NICHOLSON RUSHES FORWARD HIMSELF. 47
spicuous amongst these was Lieutenant Butler Bookx.
of the 1st Fusiliers. This officer penetrated
up to the bullet-proof screen already mentioned. s e pt 5 i4
How he escaped with his life was a marvel. At
the screen two bayonets were thrust at him
which pinned him between them as if he were
between the prongs of a fork. There he stood,
unable to advance or to retire, until, firing his
revolver down the loop-holes, he forced the men
who were thrusting at him to withdraw their
weapons.*
The assailants were, I have said, forced to re- who are
tire. Only, however, for a few moments. Re-
formed, they again advanced. Again they cap-
tured the first gun, which was spiked by Captain
Greville, 1st Fusiliers; again they dashed at the again.
second. As they rushed on, their leader, Major Jacob is
Jacob of the 1st Fusiliers, a cool, daring, and S^aKi
accomplished officer, was mortally wounded, many officers
Lying there on the ground, knowing his hour Fusiliers.
had come, the gallant Jacob called to his men
to press onward. But the fire was tremendous.
Wemyss, Greville, Caulfield, Speke, Woodcock,
Butler, all officers belonging or attached to the
1st Fusiliers, were in turn struck down. The
men, greatly discouraged, were falling back a
second time, when Nicholson rushed to the front. Nicholson
XT . i i 1 • then rushes
His voice never rang more nobly, his presence to the front,
was never more inspiring, than when, waving his
sword, he summoned the men to follow where
their general led. But the broken order could
* "The 1st Bengal Fusiliers is the Delhi Campaign."
48 AND IS STBUCK DOWN.
book x. not be restored in a moment, and before a suffi-
u aper . c j en j. num k er f men could respond to the call,
Sept 5 u John Nicholson was struck down by a bullet
but is pierced wliich pierced his body.
by a bullet. rp^ woun d wa s mortal, and Nicholson knew it
to be so. But neither the agony of the pain, nor
the certain approach of death, could quench the
He stm urges ardour of that gallant spirit. He still called
upon the men to go on. He insisted on lying
there till the lane should be carried. But he was
asking dying, as he had asked living, that which
was all but impossible. Without artillery, the
enemy's position was too strong to be carried.
Soldiers not accustomed to be baffled, the same
men who that morning had carried the walls by
escalade, had recoiled twice before it. In that
lane alone eight officers and fifty men had fallen.
But the men There was nothing for it but to retire. The fallen
mateiy forced hero was then carefully removed to the hospital
to retire. on fa e ridge, and the men fell back on to the Kabul
gate. Nicholson still lived, and the lungs being
uninjured by the ball, the doctors had some hope
of his life. He alone had the certainty that the
triumph for which he had prepared would escape
his grasp.
Nicholson is By the fall of Nicholson the command of the
snccGCclocT in
command by first and second columns, now established at or
near the Kabul gate, devolved on Brigadier Jones,
C.B.
Whilst the infantry were thus contending with
alternate success and mishap to establish them-
Action of the selves in the imperial city, the cavalry were not
cava ry. j egg actively employed outside the walls. It had
THE CAVALRY 49
never been absolutely certain that all the four bookx.
columns would succeed in their attack, whilst it ° !Ll r
was tolerably clear that the failure of any one of sepfu.
them would entail a counter assault from the vic-
torious enemy. It was necessary likewise that
the flanks of the assaulting columns should be
efficiently covered. With wise prevision, then,
General Wilson had directed Brigadier Hope
Grant to move with the greater part of his
cavalry and a troop and a half of Horse Artillery
at the time of the assault to the vicinity of No. 1
battery, to check any attempt to take our storm-
ing columns in flank by sortie from the Labor
and Ajmir gates, and to hold himself in readiness
to act as circumstances might require.
Hope Grant, taking with him two hundred men Hope Grant
of the 9th Lancers, four hundred of the Sikh
horsemen, and a troop and a half of Horse Ar-
tillery, under Major Tombs, moved to the point
indicated. Handling his men skilfully, he effec-
tually covered the assaulting columns. Moving
onwards as the columns advanced, he took up a
position under the walls of the city, covering the
batteries. Here he remained, ready for further
action, till the moment when the movement of the
enemy on his right showed him that the fourth
column had been repulsed. In fact the enemy
following up that column had thrown themselves
into the houses and gardens near Kishanganj, and
now opened a heavy musketry fire on the cavalry.
Hope Grant at once ordered the Horse Artillery
to the front. Tombs galloped up, unlimbered,
opened fire, and compelled the enemy to fall back.
ii. 4
50 COVER THE DEFEAT OF THE FOURTH COLUMN.
Book X.
Chapter I.
1857.
Sept. 14.
Their pre-
sence pro-
duces a ma-
terial effect
on the
enemy's
movements.
The gallantry
displayed the
greater be-
cause of the
compulsory
inaction.
The reserve
column.
But as they did so, the guns on the Burn bastion
opened out on the cavalry. At a distance of five
hundred yards, drawn up for action, though com-
pelled to remain inactive, their presence on the
spot constituted a material aid to the infantry
then endeavouring to make good their position
within the city. For two hours they stood to
receive. General Wilson, alive to their danger,
promptly despatched Captain Bourchier's battery
to aid them. But the round shot from the Burn
bastion continued to empty saddle after saddle,
or to dismount officer after officer. Nine officers
of the Lancers had their horses shot under them.
Conspicuous on either side of this gallant regi-
ment were the scarlet-clad horse of Dighton Pro-
byn, and the Panjabis of John Watson in their
slate-coloured garments. Gallantly they stood,
conscious that thus exposing their lives without
the power of retaliating they were serving the
common cause. At the end of about two hours
the cavalry were further reinforced by about two
hundred of the Guides and Giirkahs. Then
shortly afterwards came the intelligence that the
infantry had established their positions within
the town. Then, and then only, did Hope Grant
withdraw leisurely to Ludlow Castle, satisfied
that he had not only prevented the enemy from
following up their victory over the fourth column,
but had occupied their attention with a very con-
siderable result on the main operations.
We have now to consider the operations of the
reserve column.
The commander of this column, Brigadier Long-
RESULTS OF THE DAY's WORK.. 51
field, having previously detached the wing of the Rook x.
Biliich battalion, three hundred strong, to the u ^Ll r
right of No. 2 battery, followed No. 3 column s ^t ? ii.
through the Kashmir gate, and cleared the Col-
lege gardens. One portion of the column, con-
sisting of the 4th Pan jab Rifles and some of the
61st Regiment, occupied these gardens; whilst
another, composed of the Jhind Auxiliary Force
and some of the 60th Rifles, held the "Water
bastion, the Kashmir gate, Colonel Skinner's
house, and the house of Ahmad AH Khan, a
large, commanding building.
The position of four out of the five columns of Results of
, . i • • the day's
the attacking force as the evening set in may work.
thus briefly be described. The entire space inside
the city from the Water bastion to the Kabul
gate was held by the first, second, and fifth
columns. The fourth column, repulsed in its
attack on Kishanganj, was holding the batteries
behind Hindu Rao's house. We have still to
account for the third column. I left that column,
gallantly led by Colonel Campbell, holding a large
enclosure parallel with the Chandni Chdk, called
the Begam Bagh, anxiously expecting assistance
from the other columns, and exposed to a heavy
fire of musketry, grape, and canister.
The failure of the first column in its attempt Reason for
to master the lane leading to the Chandni Chok, slip port ac-
and the repulse of the fourth column, account for SSttol
the unsupported position in which Colonel Camp-
bell was left. In advance of, and without com-
munication with, the other columns; in the
vicinity of a position strongly occupied by the
4 *
52
THE THIRD COLUMN.
Book X.
Chapter I.
1857.
Sept. 14.
Campbell, to-
wards even-
ing, falls
back on the
church.
enemy ; liable to be cut off from the main body ;
the position was eminently dangerous. But
Colonel Campbell knew himself, and he knew
the men he commanded. They were eager to
dare, anxious to press on. But the Jamma
Masjid had been made impregnable to an attack
from infantry, and the Brigadier had neither
artillery to beat down, nor powder-bags to blow
up, the obstacles in the way of his men. Under
these circumstances, taking a soldierly view of
the situation, he had occupied the Begam Bagh,
resolved to hold it till he could communicate with
head-quarters. Whilst occupying this position
he was rejoined by the Kamaon Battalion, belong-
ing to his column, but which had in the advance
diverged to the right, and had occupied the Kot-
wali. An hour and a half elapsed, however,
before he was able to communicate with head-
quarters. Then, for the first time, he learned
that the first and second columns had not been
able to advance beyond the Kabul gate, and that
he could not be supported.
A glance at the plan of Delhi will make it
evident, even to non-military readers, that with the
main body unable to penetrate beyond the Kabul
gate, it would be injudicious for the third column
to attempt to hold the Begam Bagh during the
night. Colonel Campbell, then, leisurely fell back
on the church, the nearest point at which he
touched the reserve column. Placing the 52nd
in the church, he occupied Skinner's house with
the Kamaon Battalion, and posted the 1st Panjab
Infantry in the houses at the end of the two streets
THE POSITIONS GAINED ARE SECURED. 53
that lead from the interior of the city into the Book x.
open space around the church.* At the head of ap er
these streets guns had previously been posted. s e 18 t 57 i4
A review of the work of the 14th September Notwith-
1857, will show that though the British loss had hJTvy^sses
been heavy, though all had not been accomplished * S0 I id V ase
•/ » o j. for further
which it had been hoped to accomplish, yet not operations
only had great obstacles been overcome, but a ga ined. en
solid base had been obtained whence to continue
and complete the work. In less than six hours
the army had lost sixty-six officers, and eleven
hundred and four men in killed and wounded.
Four out of five of the assaulting columns were
within the walls, but the position which they
held was extensive, and owing to the failure
of the fourth column, their right flank was
threatened. The enemy were still strong in
numbers, strong in guns, strong in position.
They, too, had had success as well as reverses,
and they had not yet abandoned all hope of ulti-
mate victory.
The first care of the assailants was to secure as The positions
best they could the posts that had so dearly ^â„¢*â„¢ e
gained. That night the engineers who were still d â„¢ng the
fit for duty — they were but few, for out of seven-
teen ten had been struck down during the assault
— were sent to fortify the advanced positions.
Here they threw up barricades, and loop-holed
and fortified the houses commanding the ap-
proaches. To maintain the flank communica-
tions bet ween the heads of the several columns,
* Major Norman's Narrative in the Blue J3ook,No. 6, lb58.
54 THE LOSSES OF THE DAY.
Bookx. in the shape of strong pickets, throwing out
- — - r ' vedettes, were established.*
Sept 57 f4. Such was the result of the assault of the 14th
Review of the September. At the cost of a very heavy loss
losses of the of life ft firm i oc ig men t had been gained. The five
assaulting columns numbered, exclusive of the
Kashmir Contingent, five thousand one hundred
and sixty men. Of these, one thousand one hundred
and four men and sixty-six officers, or about two
men in every nine, had been killed or wounded.
Amongst the brave men who were killed or died of
their wounds, were Nicholson, of whom I shall
write further on; Jacob of the 1st Fusiliers;
Speke, 65th Regiment Native Infantry ; Salkeld,
Engineers ; Roper, 34th Foot ; Tandy, Engineers ;
Fitzgerald, 75th Foot; Bradshaw, 52nd Light
Infantry ; "Webb, 8th Foot ; Rempay, 4th Pan-
jab Infantry ; Pogson, 8th Regiment ; Mac-
Barnett, Davidson, and Murray, doing duty re-
spectively with the 1st Fusiliers, the 2nd Panjab
Infantry, and the Guides. The number of
wounded officers amounted to fifty- two, of whom
eight were Engineers. All these officers were
but a type of the unreformed British army.
They were men in whom their soldiers had
confidence, whose physical energies had not been
neutralised by a premature absorption of the
powers of the brain, who had learned their
duties in the practical life of camps, who were
ever to the fore in manly exercises in canton-
ment, ever as eager as able to lead their men
* Medley.
HESITATION OP GENERAL WILSON. 55
on the battle-field. Honour to their memory ! BooK x.
However limited their acquirements might have u —
been regarded by examiners, they at least knew s^pt 5 ^.
how to lead their men to victory !
The determination not only to hold the ground General wu-
1-, iii i • cii i • son is inclined
already won, but to continue further operations, to withdraw
was not arrived at by General Wilson without '^{^eiKd
considerable hesitation. The success achieved, gained,
important as it was, had not corresponded — I will
not say to his anticipations, for he had never been
very confident — but to his hopes. The repulse
of the first and fourth columns, the mortal wound
of Nicholson, the tremendous loss in killed and
wounded, the conviction he personally acquired
that evening that the city had yet to be taken, —
all these considerations combined to work on a
nature never very sanguine or self-reliant, and
now enfeebled by anxiety and ill-health. The
General's first thought had been to withdraw the
assaulting columns to the positions they had so
long held on the ridge.
From this fatal determination General Wilson But is do-
wn s saved by the splendid obstinacy of Baird rcmon- y
Smith, aided by the soldierly-like instincts of sSs^th
Neville Chamberlain. What sort of a man Baird and Neviiio
. . Chamberlain.
Smith was, I have recorded in a previous page.
Neville Chamberlain had been cast in a mould not
less noble. A soldier almost from the hour of his
birth, Neville Chamberlain united to the most com- Neviiio
_ „.. pip 1.L- Chamberlain.
plete forgetfulness ot self, a courage, a resolution,
a coolness equal to all occasions. The only fault
that the most critical could find with his action
was that he was too eager to press forward. If
Sept. 14.
56 NEVILLE CHAMBERLAIN UEGES I
book x. a fault, it was a noble fault — a fault which the
!£!l r " critics carefully avoided. But, warring against
\ei)t 7 u Asiatics, to go forward is never a fault, and I
have been assured, not by one but by many, that
Chamberlain's personal daring had contributed
greatly to inspire with confidence the soldiers he
commanded.
Chamberlain was Adjutant- General of the
Army. He had been a consistent counsellor of
bold and daring measures, and he had more than
once, after repulsing a sally of the enemy, led the
counter-attack which had driven him headlong
within the city. In one of these daring pursuits
he had been severely wounded, and it was this
severe wound which had prevented him from
taking an active part in the actual assault. But
from the summit of Hindu Rao's house he had
witnessed all the events of that memorable day.
The repulse of the fourth column, and the demon-
stration made by the enemy to pursue that
column, seemed for a moment indeed to imperil
his position, and he had summoned the native
guard to the roof to defend the threatened maga-
zine. This danger was averted by the action,
already recorded, of Hope Grant and the cavalry.
But this episode in no degree diverted the atten-
tion of the Adjutant- General from the other
events. He noticed the first successes of the
other columns; then the check — the apparently
insurmountable check — evidently a bar to further
progress on that day. To Chamberlain its sig-
nificance was clear and unmistakeable. There
was but one course to pursue. To hold, at any
BAIRD SMITH INSISTS. 57
cost, the positions taken, to fortify them, and to book x.
make them the base of a fresh attack at the earliest !^_l r
moment. Unable to move himself, he sent to the s^ 57 ^
General a record of his convictions, accompanied
by an earnest request that he would hold the
ground for the night.
Would the written request of the Adjutant-
General, not actually on the spot, have alone suf-
ficed to turn the General from the course which
a personal inspection had at once suggested to
him ? It is doubtful. The General undoubtedly
believed that the safety of the army would be
compromised by the retention of the positions
they had gained. Fortunately, Baird Smith was Baird Smith's
at his elbow. Appealed to by General Wilson as answer to
to whether he thought it possible for the army WUson -
to retain the ground they had won, his answer
was short and decisive, " We must do so." That
was all. But the uncompromising tone, the re-
solute manner, the authority of the speaker, com-
bined to make it a decision against which there
was no appeal. General Wilson accepted it.*
The following day, the 15th, was devoted to Sept. 15.
the securing of the positions gained, to the esta-
* Many other officers gave depression, and by his tact,
the General the same advice, judgment, and practical abil-
Amongst others, prominently, ity, contributed to bring his
his Assistant Adjutant-Gene- mind into a state willing to
ral of Artillery, Captain Ed- accept the advice of Cham-
win Johnson, who shared his berlain and Baird Smith.
tent. This officer not only All the foremost officers of
constantly urged General the army, Nicholson, Jones,
Wilson to see the matter Reid, and others, had been
through to its bitter end, but all along in favour of de-
sustained him in his hours of cisive action.
58 PROCEEDINGS ON THE 15TH SEPTEMBER.
Book X.
Chapter I.
1857.
Sept. 15.
Proceedings
on the 15th.
Temptations
placed in the
way of the
Europeans.
blishing and making use of mortar batteries to
shell the city, the palace, and the Selimgarh, to
the restoring of order, and to the arranging of
means for putting a stop to indiscriminate plun-
dering. That our troops were permitted to carry
out this programme with but slight disturbance
from the enemy, shows how truly Baird Smith
and Chamberlain had judged the position. It is
not too much to affirm that a retrograde movement
on the 15th would, for the time, have lost India.
As it was, whilst a mortar battery, established by
our engineers in the College gardens, effected
considerable damage in the enemy's defences, and
our men, under the cover of that fire, were able
to occupy and fortify some houses in front of the
position taken the previous evening, the enemy's
fire from Selimgarh and the magazine was com-
paratively ineffective. Already the depression of
failure, which our retirement would have changed
into the joy of triumph, was beginning to weight
their efforts very heavily.
I have said that measures were taken on the
15th to restore order and to put a stop to indis-
criminate plundering. The fact is, that the part
of Delhi which our troops had occupied was the
part which abounded in stores containing intoxi-
cating liquors. What a temptation this would be
to men faint from work of the severest character,
and subjected for months to deprivations on the
ridge, may easily be conceived. The indulgence
in half an hour's unchecked impulse might para-
lyse the force. The danger was imminent, for
the advanced guards fell victims to the snare.
THE MAGAZINE IS STORMED. 59
But it was met promptly and with energy. The book x.
General ordered that the whole of the liquor
should be destroyed, and the order was, to a very g e ptfi5.
great extent, carried out.
The morning of the 16th dawned hopefully. Sept. 16.
During the night and in the early morning the .
enemy evacuated the suburb of Kishangani, Kishanganjis
^"^ G VtlCllclrt PCI t)V
whence they had, on the 14th, repulsed the fourth the rebels,
column. Our men at once occupied the position,
and captured five heavy guns which had been left
there by the enemy. They were immensely im-
pressed with the great strength of the place.
The fire from our batteries, also, having effected
a breach in the magazine, a party, consisting of
H.M.'s 61st Regiment, a part of the 4th Panjab
Rifles, and the wing of the Biluch Battalion, was
detached, personally directed by the General, to
storm it. The position was carried with but
slight loss to the stormers — three men only being and the ma-
wounded — another proof of the growing depres- farmed!
sion of the enemy. The capture was of the
highest importance, the magazine containing one
hundred and seventy-one guns and hoivitzers,
most of them of the largest calibre, besides am-
munition of every kind.
On the afternoon of the same day, the enemy
made an attempt to recapture the magazine, as
well as the workshops adjoining it. They ad-
vanced under cover of the fire of some guns in
front of the palace gate, carried the workshops,
but were driven back from the magazine, and
ultimately from the workshops also. On this Gallantly of
. T . . . Reniiy.
occasion, Lieutenant Renny of the Artillery dis-
60
CONTINUED DEPRESSION OP WILSON.
Book X.
Chapter I.
1857.
Sept. 16.
Continued
despondency
of Wilson.
played great coolness and contempt of death.
For, mounting on the roof of the magazine, he
pelted the enemy with shells which were handed
to him with their fuses burning !
It would be natural to imagine that the fact
that the army could not only hold its own, but
make an impression upon the enemy so formid-
able as that implied by the abandonment of Kish-
anganj, and the feeble defence of the magazine,
would have inspired the General with a confident
hope as to the ultimate issue. But he was still
desponding, and with Nicholson dying and Cham-
berlain unable to take an active part in his opera-
tions, it needed all the exertions of the engineers,
than whom it would have been impossible to have
collected a more daring and energetic set of men,*
to carry out the necessary forward movement.
* Pre-eminent amongst
these were Alexander Taylor,
of -whom Baird Smith thus
wrote : " He was, throughout,
my most able and trusted
subordinate ; " George Ches-
ney, at a later period author
of the Battle of Dorking ; Fred
Maunsell and Henry Brown-
low, both shot down in the
assault ; Julius Medley, who
to ability and daring added
a genius for organization of
no common order.
The tone of General Wil-
son's mind, at this particular
period, may be gathered from
his correspondence. " We
took possession," he wrote at
2 o'clock on the afternoon of
the 16th, "of the magazine
this morning with the loss of
only three men wounded.
This advances us a little, but
it is dreadfully slow work.
Our force is too weak for this
street fighting, when we have
to gain our way inch by inch ;
and of the force we have, un-
fortunately there is a large
portion, besides the Jummoo
troops, in whom I place no
confidence. . . I find my-
self getter weaker and weaker
every day, mind and body
quite worn out. The least
exertion knocks me down. I
walk with difficulty, and fully
expect in a day or two to be
laid altogether on my bed.
. . We have a long and
hard struggle still before us ;
I hope I may be able to see
it out."
EESISTANCE SLACKENS THE 17tH AND 18TH. 61
On the 17th and 18th the advance was pushed book x.
still further. The brain-task fell to the engineers,
it having been decided to avoid the line of the Sep t 8 i7li8.
streets and to sap through the houses. In The advance
this way the bank, Major Abbott's house, and the Emwd
house of Khan Muhammad Khan were taken, and 18tl } h ?J> h *
engineers
our posts brough close up to the palace and the