DEATH OF HODSON. (See p. [266].)
On the 11th both forces made great progress. Jung Bahadoor brought his army into camp, and was sent to hold the left on the canal. Outram made a vast stride forward. Dividing his force into two columns, he sent one to the iron bridge and one to the stone bridge. The troops advanced, literally chasing the enemy before them, and slaying hundreds. Both bridges were taken, but it was not deemed expedient to hold the stone bridge, and the right column returned to a position in a musjid west of the Badshahbagh. But the iron bridge was held by a strong force. All day Outram's batteries had been firing steadily into the huge buildings on the other bank, especially into the Kaiserbagh, and were enfilading the enemy's second line with effect. Nor were Sir Colin's batteries idle. They were breaching the Begum's Kothie. When the breach was practicable, the Highlanders, this time the 93rd, and a Sikh regiment, went at this place, and carried it with a rush. Adrian Hope led the column. Mounting to a window by the aid of his men, he tumbled through among a crowd of Sepoys, who fled at "the apparition of a huge red Celt, sword and pistol in hand." The men followed, carrying everything before them at the point of the bayonet, until the place was cleared of all except skulkers, who were even found next day, and who from dark holes slew some of our men. On the right the 53rd had carried the Secunderbagh without opposition, and even the Shah Nujeef; Captain Medley, with a handful of native sappers, gallantly holding it all night. This brought the Commander-in-Chief into direct communication with Outram over the river. The mortar batteries were at once turned upon the Kaiserbagh and the Imambara, and up towards the latter Robert Napier, a most accomplished soldier, was pushing a sap by the aid of his engineers. Thus a great day's work had been done. The Kaiserbagh and the Mess House alone remained in the enemy's hands, but the former was strong. While Mansfield was superintending the capture of the Begum's Kothie, Sir Colin had to go through the disagreeable duty of receiving Jung Bahadoor. The reputation of the Nepaulese was of ill savour; and it was not pleasant to a frank soldier like Colin Campbell to take the hand of a man who had murdered his kindred.
The work of the 11th was most satisfactory; but in the storming of the Begum's Kothie, as in the assault on Delhi, Britain suffered a great loss. At the latter fell Nicholson, at the former Hodson was mortally wounded. On his way to select a camping-ground for his Horse, he heard firing, and, riding up, found Brigadier Napier directing the attack on the Begum's Kothie. With the assaulting column, beside Robert Napier, he went into the place. It was taken; but Sepoys were still in hiding, and the soldiers were looking for them. Turning to his orderly, he said, "I wonder if any of the rascals are in there." He looked into a dark room—it was full of Sepoys; a shot was fired and, staggering back, Hodson fell. The Highlanders rushed in, and killed every man in the room; while poor Hodson's orderly, a large, powerful Sikh, carried his master out of danger. He was taken to Banks's House, and there the next day he died, in the presence of Napier and his faithful orderly, who hung over the corpse crying like a child. He was buried on the 13th, Sir Colin Campbell and a host of officers attending his funeral, to mark his regret and esteem for "the most brilliant soldier" under his command.
The work of sapping up to the Imambara, the next place to be taken, now went briskly on. Napier's sappers were engaged in opening wide communications to the rear, and in breaking through the houses in front, so that heavy guns might be brought up to breach the walls. Into the enemy's posts poured an incessant fire of shell from the batteries of Outram, as well as those of Sir Colin; and the rattle of musketry never ceased while there was daylight. The army was now extended from the Badshahbagh, on the right, over the Goomtee to the front of the Imambara; and the moment had now arrived when this building could be breached with effect. The guns were placed behind a wall thirty yards from the building, and their huge shot went crashing through the massive structure, breaking down several walls at each blow. From the house-tops and the windows and loopholes the enemy fired heavily at random, and did little harm. Then came the order to assault; and in went the 10th Foot and Braysher's Sikhs with a rush. The enemy, as usual, fled; and being pursued with much eagerness, our troops emerged through the great gateway into the main road, to find that they had turned the whole of the second line of defence. Fortune gave them the whole second line; and now, lo! they were in rear of the third. They had pushed up to the Kaiserbagh itself, having broken into the rear of the entrenchments covering the great gate. Seizing the opportunity, heavy supports were brought up from the right, and Franks and Napier determined to take the palace itself. The order was given, and the soldiers dashing in, the whole of the vast buildings fell easily into our hands, so thoroughly broken was the spirit of the enemy.
"Here and there," wrote Dr. Russell, "the invaders have forced their way into the long corridors, and you hear the musketry rattling inside, the crash of glass, the shouts and yells of the combatants, and little jets of smoke curl out of the closed lattices. Lying amid the orange groves are dead and dying Sepoys; and the white statues are reddened with blood. Leaning against a smiling Venus is a British soldier, shot through the neck, gasping, and at every gasp bleeding to death. Here and there officers are running to and fro after their men, persuading or threatening in vain. From the broken portals issue soldiers laden with loot or plunder; shawls, rich tapestry, gold and silver brocade, caskets of jewels, arms, splendid dresses. The men are wild with fury and lust of gold—literally drunk with plunder. Some come out with china vases or mirrors, dash them to pieces on the ground, and return to seek more valuable booty. Others are busy gouging out the precious stones from the stems of pipes, from saddle-cloths, or the hilts of swords, or butts of pistols or fire-arms. Some swathe their bodies in stuffs crusted with precious metals and gems; others carry off useless lumber, brass pots, pictures, or vases of jade and china. Court after court the scene is still the same. These courts open one to the other by lofty gateways, ornamented with the double fish of the royal family of Oude or by arched passages in which lie the dead Sepoys, their clothes smouldering on their flesh. The scene of plunder," he continues, "was indescribable. The soldiers had broken up several of the store-rooms, and pitched the contents into the court, which was lumbered with cases, with embroidered cloths, gold and silver brocade, silver vessels, musical instruments, arms, banners, drums, shawls, scarfs, mirrors, pictures, books, accounts, medicine bottles, gorgeous standards, shields, spears, and a heap of things, the enumeration of which would make this sheet of paper like a catalogue of a broker's sale. Through these moved the men, wild with excitement, 'drunk with plunder.' I had often heard the phrase, but never saw the thing itself before. They smashed to pieces the fowling-pieces and pistols to get at the gold mountings and the stones set in the stocks. They burned in a fire, which they made in the centre of the court, brocades and embroidered shawls for the sake of the gold and silver. China, glass, and jade they dashed to pieces in pure wantonness; pictures they ripped up or tossed on the flames; furniture shared the same fate." In a military point of view the capture of this palace was a piece of great good fortune, as it virtually gave us the command of the city. There were now only the houses and buildings towards the old Residency; and with Outram on their flank, they could easily be taken, and taken at leisure.
Yet, the action on the 13th might have been more successful. When the Kaiserbagh fell, the troops on the right swept forward from the Shah Nujeef nearly up to the old Residency, and the 20th Foot caught a host of Sepoys in the engine-house, and slew nearly every man. At this time Sir James Outram was ready to burst across the iron bridge. His column was prepared, his men were eager. Lieutenant Wynne, with some sappers, had gallantly thrown down the breastwork across the end of the bridge—a service which won for him the Victoria Cross. But Outram did not advance. His orders were precise, and he construed them literally. He was to advance; but on the condition that he could do so without the loss of a single man. Seeing a gun bearing down the long street which led to the bridge, a gun steadily fired, Outram knew that if he charged across, he must lose at least one man, perhaps many. He obeyed the conditional order, and the Sepoys escaped. But had he crossed at the moment the Kaiserbagh fell, he must have inflicted a terrible loss upon the enemy, though suffering some loss himself.
Virtually Lucknow was now taken, but much still remained to be done. The troops rested on the 14th, except the gunners, who were rarely or never quiet. On the 15th, Sir James Outram, leaving a force near the iron bridge, crossed the Goomtee, and a general attack was made on the buildings west of the Kaiserbagh. A great deal of irregular fighting ensued, but the enemy stood nowhere. Outram's column worked up through the old battered Residency to the iron bridge; and as the enemy fled in disorder over the stone bridge higher up, our guns on the iron bridge kept up a heavy fire. That night we occupied the Muchee Bowun, and by the 18th every place was captured, except the Moosabagh, out in the country; the city itself was occupied, and direct communication established with the Alumbagh. Prize agents had now been appointed to secure the plunder; but order was not restored, and every street and house had its horrible scenes. The place was full of powder; our men were careless, and explosions were frequent, in one of which Captain Clarke, Lieutenant Brownlow, and thirty men were killed. On the 19th a concerted attack was made on the Moosabagh. Here were the resolute Moulvie, stout and cunning; the courageous and undaunted Begum, who had been the soul of the defence, her cowardly paramour Munnoo Khan, her son, the titular King of Oude, and some 8,000 men. The object was to catch them, but the combination failed. Somehow the cavalry sent out to cut off the fugitives lost their way. The enemy stayed just long enough to see the approach of the infantry and guns; then their hearts failed them and they fled. There was one more desperate skirmish in the city with a band of budmashes; that was the last fight, and the capital of Oude was recovered, after being so many months in the possession of the enemy. We took 120 guns, tons of ammunition, and much treasure; and so splendidly was the work done that our loss did not exceed 700 men killed and wounded.
The Governor-General now issued a proclamation, which, after setting forth the wickedness of the rebellion, and rewarding some talookdars by granting them a hereditary right to their lands, declared that, with these exceptions, the proprietary right in the soil of Oude was confiscated to the British Government. To those who made immediate submission, life and honour were promised, but nothing more. Those who had murdered Europeans were to expect no mercy. This proclamation created a great ferment in India and in England. It was held to be monstrous that Lord Canning should confiscate a province, though it is remarkable that when in the previous year he had drawn up a proclamation which distinguished the guilt of the rebels, he was scoffed at as "Clemency Canning." Sir James Outram resigned rather than carry out the scheme; and Mr. Montgomery, who succeeded him, obtained full permission to deal with each case on its merits. In England, Lord Ellenborough, then at the Board of Control, was so angry that he wrote a most insolent despatch to Lord Canning, on mere newspaper report; and, not satisfied with this, he published it before he posted the document to Lord Canning. It was an uncourteous and an ungentlemanly act, and Lord Ellenborough had to resign his seat to save the Derby Cabinet from censure. The fact is, the proclamation was completely misunderstood. The confiscation was not permanent deprivation. It enabled the Government to take a position in Oude calculated to restore men to their real rights—to reward the faithful and punish the wrong-doers; and, above all, under the settlement made by Mr. Montgomery, and his successor, Mr. Wingfield, all those proprietors held from the Crown. In the end the measure worked well, and was essentially just and politic; and, in a long despatch, Lord Canning fully refuted the melodramatic impertinences of Lord Ellenborough.
But in the spring of 1858, not only Oude but Rohilcund had to be conquered. For a time the proclamation was a dead letter; the army had still to be employed; and in April, Sir Colin, after an interview with Lord Canning at Allahabad, broke up his force and proceeded to the work of conquest. General Walpole started, on the 7th, with a fine brigade towards Rohilcund. Sir Edward Lugard, with another, set out eastwards towards Gorruckpore, where Koer Singh and a host of enemies were afoot. A garrison was left in Lucknow, which was to be strongly fortified, and the remaining troops marched for Cawnpore on the 13th, to move up the Doab and enter Rohilcund from Futtehghur. The plan of campaign now was this: Sir Colin was to effect a junction with Walpole on the Ramgunge, opposite Futtehghur, and thence march on Bareilly by Shahjehanpore; while General Penny, with a brigade collected at Roorkee, and Brigadier Jones, from Moradabad, crossed the Ganges, and also made for Bareilly. Walpole marched his column by Sundeela. Near Rhodamow he came upon a mud fort in the jungle, occupied by a force under Nirput Singh. The place was reconnoitred, and the cavalry reported that it could be easily assailed in the rear; but Walpole thought that he could take it by rushing at the front. He did not even use his heavy guns, but sent the 42nd and 93rd against the rampart. They were driven back by the fire of the enemy. Many men fell killed and wounded; but the greatest loss was Adrian Hope, the pride of his brigade. The Highlanders were on the verge of mutiny, and the officers were savage with this unskilful mode of warfare. In the night, Nirput Singh, knowing his own weakness, ran away, and then it was seen how easily the place might have been taken. Walpole marched on towards the Ramgunge. On his way he heard that a body of the enemy were guarding a bridge of boats over that stream; and dashing on with cavalry and guns, he surprised and routed them with heavy loss. Sir Colin, marching by Cawnpore and Futtehghur, crossed the Ganges on the 27th, and joined Walpole at Tingree. In the meantime that gallant sailor and hope of the British navy, Sir William Peel, had died of small-pox at Cawnpore (April 27th).
Sir Colin entered Shahjehanpore on the 30th of April without meeting any resistance. Here he learned that Penny, leading his column through Budaon, misled by a civilian, who trusted to native information, got into an ambuscade and lost his life. His troops carried the position occupied by the enemy, and marched on. Jones also had made progress, and was approaching Bareilly from Moradabad. On the 2nd of May Sir Colin moved out of Shahjehanpore, leaving behind a small force with four guns to hold the gaol. He had not gone far before the energetic Moulvie, bringing a great body of all arms, fell upon Shahjehanpore; and although he failed to take it out of hand, he invested it, and put the little garrison in peril. Sir Colin got news of this, but he was then near Bareilly, and had a large army in his front whom it was necessary to fight.