Tuesday, June 30th. I rose early, and found Dr.—— all booted and spurred for service. I then heard a detachment had been ordered off to meet the enemy, who were five miles off. Three hundred Europeans, nine guns, and an 8-inch howitzer, and 150 of the 13th N.I., &c., went out. I sat, as usual, in the garden, till 7, and then went in to bathe and dress, and be ready for Charlie. However, to my surprise, he never came, and I sent off a note to the Muchee Bawun asking the reason. While the servant was gone with it, some came flying back saying our troops had been surrounded by the mutineers, who were in great numbers, and that several of our officers had been killed. Just then, to my horror, came back the note I had sent with a message from Captain F—— that my husband had gone out with the detachment. I never shall forget that dreadful suspense as the news was brought in that Col. C——, Capt. S——, Mr. T——, and Mr. B——, of the 32nd were killed. The latter had always paid us a visit, mornings and evenings. At last came Dr. P——, saying they were sorely pressed by the enemy, but that he had seen my husband all right. Soon after came a Sepoy, sent by Charlie himself, to say he was all safe; and immediately after a 13th Sepoy, of his own accord, came to tell me he had seen Charlie coming in on a gun as he was very faint, and that Major B—— was wounded. I was frightened, thinking Charlie had got a sunstroke. He told me, afterwards, he had had a most narrow escape, as he was far back in the retreat. It had proved far different to the expectations of the morning, for the Native Artillerymen had proved faithless; and, the enemy being in far greater numbers than our spies had led us to expect, our little party was almost surrounded, and it was only a wonder any escaped to tell the tale. The sun also was so overpowering that many fell down from sheer faintness, without a wound, and were cut to pieces by the enemy, for few had any horses to return with. The officers had dismounted to fall in with their men, and the horses disappeared; either the enemy or the servants made away with them,—poor Charlie's dear old charger amongst the rest; the poor horse that was shot in the nose the night of the mutiny. It was a fearful morning, never to be forgotten, this affair of Chinhut! Another providential escape for dear Charlie, for which we cannot be sufficiently thankful! The siege now commenced, the enemy began firing on us as they followed the retreating party. Our gates were closed, we got a cup of tea and something for breakfast as best we could, sitting behind the walls to escape the balls; not that I fancy any of us had very much appetite. At last the balls came so thick that we were all ordered down into the Tye Khana (underground room), and kept there. Towards evening the firing slackened a little, and we sat in the portico to get a little air. There were twenty-four of us in the house—eleven ladies, six gentlemen and seven children. Captain W—— was the commandant of our garrison, which consisted of an officer and some twenty of the 32nd Queen's, with some Native Pensioners, and a mixed party of men to work the 18 and 9-pounder guns in the garden. At night we purposed sleeping in our own rooms, but Dr. F—— considered it not safe to do so; we therefore all stretched our bedding on the floor of the Tye Khana, putting the children in the centre for the benefit of the punkah. We took it by turns to watch for an hour.
Wednesday, July 1st.[8] We just managed to get to our rooms and dress, when the firing got very sharp—round shot and shell; already we began to distinguish the different sounds as they whizzed past: in the afternoon the enemy got into a building very near and fired away at us till evening, when they slackened again. I got a note from dear Charlie, saying he was all right again I felt so thankful. Shortly after came Capt. W——, to whom I read it; he begged me to copy it for Sir Henry as there was more news in it than in any that had been received from the Muchee Bawun; he also said they had paid 100 rupees for getting one carried there. I copied it, and he told me that I should soon see Charlie; and we heard the garrison of the Muchee Bawun had been ordered to come in that night at half-past 12, evacuating the fort as silently as possible, and blowing it up. We all expected they would have to fight every inch of the way in, and were in great anxiety in consequence; however, we went to bed, and I even slept, when about half-past 12 we were awoke by the most horrible explosion. It shattered every bit of glass in the house! There were four doors to our Tye Khana, half glass, and the concussion covered us with the glass, and shook one of the doors off its hinges. I believe all of us thought our last hour was come; each started up with a kind of groan, for we had been expecting the enemy were mining, as we had fancied we had each night heard strokes of a pickaxe, about half a dozen at a time, and then a stoppage as if they feared to make too much noise: the gentlemen had been down to listen and heard it distinctly, so that when the explosion came, I certainly expected to go up into the air; and the inexpressible relief it was to hear Dr. F——, at the head of the stairs, calling out "It is all right! The whole party are in safe, and the Muchee Bawun blown up!" No wonder the explosion was so terrific, there were upwards of 20,000 lbs. of powder, besides a vast quantity of musket ammunition!
Thursday, July 2nd. The attack on the Bailey Guard Gate and our Compound was tremendous, and while we were at breakfast we were all inexpressibly shocked and grieved to hear poor Sir Henry had been mortally wounded; a shell from the very 8-inch howitzer the enemy had taken from us at Chinhut, had burst in his room in the Residency, and given him a fearful wound in his hip! He was brought over into our verandah, and Mr. H—— administered the Sacrament to him. Sir Henry then sent for several whom he fancied he had spoken harshly to in their duty, and begged their forgiveness, and many shed tears to think the good old man would so soon be taken from us. Our only earthly hope in this crisis! Sir Henry then appointed Major B—— his successor. The firing was fearful; the enemy must have discovered from some spies that Sir Henry was at our house, for the attack on the gate was fearful. We all gave ourselves up for lost, for we did not then know the cowards they were, and we expected every moment they would be over our garden wall; there was no escape for us, if they were once in the garden! We asked Mr. H—— to read prayers, and I believe every one of us prepared for the worst; the shots were now coming so thick into the verandah where Sir Henry was lying, that several officers were wounded, and he was obliged to be removed into the drawing-room. We gave out an immense quantity of rag to the poor soldiers, as they passed up and down from the roof of the house wounded. Towards evening the fire slackened, but we were not allowed to leave the Tye Khana. At night Mr. H—— came and read prayers again, and then we (ladies and children) lay down on the floor without undressing.
Friday, July 3rd. When we awoke we found all the servants had deserted excepting my Kitmagar and Mrs. B——'s, and one or two Ayahs. The F——'s had not one servant left, so we were obliged to get up and act as servants ourselves, and do everything, excepting the cooking, even to washing plates and dishes; and perhaps it was a good thing, for it kept us from dwelling on our misery. Dear Charlie came to see me in the afternoon, and brought a jug of milk for the poor children. I was glad to hear he had had a good luncheon, for the day before when he came he said he had had nothing for some days but dal (peas) and rice; we happened to be at dinner, and I gave him a piece of meat, but he seemed too much done up to eat it, and actually carried it away in a piece of paper to some other gentleman who could get none. No arrangements have been made for messing at present, and no one can tell where to get anything.
Saturday, July 4th. Firing had been going on all night, and it continued all day, but we were so engaged in kitchen duties we scarcely noticed it. Poor Sir Henry died in the morning; he had been in great agony from his wound! He was buried with the rest at night, but even he did not have a separate grave; each corpse is sewn up in its own bedding, and those who have died during the day are put into the same grave at night.
Sunday, July 5th. The firing was incessant, and after breakfast Mr. H—— arranged all our duties, for up to this time they had been rather unequally performed; after that we had service in the Tye Khana, and the Holy Sacrament was administered. I so wished dear Charlie could have been present, it seemed so solemn and yet so comforting while the firing was going on around us!—nothing else occurred worth noting.
Monday, July 6th. The insurgents filled J——s' house, and kept firing into our Compound; we fired a number of shrapnell into the house, without dislodging them. We fancied they must be getting short of ammunition, for they fired all sorts of strange missiles—such as nails, pieces of ramrod, &c.
Tuesday, July 7th. Charlie came, after breakfast, and told me that a sortie was to be made into J——s' house; this was done between 1 and 2 P.M.—two officers and some men of the 32nd and Mr. G—— and some of our Sikhs—a hole was made through the wall of the Brigade Mess, opposite J——s' house, an 18-pounder firing down our lane all the time to distract the enemy's attention. A rush was then made, and every Native in the house killed—numbering some thirty or forty. In the afternoon we had the first really heavy fall of rain, and the enemy's fire slackened in consequence. Poor Captain F—— this night had one leg taken off, and the other shattered, by a round shot, while sitting on the roof of the Brigade Mess! Mr. H—— saw him after the amputation had taken place, and said he was very composed. Mr. O—— died from his wound received at the Redan battery.
Wednesday, July 8th. Poor Mr. P—— was hit in the body by a musket shot; fortunately, the ball made a circuit round the body, instead of touching any vital part: he received the wound in the hospital. The firing was very sharp. I felt quite knocked up, after my morning duties. Charlie came, after dinner, and sat about an hour; he then went over to the hospital to see poor Captain F——. He found him insensible and very restless, and the doctors said he was not going on well; about 9 o'clock he died. He and Mr. O——, and two others, were buried in the same grave; the funerals are always at night, as the fire then slackens a little. Sometimes, Mr. P—— and Mr. H—— have had to dig the graves themselves! Soon after we lay down for the night, we were aroused by an alarm; it was false, and had been caused by a soldier dreaming: but, towards the morning, we were alarmed again by the enemy making an attack on our gate. We all got up and prepared, in case we had to run to the Begum Kotee, for there had been a hole dug in the wall opposite one of our doors for us to escape by in case the enemy should pass the gate.
Thursday, July 9th. I rose and made the early tea for the whole party as Mrs. A—— was ill, and while engaged in it an order came down for bottles of hot water, Mr. D—— being taken with cholera; after breakfast he appeared better, but it did not last. About noon Mr. H—— administered the Sacrament to him, and at 1 o'clock he died. Mrs. D—— seemed wonderfully calm. After making tea in the evening I went and lay down on my bedding in the Tye Khana, feeling tired out, and fell so fast asleep, that they all came down and had prayers without my knowing anything about it.