They were ordered to lay down their arms, and they obeyed. At this
moment the artillery lighted their port fires. The mutineers were seized
with a panic, and rushed away in the darkness; but the leaders and most
of their followers were pursued and arrested by the native infantry and
cavalry, and confined pending trial. Subsequently it transpired that the
native regiments sympathized with the mutineers, and would have shown it
but for their dread of Sir Henry Lawrence and the Europeans. The
energetic action of Lawrence sufficed to maintain order for another
month in Oudh. Meanwhile the Thirty-fourth Native Infantry was disbanded
at Barrackpur, and again it was hoped that the disaffection was stayed.

The demon of mutiny was only scotched. Within a week of the outbreak at
Lucknow, the great military station of Meerut was in a blaze. Meerut was
only forty miles from Delhi, and the largest cantonment in India. There
were three regiments of sepoys, two of infantry and one of cavalry; but
there were enough Europeans to scatter four times the number; namely, a
battalion of the Sixtieth Rifles, a regiment of Dragoon Guards known as
the "Carabineers," two troops of horse-artillery, and a light
field-battery.

In spite of the presence of Europeans there were more indications of
excitement at Meerut than at any other station in the northwest. At
Meerut the story of the greased cartridges had been capped by the story
of the bonedust; and there were the same kind of incendiary fires, the
same lack of respect toward European officers, and the same whispered
resolve not to touch the cartridges, as at Barrackpur. The station was
commanded by General Hewitt, whose advancing years unfitted him to cope
with the storm which was bursting upon Hindustan.

The regiment of sepoy cavalry at Meerut was strongly suspected of
disaffection; accordingly it was resolved to put the men to the test. On
May 6th it was paraded in the presence of the European force, and
cartridges were served out; not the greased abominations from Calcutta,
but the old ones which had been used times innumerable by the sepoys and
their fathers.

But the men were terrified and obstinate, and eighty-five stood out and
refused to take the cartridges. The offenders were at once arrested, and
tried by a court-martial of native officers; they were found guilty, and
sentenced to various periods of imprisonment, but recommended for mercy.
General Hewitt saw no grounds for mercy, excepting in the case of eleven
young troopers; and on Saturday, May 9th, the sentences were carried
out. The men were brought on parade, stripped of their uniforms, and
loaded with irons. They implored the General for mercy, and, finding it
hopeless, began to reproach their comrades; but no one dared to strike a
blow in the presence of loaded cannon and rifles. At last the prisoners
were carried off and placed in a jail, not under European soldiers, but
a native guard.

The military authorities at Meerut seem to have been under a spell. The
next day was Sunday, May 10th, and the hot sun rose with its usual glare
in the Indian sky. The European barracks were at a considerable distance
from the native lines, and the intervening space was covered with shops
and houses surrounded by trees and gardens. Consequently the Europeans
in the barracks knew nothing of what was going on in the native quarter.
Meanwhile there were commotions in the sepoy lines and neighboring
bazaars. The sepoys were taunted by the loose women of the place with
permitting their comrades to be imprisoned and fettered. At the same
time they were smitten with a mad fear that the European soldiers were
to be let loose upon them. The Europeans at Meerut saw and heard
nothing.

Nothing was noted on that Sunday morning except the absence of native
servants from many of the houses, and that was supposed to be
accidental. Morning service was followed by the midday heats, and at
five o'clock in the afternoon the Europeans were again preparing for
church. Suddenly there was an alarm of fire, followed by a volley of
musketry, discordant yells, the clattering of cavalry, and the bugle
sounding an alarm. The sepoys had worked themselves up to a frenzy of
excitement; the prisoners were released with a host of jailbirds; the
native infantry joined the native cavalry, and the colonel of one of the
regiments was shot by the sepoys of the other. Inspired by a wild fear
and fury, the sepoys ran about murdering or wounding every European they
met, and setting houses on fire, amid deafening shouts and uproar.

Meanwhile there were fatal delays in turning out the Europeans. The
Rifles were paraded for church, and time was lost in getting arms and
serving out ball cartridges. The Carabineers were absurdly put through a
roll-call, and then lost their way among the shops and gardens.
Meanwhile European officers were being butchered by the infuriated
sepoys. Men and women were fired at or sabred while hurrying back in a
panic from church. Flaming houses and crashing timbers were filling all
hearts with terror, and the shades of evening were falling upon the
general havoc and turmoil, when the Europeans reached the native lines
and found that the sepoys had gone, no one knew whither.

The truth was soon told. The mutiny had become a revolt; the sepoys were
on the way to Delhi to proclaim the old Mogul as sovereign of Hindustan;
and there was no Gillespie to gallop after them and crush the revolt at
its outset, as had been done at Vellore half a century before. One
thing, however, was done. There were no European regiments at Delhi;
nothing but three regiments of sepoy infantry and a battery of native
artillery. The station was commanded by Brigadier Graves; and there were
no Europeans under his orders excepting the officers and sergeants
attached to the three native corps. Accordingly telegrams were sent to
Brigadier Graves to tell him that the mutineers were on their way to
Delhi.

Monday at Delhi was worse than the Sunday at Meerut. The British
cantonment was situated on a rising ground about two miles from the
city, which was known as the "Ridge." The great magazine, containing
immense stores of ammunition, was situated in the heart of the city. One
of the three sepoy regiments was on duty in the city; the other two
remained in the cantonment on the Ridge.

The approach to Delhi from Meerut was defended by the little river
Hindun, which was spanned by a small bridge. It was proposed to procure
two cannon from the magazine and place them on the bridge; but before
this could be done the rebel cavalry from Meerut were seen crossing the
river, and were subsequently followed by the rebel infantry. The
magazine remained in charge of Lieutenant Willoughby of the Bengal
Artillery. He was associated with two other officers and six conductors
and sergeants; the rest of the establishment was composed entirely of
natives.

Brigadier Graves did his best to protect the city and cantonment until
the arrival of the expected Europeans from Meerut. Indeed, throughout
the morning and greater part of the afternoon everyone in Delhi was
expecting the arrival of the Europeans. Brigadier Graves ordered all the
non-military residents, including women and children, to repair to
Flagstaff Tower--a round building of solid brickwork at some distance
from the city. Late detachments of sepoys were sent from the Ridge to
the Cashmere gate, under the command of their European officers, to help
the sepoys on duty to maintain order in the city.

Presently the rebel troops from Meerut came up, accompanied by the
insurgent rabble of Delhi. The English officers prepared to charge them,
and gave the order to fire, but some of the sepoys refused to obey or
only fired into the air. The English officers held on, expecting the
European soldiers from Meerut. The sepoys hesitated to join the rebels,
out of dread of the coming Europeans. At last the Delhi sepoys threw in
their lot with the rebels and shot down their own officers. The revolt
spread throughout the whole city; and the suspense of the English on the
Ridge and at Flagstaff Tower began to give way to the agony of despair.

Suddenly, at four o'clock in the afternoon, a column of white smoke
arose from the city, and an explosion was heard far and wide. Willoughby
and his eight associates had held out to the last, waiting and hoping
for the coming of the Europeans. They had closed and barricaded the
gates of the magazine; and they had posted six-pounders at the gates,
loaded with double charges of grape, and laid a train to the
powder-magazine. Messengers came in the name of Bahadur Shah to demand
the surrender of the magazine, but no answer was returned. The enemy
approached and raised ladders against the walls; while the native
establishment escaped over some sheds and joined the rebels. At this
crisis the guns opened fire. Round after round of grape made fearful
havoc on the mass of humanity that was heaving and surging round the
gates. At last the ammunition was exhausted. No one could leave the guns
to bring up more shot. The mutineers were pouring in on all sides.
Lieutenant Willoughby gave the signal. Conductor Scully fired the train;
and with one tremendous upheaval the magazine was blown into the air,
together with fifteen hundred rebels. Not one of the gallant nine had
expected to escape. Willoughby and three others got away, scorched,
maimed, bruised, and nearly insensible; but Scully and his comrades were
never seen again. Willoughby died of his injuries six weeks afterward,
while India and Europe were ringing with his name.

Still more terrible and treacherous were the tragedies enacted at
Cawnpore, a city situated on the Ganges about fifty-five miles to the
southwest of Lucknow. Cawnpore had been in the possession of the English
ever since the beginning of the century, and for many years was one of
the most important military stations in India; but the extension of the
British Empire over the Punjab had diminished the importance of
Cawnpore; and the last European regiment quartered there had been
removed to the northwest at the close of the previous year.

In May, 1857, there were four native regiments at Cawnpore, numbering
thirty-five hundred sepoys. There were no Europeans whatever, excepting
the regimental officers and sixty-one artillerymen. To these were added
small detachments of European soldiers, which had been sent in the hour
of peril from Lucknow and Benares during the month of May.

The station of Cawnpore was commanded by Sir Hugh Wheeler, a
distinguished general in the company's service, who was verging on his
seventieth year. He had spent fifty-four years in India, and had served
only with native troops. He must have known the sepoys better than any
other European in India. He had led them against their own countrymen
under Lord Lake; against foreigners during the Afghan War, and against
Sikhs during both campaigns in the Punjab.

The news of the revolt at Meerut threw the sepoys into a ferment at
every military station in Hindustan. Rumors of mutiny or coming mutiny
formed almost the only topic of conversation; yet in nearly every sepoy
regiment the European officers put faith in their men, and fondly
believed that, though the rest of the army might revolt, yet their own
corps would prove faithful.

Such was eminently the case at Cawnpore, yet General Wheeler seems to
have known better. While the European officers continued to sleep every
night in the sepoy lines, the veteran made his preparations for meeting
the coming storm.

European combatants were very few at Cawnpore, but European
_impedimenta_ were very heavy. Besides the wives and families of the
regimental officers of the sepoy regiments, there was a large European
mercantile community. Moreover, while the Thirty-second Foot was
quartered at Lucknow, the wives, families, and invalids of the regiment
were living at Cawnpore. It was thus necessary to secure a place of
refuge for this miscellaneous multitude of Europeans in the event of a
rising of the sepoys. Accordingly General Wheeler pitched upon some old
barracks which had once belonged to a European regiment; and he ordered
earthworks to be thrown up, and supplies of all kinds to be stored, in
order to stand a siege. Unfortunately there was fatal neglect somewhere;
for when the crisis came the defences were found to be worthless, while
the supplies were insufficient for the besieged.

All this while the adopted son of the former _peshwa_ [Footnote: Formerly
a chief of the Mahrattas.--Ed.] was living at Bithoor, about six miles
from Cawnpore. His real name was Dandhu Panth, but he is better known as
Nana Sahib. The British Government had refused to award him the absurd
life pension of eighty thousand pounds sterling, which had been granted
to his nominal father; but he had inherited at least half a million from
the ex-peshwa; and he was allowed to keep six guns, to entertain as many
followers as he pleased, and to live in half royal state in a
castellated palace at Bithoor. He continued to nurse his grievance with
all the pertinacity of a Mahratta; but at the same time he professed a
great love for European society, and was profuse in his hospitalities to
English officers. He was popularly known as the Raja of Bithoor.

When the news arrived of the revolt at Meerut on May 10th, Nana was loud
in his professions of attachment to the English. He engaged to organize
fifteen hundred fighting men to act against the sepoys in the event of
an outbreak. On May 21st there was an alarm. European women and
families, with all European non-combatants, were removed into the
barracks, and General Wheeler actually accepted from Nana the help of
two hundred Mahrattas and two guns to guard the treasury. The alarm,
however, soon blew over, and Nana took up his abode at the civil station
of Cawnpore, as a proof of the sincerity of his professions.

At last, on the night of June 4th, the sepoy regiments at Cawnpore broke
out in mutiny. They were driven to action by the same mad terror which
had been manifested elsewhere. They cared nothing for the Mogul, nothing
for the pageant King at Delhi; but they had been panic-stricken by
extravagant stories of coming destruction. It was whispered among them
that the parade-ground was undermined with powder, and that Hindus and
Mahometans were to be assembled on a given day and blown into the air.
Intoxicated with fear and _bhang_, they rushed out in the darkness,
yelling, shooting, and burning according to their wont; and when their
excitement was somewhat spent, they marched off toward Delhi.

Sir Hugh Wheeler could do nothing. He might have retreated with the
whole body of Europeans from Cawnpore to Allahabad; but there had been a
mutiny at Allahabad, and, moreover, he had no means of transport.
Subsequently he heard that the mutineers had reached the first stage on
the road to Delhi, and consequently he saw no ground for alarm.

Meanwhile the brain of Nana Sahib had been turned by wild dreams of
vengeance and sovereignty. He thought not only to wreak his malice upon
the English, but to restore the extinct Mahratta Empire, and reign over
Hindustan as the representative of the forgotten peshwas. The stampede
of the sepoys to Delhi was fatal to his mad ambition. He overtook the
mutineers, dazzled them with fables of the treasures in Wheeler's
intrenchment, and brought them back to Cawnpore to carry out his
vindictive and visionary schemes.

At early morning on Saturday, June 6th, General Wheeler received from
Nana a letter announcing that he was about to attack the intrenchment.
The veteran was taken by surprise, but at once ordered all the European
officers to join the party in the barracks and prepare for the defence.
But the mutineers were in no hurry for the advance. They preferred booty
to battle, and turned aside to plunder the cantonment and city,
murdering every Christian that came in their way, not sparing the houses
of their own countrymen. They appropriated all the cannon and ammunition
in the magazine by way of preparation for the siege; but some were wise
enough to desert the rebel army and steal to their homes with their
ill-gotten spoil.

About noon the main body of the mutineers, swelled by the numerous
retainers of Nana, got their guns into position, and opened fire on the
intrenchment. For nineteen days--from June 6th to the 25th--the garrison
struggled manfully against a raking fire and fearful odds, amid scenes
of suffering and bloodshed that cannot be recalled without a shudder.

It was the height of the hot weather in Hindustan. A blazing sun was
burning over the heads of the besieged; and to add to their misery, one
of the barracks containing the sick and wounded was destroyed by fire.
The besiegers, however, in spite of their overwhelming numbers, were
utterly unable to carry the intrenchment by storm, but continued to pour
in a raking fire. Meanwhile the garrison was starving from want of
provisions, and hampered by a multitude of helpless women and children.
Indeed, but for the latter contingency, the gallant band would have
rushed out of the intrenchment and cut a way through the mob of sepoys
or perished in the attempt. As it was, they could only fight on, waiting
for reinforcements that never came, until fever, sunstroke, hunger,
madness, or the enemy's fire delivered them from their suffering and
despair.

On June 25th a woman brought a slip of writing from Nana, promising to
give a safe passage to Allahabad to all who were willing to lay down
their arms. Had there been no women or children, the garrison would
never have dreamed of surrender. The massacre at Patna a century before
had taught a lesson to Englishmen which ought never to have been
forgotten. As it was, there were some who wished to fight on till the
bitter end. But the majority saw that there was no hope for the women or
the children, the sick or the wounded, except by accepting the proffered
terms. Accordingly the pride of Englishmen gave way, and an armistice
was proclaimed.

Next morning the terms were negotiated. The English garrison were to
surrender their position, their guns, and their treasure, but to march
out with their arms, and with sixty rounds of ammunition in the pouch of
every man. Nana Sahib on his part was to afford a safe-conduct to the
river-bank, about a mile off; to provide carriage for the conveyance of
the women and children, the sick and the wounded; and to furnish boats
for carrying the whole party, numbering some four hundred fifty
individuals, down the river Ganges to Allahabad. Nana accepted the
terms, but demanded the evacuation of the intrenchment that very night.
General Wheeler protested against this proviso. Nana began to bully and
to threaten that he would open fire. He was told that he might carry the
intrenchment if he could, but that the English had enough powder left to
blow both armies into the air. Accordingly Nana agreed to wait until the
morrow.

At early morning on June 27th the garrison began to move from the
intrenchment to the place of embarkation. The men marched on foot; the
women and children were carried on elephants and in bullock-carts, while
the wounded were mostly conveyed in palanquins. Forty boats with
thatched roofs, known as _budgerows_, were moored in shallow water at a
little distance from the bank; and the crowd of fugitives were forced to
wade through the river to the boats. By nine o'clock the whole four
hundred fifty were huddled on board, and the boats prepared to leave
Cawnpore.

Suddenly a bugle was sounded, and a murderous fire of grape-shot and
musketry was opened upon the wretched passengers from both sides of the
river. At the same time the thatching of many of the budgerows was found
to be on fire, and the flames began to spread from boat to boat. Numbers
were murdered in the river, but at last the firing ceased. A few escaped
down the river, but only four men survived to tell the story of the
massacre. A mass of fugitives were dragged ashore; the women and
children, to the number of a hundred twenty-five, were carried off and
lodged in a house near the headquarters of Nana. The men were ordered to
immediate execution. One of them had preserved a prayer-book, and was
permitted to read a few sentences of the liturgy to his doomed
companions. Then the fatal order was given; the sepoys poured in a
volley of musketry, and all was over.

On July 1st Nana Sahib went off to his palace at Bithoor and was
proclaimed peshwa. He took his seat upon the throne, and was installed
with all the ceremonies of sovereignty, while the cannon roared out a
salute in his honor. At night the whole place was illuminated, and the
hours of darkness were wiled away with feasting and fireworks. But his
triumph was short-lived. The Mahometans were plotting against him at
Cawnpore. The people were leaving the city to escape the coming storm,
and were taking refuge in the villages. English reenforcements were at
last coming up from Allahabad, while the greedy sepoys were clamoring
for money and gold bangles. Accordingly Nana hastened back to Cawnpore
and scattered wealth with a lavish hand; and sought to hide his fears by
boastful proclamations, and to drown his anxieties in drink and
debauchery.

Within a few days more the number of helpless prisoners was increased to
two hundred. There had been a mutiny at Fathigarh, higher up the river,
and the fugitives had fled in boats to Cawnpore, a distance of eighty
miles. They knew nothing of what had happened, and were all taken
prisoners by the rebels, and brought on shore. The men were all
butchered in the presence of Nana; the women and children, eighty in
number, were sent to join the wretched sufferers in the house near
Nana's headquarters.

Meanwhile Colonel Neill, commanding the Madras Fusiliers, was pushing up
from Calcutta. He was bent on the relief of Cawnpore and Lucknow, but
was delayed on the way by the mutinies at Benares and Allahabad. In July
he was joined at Allahabad by a column under General Havelock, who was
destined within a few weeks to win a lasting name in history.

General Havelock was a Queen's officer of forty years' standing; but he
had seen more service in India than perhaps any other officer in Her
Majesty's Army. He had fought in the first Burma War, the Kabul War, the
Gwalior campaign of 1843, and the Punjab campaign of 1845-1846. He was a
pale, thin, thoughtful man; small in stature, but burning with the
aspirations of a Puritan hero. Religion was the ruling principle of his
life, and military glory was his master passion. He had just returned to
India after commanding a division in the Persian War. Abstemious to a
fault, he was able, in spite of his advancing years, to bear up against
the heat and rain of Hindustan during the deadliest season of the year.

On July 7th General Havelock left Allahabad for Cawnpore. The force at
his disposal did not exceed two thousand men, Europeans and Sikhs. He
had heard of the massacre at Cawnpore on June 27th, and burned to avenge
it. On July 12th he defeated a large force of mutineers and Mahrattas at
Fathipur. On the 15th he inflicted two more defeats on the enemy.
Havelock was now within twenty-two miles of Cawnpore, and he halted his
men to rest for the night. But news arrived that the women and children
were still alive at Cawnpore, and that Nana had taken the field with a
large force to oppose his advance. Accordingly Havelock marched fourteen
miles that same night, and on the following morning, within eight miles
of Cawnpore, the troops bivouacked beneath some trees.

On that same night, July 15th, the crowning atrocity was committed at
Cawnpore. The rebels, who had been defeated by Havelock, returned to
Nana with the tidings of their disaster. In revenge Nana ordered the
slaughter of the two hundred women and children. The poor victims were
literally hacked to death, or almost to death, with swords, bayonets,
knives, and axus. Next morning the bleeding remains of dead and dying
were dragged to a neighboring well and thrown in.

At two o'clock in the afternoon after the massacre the force under
Havelock was again upon the march for Cawnpore. The heat was fearful;
many of the troops were struck down by the sun, and the cries for water
were continuous. But for two miles the column toiled on, and then came
in sight of the enemy. Havelock had only one thousand Europeans and
three hundred Sikhs; he had no cavalry, and his artillery was inferior.
The enemy numbered five thousand men, armed and trained by British
officers, strongly intrenched, with two batteries of guns of heavy
calibre. Havelock's artillery failed to silence the batteries, and he
ordered the Europeans to charge with the bayonet. On they went in the
face of a shower of grape, but the bayonet charge was as irresistible at
Cawnpore as at Assaye. The enemy fought for a while like men in a death
struggle. Nana Sahib was with them, but nothing is known of his
exploits. At last they fled, and there was no cavalry to pursue them.

As yet nothing was known of the butchery of the women and children.
Havelock halted for the night, and next morning marched his force into
the station at Cawnpore. The men beheld the scene of the massacre, and
saw the bleeding remains in the well. But the murderers had vanished, no
one knew whither. Havelock advanced to Bithoor, and destroyed the palace
of the Mahratta. Subsequently he was joined by General Neill, with
reinforcements from Allahabad; and on July 20th he set on for the relief
of Lucknow, leaving Cawnpore in charge of General Neill.

The defence of Lucknow against fifty-two thousand rebels was, next to
the siege of Delhi, the greatest event in the mutiny. The whole Province
of Oudh was in a blaze of insurrection. The _talukdars_ were exasperated
at the hard measure dealt out to them before the appointment of Sir
Henry Lawrence as Chief Commissioner. Disbanded sepoys, returning to
their homes in Oudh, swelled the tide of disaffection. Bandits that had
been suppressed under British administration returned to their old work
of robbery and brigandage. All classes took advantage of the anarchy to
murder the money-lenders. Meanwhile the country was bristling with the
fortresses of the talukdars; and the cultivators, deprived of the
protection of the English, naturally flocked for refuge to the
strongholds of their old masters.

The English, who had been lords of Hindustan ever since the beginning of
the century, had been closely besieged in the residency at Lucknow ever
since the final outbreak of May 30th. For nearly two months the garrison
had held out with a dauntless intrepidity, while confidently waiting for
reinforcements that seemed never to come. "Never surrender" had been
from the first the passionate conviction of Sir Henry Lawrence; and the
massacre at Cawnpore on June 27th impressed every soldier in the
garrison with a like resolution. On July 2d the Muchi Bawen was
abandoned, and the garrison and stores were removed to the residency. On
July 4th Sir Henry Lawrence was killed by the bursting of a shell in a
room where he lay wounded; and his dying counsel to those around him
was, "Never surrender!"

On July 20th the rebel force round Lucknow heard of the advance of
General Havelock to Cawnpore, and attacked the residency in overwhelming
force. They kept up a continual fire of musketry while pounding away
with their heavy guns; but the garrison held their ground against shot
and shell, and before the day was over the dense masses of assailants
were forced to retire from the walls.

Between July 20th and 25th General Havelock began to cross the Ganges
and make his way into Oudh territory; but he was unable to relieve
Lucknow. His small force was weakened by heat and fever and reduced by
cholera and dysentery; while the enemy occupied strong positions on both
flanks. In the middle of August he fell back upon Cawnpore.

During the four months that followed the revolt at Delhi on May 11th,
all political interest was centred at the ancient capital of the
sovereigns of Hindustan. The public mind was occasionally distracted by
the current of events at Cawnpore and Lucknow, as well as at other
stations which need not be particularized; but so long as Delhi remained
in the hands of the rebels the native princes were bewildered and
alarmed; and its prompt recapture was deemed of vital importance to the
prestige of the British Government and the reestablishment of British
sovereignty in Hindustan. The Great Mogul had been little better than a
mummy for more than half a century; and Bahadur Shah was a mere tool and
puppet in the hands of rebel sepoys; nevertheless the British Government
had to deal with the astounding fact that the rebels were fighting under
his name and standard, just as Afghans and Mahrattas had done in the
days of Ahmed Shah Durani and Mahadaji Sindhia. To make matters worse,
the roads to Delhi were open from the south and east; and nearly every
outbreak in Hindustan was followed by a stampede of mutineers to the old
capital of the Moguls.

Meanwhile, in the absence of railways, there were unfortunate delays in
bringing up troops and guns to stamp out the fires of rebellion at the
head centre. The highway from Calcutta to Delhi was blocked up by mutiny
and insurrection; and every European soldier sent up from Calcutta was
stopped for the relief of Benares, Allahabad, Cawnpore, or Lucknow. But
the possession of the Punjab at this crisis proved to be the salvation
of the empire. Sir John Lawrence, Chief Commissioner in the Punjab, was
called upon for almost superhuman work; to maintain order in a conquered
province; to suppress mutiny and disaffection among the very sepoy
regiments from Bengal that were supposed to garrison the country; and to
send reenforcements of troops and guns, and supplies of all
descriptions, to the siege of Delhi. Fortunately the Sikhs had been only
a few short years under British administration; they had not forgotten
the miseries that prevailed under the native Government, and could
appreciate the many blessings they enjoyed under British rule. They were
stanch to the British Government, and eager to be led against the
rebels. In some cases terrible punishment was meted out to mutinous
Bengal sepoys within the Punjab, but the Imperial interests at stake
were sufficient to justify every severity, although all must regret the
painful necessity that called for such extreme measures.

On June 8th, about a month after the revolt at Delhi, Sir Henry Barnard
took the field at Alipur, about ten miles from the rebel capital. He
defeated an advance division of the enemy, and then marched to the Ridge
and reoccupied the old cantonment which had been abandoned on May 11th.
So far it was clear that the rebels were unable to do anything in the
open field, although they might fight bravely under cover. They numbered
about thirty thousand strong; they had a very powerful artillery and
ample stores of ammunition, while there was an abundance of provisions
within the city throughout the siege.

In the middle of August, Brigadier John Nicholson, one of the most
distinguished officers of the time, came up from the Punjab with a
brigade and siege-train. On September 4th a heavy train of artillery was
brought in from Firozpur. The British force on the Ridge now exceeded
eight thousand men. Hitherto the artillery had been too weak to attempt
to breach the city walls; but now fifty-four heavy guns were brought
into position and the siege began in earnest. From September 8th to 12th
four batteries poured in a constant storm of shot and shell; number one
was directed against the Cashmere bastion, number two against the right
flank of the Cashmere bastion, number three against the Water bastion,
and number four against the Cashmere and Water gates and bastions. On
September 13th the breaches were declared to be practicable, and the
following morning was fixed for the final assault upon the doomed city.

At three o'clock in the morning of September 14th three assaulting
columns were formed in the trenches, while a fourth was kept in reserve.
The first column was led by Brigadier Nicholson; the second by Brigadier
Jones; the third by Colonel Campbell; and the fourth, or reserve, by
Brigadier Longfield.

The powder-bags were laid at the Cashmere gate by Lieutenants Home and
Salkeld. The explosion followed, and the third column rushed in, and
pushed toward the Jumna Musjid. Meanwhile the first column under
Nicholson escaladed the breaches near the Cashmere gate, and pushed
along the ramparts toward the Kabul gate, carrying the several bastions
in the way. Here it was met by the second column under Brigadier Jones,
who had escaladed the breach at the Water bastion.

The advancing columns were met by a ceaseless fire from terraced houses,
mosques, and other buildings; and John Nicholson, the hero of the day,
while attempting to storm a narrow street near the Kabul gate, was
struck down by a shot and mortally wounded. Then followed six days of
desperate warfare. No quarter was given to men with arms in their hands;
but women and children were spared, and only a few of the peaceable
inhabitants were sacrificed during the storm.

On September 20th the gates of the old fortified palace of the Moguls
were broken open, but the royal inmates had fled. No one was left but a
few wounded sepoys and fugitive fanatics. The old King, Bahadur Shah,
had gone off to the great mausoleum without the city, known as the tomb
of Humayun. It was a vast quadrangle raised on terraces and enclosed
with walls. It contained towers, buildings, and monumental marbles in
memory of different members of the once distinguished family, as well as
extensive gardens, surrounded with cloistered cells for the
accommodation of pilgrims.

On September 21st Captain Hodson rode to the tomb, arrested the King,
and brought him back to Delhi with other members of the family, and
lodged them in the palace. The next day he went again, with one hundred
horsemen, and arrested two sons of the King in the midst of a crowd of
armed retainers, and brought them away in a native carriage. Near the
city the carriage was surrounded by a tumultuous crowd; and Hodson, who
was afraid of a rescue, shot both princes with his pistol, and placed
their bodies in a public place for all men to see.

Thus fell the imperial city; captured by the army under Brigadier Wilson
before the arrival of any of the reenforcements from England. The losses
were heavy. From the beginning of the siege to the close, the British
army at Delhi had nearly four thousand killed and wounded. The
casualties on the side of the rebels were never estimated. Two bodies of
sepoys broke away from the city and fled down the valleys of the Jumna
and Ganges, followed by two flying columns under Brigadiers Greathed and
Showers. But the great mutiny and revolt at Delhi had been stamped out,
and the flag of England waved triumphantly over the capital of
Hindustan.

The capture of Delhi, in September, 1857, was the turning-point in the
sepoy mutinies. The revolt was crushed beyond redemption; the rebels
were deprived of their head centre; and the Mogul King was a prisoner at
the mercy of the power whom he had defied. But there were still troubles
in India. Lucknow was still beleaguered by a rebel army, and
insurrections still ran riot in Oudh and Rohilkhand.

In the middle of August General Havelock had fallen back on Cawnpore,
after the failure of his first campaign for the relief of Lucknow. Five
weeks afterward Havelock made a second attempt under better auspices.
Sir Colin Campbell had arrived at Calcutta as Commander-in-Chief. Sir
James Outram had come up to Allahabad. On September 16th, while the
British troops were storming the streets of Delhi, Outram joined
Havelock and Neill at Cawnpore with fourteen hundred men. As senior
officer he might have assumed the command; but with generous chivalry
the "Bayard of India" waived his rank in honor of Havelock.

On September 20th General Havelock crossed the Ganges into Oudh at the
head of twenty-five hundred men. The next day he defeated a rebel army
and put it to flight, while four of the enemy's guns were captured by
Outram at the head of a body of volunteer cavalry. On the 23d Havelock
routed a still larger rebel force which was strongly posted at a garden
in the suburbs of Lucknow, known as the "Alumbagh." He then halted to
give his soldiers a day's rest. On the 25th he was cutting his way
through the streets and lanes of the city of Lucknow--running the
gauntlet of a deadly and unremitting fire from the houses en both sides
of the streets, and also from guns which commanded them. On the evening
of the same day he entered the British intrenchments; but in the moment
of victory a chance shot carried off the gallant Neill.

The defence of the British residency at Lucknow is a glorious episode in
the national annals. The fortitude of the beleaguered garrison was the
admiration of the world. The women nursed the wounded and performed
every womanly duty with self-sacrificing heroism; and when the fight was
over they received the well-merited thanks of Her Majesty Queen
Victoria.

During four long months the garrison had known nothing of what was going
on in the outer world. They were aware of the advance and retreat of
Havelock, and that was all. At last, on September 23d, they heard the
booming of the guns at the Alumbagh. On the morning of the 25th they
could see something of the growing excitement in the city; the people
abandoning their houses and flying across the river. Still the guns of
the rebels kept up a heavy cannonade upon the residency, and volleys of
musketry continued to pour upon the besieged from the loopholes of the
besiegers. But soon the firing was heard from the city; the welcome
sounds came nearer and nearer. The excitement of the garrison grew
beyond control. Presently the relieving force was seen fighting its way
toward the residency. Then the pent-up feelings of the garrison burst
forth in deafening cheers; and wounded men in hospital crawled out to
join in the chorus of welcome. Then followed personal greetings as
officers and men came pouring in. Hands were frantically shaken on all
sides. Rough-bearded soldiers took the children from their mothers'
arms, kissed them with tears rolling down their cheeks, and thanked God
that they had come in time to save them from the fate of the sufferers
at Cawnpore.

Thus after a siege of nearly four months Havelock succeeded in relieving
Lucknow. But it was a reenforcement rather than a relief, and was
confined to the British residency. The siege was not raised; and the
city of Lucknow remained two months longer in the hands of the rebels.
Sir James Outram assumed the command, but was compelled to keep on the
defensive. Meanwhile reinforcements were arriving from England. In
November Sir Colin Campbell reached Cawnpore at the head of a
considerable army. He left General Windham with two thousand men to take
charge of the intrenchment at Cawnpore, and then advanced against
Lucknow with five thousand men and thirty guns. He carried several of
the enemy's positions, cut his way to the residency, and at last brought
away the beleaguered garrison, with all the women and children. But not
even then could he disperse the rebels and reoccupy the city.
Accordingly he left Outram at the head of four thousand men in the
neighborhood of Lucknow, and then returned to Cawnpore.

On November 24th, the day after leaving Lucknow, General Havelock was
carried off by dysentery, and buried in the Alumbagh. His death spread a
gloom over India, but by this time his name had become a household word
wherever the English language was spoken. In the hour of surprise and
panic, as successive stories of mutiny and rebellion reached England,
and culminated in the revolt at Delhi and massacre at Cawnpore, the
victories of Havelock revived the drooping spirits of the British
nation, and stirred up all hearts to glorify the hero who had stemmed
the tide of disaffection and disaster. The death of Havelock, following
the story of the capture of Delhi, and told with the same breath that
proclaimed the deliverance at Lucknow, was received in England with a
universal sorrow that will never be forgotten so long as men are living
who can recall the memory of the "Mutiny of Fifty-seven."

The subsequent history of the sepoy revolt is little more than a detail
of the military operations of British troops for the dispersion of the
rebels and restoration of order and law. Sir Colin Campbell [Footnote:
Died at Chatham, England, August 14, 1863.--ED.]--later made Baron Clyde
of Clydesdale--undertook a general campaign against the rebels in Oudh
and Rohilkhand, and restored order and law in those disaffected
Provinces; while Sir James Outram drove the rebels out of Lucknow, and
reestablished British sovereignty in the capital of Oudh.




(1859) BATTLES OF MAGENTA AND SOLFERINO, Pietro Orsi


During the Crimean War (1853-1856) Austria remained neutral, while the
Italian Kingdom of Sardinia joined Great Britain, France, and Turkey
against Russia. The power of Austria still kept despotic sway over the
States of Italy, and it was the aim of Victor Emmanuel, King of
Sardinia, to throw off this hinderance to Italian liberty and union. It
was the opinion of Count Cavour, Victor Emmanuel's minister, that, by
acting with the allies against Russia, Sardinia would increase her
prestige with the European Powers, and thereby promote the movement for
independence. The success of the allies in the Crimean War confirmed the
prescience of Cavour.

Napoleon III wished to secure for France supremacy in southern Europe.
In 1855 he inquired of the Sardinian minister, "What can I do for
Italy?" The Crimean War ended with the Treaty of Paris in 1856. At the
congress which concluded that peace Cavour presented the case of Italy
against Austria. Not long after this it became evident that Napoleon was
prepared to espouse the Italian cause. In 1858 it was agreed that he
should do this.

Sardinia now prepared for war. Austria sent an ultimatum demanding a
reduction of the Sardinian army to a peace footing, This demand was
refused. In January, 1859, Austria mobilized fresh troops on the Italian
frontier, and Cavour requested Garibaldi to organize a volunteer corps
to be called _Cacciatori delle Alpi_ ("Hunters of the Alps"). Still
Cavour disclaimed a warlike policy, denying that the hostile initiative
was taken by Sardinia, although in this position he was opposed by some
members of his own Parliament. Nevertheless Cavour declared: "I believe
I am justified in proclaiming aloud, in the presence of Parliament, of
the nation, and of Europe, that if there has been provocation it was
offered by Austria." As shown by Orsi, the Italian historian, the great
minister maintained this attitude as long as it was possible to hold
back from the actual conflict.

Cavour insisted that Austria must be the aggressive party, for in the
treaty with Napoleon III it had been stipulated that France would come
to the help of Sardinia only in case of the latter being attacked by
Austria. Hence Cavour was obliged to seek every means of putting his
country into the attitude of the provoked party. How many
disappointments, uncertainties, and anxieties crowded those days, from
February to the end of April, 1859! In order to understand the enormous
difficulties overcome by Cavour it would be necessary to follow
literally, day by day, the history of that period. In March he repaired
to Paris to ascertain Napoleon's action: it was too evident, however,
that French public opinion was unfavorable to war, and the Emperor was
wavering. Russia and England suggested that the question should be
solved by a congress, to which proposal Napoleon III acceded: Cavour now
believed all was lost, since Sardinia could not refuse without putting
herself in the wrong. Fortunately, the difficulty was solved by Austria
boldly insisting that Sardinia should disarm before being represented at
the congress, and on April 23d this demand was enforced by an ultimatum,
to be answered within three days.

Now ensued a genuine declaration of hostilities, and most joyfully did