THE PACIFICATION OF OUDE--END OF THE MUTINY
Satisfied of the "military safety" of the troops engaged in Oude,
Goruckpore, and Behar, the Doab and Rohilcund, Lord Clyde during
his hot-weather residence at Allahabad was resolved not to endanger
the health of his forces until he should be able "to move them on
a general plan and with one common object." His design, therefore,
was to remain quiescent until his preparations should be complete;
and then, in his own words, "to break in upon the rebel bodies
simultaneously in each province, to leave them no loophole for
escape, and to prevent them from travelling from one district
to another, and so prolonging a miserable guerilla warfare."
One exception to this programme had to be made. Maun Singh, an
influential chief of Eastern Oude, after a long hesitation had at
length in June deserted the rebel cause and thrown in his lot with
the conquering power. The local rebels, twenty thousand strong,
irritated by his secession from their side, had besieged him in his
fort of Shahgunj near Fyzabad. The Commander-in-Chief deputed Hope
Grant to relieve Maun Singh, and also to take the opportunity of
beginning the occupation of Oude in accordance with the plan it
was intended to carry out on a large scale during the ensuing cold
season. Hope Grant, marching from Nawabgunj, reached Fyzabad on July
29th, where his presence caused the dispersion of the rebel hordes
which had been besieging Maun Singh. After a satisfactory interview
with that personage, Grant, by the Commander-in-Chief's instructions,
marched further east to Sultanpore, following up the rebels who had
abandoned the siege of Maun Singh's stronghold. They showed fight and
actually advanced to the attack; but when Grant moved against them
on the morning of August 29th he found that they had dispersed. From
Sultanpore Grant visited Allahabad, where Lord Canning invested him
and Mansfield with the Knight Commandership of the Bath.
The operations for the subjugation of Oude were to be directed from
two points simultaneously: on the one hand, from the frontier of
Rohilcund with the object of driving the rebels in a north-easterly
direction towards the Gogra: on the other, from the south-east
against the Baiswarra district lying between the Ganges and the
Goomtee, in which territory the most powerful and stubborn rebels
were Lal Mahdo of Amethee and Beni Mahdo of Roy Bareilly and
Shunkerpore. Lord Clyde's first object was to sweep the Baiswarra
region and drive the rebels from it beyond the Gogra; his second
and final object to cross the Gogra, draw gradually tighter the
cordon by which the rebels were hemmed in north of that river, and
force them back across the Raptee upon the frontier of Nepaul. The
task was onerous, for it was officially estimated that in Southern
Oude alone there were sixty thousand men in arms exclusive of the
disbanded sepoys, and as many as three hundred guns scattered about
in the numerous forts in the jungles. But the burden of the task was
diminished by the progress made in the organisation of a body of
native military police under the superintendence of Captain Bruce
the former head of the intelligence department, who in July reported
that he had already five thousand men ready for this employment. As
the columns advanced defeating the enemy and expelling him from his
strongholds, those auxiliaries were to occupy the positions won, and
were to support the civil authority in the maintenance of order.
Lord Clyde remained in Allahabad to be present on November 1st when
the proclamation announcing the direct government of British India by
the Crown was promulgated by Lord Canning. On the 2nd he joined his
headquarters at the Beylah cantonment near Perturbghur, thirty-five
miles from Allahabad. He occupied a small tent, not only as an
example to his staff but also to facilitate rapidity of movement from
column to column. Three columns were immediately to his hand in the
Baiswarra district. Pinckney's column, consisting of three and a half
infantry regiments, two cavalry regiments, two batteries and details,
was at Perturbghur with a post on the Sultanpore road. Hope Grant's,
comprising four infantry and two cavalry regiments, two and a half
batteries and a company of sappers, was two miles north-east of the
fort of Amethee. The third was Wetherall's, who with one cavalry and
two and a half infantry regiments and twelve guns, contrary to his
orders and without the specified co-operation, had just captured the
fort of Rampoor Kussia on the Sye, with its armament of twenty-three
guns. He had killed some three hundred of the enemy with a loss to
himself of about eighty killed and wounded, but had allowed the
garrison to escape, and Lord Clyde was much annoyed that he should
have disregarded his instructions.
The first act of the Commander-in-Chief on reaching his headquarters
in the field was to summon Lal Mahdo the Talukdar of Amethee to make
his submission, and a copy of the Queen's proclamation was forwarded
to him with the intimation that if he remained recalcitrant the
Commander-in-Chief would invest his fort. Lal Mahdo had afforded
protection to British fugitives at the outbreak of the rebellion,
and as he had thereby established a claim to the clemency of the
Government, he was allowed until the 6th to form his decision. He
failed to present himself on that date, and his jungle fortress was
then invested by the headquarter column and those of Hope Grant and
Wetherall. Lal Mahdo surrendered himself on the 10th and gave up his
fortress, which when entered was found to have been evacuated. The
Rajah's conduct was so equivocal that he was made a prisoner. Mr.
Russell thus describes the scene when the Commander-in-Chief rode
into the place with the Rajah in attendance. "The latter was pale
with affright, for his Excellency, more irritated than I have ever
seen him, and conscious of the trick which had been played upon him,
was denouncing the Rajah's conduct in terms which perhaps the latter
would not have minded much had they not been accompanied by threats
of unmistakable vigour."
Leaving a post at Amethee to destroy the fort Lord Clyde moved
promptly on Shunkerpore, the stronghold of Beni Mahdo who had been
joined by the fugitive rebels from Rampoor Kussia and Amethee.
Grant and Wetherall invested the fort on two faces, the headquarter
column on the third. Eveleigh's column, which had recently stormed
the fort of Simree, should have arrived to complete the investment;
but he arrived too late and thus was afforded a means of escape
to Beni Mahdo and his followers. Shunkerpore was a strong place
of considerable importance; the circumference of its outer ditch
measured nearly eight miles and the area of the fort exceeded
five acres. Before resorting to hostile action the Talukdar was
summoned; but he refused to lay down his arms, and on the night
of the 15th the garrison, about ten thousand strong, evacuated
the fort, carrying off ten guns and heading northward with the
probable intention of reaching the trans-Gogra region. Leaving a
detachment at Shunkerpore to destroy the fort and the surrounding
jungle, the Commander-in-Chief on the night of the 18th moved with
the headquarter column to Roy Bareilly. Wetherall's brigade, now
commanded by Colonel Taylor, Seventy-Ninth Highlanders, had been
despatched to Fyzabad with instructions to continue the operations
beyond the Gogra as soon as the rebels had been cleared out of the
Baiswarra district; and Sir Hope Grant proceeded to the same place to
take command of the forces which were to operate in the trans-Gogra
country. Horsford was acting on his instructions to reduce the
country on the right bank of the Goomtee between Jugdespore and
Lucknow. Lord Clyde on the 20th had advanced to Buchraon, twenty
miles on the road to Lucknow, when information reached him that
Beni Mahdo had been headed by Hope Grant's movement and had turned
towards the Ganges, on the way to which he had been defeated at Bera
by Brigadier Eveleigh, who was following the rebel chief towards
Simree. Lord Clyde determined to join the brigadier, who was weak in
infantry, and to attack Beni Mahdo. He reached Simree on the 23rd,
and on the morning of the 24th advanced to the village of Bidhoura,
whence a summons was sent to the rebel chief giving him a last chance
of surrender. No reply came and the advance was resumed.
Beni Mahdo's position was strong, but too extended to be properly
defended. It lay on a branch of the Ganges between two villages,
the village of Doundea-Khera on the west, the village of Buksar on
the east. The advance of the British skirmishers and the artillery
fire sufficed to break the rebel line. Part of the enemy were forced
into the river; the occupants of both villages were summarily driven
out. The rebels left between three hundred and four hundred dead
on the ground and abandoned the seven guns they had possessed. But
Beni Mahdo escaped, and having been joined by part of his followers
hurried northward pursued by Colonel Carmichael's force, till on
December 4th he was driven into the country beyond the Gogra. The
clearance of the Baiswarra district having been effected, the
Commander-in-Chief marched to Lucknow, where he arrived on November
28th to find that the wide region west of Lucknow between the Ganges
and the Chouka had been swept clear of rebels by Brigadiers Barker
and Troup. The former officer, having reduced the regions of Kuchowna
and Benagunj, had reached Khyrabad and a few days later advanced to
Biswah. Troup with the Shahjehanpore force had crossed the Rohilcund
frontier, stormed the fort of Mittowlee on November 8th, engaged in a
sharp and victorious action at Mehndee, and moving to the south-west
established himself at Jehangirabad near the right bank of the Chouka.
Thus one half of the task of subjugating Oude had been accomplished.
An elaborate plan, which involved exceptional punctuality and
precision, had been undeviatingly followed with successful results.
Lord Clyde could truthfully report to Lord Canning that, "In the
theatre of operations extending over a line of march of more than
two hundred miles, each movement and each apparently isolated attack
was made to defend and support what was being done on the right and
left. The advance in line, stretching from the confines of Rohilcund
to Allahabad and Azimghur, had put down everything like rebellion in
a large sense of the word, in the region on the right bank of the
Gogra." Some critics found occasion to charge his movements with
tardiness; but the Commander-in-Chief had a far greater aim than the
temporary dispersal of the rebel bands. Unless justified by some
urgent military necessity, Lord Clyde was on principle averse from
entering any district which could not be permanently occupied. He was
determined to leave no territory, through which his columns moved,
unfurnished with police posts under civil authority of sufficient
strength to guarantee order for the future. In a word, he insisted on
the permanent settlement of the country as he advanced.
There remained to him now only the prosecution of the campaign in the
trans-Gogra country. Leaving Lucknow on December 5th with a column
consisting of fourteen guns, three cavalry and five and a half
infantry regiments under the command of Brigadier Horsford, he picked
up at Nawabgunj Purnell's column, consisting of four guns, a wing
of the Twenty-Third, and the Ninetieth Light Infantry, and marched
in the direction of Byram Ghat on the Gogra, at the confluence of
the Chouka and the Surjoo. Hearing that a body of fugitives were
crossing the river at that point, the ardent veteran with the cavalry
and four guns, on the waggons of which were mounted a few marksmen
of the Rifle Brigade, galloped forward in the hope of intercepting
the rebels in the act of crossing. But he was just in time to be
too late. There were no means of crossing the river at Byram Ghat,
and Lord Clyde, anxious to prosecute the campaign with a minimum of
delay, moved down to Fyzabad with the headquarter column and the
siege-train, crossed the river at that point, and on the 14th reached
Secrora, a couple of marches beyond the Gogra. Certain dispositions
were made at this point, tending to assure the object in view of
clearing the region of rebels and hindering them from recrossing
into the settled territory. Purnell was sent to watch the fords on
the Chouka as far up as Jehangirabad, whence Troup took up the duty
to the confines of Rohilcund, while Pratt patrolled the Mullapoor
Doab between the Chouka and the Surjoo. From Baraitch on the 17th
Christie's column was detached to cover on the left the further
advance of the headquarter column up to the edge of the Nepaul
hill-territory. On the right in the Goruckpore country Rowcroft's
column, advancing from Bustee and crossing the Raptee, was marching
on Toolseepore, which place, was believed to be held in strength
by Bala Rao the brother of Nana Sahib. After some fighting Rowcroft
occupied Toolseepore on December 23rd, where he was joined by Hope
Grant, who had parted from the Commander-in-Chief at Secrora on the
14th and had marched to Bulrampore, at which point he covered on the
right the advance of the headquarter column.
Lord Clyde marched due north on Baraitch, where he arrived on the
17th. As he approached, the Nana Sahib and the Begum of Oude, who
had been holding Baraitch, fell back in the direction of the Nepaul
frontier. The end was now near at hand, and symptoms of disruption
among the insurgents were manifesting themselves, the vakeels of
the Rajahs and Talukdars who were still "out" coming in to ask for
terms. The Begum herself sent a representative to inquire what she
might expect. An advance was made on the 23rd towards Nanparah, and
on the 26th, hearing that the rebels were in force at Burgidiah, a
march beyond Nanparah, the Commander-in-Chief moved on that place.
Late in the afternoon the rebel pickets fell back, disclosing the
main body drawn up in advance of a village opposite the left front of
the British force. After a brief reconnaissance Lord Clyde disposed
his troops for action, and himself galloped to the front with the
guns and cavalry of the advance guard. Coming under the enemy's fire
he rapidly took ground to his right, and when he had gained their
extreme left he again advanced and brought his guns into action. The
effect of the evolution was instantaneous; the enemy's flank was
turned and they hurried in disorder towards Burgidiah and Churdah,
losing all their guns in the flight. Here Lord Clyde, while guiding
the pursuit, met with a serious accident. His horse fell and he was
thrown violently to the ground. Mackinnon, his surgeon, found him in
great pain with blood flowing down his cheek. One of his shoulders
was put out and a rib broken. Much shaken though he was, the gallant
old Chief, as soon as the dislocation was reduced, promptly rose and
walked towards the front as if he had been unhurt.
An incident, characteristic of Lord Clyde, occurred this evening. Mr.
Russell, himself an eye-witness of it, has thus vividly portrayed
the scene:--[10] "On returning to camp it was quite dark; not a tent
was pitched; the baggage was coming up in darkness and in storms
of angry voices. As the night was cold, the men made blazing fires
of the straw and grass of the houses of the neighbouring hamlet in
which Nana Sahib's followers had so long been quartered. At one of
those fires, surrounded by Beloochees, Lord Clyde sat with his arm
in a sling on a _charpoy_ which had been brought out to feed the
flames. Once, as he rose to give some order for the disposition of
the troops, a tired Beloochee flung himself full length on the crazy
bedstead, and was jerked off in a moment by one of his comrades with
the exclamation--'Don't you see, you fool, that you are on the Lord
Sahib's _charpoy_?' Lord Clyde interposed--'Let him lie there; don't
interfere with his rest,' and himself took his seat on a billet of
wood."
Next day the force marched onward to the fort of Mejiddiah, the
Commander-in-Chief carried on an elephant at the head of the column.
The place was found to be very strong, full of guns and crowded
with men. Some casualties occurred from the enemy's fire, which
was obstinate; but shell after shell burst inside the fort and the
round-shot tore great masses of earth off the parapets. Detachments
of infantry closed in upon it and poured through the embrasures a
constant rain of bullets, which, with the fire from the big guns,
ultimately crushed down an exceptionally stubborn resistance. The
28th was spent in the demolition of the fort, and next day Lord Clyde
marched back to Nanparah, in the belief that there he would be in
a more central and advantageous position from which to watch the
enemy's movements. On the afternoon of the 30th intelligence came in
that Nana Sahib, Beni Mahdo, and other outlaw leaders had gathered
in force near Bankee, about twenty miles north of Nanparah. The camp
was left standing and orders issued for the troops to parade without
bugle sound at 8 P.M. The infantry were carried on the elephants of
the force, on one of which Lord Clyde accompanied the column. The
expedition consisted of the Seventh Hussars, part of the Carabineers,
First Punjaub Cavalry, a troop of Horse Artillery, a battalion of
the Rifle Brigade, a detachment of the Twentieth and a wing of the
Belooch battalion. After a march of fifteen miles in pitch darkness
a halt was made until dawn of the 31st, when the column continued
its advance and presently the enemy's outposts became visible with
the main body in rear. The hostile line was in position on the edge
of the forest between two roads, one leading toward the Raptee, the
other to the pass entering the Soonar valley in Nepaul. At the first
onslaught the rebels turned and fled. Part of them hurried towards
a ford on the Raptee. A squadron of the Seventh Hussars followed
hard upon the flying troopers; the other three squadrons, ordered to
support it, swept along the bank under the gauntlet of the artillery
fire from the other side of the river. The panic-stricken rebel
horsemen precipitated themselves into the waters of the Raptee. At
the sight the pursuing hussars dashed after them, and cut them down
as they struggled in the whirling stream. Major Horne and two hussars
were drowned. Captain Stisted, who commanded the leading squadron,
was carried away by the current, but was saved by his comrade Major
Fraser,[11] who received the Victoria Cross for his opportune
gallantry. The rebels thus driven and dispersed, the camp was pitched
at Bankee. On information that the fugitives were gathered again
in the Soonar valley within Nepaulese territory, Lord Clyde on the
5th of January, 1859, marched up from Bankee to Sidinhia Ghat, the
scene of the action of December 31st, where an encampment was taken
up on a site favourable for watching the pass leading into Nepaul,
and there a column was left on duty under the command of Brigadier
Horsford. Hope Grant, while at Bulrampore, had heard that the Nana's
brother Bala Rao had taken possession of the fort of Toolseepore with
a considerable body of followers, and was aiming at entering the
Goruckpore district. Grant interfered materially with that project
by hitting on Bala Rao's force at Kumdahkote about thirteen miles
north-east of Toolseepore. He attacked them on January 4th, drove
them into the neighbouring hills, and captured fifteen guns. Like
his brother the Nana, Bala Rao sought refuge in Nepaul.
Lord Clyde had now fairly accomplished the task which he had
undertaken. By means of the wide-sweeping movement begun in October,
the three great provinces of Oude, Behar, and Goruckpore, which "till
that time had been in a state of insurrection, were now absolutely
cleared of even the semblance of rebellion." Although from the nature
of the work there had been no great battles, the number of small
affairs had been very considerable. In Oude alone one hundred and
eighty thousand armed men, of whom at least thirty-five thousand
were sepoys of the old native army, had succumbed to the British
power. About one hundred and fifty guns had been captured in fight;
many more guns and three hundred and fifty thousand arms of various
descriptions had been collected; and more than three hundred forts
had been destroyed. The disarmament of the country could at length
be taken systematically in hand, and on its completion by the civil
authorities some months later, Lord Clyde was able to report that
"seven hundred additional guns had been recovered from the various
forts, more than eleven hundred of which had been razed to the
ground." Owing to the free employment of heavy ordnance and vertical
fire, the casualties which had occurred during the campaign since
Lord Clyde took the field in the beginning of November, 1858, did not
exceed eighteen killed and eighty-four wounded,--a loss infinitesimal
in proportion to the importance of the results.
On January 8th Lord Clyde began his return march to Lucknow.
At Baraitch on the way down he met by appointment his trusted
lieutenant Sir Hope Grant, whom he placed in command of all the
forces in Oude and who for the present remained to watch matters on
the frontier. Since his accident, until he left the front, the hardy
old soldier had directed the military operations from the back of
an elephant; but he now exchanged into a dooly in which more easy
conveyance he was carried to Lucknow, where he arrived on January
17th.