compulsory loans from the shopkeepers of the city
were devised. The Mhow mutineers were reported
to have crossed the Chumbul, and the city spies
pressed that the grand assault should be made before
their arrival. The population began to assume an
ironical air in their responses to the king, and said
<( they were to go out to the attack, as they had
enjoyed such quiet and happiness under the rule
of the mutineers!" An emissary half-unnerved the

p 2



212 DISTRESS IN THE CITY.

whole city on the 9th of August, returning from the
Punjab with a report that Sir John Lawrence, at the
head of ten thousand men, had just arrived in camp
to make a special attack.

About this period, also, the awful miseries of
warfare, and the ghastly destitution of anarchy, were
fully felt by the population, shop-keepers, and retail
tradesmen ; and as the day of retribution drew nigh,
they began to seek, at the hands of the British army,
that generous protection for their wives and for
their children which in no instance had been extended
to European maidenhood or infancy by their ferocious
countrymen. Two thousand five hundred women
and children tried to leave, and about six hundred
carts blocked up the main streets ; but all egress was
prevented.

On the 9th of September, the rebel army became
torn by intestine feuds ; and the information of the
spies became singularly precise as to the effect of
the British fire, the positions of the rebel guns, and
the measures adopted to resist the assault. Procla-
mations were issued that any Sikhs or Khakees who
would desert from the British army and join the
army of Islam, were to be received with open arms,
and their devotion rewarded by jagheers.

According to the spies, about half of the Sikhs in



KAGE AND DESPAIK OF THE KING. 213

Delhi were inclined to the British side, but the other
half fought even more determinedly against us ; and
it is possible that a considerable body deserted. All
this information, however, had to be received, and
was received, with due caution. Events proved the
military details to be sufficiently reliable. Subse-
quently to this, and just previous to the assault,
amidst the military details and general information,
one picturesque incident breaks forth: that of the
King the last of the Moguls appearing before his
durbar, tearing his beard, snatching his turban from
his hoary head, and invoking vengeance on those
who had brought him to such an end by their
cowardice and disunion. We must now return to
the exterior of the city.

It has been mentioned that the position of the Bri-
tish army before Delhi was that of the besieged rather
than of the besiegers. Even with the augmented
force at his disposal, the General could not have com-
pleted the line of investment. The Chief Engineer,
Lieutenant-Colonel Baird Smith, thus describes the
characteristic features of the place : " The eastern
face of the city rests on the Jumna, and during the
season of the year when our operations were carried
on, the stream may be described as washing the base
of the walls. All access to a besieger on the river



214 DEFENCES OF DELHI.

front is, therefore, impracticable. The defences here
consist of an irregular wall with occasional bastions
and towers, and about one-half of the length of the
river face is occupied by the palace of the King of
Delhi, and its outwork, the old Mogul fort of
Selimghur. The river may be described as the
chord of a rough arc formed by the remaining
defences at the place. These consist of a succession
of bastioned fronts, the connection being very long,
and the outworks limited to one crown-work at the
Ajmere gate, and Martello towers mounting a single
gun at such points as require some additional flank-
ing fire to that given by the bastions themselves.
The bastions are small, generally mounting three
guns in each face, two in each flank, and one in
embrasure at the salient. They are provided with
masonry parapets about 12 feet in thickness, and
have a relief of about 16 feet above the plane of site
The curtain consists of a simple masonry wall or
rampart 16 feet in height, 11 feet thick at top, and
14 or 15 at bottom. This main wall carries a para-
pet loopholed for musketry 8 feet in height and 8
feet in thickness. The whole of the land front is
covered by a beam of variable width ranging from
16 to 30 feet, and having a scarp wall 8 feet high.
Exterior to this is a dry ditch, of about 25 feet in



DEFENCES OF DELHI. 215

width, and from 16 to 20 feet in depth. The counter-
scarp is simply an earthen slope easy to descend.
The glacis is a very short one extending only 50
or 60 yards from the counterscarp ; using general
terms, it covers from the besiegers' view from half to
one-third of the height of the walls of the place. The
defences, in a word, are * modernized ' forms of
ancient works that 'existed when the city fell before
Lord Lake's army in 1803. They extend about
seven miles in circumference, and include an area of
about three square miles. On the western side of
Delhi there appear the last outlying spurs of the
Aravelli Mountains, and represented here by a low
ridge which disappears at its intersection with the
Jumna, about two miles above the place. The
drainage from the eastern slope of the ridge finds its
way to the river along the northern and the north-
western faces of the city, and has formed there a
succession of parallels or connected ravines of consi-
derable depth. By taking advantage of these hollow
ways admirable cover was constantly obtained for
the troops, and the labour of the siege was materially
reduced. The whole of the exterior of the place
presents an extraordinary mass of old buildings of
all kinds of thick brushwood and occasional clumps
of forest trees, giving great facilities for cover, which,



216 SUCCESS OF SIEGE OPERATIONS.

during the siege operations at least proved to be
on the whole more favourable to us than to the
enemy."

The most perfect success attended the plan of
siege operations, and the noble Bengal Artillery has
added another, if possible more lustrous, page to its
long annals of glory and renown. Never was its
fire more vigorous and effective. Associated with
the recollection of the famous six days' open trenches
before Delhi in 1857, will be handed down to pos-
terity the reputation of the 9th Lancers and the 6th
Dragoon Carabineers, who worked at the guns at
each of the breaching batteries in common with their
comrades of the Artillery. With no relief for the
officers, and but little for the men, for seven and a
half scorching days and nights, in the most sickly
season of the year, did this gallant band keep up a
galling fire. One breaching battery was entirely
worked by men of the 9th Lancers, and aided by two
sergeants of Artillerv ; a concentrated and vigorous

*/

fire was kept up on the walled space of the city
included between the Water, the Moree, and the
Cashmere Bastions.

Fifty-four siege guns were distributed to silence
the enemy's fire, and four siege batteries were erected.
The first, under Major Brind, completely ruined the



THE BREACHING BATTERIES. 217

defences of the Shah and Moree Bastions, while it
protected the assaulting column from a flank fire,
and diverted the fire of the enemy at the Cashmere
Bastion from the working parties at the second
battery. The first siege battery caught fire, and was
destroyed on the 10th of September; but not before
it had accomplished its task. Not until after the
most urgent persuasions would Major Turner, who
had joint command, be persuaded to leave the field,
though sore stricken with sickness. The battery was
not unmolested : night after night did the enemy in
force come out and strive to destroy it.

The second siege battery, under Major Campbell,
breached the curtain to the right of the Cashmere
Bastion, dismounted nearly all the enemy's guns,
stripped off the parapet, and thus left the mutineers
without cover. The third siege battery, under Major
Nott, which was armed on the night of the llth
instant, shelled the interior of the Water Bastion and
the Church, pierced the wall on the 13th of Sep-
tember, and by the same evening had effected
a practicable breach. The fourth siege battery,
under Major Tombs, whom to mention is to praise,
kept up, from the 14th of September, a ravaging
fire on the Cashmere Gate, the Church, the
Water Bastion, and Skinner's house.

On the night of the 13th September, Delhi became



218 COLUMNS OF ASSAULT.

ripe for assault; and hearts beat high when the
bombardment ceased, and the order of the General
commanding for the storm on the morning of the
14th was rapidly circulated through the camp.

The assault was delivered on four points. The first
column was commanded by the lamented Brigadier-
General Nicholson ; who, to the grief of the army,
sank under his wounds on the 20th of September.
The second was led by Brigadier Jones, of the 60th
Rifles; the third by Colonel Campbell, H. M.'s
52nd L. I. ; the fourth by Major Reid. A reserve
column was commanded by Brigadier Longfield.
The despatches published will give the reader the
exact results of the first momentous day.

But the devoted heroism of the Engineers, who
formed the exploding party to blow away the Cash-
mere Gate, cannot be passed over. The deed was
done, not stealthily, or by stratagem, nor under the
broad black shield of night, but in open daylight.
Lieutenants Salkeld and Home, of the Engineers,
accompanied by a small band of heroes, Sergeant
John Smith, A. B. Carmichael, Corporal Burgess,
of the Sappers and Miners, Bugler Hawthorne, of
H. M.'s 52nd, covered by the fire of the splendid
60th Rifles, were told off for the desperate and
critical duty. Lieutenants Home, Smith, Carmichael,
and Havildar Madho led with the powder bags.



HEROISM OF THE EXPLODING PARTY. 219

Salkeld, with Corporal Burgess and the remainder,
followed. On reaching the gateway, the advanced
party found part of the drawbridge destroyed. Re-
gardless of the precarious footing offered by the few
remaining beams, the party pushed on nobly to
lodge the powder at the gate. But the wicket was
open, and a murderous fire issued from its portal.
A sergeant fell dead after fixing the powder, and
the havildar was wounded. But one-half of the
perilous, though glorious, task was done. None
dared to venture out to dislodge the bags, and the
advanced party slipped down into the ditch, to permit
of the advance of the firing party.

In attempting to fire, Lieutenant Salkeld fell fear-
fully wounded in two places ; but while on the
ground, he remembered England and his duty, and
flung the slow match to Corporal Burgess, who had
scarce appended the light to the train (in fact played
the part on which, perhaps, the fate of British India
depended), when he, too, fell mortally wounded.
The noise of the explosion was a fitting salvo over
the grave of such Englishmen. Bugler Hawthorne
did his own dangerous work, and then repaired to
the wounded Salkeld, bound up his wounds, and,
careless of the hail of bullets, tenderly removed his
dying commander.



220 GEX. WILSON'S FIRST DESPATCH.

We have thus led our readers up to the fall of Delhi.
As the most appropriate close to tliis chapter, we re-
publish the original despatches of General Wilson :

From Major- General A. WILSON, Commanding Delhi Field

Force, to Captain H. TV. NORMAN, Assistant Adjutant- General

of the Army, Delhi.
SIR, Delhi, 16th September, 1857.

I have the high satisfaction of reporting for the information
of the Major-General commanding in the Upper Provinces, and
through him of his Excellency the Commander-in -Chief, and of
the Government, that on the morning of the 14th instant the
force under my command assaulted the city of Delhi with
success.

Under present circumstances, Major-General Gowan vrill, I
trust, allow me to withhold for a time a full and complete
detail of the operations from their commencement to their close,
and to limit myself to a summary of events.

After six days of open trenches, during which the Artillery,
and Engineers, under their respective commanding officers?
Major Gaitskell and Lieutenant-Colonel Baird Smith, vied
with each other in pushing on the works ; two excellent and
most practicable breaches were formed in the walls of the
place, one in the curtain to the right of the Cashmere Bastion,
the other to the left of the Water Bastion, the defences of
those bastions and the parapets, giving musketry cover to the
enemy commanding the breaches, having also been destroyed
by the artillery.

The assault was delivered on four points. The first column,
under Brigadier-General J. Nicholson, consisting of her
Majesty's 75th Regiment (300 men), 1st European Bengal
Fusiliers (200 men), and the 2nd Punjaub Infantry (450 men),
assaulted the main breach, their advance being admirably
covered by the 1st Battalion her Majesty's 60th Rifles, under
Lieutenant- Colonel Jones. The operation was crowned with
brilliant success; the enemy, after severe resistance, being
driven from the Cashmere Bastion, the Main Guard, and its
vicinity, in complete rout.



GEN. WILSON'S FIRST DESPATCH. 221

The 2nd Column, under Brigadier Jones, her Majesty's 60th
Regiment, consisting of her Majesty's 8th Regiment (250
men), the 2nd European Bengal Fusiliers (250 men), and the
4th Regiment of Sikhs (350 men), similarly covered by the
60th Rifles, advanced on the Water Bastion, carried the breach,
and drove the enemy from his guns and position with a deter-
mination and spirit which gave me the highest satisfaction.

The 3rd column, under Colonel Campbell, of Her Majesty's
52nd Light Infantry, consisting of his own regiment (200 men),
the Kumaon Battalion (250 men), and the 1st Punjaub
Infantry (500 men), was directed against the Cashmere gate-
way. This column was preceded by an explosion party under
Lieutenants Home and Salkeld, of the Engineers, covered by
the 60th Rifles. The demolition of the gate having been
accomplished, the column forced an entrance, overcoming a
strenuous opposition from the enemy's infantry and heavy
artillery, which had been brought to bear on the position. I
cannot express too warmly my admiration of the gallantry of
all concerned in this difficult operation.

The reserve, under Brigadier Longfield, her Majesty's 8th
Regiment, composed of her Majesty's 61st Regiment (250 men),
4th Punjaub Rifles, (450 men), the Belooch Battalion (300
men), the Jheend Rajah's Auxiliaries (300 men), and 200 of
her Majesty's 60th Rifles, who joined after the assault had been
made, awaited the result of the attack, and on the columns
entering the place, took possession of the post I had previously
assigned to it. This duty was ultimately performed to my
entire satisfaction.

The firm establishment of the reserve rendering the assault-
ing columns free to act in advance, Brigadier - General
Nicholson, supported by Brigadier Jones, swept the ramparts
of the place from the Cashmere to the Cabul gate, occupying
the bastions and defences, capturing the guns, and driving the
enemy before him. During the advance, Brigadier- General
Nicholson was, to the grief of myself and the whole army,
dangerously wounded ; the command consequently devolved
on Brigadier Jones, who, finding the enemy in great force,
occupying, and pouring a destructive fire from the roofs of



222 GEN. WILSON'S FIRST DESPATCH.

strong and commanding houses in the city on all sides, the
ramparts themselves being enfiladed by guns, prudently resolved
on retaining possession of the Cabul gate, which his troops
had so gallantly won, in which he firmly established himself,
awaiting the result of the operations of the other columns of
occupation.

Colonel Campbell with the column under his command
advanced successfully from the Cashmere-gate by one of the
main streets beyond the Chandnee Chouk, the central and
principal street of the city, towards the Jumma Musjid, with
the intention of occupying that important post. The opposition,
however, which he met from the great concentration of the
enemy at the Jumma Musjid and the houses in the neighbour-
hood, he himself, I regret to state being wounded, satisfied him
that his most prudent course was not to maintain so advanced
a position with the comparatively limited force at his disposal,
and he accordingly withdrew the head of his column, and
placed himself in communication with the reserve, a measure
which had my entire approval, I having previously determined
that in the event of serious opposition being encountered in the
town itself, it would be most inexpedient to commit my small
force to a succession of street fights, in which their gallantry,
discipline, and organization could avail them so h'ttle.

My present position, therefore, is that which, under such a
contingency, I had resolved to occupy and establish myself in
firmly, as the base of my systematic operations for the complete
possession of the city. This embraces the magazine on one
side, and the Cabul gate on the other, with the Moree, Cash-
mere, and Water Bastions, and strong intermediate posts, with
secure communication along the front and to the rear.

From this base I am now cautiously pressing the enemy on
all points with a view to establishing myself in a second
advanced position, and I trust before many days to have it in
my power to announce to the Supreme Government that the
enemy have been driven from their last stronghold in the
palace, fort, and streets of Delhi.

Simultaneously with the operations above detailed, an attack
vras made on the enemy's strong position outside the city in the



GEN. WILSON'S FIKST DESPATCH. 223

suburbs of Kishengunge and Pabareepore, with a view of
driving in the rebels, and supporting the main attack by
effecting an entrance at the Cabul gate after it should be taken.

The force employed in this difficult duty I entrusted to that
admirable officer, Major C. Reid, commanding the Sirmoor
Battalion, whose distinguished conduct I have already had
occasion prominently to bring to the notice of superior authority,
and who was, I regret deeply to state, severely wounded on
this occasion. The column consisted of his own battalion,
detachments of the Rifles, 1st Fusiliers, the Guides, and other
regiments, amounting in all to about 1,000 men, supported by
the auxiliary troops of his Highness the Maharajah Rumbeer
Singh under Captain R. Lawrence.

The strength of the positions, however, and the desperate
resistance offered by the enemy, withstood for a time the effort
of the troops, gallant though they were, and the combination
was unable to be effected. The delay, I am happy to say, has
been only temporary, for the enemy have subsequently
abandoned their position, leaving their guns in our hands.

In this attack I found it necessary to support Major Reid
with Cavalry and Horse Artillery, both of which arms were
admirably handled respectively by Brigadier Grant, of Her
Majesty's 9th Lancers, Commanding the Cavalry Brigade, and
Major H. Tombs, of the Horse Artillery, who inflicted severe
punishment on the enemy, though I regret their own loss was
very heavy.

The resistance of the rebels up to this time has been that of
desperate men, to which must be attributed the severe loss we
have sustained, amounting proximately, so far as I am able to
judge hi the absence of returns of casualties, to 46 officers killed
and wounded, and about 800 men. Amongst those whose ser-
vices the State has been deprived of, are many officers of
distinction and merit, holding superior commands, and whose
places cannot be supplied ; and I have specially to lament that
I have been deprived of the services of no less than nine
officers of that splendid corps, the Engineers, one of whom was
killed, and others seriously wounded in the gallant performance
of their duty.



224 GEN. WILSON'S SECOND DESPATCH.

Until I receive reports from Brigadiers and other commanding
officers, I am unable to enter more fully into the details of
these operations, and I trust the circumstances under which I
write will excuse any slight inaccuracies or imperfections which
my despatch may exhibit.

The absence of such reports also prevents my bringing to
notice the names of those officers and men who have specially
distinguished themselves. This will be my grateful duty here-
after. But I cannot defer the expression of my admiration for
the intrepidity, coolness and determination of all engaged
officers and men, Europeans and natives of all arms.

I have, &c.,
(Signed) A. WILSON, Major- General,

Commanding Delhi Field Force.



From Major- General A. WILSON, Commanding Delhi Field
Force, to the Adjutant- General of the Army, Delhi.

Dated Delhi, 22nd September, 1857.
SIR,

IN continuation of my despach of the 16th instant, I now
have the honour to forward a report, for the information
the Major-General Commanding in the Upper Provinces, His
Excellency the Commander-in- Chief, and the Government, of
the further operations of the force under my command since
that date.

During the 17th and 18th we continued to take up advanced
posts in the face of considerable opposition on the part of the
rebels, and not without loss to ourselves two officers being
killed, and a number of men killed and wounded. On the
evening of the 19th the Burn Bastion, which had given us con-
siderable annoyance, was surprised and captured. On the
morning of the 20th our troops pushed on and occupied the
Lahore gate, from which an unopposed advance was made on
the other bastions and gateways until the whole defences were
in our hands.

From the time of our first entering the city an uninterrupted
and vigorous fire from our guns and mortars was kept up on



GEN. WILSON'S SECOND DESPATCH. 225

the palace, Jumma Musjid,and other important posts in posses-
sion of the rebels, and as we took up our various positions in
advance, our light guns and mortars were brought forward and
used with effect on the streets and houses in their neighbour-
hood.

The result of this heavy and unceasing bombardment, and of
the steady and persevering advance of our troops, has been the
evacuation of the palace by the King, entire desertion of the
city by the inhabitants, and the precipitate flight of the rebel
troops, who abandoning their camp property, many of their
sick and wounded, and the greater part of their field artillery,
have fled in utter disorganization ; some 4,000 or 5,000 across
the bridge-of-boats into the Doab, the remainder along the
right bank of the Jumna.

The gates of the palace having been blown in, it was occu-
pied by our troops at about noon on the 20th, and my Head-
Quarters established in it on the same day.

The great diminution of our strength by losses in action
during the last few days, added to the severe sickness prevailing
among the troops, has prevented my immediately organizing
and sending a column in pursuit, but a force,* under Command
of Lieutenant-Colonel Greathed, will march to-morrow morn-
ing towards Boolundshuhur and Allyghur to intercept the
rebels, whose intentions are said to be to cross the Jumna. My
intelligence, however, I regret to say, is very defective.

The King, who accompanied the troops, it is believed, for some
short distance last night, gave himself up to a party of Irre-
gular Cavalry, whom I had sent out in the direction of the
fugitives, and he is now a prisoner under a guard of European
soldiers. Three of the Shahzadas,f who are known to have
taken a prominent part in the atrocities attending the insurrec-



* 1st Troop 1st Brigade Horse Artillery, 3rd Troop 1st Bri-
gade 3rd Horse Artillery, No. 17 Light Field Battery, two
Companies Punjab Sappers, 9th Lancers, 1st, 2nd, and 5th
Punjab Cavalry, Hodson's Horse (200), H.M.'s 8th Regiment,
II.M.'s 75th Regiment, 2nd and 4th Punjab Infantry.

f Mirza Mogul, Mirza Khoje Sultan, sons of the King, and
Mirza Aboo Bukker, grandson.

r. Q



226 GEN. WILSON'S SECOND DESPATCH.

tion, have been this day captured by Captain Ilodson, and shot
on the spot.

Thus has the important duty committed to this force been
accomplished, and its object attained. Delhi, the focus of re-
bellion and insurrection, and the scene of so much horrible
cruelty, taken and made desolate the King a prisoner in our
hands, and the mutineers, notwithstanding their great numerical
superiority, and their vast resources in ordnance and all the
munitions and appliances of war, defeated on every occasion of
engagement with our troops, are now driven with slaughter
in confusion and dismay from their boasted stronghold.