Notes.
This will be a suitable place in which to introduce two tabular statements concerning the military condition of India at the commencement of the mutiny. All the occurrences narrated hitherto are those in which the authorities at Calcutta were compelled to encounter difficulties without any reinforcements from England, the time elapsed having been too short for the arrival of such reinforcements.
Military Divisions of India.—At the period of the outbreak, and for some time afterwards, India was marked out for military purposes into divisions, each under the command of a general, brigadier, or other officer, responsible for all the troops, European and native, within his division. The names and localities of these divisions are here given; on the authority of a military map of India, engraved at the Topographical Depôt under the direction of Captain Elphinstone of the Royal Engineers, and published by the War Department. Each division was regarded as belonging to, or under the control of, one of the three presidencies. We shall therefore group them under the names of the three presidential cities, and shall append a few words to denote locality:
| UNDER CALCUTTA GOVERNMENT. | |
|---|---|
| Name. | Limits. |
| Presidency Division, | Calcutta and its vicinity, and the east and northeast of Bengal. |
| Dinapoor Division, | From the Nepaul frontier, southwest towards Nagpoor. |
| Cawnpore Division, | Including Oude, the Lower Doab, and part of Bundelcund. |
| Saugor Division, | On both sides of the Nerbudda river, south of Bundelcund. |
| Gwalior Division, | Scindia’s Dominions, bordering on Rajpootana. |
| Meerut Division, | Rohilcund, from the Himalaya down to Agra and the Jumna. |
| Sirhind Division, | The Cis-Sutlej and Hill states, northwest of Delhi. |
| Lahore Division, | Eastern part of Punjaub, from Cashmere down to Sinde. |
| Peshawur Division, | Western part of Punjaub, on the Afghan frontier. |
| UNDER BOMBAY GOVERNMENT. | |
| Sinde Division, | On the Beloochee frontier, both sides of the Lower Indus. |
| Rajpootana Field-force, | East of Sinde, and west of Scindia’s Gwalior dominions. |
| Northern Division, | From Cutch nearly to Bombay, including Gujerat. |
| Poonah Division, | Around Bombay, and the South Mahratta country near it. |
| Southern Division, | Southernmost part of the Bombay Presidency. |
| UNDER MADRAS GOVERNMENT. | |
| Nagpoor Subsidiary Force, | The recently acquired Nagpoor territory, near Nizam’s states. |
| North Division, | Northern part of Madras Presidency, on sea-coast. |
| Centre Division, | Madras city, and the coast-region north and south of it. |
| Ceded Districts, | Northwest of Madras city, towards Bombay. |
| Mysore Division, | Seringapatam, and the country once belonging to Tippoo Saib. |
| Southern Division, | Southernmost part of the Indian peninsula, towards Ceylon. |
It may be useful to remark that these military divisions are not necessarily identical in area or boundaries with the political provinces or collectorates, the two kinds of territorial limits being based on different considerations.
Armies of India, at the Commencement of the Mutiny.—During the progress of the military operations, it was frequently wished in England that materials were afforded for shewing the exact number of troops in India when the troubles began. The Company, to respond to this wish, caused an elaborate return to be prepared, from which a few entries are here selected. The names and limits of the military divisions correspond nearly, but not exactly, to those in the above list.
| BENGAL ARMY, MAY 10, 1857. | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Military Divisions. | Europeans. | Natives. | Total. |
| Presidency, | 1,214 | 13,976 | 15,190 |
| Dinapoor, | 1,597 | 15,063 | 16,660 |
| Cawnpore, | 277 | 5,725 | 6,002 |
| Oude, | 993 | 11,319 | 12,312 |
| Saugor, | 327 | 10,627 | 10,954 |
| Meerut, | 3,096 | 18,357 | 21,453 |
| Sirhind, | 4,790 | 11,049 | 15,839 |
| Lahore, | 4,018 | 15,939 | 19,957 |
| Peshawur, | 4,613 | 15,916 | 20,529 |
| Pegu, | 1,763 | 692 | 2,455 |
| —————— | ——————— | ——————— | |
| 22,698 | 118,663 | 141,361 | |
The Europeans in this list include all grades of officers as well as rank and file; and among the officers are included those connected with the native regiments. The natives, in like manner, include all grades, from subadars down to sepoys and sowars. The Punjaub, it will be seen, alone contained 40,000 troops. The troops were stationed at 160 cantonments, garrisons, or other places. As shewing gradations of rank, the Europeans comprised 2271 commissioned officers, 1602 non-commissioned officers, and 18,815 rank and file; the natives comprised 2325 commissioned officers, 5821 non-commissioned officers, and 110,517 rank and file. The stations which contained the largest numbers were the following:
| Peshawur, | 9500 |
| Lahore, | 5300 |
| Meerut, | 5000 |
| Lucknow, | 5000 |
| Jullundur, | 4000 |
| Dinapoor, | 4000 |
| Umballa, | 3800 |
| Cawnpore, | 3700 |
| Delhi, | 3600 |
| Barrackpore, | 3500 |
| Sealkote, | 3500 |
| Benares, | 3200 |
| Rawul Pindee, | 3200 |
| Bareilly, | 3000 |
| Moultan, | 3000 |
| Saugor, | 2800 |
| Agra, | 2700 |
| Nowsherab, | 2600 |
| Jelum, | 2400 |
| Allahabad, | 2300 |