At length, on the 10th of November, Sir Colin Campbell, with a
thoroughly equipped force of 5000 men, arrived in the neighbourhood of
the Alumbagh. It was important that the generals in the Residency
should communicate with him, and Mr Cavanagh, an officer of the Civil
Service, volunteered to proceed to his camp with plans of the city, and
suggestions as to the route he should take. Perilous as was the
adventure, Mr Cavanagh accomplished the undertaking. A semaphoric
communication was soon afterwards established between the Alumbagh and
the Residency. By its means Sir Colin was enabled, on the 12th, to
announce his intention of advancing by the Dilkoosha at seven a.m. on
the 14th. The garrison therefore prepared to co-operate with him.
At the time appointed, the advance began; but several large buildings,
strongly fortified, had to be stormed,--the Dilkoosha, Martiniere, and
finally the Secunderbagh, in which place upwards of 2000 rebels were
killed. These operations occupied till the afternoon of the 17th, when
the mess-house was gallantly stormed by a company of the 90th, a picket
of the 53rd, with some Punjaub infantry. Beyond this the enemy again
made a desperate stand; but the advance was sounded--the troops pushed
on--house after house was taken--nowhere could the rebels withstand
them, and complete communication was established with the Residency.
It was now resolved to remove the non-combatants, the women, children,
and sick and wounded, as well as the troops, from Lucknow. By masterly
arrangements, the enemy were completely deceived. The women and
children, the sick and wounded, were first withdrawn on the night of the
18th, many ladies walking a distance of six miles to the Dilkoosha
encampment over rough ground, and at one spot exposed to the fire of the
enemy,--Lady Inglis, the heroic wife of Brigadier Inglis, setting the
example. When they were in safety, arrangements were made to withdraw
the garrison.
On the 20th and 21st, Captain Peel, with the guns of his Naval Brigade,
aided by Havelock's guns in the palaces, breached the Kaiserbagh. The
enemy, believing that an assault would immediately follow, stood on the
defensive. Orders were then given for the garrison to withdraw through
the line of pickets at midnight on the 22nd. Brigadier Hope's brigade
covered all their movements, and Brigadier Greathead's brigade closed in
the rear, and formed the rearguard as the troops retired through a long
narrow lane, the only road open for them towards the Dilkoosha. That
position was reached by four o'clock in the afternoon of the 23rd of
November, without the loss of a man. On the previous day, one of the
gallant defenders of Lucknow, the good and brave Sir Henry Havelock, had
breathed his last in the Dilkoosha, from dysentery, brought on by
exposure and the unwholesome food on which he had been compelled to
exist.
Of course all the property in the Residency, which had been so long
bravely defended, had to be left at the mercy of the rebels; but that
was a slight gain compared to the rage and vexation they must have
experienced at finding themselves so completely out-manoeuvred, and that
the foes they hoped to crush had escaped them.