September 8th.—Captain Simons of the Artillery, who had been long suffering from his wounds, died early this morning. A tolerable cannonade kept up all night. The enemy had now completed a breach in the wall enclosing the courtyard of the Martiniere School, broad enough for four or five men to pass through abreast, and which we were obliged to retrench and stockade. Nearly one-half of the officers were on the sick list, with fever and dysentery.
The shot fired in by the enemy were yesterday collected, and 280 round shot, varying in size from a 24 to a 3-pounder, were gathered from the roof of the brigade-mess alone! In the evening we had heavy rain and a moderate cannonade.
September 9th.—During the night a shell exploded in a room occupied by a lady and some children, and though almost every article in the room was destroyed, yet all providentially escaped.
Finding this morning that the enemy were rapidly mining towards the Cawnpore battery, it was deemed advisable that our mine, containing 200 lbs. of powder, which had been ready and charged for upwards of a month, should be exploded; and accordingly, at 10 A.M., it was sprung. The effect was tremendous, and it evidently astonished the enemy, whose miners must have been destroyed. They immediately beat to arms, and opened on us from most of their batteries on that side of our position. When the smoke and dust (which were tremendous) had blown away, it was seen that the explosion had destroyed all the front face of the outhouses opposite our battery.
In the evening a body of 3000 men moved up to our right flank, which caused us all to keep particularly on the alert. About 11 P.M. very heavy rain began to fall, and the early part of the night passed away quietly. For the third time since the siege commenced there was no funeral on this day.
September 10th.—The rain cleared away towards morning, and all was moderately quiet till 6 A.M., from which hour till 10 A.M. an unusually heavy cannonade was kept up, and replied to by our guns and mortars. All the state jewels were brought over from the Residency, and put into the Begum Kotee for better security.
Owing to the necessity for blowing up the Muchee Bhawun, the officers brought in with them nothing but the clothes they wore. Many others in this garrison had lost everything when their bungalows in cantonments were burnt; and a few better off had shared their wardrobes with them. As time went on, however, clothes wore out, and there were no means of providing others; and by this time officers might have been seen wearing the most extraordinary costumes; few, if any, had any semblance of a military uniform, and very many were in shirts, trowsers, and slippers only; one gallant civilian having found an old billiard-table cloth, had contrived to make himself a kind of loose coat out of it, while an officer wore a shirt made out of a floor cloth. All carried muskets, and were accoutred like the soldiers. At the auction of the effects of an officer recently killed, a single bottle of brandy realised seventeen rupees (thirty-four shillings). The soldiers had for a month past all been out of tobacco, and had taken to smoking dried tea and common leaves. Not very much firing in the evening.
September 11th.—This was a quieter night than usual with the garrison. Much disturbance was heard among the enemy, and the noise of elephants was distinctly heard, as if they were moving some of their guns into other positions. About sunrise, two sides of Innes' house, which had been steadily cannonaded daily with 18-pounder shot, fell in, and the two sentries on that side escaped with difficulty; the post was, however, still nobly held, and preparation made for making some kind of a defence out of the debris. Many bodies of armed men were seen moving about, and we had the usual three hours' morning cannonade. About 10 A.M., as our mine out of the Seikh square (which had been charged with 200 lbs. of powder) was ready, it was determined to explode it, as the enemy's miners could be very distinctly heard sapping quite close; it was very successful, completely destroying all their excavations, and buried the party who were at work, the groans and moans of some of whom were heard for some time after. Later in the day, another mine of the enemy was discovered in the churchyard. A sortie was made under Captain Fulton of the Engineers (the ground being open), and the working party were driven off and their work examined. It proved to be shaft and gallery, fully five feet high, and extended twenty-four feet, running in a straight line to the church: two barrels of powder were separately exploded in it, and completely destroyed the entire work. Two of the enemy were shot by Lieutenant Sewell this afternoon.
At dusk, the enemy threw in (apparently from a howitzer) five hollow iron cylinders, filled with a composition (similar to that with which we are accustomed to fill our carcases) done up in strong canvas. On reaching the ground, the apparatus burst, and the five cylinders spouted forth fire without any further explosion: this, perhaps, was the most curious and complicated projectile that had yet been received by the garrison. At 7 P.M. very heavy rain, which lasted an hour and a half.
September 12th.—A tremendous row and noise in the city all night. A shaft sunk in the centre of the brigade-mess, in view to running a sap out across the road into the garden, in front of the enemy's battery. Rather less firing all day than usual. Very large bodies of matchlockmen were seen moving about, but a smaller proportion of sepoys. A soldier of the 32nd and an uncovenanted man were wounded; the former in the head, the latter through the hand. During the past few days no case of cholera occurred. In the evening after dark, the 71st sepoys were employed under Lieutenant Langmore in bringing in some tents which were piled up in the Residency garden; while so employed, one of the enemy came up, evidently having mistaken our party for one of his own. He was immediately seized by two sepoys and brought in. An European sentry was killed to-day through a small loophole in the Redan, out of which he was looking, and another in the same battery was wounded during the night.