ON the day on which the Revolutionaries were successful in the battle of Chinhat, the English power in Oudh came to an end and the revolt had openly assumed the form of a national Revolution. The Sepoys, princes, and people began by establishing a ruler liked by them on the vacant throne of Lucknow. The anarchy which raged everywhere for the space of a week after the battle of Chinhat had to be first suppressed before preparations for war could be made. Therefore, the Revolutionaries set themselves to the task of administration at Lucknow, though the week’s interval gave an opportunity to the English of fortifying their defences. The late Nabob of Lucknow, Wajid Ali Shah, being a prisoner of the English at Calcutta, they unanimously elected and placed on the throne his son, Prince Birjis Kadir. This Birjis Kadar being a minor, the regency of the kingdom of Oudh was given in the hands of his mother, Queen Hazrat Mahal. As in the palace of Delhi, on account of the extreme old age of Emperor Bahadur Shah, the affairs of state were looked after by Begum Zinat Mahal in the Emperor’s name, so in the palace at Lucknow, the Nabob being a minor, the Government depended on his mother, Begum Hazrat Mahal. This Begum of Oudh, thought not quite another Lakshmi Bai, was undoubtedly a great organiser, full of love of liberty and the spirit of daring. She had perfect confidence in an Omrah (nobleman) of the court, called Mahbub Khan. She appointed various officers to the judicial, revenue, police, and military departments. These officers selected were such as were loved and honoured by the representatives of the Sepoys, by Mahbub Khan and other leaving Sirdars, and also by the large numbers of the people who hurried from all parts of Oudh to Lucknow to join in the great War of Independence. Every day, a Durbar was held to discuss political affairs, and there, the Begum Sahiba exercised authority in the name of the Nabob. The news that Oudh
was free and that not a trace of English rule remained there was sent to the Emperor of Delhi, under the Begum’s seal, along with valuable presents. Letters were sent to all the neighbouring Zemindars and vassal Rajas to come to Lucknow with armed followers. From the appointment of the various civil officers, from the good order in all the departments of Government, from the daily Durbars, and other signs, it was apparent that the revolt had ended and constructive government had begun. But, unfortunately, the Revolutionaries did not show as much zeal in obeying the officers appointed as they showed in participating in their appointment. In all Revolutions this common blunder is committed, and this sows the seeds of destruction of the Revolution in the very beginning. Every Revolution is started by cutting down the laws of existing authority by the sword. But when once the habit is formed of mowing down by the sword the unjust laws of unconstitutional authority, then in the heat of the moment, the vicious habit develops of setting at nought all laws at will. The sword used for destroying wicked and cruel laws tends to destroy all law. The heroes, who start out for overthrowing foreign rule, soon get into the habit of overthrowing all rule. In the excitement of breaking the bonds of foreign rule, they begin to dislike all bonds, even those of just and normal rule. And in this way, Revolution ends in Anarchy, virtue in vice, and what ought to be a great benefit ends in loss. The destruction of individuals, of society, and of kingdoms is caused as much by anarchy as by foreign rule, as much by the absence of any bond as by the presence of cruel bonds. If any Revolution forgets this sociological truth, it generally kills itself in the end. Just as a man who begins to take wine as a cure for some distemper does not get rig of the habit of drinking wine even after he is cured; similarly, the habit of breaking bonds, in order to remove bad rule, persists even after its work is done and makes men disorderly and anarchical. That Revolution which destroys injustice and oppression is holy. But when a Revolution roots out one kind of injustice and oppressions but plants, at the same moment, the seeds of another kind, it becomes at once unholy and the seeds of destruction accompanying that sin soon put an end to its life.
Therefore, those who want to take the wine of Revolution to cure the disease of foreign slavery must be on their guar not to get addicted to the vicious habit. The mind must be trained from the beginning to honour one’s own rule as much as to hate foreign rule. In wiping out foreign misrule, care must be taken to discourage, by all possible means, internal disorder. In smiting down foreign rule and foreign authority, one’s own rule and authority should be be worshiped as sacred. The moment the foreign power is destroyed, in order to guard the country from the evils of anarchy, a constitution liked by the majority of the people should be at once established and that constitution should be obeyed with reverence by all. The orders of all officers thus appointed must be implicitly carried out, discipline must be observed, individual caprice must give way to devotion to the principle of the common good and, if any change in this constitution is thought desirable and just it must be attempted only by means of the voice of the majority. In short, the rule should be Revolution outside and Constitution within, chaos outside and cosmos within, sword outside and law within.
These elementary principles of all constitutions so necessary for the success of Revolutions were fairly well observed in the first half of the Rising. Immediately after the Revolution began, attention was given to organise administration with all possible speed at Delhi, Lucknow, Cawnpore, and other cities. In all these big towns, no imposter set himself up with the desire of individual aggrandisement. The undoubted hereditary and popular rulers were set up on the various thrones. These rulers did not even evince any desire to take advantage of the Revolution to further their own selfish ends and increase their power. Nay, more; written documents are published which prove that they were ready to relinquish all their rights if their persons were in the way of the country’s independence.15 Thus, in 1857, the first part of constructive administration was successfully achieved
15 See page 273, above.
in a spirit of adorable nobility. But, in this organisation, the important and major section being composed of common sepoys, they began to feel all bonds unbearable when they had once removed the shackles of foreign rule. And, at the time of the crisis, all discipline became lax. Therefore, even those officers, whom they appointed at the first impulse of the ideal of Swaraj, they later on insulted, disobeyed, and mocked. And thus, the Revolution tended to end in anarchy. Under these circumstances, had there arisen a hero who, by his individual prowess and the might of his all- conquering sword, could have won the hearts or awe of those followers who, incapable of being unified by an abstract ideal, could have still been bound together by a common hero-worship, the Revolution might have been crowned with success. But, in the absence of such a hero on the one side and the inherant tendency of an uncontrolled Revolution to lapse into anarchy on the other, there were more rabble than disciplined soldiers in the army of the kingdon of Oudh. The martyrs, by their undaunted, unconquered, and unconquerable determination to do and die, kept the field busin for three years! In the camp at Lucknow, the men of the first kind were much more numerous than those of the second, and the orders of several officers appointed by Begum Hazrat Mahal were never strictly obeyed. And the Sepoys became impudent, oppressive, disorderly, and self-willed.
But still some brave heroic spirit who were staying among them inspired the Sepoys with their bravery, noble ideas, and natural excellence of spirit. And as these valiant men insisted, it was resolved to make the first great attack on the besieged Residency on the 20th of July.
On the morning of the 20th of July, the Revolutionary artillery which had been very actgive so long, suddenly stopped firing. About eight o’clock, the Revolutionary party laid some mines under the Residency walls and filled them with dynamite. The mines were blown up and the Sepoy ranks rushed forth after the explosion. At the same time, the guns again began a terrible fire on the English. The Revolutionary army fell upon the English from different directions – toward the Redan, on the house of Innes, on the Cawnpore Battery. The part of the army which attacked the Cawnpore battery made a desperate rush on the English guns. Again and again, they rushed against the guns. Their heroic leader, fluttering the flag of Swaraj in his hand, jumbed into the ditch and called upon the others to follow, shouting, “Chalo, Bahadur! Chalo!” (Come, brave men, come!) He crossed the ditch and began to plant the Revolutionary flat on English guns!16 But this brave soldier was soon shot down by an English bullet. Instead of thousands rushing forth over his dead body at this time and avenging the death of the martyr the crowd of camp followers retreated instead of advancing. But, bravo! You ladder-men! You did not imitate the cowardly camp-followers but rushed forth like real Sepoys. Plant the ladders in the ditch and mount up quickly in spite of the first of the English! Thew first batch has fallen - but let the next one come. But are the others who dare risk it? This is the difference between the English army and the Revolutionaries! The English never allowed the blood of their comrades to be shed in vain; if one falls, ten rush forward in his place. We do not care where those who fled behing will go do; but, you heroes, you martyrs, you have reached Heaven! Those who took the flag of Swaraj in their own hands; in order that it might not be polluted by the touch of cowardly living corpses, those who went up to put that flat on the enemy’s fire-spitting guns, by their glorious, holy blood - that flag will be eternally pure and shine with a divine splendour! The flag of Swaraj looks its best only in such wounded and bleeding arms! One whose wrists are not bespattered with blood should not touch and pollute the holy flag of independence!
After this first assault was repulsed, the Revolutionaries had, daily, small skirmishes with the English. They did their best in dynamiting the houses in the Residency. From above, the fire of terrible guns, and from below, dynamite explosions! No Englishman was sure when the ground beneath his feet would burst and swallow him. According to Brigadier Innes’s calculation, the Revolutionaries dynamited the Residency thirty-
16 Gubbins’s Mutinies, page 218
seven times! The Revolutionary guns were, also, constantly active. The Sepoys would send splendidly aimed shots against the English and the English would reply to them. There were death-dealing fights between bands of scouts which set out at night to get secret information from the opposite camps. Often, the secret whisperings of a group of men either within or without the walls were heard by the other party and nullified their plans. The Revolutionaries amused themselves often by aiming a ball exactly at the English flag and destroying it. And the English, also, unfailingly hauled up a new one at the Residency as soon as night fell. At such ghastly jokes, the battlefield of Lucknow would open her terrible jaws and smile a deathly smile! Every night the messengers of the Revolutionaries would go hiding near a part of the fort occupied by the Sikhs or other Indians and ask them, “Why do you play the traitor (Nimak haram) with the nation and thrust the sword of the Feringhis into the bodies of your own brethren?” If any night these questions became persistent, the “loyal” Sikhs, to have some fun, would ask them to come near in order to converse better and, as soon as they came, would make an Englishman who had hitherto kept himself concealed stand up before them! Seeing such treachery, the Revolutionaries would return cursing their baseness. Of all the splendid and unring shots among the Revolutionaries, an African eunuch who had been in the service of the late Nabob spread terror in the English Residency. He was nicknamed “Othello” by the English.
About this time Major Banks who had taken charge of the office of chief commissioner of Oudh, after the death of Sir Henry Lawrence, also fell dead by the bullet of a Revolutionary. This was the second English chief commissioner killed duringthe siege! But on account of the fixed, regular, and orderly organisation of the English army, even during the uncertain terrors of a siege, the death of a commander had no more effect than the death of a common soldier as regards the efficiency of the army. When the second commissioner fell, Brigadier Inglis took charge as commissioner, and the work of defence went on as before. At this time, however, the
losses, deaths, the removal of leaders, the scarcity of food, and the activity of the Revolutionaries had made the English at Lucknow fairly desperate, though not altogether hopeless.
Just then Angad returned from Cawnpore! This Angad was an Indian formerly employed in the English army and now a pensioner. Since the siege of Lucknow, it had become impossible for any white messenger to go out and return with information. His white skin, his yellowish hair, and his blue eyes could never escape the swords of the Revolutionaries. Therefore, it became necessary to employ brown men on the English messages, and thus, many “loyal” brown messengers had been sent out from Lucknow. But, out of all these, only Angad returned alive! He did not bring any letter or anything else suspicious with him for fear of the Revolutionaries, but he gave commander Inglis the assurance that he had himself seen the English army set out from Cawnpore for the relief of Lucknow. Encouraged by this news, the English told Angad to go back and get a written reply. Angad left Lucknow on the 22nd and returned at eleven o’clock on the night of the 25th. With him was Havelock’s letter, “Havelock is coming with an army sufficient for all odds. Lucknow will be relieved in five or six days.” In order to furnish Havelock, who was coming to releive them, with all information, the English gave military plans and maps to Angad and told him to go to Havelock again. That marvellous scout again went to Havelock’s camp and delivered to him all the military maps of Lucknow. Now, all English eyes were turned towards the direction from which they expected Havelock’s victorious flag to march over the dead bodies of the Revolutionaries. They even heard some distant sounds of artillery-fire. Could they be Havelock’s guns?
The English had not long been fondly hoping that Havelock was coming to help them when they discovered that it meant a second assault from the Revolutionary side! The revolutionaries at first opened fire on the Cawnpore battery, Johannes’ House, Begum Kothi, and other places. On that day, the Revolutionary dynamite did splendid work. There was a
tremendously big breach in the English wall, enough for a whole regiment to march in in good order. But where was the regiment that would go in? If the English had effected such a breacnh in the enemy’s wall, they would have captured the place in half an hour. Some heroes among the Revolutionaries fought bravely till two in the afternoon. The Indians on the English side, however, excelled in bravery, discipline, and contempt of death! What a misfortune! This bravery in treachery and this cowardice in patriotism! What a contrast! Run up, some one, to remove this stain! It is now five and the attack is almost repulsed, but run up, someone, though not for immediate victory at least for ever-lasting glory! Captain Saunders, beware! The furious march of heroes devoted to principle is coming! It is come; this band of infuriated heroes are marching straight on - they are obstructed by the English wall but they are trying bodily to push it away. The English, at this crisis, left their guns and took up their bayonets. Hail, Freedom! Some snatched away the bayonets with their own hands and at last, fallen a prey to an English bullet! But they have saved the disgrace of their country on the field and exhibited bravery admired even by enemies. The fight was such that the English themselves took photographs of these heroes who struggled to wrest away English bayonets from the walls and fought with the frenzy of lions till death!
On the 18th of August, the Revolutionaries made another attack on the English. On this day, as usual, a breach was first made by dynamite and, then, the Revolutionaries rushed forth. Malleson writes :- “One of their officers, a very gallant fellow, sprang at once to the top of the breach and, waving his sword, called on his men to follow. Before, however, his summons was responded to, a bullet had laid him low. His place was instantly occupied by another, but he was as instantly killed. Etc., etc.”
The bravery of the three men, as described even by Feringhis, was a match to Nicholson’s bravery at Delhi. But it went in vain on account of the timidity of their followers. Instead of pushing forth with redoubled
vigour at the death of the three, the thousands behind them thought it prudent to retire. From this one event, what a lesson ought to be learnt?
These frequent attacks were not all. Before the terrible daily fire of artillery and guns, the English found it unbearable to hold out much longer in spite of the excellent assistance of the “loyal” Indians. Just then, Angad again returned to Lucknow! As the English commander was about to ask him, in eager joy, how far Havelock had marched according to his promise, the scout delivered to him Havelock’s letter, “I cannot come towards Lucknow for at least twenty-five days to come”! Nothing is more unbearable than despair following hope. Not only dying patients and emaciated women but soldiers and officers became extremely dispirited, sad, and frightened. A death-like shadow came over the whole English force. Food became dear and all were ordered to live on half-rations! Why this delay? Why is a warrior like Havelock not coming to such an important work as the relief of Lucknow?
Without they delay of a moment, Havelock had left Cawnpore and crossed the Ganges as far back as the 29th of July, in order to save his comrades at Lucknow. He had a thousand and five hundred men and thirteen guns and had written a letter to assurance to them, promising to relieve them without fail within five or six days. But as soon as he crossed the Ganges and stepped into Oudh, the imaginary ease of the task began to melt away like a cloud! Every inch of the way through Oudh had risen in revolt! Every Zemindar had collected a few hundred men under him and had begun the fight for independence. Every village flew the national Revolutionary flag. Seeing this terrible state of affairs, Havelock became very much dejected in mind. He was dejected but he did not despair. He marched on. The Revolutionaries encountered him first at Onao but flew away soon. After this skirmish at Onao, Havelock gave his soldiers only time for eating and, after that, the march continued. At Bashiratganj, a second skirmish took place with a similar result, Havelock’s army fought two such skirmishes on the 29th and got the better of the Revolutionaries in both.
But, was this a real victory? In one day, the handful of his army lost one sixth of its number. And the Revolutionaries were not in the least broken up. Nay, more; it is doubtful whether the Revolutionaries were really defeated and chased away or they had hit upon the new plan of harassing the enemy considerably without suffering any losses themselves! And just then the news had come that the Danapur sepoys had also joined the Revolution. This threatening state of affairs compelled Havelock to stop his forward march on the 30th and retire back to Mangalwar.
Hearing that Havelock’s army had left Cawnpore, Nana Sahib Peshwa again resumed operations round about Cawnpore. While Havelock left Cawnpore and crossed the Ganges to enter Outh, Nana Sahib left Oudh and was crossing the same river to re-enter Cawnpore! Not to be caught in this trap of Nana Sahib, Havelock had to remain encamped at Mangalwar till the 4th of August. Instead of Havelock driving the Revolutionaries within a week to the banks of the Gotami, Nana Sahib had made Havelock stick to the Ganges. Just then the Revolutionaries in his front came up again to Bashiratganj. Irritated by the persistent harassing, Havelock became desperate and started towards Lucknow with his troops. At Bashiratganj he again gave battle to the Revolutionaries and drove them away. But here, also, the question was whether it was a victory or a defeat. For, in this fight, havelock lost three hundred men and his troops were so fatigued that, instead of advancing towards Lucknow, he began to retire on the Ganges. On that day, out of the one thousand and five hundred men that started with him, there remained only eight hundred and fifty!
Hearing that Havelock had again retreated to Mangalwar on the 5th of August, the Revolutionaries once more captured Bashiratganj and encamped there. In this army of the Revolutionaries, the greater number were well-to-do Zemindars. “All the men killed yesterday were Zemindars.“17 For the sake of their country, for the sake of independence
17 Kaye and Malleson’s Indian Mutiny, Vol. III, p. 340.
and Swaraj, those rich and happy men had discarded their soft beds and had resolved to go to the battle-field and risk all its dangers and risks. Seeing this enthusiasm on their part, the English historian Innes says: “At least, the struggle of the Oudhians must be characterised as a war of independence.” The Revolutionary army was constantly hovering round Havelock’s Mangalwar, the Revolutionaries, as we said before, again encamped at Bashiratganj. Therefore, on the 11th of August, Havelock pushed forward to Bashiratganj for the third time – and for the third time there was a fight and the Revolutionaries fled away; but Havelock asked himself, for the third time, “Is this victory or defeat?”
It was neither a victory nor a defeat. Therefore, instead of advancing, Havelock fell back on Mangalwar. In the meanwhile, Nana’s plans were becoming ripe. The Revolutionaries of Sagar and of Gwalior and bands of volunteers came and joined him. Taking them with him, Nana marched to Bithoor and threatened to attack Cawnpore. General Neill had not enough troops to march against him and so sent word to Havelock of his critical position. It was now impossible to think of proceeding to Lucknow. Therefore, on the 12th of August, Havelock had to recross the Ganges and go back to Cawnpore! When the English bands sounded the retreat, everywhere there were joyful shouts of acclamation as if the victorious drums of independence was being beaten! You faithful Zemindars, you have served your country well in thus shedding your blood and driving away the foreign fow, and wanted to re-enter Oudh, away on the other side of the Ganges! Innes writes : “This retirement from Oudh produced a result which he had, doubtless, never contemplated. The Talukdars openly construed it as the British evacuation of the province and now formally recognised the Durbar at Lucknow as the de facto government; and, though they refrained from supporting it by their own presence they obeyed its orders which they
had hitherto disregarded, and sent to the scene of warfare the contingents which they had been called upon to provide.“18
The victory of the Revolutionaries was not a direct but an indirect one. If, in the above four or five skirmishes fought by Havelock, he had been defeated and driven away to Cawnpore, a greater self-confidence would have been seen in the Revolutionary ranks than was to be seen now by simply forcing him to retire by harassing his rear. And, proportionately, the English forces would have been more demoralised. The English army perceived that the retreat to Cawnpore was due not to lack of bravery but to lack of numbers and, though baulked of its fruits, its vigour, self- confidence, and pride were not a whit diminished by this indirect defeat. And, therefore, Havelock encamped at Cawnpore with the full confidence that he would start again for Lucknow as soon as he got reinforcements.
At this time, there was a serious quarrel between Havelock and Neill on account of personal jealousy. This is clearly seen in the following letter written by Havelock to Neill: “I wrote to you confidentially on the state of affairs. You send me back a letter of censure of my measures, reproof, and advice for the future. I do not want and will not receive any of them from an officer under my command, be his experience what it may. Understand this distinctly, and that a consideration of the obstruction that would arise to the public service at this moment along prevents me from taking the stronger step of keeping you under arrest. You now stand warned. Attempt no further dictation.”19 In this letter, one sentence is an excellent indication of the sense of duty towards the nation, ingrained in the bones of all Englishmen. Even in the height of passion, Havelock says that “consideration of the obstruction that would arise to the public service alone” prevented him from then and there avenging his personal insult! In trhis dispute between the two generals Neill and Havelock at this critical
18 The Sepoy Revolt, page 174.
19 Quoted by Malleson, Indian Mutiny, Vol. III, p. 337, note.
time, not only did both of them behave calmly in order that their national enemy might not take advantage of this division, but both helped each other, as far as possible, for their common end. In that society where, individualism is held in check by regard for public advantage, in that society alone can wealth and intellect, and fame and independence last long.
The first news that Havelock received when he came to Cawnpore was that Nana Sahib’s army had re-occupied the town of Brahmavarta. Seeing that the Revolutionaries had thus advanced again close to the Cawnpore army, Havelock marched against them at once. On this day, at the battle of Brahmavarta, when the English came up fighting within twenty yards of the Revolutionary ranks, the 42nd regiment on the Revolutionary side began to use their bayonets. The English so long used to think that, when all other means failed, bayonets would surely frighten away the Revolutionaries. But to-day, the brave heroes of freedom, themselves, began to attack with bayonets. At the same time, the Revolutionary cavalry fell upon the English rear and carried off their provisions. Thus the English army was attacked both in front and the rear by the gallant Revolutionaries. Even the English commander saw that the Revolutionaries were gradually becoming more and more valiant. But this bravery and heroism was not properly moulded by discipline as it was on the English side and, even after all this valour, the Revolutionaries were defeated and had to retire. When Havelock retired to Cawnpore on the 17th of August after inflicting this defeat on the Revolutionaries, he perceived that the whole army of Nana Sahib was not at Brahmavarta but that he had a vast and fully equipped force in the town of Kalpi, on the banks of the Jumna. Harassed from Kalpi, harassed from Brahmavarta, harassed from Oudh, harassed on both sides of the Ganges! Thus harassed on all sides, the “victorious” Havelock wrote to Calcutta: “We are in a terrible fix. If new reinforcements do not arrive, the British army cannot escape the fate of abandoning Lucknow and retreating to Allahabad.” Havelock awaited a reply to this appeal, from Calcutta. He expected to receive reinforcements according to his request and hoped that
he would crown all his victories and defeats by the relief of Lucknow. But, suddenly, he got an order that the command of the army to be sent to Lucknow was taken from him and given to Sir James Outram! English punishment is so severe! Even though victorious, Neill was a little late in going to Cawnpore; so, the command was taken from him and given to Havelock. And, though victorious, Havelock was inevitably late in going to Lucknow; so even an able general like him was removed and Sir James Outram was made the commander! At this news, Havelock was extremely mortified. The glory for which he strove day and night, with his life in his hands, the glory of relieving Lucknow, would now fall into other hands. This insult grieved him very much. Still, Malleson writes, “It is one of the glories of our countrymen that, however actually they may feel a disappointment of this nature, it never affects their public conduct. It is this recognition of, and this devotion to, duty, that stamp the Englishman. He subordinates to it all private feelings. He may be keenly sensible of the injustice perpetrated towards himself, but above himself is always his country. He may have his own views as to how that country may best be served; but, when the Government which represents it has otherand different views, he feels bound to devote all his energies to make possible the success of the orders of the Government. Thus acted Neill. And, now, thus also acted Havelock. Superseded, as he regarded himself to be, he was as active, as daring, as devoted, as when he ruled as the unfettered commander of an independent force.“20
While Havelock was working day and night for the victory which was to belong to another, Sir James Outram arrived at Cawnpore on the 15th of September. After the chief command was transferred from Havelock to Sir James Outram, the first order that Outram issued was to the following effect: “He who so bravely has been keeping up the struggle for the raising
20 Malleson’s Indian Mutiny, Vol. III, page 346. of the siege of Lucknow, he alone deserves the honour of accomplishing that task. For this reason, I have handed over all my authority as a commander to the brave Havelock, till the siege of Lucknow be raised, and have enlisted myself as a simple volunteer in the ranks.”
What a moral education this first noble order of the commander must have been to the English army! How the individual must have been merged in the nation! With the first order, Outram gave the chief command to Havelock and showed unparalleled patriotism, generosity, and unselfishness.
Inspired by the moral lesson of this piece of heroic nobility, and reinforced by fresh English troops from Calcutta under officers like Eyre, Outram, and Cooper, the Cawnpore army, with redoubled vigour, again started to cross the Ganges on the 20th of September to march to the relief of Lucknow. The impatient Havelock of July 25th who started to “relieve Lucknow in five or six days,” the Havelock of August 12th unfortunate in having to retreat to Cawnpore and who found it difficult to hold out at all in Oudh, and the resolute and hopeful Havelock of 20th of September! How different are these three pictures of Havelock? He had, now, two thousand and five hundred English troops, and the whole army, including the Sikhs, numbered about three thousand two hundred and fifty. Select cavalry, excellent artillery, officers like Neill, Eyre, and Outram were with him. Now, he did not pay any heed to the Oudh Revolutionaries. Every Zemindar who cam,e to the field to save his country from the polluting touch of the Feringhi was killed. Every proud village that stood up to fight, unable to bear a sight of Feringhi horsemen galloping in the mother-country, was burnt to ashes! Every road, every field, every river on the way was reddened with Swadeshi blood! Thus, the powerful English army began to push its way into Oudh with violence. Fighting skirmish after skirmish and routing the ill-trained Revolutionaries, Havelock arrived at Alarm Bagh on the 23rd of September. A Revolutionary force was encamped there. The two forces met. The whole day the terrible battle was raging near Alam Bagh. The
enemy captured five of the guns of the Revolutionaries, one of which the Revolutionaries recaptured. Both sides determined to spend the night on the field. But when the army of the enemy began to rest at night in the muddy and swampy ground, the Revolutionaries forswore all rest and started the fight again. That, night rain was falling in showers. But the waves of enthusiasm in the English army were stronger even than the showers of rain, for the electrifying news of the fall of Delhi had reached them that night!
At last, the critical day of the 25th dawned. Seeing that Havelock’s army, avoiding the regular roads leading to Lucknow city was marching to the Residency by an odd road, the Revolutionaries opened a terrible fire. Bearing this artillery-fire bravely, the English came up from Alam Bagh right up to the bridge at Char Bagh. To cross this bridge was to enter Lucknow, and, therefore, an obstinate fight began on this most strategic point. Captain Maude directed a heavy fire for half an hour on that bridge, but neither the bridge was emptied nor were the guns on it silenced. Nay more, the English had lost already twenty-one killed near the Yellow House and more on the bridge. Was the whole English army to be checked by this one defiant bridge? So, Maude said to Havelock’s young son standing near by, “Young hero, find out some remedy for this!” At this, young Havelock came to Neill and told him that the Revolutionaries could not be driven away by the artillery, and requested him to give the order to lead an assault on that bridge. But General Neill said that he could not give such an order without consulting Havelock. What was to be done next? Young Havelock at once found out the answer to this question. He spurred his horse and galloped a little in the direction where the general-in-chief, Havelock, was and, pretending to have seen him, returned to Neill. He humbly saluted Neill and said: “The commander-in-chief has ordered the assault on the bridge.” Hearing this, the general gave the order to assault. Young Havelock himself rushed to the bridge with the first batch of twenty- five Englishmen. The fire was terrible. In one or two minutes, which of the twenty-five remained alive? And the young Havelock himself - beware!
beware - a brave and fearless hero has jumped upon the bridge and is taking aim straight at you! The brave Sepoy came up to within ten yards of young Havelock, stood there coolly before all the English host and quietly aimed at Havelock; the bullet went - but there was a difference of only half an inch! Instead of entering the head, it entered Havelock’s helmet. Still the dauntless Sepoy stood there calmly while several English guns were aimed at him and began loading his gun again! At last, you have been shot by Havelock, but bravo! You have died killing like a hero in this battle for independence! In a few moments, the vast English army rushed upon the bridge which began to shake with their weight. The Revolutionaries had to retire and the English advanced. The bridge fell; the first road to Lucknow fell; then, the second fell; then, the third - the English army pushed onward, victorious. Every few steps, swords would clash with swords and guns with guns. When a copious lake of blood accumulated there, the living Battle would advance again. In the evening, Outram said that the night should be spent outside. But no, no! How could the brave Havelock bear even to hear the name of rest? To whom countrymen of theirs, crushed in the very jaws of death in that Residency, one night would be like an age. Therefore, Havelock advanced - Neill advanced. The English army missed the road fixed upon and came nearer and nearer into the line of fire of the Revolutionaries - still Neill advanced. When he entered the great arch of Khas Bazaar, he saw that the English artillery had slacked a little behind. Therefore, he drew up his horse and turned his head to look back. Now is the time! This is the time for the country’s revenge! O you Revolutionary hero on the arch, even if you lose your life, you must make use of this opportunity. In a moment, a Sepoy who was lying in weit on the arch took aim and lodged a bullet straight into the very neck of General Neill and he dropped down dead! In the whole English army, it was very difficult to find another man so brave and so cruel, so insolent and so undaunted, so patient and so heartless, by the good luck and ill-luck of humanity.
But it is the peculiarity of the English army that the continuance of its work does not depend upon an individual - even an uncommon general like Neill. Neill’s death did not create the slightese confusion; the English army continued its march to the Residency all the same. In that Khas Bazaar where Neill fell with his neck broken, even if there had flowed an ocean of English blood, the English army would have marched in the same manner. When they went through the bazaars, they heard the joyous hurrahs from the Residency. They also shouted “Hurrah” in reply. Havelock had relieved his compatriots from the very jaws of Death! That scene can best be described in the pen of Captain Wilson who was present there. “In spite of deaths that were diminishing their ranks at every step, the white army approached the Residency, and at their sight all fear and doubt vanished away from the besieged garrison. They showered their congratulations and blessings on the advancing deliverers, the sick and the wounded crept out of the hsopitals, and continuous cheers and welcomes pealed forth in succession. Very soon the deliverers met the delivered. The occasion defies description. Those who had heard of the death of their husbands found themselves in the arms of their living husbands, to the unbounded joy of both. And those who were looking forward to the cherished embrace of their beloved ones learned for the first time that death had left no hope of seeing them any longer!”
In the Residency of Lucknow, fighting without intermission for eighty-seven days, seven hundred men had fallen. About five hundred Europeans and four hundred Indians were alive, wounded as well as whole. And in the army of Havelock, which set out for their relief, seven hundred twenty-two men were killed before the Residency was reached! It was at the cost of so many brave men’s lives that the victory of Lucknow was achieved.
But you cruel Despair! You are still as invincible as ever! Havelock has harassed the Revolutionaries so much but you still do not leave him! For, when he entered the Residency he had thought that, after all the victories, all the bloodshed, all the fighting, he had, at last, relieved the English power from the grip of the Revolutionaries. But now, his delusion is
being dispelled and he asks himself, after reaching the Lucknow Residency, the same question as he did when he was on the banks of the Ganges, “What I brought to the Residency - is it complete relief or more help?” Instead of the siege being raised by Havelock’s coming to the Residency, the Revolutionaries now besieged the old army as well as the new! And therefore, everyone began to ask, “What has Havelock brought us, relief or mere help?” It was only help! This army, which the two great English generals, Havelock and Outram, brought, after fighting many battles, to relieve the English at Lucknow from the grip of the Pandays, instead of raising the siege, went in and was besieged itself along with the other. The English hoped that the army of the Pandays would disperse as soon as Havelock’s army entered the Residency. All India soon saw that these hopes were completely dashed to the ground. Instead of giving up Lucknow or opening negotiations for peace with the English, the Panday host, infuriated by the progress of the War of Independence, took up its former position round the Residency as soon as Havelock entered it. While entering the Residency, one part of the English army had been left behind at Alam Bagh. This part was not allowed a chance to join the main army. And, before the pools of blood accumulated in the streets in the course of the day’s fight had dried up, the freedom-loving city of Lucknow, discardingthe discouragement and despair caused by their defeat and the victory of the English, again besieged and bottled up the English power in Oudh.
It was not only the English army at Lucknow that was placed in a fix by this firm and determined stand of the Pandays in the War of Independence. The whole English army from Peshawar up to Aligarh had to suffer a severe strain. All the troops had been despatched under the command of Havelock to fall upon Lucknow; and when, in spite of the help of these troops, not only the besieged army in the Residency was not set free but the army was beleaguered there, then, the English power in the provinces below Lucknow became considerably enfeebles. Though just then,
Delhi had fallen and the English army there was free, it had enough work on its hands in ‘restoring order’ in the provinces around Delhi. In these circumstances, the English Commander-in-Chief left the armies at Lucknow and Alam Bagh to fight it out themselves for the present with the Revolutionaries, and began to attend to the lightening of the strain on the British power as the more important task.
The new English Commander-in-Chief, Sir Colin Campbell, had arrived at Calcutta on the 13 th of August. From that day till the 27th of October, he has straining every nerve to prepare for the vast campaign to reconquer Hindusthan from the hands of the Revolutionaries. He portioned out the English army as it arrived from Madras, Ceylon, and China. He cast new guns in the Cassim Bazaar arsenal. He had excellent arrangements as far as possible for arms and ammunition, provision, cloths, and transport. He spent two months in these preparations for the next great campaign when the news arrived that Havelock and Outram were still shut up in the Residency at Lucknow. Therefore, with the resolve to deal personally with the obstinate town of Lucknow which fell but rose again, he set out from Calcutta on the 27th of October.
About the same time, a naval brigade had been formed under Colonel Powell and Captail William Peel and sent up the river to Allahabad. From Calcutta right up to Allahabad and Cawnpore, near all the big roads, small bands of Revolutionaries were constantly harassing the English army. If these bands had been found together, the English could have possibly attacked them all; but the Panday forces, trained in the school of Kumar Singh, hovered round the English army, always avoided battle, never gave the English any indication of their existence except when attacking them and, by these guerilla tactics, had created consternation in the English camp in the whole province. While trying to drive away such a band from the Kajva river, the colonel of the naval brigade was killed. On the day on which the Panday sword drank the blood of Powell, the Commander-in- Chief arrived at Cawnpore. The Commander-in-Chief had himself had a
terrible experience as to how the Revolutionary bands harassed the armies on their march.
Sir Colin Campbell was driving in a carriage from Allahabad to Cawnpore. Though the English had tremendous difficulties in obtaining transport and the Commander-in-Chief had to sit in a third-class cart, on the same road was marching a detachment of a Revolutionary regiment of infantry mounted on about a dozen elephants. There were, also, twenty-five horsemen accompanying them. Sir Colin was alone. When the driver of the card came near Sher Ghati, he saw the Revolutionary band coming to the same place by another road. Though the Pandays did not pay any attention to the freight on the card, because they had no idea of it, still, the freight itself was considerably anxious! The commander-in-chief going towards Cawnpore toconquer the whole of India saw standing before him, suddenly, the terrible Revolutionary band. He gave up the route and turned back immediately. A word would have done him! A sign from the cartman would have been enough! And the man who could not have been caught even after killing thousands of Englishmen would have been made a prisoner by an ordinary cartman. It was the difference of a moment. Sir Colin would have been arrested and taken before Kumar Singh or sent at once before the Angel of Death!
After escaping from this danger, Sir Colin arrived at Cawnpore on the 3rd of November. As large a force as possible had already been assembled there under Brigadier Grant. The naval brigade mentioned before also arrived there along with the new English troops. Greathed also, with the Delhi army, came there having routed the Revolutionaries of the province of Delhi on the way. After the fall of Delhi, the bravery which Greathed exhibited in restoring “peace” in the province around Delhi absolutely surpassed that of Neill at Allahabad. It is unparalleled. Since the beginning of the Revolution, up till November, this province was in the hands of the Revolutionaries. But the people in the province were so little harassed that the English themselves write: “The people not only cultivated but in many
districts as extensively as ever. In fact, beyond supplying their necessity, the rebels did not venture to assume the character of tyrants of the country.“21 The Pandays had treated this province as was proper for volunteers fighting for the freedom of their country - and the British who had set out to crush its spirit of independence, destroyed it completely as befitted the proclaimers of slavery! And, all this, to restore peace! Burning village after village, hanging on the gallows any robust man found on the way, and killing the village inhabitants en route with more recklessness than if they were wild birds, Greathed’s army came from Delhi to Cawnpore! That army and the naval brigade effected a junction with the other white troops there, and Brigadier Grant began to go down the Ganges. O Ganges! How many English armies have come to thy shores to proceed to relieve Lucknow! And O you proud Ayodhya, are you not now at least going to release the English army from the dungeons of Lucknow when this new force has come to terrorise you? Brigadier Grant had about five thousand English troops besides hundreds of camels, etc. He had also taken with him plenty of provisions for the Lucknow army. When the news came that this army of Grant had fought its way up to Alam Bagh, Sir Colin Campbell left Cawnpore and crossed the Ganges. To guard his rear, he left a select English and Sikh army with a number of guns at Cawnpore under the command of Wyndham who had won fame in several European wars. Sir Colin joined the chief army at Alam Bagh on the 9th of November. He reviewed the Alam Bagh forces and planned a combined attack by the various regiments. He now gave the order to make an assault on Lucknow on the 14th of November. Before this, a daring Englishman, called Cavenagh, had entered the Residency in company with an Indian at night, evading the sepoy guards by blackening his face and putting on Indian garb. He was sent there to get information about the state of defences of the Residency and to discuss plans about the coming attack.
21 Narrative of the Indian Mutiny.
He had before this time delivered the messages of Colin and Outram to each other. In the Residency and in the English camp at Alam Bagh, everyone was waiting anxiously for the 14th of November, Havelock and Outram were to come out of the Residency to attack the Revolutionaries from inside and Sir Colin was to press them on the other side! At this time, in the English camp were to be found most of the eminent generals and warriors that made their name in 1857. Havelock, Outram, Peel (of the naval brigade), Greathed, Hodson of Delhi, Brigadier Hope Grant, Eyre, and the Commander-in-Chief Sir Colin himself - all were there. There were fresh Highlanders, Outram’s Europeans anxious to jump into the field from within the besieged fort, “loyal” Panjabee youths, and still more loyal Sikhs, with their swords still bespattered with the blood of the Motherland shed at Delhi!
Such was the English army that started towards Lucknow on the 14th of November. The whole day was spent in skirmishes between the English and the Revolutionaries. About the evening, the English army had advanced fighting upto Dilkhwush Bagh. Sir Colin decided to spend the night there and encamped in the garden. Though the Revolutionaries led intermittend attacked even that night, the English army did not heed them and spent the night there. Next morning, Sir Colin arrayed all his troops and gave the order to attack Lucknow again on the 16th. Then, the English army advanced like a tidal wave and fell upon Sikandar Bagh. Till it reached this place, it had not met with serious resistance from the Revolutionaries. But whoever was the leader of the Revolutionaries there, he did show some splendid fighting. When the Highlanders, under Ewart, and the Sikhs, under Powell, fell upon Sikandar Bagh yelling fiercely, it seemed as if the undaunted dash of the English force would sweep everything before it. The Sikh Subahdar, Gukul Singh, waved his sword in the air and tried his utmost not to let the Highlanders go before his own fellows. On! Unfortunate Lucknow! With the cruel emulation as to who will drink her blood most, Sikh and Highlander swords began grim work. But the strong boulders of
Sikandar Bagh were destroyed, the heroes there would not move back at all! For, when some stones of the wall fell, the English troops rushed there like arrows. Who goes first, Sikh or Highlander? Both are trying hard. But, at last, the man who first reached the breach is a Sikh. To reward this traitor’s valour, a bullet right in his breast! He fell and immediately Cooper rushed in, and behind him Eward and captain John Lumsden, - and then Sikhs and Highlanders all quickly rushed in. The Sepoys within were staggered for a moment on seeing the whole army entering so quickly. But the hero who led the Revolutionaries that day at Sikandar Bagh was no ordinary leader. He does not think of retreat!
Victory or Death! Death or Victory!! This cry fits only the months of those who fight for freedom. Cooper is the first man who had rushed into the Bagh; therefore, the Sepoy must try to kill him first. This cannot be done except by the brave sepoy officer of the regiment which revolved at Ludhiana. He looked out for Cooper and ran straight at him. Clang! Clang! Clang of swords! A deep thrust, both simultaneously cut each other and both fell dead! Lumsden began to wave about his sword in the air and shouted, “Come on, men, for the honour of Scotland!” How insolent! For the honour of Scotland! And has Hindusthan no honour? Before any white man came up for the honour of Scotland, a brown hero rushed forth for the honour of Hindusthan - and blood began to gush out of Lumsden’s lifeless corpse! While such a terrible hand to hand fight was going on here, the English army broke the wall on another side and rushed in from there also. Now this Bagh had no hope of victory. Then, O Sikandar Bagh, are you going to fight even after victory is gone? Fight on, fight on! Let victory go but do not lose honour, do not lose fame, jump into thebattle as a duty! On every door, on every step, in every quadrangle, sword clashed with sword! Blood was shed everywhere. Malleson says, “The fight for the possession of the enclosure was bloody and desperate, the rebels fighting with all the energy of despair. Nor did the struggle end when our men forced their way inside. Every room, every staircase, every corner of the towers was contested. Quarter was neither given nor asked for; and, when at last the assailands were masters of the place more than two thousand rebel corpses lay heaped around them. It is said that, of all who garrisoned it, only four men escaped, but even the escape of four is doubtful.“22
Oh, you two thousand martyrs that denied fighting for independence in Sikandar Bagh, let this grateful history be dedicated to your memory! The blood of two thousand patriots! This history is dedicted to that blood! Who were you that started to fight thus for the country? What were your names? Who was the brave leader that led you to the fatal battle? The good fortune of relating all this, the good fortune of pronouncing the names of you who sacrificed your bodies in the hope of serving humanity, has not fallen to our lot! Let, then, this history be dedicated to your nameless memory alone! Victory was gone, but you did not allow your fame to be tarnished! Let your blood and bravery purify and adorn the Past and incite and inspire the Future!
You did not soil your fames, O Heros of Independence, but if your self-sacrifice in Sikandar Bagh had begun at its proper time, victory also would have been yours! Now, the might of your enemy has increased manifold. Thousands of new soldiers have come to fight on their side, their strain has become less after the fall of Delhi, their moral strength has augmented by victory and yours has diminished by defeat. Such a dry and lifeless soil, even the blood of two thousand men will not fertilise. If, however, as soon as the Revolution began, at the first onslaught on the feeble Residency, you had rushed up with the cry of “Victory or Death!” - then, in half an hour’s time, the crown of independence would have shone on the forehead of Hindusthan. You died as you should die but the auspicious moment was gone! Time and opportunity were gone. In a war of Revolution, what is lost by a minute, sometimes, cannot be regained in an epoch. A drop
22 Malleson’s Indian Mutiny, Vol. IV, page 132.
of blood could have given you victory then, but, now, even fountains of blood will given you only fame, but victory is difficult. In the whirlwind of Revolutions, the loss of a single moment spoils the whole plan. One step back means disaster. The momentary hankering after life is sure to bring permanent death to the cause!
Blood was abundantly shed in other places also than in Sikandar Bagh. Bilkhwush, Alam Bagh, and Shah Najaf were giving a terrible battle to the enemy that day and that night. In the early morning, all the bells of Lucknow city began to peal, drums began to beat, and again the wounded city began to give a fierce battle to the enemy. The fight at Moti Mahal to- day is not a whit less fierce than that at Shah Najaf yesterday. But, in the end, the English got decided the upper hand and the English army was enabled to relieve its compatriots so long shut up in the Residency. On the 17th, 18th, 19th, right up to the 23rd, the battle raged at Lucknow and, at last, the besieged army and the relieving army met each other. The Residency, over which so long hung the shadow of death, now assumed a pleasant smile. But, even now, the Revolutionaries did not heed the English victory. Though the two armies had united and the whole city of Lucknow was swimming in a sea of blood, they would talk neither of surrender nor of retreat! On account of this obstinate courage on their part, it was always uncertain when the fighting would be over. So, Sir Colin began again to reform the British army. He evacuated the Residency and collected all the troops in Dilkhwush Bagh. He kept four thousand men and twenty-five guns in Alam Bagh under the command of Outram. He made all arrangements necessary for the future struggle. And for the victory that had been gained, he very properly praised the army for its bravery, discipline, and obedience. Of this praise, the greatest portion was deservedly given to Havelock.
But while the English army was rightly exulting over its victory, Havelock who had the chief share in it suddenly died!! By the exertions of the terrible battle-field of Lucknow, by care and despair, the brave Havelock had been sinking slowly. And he succumbed at the very moment of victory.
This death poisoned the joy of the English on the 24th. However, it was not the time for brooding in sorrow over the dead, but for carrying out their uncompleted task. If Havelock fell while taking Lucknow, to take Lucknow was the best way to remember and do honour to his memory.
But before starting to conquer Lucknow, why these sudden shocks of artillery near Cawnpore? Oh, they might be nothing! So long as the brave Wyndham, with fame in European wars, is there, the noise need not materially disturb Sir Colin. Who is the Revolutionary that would dare to face an English warrior like Wyndham?
But these messengers say that Tatia Tope is also there! Tatia Tope at Cawnpore! Sir Colin at once understood the meaning of the news of the cannonade he had heard; he sent Outram with the greatest haste against Lucknow and marched at once towards Cawnpore to see that TatiaTope was doing there!