And now the avenging army arrived before Mooltan. General Whish's
headquarters were with the right column; the left was under Brigadier
Salter, and arrived on the 19th August 1848; while the heavy siege-guns,
under Major Napier, with the sappers and miners, commanded by Captain H.
Siddons, did not reach headquarters till the 4th of September. The
European regiment attached to each column came as far as practicable by
water. The irregular force under Edwardes and Lake being encamped a
distance of six miles from that of General Whish, it was necessary to
move it closer up to the latter, to prevent the enemy's cavalry from
passing between them. The very position taken up, it was found, was
within gunshot of Mooltan; but as it was an important one to hold,
Lieutenant Edwardes resolved to keep it. It was not obtained without
some fighting, where Lake and Pollock greatly distinguished themselves.
Hugo James and Captain Wilmot Christopher accompanied Lieutenant
Edwardes into the field, and greatly assisted him in carrying orders.
The latter rode about with a long sea-telescope under his arm, just as
composedly as if he had been on the deck of his own vessel. Encamping
within shot of the enemy's walls is unheard of in regular warfare; and
the irregulars soon found it anything but pleasant. One Sunday, during
the service held by the Chief for the benefit of all the Christians
under him, the little congregation was disturbed by about twenty shot
falling round the tents in the space of a very few minutes; and when at
length one found its billet, and smashed a man's thigh at the door, a
general rush was made to the guns, and the whole strength of the
artillery bent upon the Bloody Bastion until its fire was silenced.
On another occasion, Major Napier had one night gone over to visit
Edwardes. They were sipping tea and breathing the cool night air, while
Lake, exhausted with his day's work, was fast asleep in his bed, under
the same awning as themselves, when, the rebel gunners seeming to awake,
one shot buried itself hissing in the sand by Napier's side, and then
another passed close by his friend.
A third fell at the head of Lake's bed, and his servant immediately got
up, and with great carefulness turned his bed round. Lake gave a yawn,
and asked sleepily, "What's the matter?"
"Nothing," replied the bearer; "it's only a cannon ball!" Lake went to
sleep again. Five minutes later another fell at his feet, when the good
bearer again shifted his master's bed. Once more Lake asked, half
asleep, "What's the matter _now_?" and was told in reply, "_Another_
cannon ball--nothing more!"--on which he said, "Oh!" and returned calmly
to the land of dreams. Various plans were suggested for carrying on the
siege against the place, which, it was discovered, was very formidable,
and not easily to be taken. Constant skirmishes took place. The
European soldiers took the night duty in the trenches, to avoid the heat
of the day. On the night of the 9th of September, it became necessary
to dislodge the enemy from a position they had taken up among some
houses and gardens in front of the trenches; and four companies of Her
Majesty's 10th Regiment, a wing of the 49th Native Infantry, the rifle
company of the 72nd Native Infantry, and two of General Van Courtlandt's
horse artillery guns accordingly advanced, and a very sharp night-fight
ensued. Ignorance of the localities, and the darkness and confusion
consequent on a hastily planned night-attack, rendered the gallant
efforts of the troops useless, and, after a considerable loss in killed
and wounded, they were withdrawn. Lieutenant-Colonel Pattoun, of the
32nd Foot, led the attack with great gallantry. Lieutenant Richardson,
adjutant of the 49th Native Infantry, an officer of Herculean frame,
rushed at the barricaded door of the house most strongly occupied by the
enemy, and with a mighty effort dashed it in among the rebel inmates,
who threw themselves forward to oppose his entrance. Seeing that the
party was too strong for him, he seized the foremost Sikh soldier in his
arms, and, with his body thus shielded, backed out of the enclosure,
when he hurled the half-strangled rebel back among his friends. He did
not escape, however, without some severe wounds about his head and arms.
Captain Christopher had, from the first arrival of the steamers at
Mooltan, shown the usual willingness of his profession to co-operate
with his brother officers on shore. On the night in question he had
already once conducted some reinforcements to Colonel Pattoun's
assistance, but the fighting at the outposts still raged with unabated
fury. Another reinforcement came up, but had no guide. "Will no one
show us the way?" asked the officer of the party, looking round on the
tired occupants of the trenches. "I will," replied Christopher; and
putting himself at their head, he steered them with the steadiness of a
pilot through ditches and gardens, under a roaring fire of musketry.
Ere he reached the spot, a ball hit him on the ankle, and shivered the
joint to pieces. He was borne out of the fight, but never recovered
from the wound, and three weeks afterwards was numbered with the brave
who fell at the siege.
The British army continued forming their approaches for the attack, and
the rebels at the same time laboured without ceasing to strengthen their
position. On the 12th of September, General Whish determined to clear
his front. The action commenced at seven a.m. by the irregulars, under
Lumsden, Lake, and Courtlandt, making an attack to distract the
attention of the enemy on the left, when they expelled the enemy from an
important village, and captured their magazine and hospital. Two
British columns now advanced to do the real business of the day: the
right, commanded by Lieutenant-Colonel Pattoun; the left, by
Lieutenant-Colonel Franks; while three squadrons of cavalry, commanded
by Lieutenant-Colonel Wheeler, protected the British flanks. Both the
rebels and British troops fought desperately. Moolraj's intrenched
position was fiercely assailed, and fiercely defended. Scarcely a man
of its defenders escaped to tell their chief how calmly the young
English engineer, Lieutenant Grindall, planted the scaling-ladder in
their grim faces; how vainly they essayed to hurl it back; how madly
rushed up the grenadiers of the 32nd; with what a yell the brave Irish
of the 10th dropped down among them from the branches of the trees
above; and how like the deadly conflict of the lion and tiger in a
forest den, was the grapple of the pale English with the swarthy Sikhs
in that little walled space the rebels thought so strong.
On this day fell Major Montizambert, of the 10th, Colonel Pattoun,
Quarter--Master Taylor, Lieutenant Cubitt, and Ensign Lloyd; while Major
Napier, the chief engineer, was among the wounded. Altogether, 39 men
were killed, and 216 wounded. This victory of Dhurum Salah gained the
besieging army a distance to the front of some eight or nine hundred
yards, and brought them within battering distance of the city walls.
Everybody expected that in a few hours Mooltan would be won, when the
astounding news reached General Whish that Rajah Sher Singh and his
whole army had gone over to the enemy. A council of war was on this
immediately held, when it was decided that the siege of Mooltan should
be raised, and that the British army should retire to a short distance,
and there, holding a dignified attitude, wait for reinforcements. Rajah
Sher Singh was, however, received with suspicion by Moolraj, and so, in
a short time, he marched off to join his father and other insurgent
chiefs. It was soon evident that the greater part of the Sikh
population was insurgent. The only remedy for this state of things, it
was agreed, was the annexation of the Punjaub--Mooltan, however, must
first be taken.
The interval was not passed idly. Lieutenant Taylor prepared all sorts
of contrivances for facilitating siege operations; and General
Courtlandt's sappers and Lieutenant Lumsden's guides prepared the
enormous number of 15,000 gabions and 12,000 fascines. Moolraj was also
actively employed in strengthening his defences, and in endeavouring to
gain over the neighbouring chiefs to his cause. One of the most
important features in the scenery round Mooltan was the Wulle Muhommud
canal, which runs past the western side of the city, and the eastern of
the village of Sooruj Koond. The water had been drained off by
Lieutenant Glover, by damming up the mouth at the Chenab. The enemy
were intrenched within this canal under the walls of the city, and
General Whish determined to attack them on the 7th of November, and to
drive them out at the point of the bayonet. The attack was to be made
at daylight, on both sides of the canal, by a strong British brigade on
the east, and by the irregular force on the west, each division
carefully keeping on its own side of the canal, to prevent the friendly
irregulars from being mistaken for the foe. On the very day before,
some 220 men of one of General Courtlandt's regiments, called the Kuthar
Mookhee, who had been placed in an advanced battery, deserted to the
enemy, and endeavoured to carry off Lieutenant Pollock with them; but he
was rescued by the rest of the regiment, who remained faithful; and in
spite of this defection, he, assisted in a true comrade spirit by
Lieutenant Bunny, of the Artillery, and Lieutenant Paton, of the
Engineers, held the post with unflinching constancy till day. In
consequence of this desertion, it was not deemed prudent to trust the
other regiments of the same force with the posts which had been assigned
to them. Lieutenant Edwardes, with his irregulars, was to supply their
place; but, when all was prepared, the enemy himself attacked the
British position, and the very men whose fidelity had been doubted gave
such evident proof of their loyalty that they were allowed to take part
in the action.
The enemy was soon repulsed, and the British advanced, as had been
intended. It was at this time that a body of Rohillas irregulars,
disregarding the order they had received to keep on the west side of the
canal, crossed over and captured a gun on the eastern bank, when,
mistaken by the sepoys for some of the Moolraj's troops, they were
instantly fired on. Two had been shot down, when Private Howell, of Her
Majesty's 32nd Foot, perceiving what was going on, leaped down the
canal, and putting himself in front of the Rohillas, faced the British
troops, and waved his shako on the end of his bayonet, as a signal to
cease firing. By his presence of mind and courage many friendly lives
were saved. Brigadier Markham afterwards presented Howell with fifty
rupees, at the head of his regiment, sent to him by Lieutenant Edwardes.
On this occasion, Lieutenants Lake and Pollock and Mr Hugo James again
distinguished themselves; and so especially did Dr Cole, who not only
attended to those who were hurt on his own side, but saved the lives of
many wounded Sikhs on the field of battle--an act to be performed only
by one who adds the courage of a soldier to the humanity of a physician.
Brigadier Markham led the British column. Proceeding with the force
under his command across the bridges over the nullah, on the right of
the allied camp in the Sooruj Koond in open column, flanking the enemy's
position, they brought their shoulders forward to the left, and
proceeded directly across their rear. When they had advanced
sufficiently far to ensure overlapping the most distant part of their
position, they wheeled into line, three guns on the right and three on
the left, the whole of the cavalry (with the exception of a small party
with the guns) on their right flank. The reserve, in quarter-distance
column, in rear of the centre of the right brigade, advanced steadily in
echelon of brigade, at fifty paces' distance from the right, under a
smart fire of grape and round shot. General Markham, observing a large
body of the enemy moving on his right, ordered the cavalry to attack
them, to prevent them removing their guns. Major Wheeler, advancing in
the most brilliant manner, charged the enemy, cutting up numbers of
them, and saved the guns; then sweeping the whole British front, he
re-formed speedily and in good order on the left, and moved off to cover
the right. As the cavalry cleared the front, the horse artillery opened
their fire, the line charged, and took the position, with the whole of
the guns, on the bank of the nullah, driving the enemy across and up it
with considerable loss. The action lasted about an hour. After the
enemy's batteries had been destroyed, the troops returned to camp.
Never was there a more perfect triumph of discipline and good
soldiership than the battle of Sooruj Koond. The British troops, who
were manoeuvred as on parade, turned a large army out of a strong
intrenchment, and routed them, with the loss of five guns, before they
even understood the attack. The four leaders, Lieutenant-Colonels
Franks and Brooks, and Major Wheeler and Brigadier Markham, were all
comparatively young, and no men could have behaved with more judgment,
as well as gallantry and spirit.
On the 21st of December, a Bombay division, commanded by Brigadier the
Hon. H. Dundas, C.B., of Her Majesty's 60th Rifles, arrived before
Mooltan, with Colonel Cheape as chief engineer, raising the army under
General Whish to upwards of 15,000 men.
On the 27th of December, the united British force resumed the
long-suspended siege of Mooltan.
The plan adopted was to make a regular attack upon the north-east angle
of the citadel, and to expel the enemy only from so much of the suburbs
as were actually required for the operations of the besiegers.
The portion of the suburbs so required consisted of some high
brick-kilns; the cemetery of Moolraj's fathers, called Wuzeerabad; and
Moolraj's own garden-house, Am Khas. To seize these positions was the
object of the opening attack on the 27th of December. While one British
column was effecting it, three others were ordered to make diversions
for the purpose of distracting the enemy, with discretionary orders to
follow according to the effect produced, even to the taking of the
positions, if facilities offered. The third column was composed of the
whole disposable force of the irregulars. Facilities did offer, and
Brigadier Dundas captured, occupied, and crowned with guns some most
important positions which commanded the city. The whole of the suburbs
were now occupied by the British army, and it was resolved to take the
city also. On this occasion Major Edwardes says that Lieutenants Lake,
Pollock, Pearse, and Young all distinguished themselves, as did his
writer, the brave Mr Quin, who led on the Sooraj Mookhee regiment; but
the palm was carried off by a new volunteer, Mr McMahon, who had joined
him only a few days before, and who now earned his title to be brought
especially to notice by encountering in single combat the leader of the
enemy's infantry, a powerful Sikh, whom he killed with one blow which
divided his head.
His men at last, thinking themselves responsible for his safety, made
him prisoner, and brought him back, with bent and dripping sword, to
where Major Edwardes and Sir Henry Lawrence were standing directing the
movements of the troops.
On the 30th of December, a shell from a mortar laid by Lieutenant
Newall, of the Bengal Artillery, pierced the supposed bomb-proof dome of
the Grand Mosque in the citadel, which formed the enemy's principal
magazine, and descending into the combustibles below, blew the vast
fabric into the air.
On the 2nd of January 1849, the breach in the Rhoonee Boorj or Bloody
Bastion of the city was declared practicable, and a second at the Delhi
gate was thought sufficiently good to allow of an attempt being made on
it as a diversion. General Whish determined to try both; and a party
from the Bengal division was told off for the Delhi gate breach, and one
from the Bombay division for the breach at the Bastion. The irregular
force was to assist both by a diversion on the left. The diversion was
commenced at one p.m., and the assault, by a signal from the batteries,
at three p.m. The storming party destined to attack the Delhi gate was
led by a fine soldier, Captain Smyth, of the grenadier company of Her
Majesty's 32nd Regiment. Off they started with hearts beating high; but
no sooner had they emerged from the suburbs, than they found themselves
on the edge of a deep intervening hollow, after crossing which, under a
heavy fire of matchlocks, they discovered, to their surprise, that the
city wall in front, about thirty feet in height, was unbreached and
totally impracticable. This disagreeable fact had hitherto been
concealed by the hollow, both from the breaching-battery and the
engineers. The gallant band had therefore to retire; and without loss
of time they hurried round to the breach at the Bloody Bastion, to
assist their more fortunate comrades in the city.
The Bloody Bastion was assaulted by three companies of the 1st Bombay
Fusiliers, under Captain Leith.
They found the breach easy to be surmounted, but it was intrenched
inside, and a most bloody struggle ensued, in which the brave Captain
Leith was severely wounded, and had to be carried to the rear; but his
place was at once taken by Lieutenant Grey, and the redcoats pushed
onwards. The first to mount was Colour-Sergeant John Bennet, of the 1st
Fusiliers, who, having planted the colours of Old England on the very
crest of the breach, stood beside them till the flag and staff were
riddled with balls. On rushed the Fusiliers; they remembered the
legends of their ancient corps, and closing with the rebels, soon made
the city of Mooltan their own. "Then arose from every crowded height
and battery, whence the exciting struggle had been watched, the shouts
of applauding comrades; and through the deafening roar of musketry,
which pealed along the ramparts, and marked the hard-earned progress of
the victorious columns through the streets, both friend and foe might
distinctly hear that sound, never to be forgotten--the `Hurrah!' of a
British army after battle."
No sooner did Moolraj discover that the city was captured, than, leaving
three-fourths of his army to the mercy of the victors, he retired with
3000 picked men into the citadel, intending to hold out till he could
make advantageous terms for himself. The garrison who could escape made
the best of their way over the city walls, and fled to their homes.
Never did a city present a more awful scene of retribution than did that
of Mooltan. Scarcely a roof or wall which had not been penetrated by
English shells; and whole houses, scorched and blackened by the
bombardment, seemed about to fall over the corpses of their defenders.
The citadel itself was now closely invested, and incessantly shelled, so
that there was scarcely a spot within the walls where the besieged could
find shelter. In this siege the bluejackets of Old England, as well as
the redcoats, took a part. Commander Powell, of the Honourable East
India Company's Navy, at the head of a body of seamen, worked one of the
heavy batteries from the commencement to the termination of the siege.
"It was a fine sight to see their manly faces, bronzed by long exposure
to the burning sun of the Red Sea or Persian Gulf, mingling with the
dark soldiers of Hindoostan, or contrasting with the fairer but not
healthier occupants of the European barrack. They looked on their
battery as their ship, their eighteen-pounders as so many sweethearts,
and the embrasures as port-holes. `Now, Jack, shove your head out of
that port, and just hear what my little girl says to that 'ere pirate,
Mol Rag' (Moolraj?), was the kind of conversation heard on board of the
sailor-battery by those passing."
The citadel still held out, but by the 19th two breaches had been
effected, and the assault was fixed for six a.m. on the 22nd. Before
that hour the traitor sent in his submission, asking only for his own
life and the honour of his women. The answer from General Whish was,
that the British Government "wars not with women and children, and that
they would be protected, but that he had neither authority to give
Moolraj his life nor to take it." Thus Moolraj was compelled to make an
unconditional surrender. This second siege of Mooltan occupied 27 days,
and the British loss was 210 men killed and 982 wounded. One of the
last acts of the victors was to disinter the bodies of Agnew and
Anderson, and to carry them to an honoured resting-place on the summit
of Moolraj's citadel, through the broad and sloping breach which had
been made by the British guns in the walls of the rebellious fortress of
Mooltan.