Page:The Indian Mutiny of 1857.djvu/384

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350
Arrival of the Nipál Troops.

gallant officer of the regular army. They had, further, directed Brigadier Rowcroft to co-operate, with a force under his command, on the eastern frontier of Oudh, and they had ordered to him Richardson and his yeomanry corps, fresh from aiding Yule in his pursuit of the Dháká mutineers. The Naval brigade of Captain Sotheby had likewise been directed to join Rowcroft.

The Nipál troops, to the number of 3000, had entered the Gorákhpur division at the very end of July, had disarmed the sipáhís stationed at Gorákhpur on the 1st of August, had occupied Ázamgarh on the 13th, Juánpur on the 15th of the same month. Joined there by three officers deputed for that purpose by the British Government, by the lion-hearted Venables, and by the high-spirited Judge of Gorákhpur, William Wynyard, they had surprised and defeated the rebels at Mandurí, and had followed up their victory by occupying Mubárakpur and Atráoliá. They beat them again at Kudyá on the 19th of October, and at Chandá on the 30th. Just after the last-named action they were joined by a small European force, composed of 320 men of the 10th Foot, two guns, and 170 men of the 17th Madras N. I., the whole commanded by Longden of the 10th. Three days later the Oudh rebels again crossed the border, but again were they driven back. By this time the conclusion had forced itself on the Government that successfully to combat the rebellion in those mutinous districts more troops were required, and they arranged with Jang Bahádur for the co-operation of a further body of 9000 picked Gurkhás, to be commanded by Jang Bahádur in person, but to which a British officer, Colonel MacGregor, should be attached as Brigadier-General. They arranged, likewise, to increase Longden's force, and to place it under General Franks, C.B., an officer of tried merit. Whilst these two