fatal lane our refluent force could never be with-
drawn. Outram and Havelock and Inglis, with
our women and children, were in the front, and
England's honour was pledged to bring them
scatheless out of the fiery furnace. What shot
and shell could not do the bayonets of the infantry
must accomplish. But the crisis was terrible.
Even as the fate of the French empire hung at
Wagram on the footsteps of Macdonald's column,
so did the fate of our Indian dominions depend
that day on the result of the desperate assault
now about to be undertaken.
" Collecting the 93rd about him, the Commander- sir Colin
i ^ -i at harangues
in-Chief addressed a few words to them. JNot the 93rd,
concealing the extent of the danger, he told them
that he had not intended that day to employ them
again, but that the Shah Najif must be taken;
that the artillery could not bring its fire under,
so they must win it with the bayonet. Giving
192 THE SHAH NAJIF STILL RESISTS.
book xi. them a few plain directions, he told them he would
!£_!!. * go on with them himself.
N 1857 - " To execute this design Middleton's battery of
and deter- the Royal Artillery was ordered to pass Peel's
mines to win omns on the right, and getting as close as possible
it with the & , .1 Tii
bayonet. to the Shah Najif, to open a quick and well sus-
tained fire of grape. Peel was to redouble his,
and the 93rd to form in column in the open plain,
close to the village, ready to rush on.
Middieton. " Middleton's battery came up magnificently.
With loud cheers, the drivers waving their whips,
the gunners their caps, they galloped forward
through that deadly fire to within pistol-shot
of the wall, unlimbered, and poured in round
William Peel, after round of grape. Peel, manning all his
guns, worked his pieces with redoubled energy,
and, under cover of this iron storm, the 93rd,
excited to the highest degree, with flashing eyes
and nervous tread, rolled on in one vast wave.
sir Colin. The grey-haired veteran of many fights rode,
with his sword drawn, at their head. Keen was
his eye, as when in the pride of youth he led the
stormers of St. Sebastian. His staff crowded
Adrian Hope, round him. Hope, too, with his towering form
and gentle smile, was there, leading, as ever was
his wont, the men by whom he was loved so well.
As they approached the nearest angle of the
enclosure the soldiers began to drop fast ; but,
without a check, they reached its foot. There,
however, they were brought to a stand. The
wall, perfectly entire, was nearly twenty feet high,
and well loop-holed ; there was no breach, and
there were no scaling-ladders. Unable to advance.
SUCCESS SEEMS IMPOSSIBLE. 1 93
unwilling to retire, they halted and commenced a b«ok xi.
musketry battle with the garrison. But all the ad- ' a iL!^
vantage was with the latter, who shot with security N ov° 7 i6
from behind their loops, and the Highlanders went
down fast before them. At this time nearly all The s ha h
the mounted officers were either wounded or dis- them ail.
mounted. Hope and his aide-de-camp were both
rolling on the ground at the same moment, with
their horses shot under them : his major of bri-
gade had just met with the same fate : two of
Sir Colin' s staff had been stricken to the earth :
a party, which had pushed on round the angle to
the gate, had found it so well covered by a new
work in masonry, as to be perfectly unassailable.
Two of Peel's guns were now brought up to within
a few yards of the wall. Covered by the fusilade
of the infantry, the sailors shot fast and strong ;
but, though the masonry soon fell off in flakes,
it came down so as to leave the mass behind per-
pendicular, and as inaccessible as ever.
" Success seemed now impossible. Even Success
x . seems im-
Hope and Peel, these two men, iron ot will and possible.
ready of resource, could see no way. Anxious
and careworn grew Sir Colin's brow. The dead
and wounded were ordered to be collected and
carried to the rear. Some rocket frames were
brought up, and threw in a volley of these fiery
projectiles, with such admirable precision, that,
jusl skimming over the top of the rampart, they
plunged hissing into the interior of the building,
and searched it out with a destroying force.
Under cover of this, the guns were drawn off.
The shades of evening were falling fast — the
ii. 13
194 BUT THE PLACE IS CARRIED.
book xi. assault could not much longer be continued.
Chapter . rp^^ ag a j agt resource — the last throw of a des-
Not 57 i6 perate game — Adrian Hope,* collecting some
As a last re- fifty men, stole silently and cautiously through
Hope e at driaU tlie 3 un g; le and brushwood away to the right, to a
tempts a flank portion of the wall on which he had, before the
assault, thought he perceived some injury to have
been inflicted. Reaching it unperceived, a narrow
fissure was found. Up this, a single man was,
with some difficulty, pushed. He saw no one
near the spot, and so helped up Hope, Ogilvy
(attached to the Madras Sappers), Allgood, the
Assistant Quartermaster-General, and some others,
which The numbers inside soon increased, and as they
did so they advanced, gradually extending their
front. A body of sappers, sent for in haste,
arrived at the double : the opening was enlarged,
the supports rushed in. Meanwhile, Hope's small
party, pushing on, to their great astonishment,
found themselves almost unopposed. Graining the
gate, they threw it open for their comrades.
The white dresses of the last of the garrison
were just seen gliding away amidst the rolling
smoke into the dark shadows of the night. Panic-
stricken apparently by the destruction caused by
the rockets, and the sudden appearance of some
of the assailants within the walls, they fled from
the place and gave up the struggle just when
victory was secure.
* I believe that, in point Paton, 93rd, who was the first
of fact, Adrian Hope's atten- to discover its weakness. For
tion was drawn to this por- this act Paton received the
tion of the wall by Sergeant Victoria Cross.
THE TEOOPS BIVOUAC FOR THE NIGHT. 195
" Never had there been a harder-fought day,* Book xi.
but never was a result gained more satisfactory." l v_^_
A lodgment had been gained for the night. not?i6.
Every man felt now that the work was virtually
accomplished. It is true that between their posi-
tion and that occupied by Outram there were
still buildings which the rebels would fight to
maintain. But those buildings taken all together
did not equal one Shah Najif. The men who
had, under the circumstances narrated, stormed
that mosque, might justly feel confident that the
difficulties of the morrow could not be insuperable.
No wonder that " there was joy now in every
heart — there was light in every eye."
The order then was given to bivouac for the
night. The main body of the 93rd garrisoned
the Shah Najif : another portion of that regiment,
under Colonel Ewart, occupied the barracks,
already adverted to. The troops not occupying
these two posts lined the roads, maintaining the
communications between the three points — the
Barracks, Sikandar Bagh, and the Shah Najif.
The field hospital for the wounded was esta-
blished in some huts opposite the Sikandar Bagh,
which might be regarded as the central point
of the position taken up for the night. The
men lay down in line with their arms in their
hands.
"Whilst 1 hey are sleeping I may advert, I fear How justice
too briefly, to some of the deeds of gallantry deserving
officers in
despatches.
* "It was an action almost Colin CcmpbelVe Despatch,
unexampled in war." — Sir L8th November, 1857.
13 *
196 THE MEED OF PRAISE TO THE DESERVING.
Book xi. accomplished during that eventful day. Not all
a iL!! " the brave actions performed on the battle-field
Nov? 16. can come under the notice of a commander ; nor,
coming under his notice, are they always men-
tioned. The stereotyped form of despatch writ-
ing prevailing in, if not peculiar to, the British
army, necessitates the mention of all officers on
the staff of the commander, of the divisional and
brigade commanders and their staffs, of the offi-
cers commanding regiments and batteries, of all
heads of departments. Not to mention any one
of these officers is to disgrace him. It follows
that such stereotyped mention is without real
value. This hard and fast rule is unjust. It
may sometimes happen that a particular staff
officer or a particular regimental commander fails
to distinguish himself, that he makes serious blun-
ders. Such matters are at once known in the
camp. But when the despatch appears, the
capable finds himself bracketed in one chorus of
praise with the incapable, the clear-headed with
the dullard, and the general public knows no
difference between them. Hence, I repeat, the
stereotyped praise of despatches is really without
value.
How justice But there is some praise which is not stereo-
done ' b ° typed. Such is the praise, for instance, awarded
for special deeds of daring. Applause of this sort
is real and genuine. Yet whilst its genuineness
when applied cannot be questioned, it is undeni-
able that many greatly distinguish themselves
whose names are never brought forward. No
stranger can be sure, when addressing an officer
SOME HEROES OP THE DAY. 197
of the British army, that he is not speaking: to BoOK xi.
, 31* Chapter II.
an nndecorated hero. —
I have mentioned, in the proper place, the No '
1857.
16.
splendid achievements, in the early part of the The heroes
day, of Ewart and of Richard Cooper. Those t ay '
" nndecorated heroes " were undoubtedly the men
who made the first entrance into the Sikandar
Bagh. But on a day when so many distinguished
themselves they were not the only heroes. One non-
commissioned officer and two privates of the 93rd,
Dunley, Mackay, and Grant, effected their entrance
into the Sikandar Bagh by the hole through which
Cooper had leapt, though after him, and gallantly
supported their officers. More fortunate than
these they received the Cross for their daring.
Sergeant Munro of the same regiment received the
Cross for distinguished conduct in the same en-
closure. In the 53rd Regiment, Lieutenant
Ffrench, and Privates Kenny and Irwin, and in
the 84th, Captain the Hon. H. A. Anson, f de-
servedly received the Cross for conspicuous daring
in the capture of the Sikandar Bagh. Later in
the same day, Captain Stewart of the 93rd
secured the Cross for the capture of two of the
enemy's guns at the Barracks. I have already
mentioned Sergeant Paton of the 93rd.| The
Cros^ was given to this daring non-commissioned
officer "for distinguished personal gallantry in
proceeding alone round the Shah Najif under an
* Vide Appendix B. viously entitled him to the
f Captain Anson's gallant Cross.
conduct at Balandshahr, al- J Pa^e 194, note,
ready mentioned, had pre-
198 SOME HEROES OF THE DAT.
book xi. extremely heavy fire, discovering a breach on the
— opposite side, to which he afterwards conducted
Nov. 5 i6. the regiment, by which means that important
position was taken." There were many others,
not less deserving even than this man. What could
exceed the gallantry of Blunt of the Bengal Horse
Artillery, taking his guns over an "impossible"
wall, and calmly unlimbering on the plain between
a heavy fire on either side of him; the imper-
turbable coolness of William Peel, the daring of
Travers, of Middleton, of Bourchier, of Longden,
of Walker, of Hardy — killed fighting with his
guns, — of Ford, of Brown, and of Bridge — all
gunners, Royal and Bengal ? " It is impossible,"
wrote Sir Colin Campbell, " to draw any dis-
tinction between any of these officers. They all
distinguished themselves under very arduous cir-
cumstances." Of Adrian Hope I have already
spoken. The bare statement of his action is suffi-
cient. Not less deserve to be mentioned the two
Alisons, sons of the historian, Paul, MacQueen,
Biddulph, Oldfield, Barnston, Wood, Keen, Welsh,
McNamara, Lumsden — killed at the Sikandar
Bagh, — all of whom were spoken of in the camp.
But the list is too long, for there are many others.
Outram, Whilst the men are still sleeping on their arms,
daj^is en? it is fit, too, that I should state that, during the
d ffedTa ring t0 nours employed by the troops under Sir Colin
diversion. Campbell in attacking the Shah Najif, the Resi-
dency garrison, under Sir James Outram, were
using all their efforts to effect a diversion. They
captured some of the positions to the east of the
Residency, and from these maintained a conti-
DIVERSIONS MADE BY THE REBELS. 199
nuous fire of guns and mortars on the rebels. I book xi.
shall give a more detailed account of their pro-
ceedings in the proper place. Nov. 5 i6.
Nor must I omit to record the fact that whilst The action
our men had been struggling onwards, winning dJ^ e g r t e h b e els
with difficulty those important posts, the enemy da y-
had threatened their flanks and their communica-
tions. They had attacked, fortunately without
result, the Martiniere and the Dilkusha, and had
even shown themselves in force on the road to
the Alambagh. Thev were seen, too, in numbers indicates a
on the opposite bank of the GTumti. What would wait for the
have been the position of the army, with the dSe^Tattaok.
enemy all about it, and the lane by which it had
advanced completely blocked up, had the attack
on the Shah Najif failed, the reader may imagine.
Happily, it did not fail.
The British and Sikh troops, lying in unbroken The night of
order, their arms by their sides, slept the sleep of
men who had earned their rest that sixteenth
night of November. They were awakened early
in the morning of the 17th, not by their own and morning
bugles, but by the bells of the city and the beat-
ing of the enemy's drums. It seemed as though Nov. 17.
an attack were imminent. The British soldiers
sprang up with alacrity, each man in his place,
ready for action. But the enemy did not come on.
Sir Colin Campbell was, therefore, able to carry
out his own plan and to choose his own time.
His plan was, first, to carry the Mess-house, a sir coiin's
large masonry building, defended by a ditch {*â„¢
t welve feet broad, surmounted by a loop-holed
wall behind, about midway between the Shah
200
sir colin's plans for the 17th.
Book XI.
Chapter II.
1857.
Nov. 17.
The diffi-
culties before
him.
Sir Colin
secures his
left flank ;
determines
to attack
Banks's
house and the
bungalows.
Najif and the Kaisarbagh. The Mess-house
carried, the Moti Mahal, lying due north of the
former, and on the direct road from the Shah
Najif to the Residency, would be the next point
of attraction. Could the Moti Mahal be carried,
a junction with Outram would be the certain con-
sequence. That alone would be a good day's
work. Much would still remain to be accom-
plished. The strong positions of the Kaisarbagh
— covered by the Tara Koti — and of the Begam's
palace, covering the vast city behind them, would
still remain in the occupation of some 30,000 un-
subdued foes, and it was in the face of these that
Sir Colin would have to withdraw the women and
the children, the sick and the wounded.
Knowing all this — that absolute success on the
17th would be the prelude to difficulties of a new
kind on the 18th and the days following the 18th
— Sir Colin marked the commencement of his
operations on the first-named day with great cau-
tion. First, he deemed it advisable to secure his
left flank. It was true that he had a force at the
Barracks, connected with the Sikandar Bagh, but
as the enemy commanded all the massive build-
ings south of the Barracks, and even to the east-
ward of them, it would not be difficult for them
to make a detour, avoiding the Barracks, and to
act on our left rear. To prevent this, Sir Colin
detached the 5th Brigade under Brigadier Russell
to carry the house called Banks's house and four
bungalows close to the Barracks, to convert them
into military posts. To make the plan clear to
the reader, I may state that Banks's house occu-
PEEL CANNONADES THE MESS-HOUSE.
201
pied a position on the edge of the city, on the city
side of the canal, directly south of the Barracks,
and somewhat south of an imaginary straight line,
from west to east, drawn from the Kaisarbagh to
the canal. The four bungalows were to the north
of it, close to the Barracks. A direct road led
from Banks's house across the canal to the Dil-
kiisha. It will thus be seen that, possessing now
the Barracks and the Dilkiisha, the occupation of
Banks's house and the bungalows would sever
the communication between the Kaisarbagh and
the Dilkiisha, and would cover the left rear of the
attacking force.
Having thus made arrangements to secure his
communications, Sir Colin directed William Peel
to open fire with his heavy guns on the Mess-
house — formerly the Mess-house of the 32nd
Foot. He " was determined to use his guns as
much as possible in taking it." * The fire con-
tinued from c the early morning till 3 o'clock in
the afternoon. At that hour, the musketry fire
of the enemy having been almost completely
silenced, it appeared to Sir Colin that the Mess-
house might be stormed without much risk. He
ordered on this duty a company of the 90th Foot,
under Captain Wolseley,f and a picket of the
53rd, under Captain Hopkins, supported by Major
Barnston's battalion of detachments under Cap-
tain Guise of the 90th, | and some of the 4th
Book XI.
Chapter II.
1857.
Nov. 17.
William Teel
cannonades
the Mess-
house.
Garnet Wol-
soley ordered
to storm it.
* Sir Colin Campbell's Des-
patch, datrd 18th Novcinlicr.
f Now Sir Gamel Wolse-
ley, K.r.B.
X Major Barnst on had brm
severely wounded the pre-
vious day in tin' attack on the
Shah NajiT.
202 WOLSELEY STOEMS THE MESS-HOUSE.
book xi. Paniab Rifles, under Captain Powlett. The
Chapter II. J , . r _, .
— actual leader ot the storming party was Captain
N'fiV. Wolseley.
The feat of arms Wolseley was about to attempt
was no light one. The Mess-house, a building of
considerable size, was surrounded by a loop-holed
mud wall, covering a ditch about twelve feet
broad, scarped with masonry. The ditch was tra-
versed by drawbridges, but whether these were
down or up, was unknown to the storming
party.
He storms it, Never was a daring feat of arms better per-
formed. Leading his men at the double across
the intervening space, exposed to a hot fire from
the neighbouring buildings, Wolseley reached the
mud wall of which I have spoken. Here he halted
for a moment to recover breath, then clambered
through the breach into the garden. Pushing
forward, despite the fire of the enemy's matchlock-
men, he reached the ditch. Fortunately, the enemy,
with the carelessness that had so often charac-
terised their proceedings, had left the drawbridges
down. Wolseley and his men crossed them, en-
tered the house, which the enemy had abandoned
at their approach, and climbing to the roof, planted
on its summit the British flag. Twice was the
flag struck down by the enemy's bullets, and twice
was it replaced. At length, however, the seve-
rity of the fire forced the stormers to seek cover.
Just then came up a company of supports, com-
manded by Captain Irby. Wolseley sent him to
clear the houses to the left, whilst he himself
attacked those on the right. Both attacks were
AND THE MOTI MAHAL. 203
successful, and the rebels, driven out, fled in panic book xi.
to the Moti Mahal. Cha £^' 1L
The victorious storiners followed the fleeino- > T 1857 -
" Nov. 17.
enemy, and Wolseley, far from checking them, and follows
determined to push his advantage to the utmost. *he Moii"' ' "
He had, it is true, no orders to attack the Moti Mahal,
Mahal, but the inborn instinct of the soldier had
taught him that nothing tended so much to blood-
less victory as immediate pressure upon a defeated
foe. He pressed on therefore to the wall of the
Moti Mahal, but the opposition offered was great,
and the wall was solid, and the gateway had
been blocked up. He had, therefore, to send back
for the sappers. These promptly came up, and which, after
succeeded after a time in making narrow open- ance! 'JJ 681 ^"
ings in the wall. Through these Wolseley and storms -
his men eagerly rushed, and attacked the net-
work of buildings within. The resistance they
encountered was, however, stout and even des-
perate, every room being contested. At length
the enemy were expelled, and the Moti Mahal, the
last building held by the rebels on the hue com-
municating with Outram and Havelock, came
completely into British possession.*
* " It will be allowed that letter of instructions in that,
Wolseley had good reason to when he was only ordered
anticipate the congratulations to take the Mess-house, he
andthanksof tln'CommanfliT- actually of his own motion
in-Chief for his conduct, but had driven the enemy out of
what was his astonishment on the Moti Mahal! The Bri-
li-;irniiig from his Brigadier, gadier advised him to keep
the Hon. Adrian Hope, that out of the way, as the Chief
Sir Colin was furious with was asking for him, ami he
him for having ex< led the never saw a man more enraged
204
MEETING OP SIR COLIN CAMPBELL
Book XL
Chapter II.
1857.
Nov. 17.
An open space, nearly half a mile in width,
still intervened between the assailants and the
advanced positions of Outram and Havelock.
This space was exposed to a heavy musketry fire
from the Kaisarbagh and could not be crossed
without imminent risk. But the risk did not pre-
vent the two gallant generals and their staff from
crossing the space to meet the Commander-in-
Chief. They started — eight officers and one
civilian. They were Outram, Havelock, Napier
(now Lord Napier of Magdala), Vincent Eyre,
young Havelock (now Sir Henry Havelock),
Dodgson, the Deputy Adjutant-G-eneral, the aide-
de-camp Sitwell, the engineer Russell, and the
gallant Kavanagh. They had not gone many
paces before they were seen by the enemy, and
the musketry fire from the Kaisarbagh redoubled.
Napier was struck down, young Havelock was
struck down, Sitwell and Russell were struck
down. Outram, Havelock, Eyre, Dodgson, and
Kavanagh, alone reached the Moti Mahal unin-
jured. Then, to borrow once again the appro-
priate language of Sir Colin Campbell, " the relief
of the garrison had been accomplished."
The conversation between the Commander-in-
Dodgs°on%nd Chief and his four visitors, though animated and
joyful, was not long. The visitors had to return
across the terrible space. They set out at a run.
Outram
Havelock
return.
in his life." — Low's Life of
Sir Garnet Wolseley.
It is due, however, to Sir
Colin, to add, that although
when he met Wolseley the
following morning he wigged
him severely, he almost im-
mediately cooled down, con-
gratulated him on his courage
and ability, and promised to
recommend him for promo-
tion.
WITH OUTRAM AND HAVELOCK. 205
Outram and Kavanagh were able to keep it up. book xi.
But Havelock, weak and ill, soon tired. Turning C1 T" "
to Dodgson, he exclaimed, " I can do no more, J- 857 ^
T _ _ .Nov. 17.
Dodgson, I can do no more." Dodgson, than Havelock and
whom no braver, no more modest, and no more Dod ° son -
deserving soldier ever lived, at once supported
the gallant veteran. Resting on Dodgson, then,
the illustrious soldier traversed, at a slow and
measured pace — the only pace of which his
strength was capable — the ground still remaining
to be gone over, the enemy's balls striking all
around them, at their feet, just short of them,
just before them, just behind them, but all missing
their mark.
I propose now to devote a few moments to ex- The proceed-
plain in detail the manner in which Outram and lS a °l d 0ut '
Havelock had accomplished their portion of the Hav eiock.
allotted task. I left Outram on the 9th Novem-
ber, sending off the devoted Kavanagh, disguised
as a native, to the camp of the Commander-in-
Chief. From that date Outram was made aware,
by means of preconcerted signals, of each move
of Sir Colin Campbell's force ; of his successive
arrivals at the Alambagh and the Dilkusha, and
of his movement against the Sikanclar Bagh and
the Shah Najif on the morning of the 16th.
The time, so long and eagerly looked for, had Havelock
now arrived when it would be possible for the man^SSâ„¢
troops pent up in the Residency and the adjoin-
ing buildings to co-operate actively with the re-