He waited at Ambálah until he had despatched all but the very last of his troops, and with these, on the 25th of May, he set out for Karnál. Shortly after his arrival there, on the 26th, he was attacked by cholera, and a little after midnight succumbed to that terrible disease. He was succeeded by Sir Henry Barnard, who arrived just in time to be recognised by his dying chief. General Anson's death was a great loss to the army. Those who least cared for him have admitted that 'he was a brave soldier and an honest gentleman.' He was that, and much more. Those who knew him best were convinced that had he lived through the Mutiny he would have gained a splendid reputation.
Sir Henry Barnard was a worthy successor in command of the advancing force to General Anson. He, like his late chief, had felt bitterly the criticisms and the carpings levelled against the military plans by ignorant and uninstructed outsiders. But, imbued with the conviction that if a thing is to be done at all it must be done thoroughly, Barnard threw all his energies into the work which had devolved upon him. 'So long as I exercise any power,' he wrote to Sir John Lawrence, on the 26th, 'you may rest assured that every energy shall be devoted to the objects I have now in view, viz., concentrating all the force I can collect at Delhí, securing the bridge at Bághpat, and securing our communications with Mírath.' Determining not to wait for the siege-train, he set out from Karnál, on the morning of the 27th, and reached Alípur, twelve miles from Delhi, on the 6th of June. There I must leave him for a moment to look after the force which was to join him from Mírath.
The authorities at Mírath had taken some time to recover from the effects of the horrors of the night of the 10th of May. The country seemed to be surging around
