BATTLE HONOURS FOR THE INDIAN MUTINY, 1857-1859
India--Delhi--Lucknow--Central India--Defence of Arrah--Behar.
INDIA, 1857-1859.
For some inscrutable reason, the colours of those regiments which
were employed in the suppression of the Indian Mutiny bear no
record of their services unless they happened to have been employed
at the Siege of Delhi or in the operations at Lucknow or in Central
India. There is, indeed, one notable exception. A group of Sikhs,
but fifty in number, aided Mr. Wake in his determined defence of
Arrah, and subsequently the regiment was engaged in maintaining
peace in the province of Behar. For these services the 45th
Rattray's Sikhs are authorized to bear the words "Defence of Arrah"
and "Behar" on their colours and appointments. Yet British and
native troops--aye, civilians and delicately-nurtured women--were
engaged for many weary months in a daily contest with battle and
with wounds, with plague, pestilence, and famine. Throughout
the length and breadth of the northern portion of Hindustan we
were waging a life-and-death struggle for the maintenance of
British supremacy in India. The details of many incidents in that
struggle we never shall know. Our Indian graveyards are filled
with tombs recording the losses of those days, from Generals who,
like Nicholson, fell in the hour of victory, to wee bairnies who
perished from want of the bare necessaries of life, and, alas! also
from the sword and bullet of our foes. The whole peninsula is
hallowed with the unknown graves of our gallant dead.
The history of the Siege of Delhi, where a force of less than
10,000 men besieged a city defended by four times their number of
disciplined troops for a period of twelve long weeks in the hottest
season of the year, is only equalled by the dauntless bravery with
which Lucknow was defended against incalculable odds. Loyal native
vied with his British comrade in upholding the honour of our flag,
whilst the cheerful heroism and self-abnegation of the women who
bore such a noble part in the struggle is deserving of more than
a passing tribute of homage. The romantic interest that centred
round Havelock's relief of Lucknow has dwarfed the marvellous
achievements of the Delhi force--an achievement never surpassed in
the military annals of our own or any other country.
The losses suffered by the troops at the siege of that fortress
exceeded in number the total casualties incurred by the rest of the
army in the suppression of the rebellion. The "morning states" of
September 13--the day before the storm of the city--showed a total
strength of 9,366 effectives; on the evening of the 20th, when the
entire city was in our hands, there were but 5,520. No less than
3,846 officers and men had been killed and wounded; yet four days
afterwards General Wilson was enabled to despatch a little column
to aid in the relief of Lucknow. It consisted of three batteries of
Bengal Artillery, 300 men of the 9th Lancers, the headquarters of
the 8th and 75th Regiments, totalling only 450 men, so grievously
had these battalions suffered in the siege. Four squadrons of
native cavalry and two battalions of Punjab troops brought the
total strength of the brigade to just under 2,000 men.
DELHI, MAY TO SEPTEMBER, 1857.
The regiments authorized to bear the battle honour "Delhi" on their
colours and appointments are the
Carabiniers.
9th Lancers.
King's (Liverpool).
Gloucesters.
Oxford Light Infantry.
King's Royal Rifles.
Gordon Highlanders.
Royal Munster Fusiliers.
9th Hodson's Horse.
10th Lancers.
21st Daly's Horse.
22nd Sam Browne's Horse.
25th Cavalry.
Q.O. Corps of Guides,
1st P.W.O. Sappers and Miners.
54th Sikhs.
55th Coke's Rifles.
56th Punjab Rifles.
57th Wilde's Rifles.
127th Baluch Light Infantry.
2nd Gurkhas.
3rd Gurkhas.
It will be noted that the Carabiniers is the only corps which bears
the two honours "Delhi" and "Sevastopol."
On the first news of the mutiny at Meerut reaching the
Commander-in-Chief at Simla on May 12, he at once moved down
with the Headquarters Staff to Umballa, where the regiments at
Kussowlie, Dugshai, and Subathoo, had been ordered to assemble. The
9th Lancers and two troops of Bengal Artillery were quartered at
that station, and at Meerut were the Carabiniers, the 60th Rifles,
and the headquarters of the Bengal Artillery.
Much unavoidable delay occurred in procuring carriage for the
troops, and, of course, it was necessary to provide for the safety
of the Punjab. It was not until May 24 that the Commander-in-Chief
was able to move. Two days afterwards he died of cholera at Kurnal,
and the command devolved upon General Barnard--a gallant officer
who had been Chief of the Staff during the latter part of the
Crimean War, but who was new to India. The force moving down from
Umballa consisted of two brigades, and was to be joined before
reaching Delhi by the Meerut garrison. This junction took place on
June 7. The Meerut force had fought a successful action with the
mutineers a week previously, capturing five guns.
On the 7th General Barnard found the mutineers drawn up in a strong
position at Budli-ka-Serai to dispute his advance. They had thrown
up some works, in which heavy guns were placed. After a sharp
fight, in which we lost 51 killed and 131 wounded, the rebels were
driven out of their vantage-ground, with the loss of thirteen
guns, and from this day the siege may be said to have commenced.
Just one month later General Barnard died of cholera, which was
daily claiming victims from all ranks. Indeed, until the close
of the siege, this scourge was never absent. From time to time,
as circumstances permitted, reinforcements of both British and
native troops were pushed down from the Punjab, and the loyal Sikh
chiefs also sent contingents, which, though not of great fighting
value, served to keep open our communications with Lahore, and to a
certain extent, no doubt, did aid in the work of the siege.
Between June 7 and September 14--the day of the assault--the
besieging force fought no fewer than thirty-two engagements, and
so heavy were the duties thrown on officers and men that it was
impossible to relieve the guards, men remaining for days at a time
on duty, whilst staff officers took their turn in the batteries and
trenches. On the morning of September 13 the decision was taken to
carry the city by storm. Two breaches were declared practicable on
the northern side of the walls at the Water and Kashmir bastions.
Practically the whole available force was detailed for the assault.
The first, second, and third columns, under the command of General
John Nicholson, were to act on the left; the fourth, under Major
Reid, of the 2nd Gurkhas, on the right. It consisted of Major
Reid's own gallant regiment (now well known to all soldiers as the
2nd Gurkhas), the infantry of the Guides, and such men as could be
spared from the picquets of the British regiments on the ridge. No.
1 column of the force, under Nicholson, was composed of the 75th
(now the Gordon Highlanders), the 1st Bengal Fusiliers (now the
1st Munsters), and the 2nd Punjab Infantry (now the 56th Rifles).
This stormed the breach at the Kashmir bastion. No. 2 column,
under Colonel Jones, of the 61st, consisted of the 8th (Liverpool)
Regiment, the 2nd Bengal Fusiliers (now the 2nd Munsters), and the
4th (now the 54th Sikhs). The third column, under Colonel Campbell,
of the 52nd, was composed of the 52nd (Oxford Light Infantry),
the 3rd Gurkhas, and Coke's Rifles. The total strength of the
three columns amounted to 2,800 men, whilst the fourth, under
Major Reid, was 680 strong, but it had in support 1,200 men of the
Kashmir contingent. The reserve was under Colonel Longfield, of the
8th, and comprised the 61st Foot (2nd Gloucesters), the 4th Punjab
Infantry (now the 57th), Wilde's Rifles, and the Baluch battalion
(now the 127th Baluch Light Infantry).
CASUALTIES AT THE SIEGE AND ASSAULT OF DELHI, MAY TO SEPTEMBER,
1857.
+----------------------+-----------------------+-----------------------+
| | BRITISH TROOPS. | NATIVE TROOPS. |
| +-----------+-----------+-----------+-----------+
| _Regiments._ |_Officers._| _Men._ |_Officers._| _Men._ |
| +-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+
| | K. | W. | K. | W. | K. | W. | K. | W. |
+----------------------+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+
|General Staff | 4 | 9 | - | - | - | - | - | - |
|Royal Artillery | 4 | 24 | 43 | 216 | 1 | 1 | 26 | 49 |
|Royal Engineers | 3 | 19 | 6 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 34 | 60 |
|6th Carabiniers | 1 | 2 | 18 | 9 | - | - | - | - |
|9th Lancers | 1 | 2 | 26 | 64 | - | - | - | - |
|8th (King's Liverpool)| 3 | 7 | 41 | 129 | - | - | - | - |
|52nd (Oxford L.I.) | 1 | 4 | 28 | 75 | - | - | - | - |
|60th (King's Roy. | | | | | | | | |
| Rifles) | 4 | 10 | 109 | 266 | - | - | - | - |
|61st (Gloucestershire)| 2 | 7 | 30 | 112 | - | - | - | - |
|75th (Gordon Highl.) | 5 | 14 | 79 | 184 | - | - | - | - |
|1st Roy. Munster Fus. | 3 | 11 | 95 | 210 | - | - | - | - |
|2nd Roy. Munster Fus. | 4 | 6 | 79 | 156 | - | - | - | - |
|Hodson's Horse | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
|21st Daly's Horse | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | 3 |
|22nd Sam Browne's H. | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
|25th Cavalry | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
|Q.O. Corps of Guides | 2 | 6 | - | - | 5 | 10 | 65 | 215 |
|54th Sikhs | 1 | 3 | - | - | 2 | 7 | 43 | 116 |
|55th Coke's Rifles | 3 | 5 | - | - | 3 | 5 | 71 | 141 |
|56th Rifles | 1 | 2 | - | - | 2 | 4 | 41 | 103 |
|57th Wilde's Rifles | 1 | 1 | - | - | - | 2 | 9 | 59 |
|127th Baluchis | 1 | - | - | - | - | 1 | 7 | 48 |
|2nd Gurkhas (Sirmoor | | | | | | | | |
| Rifles) | 1 | 6 | - | - | 2 | 8 | 80 | 219 |
|3rd Gurkhas | 1 | 2 | - | - | - | 3 | 20 | 33 |
+----------------------+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+
NOTE.--I regret that I have been unable to trace the losses in
those three fine regiments, now the 21st, 22nd, and 25th Cavalry.
The story of the siege and the assault is an epic which will remain
a monument of the heroism of our troops, British and native, to
all time. Those who stand on that famous ridge and gaze at the
stupendous walls before them, must wonder, as I have wondered, at
the audacity which conceived and the gallantry which achieved such
a feat of arms. As I have said, by September 20 the city, with its
arsenal, was in our hands, and on the following day a small brigade
of all arms was at once despatched to open up communications with
the North-West Provinces, and to aid in the tranquillization of the
country. Our losses during the siege were grievously heavy. Out of
a total strength of 640, the 60th Rifles lost 389 of all ranks; the
2nd Gurkhas lost 310 out of 540; the Guides 303 out of 550. Coke's
Rifles had all its officers killed or wounded, and more than half
the men. The 52nd had arrived from Sialkot just a month prior to
the assault. It marched into camp 640 strong; on the morning of
September 14 it paraded 240 rank and file, having lost 74 men from
cholera and sunstroke in one short month! The table on p. 315 tells
its own tale.
LUCKNOW.
The following regiments are authorized to bear this battle honour
on their colours and appointments:
Queen's Bays.
7th Hussars.
9th Lancers.
Northumberland Fusiliers.
King's Liverpools.
Royal Welsh Fusiliers.
Lincolns.
Lancashire Fusiliers.
Border.
Scottish Rifles.
Cornwall Light Infantry.
South Staffords.
South Lancashire.
Black Watch.
Royal West Kent.
Shropshire Light Infantry.
North Staffords.
York and Lancaster.
Seaforth Highlanders.
Gordon Highlanders.
Cameron Highlanders.
Sutherland Highlanders.
Royal Munster Fusiliers.
Royal Dublin Fusiliers.
Rifle Brigade.
9th Hodson's Horse.
10th Hodson's Horse.
11th Probyn's Lancers.
21st Daly's Horse.
22nd Sam Browne's Horse.
25th Cavalry.
1st P.W.O. Sappers and Miners.
2nd Q.O. Sappers and Miners.
14th Sikhs.
16th Lucknow.
32nd Pioneers.
56th Punjabi Rifles.
57th Wilde's Rifles.
This one battle honour, "Lucknow," covers four distinct military
operations--the memorable defence of the Residency under Sir
Henry Lawrence; the first relief, or rather reinforcement, of the
beleaguered garrison by Sir Henry Havelock; the final relief and
withdrawal of the women and children by Sir Colin Campbell; and,
lastly, the siege and capture of the city in March, 1858. With the
medal granted for the Indian Mutiny clasps were issued for the
Relief, the Defence, and one simply superscribed "Lucknow," which
covered the final operations only. Wearers of the medal are enabled
to show the distinctive part they played in the grand struggle in
and around Lucknow, but survivors are now few and far between.
In a very few short years there will be no wearers of the Mutiny
Medal left. Whilst the men by their clasps showed the share they
took in the operations, the regiments bear no distinctive mark
showing the part they played. The Somerset Light Infantry and the
12th Khelat-i-Ghilzai Regiment are authorized to bear a mural
crown as a distinctive honour for their defence of Jelalabad and
Khelat-i-Ghilzai; the 16th Lucknow Regiment wears a battlemented
gateway, to connect it with the memorable defence of the Residency;
the 45th Sikhs bear the words "Defence of Arrah"; and the regiments
which formed the garrison, under Sir George White, were granted the
honour "Defence of Ladysmith," to differentiate them from their
comrades who, under Sir Redvers Buller, effected their relief. It
is true that the 32nd were made light infantry as a recognition of
their conduct at Lucknow, but so little is this fact remembered
that in the month of January, 1910, a leading service paper gravely
asserted that the Cornwalls were given their bugles in the year
1832! _Sic transit gloria mundi._
_Defence of Lucknow._
Lucknow, the capital of the newly-annexed kingdom of Oude, was in
1857 a city of some 150,000 inhabitants, known to be fanatically
hostile to our rule. Only the year before the Mutiny the King had
been deposed, and with good cause. Misgovernment and tyranny were
rampant throughout his kingdom, and we were performing a mere act
of justice towards his people in removing him from power. We have
not yet learnt the lesson that a nation prefers bad government
under its own rulers to the best form of government under an alien
administration. The unpopularity of the annexation was felt beyond
the confines of Oude. A very large proportion of the sepoys of
the Bengal army were recruited from this very country, and their
sympathies were naturally with their fallen King.
Fortunately, Lord Dalhousie, the Governor-General responsible for
the annexation, had selected one of the very best soldier-statesmen
in India for the post of Chief Commissioner--Sir James Outram, a
tried soldier of the Bombay army. At this moment he was absent from
his post, having been selected to command the troops in the Persian
Expeditionary Force. His successor, Sir Henry Lawrence, was, like
Outram, a soldier--one of that gallant band of brothers whose names
will last so long as does our Indian Empire. He commenced his
career in the Bengal Artillery, had seen a great deal of service
as a gunner, and had earned a still higher reputation in the early
days of the administration of the Punjab. Fortunate it was for
England that she had such a man in Lucknow. The Mutiny caused no
surprise to Henry Lawrence. Fifteen years previously, in the pages
of the _Calcutta Review_, he had predicted an attempt on the part
of the pampered sepoy to gain the upper hand, but his warnings had
fallen on deaf ears. Now he was ready for the emergency--ready so
far as his means permitted. The garrison of Lucknow consisted of
one British battalion--the 32nd (Cornwall Regiment), numbering 19
officers and 517 other ranks--one weak company of the 84th--one
officer and 48 men. There were, in addition, six regiments of
native infantry, two of native cavalry, and two batteries of native
artillery.
The news of the mutiny at Meerut and of the capture of Delhi by
the adherents of the old Mogul Emperor was known in Lucknow on May
12, and then Lawrence commenced to take steps to meet the coming
storm. Measures were adopted to render the Residency defensible--no
easy task. It was in the heart of the city, surrounded by a few
buildings erected for the convenience of the staff of the Resident.
These were in plots of ground, separated by low mud walls. Within
easy range were several masonry palaces, which afforded good
shelter to an enemy. It was impossible to include all of the
staff houses in the scheme of defence, owing to the smallness of
the garrison. All that could be done was to connect the various
buildings by a breastwork, and to excavate a ditch all round.
Provisions and ammunition were brought in, and all the civilians,
as well as the British troops, were concentrated as near the
Residency as possible.
On May 29 the native garrison threw off all semblance of loyalty,
murdered their officers, including the Brigadier (Handscomb), and
moved out of their lines, which they fired. They were from time to
time joined by other mutineers, who had committed grievous outrages
in other stations in Oude. No attack, however, was made on the
Residency.
On June 29 Lawrence determined to undertake the offensive, and he
moved out to Chinhut, where the mutineers were massed, to attack
them. He met with a sharp reverse, losing some of his guns, whilst
the wing of the 32nd, who were with him, lost 115 killed out of 300
men engaged. The following morning Lawrence blew up the magazine,
containing 249 barrels of powder and 594,000 rounds of ammunition,
which it was found impossible to carry into the Residency, and made
final preparations for the siege. His garrison consisted of under
2,000 men, of whom 100 were civilians and 765 loyal natives--men
of the mutinied regiments who had determined to throw in their lot
with the Sirkar. With them were nearly 200 pensioners--men mostly
past work.
It is not within the scope of this work to deal with the details
of that heroic defence, where civilian vied with soldier,
native with Englishman, to uphold the honour of our name; where
delicately-nurtured women and the no less devoted wives of the
privates shared all the dangers, all the privations, of the
humblest sepoy. Many women and children died from want of the bare
necessaries of life; more than one babe was shot in its mother's
arms, and more than one woman fell a victim to the bullets of
our foes. For a long eighty-seven days did the siege last, and
then the little band under Havelock forced its way through the
many thousands of the besieging force, and brought the welcome
reinforcement of British bayonets to the beleaguered garrison. The
figures below tell the sad tale of the severe losses which were
endured by the heroic garrison of Lucknow:
CASUALTIES IN THE DEFENCE OF LUCKNOW.
+----------------------------------+-----------+-----------+
| |_Officers._| _Men._ |
| _Regiments._ +-----+-----+-----+-----+
| | K. | W. | K. | W. |
+----------------------------------+-----+-----+-----+-----+
|32nd Corn. L.I. | 7 | 8 | 192 | 171 |
|Royal Bengal Artillery | 1 | 2 | 52 | 18 |
|84th York and Lancs (one company) | - | 1 | 12 | 8 |
+----------------------------------+-----+-----+-----+-----+
No fewer than eighty-nine women and children also perished.
_Relief of Lucknow by General Sir Henry Havelock._
The most serious problem that faced the Governor-General in India,
as soon as the real gravity of the Mutiny was realized, was to
effect the relief of the beleaguered garrisons of Lucknow and
Cawnpore, where large numbers of women and children were hemmed
in by the mutineers, and were in daily peril of their lives. It
was well known that at both places the defences were utterly
inadequate, and that the garrisons were all too small. By a
fortunate coincidence, a strong force was on its way to China
for the purpose of compelling a respect for treaty rights, and
the regiments composing that force were stopped at Singapore
and diverted to Calcutta. At the same time, the regiment at the
Mauritius was despatched with all haste to India, and the return
of the two battalions--the 64th (North Staffords) and the 78th
(Ross-shire Buffs)--from the Persian Campaign enabled Lord Canning,
the Governor-General, to send these up to Allahabad, and so to form
the nucleus of a relieving army.
The officer selected for the command of the relieving force was
Colonel Henry Havelock, an officer who had recently commanded a
brigade in the Persian War. Havelock had seen an immensity of
service in India, mostly on the Staff. He had been Adjutant of
the 13th Light Infantry, and had served with that distinguished
regiment throughout the Burmese War of 1824. In Afghanistan he had
earned a Brevet and a C.B. for his exceptional services at the
defence of Jelalabad. He had been present at Maharajpore, where he
had earned a second Brevet. But he was a disappointed man. Success
had come to him late in life, for he had been twenty-three years a
subaltern, and had been purchased over times without number.
Immediately on his arrival in Calcutta Havelock learned of his
new command, and he at once pushed up to Allahabad to take over
charge from Colonel Neill, of the Madras Fusiliers, already at that
station. The force was all too weak for the task imposed upon it.
It barely numbered 1,350 bayonets, including 500 Sikhs. Its cavalry
numbered just twenty sabres, composed of officers of regiments
which had disappeared in the storm and a few brave planters.
The following are the details of the brigade with which Havelock
essayed the relief of Lucknow:
Royal Artillery 76 men.
64th (North Staffords) 435 "
78th (Ross-shire Buffs) 284 "
84th (York and Lancaster) 191 "
Madras Fusiliers 376 "
Ferozepore Sikhs 448 "
Volunteer cavalry 20 sabres.
Arriving at Allahabad on June 30, Havelock immediately moved
forward; but the weather was terrific, and his men suffered
much--not only from heat, but also from cholera. Not a day passed
without some victim being claimed by one or other of these deadly
foes. To-day it was a drummer of the Highlanders, to-morrow the
senior Staff Officer of the army. Still, no heart quailed. The
danger that faced their countrywomen nerved all, but, alas! their
gallant efforts were doomed to failure. When the Nana saw the net
closing round him, he gave the order for the murder of the women
and children who, trusting to his honour, had surrendered to him at
Cawnpore; and when Havelock's force entered the place, they were
met with the most ghastly evidence of cruelties which had been
perpetrated by the man who for many years professed himself a loyal
ally of the English.
Weakened by losses in action, as well as by disease, Havelock was
compelled to halt at Cawnpore for reinforcements. These reached him
in the shape of the 5th (Northumberland Fusiliers)--the Fighting
Fifth--from the Mauritius, and six companies of the 90th (Scottish
Rifles)--a regiment which, under its Colonel, Campbell, had earned
a great reputation for dash in the Crimea. With the reinforcements
came the unwelcome news that he had been superseded by Sir James
Outram, who was reappointed to his old post of Chief Commissioner
of Oude, with the supreme command of all the troops in that
province. Sir James, however, with rare self-denial, refused to
deprive Havelock of the honour of carrying out the relief, and
published an order announcing his intention to act in the ranks of
the volunteer cavalry until Lucknow was entered.
It was not until the middle of September that Havelock was enabled
to continue his onward march. He was opposed at every step, but the
troops would not be denied; and on the 25th of that month a welcome
reinforcement of nearly 2,000 fighting men was thrown into Lucknow,
and the lives of the sorely-pressed garrison assured.
Havelock lived just long enough to know that his services had been
appreciated at last, and that he had been gazetted a Major-General
for distinguished service in the field, and raised to the dignity
of a K.C.B. The baronetcy conferred upon him was not gazetted until
after his death. The final relief I deal with on p. 326. A dark
shadow was cast over that glorious achievement. Havelock was able
to drag his sorely stricken frame across the breastwork to welcome
Sir Colin Campbell and the relieving army, and then, worn out by
toil and anxiety, he sank into his grave. In a shady grove of trees
hard by the Alumbagh they made his humble tomb, and Campbell,
Outram, Inglis, Peel, and many a stout soldier who had followed
him in that stern march from Cawnpore, now followed his remains
to their last resting-place. So long as gallant deeds and noble
aspirations and spotless self-devotion are cherished in our midst,
so long will Havelock's lonely tomb, hard by the scenes of his
triumphs and of his death, be regarded as one of the most sacred
spots where England's soldiers lie.
RELIEF OF LUCKNOW BY SIR COLIN CAMPBELL, NOVEMBER, 1857.
No sooner was Delhi in our hands than General Wilson, as I have
shown on p. 312, despatched a small force towards Agra, where,
unfortunately, the civil and military authorities had not shown
themselves possessed of those qualities which have built up our
Indian Empire. Few indeed were the men that Wilson could spare, but
on the morning of September 21 Brigadier Greathed, Colonel of the
8th (King's), now the Liverpool Regiment, marched towards Agra at
the head of the little movable column. His force consisted of two
troops of horse and one battery of field artillery; the 9th Lancers
(300 strong); the 8th and 73rd Regiments, which, in consequence
of their heavy losses, only numbered 450 men; four squadrons of
the 21st, 22nd, and 25th Cavalry and of Hodson's Horse, the four
squadrons some 500 strong; and the 2nd and 4th Punjab Infantry
(now the 56th and 57th Rifles). All told, the brigade numbered 800
cavalry, 1,650 infantry, 200 sappers, and 18 guns.
On the 10th of the following month Greathed reached Agra, where he
was attacked by the rebels. To their astonishment, these gentry
found they had a totally different stamp of men to deal with than
the Agra garrison, and Greathed, with the loss of but 13 killed and
54 wounded, drove them off, capturing thirteen guns. During the
short halt at Agra, General Hope Grant, Colonel of the 9th Lancers,
arrived in camp with some 300 British soldiers, convalescents
of the regiments at Delhi, and took over command. Pushing on to
Cawnpore, he found a wing of the 93rd (Sutherland Highlanders) and
some men of the regiments which had gone into Lucknow with Havelock.
The relief of Lucknow was now the principal objective, and Hope
Grant, in obedience to orders received from Calcutta, moved towards
that city, halting at Bhantira until the arrival of Sir Colin
Campbell, who, on the first news of the Mutiny reaching England,
had been sent out to assume the post of Commander-in-Chief in
India. The new Chief possessed the confidence not only of the
Ministry in England, but of every man in the army. Probably he
was the most deservedly popular General who had up till then ever
commanded an army in the field. He had a wide experience of war.
As a subaltern he had served in the Peninsula, been repeatedly
mentioned in despatches for gallantry--a rare thing to happen to a
subaltern in Wellington's days. He commanded a regiment in China
in the war of 1842, a brigade in the Punjab Campaign of 1849, was
in chief command in many of the early expeditions on the Punjab
frontier, and was one of the very few General Officers who emerged
from the Crimean War with enhanced credit. The vast majority of
the reinforcements despatched from England for the suppression of
the Mutiny had served in the Crimea, and to them the name of Colin
Campbell was that of a man who could lead and whom they were proud
to follow.
[Illustration: FIELD-MARSHAL COLIN CAMPBELL: LORD CLYDE.
To face page 324.]
On November 9 Sir Colin arrived at Bhantira, and assumed the
command of the army. Sir Colin was fully alive to the imperative
necessity of withdrawing the beleaguered garrison from its
perilous position at Lucknow. Sir James Outram, who, as I have
shown, assumed command on reaching the Residency, was besieged
by a disciplined army numbering 60,000 men. He was encumbered
with 1,500 sick men, women, and children, and the Residency, over
which our flag had been kept flying for thirteen weary weeks,
was but an ordinary Indian building, commanded on all sides by
masonry palaces, which had been converted into siege-batteries. To
carry through this formidable task Sir Colin had but 4,500 men,
distributed as under:
Cavalry Brigade--Brigadier Little (9th Lancers): Two squadrons
9th Lancers, one squadron 21st Daly's Horse, one squadron 22nd
Sam Browne's Horse, one squadron 25th Cavalry, one squadron
Hodson's Horse.
These native troops were under Lieutenants Watson, Probyn,
Younghusband, and Hugh Gough respectively, and it is worthy of note
that of these four subalterns one (Younghusband) was killed; the
other three were all wounded in action, and all three lived to wear
the Victoria Cross and the Grand Cross of the Bath.
Artillery Brigade--Brigadier Crawford, R.A.: Two troops of Bengal
Horse Artillery, two batteries of Field Artillery, two companies
of Royal Artillery, eight guns of the Naval Brigade under the
gallant Sir William Peel, with 250 seamen and Marines.
First Brigade--Brigadier Adrian Hope: 93rd Highlanders, a wing of
the 53rd (Shropshires), and the 57th Wilde's Rifles.
Second Brigade--Brigadier Greathed: 8th (King's Liverpool
Regiment), a battalion made up of detachments of British
regiments in Lucknow, and the 56th Punjab Rifles.
Third Brigade--Brigadier Russell: 84th Regiment, 23rd (Royal
Welsh Fusiliers), and two companies of the 82nd (South
Lancashires).
To keep open communication with Allahabad and Calcutta, Sir Colin
had left General Wyndham at Cawnpore with a force of British
troops. Wyndham had earned a great reputation for coolness under
fire at the storming of the Redan, but he had no experience of
Indian warfare, and had never exercised an independent command in
his life. At Cawnpore he did not show to advantage as a commander.
During Sir Hope Grant's halt prior to Sir Colin's arrival the
most energetic measures had been adopted to obtain the necessary
carriage to enable the Commander-in-Chief to carry out his design
of withdrawing the garrison, so that, on his assuming command, all
was ready for an immediate advance; and on November 17, after some
hard fighting, which entailed a loss of 45 officers and 496 men
killed and wounded, the relieving force entered the Residency, and
the garrison was saved. Ten days subsequently the evacuation of the
Residency had been successfully accomplished, and the whole force
was _en route_ for Cawnpore, where Wyndham had suffered a sharp
reverse at the hands of the mutinous Gwalior contingent.
SIEGE AND CAPTURE OF LUCKNOW.
When Sir Colin Campbell withdrew the garrison from the Residency,
he felt that but half of his task was done. His force was not
strong enough to warrant his attacking the mutineers, and so
crushing the rebellion in Oude. This must be left until the
arrival of the reinforcements from England, and undertaken when he
was not hampered with a large convoy of sick and wounded, women
and children. In order to maintain a certain hold on the country
around Lucknow, Sir Colin left Sir James Outram with a considerable
force to occupy the Alumbagh--an old shooting-lodge of the Kings
of Oude, situated in a park about three miles from the suburbs of
Lucknow. Outram's force numbered over 4,000 men, and comprised the
5th (Northumberland Fusiliers), 75th (Gordon Highlanders), 78th
(Seaforths), 90th (now the Scottish Rifles), and the 2nd Bengal
Fusiliers (now the 2nd Munsters), with 450 gunners of the Bengal
Artillery and 150 sabres. Opposed to Outram were, according to
his report, no less than 96,000 armed men; and from the end of
November, when the Residency was evacuated, until March 21, when
Sir Colin finally defeated the mutineers and retook Lucknow,
Outram's force was practically besieged in the Alumbagh.
The months of December, 1857, January, February, and March, 1858,
were occupied in preparing for the final advance on Lucknow and
the break-up of the many bodies of mutineers scattered over Oude,
Bundulcund, and the North-West Provinces. Reinforcements were
daily arriving from England, but it was not until the beginning of
March that Sir Colin was able to commence his advance on Lucknow.
His army now numbered upwards of 20,000 men, with 180 guns. Never
in the history of India had such a large number of British troops
taken the field.
The Cavalry Division, under Sir Hope Grant, included the Queen's
Bays, 7th Hussars, 9th Lancers, Hodson's Horse, Daly's Horse, Sam
Browne's Horse, and the 25th Cavalry, in addition to the division
under Outram.
The Second Division, under Sir Edward Lugard, was composed of the
Third Brigade (Brigadier Guy)--34th, 38th, and 53rd Regiments;
Fourth Brigade (Adrian Hope)--42nd, 93rd, and 57th Wilde's Rifles.
The Third Division, under General Walpole, comprised the Fifth
Brigade (Brigadier Douglas)--23rd, 79th, and 1st Munster Fusiliers;
Sixth Brigade (Horsford)--2nd and 3rd Battalions Rifle Brigade and
56th Rifles.
The artillery was under the command of Sir Archdale Wilson, who had
been made a K.C.B. for the capture of Delhi.
CASUALTIES AT THE RELIEF OF LUCKNOW BY HAVELOCK.
+--------------------------+-----------+-----------+
| |_Officers._| _Men._ |
| _Regiments._ +-----+-----+-----+-----+
| | K. | W. | K. | W. |
+--------------------------+-----+-----+-----+-----+
|5th Northumberland Fus. | 1 | 2 | 23 | 29 |
|64th N. Staffs. | 1 | 3 | 7 | 81 |
|78th Ross. Buffs | 2 | 6 | 47 | 85 |
|84th York and Lancaster | 2 | 4 | 25 | 55 |
|90th Scottish Rifles | 4 | 7 | 39 | 62 |
|102nd R. Dublin Fusiliers | 1 | 4 | 33 | 83 |
|14th Ferozepore Sikhs | - | 1 | 7 | 37 |
+--------------------------+-----+-----+-----+-----+
CASUALTIES AT THE RELIEF OF LUCKNOW BY SIR COLIN CAMPBELL,
NOVEMBER, 1857.
+--------------------------+-----------+-----------+
| |_Officers._| _Men._ |
| _Regiments._ +-----+-----+-----+-----+
| | K. | W. | K. | W. |
+--------------------------+-----+-----+-----+-----+
|Staff | 2 | 6 | - | - |
|Naval Brigade | 1 | 3 | 4 | 17 |
|9th Lancers | - | - | - | - |
|Royal Artillery | 1 | 6 | 14 | 59 |
|Roy. Engineers | - | 1 | 3 | 17 |
|5th Fusiliers | - | - | 5 | 3 |
|8th King's | - | - | - | 1 |
|23rd R. Welsh Fusiliers | - | 1 | 3 | 18 |
|53rd Shropshire L.I. | - | 3 | 10 | 63 |
|64th Regiment | - | - | 4 | 7 |
|82nd Regiment | 1 | 1 | 1 | 13 |
|84th Regiment | - | - | 1 | 8 |
|90th Light Inf. | 1 | 3 | 6 | 22 |
|93rd H'landers | 2 | 7 | 33 | 62 |
|102nd R. Dublin Fusiliers | 1 | - | 3 | 12 |
|21st Cavalry | - | - | 2 | 3 |
|22nd Sam Browne's H. | - | - | 1 | 2 |
|25th Cavalry | - | - | - | 3 |
|56th Punjab R. | 1 | 1 | 5 | 18 |
|57th Wilde's R. | 1 | 2 | 13 | 50 |
+--------------------------+-----+-----+-----+-----+
CASUALTIES AT THE SIEGE AND CAPTURE OF LUCKNOW, MARCH, 1858.
+----------------------------+-----------+-----------+
| |_Officers._| _Men._ |
| _Force employed._ +-----+-----+-----+-----+
| | K. | W. | K. | W. |
+----------------------------+-----+-----+-----+-----+
|Naval Brigade | 1 | 1 | 1 | 13 |
|The Bays | 1 | 1 | 2 | 5 |
|7th Hussars | - | 3 | - | 3 |
|9th Lancers | - | 1 | 1 | 4 |
|Royal Artillery | 1 | 3 | 6 | 33 |
|Roy. Engineers | 3 | 3 | 19 | 34 |
|5th Fusiliers | - | 1 | - | 3 |
|10th Lincolns | - | 1 | 4 | 23 |
|20th Lancs F. | - | 2 | 7 | 28 |
|23rd R. Welsh Fusiliers | - | 3 | 4 | 25 |
|34th Border | - | - | - | 4 |
|38th S. Staffs | - | 3 | 1 | 22 |
|42nd Royal Highlanders | - | 1 | 5 | 39 |
|53rd Shropshire L.I. | - | 2 | 1 | 27 |
|78th Seaforth Highlanders | - | - | - | 1 |
|79th Cameron Highlanders | - | 2 | 7 | 21 |
|90th Scottish Rifles | - | 1 | 5 | 28 |
|93rd Sutherland Highlanders | 2 | 2 | 12 | 59 |
|97th Royal W. Kent | 1 | - | 2 | 21 |
|Rifle Brigade (two batts.) | 1 | 2 | - | 19 |
|22nd Sam Browne's Cav. | - | 1 | 1 | 9 |
|25th Cavalry | - | 1 | - | 6 |
|56th Punjab R. | 1 | 1 | 8 | 32 |
|57th Wilde's R. | 1 | 3 | 9 | 30 |
+----------------------------+-----+-----+-----+-----+
CENTRAL INDIA, 1857-58.
The regiments authorized to bear this distinction are the
8th Hussars.
12th Lancers.
14th Hussars.
17th Lancers.
Inniskilling Fusiliers.
South Staffords.
Sherwood Foresters.
Highland Light Infantry.
Seaforth Highlanders.
Royal Irish Rifles.
Connaught Rangers.
Leinster.
30th Gordon's Horse.
31st Duke of Connaught's Own Lancers.
32nd Lancers.
33rd Q.O. Light Cavalry.
2nd Q.O. Sappers and Miners.
3rd Sappers and Miners.
2nd Q.O. Light Infantry.
44th Merwara Infantry.
61st Pioneers.
79th Carnatic Infantry.
96th Berar Infantry.
98th Infantry.
104th Wellesley's Rifles.
110th Mahratta L.I.
112th Infantry.
113th Infantry.
124th Baluchis.
125th Napier's Rifles.
Although as a whole the Princes of Central India remained loyal
to our rule, their armies threw in their lot with the mutineers,
and the honour "Central India" was conferred on the regiments
which were employed in stamping out rebellion in those provinces
during the winter of 1857-58 and in the ensuing hot weather. A
number of independent columns were so engaged, but the brunt of
the fighting fell on the troops under that dashing leader Sir Hugh
Rose, afterwards Lord Strathnairn. The capture of Kotah, Jhansi,
Calpee, and Gwalior all bear witness to the heroism of our troops
and to the sufferings they endured during that terrible hot-weather
campaign of 1858, when men died of cholera and of sunstroke by
hundreds, and when the survivors struggled on manfully to retain
our hold on Hindustan.
The rapidity of the movements of Sir Hugh Rose has often been held
up as a contrast to the slowness of those of Sir Colin Campbell,
but it must be borne in mind that when Sir Hugh took the field
the back of the Mutiny had been broken. His duty was to hunt down
and to destroy all bodies of armed rebels in the field, and right
nobly did he perform his task. Sir Colin had to organize a force
for the relief of Lucknow (where close on 300 women and children
were besieged), to break the power of the rebel army in Oude, and
to maintain peace in Bengal. His one line of communications was a
narrow strip of railway open to destruction at many points, and he
had in the field against him over 100,000 trained troops, possessed
of large stores of arms and munitions. The tasks before the two
Generals were entirely different. Whether, had Sir Colin been in
command in Central India, he would have acted with the rapidity
that Sir Hugh showed is a mere matter of opinion. This much is
certain--that Sir Hugh never could have achieved success had not
Northern India been in our hands, and that it was in our hands was
due first to the gallantry of the Delhi Field Force, and secondly
to the well-organized, if slowly carried out, campaign by which Sir
Colin swept the rebels out of Oude.
The Central India Campaign divides itself into a number of
well-executed operations in different parts of the country. First
we may take the Malwa Field Force, under Brigadier C. S. Stuart,
which consisted of the 14th Hussars, 86th (Royal Irish Rifles),
3rd Hyderabad Cavalry, and 125th Napier's Rifles, which was in the
field from July to December, 1857.
CASUALTIES IN CENTRAL INDIA.
+--------------------------------+-----------+-----------+
| |_Officers._| _Men._ |
| _Regiments._ +-----+-----+-----+-----+
| | K. | W. | K. | W. |
+--------------------------------+-----+-----+-----+-----+
|8th Hussars | - | 9 | 18 | 34 |
|12th Lancers | - | 1 | 2 | 16 |
|14th Hussars | 1 | 4 | 15 | 73 |
|17th Lancers | - | 1 | 2 | 11 |
|Royal Artillery | 2 | 6 | 11 | 37 |
|Roy. Engineers | - | - | - | - |
|71st High. L.I. | 1 | 1 | 9 | 15 |
|72nd Seaforth Highlanders | - | 1 | 3 | 14 |
|83rd R. Irish Rifles | 2 | 1 | 7 | 28 |
|86th R. Irish Rifles | 1 | 10 | 26 | 109 |
|88th Connaught Rangers | - | 2 | 7 | 54 |
|95th Derbys | 2 | 7 | 4 | 37 |
|3rd Madras Eur. (2nd Innis. F.) | - | - | 3 | 12 |
|3rd Bomb. Eur. (2nd Leinst.) | - | 6 | 17 | 92 |
|30th Gordon's Horse | - | 1 | 7 | 18 |
|31st Lancers | 1 | 4 | 6 | 19 |
|32nd Lancers | 1 | 3 | 3 | 12 |
|33rd Q.O. Light Cavalry | - | 2 | 4 | 15 |
|2nd Q.O. Sap. and Miners | 1 | 4 | 6 | 29 |
|3rd Sappers and Miners | - | 1 | 2 | 11 |
|44th Merwara Infantry | - | - | - | - |
|61st Pioneers | - | - | 2 | 5 |
|79th Carnatic Infantry | - | 4 | 3 | 27 |
|96th Berar Inf. | 2 | 1 | 14 | 22 |
|98th Infantry | - | 1 | 7 | 32 |
|104th Wellesley's Rifles | - | 1 | 5 | 13 |
|110th Mahratta L.I. | - | 1 | 2 | 22 |
|112th Infantry | 1 | 1 | 3 | 6 |
|113th Infantry | - | - | 2 | 14 |
|124th Baluchis | - | 1 | 12 | 20 |
|125th Napier's Rifles | 2 | 6 | 11 | 37 |
+--------------------------------+-----+-----+-----+-----+
Then we have Sir Hugh Rose commanding two brigades, the one under
the same Brigadier C. S. Stuart, the other under Colonel Stewart,
of the 14th Hussars. His first act was to relieve Saugor, then
defended by the 2nd Queen's Own Rajput Light Infantry. A Madras
column had been toiling up to effect this, but General Whitlock
was impeded by many obstacles. In April Sir Hugh carried Jhansi by
storm; in May Calpee was taken; and then the General was reinforced
by a column from the north, commanded by Brigadier-General Sir
Robert Napier (afterwards Lord Napier of Magdala). In June Gwalior
was recaptured, and with this the real operations of the Central
India Field Force came to an end, though the appearance in the
field of a rebel General, Tantia Topee, and the assumption of
the title of Peishwa by the notorious Nana Sahib compelled the
Commander-in-Chief once more to organize a number of flying
columns, whose work procured for the regiments which composed them
the battle honour "Central India."
I have found it an impossible task to ascertain the losses suffered
by some of the regiments. The casualties given in the table on p.
331 show, however, that the distinction "Central India" was not
earned without hard fighting.
DEFENCE OF ARRAH--BEHAR, 1857.
These two distinctions are the peculiar property of the 45th
Rattray's Sikhs, and demand a passing notice.
When the Mutiny broke out, there was but one British regiment in
the long stretch of nearly a thousand miles between Calcutta and
Lucknow--the 10th Foot, at Dinapore. Here, too, was a large native
garrison--the 7th, 8th, and 40th Regiments of Bengal Infantry.
Dinapore is the military cantonment of the city of Patna, the
hot-bed then of Wahabiism, with a population of 150,000, of whom
some 38,000 were Mussulmen. It is the capital, too, of the province
of Behar, the centre then of the indigo trade, and the home of a
number of English planters--gentlemen and sportsmen, whose sporting
instincts stood England in good stead in that hour of trial.
The General at Dinapore had plenty of warning as to the temper of
his troops and of the neighbouring population, but no measures
were taken to deal with the crisis; and when the sepoy garrison
mutinied, the men were allowed to leave the station unmolested. A
few hours later a feeble attempt was made to follow them up, but
the detachment of the 10th (Lincolns) returned to Dinapore, having
failed to overtake the mutineers. These marched at once on Arrah, a
civil station, the head of the railway engineers, some twenty-five
miles distant. There, fortunately, were a handful of Englishmen
unfettered by red tape. Herewald Wake, the Commissioner, and Vicars
Boyle, the railway engineer, had foreseen the coming storm, and,
to meet it, had converted the billiard-room in Boyle's garden into
a little fort, in which ammunition and provisions had been stored.
Its garrison consisted of sixteen Englishmen, one Moslem gentleman,
and fifty men of Rattray's newly-raised regiment of Sikhs.
On the 27th the Dinapore garrison--three regiments of sepoys,
reinforced by a disaffected Rajput, Rajah Kunwar Singh, who
possessed two pieces of artillery--appeared on the scene, and
demanded the surrender of the treasure. On that day the siege
commenced in earnest.
Two days afterwards the Brigadier at Dinapore sent out a
force, consisting of some men of the 10th (Lincolns) and 37th
(Hampshires), to relieve Arrah. The affair was mismanaged from
the outset, and the column was driven back with heavy loss.
Fortunately, there was a man at hand capable of dealing with
the situation. Major Vincent Eyre, of the Bengal Artillery, was
bringing up his battery to the aid of Havelock, and, hearing of
the distress of the little garrison in Arrah, he undertook its
relief. With but 150 men of the Northumberland Fusiliers, 40
of his own battery, and 18 gallant planters, who for the nonce
converted themselves into a corps of cavalry, he attacked the
besieging force, and after a sharp fight was enabled to bring off
the garrison without loss. The siege lasted but five days, but the
devotion of the 45th Sikhs and the gallantry of Vicars Boyle and
Herewald Wake stand out in striking contrast to the supineness of
the military authorities at Dinapore.
For many months subsequently the 45th were employed in hunting
down rebels in the province of Behar, unsupported by any British
troops, and for these services, in which the men were exposed to
many attempts on their fidelity, the 45th bear the word "Behar"
on their colours and appointments. Their losses during these
operations were unusually severe, 2 British officers and 43 of all
ranks having been killed or died of wounds, and 1 native officer
and 75 other ranks having been wounded.
It is impossible to close this chapter without adverting to the
injustice meted out in the distribution of the battle honours
for the Indian Mutiny. Every regiment that served on the line of
communications in Afghanistan or in South Africa has been granted
a battle honour. The regiments which maintained peace in the
Punjab, which disarmed mutinous soldiery, which hunted down rebels
in Lower India, have been denied all share in the distinctions
granted for the Mutiny. The Inniskilling Fusiliers at Peshawar,
the 24th (South Wales Borderers) at Jhelum, the 81st (Loyal North
Lancashire) at Lahore, the 13th (Somerset Light Infantry) at
Azimghur, all contributed to the maintenance of our hold on India,
and many of these regiments suffered severely in action.[25] It is
not too much to say that, had it not been for the 81st at Lahore,
we should never have held the Punjab. The conduct of this regiment
at the disarming of the native garrison at Meean Meer was one of
the finest feats in those dark days. Again, what are we to think
of the failure to recognize the conduct of the 31st (now the 2nd
Queen's Own Rajput Light Infantry) at Saugor, where they defended a
large number of Englishwomen and children? There was no stiffening
of British bayonets, as at Lucknow or at Cawnpore, but there were a
number of British officers who had earned the confidence of their
men; and when the mutinous 42nd Bengal Infantry endeavoured to
seduce the then 31st Bengal Infantry from their duty, the answer
was not merely a refusal, but the regiment, under its own native
officers, sallied out from the fort at Saugor, attacked their
mutinous _bhaibunds_, drove them off in confusion, and captured a
couple of guns. For the defence of Arrah by one weak company, the
45th Sikhs bear on their colours the honour "Defence of Arrah." Was
the defence of Saugor one whit less deserving of reward?
VICTORIA CROSSES FOR THE MUTINY.
Queen's Bays 2
7th Hussars 2
8th Hussars 5
9th Lancers 12
14th Hussars 1
17th Lancers 1
Royal Artillery 19
Royal Engineers 8
Northumberland Fusiliers 3
10th (Lincolns) 3
13th (Somerset L.I.) 2
23rd (Royal Welsh Fus.) 2
32nd (Cornwall L.I.) 4
34th (Border Regiment) 1
42nd (Royal Highlanders) 8
43rd Light Infantry 1
52nd (Oxford L.I.) 2
53rd (Shropshires) 5
60th (King's Royal Rifles) 8
61st (Gloucesters) 1
64th (North Staffords) 1
71st (Highland L.I.) 1
72nd (Seaforth H'landers) 1
75th (Gordons) 3
78th (Ross-shire Buffs) 8
84th (York and Lancaster) 6
86th (Royal Irish Rifles) 4
90th Light Infantry 6
93rd (Highlanders) 7
95th (Derbyshires) 1
101st (Royal Munsters) 4
102nd (Royal Dublin Fus.) 4
103rd (Royal Munster Fus.) 1
109th (Royal Leinster) 1
Rifle Brigade 3