WHEN the third chief commander of the English army before Delhi became hopeless of taking the town and resigned, Brigadier-General Wilson replaced him. At that time, in the camp of the English army maddened by the attacks of the Revolutionaries, it was seriously discussed, in despair, whether the siege should be raised. It is difficult to say what would have been the course of the Revolution of 1857 if this plan had been resolved upon. Still, it is clear that this one movement on the part of the English would have harmed their cause more than many defeats at the hands of the Revolutionaries. The English had a strategic advantage in thus besieging the town of Delhi, because the Revolutionary army was shut up there in one place. If that vast host had spread over the province instead of being thus bottled up and had harassed the English after forming small detachments everywhere, this guerilla warfare would have soon reduced the small English force to impotence. But Delhi being besieged, the battlefield was restricted, the English force had not to put up with an unbearable strain, and the Revolutionaries were inconveniently huddled up together in one city and thus were more liable to attack. In these circumstances, to raise the siege of Delhi was to break the dam and let the Revolutionary forces inundate the whole country. Even if Delhi were captured, the Sepoys would no doubt have spread all around. But there was a vast difference between driving them out of Delhi, defeated and dejected, and making them elated by raising the siege and allowing them to fall upon the English. Though the English commander thoroughly understood this difference, despair, discouragement, and the fierce onslaughts of the Revolutionaries made him think of raising the siege. At that moment, the English power in India hung in the balance. It was, indeed, fortunate for the English that there was, at this time, a bold and desperately courageous officer like Baird-Smith in the
English camp outside Delhi. When all other officers were thinking of a retreat, he said with determination, “We must not release our hold of Delhi even by an inch! Our noose, fallen round her neck like cruel death, must be constant and thorough! If we raise the siege of Delhi, the Panjab will be out of hand, India will be gone, and the Empire ruined forever!”
Encouraged by the words of Baird-Smith, Brigadier Willson determined not to turn back without taking Delhi. The Revolutionaries, on the other hand, sustained the siege with rate ability and courage. They would make a sudden sortie, attack either the right or the left wing, kill as many people as possible, and retreat qhickly when the English rose vigorously to repel the attack. When the English army would have been decoyed near the fort in pursuit of the Sepoys, the Revolutionary guns would at once open a tremendous fire. With these tactics, the Revolutionaries so often deceived the English and killed so many of their number that Brigadier Wilson had to issue a special order that on no account was a pursuit of the Sepoys to be attempted. As the English numbers began to dwindle by this new ruse of the Revolutionaries, their commander’s eyes were turned towards the expected siege-train from the Panjab. All means of communication in North Hindusthan - telegraphs, railways, and posts - were completely destroyed, and the English army at Delhi was as much besieged as the Revolutionaries. The English had no adequate knowledge as to what was going on in the south of Delhi, or as to where the army sent from Calcutta had arrived, or as to the state of affairs in the towns of Lucknow, Cawnpore, Benares, and other places. A month after Sir Hugh Wheeler was killed, the English army at Delhi god ‘reliable’ information that he was hastening to come to their help! There was no hope of getting any reinforcements from Calcutta and the whole strain fell upon the Panjab. Sir John Lawrence had borne his burden well and had often sent reinforcements of English as well as Sikh soldiers. This time, too, he did not refuse the new request for a siege-train and more reinforcements but sent two thousand troops under the command of Nicholson. When the news of the arrival of
this army reached the English camp at Delhi, every face beamed with joy, hope, and encouragement. The fact that Nicholson was the commander encouraged them more than that two thousand soldiers were coming. A leader like Nicholson is worth thousands of soldiers! In the dispirited English ranks, everyone would say, “Now that Nicholson is coming, there is no doubt about the victory!”
As the acquisition of good leaders removed the doubts as to victory in the English camp, so the lack of good leaders among the Revolutionaries made their defeat more and more certain. The Emperor, whom they had set upon a rejuvenated throne, though of praiseworthy qualities of kindness and mercy fit for times of peace, was quite inexperienced in war and unequal to military leadership. There was no lack of brave Sepoys at Delhi. Those who had even surpassed English troops in warfare when fighting on their side, those who had learnt their drill and discipline under the English themselves, those whose swords had extended English rule right up to Afghanistan - there were fifty thousand of such heroes within the walls of Delhi. But there was wanted at least one capable head to command and lead the victory these fifty thousand men. All honour to these fifty thousand men who fought and failed. The wonder is that they held on for so long without a capable leader to lead them! Even the old Emperor whom they had placed on the throne was as anxious to find a good leader for them as they were themselves. He tried many experiments, but they did not work. He gave all the power in the hands of Bakht Khan. He appointed three generals to manage the army. He then ordered that a committee of six- three Delhi citizens and three Sepoy leaders - should together look after all the affairs of the army. And when this representative council also proved fruitless, the noble and patriotic Emperor, fearing that, perhaps, the Revolution was being destroyed on account of his fault and that capable men were leaving his side on account of his being at the head, announced publicly that he was ready to give up all his power and abdicate. Rather than India come back under the English, rather than the constantly
wheeling vulture of foreign domination tear the entrails of long - suffering India, rather than India be always submerged in the mire of slavery, the old Mogul proclaimed that the rule of any man over Hindusthan who would give her freedom and Swaraj would be a hundred times more pleasing to him than the continuance of his own rule. He sent letters written in his own hand
to the Rajas of Jeypore, Jodhpur, Bikaneer, Alwar, etc. " It is my ardent wish to see that the Feringhi is driven out of Hindusthan by all means and at any cost. It is my ardent wish that the whole of Hindusthan should be free. But the Revolutionary War that has been wages for this purpose cannot be crowned with success unless a man capable of sustaining the whole burden of the movement, who can organise and concentrate the different forces of the nation and will unify the whole people in himself, comes forward to guide this rising. I have no desire left in me of ruling over India, after the expulsion of the English, to my own personal aggrandisement. If all of you native Rajas are ready to unsheath your sword to drive away the enemy, then, I am willing to resign my Imperial powers and authority in the hands of any confederacy of the native princes who are chosen to exercise it.“12
This is the letter written by the leader of Indian Mahomedans, the Emperor of Delhi to the Hindu kings in India! This unique and typical letter shows how the noble words - Swatantrya, Swaraj, Swadesh, and Swadharma - were thoroughly understood in Hindusthan. Seeing the religious instincts of Hindus and Mahomedans thus completely united together in patriotic harmony, Charles Ball says, “Such unexpected, surprising, and extraordinary transformation is rarely to be seen in the history of the world!”
But this extraordinary transformation had been completely effected only in one province of the vast land of Hindusthan, and the immediate result of the Proclamation was not a perfect success. Though it is
12 Thed autograph letter:- Native Narrative by Metcalfe, p. 226. .
in the main, and in this sense, true that, before the walls of Delhi, a fight was going on between freedom and slavery, in another and in an important sense, we can say that there never was a true fight there between Indians and Feringhis as such. The author of the famous work The Siege of Delhi, says, “There were four times as many natives as Europeans in the artillery. For every European horseman there were two native horsemen. It was not possible to move a step without the help of the natives.” The vigorous life in one part of the country was killed by the treacherous activity in other parts. In spite of this, even towards the end of August, the Revolutionaries gave the English no opportunity to attack, but always pursued the offensive and continuously directed attacks on the English camp. This is not a mean indication of their devotion to the principle of Swaraj.
While all this heroic devotion on the part of the Revolutionaries was rendered powerless for want of a capable leader, the camp of the enemy got the advantage of a commander like Nicholson. Now was to be seen, for the first time, a shadow of despair in Delhi. The armies of Neemuch and Bareilly began to accuse each other for the present state of affairs; and riotous Sepoys, though regularly paid clamoured for more pay and threatened to loot the rich men of the town if their demands were not satisfied. Then, at the command of the Emperor, Bakht Khan assembled together the Sepoy leaders, Sepoys, and prominent citizens and asked them the question, “War or surrender!” At once, the cry went ringing up to the sky, “War, War, War!” (Ladhai!) At this display of enthusiasm there was hope everywhere, and the Revolutionary army, not excepting the Bareilly and Neemuch Sepoys, marched towards Najafgarh to attack and carry the English siege-train. After reaching Najafgarh, the Neemuch army would not encamp where the Bareilly brigade was encamped; and, instead of preparing to fall together on the enemy, they disobeyed Bakht Khan’s orders and encamped at a neighbouring village. When the English heard this news, the new commander, Nicholson, took a select and sufficient force and marched in all haste towards Najafgarh. He suddenly attacked the Neemuch brigade
which had encamped at a distance disobeying the orders of Bakht Khan. The Revolutionaries were lying scattered, unprepared, and unformed - the attack was cautious and well-ordered and under the command of Nicholson! The destruction of the Neemuch sepoys was complete. They fought; they fought with great courage; they fought with such bravery that the enemy applauded them. But this was vain bravery! The Revolutionaries had never suffered such a defeat since the battle of Bundelki-Serai. The whole Neemuch brigade fell this day on the field! This was the fruit of self-willed action and disobedience of the orders of their own elected commander! Undisciplined bravery is as useless as cowardice!
This victory of the 25th of August removed altogether the cloud of despair in the English Camp. This was their only real victory since the month of June. Everyone was anxious now to assault Delhi. Commander Wilson gave the order to Baird-Smith to prepare the plan of the final attack. This Baird-Smith who, by his persistence, had retained the English army at Delhi when it was thinking of raising the siege, prepared the map as ordered. The new siege-train from the Panjab also arrived safely in the English camp. The English commander sent a message to his troops in the following strain. “This city of Delhi has baulked the English army and three generals’ military skill for the last three months! The time has certainly come near when your efforts up to now will be rewarded by the razing to dust of that city!”
After the arrival of reinforcements from the Panjab, the English army consisted of three thousand and five hundred English soldiers, five thousand Sikhs, Panjabees, etc., two thousand and five hundred Kashmiris – altogether eleven thousand men. Besides, the Raja of Jhind himself was there, with hundreds of his men to assist in the fall of Delhi. In the first half of September, the English commander assumed the offensive andbegan to construct new batteries. This produced consternation among the Delhi Sepoys. While, outside the walls, the English were steadily advancing in good order, inside there was a climax of disorder, anarchy, and disobedience
among the Indian troops! The Indians on the English sided worked so arduously in the work of constructing the battery, in spite of the artillery- fire of Delhi, that Forrest writes, “The natives excelled in steady and unparallelled bravery. When man after man was being killed, they would keep up their work. If the man in front was killed by a bomb, they would stop for a moment, shed a tear or two for the dead, put the new body in the line of corpses, and begin work again in that terrible place!” The Indians under the English worked with such discipline, while those in the town of Delhi shirked their work. From this difference, what a lesson has to be learnt! Honouring the officers and obeying their word of order is the very essence of discipline. But this principle was being trampled down everywhere at Delhi. Most of the fault lay on the incapable officers and the rest on disorderly sepoys, and, now, there was disheartening despair to crown all! The 14th September came. The English army was divided into four coloumns - three under Nicholson stood on the right to force the Kabul gate and enter Delhi.
When the sun rose, the English guns which had been so long shattering the walls stopped suddenly. There was a dead silence for a moment in the English camp and immediately the force under Nicholson dashed against the wall. The first column went up to the breach which had been effected in the Kashmir Bastion. From within, the guns of the Revolutionaries kept up a hot fire. The English fell in heaps one upon another in the trenches but some reached the walls. A ladder was placed over the wall and the English army began to scale up the latter. The Revolutionaries fought desperately and shot down hundreds after hundreds of the Feringhi army. But the English force pushed on in spite of the terrible onslaught. At last, the English affected a big breach and carried it. Delhi’s walls yielded and the bugle of victory sounded!
In the same manner, near the breach at the Water-Bastion also, there was a terrible hand to hand fight, and the second column, killing and dying at every step,. Carried the breach and jumbed inside the city.
The third column was marching towards the Kashmir gate. When Lieutenants Home and Salkeld came in front of the gate to blow it up with dynamite, from the walls, from the windows, from everywhere came a perfect shower of grape. The draw-bridge over the trench in front of the Kashmir gate is broken. Only one plank remains. Enough, march forward on it, one by one! The sergeant is killed, this Mahadoo has fallen - but, Home, rush forth. Home ran forth and placed the dynamite near the gate. Others then rushed forward on the plank to apply the fire to it. Lieutenant Salkeld has fallen, shot by a bullet; rush forth, you, Captain Burgess; why, you are also shot; never mind, the hero has set fire to it, even as he was dying! A terrible crash like thunder! The Kashmir gate was blown up by the terrific force of the dynamite. But even this sound was not heard, in the din of battle, by the English commander who was waiting for the Kashmir gate to open! Should he advance or should he not? But, though he had not heard the bugle of victory, he had not the slightest doubt about the success of the English heroes who had rushed forth. After waiting for a time, he marched forth. With absolute confidence in his soldiers, Campbell gave the order for an assault. The troops came near the ditches. They saw their victorious and dying comrades in the ditches, rushed through the breach in the Kashmir gate, and jumped into Delhi.
The fourth column under Major Ried had started from the English right to take the Kabul gate. When it reached Sabzi Mandi, it met the Sepoys who had come out of Delhi to oppose it. Major Reid fell in the first encounter, the English advance was checked, there was confusion in the English camp, the Revolutionaries were elated, and it seemed that the English would be routed. But Hope Grant brought up the cavalry and the battle again became equal. Though the English artillery opened a terrible fire from every house and garden of Kishenganj, the Revolutionaries sent bullets flying and shed pools of blood. The English cavalry also found it impossible to advance. But it was also impossible to return for fear that the Revolutionaries might capture the guns. The English cavalry stuck to their posts to die. Not a man moved from his place, except by death. Of the grand bravery and discipline of the Indian cavalrymen, their commander, Hope Grant, says: “The native cavalrymen remained firm. Their valour is unparalleled. When I began to encourage them, they said: Do not be anxious! We will stand this fire as long as you wish!”
Equal bravery was shown by the Indians who were fighting for love of country and freedom. The infuriated Revolutionaries, fighting every inch of space, made a great effort near the Idgarh. More and more desperate attacks. When the English force, trying to capture Idgarh, was wavering, the Revolutionaries delivered another fierce attack. The English retired. The Revolutionaries pursued, vigorously attacking them all the way, up to their guns and cavalry. Now, at last,. The English forces are leaving the field after abandoning the position which they held so long! Bravo, Revolutionaries, bravo! You have shown a splendid fight! If all of you had been as brave, and as disciplined! -
While the fourth column was being thus foiled, the three English columns that had entered Delhi waited for a short time at the Kashmir gate and then rushed forth to attack the town. The three chief commanders, Campbell, Jones, and Nicholson, taking their followers, fought their way to the Kabul gate. The guns found in the way were captured; on every tower and pillar was placed a British flag, and the force went fighting right up to the Burn Bastion. But, from this place onwards, instead of empty gund, lifeless hillocks, and vacant fields, they encountered the fierce war-cry of the Revolutionary force. The Revolutionaries opened a terrible fire; fierce bloodshed and death marked every foot of ground they covered; the English army which had advanced far in the heat of victory was forced back beaten. When thus the English force received this check, Nicholson dashed forth like a tiger. His motto was nothing is impossible, in this world, to a brave warrior. When the irritated Nicholson left the Water Bastion and again entered the Gully - the bloody battle was renewed. Whichever Englishman stepped forth was shot down by the Revolutionaries fighting for freedom.
From the roofs, from the windows, from the porches, from the verandahs, this obstinate, freedom- loving Gully began to pour forth fire and forced even Nicholson to retire. The brave Major Jacob also fell in it! Now, rush forth, Nicholson! All other English officers, except you, have been killed by this Gully! Oh! freedom-loving Gully! Nicholson himself is coming forth - now is the true test! The fight began in a dead encounter. Suddenly, there was a cry in the English army, as if it had been struck by lightning descending upon it! Nicholso, Nicholson! Where is he now? Some brave Sepoy had singled him out and his him - and he was rolling on the ground! There was an uproar - “Hato” (Retire!) in the English army, and “Chato” (Cut down!)” in the Sepoy ranks! The dreadful Gully! Every inch of her length was the grave of an Englishmen!
Hardly did this column of the English army retreat through this heroic Gully and reach the Kashmir gate, when the bugle also sounded for the retreat of the column which had gone towards Jumma Musjid. Though there was no resistance till the mosque was reached, as soon as the troop came there, a terrible war-cry was heard and, in the subsequent fight, Campbell was wounded.
Thus ended the first day of the assault on Delhi. Of the four columns, three had their chief commanders wounded; sixty-six officers, and eleven hundred and four soldiers were killed! Reckoning in the evening the advantages gained at this expense, the English commander, Wilson, found that hehad taken only one-forth of Delhi! Fear, despair, and anxiety maddened general Wilson and he said that an immediate retreat must be ordered. “The town is yet unconquered; and thousands of the Revolutionaries are proudly inviting those that remain alive to come forth for battle. Shall we now sacrifice everyone of us or suffer the ignominy of defeat? We must now retreat!” - such was the opinion of Wilson.
When the dying Nicholson who had been taken to the hospital heard the news, that hero said, “Retreat! By God’s grace, I have still strength
enough in me to shoot the retreating Wilson!” All the living Englishmen agreed with this dying hero and, on the night of the 14th of September, the English troops stuck to the posts they had conquered.
The English council of war overruled General Wilson’s opinion as to retreat. The movements in the Revolutionary camp itself that night showed that the force of the Revolutionaries was spent. One party declared that it was better to give up Delhi and renew the war in the province, and the other insisted that Delhi should never be surrendered, even if everyone of them was killed. In the English camp whatever the diffrerences of opinion, the majority was always respected and the differences were merged in the unanimity of action. This virtue, however, was conspicuous in the confused Sepoy ranks by its absence, and the two parties, instead of uniting to form a common plan of action, went each their own way. Some Sepoys left Delhi, but others resolved not to go back and inch till the end, stuck to Delhi, and came out on the battle-field ready. This party fought for Delhi from the 15th to the 24th of September! And that too, with such determination, such bravery, and such steadiness that, when an English detachment would enter a mosque or a place, a guardsman would stand with his hand on the trigger, would aim calmly when the English came near, and would fire the last shot for his country and religion when they approached him. After doing this last service for his motherland, he would court death!
When three fourths of Delhi fell into the hands of the English, the commander-in-chief at Delhi, Bakht Khan,went to the Emperor and said, “Delhi has now slipped out of our hands. But this does not mean that all changes of victory are over. Even now, the plan of harassing the enemy in the open country rather than protecting an enclosed place is certain to bring
victory in the end. I am going to fight my way out of Delhi, after selecting the warriors who are ready to keep their swords drawn till the end in this war of liberty. I think it more advisable to go out fighting rather than surrender to the enemy. At this time, you should also come with us, and
under your banner, we will fight to the last for Swaraj.” If this old Mogul had even a hundredth part of the valour of Babar, Humayun, or Akbar in him, he would have accepted this valiant invitation and would have marched out of Delhi with the valiant Bakht Khan. If he was to die, he would have died like a king. But despairing on account of old age, slow on account of long enjoyment of luxuries, and frightened by defeat, the Emperor Bahadur Shah maintained an undetermined and vacillating attitude till the end. On the last day, he did himself in Humayun’s grave, and, after refusing Bakht Khan’s invitation, began to decide upon surrender to the English, according to the advice of Ilahi Baksh Mirza. This Ilahi Baksh was a first-class traitor! He gave the news to the English, who immediately sent thither Captain Hodson. After a promise to spare his life, the Emperor surrendered, was brought to the palace by the English, and imprisoned. Just then, the traitorous dogs, Ilahi Baksh and Munshi Rajab Ali, came up running and said, “But the princes are yet hiding in Humayun’s tomb!” Again, Hodson ran; the princes surrendered to him, were put in a carriage, and taken to the town. As soon as the cavalcade entered the town, Hodson ran up to the carriage and shouted out that those who killed English women and children deserved death alone. So saying, Hodson turned towards the surrendered princes, who were dragged out of the carriage, and robbed of all valuables on the person, and helpless stood before him. Three shots put an end to the lives of the three princes! Hodson cut away this last sprout of Timur’s family! But his revenge was not satisfied by simply shooting dead these illustrious princes. It is only savages that wreak a vengeance till death. If Hodson had stopped there, where would be the humanity of civilised English vindictiveness? Therefore, the dead bodies of the prionces were thrown right before the police station. When the vultures had fed on them for some time, the rotting bodies were dragged and thrown into the river. Oh Time! what changes are wrought by thee! That there should be no one to given the last burial rites to the descendants of the great Emperor Akbar! And now, the Sikhs thought that the prophecy in their books was fulfilled! But, in what way? By what means? To what end? For whose benefit?
Then began terrible looting and a general massacre at Delhi. After hearing the accounts, Lord Elphinstone writes to Sir John Lawrence, “After the siege was over, the outrages committed by our army are simply heart-rending. A wholesale vengeance is being taken without distinction of friend and foe. As regards the looting, we have indeed surpassed Nadir Shah!“13General Outram was of opinion that Delhi should be burnt!
The English army, both European and Indian, engaged at the siege of Delhi, was about ten thousand men. Of those, about four thousand fell on the field, killed and wounded. Such a terrible death-roll is not found even in a struggle like the Crimean war! Though it is impossible to form a reliable estimate of the losses of the Revolutionaries from English accounts, they must have been five to six thousand.14
In this manner this historical town, inspired by the noble sentiments of Swadharma and Swaraj, fought with a powerful enemy like the English for a hundred and thirty-four days and nights. On the whole, the fight was one befitting a high and exalted principle! From the day on which Delhi threw away the Feringhi flag from her walls and proclaimed the establishment of Swaraj, from the day on which Delhi smashed the chains of slavery and established freedom, from the day on which Delhi first pronounced the formula of unity for
the vast and extended continent of Hindusthan under a national banner, from that day onward, to the day on which English swords drank Swadeshi blood in the palace of Bahadur Shah, this town had done not a few deeds of noble and unselfish heroism befitting the holy was of freedom! Without a leader, without good organisation, having to fight a well-trained
13 Life of Lawrence, Vol. II, page 262.
14 Rotton says : “The casualties of the mutineers were often manifested beyond all due
bounds.” - Page 175.
enemy like the English, and having to oppose Swadeshi swords no less brave, - why, braver than the Feringhi ones – ready to pronounce upon their compatriots – inspite of all these disadvantages, the Revolutionaries fought a splendid fight. But disunion and want of organisation – the result of the lack of a great leader filled their camp and greatly handicapped them. Despite all these enormous difficulties, the Sepoys at Delhi fought like real national and religious martyrs. Their virtues, and even their faults, will be looked upon with reverence by future generations! “The elephant breaking his tusk, in trying to smash a mountain, is noble!” Throughout all the faults and all the virtues lurks constantly the fire of the love of Swadharma and Swaraj and freedom and sacrifice for a noble principle. And so, both these are living sermons on moral heroism!