. He directed his heavy guns to

breach the Kaiserbagh, in order that the enemy might suppose he meant to

storm it. Then he ordered the whole force, the women and children, and the

trains, to file through his pickets on the night of the 22nd of November.

The guns that could not be brought off were burst. The women made their

little packages; transport was scarce, and many had to walk; and all going

out during daylight were more or less under fire. Before the troops moved,

the sick and wounded, the women and children, the stores of grain, and

the large mass of treasure, were safely got through to the Delkoosha. Then

the troops moved off. "Each exterior line came gradually retiring through

its supports, until at length nothing remained," writes Sir Colin, "but

the last line of infantry and the guns, with which I was myself to crush

the enemy if he had dared to follow up the pickets." Halting one night in

the Delkoosha Park, the army, with its enormous train, marched off and

halted at the Alumbagh, without having been molested at any point by the

enemy, who had a wholesome dread of the splendid cavalry which covered the

operation. All arrived safely at the Alumbagh, and Sir Colin, on the 27th

of November, leaving a strong force there under Sir James Outram--3,000

men and 18 guns--started off with the rest of the troops to escort a

train, ten miles long, to Cawnpore.

But before the Commander-in-Chief marched away, the army had suffered a

heavy loss: General Havelock had passed away. Just as he had become the

pride of England, he died. The nation exulted when there came news of

Havelock's glorious campaign in the Doab, and his determined efforts to

reach Lucknow. The Queen at once conferred on him the order of Knight

Commander of the Bath; and Sir Colin, when he entered Lucknow, astonished

his old comrade by calling him Sir Henry. But Havelock only heard five

days before he died that this honour had been bestowed on him. The labour,

the anxiety, perhaps the foul atmosphere of Lucknow, proved too much for

his strength. On the 20th of November signs of cholera appeared. He was

instantly moved out of the city to the Delkoosha Park. Lying on his bed,

tended by his son, surrounded by the affection of the army, Havelock

declared he should die happy and contented. "I have for forty years so

ruled my life," he said to Outram, "that when death came I might face it

without fear." He passed a less restless night, but at nine on the morning

of the 24th he quietly passed away, dying as became a Christian soldier.