The saddest episode in the bloodstained history of the sepoy mutiny is
the storming of Cawnpore. Cawnpore was one of the most pleasant
stations of the Indian army. The cantonments were entirely separated
from the native town, and spread in a semicircular form over an extent
of six miles along the banks of the river. On the highest ground in the
cantonments stood the church and the assembly rooms, and on another part
a theatre and a cafe, supported by public subscriptions. Round them
were scattered, amid gardens and groves, numberless bungalows, the
residence of officers, with barracks for troops, and a separate bazaar
for each regiment; while numerous tents for the troops kept under canvas
increased the picturesque effect and animation of the scene. The native
town at the time of the mutiny contained 60,000 inhabitants. In
cantonments there were 3000 sepoy troops, and, including officers, 300
European combatants, and upwards of 700 European civilians, merchants,
railway officials, shopkeepers, and women and children. General Sir
Hugh Wheeler was the commandant of the division. It was not till the
middle of May that full credit was given to the fact that the great
sepoy army of India was in revolt.
A spot was then selected, in which the Europeans intrenched themselves.
In the centre was the old dragoon hospital, and round it a mud wall was
thrown up four feet high. Ten guns were placed round the intrenchments,
three commanding the lines on the north-east, and three on the south to
range the plain which separates the cantonments from the city. Of the
other four, one was a 3-pound rifled gun, and three were brought by
Lieutenant Ashe, of the Bengal Artillery. Supplies of food were also
laid in, but very inadequate to the wants of so large a number of
people. The outbreak of the troops commenced on 6th June, when the 2nd
Native Cavalry deserted their post, taking with them their horses, arms,
colours, and regimental treasure-chest. Some few, but very few, of the
natives proved true to their oaths. Among them was the old
subadar-major of the regiment, who defended as long as he had the power
the colours and treasure, which were in the quarter guard. The old man
was found in the morning severely wounded, and lying in his blood at his
post. He remained with the British, and was killed by a shell in the
intrenchment.
The native commissioned and non-commissioned officers and a few privates
of the 53rd Regiment of Native Infantry also remained faithful. The
British troops who defended the intrenchments of Cawnpore for so long a
period, and against such fearful odds and so treacherous an enemy,
consisted of 60 men of the 84th Regiment, 74 men of the 32nd, 15 men of
the Madras Fusiliers, and 59 men of the Company's artillery, besides the
officers attached to the sepoy regiments. The siege was noted, perhaps,
more for the patient suffering and endurance of those within the lines,
especially of the women and children, and for its most dreadful and
terrible termination, than for many especial acts of bravery performed
by its defenders. The fact is, that the whole defence was one continual
act of heroism; and had more forethought been exhibited in providing a
sufficient store of food, and had no confidence been placed in the
promises of that abominable wretch the Nana, it might have proved as
successful as that of Lucknow, which in many respects it resembled.
On the morning of Sunday the 7th June, the bugle-call summoned the whole
garrison to the lines; and soon after Lieutenant Ashe with his guns went
out to meet the enemy, but he was speedily compelled to return. In a
short time the mutineers opened their fire from a 9-pounder, the shot
striking the crest of the mud wall, and gliding over into the
puckah-roofed barrack. This was about ten o'clock; a number of ladies
and children were outside the barrack. The consternation among them was
indescribable. As the day advanced, the firing became hotter. Shrieks
and cries most heartrending burst from them as the shot struck the walls
of the barrack. This was the commencement of the horrible sufferings
they had to endure, and which only terminated with their yet more
terrible destruction. They soon learned the uselessness of giving vent
to their fears in cries, and from henceforth never uttered a sound
except when groaning from the dreadful mutilation they were compelled to
endure. The following were the arrangements made for the defence:--On
the north, Major Vibart, of the 2nd Cavalry, assisted by Captain
Jenkins, held the redan, which was an earthwork defending the whole of
the northern side. At the north-east battery, Lieutenant Ashe, of the
Oude Irregular Artillery, commanded one 24-pounder howitzer and two
9-pounders, assisted by Lieutenant Sotheby. Captain Kempland, 56th
Native Infantry, was posted on the south side. Lieutenant Eckford, of
the Artillery, had charge of the south-east battery with three
9-pounders, assisted by Lieutenant Burney, also of the Artillery, and
Lieutenant Delafosse, of the 53rd Native Infantry. The main guard, from
south to west, was held by Lieutenant Turnbull, 13th Native Infantry.
On the west, Lieutenant C. Dempster commanded three 9-pounders, assisted
by Lieutenant Martin. Flanking the west battery, the little rifled
3-pounder was stationed, with a detachment under the command of Major
Prout, 56th Native Infantry; and on the north-west, Captain Whiting held
the command. At each of the batteries infantry were posted, fifteen
paces apart, under the cover of the mud wall, four feet in height. This
service was shared by combatants and civilians alike, without any
relief: each man had at least three loaded muskets by his side, with
bayonet fixed in case of assault; but in most instances our trained men
had as many as seven and even eight muskets each.
The batteries were none of them masked or fortified in any way, and the
gunners were in consequence exposed to a most murderous fire. The
intrenchments were commanded by eight or more barracks in the course of
erection, from 300 to 400 yards distant, on the Allahabad road. A
detachment, consisting chiefly of civil engineers, was accordingly
placed in two or more of them, and they became the scene of several
desperate encounters. Even to obtain ammunition it was necessary to
send across to the intrenchments under fire of the mutineers, who had
obtained possession of the outer barracks. Food also had to be obtained
in the same way; but volunteers were never found wanting for this
hazardous service. Every day the pickets swept through these barracks
to dislodge the enemy, who scarcely ever remained for a hand-to-hand
fight. Scarcity of food, the shot of the enemy, and the excessive heat
of the weather, carried off day after day numbers of the gallant
defenders. Want of food was greatly felt--the defenders were glad to
shoot the horses of the enemy for the purpose of making soup; and on one
occasion a Brahmin bull coming near the lines was killed. To get it was
now the difficulty. An officer, with ten followers, rushed out, and
dragged it within the intrenchments under a hot fire from the enemy.
The well in the intrenchment was one of the points of greatest danger,
as it was completely exposed to the enemy's fire; and even at night the
creaking of the tackle was the signal for the mutineers to point their
guns in that direction. Still, brave men were found, chiefly privates,
who incurred the risk of drawing water for the women and children, when
all money reward had become valueless. A gentleman of the Civil
Service, Mr John McKillop, constituted himself captain of the well,
drawing for the supply of the women and children as often as he could.
After numerous escapes, he received his death-wound in the groin from a
grape-shot, with his last breath entreating that someone would draw
water for a lady to whom he had promised it. Dreadful were the
sufferings of all from thirst; and children were seen sucking pieces of
old water-bags to try and get a drop of moisture on their parched lips.
One of the barracks was thatched; part of it was used as an hospital.
That at length caught fire; and while the heroic garrison were dragging
forth their wounded countrymen from the flames, the mutineers poured in
on them incessant volleys of musketry, and a continued shower of round
shot.
The enemy, imagining that all the attention of the garrison was devoted
to extinguishing the flames, advanced to the assault, with the intention
of storming Ashe's battery. Not a sound did they utter, and, fancying
that they were undiscovered, were allowed to come within 60 or 80 yards
of the guns before one was fired, or a movement made to indicate that
they were perceived. Just as they must have supposed their success
certain, the 9-pounders opened on them with a most destructive discharge
of grape. The men shouldered in succession the muskets which they had
by their sides ready loaded, and discharged them into their midst. In
half an hour the enemy took to flight, leaving a hundred corpses on the
plain. No sooner had the ashes of the barrack cooled, than the soldiers
of the 32nd Regiment, though the enemy were firing on them, raking with
their swords and bayonets, made diligent search for their medals.
Several of them were found, though much injured by fire. This fact
shows the high appreciation in which the British soldier holds his
decorations.
Numbers of the officers and men had already fallen.
Soon after the destruction of the hospital, Captain Moore determined to
make a dash upon the enemy's guns, in the hope of silencing some of
them. Accordingly a party of fifty, headed by the captain, sallied out
at midnight towards the church compound, where they spiked two or three
guns. Proceeding thence to the mess-house, they killed several of the
native gunners asleep at their posts, blew up one of the 24-pounders and
spiked another, and returned with the loss of one private killed and
four wounded. Gallant and successful as was the exploit, it availed the
garrison nothing, as the next day the enemy brought fresh guns into
position. In vain did they look for relief. So completely were the
roads closed by the rebel sepoys, that news of their condition did not
reach Lucknow, only fifty miles distant, till near the termination of
the affair.
The 23rd of June 1857 was the centenary of the battle of Plassy, and the
sepoys believed on that day they should finally throw off the British
yoke. On the night of the 22nd, the barrack held by the British under
the command of Captain Mowbray Thomson was threatened with a grand
attack. Numbers of rebels were seen gathering from all directions at
this barrack, and Captain Thomson, believing that he should be
overpowered, sent to the intrenchments for reinforcements. The answer
was that none could be spared. Captain Moore, however, shortly after
came across to see how affairs stood. He proposed that they should
themselves sally out as if they were about to make an attack. He
himself had but a sword, Lieutenant Delafosse an empty musket. Captain
Moore vociferated to the winds, "Number one to the front"; and hundreds
of ammunition pouches rattled on the sheaths as the astonished foe
vaulted out from the cover afforded by heaps of rubbish, and rushed for
shelter to the barrack walls. The gallant little party, which consisted
but of 13 privates and 3 officers, fired a volley, and with bayonets at
the charge followed the enemy, who dared not face them. The party
returned to their barrack, laughing heartily at the success of their
feint.
All night long a series of false charges and surprises were made on the
barrack, and not a man for an instant left his post. Towards dawn, the
enemy being more quiet, Mr Mainwaring, a cavalry cadet, one of Captain
Thomson's picket, begged him to lie down, while he kept a look-out.
Scarcely had the captain closed his eyes when Mainwaring shouted, "Here
they come!" The enemy, with more pluck than they had hitherto shown,
advanced close up to the doorway of the barrack. Mainwaring's revolver
despatched two of the enemy. Stirling, with an Enfield rifle, shot one
and bayoneted another. Captain Thomson fired both charges of his
double-barrelled gun, killing two more.
The defenders of the barrack consisted of but seventeen men, while the
enemy left eighteen corpses lying outside the doorway. At the same time
the mutineers surrounded the intrenchments on all sides with cavalry and
infantry, and horse and bullock batteries of field-artillery. Their
cavalry, however, started on the charge at a hand gallop, so that when
they neared the intrenchments their horses were winded, and a round from
the British guns threw their ranks into hopeless confusion; all who were
not biting the dust wheeling round, and galloping off in dismay. One of
the expedients adopted by the enemy was to roll before them large bales
of cotton, under which they managed to approach very near the walls. A
well-directed fire from the batteries soon, however, set fire to these
novel defences, and the skirmishers, panic-struck, took to flight before
the main body had begun to advance.
For seventeen days and nights had the gallant little band resisted all
the efforts made by the overwhelming numbers of the foe to storm the
position. At last it only remained for the enemy to starve them out;
and this operation they forthwith commenced, abandoning all attempts to
take the place by assault. Of the fifty-nine artillerymen, all, with
the exception of four, had perished at the batteries, while the guns
themselves were so knocked about that two only could be made to carry
grape. Even in these, in consequence of the irregularity of the bore,
the canisters could not be driven home. A new style of cartridge was
therefore invented, formed by stockings supplied by the women; and into
these the contents of the canisters were emptied. Among the most
gallant defenders of the fort, and one of the few survivors of the
siege, was Lieutenant Delafosse. Being much annoyed by a small gun in
Barrack Number 1, he resolved to silence it if possible. Giving his own
worn-out gun a monster charge of three 6-pound shots, and a stockingful
of grape, he rammed them all well down. He fired; his faithful piece of
artillery did not burst, and his troublesome little antagonist was never
again heard.
Another gallant exploit on the part of Lieutenant Delafosse occurred at
the north-east battery on the 21st June. A shot had entered the tumbril
of a gun, blew it up, and ignited the woodwork of the carriage, thus
exposing the ammunition all around to destruction. The rebels,
observing what was taking place, directed their fire to the spot with
redoubled fury. Delafosse, with perfect self-possession, went to the
burning gun, and, lying down under the firing mass, pulled away portions
of the wood, and scattered earth with both hands on the flames. Two
soldiers followed this courageous example, each with a bucket of water,
which the lieutenant applied till the fire was extinguished.
In time, the sepoys discovering that they were not likely to capture the
fort while any of the heroic garrison remained alive, resolved to starve
them to death. Their sufferings from want of food at last became so
great, that on the 25th of June General Wheeler entered into
arrangements for the evacuation of the place with Nana Sahib. The next
day the survivors proceeded to the river to embark on board boats
prepared for them, when, with a treachery almost unparalleled in
history, by the order of that demon in human shape, they were fired on
and mostly killed. The rest, with few exceptions, were brought back to
Cawnpore, when the men were shot, and the women and children, after
being kept prisoners for some time and treated with the utmost indignity
and barbarity, were indiscriminately slaughtered, and their bodies
thrown into a well. One boat only escaped down the river, by which the
life of Lieutenant Delafosse, who has given a narrative of what he
witnessed, was preserved. Of all the gallant men and heroic women who
endured the sufferings which have been described, he, with two or three
others, alone escaped.
Terribly, however, ere long were they to be avenged.