Decisive Battles Since Waterloo/Chapter 10
CHAPTER X.
LUCKNOW AND CAWNPORE—1857-8.
On the 23d of June, 1757, Lord Clive defeated the army of Surajah Dowlah, Nabob of Bengal, on the field of Plassey, in a battle which ranks as one of the decisive battles of India. Fifty years thereafter the Hindoo astrologers predicted that the year 1857, the centenary of Plassey, would witness the termination forever of the British power in India. Down to 1857 they continued to make this prediction, and early in that year it was evident that a mutinous spirit prevailed in the army of Bengal. The Bengal army at that time comprised 22,698 Europeans, including the officers of native regiments, and 118,663 sepoys, or native soldiers. The military authorities had decided to arm the sepoys with Enfield rifles, and a new kind of cartridge, which was greased in order to adapt it to the improved weapon. These cartridges had to be torn with the teeth, in accordance with the manual of arms, and the report was spread among the natives that the grease was a mixture of lard and cows' tallow. The pig is an unclean beast in the eyes of the Hindoo, and also the Moslem, while the cow is sacred; consequently, both Hindoo and Moslem would be defiled by biting the fat of the pig, and the Hindoo would commit sacrilege in biting cows' fat.
There was great excitement in all the barracks, which was temporarily allayed by the substitution of the old or ungreased cartridge for the new one. The native soldiers had a general impression that they were about to be deprived of their caste, and there were numerous malcontents who encouraged this belief. Every concession by the government was regarded as part of the scheme, and it was useless to argue against it. Discontent grew steadily, and on the night of the 19th February the Nineteenth Native Infantry at Burhampore broke open the place where the arms were kept, and were only restrained from a bloody mutiny by the presence of a small force of cavalry with two guns. The regiment was disbanded on the 30th March at Barrackpore. On the previous evening a sepoy of the Thirty-fourth Regiment at Barrackpore had fired upon and severely wounded the adjutant and sergeant-major, thus shedding the first blood of the mutiny.
On the 10th May there was a formidable rising at Meerut, the rebels slaughtering every English man, woman, and child on whom they could lay hands, and then pillaging and setting fire to the buildings. When they had finished their terrible work they marched in the direction of Delhi, killing every European whom they met on the road, or in their entrance to the city. The native garrison of Delhi were easily persuaded to join them, and a butchery of Europeans followed immediately. The rebels proclaimed the restoration of the Mogul dynasty, and from that time onward acted in the name of the King of Delhi, who took an active part in the revolt, and made Delhi the rallying-point of the rebels of the northwest provinces.
The native troops of the kingdom of Oude mutinied on the 30th and 31st May. Elsewhere the rising was of a purely military character; but in Oude the people sympathized with the rebellion, and accordingly it took the form of a popular movement for independence. Warnings of the impending troubles had been received at Cawnpore earlier than in the other stations of the northwest province. About the end of April straggling parties of the Nineteenth Native Infantry, which had been disbanded at Burhampore for mutinous action, as already stated, passed through Cawnpore en route to their homes in the country, and spread the rumors that fanned the flame of the insurrection. The reputation of Cawnpore was by no means good. Lying just over the Ganges from the kingdom of Oude, it had been for a long time a city of refugees, and also the halting-place whence offenders against the laws in British territory found it convenient to make their escape into Oude. The native population of Cawnpore was not far from 100,000. Out of this number the 40,000 who dwelt in the military bazaars had the worst reputation. There was an unusually large force of native troops at Cawnpore, including the First, Fifty-third, and Fifty-sixth regiments of native infantry, the entire Second regiment of native cavalry, and a full company of native artillery. Of British troops there were only about 200, comprising a few small detachments of Bengal artillery, the company's first Madras Fusiliers, and Her Majesty's Thirty-second and Eighty-fourth foot. Major-General Sir Hugh Wheeler was in command at Cawnpore. Over seventy years of age, it is fair to say that he had seen his best days, and he was on the most friendly terms with Nana Sahib, the adopted son of the last Peishwa of the Mahrattas. Nana Sahib had a deadly hatred of the English, but managed to conceal most completely his real feelings. He entertained the officers and others at his palace, which was filled with European furniture and bric-a-brac, and his way of living was more European than Asiatic.
Tidings of the insurrection at Meerut and Delhi were received at Cawnpore on the 14th May. They not only increased the excitement among the native inhabitants and the native soldiery, but caused great alarm among the European residents. General Wheeler telegraphed to Lucknow that he feared there was danger, and he suspected disaffection among the men of the Second Cavalry.
Accordingly a reinforcement of fifty men of the Thirty-Second was sent to him. It was considered desirable to establish a place of refuge for the English residents in case of an insurrection. General Wheeler selected for this purpose the depot of the Thirty-Second Regiment, not far from the Dragoon Hospital. This place was destined to be the scene of one of the most heroic defences that ever took place since the world began.
Two squadrons of Oude Irregular Cavalry mutinied on the 27th May, killing all their officers, and then sending messengers to all the rest of the native soldiery telling them what had been done. The other native regiments followed their example, and then laid siege to the entrenchments which General Wheeler had prepared. When the proper moment for his purpose arrived, Nana Sahib threw off the mask and openly placed himself at the head of the rebellion. Under his direction the siege of General Wheeler's position was conducted; it lasted from the 6th to the 27th June, and is thus described by an historian:
"It was a siege the miseries of which to the besieged have never been exceeded in the history of the world. All the wonted terrors of a multitudinous enemy without, of a feeble garrison and scant shelter within, of the burden of women and children and sick people, with little to appease their wants or allay their sufferings, were aggravated by the burning heat of the climate. The June sky was little less than a great canopy of fire; the summer breeze was as the blast of a furnace; to touch the barrel of a gun was to recoil as from red-hot iron. It was the season when European strength and energy are ever at their lowest point of depression—when military duty in its mildest form taxes the power of Englishmen to the utmost, and English women can do little more than sustain life in shaded apartments, with all appliances at hand to moderate the temperature and mitigate the suffering. But now, even under the fierce meridian sun, this little band of English fighting men were ever straining to sustain the strenuous activity of constant battle against fearful odds; while delicate women and fragile children were suddenly called to endure discomforts and privations, with all the superadded miseries peculiar to the country and climate, which it would have been hard to battle with in strong health under their native skies. ... And never since war began—'never in the brave days of old' when women turned their hair into bow-strings—has the world seen nobler patience and fortitude than clothed the lives and shone forth in the deaths of the wives and daughters of the fighting men of Cawnpore. Some saw their children slowly die in their arms; some had them swept from their breasts by the desolating fire of the enemy. There was no misery which humanity could endure that did not fall heavily upon our Englishwomen. Day by day the little garrison diminished, struck down by the insurgents' shot or the fierce rays of the sun. Water was scarce, and could only be obtained from the well at the risk of life. The air was tainted by the foul gases from the carcases of horses or oxen; the bodies of the slain were thrown into a dry well to avoid contagion."
While the siege was in progress Nana Sahib captured several bands of English fugitives from other stations, who were making their way in the direction of Calcutta, among them one party of a hundred men, women, and children from Futtyghyr. The men were put to death with various kinds of torture, while the women and children were retained as prisoners. On the twenty-first day of the siege one of the prisoners was sent to General Wheeler bearing a letter from Nana Sahib, in which he offered safe conduct to Allahabad to all who would lay down their arms. At first General Wheeler refused the terms, but after some deliberation they were accepted, and it was arranged that sufficient boats were to be at the landing-place on the morning of the 27th June. On that morning a mournful procession of two hundred worn, emaciated sufferers filed out of the entrenchments and moved slowly towards the river. The sick and wounded were carried in palanquins supplied by Nana Sahib, and the baggage was piled upon elephants. No order was observed in boarding the boats, which lay a few feet from the shore; each boat was to push off when loaded, but when the cargoes were on board it was found that every boat was fast in the sand.
At a signal from the shore the crews of the boats jumped overboard and made for the shore, and then the rebels opened upon the doomed band with small-arms and artillery. Before leaving the boats the crew had managed to secrete burning coals in the thatch roofs, and very soon they were found to be on fire. Two boats got away at last, but a murderous fire was maintained upon them. Of the whole party of two hundred and more, only four escaped; those who were not killed by the enemy's shot or drowned in the river were taken back to Cawnpore, where they were held as prisoners until the massacre, which preceded the arrival of the relieving column of General Havelock on the 16th July. In that massacre some two hundred English and half-castes, mostly women and children, were slaughtered and thrown into a well by orders of Nana Sahib.
General Havelock marched up the Grand Trunk road in the direction of Cawnpore with 1,400 European soldiers and 8 guns. As soon as news of his advance was received at Cawnpore, Bala Ras went out with every available man in the endeavor to stop him. Nana Sahib's brother was defeated at Aong, in Futtypore. The bridge over the Pandu was carried after a sharp fight, and on the 15th of July the English triumphantly entered the District of Cawnpore. Bala Ras retreated to Cawnpore, carrying the news of his own repulse and suffering severely from a wound received in the fight.
On the 16th July, Havelock halted his men at noon at Ahirwan, a station on the Grand Trunk road, about three miles southeast of Cawnpore. His troops had already marched nearly twenty miles that day. They were greatly wearied, and in no way ready for action. The rebel entrenchments were about a mile in front of their position, directly across the junction of the Grand Trunk road and the side road which leads into Cawnpore. The rebel force was about 5,000 strong. Their right and left wings rested upon villages, surrounded by strong walls and defended by heavy guns, while the rebels were stationed in groves of trees, which gave them excellent protection. In their centre they had a small battery of light artillery, and their position was very much like that of the right and left wing. Both in numbers and artillery they were far superior to the English, and it seemed almost like inviting defeat for the latter to advance along the road against the well-arranged front which the rebels presented. General Havelock carefully reconnoitred their position and very wisely determined to outflank it. Moving across the country toward the right, and passing from grove to grove, he attacked the enemy's left flank. Previously to doing so, he drew a plan in the dust of the road, using the end of his scabbard for a pencil, and explained his intended manœuvre to all his officers, so that it could be carried out in case of any accident to himself. The order to advance was given at about half-past two in the afternoon.
The small force of Sikh cavalry who had remained loyal and performed excellent service, was ordered to advance and make a feint upon the enemy's front, but not to engage him. The ruse was completely successful. The rebels concentrated their fire upon the cavalry, and the flanking movement of the infantry was almost completed before the rebels discovered what was going on.
An opening of the trees showed them what the movement was. The English artillery was still in the rear, and the rebels used their old field-pieces against the assailants with considerable effect. With their overweening confidence in their artillery, the rebels felt entirely sure of their position, and they derisively ordered the bands to play "Cheer, Boys, Cheer!" The Seventy-eighth Highlanders advanced partly to this music and partly to their own instruments, for which Scotland is celebrated. They charged upon the rebels, closely followed by the 64th Regiment. In a very few minutes the rebel music was entirely silenced, and the rebel left wing was in full flight; their guns were captured, and the villages where they had been so strongly posted were in English hands. Many of the sepoys retreated eastward and westward, and not in the direction of Cawnpore. They had had quite enough of fighting, and were decidedly anxious to reach their homes. Those who did not flee rushed to strengthen the centre of the rebel position. General Havelock halted his men briefly to enable them to take breath, and then after a short but stirring speech ordered another advance.
The cavalry now came to the support of the infantry. A brief contest followed, and then a loud cheer, running along the whole British line, told that the centre of the rebel forces had been broken in. The cavalry retained its position at the centre with the captured rebel howitzer, while the infantry advanced toward the rebel right. The same good-fortune followed them. They broke the rebel infantry line, and captured two cannon. The enemy's original line of battle was thus completely broken up. Although success had crowned the efforts of the wearied little army of British troops, its work was by no means over. A little in the rear of the first position of the rebels was a village, surrounded by a wood, and here the Nana's force rallied again. Their remaining artillery opened a destructive fire upon the British advance. Havelock rode up, and in a loud, clear voice asked what regiment would undertake the capture of the village. No answer was given in words; but the infantry advanced rapidly, and the village was soon in their possession.
The rebels seemed to be in full retreat towards Cawnpore after this misfortune, and the wearied soldiers lay down upon the ground to have a brief rest. Again the rebels rallied, led by the Nana in person. He had stationed 3 guns, one of them a 24-pounder, upon the branch road leading to Cawnpore, and as the British advanced they received a severe fire from these guns. The rebel cavalry advanced, followed closely by the rebel infantry, and accompanied by the trumpets and bands of music. The English advanced again; but well-directed volleys of grape and canister cut down many of their numbers. As they were moving forward under the leadership of General Havelock's son, who was serving on his staff, the infantry charged and captured the 24-pounder, and simultaneously four British guns were brought forward, and opened fire on the rebels. The fire of these guns threw the sepoys into consternation, and they fled rapidly towards Cawnpore.
Havelock's men were too weary after their day's marching and fighting to pursue the enemy, and they went into camp about two miles from the city. During the evening Nana Sahib fled from Cawnpore towards Bitheer. On the 17th July Havelock entered Cawnpore, and encamped within what had formerly been the British lines. The massacre of the prisoners took place on the evening of the 16th at the time of Nana Sahib's flight from Cawnpore.
At Lucknow, the capital of the lately annexed kingdom of Oude, the sepoys openly mutinied at the cantonment, four miles from the city, on the 30th May, 1857. Sir Henry Lawrence, the Chief Commissioner, immediately placed the Residency and a wide enclosure around it in a state of defence, and was occupied with this work through the greater part of June. Hearing that a large force of rebels was encamped a few miles distant on the Fyzabad road, he started to attack them on the morning of the 30th June with 700 men and 11 guns. He fell into an ambush near Chinhut, and was compelled to retire before an overwhelming force and seek safety in his entrenchments. Weakened by losses he determined to abandon all outworks, and after destroying a large amount of ammunition and military stores to prevent their capture by the enemy, he assembled all the European population within the enclosure of the Residency. This retirement to the Residency took place on July 1st, the day following the Chinhut disaster, and may properly be considered the beginning of the rebel siege. The rebels immediately surrounded the place, and on the 2d July Sir Henry Lawrence was mortally wounded by a shell, and died two days afterwards. Before his death he named Major Inglis his military successor, and Major Banks Chief Commissioner.
The Residency now contained 900 Europeans and 700 loyal natives. The siege lasted for twelve weeks, and included all the horrors of that of Cawnpore already told. Overwork, exposure, bad provisions, cholera, dysentery, fever, and other diseases were busy, in addition to the bullets and shells of the 50,000 besiegers. The women and children, being less inured to hardships, suffered more than the men, and many of them sickened and died before the end of those terrible twelve weeks. The rebels maintained a steady fire on the Residency; they ran mines beneath some of the buildings, and on several occasions stormed the entrenchments. Constant vigilance was necessary for the little band of defenders, and they looked anxiously for relief. On the 25th July a spy brought a letter from General Havelock, saying they would be relieved in a few days; but the promised succor did not reach them until two months later.
Immediately after capturing Cawnpore, Havelock turned his attention to the relief of Lucknow, fifty-five miles distant, but the rebel force between Cawnpore and Lucknow was so great that his advance was impossible. Cholera had broken out in his camp, and his fighting men were less than a thousand, while the rebels between him and Lucknow were fully 30,000 strong. During August and early September he was unable to move forward, though he did not remain idle, as he was constantly attacking detached bands of rebels wherever he could hear of them. On the 15th of September he was joined by Sir James Outram and 1,700 European soldiers, and four days later he crossed the Ganges in the face of the enemy and advanced upon Lucknow. After severe fighting, in which there was a great slaughter of the rebels and heavy losses by the English, the forces of Havelock and Outram entered the Residency. The relief thus brought to the besieged was more in name than any thing else; it was the intention to escort the garrison to Cawnpore, but the unexpected strength of the rebels and the heavy loss sustained in the entrance made a safe retirement impossible. There was nothing to do but wait for other British troops to come to their relief. Havelock's arrival gave additional strength to the number of the defenders, but there were more mouths to feed, and the entire garrison was put on very short rations.
The rebels continued their siege, but by this time the fall of Delhi had released a considerable force of troops that might be employed elsewhere. Through October the siege went on, and on the 9th November Sir Colin Campbell left Cawnpore with a force of 4,000 men, partly European and partly Sikhs who had remained loyal to the British. By the evening of the 15th he was within three miles of Lucknow, and on the next day he assaulted the rebel lines and entered the Residency. The retirement with the women and children was accomplished by strategy; the rebels held nearly the whole city and surrounding positions, and the line of retirement resembled a tortuous lane with many points of attack.
A vigorous fire was directed against one of the strong points of the rebels as though the British were about to assault it. The fire was maintained until a practicable breach had been made and every thing was ready for the assault. Then at midnight on the 22d the English silently retired in the opposite direction, carrying away the entire garrison and all the valuable stores from the Residency. So completely were the rebels deceived that they kept up their fire on the Residency until daylight. General Havelock died of dysentery and exhaustion on the third day of the retreat from Lucknow.
When Delhi fell the government considered the rebellion broken, but it very soon learned its mistake. The relief of the garrison of Lucknow was simply a saving of life; the city was in the hands of the rebels, and nearly the whole of the province of Oude was controlled by then. While Sir Colin Campbell was retiring from Lucknow with the relieved garrison, he was called to disperse the "Gwalior Contingent" that had rebelled and was advancing in the direction of Cawnpore, near which place it had already defeated General Windham, who commanded the garrison there and marched out to meet them.
During December Cawnpore was attacked by a well-appointed army of rebels 25,000 strong, which was repulsed with heavy loss. To defeat it, Sir Colin was obliged to draw from near Lucknow a portion of the force with which he was preparing to besiege the place; the government had determined that the rebels in Oude must be crushed at all hazards, and were hurrying men and munitions to Sir Colin as fast as possible.
At the end of February, 1858, the total strength at Sir Colin Campbell's disposal for the siege of Lucknow amounted to 20,000 men, with 180 pieces of artillery. He had made a thoroughly scientific plan for the capture of Lucknow, and one which would spare as much as possible the blood and lives of his men. The city of Lucknow stands on the right bank of the Gumti River, in the form of a parallelogram from west to east. It is nearly five miles long, and its greatest width on the west side is about one and one half miles. The east side is not over one mile in width. Over the Gumti there are two bridges, one of iron and the other of masonry, which bring the business of the country from the north side of the river into the centre of the city. On the east and south sides of Lucknow there is a canal deeply cut into the earth. It bends around in a southwesterly direction, leaving the country on the western side of the city quite open. It is intersected with ravines toward the northeast, near the point where it unites with the Gumti; the banks of the canal slope gently and are passable for footmen and cavalry.
At the time of Sir Colin Campbell's advance upon Lucknow, the principal positions inside the city were the Kaiser Bagh, the Residency, the ruins of the Machi Bawan, which commanded the masonry bridge, the Musa Bagh, the Imambara, and a series of palaces which extend towards the canal from the Kaiser Bagh. On the east side of the city and beyond the canal was the Martinière, a curious palace, or collection of palaces, built by a Frenchman formerly in the employ of the old King of Oude, and occupying a commanding position in full view of the city. Still higher than the Martinière, on the edge of a stretch of table-land, was the Dilkusha Palace.
Learning wisdom by their experience of the previous year, the rebels had gradually strengthened their defences by means of breastworks which showed that they did not stint their labor. Believing that the English would advance by the same line as before, they had flanked with strong bastions the former route which Sir Colin took across the canal where its banks were sloping. The rebels had no less than three lines of defence at the juncture of three principal roads. The outer line of defence was supported by a strong battery of 9 guns; the second line consisted of bastioned rampart and parapet with its right resting on the Imambara; from this immense building it continued to the Mess House, and reached the bank of the Gumti close by the Moti Mahal. The third line covered the front of the Kaiser Bagh. Altogether they had 100 guns protecting this defence. Furthermore, all the principal streets of Lucknow were barricaded and bastioned, and every building of consequence had its walls loop-holed for musketry, besides earthworks to protect its entrance.
Numerous spies were sent out to obtain as accurately as possible a statement of the condition of the defences. Basing his opinion upon their reports, Brigadier Napier thought that the attack should be made on the east side, for the reason that it presented the smallest front, was the nearest approach to the Kaiser Bagh, and that the ground was favorable for establishing batteries. Arguments were advanced opposing his opinion, but at one time it prevailed, and the decision was taken to make the attack on the eastern side of Lucknow. The rebels did not fortify the northern side, because they had reasoned that since neither General Havelock nor Sir Colin in the previous year had approached the Gumti they would not be likely to do so in the present instance, and therefore the river side was neglected. As soon as this error in their defences was discovered, Sir Colin naturally decided to take advantage of it. He arranged to send an entire division of all arms across the Gumti, and then, by marching up the bank of the river, they could take the rebel position in reverse, and by a vigorous use of artillery make it untenable.
Bright and early on the 2d of March, General Campbell began the execution of his plans. He advanced on the Dilkusha Park with the following-named forces: The Third and Fourth Brigades of infantry, which included the Thirtieth, Thirty-eighth, and Fifty-third Regiments; the Fourth Brigade, which included the Forty-second and Forty-ninth Highlanders; the Fourth Punjaub Rifles; the artillery divisions of Sir A. Wilson and Colonel Wood; three troops of horse artillery; two 24-pounders, two 8-inch howitzers of the Naval Brigade, and a corps of sappers and miners. After passing the fort of Jalalabad, Sir Colin encountered the rebel pickets, which he drove in, and then captured one piece of artillery. The palace was immediately occupied as an advance picket on the right of the line. The enemy's guns which were placed along the canal completely dominated the plateau where the Dilkusha Palace stands, and it was found impossible to bring up the main force of the infantry. Accordingly, Sir Colin ordered batteries to be erected at Dilkusha to silence the enemy's fire. The batteries were established during the night of the 2d, and were ready for operations at daylight on the 3d. As soon as their fire began, that of the enemy slackened materially.
Then the infantry was brought up, massed around the Dilkusha, and enabled the British to establish a new line. This line rested its right on the Gumti at the village of Bibiapur. From this village, extending toward the left, it touched the Dilkusha and extended in the direction of Jalalabad to within two miles of that fort. The line was completed by Brigadier-General Franks with a force of English and Nepaulese troops. While General Franks was getting into position, Sir Colin ordered two pontoon bridges to be thrown over the Gumti near Bibiapur, and this work was accomplished by the morning of the 6th. Anticipating the completion of the bridges, Sir Colin ordered General Outram to cross to the left bank of the river at two o'clock in the morning with a strong division of all arms.
The night was very dark, and over the broken ground intersected with ravines and waterways, Outram's men were greatly troubled to find their way. Outram went on ahead to the bridges, where he sat on the ground and waited for the troops to come up, well knowing that his officers were doing every thing possible to bring them forward at the time appointed. It was not until four o'clock that the cavalry advance, the Second Punjaub, arrived at the bridges. The crossing began immediately, and the whole force was over the river by daylight. Forming his command in three lines, Outram advanced along the left bank of the Gumti for about a mile, and then marched directly towards the city. He met with no opposition and formed his camp that evening about four miles from Lucknow.
The 7th and 8th of March were mainly passed in reconnoitring and light skirmishes. The rebels were repulsed every time they advanced. Outram retained the position where he had encamped for his main force, but steadily during the day pushed his pickets forward. During the night he threw up earthworks and mounted two batteries with heavy guns about six hundred yards from the rebel works on the old race-course.
His attack began at daybreak on the 9th. General
Walpole forced back the enemy's left from the villages and jungles that covered their position, while Outram did the same on their right. News of the success of the movement was conveyed to Sir Colin by displaying the colors of the First Fusiliers from the top of the Yellow House. As soon as the colors were displayed, Sir Colin advanced and very speedily formed a junction with the right wing. Then the entire line was halted while three heavy guns and a howitzer were brought forward to enfilade the works behind the Martinière. General Campbell had waited patiently at the Dilkusha during the time Outram was making the movements which formed an important preliminary to the attack upon Lucknow. Fire was opened on the Martinière and steadily kept up from 
daylight until two in the afternoon, when Sir Colin ordered Hope's Brigade, supported by the Fifty-third and Nintieth Regiments, to advance against the Martinière. Aided by Outram's enfilading batteries, they carried it without opposition, the rebels fleeing over the river, but taking their guns along with them. Both lines of operation were successful, Outram being fairly established on one side of the parallelogram, and thus enabling Sir Colin to advance on its other side.
The next movement was on the 10th, when the two sides of the parallelogram were practically completed by the storming and capture of Banks' House. The next move was to pierce the centre of the rebel line, which extended from Banks' House to a point on the Kaiser Bagh. Outram was ordered to assail the positions which covered the iron and masonry bridges. The iron bridge led to the Residency and the masonry one to the Machi Bawan. The same plan was followed as in the capture of the Martinière and the Dilkusha. Batteries were established to enfilade the enemy's works, and at the same time throw a vertical and direct fire upon the Kaiser Bagh. On the 11th, General Outram advanced General Walpole's division to a position which commanded the iron bridge. Pushing through the suburbs, he occupied the Mosque, about a thousand yards from the bridge, and there he left the First Fusiliers. From the Mosque he went on to the head of the stone bridge, but found the position untenable with infantry, as it was commanded by the rebel guns, and therefore he withdrew again to the Mosque. In the meanwhile, a battery had been established close to the iron bridge.
While these movements were taking place on the right, the heavy batteries on the left had opened a fire of shot and shell on the Bakum Kothi. The line of palaces known by that name were very strongly built, and if well garrisoned and properly defended they were capable of making a long resistance, even against the well-equipped British forces. Sir Colin knew the character of the people against whom he was making war. He knew that in fighting against Asiatics an immense superiority is always given to an advancing force, and this is an element which is of far greater consideration in Asia than in any other part of the world. Although the position seemed a very strong one. Sir Colin did not hesitate to order an assault at once. The approach was decided to be practical, and the order was given to storm.
The storming party consisted of the Fourth Punjaub and the Ninety-third Highlanders, the same who had stormed the Sikander Bagh in the previous year. Having taken part in Sir Colin's first movement upon Lucknow, they deserved the honor of leading the advance in the second and final seige. The buildings to be stormed were surrounded by a breastwork, with a deep ditch, and consisted of several palaces and court-yards, one inside the other. The breastwork and the wall of the outer court-yard had been breached by the fire of the batteries; but most of the inner walls had not been greatly injured. The indications were that their sepoy garrison was not less than 5,000 strong.
General Hope led the assault at 4 in the afternoon, the Highlanders in the advance and the Punjaubees in support. At the opening in the breastwork they met with a fierce resistance, and for a while success seemed doubtful, owing to the greatly superior numbers of the sepoys. But British valor could not be easily overcome, and the fighting continued steadily. When the sepoys were driven back from the breach they seemed to have lost heart, and to make but a feeble resistance at their other strong positions. The Highlanders and the Punjaubees fought like tigers. Not a sepoy asked for quarter, and no quarter was offered by the British soldiers. When the last survivor of the garrison of the Bakum Kothi fled from it, there were fully 600 corpses inside the space surrounded by its ditch. During the whole siege there was no severer fight than this. The way was now opened for Brigadier Napier to proceed by the sap and heavy guns.
"Thenceforward," says Sir Colin, in his report, "he pushed his approach with the greatest judgment through the enclosures, the troops immediately occupying the ground as he advanced, and the mortars being moved from one position to another as ground was won on which they could be placed."
By the close of the day, on the 13th, the engineers had completed their work. All the great buildings on the left of the line as far as the Imambara had been sapped through. The artillery, which had been steadily playing on the walls of the Imambara, had made a breach which was considered practicable for an assault. The firing was continued through the night of the 13th, and on the morning of the 14th the heavy guns, at only thirty yards distance, pounded steadily away. The sepoys did not reply with artillery, but they kept up a steady fire of musketry from the tops of the walls. At 9 in the forenoon the order for the assault was given. The men went forward with a rush, and very speedily were in full possession of the palaces. They did not stop there, but pursued the rebels until they gained a position which commanded the Kaiser Bagh.
The engineers wanted to stop the advance of the troops; but this was easier to say than to do. The Sikhs of Brasyer's regiment were almost uncontrollable. They climbed through an embrasure into a bastion, and then made their way into a court-yard close to the Kaiser Bagh. The Tenth Foot advanced, and turned the third line of the defence by passing through the bazaars in the rear of the Tara Kothi. Re-inforcements were sent for, and Gen. Franks advanced immediately with all the men he could muster. An important question was at issue whether it would be safe, with all the advantages then gained, to storm the Kaiser Bagh, or wait until the batteries had forced a breach. The intention was on that morning, March 14th, only to attack the Imambara; but the impetuosity of the troops and the feeble defence of the sepoys had not been counted on. Considering all the circumstances, and that the rebels seemed to have been overcome by panic, it was considered advisable to push on while the defenders were still disordered, and the storming forces were still enthusiastic for the advance. Franks and Napier, after weighing all the conditions of the situation, decided to advance. They asked for reinforcements, which were not long in coming up, the troops on the right advancing and occupying the Moti Mahal with very little resistance. At the same time Franks pushed his column through the court-yard of Sadat Ali's Mosque directly into the Kaiser Bagh, which is a rectangular palace about 400 yards square. The enclosure includes a series of gardens and courts, through which marble summer-houses are scattered. The whole place swarmed with sepoys, who poured a heavy musketry fire on the British, not only from the summer-houses and various parts of the palace, but from the roofs of the neighboring dwellings.
But the British having gained a footing in the garden, the cause of the rebels was hopeless. The Kaiser Bagh was captured with a great slaughter of the insurgents who defended it. One historian of the Indian mutiny says that after the massacre at Cawnpore the soldiers divided among them the tresses of a murdered girl, and swore that for every hair of her head one sepoy should die. As far as possible they kept their word. In Sir Colin Campbell's relief of Lucknow and in the siege which has just been described, no quarter was given. If any fallen sepoy ventured to ask it, "Cawnpore!" was hissed in his ear and the word was accompanied or instantly followed by a shot or the thrust of a bayonet.
The siege and fall of Lucknow formed the prelude to the end of the rebellion. There was considerable fighting in various parts of India during 1858 and early in the following year, but the battles were of no great moment and an almost continuous series of defeats for the rebels. In the autumn of 1858 the rule of the East India Company came to an end, after an existence of more than two hundred and fifty years, and the control of the Indian empire passed to the British government.
