A. D. 1857. First encounter with the mutineers in Oude Victory of Victory of Busserutgunge. it On the 28th of July the whole British force, consisting of 1500 men, of whom 1200 were British, and ten guns, was assembled at Mungulwar, about five miles from the river, on the road to Lucknow, situated forty-five miles to the north-east. On the following morning a march of three miles was made to Onao. Here the enemy were found strongly posted. "His right," says the general, "was protected by a swamp which could neither be forced nor turned; his advance was drawn up in an inclosure, which in this warlike district had purposely or accidentally assumed the form of a bastion. The rest of his (advance) force was posted in and behind a village, the houses of which were loopholed. The passage between the village and the town of Onao is narrow. The town itself extended three quarters of a mile to our right. The flooded state of the country precluded the possibility of turning in this direction. The swamp shut us in on the left. Thus an attack in front became unavoidable." It was commenced by the 78th Highlanders and Madras fusiliers, who succeeded in carrying the bastioned inclosure, but were met by such a destructive fire on approaching the village, that they could not carry till reinforced by the 64th. After it was forced, and the guns defending it were captured, the whole force debouched between the village and the town of Onao. Here, however, it was impossible to halt. The main body of the enemy were seen hastening down to the town with a numerous artillery, and if permitted to establish themselves within it, would effectually bar all farther progress. There was no alternative therefore but to endeavour to outstrip them, and gain a position beyond the town before they could reach it. In this, by pushing rapidly forward, the column easily succeeded, and stood posted on the Lucknow side, on a piece of dry ground about half a mile in extent, commanding the highroad, along which the enemy, still in hope of gaining the race, were hurrying in great confusion. would have been easy to arrest their progress, but the general knew better. They were rushing to their own destruction. He allowed them therefore to come on till they were in front of his line, and then, before they could remedy their mistake, or recover from the consternation produced by it, opened with such a fire both of guns and musketry, that victory soon declared in his favour, with a loss to the enemy of 300 men and fifteen guns. It The troops at the end of three hours again started, and marched to Busserutgunge, a walled town, intersected by the highroad to Lucknow. The gate in front was defended by an earthwork, a trench, and four guns, and the walls, as well as two turrets flanking the gate, were loopholed. The road leading out from the farther gate was continued by a causeway across a sheet of water about 150 yards wide and 6 feet deep. Taking advantage of this circumstance, orders were given to the 64th to march round the town to the left, and interpose between the farther gate and the causeway, while the 78th Highlanders and the Madras fusiliers should storm in front. These combined movements so alarmed the enemy, that after a short defence they abandoned the town and A.D. 1857. fled across the causeway. The flank movement ought to have cut off their retreat, but owing to an unfortunate delay, the opportunity of inflicting a more signal defeat was lost. retires to Once more two victories had been gained on a single day, but still the Havelock prospect was by no means cheering. During the action, a large body of troops, Mungulwar. supposed to be those of Nana Sahib, had been seen hovering on the left, and new mutinies, particularly one at Dinapoor, had given new strength and courage to the mutineers. Meanwhile the sick and wounded had become so numerous, that the whole carriage available for their use was already required. Strong reinforcements had been promised, and in particular the arrival of two regiments, the 5th fusiliers from the Mauritius, and the 90th foot, forming part of the troops originally destined for China, had been confidently expected, but it now appeared that these regiments had been diverted to another quarter, and that some weeks must elapse before the real strength of the column could be increased. Under these circumstances a retrograde movement had become imperative, in order to keep open the communication with Cawnpoor, and deposit the sick and wounded in its hospital. The order, equally painful to the general and odious to the troops, was accordingly given, and the column returned to Mungul war. This place had the double advantage of being within an easy distance of Cawnpoor, and furnishing a site for the camp on an elevated ridge which, held by a British force, was impregnable. advance. Shortly after reaching Mungulwar, General Neill pushed forward from A new Cawnpoor 257 bayonets, and five guns belonging to Captain Olphert's battery. The column, thus imperfectly reinforced, was in fact no stronger than when it first crossed the Ganges, but it was now the month of August, and Havelock felt that another advance for the relief of Lucknow must be attempted at all hazards. He therefore moved out of Mungulwar on the evening of the 4th, and next morning, on approaching Busserutgunge, came in sight of the enemy. His plan of attack, nearly similar to that formerly adopted, was happily carried out with more success. While the 64th and 84th advanced in front, under cover of a thundering cannonade, the 78th Highlanders, the 1st fusiliers, and the Sikhs, with Captain Maude's battery, moved round by the right, which had been discovered to give easier access than by the left. The enemy, as before, rushed out from the farther gate, and made for the causeway, where they suffered severely from Captain Maude's guns, which were already in full play upon it. So complete was the rout, that they never halted till they reached Newabgunge, five miles beyond the battle-field. Notwithstanding this success, Havelock was obliged once more to pause. With the force at his command, was he not attempting an impossibility? The Gwalior contingent had recently mutinied, and the report was, that while the mutineers of Dinapoor were advancing into Oude from the east, those of the VOL. III. 277 position of Havelock. A.D. 1857. contingent, forming in itself a little army, complete in all its parts and welldisciplined, had arrived in the vicinity of Calpee, situated on the Jumna, only Difficult forty-five miles south-west of Cawnpoor. The question raised was much more serious than before. Then it was simply a question of delay, and was decided under the conviction that the advance might still be resumed in time to effect the relief at Lucknow. Now, on the contrary, if another retrograde movement took place, the hapless garrison would be left to its fate-a fate which could be nothing but the repetition of the Cawnpoor massacre in an aggravated form. No wonder that "the mind of the general was," as Mr. Marshman says, "a prey to conflicting anxieties." Many commanders would in such a dilemma have had recourse to a council of war, but, "independently of his own spirit of self-reliance, his experience of the mischief which had attended these councils in Afghanistan was sufficient to deter him from any such attempt to divide the responsibilities of his post," and after consulting with the officers of his staff, who unanimously concurred with him in the opinion that to advance to Lucknow under present circumstances would be only the uncompensated loss of his own force, he gave the order to return to Mungulwar. That he was fully alive to the momentous consequences involved in this step appears from his He is obliged letters relating to it. In one addressed to Colonel Inglis, now commanding at Lucknow, after stating that stern necessity had left him no option but to retire, he continued thus: "When further defence becomes impossible, do not negotiate or capitulate. Cut your way out to Cawnpoor. You will save the colours of the 32d and two-thirds of your British troops." In a letter to Sir Patrick Grant, he said: "It was with the deepest reluctance that I was compelled to relinquish as impracticable and hopeless the enterprise of the relief of Lucknow, but my force, diminished to 900 infantry, was daily lessened by the inroads of cholera. I should have had at least two battles to fight before I could have approached the Dilkoosha park, which is the direction in which I would have endeavoured to penetrate; and to win my way up to the residency through a fortified suburb would have been an effort beyond my strength. The issue would have been the destruction of this force, as well as of the gallant garrison; a second loss of Cawnpoor, and the abandonment of all this portion of the Doab to the insurgents." a second time to retire. Alarming news from While the column remained at Mungulwar, the communication across the Cawnpoor. Ganges was rendered complete by taking advantage of three islands in its channel, opposite to the entrenchment, and connecting them by boats or rafts, so as to form a continuous line of road. The value of this road was soon put to the test. On the 11th of August General Neill forwarded the following startling communication: "One of the Sikh scouts I can depend upon has just come in, and reports that 4000 men and five guns have assembled to-day at Bithoor, and threaten Cawnpoor. I cannot stand this; they will enter the town and our communications are gone; if I am not supported I can only hold news from out here; I can do nothing beyond our entrenchments. All the country AD. 1857. between this and Allahabad will be up, and our powder and ammunition on the way, if the steamer, as I feel assured, does not start, will fall into the hands Alarming of the enemy, and we will be in a bad way." In consequence of this commu- Cawnpoor. nication, Havelock was about to recross the Ganges, when he learned that the enemy, mustering about 4000 men, with some guns, had arrived at Busserutgunge. To have effected the passage with such a force in his rear would have been difficult. The moral effect also would have been pernicious, as the rebels might have boasted with some plausibility that they had chased the British out of Oude. He therefore at once took the initiative, and marching to Boorhiya, about a mile and a half on this side of Busserutgunge, found the enemy strongly entrenched, their right resting on the village on the main road, and their left on a mound about 400 yards distant, both defended by artillery. In their front was a flat covered with green vegetation, which gave it the appearance of dry ground. It was in fact a morass, but was not discovered to be so till the right wing of the column, after a steady advance, arrived at its edge. The halt produced by this mistake was only of short duration. The 78th Highlanders, moving on to the main road, marched up to the enemy's guns, notwithstanding their well served fire, and aided by a flank movement of the fusiliers, captured them at the point of the bayonet. No further resistance was offered, and the flight became general, the fugitives suffering severely, particularly from the captured guns, which the Highlanders had lost no time in turning upon them. After this exploit the column returned to Mungulwar, and the following day made an easy passage across the Ganges. Bithoor. Though thus precluded for the present from further operations in Oude, Victory of the column was not permitted to indulge in repose, for 4000 rebels were posted in a menacing attitude at Bithoor, scarcely ten miles distant. To encounter this new foe the column set out on the morning of the 16th of August, and, after a most fatiguing march under a vertical sun, which burned with unwonted fierceness, found the enemy in one of the strongest positions they had yet taken up. The plain in front, covered with villages and dense plantations of sugarcane and castor-oil plants, was watered by a stream which pursued its course towards the Ganges, and was at this season too deep to be fordable. The only access to the town across it was by a narrow stone bridge, defended by a breast work on its flank, and commanded by some high ground and strong buildings. Fortunately, either from ignorance or excessive confidence, the enemy had failed to profit by this position, and instead of remaining behind the nullah, had placed themselves among the villages and plantations in its front, and thus left no escape in the event of discomfiture, except the narrow bridge. The attack was made by advancing in direct echelon from the right, the 78th Highlanders, the Madras fusiliers, and Maude's battery forming the right wing, and the 64th, the 84th, the Sikhs, and Olphert's battery the Victory of A.D. 1857. left. Considering the superiority of the British artillery, an easy victory might have been anticipated, but the enemy, sheltered behind their entrenchments, stuck to their guns, and continued to pour forth volleys of musketry, which were only silenced at the point of the bayonet. When the flight became general, the want of cavalry was again grievously felt, and Havelock scarcely overstated the matter when he said that if he had possessed cavalry not a rebel would have escaped. Active operations for the relief of Lucknow being suspended until adequate reinforcements should arrive, the campaign was virtually at an end, and we may therefore take advantage of the interval to give some account of important events which had occurred in other quarters, but have not yet been noticed. Mutiny at Mutiny at Dinapoor-Arrah besieged and relieved-Arrival of Sir Colin Campbell as commander-inchief-Reinforcements from Europe-Havelock superseded in his command-Continued siege of the British garrison at Lucknow-Relief and subsequent blockade-Second relief-Sir Colin Campbell's campaign-Havelock's death. NE main cause of General Havelock's determination to desist for a time from attempting the relief of Lucknow was the detention of reinforcements, on whose arrival he had confidently calculated. While on the way to join him, their further progress was arrested by a mutiny at Dinapoor. This place, situated on the Ganges a little above Patna, near the junction of the Soane, was one of the great military divisions, and was occupied by her majesty's 10th, a wing of her majesty's 37th, a field battery, and three native regiments, the 7th, 8th, and 40th native infantry. The disaffection of these last could scarcely be doubted, and the prudent course would have been to deprive them of the power of mischief by disarming them. Unfortunately the division was commanded by General Lloyd, an aged officer, who owed his appointment more to the length than to the merit of his services, and who had persuaded himself that whatever other sepoys might do, those whom he commanded were proof against seduction. Government, naturally anxious to take the most favourable view, lent a too willing ear to his flattering reports, and did not awake from the delusion till they were shaken out of it by the intelligence that, on the 25th of July, the three native regiments had not only mutinied, but been permitted to march off in the direction of the Soane. The general, as slow to act as he had been to believe that there could be any necessity for it, gave the mutineers a respite of four hours, in the absurd expectation that they might yet be induced to |