It was not till many of the mutineers had fled to Delhi that the
inhabitants of that city dared to rise in arms against the British. At
Delhi resided a pensioner of the British Government, the last
representative of the Mogul Emperors--an old man, feeble in mind and
body, yet capable of atrocious mischief--who had assumed the title of
the King of Delhi. He and his sons and some of his ministers were
undoubtedly promoters of the revolt. By agreement with this potentate,
no British troops were quartered in the city, notwithstanding that the
Government had made the city the principal depot for military stores in
India. The city was also inhabited by a large Mohammedan population,
who clustered round the king, and clung to the traditions of their
former greatness.
On the 11th of May there arrived at Delhi, early in the morning, several
parties of mutineers from Meerut. They gave the signal of revolt. With
scarcely a moment's warning, military officers, civil servants of the
Government, merchants, and others were set upon by the rebel sepoys and
by the inhabitants of the city, and cut down without mercy. Ladies and
children were butchered with every conceivable cruelty and indignity.
Mr Simon Fraser, the commissioner, was murdered in the palace of the
king; so was Captain Douglas, of the Palace Guards, and Mr Jennings,
the chaplain, and his daughter and another lady. The regiments outside
the walls in cantonments revolted, and many of the British officers were
killed, though some, with a few ladies, who got over the city walls,
effected their escape.
"The magazine, which was within the city walls, not far from the palace,
was of course in danger from the very beginning. The officers in charge
had seen the mutineers crossing the bridge in the morning, and
Lieutenant Willoughby had gone in with Sir T. Metcalf to endeavour to
get the gates closed. On his return, he found eight of the officers
attached to the establishment--Lieutenants Forrest and Raynor,
Conductors Buckley, Shaw, and Scully, Subconductor Crowe, and Sergeants
Edward and Stewart--with the native Lascars and servants. Preparations
were instantly begun for the defence of the magazine till the arrival of
relief from Meerut, which none doubted was at hand. The magazine
consisted of a number of buildings enclosed by a high wall. The gates
were closed and barricaded. Inside the gate leading to the park were
placed two 6-pounders, doubly charged with grape. The two sergeants
stood by with lighted matches, ready, should that gate be attacked, to
fire both at once, and fall back upon the body of the magazine. At the
principal gate two guns were put in position, with a _chevaux-de-frise_
on the inside; and a little behind, but bearing on the same point, were
two others. Farther in were placed four more pieces, commanding two
cross passages. A train was laid to the powder-magazine, ready to be
fired at a given signal. Arms were put in the hands of the natives in
the establishment, which they took sulkily. They were getting insolent
and disobedient--the Mussulmans particularly so. Scarcely had these
arrangements been made, when the Palace Guards appeared and demanded the
magazine in the name of the Badsha of Delhi. No answer was given.
"The king, they heard soon after, had sent word that ladders would be
immediately brought from the palace to scale the walls. The natives in
the magazine scarcely concealed their hostility. One man was seen to be
communicating with the mutineers outside through the gate, and ordered
to be shot if he was observed doing so again. The enemy, who had thus
learned what was ready for them, did not attempt to force the gates; but
in a short time the scaling-ladders arrived. On their being placed
against the walls, the whole of the Lascars deserted, climbing over the
sloped sheds on the inside, and down the ladders. It was found that
they had hid the priming-pouches. The enemy now appeared in hundreds on
the walls. The guns were immediately pointed at them, and worked with
wonderful rapidity considering the small number of the party. Nine
Britons, alone in that great Mohammedan city, betrayed and deserted as
they were, bravely thought only of holding their post till the death.
The enemy kept firing down upon them. In a few minutes several of the
little band were wounded; it was clear that in a few more they would all
be shot. Willoughby then gave the signal for firing the powder store.
Scully, who had distinguished himself in this dreadful emergency by his
perfect coolness, in the most careful and methodical manner lighted the
trains. The explosion took place almost immediately. The wall
adjoining was thrown to the ground; numbers of the enemy were buried
among the ruins; and thousands of bullets from the cartridges in store
were hurled far off, striking down people in the streets. Wonderful as
it may seem, half the gallant defenders of the magazine crept out alive,
partly stunned, blackened, scorched, and burned, yet able to make their
way through the sally-port by the river for the Cashmere gate.
Lieutenants Forrest and Raynor and Conductor Buckley succeeded in
escaping to Meerut. Willoughby was seen at the Cashmere gate, and set
out for Meerut with three more, who were all murdered in a village on
the road. Scully, who was much hurt, was killed, when trying to escape,
by a sowar. The explosion of the magazine was of course seen from the
flagstaff tower, and was heard even at Meerut."
That afternoon, the sepoys who remained in the lines either deserted or
revolted--a general flight took place; the Brigadier was one of the last
to leave; and thus was Delhi lost.
No sooner had the Europeans gone, than the treacherous old king hoisted
the green flag, and proclaimed himself Emperor of India. He had
imprisoned within his palace walls forty-nine Europeans, chiefly women
and children. Having for a week allowed them to be treated with the
greatest cruelty, he gave them up to be further ill-treated, and finally
murdered, by his soldiery. Their bodies were piled in a rotting heap at
the Cashmere gate.
The day of vengeance was, however, not long delayed. On the 8th of June
a small army, under Major-General Sir Henry Barnard, was collected at
Alleepore, one march from Delhi. It consisted of four guns, 2nd troop
1st Brigade, 2nd and 3rd troops 3rd Brigade Horse Artillery; 3rd company
3rd Battalion Artillery, and Number 14 Horse Field-Battery; 4th company
6th Battalion Artillery: detachment Artillery recruits; Headquarters'
detachment Sappers and Miners; Her Majesty's 9th Lancers; two squadrons
Her Majesty's 6th Dragoon Guards; headquarters and six companies 60th
Royal Rifles; headquarters and nine companies of Her Majesty's 75th
Regiment; 1st Bengal Fusiliers; headquarters and six companies 2nd
Fusiliers; Simoor battalion Goorkhas. On the morning of the 8th this
little army advanced from Alleepore towards Delhi. They encountered,
strongly intrenched, a body of mutineers 3000 in number. The enemy's
guns were well worked; the British artillery were unable to cope with
them. There was only one thing to be done. The order was given to
charge and capture the guns. With a ringing cheer, Her Majesty's 75th
rushed on amidst a hailstorm of musketry, and the sepoys fled in terror
to their next position; for they had constructed a line of defence from
the signal-tower to the late Maharajah Hindoo Rao's house, and disputed
every inch of the ground. However, by nine o'clock the army of
retribution was in possession of the parade-ground and cantonments.
The latter, indeed, were now covered with masses of blackened walls,
while the compounds were strewed with broken furniture, clothing, and
books. Here, at about a mile and a half from the walls of Delhi, the
army encamped, and waited for reinforcements.
The British advanced position was a strong brick-built house, on the top
of a hill overlooking the city. Near it three batteries were
constructed, which played night and day on the city. The mutineers had
also three batteries, which kept up a continual fire on the British
camp. They also generally sallied out each afternoon with a couple of
guns and some cavalry--the greater portion of their force, however,
consisting of infantry. The latter advanced skirmishing up, especially
towards the large house, among rocky ground, covered with brushwood,
which afforded them ample shelter. They always courted this system of
desultory fighting, in which the strength of the native soldiers is best
brought out. The British soldiers, on the contrary, too often lost
their lives from want of caution. Disdaining the advantages of cover,
fluttered with fury and impatience, and worn-out or stupefied by the
heat, they were often shot down as they pressed incautiously forward to
close with their wily foes.
However, after a time, the British soldiers made a very visible
improvement in skirmishing; and as they were also well manoeuvred by
their officers, they were perfectly able to cope with the enemy.
Hindoo Rao's hill was looked upon as the post of honour, and round it
most of the affrays took place. It was held by Major Reid, with the
Simoor battalion, and two companies of Rifles.
His losses were afterwards filled up by the infantry of the Guides. The
Goorkhas were crowded into the large house from which the place took its
name. Its walls were shattered with shells and round shot, which now
and then struck through the chambers. Ten men were killed and wounded
in the house by one shot, and seven by another the same day. Nobody was
then secure of his life for an instant. Through the whole siege, Major
Reid kept to his post. He never quitted the ridge save to attack the
enemy below, and never once visited the camp until carried to it wounded
on the day of the final assault.
The gallant Rifles here, as on every other occasion where they have had
the opportunity afforded them, made good use of their weapons. On one
occasion ten riflemen at the Sammy house made such execution among the
gunners at the Moree bastion, that the battery was for a time abandoned.
The Goorkhas, the inhabitants of the hill-country of Nepaul, and who
happily had remained faithful to the British standard, were great adepts
at skirmishing, and gallant little fellows in the main. A story was
told of a Goorkha and a rifleman, who had in a skirmish followed a
Brahmin soldier. The last took refuge in a house, and closed the door.
The rifleman tried to push it open, but the Goorkha went to the window,
and coiling his compact little person into its smallest compass, waited
for his enemy. Soon the point of a musket, then a head and long neck
appeared: the Goorkha sprang up, and seizing him by the locks, which
clustered out of the back of his pugarie, he cut off his head with his
cookri, ere the Brahmin could invoke Mahadeo. The little man was
brought along with his trophy by the rifleman, to receive the applause
of his comrades.
The annoyance which the batteries on Hindoo Rao's hill caused to the
city was so great, that the mutineers commenced the construction of a
battery on the right of it, to enfilade the whole British position. It
was necessary to prevent this. About 400 men of the 1st Fusiliers and
60th Rifles, with Tombs' troop of horse artillery, 30 horsemen of the
Guides, and a few sappers and miners, were got ready. The command was
given to Major Tombs. Their destination was kept secret. Orders were
given and countermanded, to confound the enemy's spies. Major Reid
descended from Hindoo Rao's hill with the Rifles and Goorkhas, while
Tombs advanced towards the enemy's left, and our batteries poured their
fire on the Lahore gate, whose guns might have reached our squadrons.
At first their cavalry, seeing the fewness of our sowars, prepared to
charge them, but recoiled at sight of our troops coming up behind.
Their infantry, taken by surprise, fled without offering the least
resistance--many leaving their arms and clothes behind them. Some threw
themselves into a mosque. The walls of its courtyard were loopholed,
and they began to fire at our men. Tombs had two horses killed under
him. His bold bearing and loud voice made him the aim of the enemy. He
ordered the riflemen to go up and fire into the loopholes till the doors
could be forced. A train of gunpowder was got ready, a bag was attached
to the gates, they were blown open, and 39 sepoys were killed in the
mosque. A 9-pounder gun was taken. Major Reid, on his side, was also
successful. He destroyed a battery and magazine, and set a village and
serai on fire. The whole British loss was 3 killed and 15 wounded--
Captain Brown, of the Fusiliers, dangerously.
Sir Henry Barnard showed his admiration of the gallantry and conduct of
Tombs in the most enthusiastic manner. Visiting the mess-tent of the
Umballa artillery, he gave the highest and most enthusiastic praise to
the young officer, declaring that he had never seen greater coolness and
courage, and a more perfect knowledge of his profession, than had been
shown by Major Tombs.
Tombs, on first entering the Company's army, had served with great
distinction in the wars of the Punjaub, and his talents had been marked
by the keen and wise eye of Sir Charles Napier. He had been made
brevet-major when only a lieutenant of artillery. His gallantry at
Ghazeoodeenugger had made him conspicuous from the beginning of the
siege of Delhi.
In one of the first skirmishes--and it was a very severe one--which took
place under Hindoo Rao's hill, Lieutenant Quintin Battye was mortally
wounded through the stomach, the ball coming out at his back. He was a
joyous, boyish, but noble fellow, whose every thought was honour. He
was carried into camp, and was well aware that his last hour was
approaching. A comrade went to see him. He smiled, and quoted the old
tag, which, when so quoted, ceases to be trite: "Well, old fellow,
`Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori'; you see it's my case. It is
sweet and proper to die for one's country." Poor fellow! he did not
survive his wound twenty-four hours. He was a good swordsman, and an
excellent rider; and his impatience for an opportunity of distinguishing
himself had been remarked at every station he had passed on the march.
Several accounts have been published describing the way in which Major
Tombs saved the life of Lieutenant Hills. The following is among
them:--
"On the morning of the 9th of July an outlying post of the British camp
was unwisely confided to the care of a picket of the 9th Irregulars, who
had hitherto remained true to their colours. A large body of rebel
cavalry came down and talked them over, and were shown by them the way
into the camp. A body of cavalry who were in their way--an inlying
picket--proved for the moment unsteady, and thus the rebels reached the
post at which two of Major Tombs' guns were placed. This post--a mound
to the right of the camp--was under charge of Lieutenant Hills. At
about eleven o'clock there was a rumour that the enemy's cavalry were
coming down on his post. Instantly Lieutenant Hills hurried to the
spot, to take up the position assigned to him in case of alarm; but
before he reached the spot, and before there was time for his guns to
form up, he saw the enemy close upon them. Issuing rapid orders to his
sergeant, he charged single-handed the head of the enemy's column, cut
the first man down, struck the second, and was then ridden down, horse
and all. Rapidly recovering himself, however, he was attacked by three
of the enemy. One he killed outright, another he wounded; but, in a
combat with a third, he was brought to the ground. At that moment his
commanding officer, Major Tombs, galloped up, having crossed the path of
the enemy's cavalry, and escaped the certain death which would have been
his fate had he met them. Seeing the critical position of his
subaltern, he nobly charged his assailants, shot one and sabred the
other, and then dragged the lieutenant out from under his horse,
receiving, as he did so, a sword-cut on his head, but the thick turban
he wore saved it from injury. The enemy passed on to the native troop
of horse artillery, in the hopes of getting them to join; but, failing
this, galloped out of the camp.
"In the meantime, Captain Fagan, who had been writing in his tent,
hearing the noise, started up, and without waiting for his sword, led a
few foot artillerymen, who were ready armed, in pursuit. Fifteen of the
enemy were shot down by the party, and the captain returned with a sword
and a Minie carbine, of which he had relieved a ressaldar of the 8th
Cavalry."
Note. None but Europeans now remained in the camp. In consequence of
their behaviour on this occasion, the 9th Irregulars were sent away,
while the Golundazees who composed Renny's artillery were ordered to be
disarmed. This latter measure was considered unnecessary. The brave
fellows served in the batteries during the remainder of the siege; and,
at the time of the assault, were sent in with the stormers to turn the
guns captured in the bastions upon the enemy.
Notice having been received in the camp that the Nemuch brigade was
advancing upon Agra, the only city in the Doab which remained faithful
to the British, a force was sent out to oppose them. It consisted of
450 of the 3rd Europeans, Captain D'Oyley's battery, and about 50
mounted volunteers. It was determined to attack the enemy, who were
several thousand strong. They came in front of the village, with 11
guns. The British force met them with half a battery on each wing,
supported by the volunteer horse. A long artillery fight took place,
and the enemy were driven back but not followed up. The foot were kept
alternately advancing and lying down. Two tumbrils were blown up, and a
gun dismounted. The enemy sent some cavalry to turn our flank, but they
were met by our guns and some volunteer horse. It was now that Captain
D'Oyley was mortally wounded, but still he continued giving his orders.
At last, beginning to faint away, he said, "They have done for me now.
Put a stone over my grave, and say that I died fighting for my guns."
The enemy were ultimately driven out of the village, but the British
ammunition falling short, advantage could not be taken of the success
which had been obtained.