Dismantling the fort, Lord Clyde despatched three columns in pursuit of the fugitives; and conjecturing rightly that they would in the main make for Shunkerpore, the stronghold of Bainie Madho, the columns marched towards that place, halting at Oodeypore. But Bainie Madho had fled. From Shunkerpore Lord Clyde continued the pursuit of the enemy; but, as intelligence of the whereabouts of Bainie Madho was contradictory, he halted a few hours near Roy Bareilly in order to obtain exact information. It did not come, but some information came which warranted a move, and the army defiled through Roy Bareilly and went up the Sye. Colonel Evelegh, commanding a light column, was ordered to follow and not lose sight of Bainie Madho, while the army crossed the Sye above Roy Bareilly. Then in came a courier from Evelegh, with certain news that he had tracked the foe to Dhondiakera, on the Ganges. Lord Clyde immediately marched on the fort. A bridge was thrown over the Ganges below the rebel position, from the opposite bank, and a force crossed over, while cavalry and guns from Cawnpore patrolled the Doab shore. It was supposed that Bainie Madho had about 8,000 Oude Sepoys and many thousands of irregular levies; and the British brought up 6,000 men. For a brief space there was brisk exchange of musketry, then the enemy opened with cannon, and our guns were ordered up to the front, just as our line pushed on. From that time the British advance was continuous, Lord Clyde still leading the eager skirmishers. After a brief but heavy cannonade, our "advance became a run. The men cheering, broke out into a double, at last into a regular race, Lord Clyde himself leading them on." The ridge was crowned just in time to see the enemy in full flight up and down the banks of the Ganges. In a moment the cavalry and horse artillery and some of the foot went off in pursuit, while another body, with two guns, opened upon a host of fugitives who were trying to escape across the Ganges. But the rebel chief escaped with his treasure, and lost only some hundreds killed and his stronghold. Nevertheless the blow was in one sense effective. The rebel force was broken up; its leaders were convinced that there was no safe place for them south of the Goomtee, and they fled even beyond the Gogra.
Lord Clyde, directing his army from Lucknow, encamped there a short time. More talookdars surrendered. Practically, Southern Oude was free from organised revolt, and it now only remained to deal with the Begum, reinforced by Bainie Madho, and with Nana Sahib, all of whom had been driven to seek refuge in Beyratch, with their backs to a pestiferous belt of forest land, called the Terai, that skirts the foot of the Himalayas. The British forces were now widely distributed in posts all over the country, and when in December Lord Clyde heard that the rebels were assembling on the Gogra, not far from Nawabgunge, he had to collect a column wherewith to attack them. He marched north from Lucknow on the 4th of December. On the 6th he heard that the enemy were in force at Beyram Ghat on the Gogra. Directing the infantry to follow, he made a forced march with the cavalry and four guns, hoping to surprise the enemy and drive them into the river before they could destroy their boats. But, although he rode at speed all the way, he reached the river only to find that the enemy had just fled.
GWALIOR, FROM THE SOUTH-EAST.
The army was next marched to Fyzabad, and thence it crossed the Gogra into Beyratch. Maun Singh and his brother accompanied the force. Halting for some days in the town of Beyratch to receive and answer letters from the rebel leaders, some of whom were willing to come in on terms, Lord Clyde would not listen to anything but unconditional surrender, and finding it impossible to effect an arrangement, the army marched on Nanparah. A few miles beyond, the troops came up with a body of the enemy in the jungle, but the latter would not stand an attack. They fled in all directions before the cavalry and the guns. Here it was that Lord Clyde met with a severe accident. Galloping over the fields, his horse put one foot in a hole, and coming down threw the Commander-in-Chief with such force that his right shoulder was dislocated. This was soon remedied by the surgeons, but Lord Clyde was much shaken and obliged to follow the troops in a litter.
The operations were now rapidly coming to an end. On the 27th of December, hearing that a body of the enemy had collected in the fort of Mejidiah, Lord Clyde marched upon them, drove them out with his guns and then went in and took their artillery. It was a very strong place and its easy capture showed that the enemy had lost confidence. On the 30th Lord Clyde was informed that Nana Sahib and Bainie Madho were at Bankee, twenty miles north of Nanparah. He determined to march all night, and if possible, surprise them. This was the last action of the war on this side and resulted in a complete defeat of the enemy, who made hardly any stand. Nana Sahib, unhappily, got away. He was in a wood, two miles in rear of the position, when the guns opened. He gave orders for flight at once, and with elephants, bearing himself and his treasure, dashed over the Raptee into the Terai and Nepaul. Sir Hope Grant had followed his brother, Bala Rao, into the jungle beyond Toolsepore, and had dispersed his soldiery, taking fifteen guns. "Thus," says Lord Clyde, in his official report, "the contest in Oude has been brought to an end, and the resistance of 150,000 armed men subdued with a very moderate loss to her Majesty's troops, and a most merciful forbearance towards the misguided enemy." One after another the chiefs surrendered, and Major Barrow held his court to receive these rebels, who acknowledged that they had lost the game. The rebels, with the Nana and the Begum, were held fast in the Terai, where they perished one by one. The Nana and the Begum never reappeared. They may have found shelter in Nepaul or Tibet, but the probability is that they were eaten by wild beasts. All the other leaders, except Feroze Shah, of Delhi, were either captured, killed in action, or surrendering, were punished according to the nature of their crimes. Oude was disarmed, the forts of the talookdars were demolished; Lucknow was fortified, and the province was permanently occupied. Mr. Montgomery, and after him Mr. Wingfield, were left to reorganise the government. Lord Clyde went to Simla to restore his health, and Lord Canning returned to Calcutta to undertake the gigantic task of reorganising the whole Government of India on the new basis of Imperial rule, and as a fundamental step was obliged to take in hand the finances, which the mutiny had so greatly disordered. After the end of January, 1859, there were combats and skirmishes here and there with bodies of turbulent men, the dregs of the native armies raised by the rebellious chiefs; but they only measured the regular subsidence of the great tempest which had swept over the land. With one exception, we have now followed the track of every rebel leader to its close. That exception is the career of Tantia Topee, who, with Kour Singh, was the only able man thrown to the surface by these great events. His romantic course is worth sketching, at least in outline.
Driven from Gwalior, Tantia rode off to the westward. Pursued and stricken by Robert Napier, turned aside by the appearance of Brigadier Showers with the Agra troops at Futtehpore Sikri, he made with all speed for Jeypore, seizing camels, horses, elephants, carts, provisions, as he went. His object was to seize some large town and plunder it, taking arms and cannon and coin, and getting together as large a mass of mounted men as he could. The native ruler of Jeypore was on our side and there was, therefore, a double motive for saving him. Accordingly, General Roberts, as soon as he learned that Tantia was marching on Jeypore, broke up his camp at Nusseerabad and, by rapid forced marches, interposed just in time between the rebel and his prey. Frustrated in his move upon Jeypore, Tantia turned abruptly southward and rode straight for Tonk, a town and native principality on one of the affluents of the Chumbul. Roberts now followed and other columns closed from different quarters towards the rebel line of march. Tantia was first at Tonk. The rajah shut himself up in his fort and kept the enemy at bay, but he plundered the town and carried off four guns. Colonel Holmes now took up the chase, but was soon stopped by want of carriage. Then Roberts went on and by long marches overtook the enemy, forced him to an action and routed him. The light-heeled rebels rushed away towards Oodeypore. Roberts followed and overtook them again, this time getting well among them with his horsemen, cutting them up and retaking the Tonk guns. The enemy scattered to avoid the pursuing cavalry, and then crossing the Chumbul, and being reinforced by the desperadoes of the country-side, laid siege to and took the important town of Julra Patun. Here they levied very heavy contributions and obtained a large number of guns. This was Tantia's greatest triumph. He had sacked Julra Patun in the teeth of our troops.
But he dared not halt. Roberts was following. Smith's troops on the Agra trunk road were approaching him. The Mhow force, under General Michell, was preparing to strike. Tantia's object was now the Bhopal State; his ultimate design being to cross the Nerbudda and the Taptee, and breaking into the Deccan or Nagpore, raise a mighty insurrection and gather the Rohillas to his flag. This was a great danger, and it was necessary to strain every nerve to ward it off. Smith detached Robertson, of the 25th Bombay Native Infantry, and Michell moved up from Mhow. Robertson overtook part of the rebel force at Bajapore, mostly Sepoys, many wearing medals. He came upon them as they were cooking, drove them into and over a river, and killed many hundreds. Michell had even better fortune, for he routed the main body on the 13th of September, and took nearly thirty guns, the spoil of Julra Patun. Thus, headed off from Bhopal, Tantia hastened to Seronge, on the Betwa, and halted to refit and recruit. But he dared not stay long. His spies told him that columns were afoot, east, west, north, and south. So he broke up from Seronge a few hours before Captain Mayne rode in with part of Smith's force, and going northwards, attacked and captured Esaughur, a fortress belonging to Scindia. Smith and Mayne followed him, making a march on Esaughur in concert with troops from Jhansi and Gwalior. Again the rebel rapidly retreated, striking in between the advancing troops, and making eastward for the Betwa. He crossed this river on the 9th of October, intending to seize and plunder the friendly native State of Tehree. Here he had the aid of an ally. The Nawab of Banda came up the river on the left bank to oppose Michell advancing from Seronge, while Tantia sacked Tehree. But on the very day when Tantia crossed the Betwa, Michell met the nawab and, fighting him at once with characteristic vigour, routed him with great loss. In the meantime Tantia had formed a column on the road to Tehree; and when, on the 11th, he was moving back to the Betwa, Michell, who had crossed that river at Mungrowlee, fell in with Tantia at Sindwah and took four of his guns.
Thus frustrated and defeated, this persevering partisan fled first towards the north, but doubling back, stole away between his pursuers, and made for the Nerbudda, by way of Ratghur. He had not effected this movement without suffering one more defeat at the hands of the energetic and tireless Michell. In spite of these defeats Tantia was now apparently nearer than ever to the object of his endless manœuvres; for, at the end of October, he actually crossed the upper waters of the Nerbudda, east of Hoosingabad. He had but to pass one line of posts, and he would be in Nagpore, or the Deccan. This was the one moment of great peril for us. If Tantia, with even a broken force of 7,000 men, entered the Deccan, he would in a week have been at the head of 100,000 men. The Government was really alarmed; but as the danger was greater, so were the means of parrying it greater, since Lord Elphinstone had pushed up a large force of European and native cavalry to render the hunt after Tantia more effective; while, from Kamptee, in Nagpore, to the Gulf of Cambay, there was a great stir of troops, and a readiness to move at the shortest notice to guard the passes, and fords, and great roads southwards. And the measures adopted proved to be effective. Tantia found he could not get farther than the hills of Sindwarra. Out of these he was forced by Lieutenant Kerr. Flying by devious routes, he sought the Nerbudda again; but, being headed, he turned westward, and traversed the hills between the Taptee and Nerbudda at racing speed. It is assumed that his aim was Candeish. Moving into Nimar, he actually prevailed on 1,000 men of Holkar's Horse to desert and join him, and with this reinforcement rode off to Burwanna, evading our troops. Finding it impossible to remain in the valley of the Nerbudda, or to break into Candeish, he once more crossed the great river and hurried into Malwa; not, however, before he had been hit very hard by a new enemy—the Camel Corps; that is, infantry mounted on camels. It was this force that drove Tantia over the river. Brigadier Parke now came up. He formed a flying column, all horsemen, except 100 Highlanders. With these he crossed the river, and marched 241 miles in nine days; he caught Tantia near Chota Oodeypore. Forced to fight, the rebel chief showed his usual judgment in the selection of a position on broken ground. Parke put his handful of Highlanders in the centre, and placed horse on the flanks, and formed a reserve wholly of cavalry. Then, although overlapped on both flanks, he charged in upon the foe, drove him from his strong ground, and pursued him for miles. He fled deeper into Malwa.
In the meantime Feroze Shah, who had been fighting in Oude, found a gap in Lord Clyde's line, and crossing the Goomtee, he made his way over the Ganges into the Doab. Here Brigadier Percy Herbert marched upon him, and, wresting from him his only gun, drove him over the Jumna. Feroze Shah made for the west. Robert Napier, hearing at Gwalior of the advent of this new foe, took with him 300 men, horse and foot, and marching 140 miles in four days, came up with the rebels at Runnode, smote them heavily and forced them to turn towards Kotah. Met at various points, Feroze Shah wound in and out and at length succeeded in crossing the Chumbul near Inderghur. Tantia Topee, smarting under the rough punishment inflicted by Parke, now sought to join the Delhi Shazadah. In spite of numerous defeats, he made for the Chumbul again, crossed it, and joined Feroze Shah somewhere in the Jeypore country. The whole of these operations were performed at racing speed between the 20th and 30th of December. Brigadier Showers got wind of their whereabouts, and marching ninety-four miles in three days, overtook the two worthies on the 16th of January, 1859, and slew some of their followers, but failed to catch chiefs who were so prone to fly at the sound of the cannon. Thus reduced to extremities, Feroze Shah disappeared and was never captured. Tantia Topee, making a fruitless effort to break into Bikaneer, doubled back again to Central India and, his fightings and flyings over, took to the jungle. Beset on all sides, having made many enemies, he dared not venture abroad, and his very life now depended on the fidelity of those who knew his secret. In April a native betrayed him; he was captured in the jungle near Seronge, tried by court martial, and hanged at Sepree, having furnished for ten months ample occupation to all the troops in Central India. With the capture and execution of Tantia Topee the war came to an end.