Friday, December 4th. All very fatigued this morning, Mrs. B—— especially. We got a couple of delicious chickens and some eggs for dinner, a treat we had not enjoyed for months. We were ordered to march at 9 P.M. Mr. R—— had had fever all day, so I gave up my place in the shigram to him, and Charlie and I travelled in the hackery. We went thirteen miles this night.
Saturday, December 5th. I felt quite stiff and bruised by the jolting in the hackery. We asked Mr. C—— to bring his rations, and we would cook them with ours, as he had no servants and got hardly anything yesterday; he says the amount of misery experienced by the wounded travelling in the rough hackeries is hardly credible, and many did not get their wounds dressed or have anything to eat the whole day. There is a sad want of servants and management. We started again at 7 P.M., having had our hackery well littered with straw, and went twenty-four miles, not stopping at Futtehpore, which was half way.
Sunday, December 6th. We got to camp about 9 A.M.; the tents were pitched in a nice tope of trees. We were ordered on again at 9 P.M., and had rather a long march; the last mile of it we turned off the trunk road over a rough track to the railroad, of which we knew nothing, as we both slept, and on awakening found ourselves at the temporary terminus.
Monday, December 7th. We hoped to breakfast before we left the ground; but no, we were packed into the railway carriages immediately, and then were kept waiting three hours for the baggage to be loaded. Charlie gave up all hope of being able to accompany us, it was such a time before he could find our baggage and get it into the train; but it was done at last. We took three hours getting to Allahabad, stopping once to water the engine, which in this enlightened country is done by coolies with earthen jars—the apparatus not being in order. We luckily had a bottle of porter and some Native biscuits, so we kept up till we arrived at Allahabad at 3 P.M., where we met with a most unexpected reception, the whole station being lined with gentlemen and soldiers who turned out for the occasion, and cheered us most lustily; it was almost overpowering. They had done everything they could for our comfort; all sorts of vehicles had been lent by their owners to take us from the station to the fort, where a large suite of the Governor-General's tents, about fifteen in number, had been pitched for us. We shared a double-poled tent with Captain and Mrs. R——; it had one public and two private compartments. It was a great luxury to be quiet by ourselves, after the many months we had been herded together. Captain D—— sent us over a splendid dinner. We met Dr. H—— and S—— H—— at the station; all the former could do was to squeeze my hand and say "Poor thing! poor thing!" Our tents were very comfortably furnished; so, after taking tea with the R——'s, we went to bed.
Tuesday, December 8th. It was such luxury to be in bed, and have my chota hazree brought to me, after having had to make it for so many months—almost the whole of the siege—and it was such delicious bread and butter! Mr. S——, the chaplain, and some gentlemen, came round to all the tents, early, bringing cakes of soap for us; and the night before all our tents were supplied with oil lamps. We went over to breakfast in the Mess tent—it was the Governor-General's Durbar tent—a most splendid one, and pitched in the centre of our camp; we had a delicious breakfast—coffee, with rich cream. I enjoyed it much, after our siege fare, and was as pleased as a child to get it. We telegraphed to Capt. P——, in Calcutta, to write home, and say we were all safe. Drs. B—— and H——, and Major T—— called. After this, our days passed quietly at Allahabad. Christmas Day, we dined with Capt. J——, of the Fusiliers; and Monday, January 11th, left Allahabad in country boats, to join the steamers at Sirsa, as none of them could come up higher, on account of the shallow water on the Dum-dumma Flats. We had a narrow escape! As our boat was alongside the Charles Allen, another steamer passed, having several Native boats attached to its flat; one came with great force against ours, and every one expected we were done for, as these Native boats generally crush up and go down instantaneously. There was a cry, "Save the women and children!" and we were dragged up on the top of the paddle-box by our arms; however, our boat did not go down, or we must have gone with it. Captain F——, of the Charles Allen, afterwards told me he had expected to see us go down, and thought the poor creatures had escaped Lucknow only to meet with another horrible death. We had a pleasant trip down the river, and reached Calcutta on Thursday, January 28th. We slept that night on board, and the next morning took up our abode at 3, Harrington Street—one of the houses prepared by the Relief Fund Committee for the Lucknow refugees, where we found everything provided for us in the most luxurious style.
RETURN OF KILLED AND WOUNDED.
Transcriber's Note
Some of the entries in the following table have been abbreviated for space. The key used is—
Off. = Officers. V. = Vet Surgeons. W. = Warrant and Staff Sergeants. Srg. = Sergeants. RF. = Rank and File. Tot. = Total N. = Native Officers.