In Lower Bengal the people were too unwarlike to aid the troops who mutinied.
Upper Bengal and the dominions which had been recently wrenched from the King of Oude, were the grand foci of mutiny and rebellion; although Jhansi, Delhi, and Meerut, were also centres of active revolt.
Agra, the queen of the upper provinces, suffered much. Mr. Colville acted with prudence, temper, and energy; but committed the general fault of the officials, civil and military, of placing too much confidence in the native troops.
Benares, the ecclesiastical capital of heathen India, was more loyal than any city in the disturbed regions. The protection afforded to the religious rites of the Brahmins in that city, and the security of pilgrims travelling to its far famed shrines, through the order enforced by British power, caused a respect for the English name and authority not only in the city of Benares, but throughout the province, which acted favourably to the preservation of order. The vigour of Brig.-gen. Neill, and the fear he inspired, had also much to do with these results.
Allahabad was the centre of many intrigues hostile to British power: the heroic little garrison of that place suffered much, and endured nobly and successfully until help arrived, and Brig.-gen. Neill quelled the power, if not the spirit, of rebellion all around.
Throughout Oude, comprising in the designation the provinces, whether of older or more recent date, which fell within the circle of that kingdom, the mutiny and rebellion were fiercest. Cawnpore was one of the great capitals of revolt. Situated near Bithoor, the residence of the infamous Nana Sahib, the principal chief of the insurrection, it suffered much, possibly more than any other place. “The Nana” collected all the force which his retainers and the people of his district could contribute, and with the mutineers of Cawnpore, and neighbouring garrisons, he attacked the British quartered in that city, who were under the command of the veteran hero, General Wheeler. In vain the little band of English were assailed; they remained unconquered by the multitudes of their enemies, and by famine and fatigue, until treachery secured their destruction. They were induced to capitulate, under promise of protection and safe escort. They were brutally and barbarously murdered by the bodyguards of Nana Sahib; women and children, as well as soldiers and civilians, were unpityingly consigned to a common slaughter, and their bodies cast into the well of Cawnpore. Since the mutiny, a memorandum upon the events connected with the Cawnpore mutiny and massacre has been prepared by Lieutenant-colonel Williams, military secretary to government in the north-western provinces:—“Forty-two depositions from persons of all classes and creeds—Christians, Mahomedans, and Hindoos—have been recorded, and valuable evidence obtained from respectable and influential residents in the city. These depositions, together with the native journal of a city resident, have been translated, and relate the first attempts made by the Nana to tamper with the troops, his ready success, the earliest meeting held by the conspirators, and their proceedings on and subsequent to their mutiny, from the 1st of June to the advance of the British force in July. The evidence shows the Nana’s brother, Bala Sahib, to have taken as (if not more) active and prominent a part as even the Nana himself. There are no traces of any conspiracy prior to the arrival of the Nana at Cawnpore, on the 22nd of May, 1857, with the two guns, and 300 horse and foot, for the avowed purpose of aiding in the maintenance of order. But about that time it would seem that two sowars, the one named Rahem Khan, of Bishenpore, near Bithoor, the other Muddut Alee, of Bancla, and in the service of the Nana, were employed by Bala Sahib to corrupt the fidelity of the troops. The 2nd Cavalry, already ripe for mutiny, needed but little persuasion.” Among those who perished were the heroic General Wheeler and his heroine daughter.
In Lucknow, the capital of Oude, Sir Henry Lawrence (brother to Sir John) maintained a resolute defence, but was wounded in a sortie, and died of his wound. Colonel Inglis afterwards maintained the defence with true British obstinacy and intrepidity.
The time at last arrived when the tide of tumult and blood should be rolled back upon the mutinous garrisons and rebel cities in the southern parts of Upper Bengal, in Oude, and in Central India. Brig.-gen. Neill, of the Madras Fusiliers, having with detachments of his regiment been sent on to Allahabad, restored order and even tranquillity to that place, as related on a previous page. On the return to India of the portion of the expeditionary army of Persia, under General Havelock, that officer was sent on to Allahabad, and superseding Brig.-gen. Neill in the command, he marched at the head of what forces he could muster, about 2,000 men, to the relief of Cawnpore. He had to fight his way thither, displaying extraordinary valour and military genius. With his small force he conquered Cawnpore, and drove the rebel Nana to Bithoor; but, alas! the noble garrison of Wheeler was not relieved on the advance of Havelock: the Nana, driven to despair, perpetrated the wholesale murder which blackens the page of Indian history with the name of Cawnpore. Havelock resolved on tracking the murderer to his den: Bithoor was attacked, and the Nana beaten. Havelock ordered Neill to bring on all his forces from Allahabad that could possibly be spared, and that officer took the command of Cawnpore, where, as at Allahabad, he soon created order, and subjected to his stern and resolute rule all disaffection. He took terrible vengeance upon the captured mutineers and rebels. Havelock pressed onward to relieve the garrison at Lucknow. Battle after battle was fought, Havelock, with a handful of men, dispersing hosts. Never, in the history of English military glory, were such achievements performed by so few. Even the mighty deeds of Clive and Wellington in their Indian warfare were surpassed by Havelock in his extraordinary marches upon Lucknow. At last, his troops were so reduced by battle and sickness that he retired upon Cawnpore and awaited reinforcements. These arrived, and with them a superior officer, General Outram. That hero refused to deprive Havelock of his command, and acted as volunteer in Havelock’s army. The garrison at Lucknow was relieved; provisions, medicine, money, and men were conveyed to the city and the Alumbagh a strong place on the Cawnpore road, within four miles of Lucknow. So numerous was the enemy, that the relieving army, like that which it relieved, was hemmed in by a host of mutineers and rebel zemindars, with their retainers. It became necessary that another army should relieve Outram, Havelock, and Inglis. Sir Colin Campbell had been sent from England to bring the insurrection to a speedy termination, the supreme military authority having been committed to him.
The arrival of Sir Colin Campbell to take the command of the army was not hailed with so much satisfaction in India, as the event was regarded with confidence in England. Sir Colin, however, knew how things were managed by governors-general in India, and by officials at head-quarters. He therefore expected to find much confusion, embarrassment, and neglect. The chief military authority in India was supposed to be at Calcutta, but the records were at Simla, the sanitary station to which the commander-in-chief was wont to repair, and where in fact commanders-in-chief spent most of their time, having generally been very old and feeble men. Sir Colin set to work with indefatigable industry to gather up an intelligible and connected account of the military condition and resources of India, especially of the Bengal provinces. This was essential to any consecutive plan of operations, and in this work, and in other important preparations, his time was consumed, when every day’s delay, every hour’s hesitation, every act of procrastination or tardiness, was perilous beyond estimate.
At Calcutta, in their conveyance to the different spheres of action, or in the provision made for their comfort, our gallant army was not thought of, either by the officials at Calcutta, or by the government at home, with that wisdom, consideration, or generosity which befitted their merits, the occasion, or a great country. Sir Colin organized a system for the general suppression of the mutiny, and he himself advanced with a very inadequate force, for the second time, to effect the relief of the British garrison of Lucknow. This was achieved after battle and victory highly honourable to the British name. Sir Colin brought off the women and children, sick and wounded, leaving the cantonments and the neighbouring Alumbagh well garrisoned. General Wyndham had been left in command at Cawnpore. During the operations of the commander-in-chief at Lucknow, Wyndham was attacked by vast numbers of the enemy, and beaten. Sir Colin hastened to the rescue, and Cawnpore, after a sanguinary action, was saved. Reinforced, and with a plan of combined action by different forces from various directions, Sir Colin advanced upon Lucknow for its relief the third time. After regular approaches and bombardment, Lucknow was taken by storm; but to the discredit of the commander-in-chief and some of his superior officers, the rebels escaped, to make war and havoc elsewhere. General Havelock died of fatigue and exhaustion, regretted by all men, and leaving behind him an immortal fame.