Regiments.Officers.Men.
K.W.K.W.
8th Hussars-91834
12th Lancers-1216
14th Hussars141573
17th Lancers-1211
Royal Artillery261137
Roy. Engineers----
71st High. L.I.11915
72nd Seaforth Highlanders-1314
83rd R. Irish Rifles21728
86th R. Irish Rifles11026109
88th Connaught Rangers-2754
95th Derbys27437
3rd Madras Eur. (2nd Innis. F.)--312
3rd Bomb. Eur. (2nd Leinst.)-61792
30th Gordon's Horse-1718
31st Lancers14619
32nd Lancers13312
33rd Q.O. Light Cavalry-2415
2nd Q.O. Sap. and Miners14629
3rd Sappers and Miners-1211
44th Merwara Infantry----
61st Pioneers--25
79th Carnatic Infantry-4327
96th Berar Inf.211422
98th Infantry-1732
104th Wellesley's Rifles-1513
110th Mahratta L.I.-1222
112th Infantry1136
113th Infantry--214
124th Baluchis-11220
125th Napier's Rifles261137

Then we have Sir Hugh Rose commanding two brigades, the one under the same Brigadier C. S. Stuart, the other under Colonel Stewart, of the 14th Hussars. His first act was to relieve Saugor, then defended by the 2nd Queen's Own Rajput Light Infantry. A Madras column had been toiling up to effect this, but General Whitlock was impeded by many obstacles. In April Sir Hugh carried Jhansi by storm; in May Calpee was taken; and then the General was reinforced by a column from the north, commanded by Brigadier-General Sir Robert Napier (afterwards Lord Napier of Magdala). In June Gwalior was recaptured, and with this the real operations of the Central India Field Force came to an end, though the appearance in the field of a rebel General, Tantia Topee, and the assumption of the title of Peishwa by the notorious Nana Sahib compelled the Commander-in-Chief once more to organize a number of flying columns, whose work procured for the regiments which composed them the battle honour "Central India."

I have found it an impossible task to ascertain the losses suffered by some of the regiments. The casualties given in the table on [p. 331] show, however, that the distinction "Central India" was not earned without hard fighting.

Defence of Arrah—Behar, 1857.

These two distinctions are the peculiar property of the 45th Rattray's Sikhs, and demand a passing notice.

When the Mutiny broke out, there was but one British regiment in the long stretch of nearly a thousand miles between Calcutta and Lucknow—the 10th Foot, at Dinapore. Here, too, was a large native garrison—the 7th, 8th, and 40th Regiments of Bengal Infantry. Dinapore is the military cantonment of the city of Patna, the hot-bed then of Wahabiism, with a population of 150,000, of whom some 38,000 were Mussulmen. It is the capital, too, of the province of Behar, the centre then of the indigo trade, and the home of a number of English planters—gentlemen and sportsmen, whose sporting instincts stood England in good stead in that hour of trial.

The General at Dinapore had plenty of warning as to the temper of his troops and of the neighbouring population, but no measures were taken to deal with the crisis; and when the sepoy garrison mutinied, the men were allowed to leave the station unmolested. A few hours later a feeble attempt was made to follow them up, but the detachment of the 10th (Lincolns) returned to Dinapore, having failed to overtake the mutineers. These marched at once on Arrah, a civil station, the head of the railway engineers, some twenty-five miles distant. There, fortunately, were a handful of Englishmen unfettered by red tape. Herewald Wake, the Commissioner, and Vicars Boyle, the railway engineer, had foreseen the coming storm, and, to meet it, had converted the billiard-room in Boyle's garden into a little fort, in which ammunition and provisions had been stored. Its garrison consisted of sixteen Englishmen, one Moslem gentleman, and fifty men of Rattray's newly-raised regiment of Sikhs.

On the 27th the Dinapore garrison—three regiments of sepoys, reinforced by a disaffected Rajput, Rajah Kunwar Singh, who possessed two pieces of artillery—appeared on the scene, and demanded the surrender of the treasure. On that day the siege commenced in earnest.

Two days afterwards the Brigadier at Dinapore sent out a force, consisting of some men of the 10th (Lincolns) and 37th (Hampshires), to relieve Arrah. The affair was mismanaged from the outset, and the column was driven back with heavy loss. Fortunately, there was a man at hand capable of dealing with the situation. Major Vincent Eyre, of the Bengal Artillery, was bringing up his battery to the aid of Havelock, and, hearing of the distress of the little garrison in Arrah, he undertook its relief. With but 150 men of the Northumberland Fusiliers, 40 of his own battery, and 18 gallant planters, who for the nonce converted themselves into a corps of cavalry, he attacked the besieging force, and after a sharp fight was enabled to bring off the garrison without loss. The siege lasted but five days, but the devotion of the 45th Sikhs and the gallantry of Vicars Boyle and Herewald Wake stand out in striking contrast to the supineness of the military authorities at Dinapore.

For many months subsequently the 45th were employed in hunting down rebels in the province of Behar, unsupported by any British troops, and for these services, in which the men were exposed to many attempts on their fidelity, the 45th bear the word "Behar" on their colours and appointments. Their losses during these operations were unusually severe, 2 British officers and 43 of all ranks having been killed or died of wounds, and 1 native officer and 75 other ranks having been wounded.