The battles of the world

by J. Douglas Borthwick

CATEAU, PEACE OF.—Concluded between Henry II of France and Philip II of Spain, in 1599. A battle was fought here between the allies, under the Prince of Cobourg, and the French. The latter were defeated with a loss of 5000 in killed and 5 pieces of cannon, March 28th, 1794.

CAWNPORE.—In India.—Famous in the Great Indian mutiny, which is thus described:

“At Cawnpore, a terrible disaster befell the British arms. Sir Hugh Wheeler, a veteran officer of approved bravery, had entrenched himself in the barracks with a force of less than 300 fighting men, and upwards of 500 women and children, the wives and families of officers and civilians, and of the Queen’s 32d regiment, then besieged at Lucknow. The insurgents were commanded by Nena Sahib, or, rather, Dhandoo Pant, Rajah of Bhitoor, the adopted son of the late Peishwah Bajee Raho. This man, under the mask of kindly feeling toward the English, nurtured a deadly hatred against the government, which had refused to acknowledge his claims as the Peishwah’s successor. He had long been addicted to the most revolting sensuality, and had lost all control over his passions. Wearied and enraged by the desperate resistance of this handful of brave men, he offered them a safe passage to Allahabad, if they would give up their guns and treasure. The place, indeed, was no longer tenable; and the survivors, diminished in number, were exhausted by constant vigils and want of food. In an evil moment, then, they accepted the terms of their perfidious enemy, marched down to the river, and embarked on board the boats which had been prepared for them. Suddenly a masked battery opened fire upon them, and crowds of horse and foot soldiers lined either bank. Many were shot dead, still more were drowned, and about 150 taken prisoners; four only escaped by swimming. The men were instantly put to death in cold blood; the women and children were spared for a few days longer.

“General Havelock, taking the command at Allahabad of the 78th Highlanders, the Queen’s 64th, the 1st Madras Fusiliers, and the Ferozepore regiment of Sikhs, had set out in the hope of arriving at Cawnpore in time to release Sir Hugh Wheeler and his devoted comrades. After marching 126 miles, fighting four actions, and capturing a number of guns of heavy calibre, in eight days, and in the worst season of an Indian climate, he was yet too late to avert the terrible catastrophe. The day before he entered Cawnpore, Nena Sahib foully murdered the women and children, who alone survived of the Cawnpore garrison, and caused them to be flung, the dead and the dying, into a well of the courtyard of the assembly rooms.”

Another account says:—

“General Havelock arrived before Cawnpore on the 18th July, and so eager was he to rescue the garrison (for he was not yet aware of what had happened), that he attacked the Sepoy position without delay. Ordering a charge, his gallant band rushed to the onset. Not a word was uttered until when within 100 yards of the rebels, three deafening cheers,—cheers such as Englishmen only can give, rang out. Then came the crash; a murderous volley of musketry and the crash of bayonets soon drove the mutineers back, and Cawnpore was taken; 1000 British troops and 300 Sikhs had put to flight 5000 of the flower of the native soldiery, with a native chief in command.

“When Havelock’s soldiers entered the assembly rooms, the blood came up over their shoes. There they found clotted locks of hair, leaves of religious books, and fragments of clothing in sickening array, while into the well outside the bodies had been rudely thrown. The horrors of that scene will never be fully known. A terrible retribution fell on the mutineers. General Neil compelled the Brahmins to wipe out, on their bended knees, the sanguinary traces of the outrages before he ordered them to execution, and when the 78th Highlanders found the mutilated remains of one of General Wheeler’s daughters, they divided the locks of hair among them, pledging each other in solemn covenant, that for every hair thus appropriated, a mutineer’s life and that alone could be the atonement. The eldest daughter of Sir Hugh Wheeler is said to have behaved in a most heroic manner; one of the natives testified that she shot five Sepoys with a revolver, and then threw herself into the well.”

CAVALRY.—Of the ancients the Romans had the best cavalry. To each legion there was attached 300 cavalry in ten turmae. The Persians were famous for their horse troops—they had 10,000 horse at the battle of Marathon, B.C. 490, and 10,000 Persian cavalry at the battle of Issus, B.C. 333. Horse soldiers were early introduced into the British army. During the wars of Napoleon the strength amounted to 31,000 men. The British cavalry is divided into the household troops, dragoons, hussars and lancers. Since 1840 the number has continued, with little variation, to the present day, at about 10,000.

CEDAR RAPIDS, CANADA.—Occupied by the Americans as a small fort in 1776. Taken by a detachment of the British army, and 500 Indians, under the celebrated Indian chief Brant, without firing a gun. The Americans sent to its support were captured after a severe engagement.