Brave British soldiers and the Victoria Cross / a general account of the regiments and men of the British Army, and stories of the brave deeds which won the prize "for valour"

by Unknown

The general had already made an unsuccessful attempt to rescue the little garrison from their perilous position. He thought only of his own safety till the 27th of July, when, feeling more reassured, he sent a detachment of the 37th Regiment from Dinapoor toward Arrah, for the purpose of dispersing the mutineers. The troops embarked on board the Horungotta steamer, and might have reached Arrah in a few hours, but a sort of fatality seemed to attend everything which the general undertook. After three hours’ steaming, the Horungotta ran aground, and as she could not be got off the troops quickly returned to Dinapoor. The general was now willing to accept Mr. Taylor’s proposal, and a second expeditionary force, consisting of detachments of Her Majesty’s 10th, and 37th Regiments, some native troops, and the corps of volunteer cavalry was organized, and embarked on the evening of Tuesday, the 28th of July, on board the steamer Bombay, which had arrived at Dinapoor in her downward passage on the Ganges, and was detained for the public service. If the defence of Arrah forms one of the brightest episodes in the history of the Indian mutiny, the disaster which overtook this ill-fated expedition may be regarded as one of its gloomiest pages: it was not the mere loss of men at a critical juncture, though that was considerable; it was the destruction for the moment of that prestige which has almost invariably followed our arms in India, and by which alone we have acquired our ascendancy in that vast peninsula. The expedition was placed under the command of Captain Dunbar, of the 10th Regiment. Mr. Mangles belonged to the corps of volunteer cavalry. The mutineers, who were cognizant of all their movements, had formed themselves into an ambuscade, and attacked them on the night of the 29th of July. Our soldiers fought with their usual gallantry, but were overpowered by superior numbers, and compelled to retreat. Captain Dunbar was killed; only a few of his men effected a retreat to the boats; the rest were butchered by the enemy, who gave no quarter. It was on this occasion that Mr. Mangles distinguished himself by his humanity, and thus became entitled to wear the Queen’s Own Cross. He had been wounded, and would have been justified, under the circumstances, in consulting his own safety; but his generous heart led him to think more of others than of himself. A soldier of the 37th Regiment had been struck down by his side; wounded himself, and weak with the loss of blood, he was induced, from a feeling of humanity, and without any prospect of reward, to make an effort to save his life. If he left him in the hands of the enemy, his fate was certain; the murderers of helpless women and children would show no mercy: all this must have been present to his mind, as he hurriedly bound up his wounds, careless of the murderous fire to which he was exposed. Nor was this all. When he had dressed his wounds, he raised him on his shoulders and carried him for several miles, till they reached the boats in safety. When we consider that almost the whole detachment were killed or wounded, their escape seems to us to border on the miraculous, and no one will question Mr. Mangles’ right to a place in Mr. Desanges’ Gallery, or grudge him the Cross of Valour. The permanent record of his heroic conduct and tender-hearted humanity may stimulate others to imitate his example, and may thus exercise a beneficial influence on the rising generation. The Victoria Cross was awarded to Mr. Mangles in the Government Gazette of the 6th of July, 1859, and Mr. Desanges’ pencil has conveyed to the minds of thousands a more vivid conception of the act by which he gained it, than we can expect to produce by this brief narrative.

We now turn from the disaster of the 29th of July, 1857, to relate how a second and far more successful attempt was made to relieve the beleaguered garrison. The name of Major Vincent Eyre will ever be associated with this event, as the instrument, in the hands of a Higher Power, for the rescue of those who must otherwise have perished. When the mutiny broke out, this officer was recalled from Burwah, and embarked at Calcutta for the Upper Provinces, on the 10th of July, having under his command No. 3 Horse Field Battery, with the 1st Company 5th Battalion Artillery attached. Allahabad was the rendezvous where the different detachments of the relieving army were to assemble, and Major Eyre reached Dinapoor on the evening of the 25th of July, the very day when the three native regiments had broken into open mutiny. He lost no time in placing himself and his men at the disposal of Major-General Lloyd, and at his request landed three guns. Next morning these guns were re-embarked, and Major Eyre resumed his voyage. As yet he knew nothing of the beleaguered garrison at Arrah: he only heard of their gallant defence on the 28th of July, on reaching Buxar, where the greatest anxiety was felt for their safety. If he had consulted his own feelings he would have hurried at once to their assistance; but a sort of panic had broken out at Buxar, from the idea that the mutineers were advancing to destroy the valuable stud property there, and he detained the steamer till the following morning, when, finding that there was no immediate danger, he started for Ghazeepoor, where a weak company of the 78th Highlanders had been stationed to overawe a half-mutinous native regiment. On reaching that town on the afternoon of the 29th, he placed himself in communication with Colonel Davies, of the 37th Regiment, who was in command; and at his request landed two guns under the charge of Lieutenant Gordon, Royal Artillery. He received in return a detachment of twenty-five men of the 78th Highlanders to aid him in the relief of Arrah; and the Honourable Captain Hastings, superintendent of the stud at Buxar, who happened to be at Ghazeepoor, volunteered to accompany him.

The steamer anchored off Buxar at nine P.M. on the evening of the 29th, where Major Eyre found a detachment of 160 men of Her Majesty’s 5th Fusiliers, who had just arrived in the James Hume steamer. They were under the command of Captain L’Estrange, a gallant young officer, who, on this and other occasions, greatly distinguished himself. The 5th Fusiliers had been stationed in Mauritius, and were on their way to China; on landing at Calcutta, and hearing of the horrors of the Indian mutiny, Lord Elgin at once placed them at the disposal of the Governor-General, who lost no time in despatching them to the disaffected districts. Captain L’Estrange, on learning what had occurred at Arrah, entered warmly into Major Eyre’s projected enterprise, and no time was lost in organizing a field force. On the morning of the 30th, three guns and 150 men of the 5th Fusiliers were landed; the Highlanders would willingly have joined them, but their presence was necessary at Ghazeepoor, where they rejoined their company. During the day the little army was reinforced by fourteen mounted volunteers, who were placed under the command of Lieutenant Jackson, of the 12th Native Infantry. Captain Hastings was appointed staff-officer of the force: his local knowledge and unflagging energy enabled him, in the course of a few hours, to procure the necessary carriage and commissariat supplies. Every moment was precious; all were eager to start; no time was lost in extricating the waggons from the hold of the steamer; the artillery ammunition-boxes were mounted on light carts, which were found equally serviceable. India was not re-conquered by ordinary routine: every leader had to exercise his own judgment, and to trust in his own fertility of invention.

At five P.M. all was ready, and the little army commenced its march. Officers and men were inspired by the same chivalrous spirit; no knight-errant of old, hurrying to the rescue of injured innocence, could have been more eager for the fray. Our soldiers have their faults, but they cannot be taxed with inhumanity, or a want of sympathy with the sufferings of others; and the gallant defence of the little garrison had excited their sympathy as well as their admiration. After a march of six miles, they were joined by four elephants, which Mr. Ban, Civil Service, had induced the Dumraon Rajah, a native prince of doubtful loyalty, to send. With all their zeal their progress was slow: the roads were bad; the bullocks fresh from the plough; it was daybreak before they reached their first encampment at Nya Bhojepoor, which is only fifteen miles from Buxar. The enemy had despatched a mounted spy to watch their movements, but the unerring aim of one of the volunteers closed his eyes for ever. He was recognised as one of the confidential men of Koer Singh, the brother of the Dumraon Rajah, who had always professed his warm attachment to the British rule, and lived on terms of intimacy with the English residents. He was a man of superior ability, and possessed of great influence over the Rajpoots of Shahabad; but his affairs were embarrassed, and his large estates heavily mortgaged. It was owing to this circumstance, and Brahminical influence, that he proved a traitor to our cause, and placed himself at the head of the mutineers at Dinapoor, who proclaimed him King of Shahabad. It was he who instigated them to revolt, and furnished them with boats to cross the river to Arrah, where he was now conducting the siege in person. The death of the spy prevented him from obtaining the information he so much desired.

The little army halted at their first encampment till the hottest part of the day was over; at four P.M. they resumed their march, and on the morning of the following day, the 1st of August, they reached the village of Shahpoor, where they received letters from Buxar, conveying the first intelligence of the destruction of Captain Dunbar’s expeditionary force by the mutineers, who had entrapped them into an ambuscade. They learned, at the same time, that several of the bridges between Shahpoor and Arrah had been destroyed by the enemy in order to impede their progress; but the gallant little band, though far inferior in numbers to the detachment which had been cut off, resolved to proceed at all hazards. No time was lost; no fear or anxiety was expressed; at two P.M. they were already on the march. After advancing about four miles, they found a party of hostile villagers in the very act of destroying one of the bridges they had to cross, and an hour was lost in repairing it. They continued to advance without further interruption till darkness closed upon them, when they bivouacked for the night: a party of fifty of the 5th Fusiliers was sent forward to guard a bridge leading to the native village near which they were encamped. Meanwhile a party of mutineers had advanced from Arrah, and taken up their position in a thick, extensive wood about a mile from the village, with the intention of attacking them unawares, and cutting them off as they had done in the case of the other rescuing party. The line of march lay directly through this wood, which extended on either flank. At daybreak, when they were close upon it, they heard bugles sounding the assembly, and knew that the rebels were at hand. Major Eyre was too prudent to neglect the warning which the enemy had thus inadvertently given, and halted his force to reconnoitre. The enemy now appeared in overwhelming numbers, and extended themselves along the wood on either flank, with the evident intention of hemming in and destroying the little band opposed to them. On perceiving this, Major Eyre drew up his forces on the open plain to the right of the road, in the hope that the enemy would venture forth to attack him, and opened fire on them to the front and flanks with the three guns. They had not the courage to attack him openly, but sought shelter behind the broken ground between the two positions, where they could fire at our men with comparative safety. On this Major Eyre sent forward a party of skirmishers of the 5th Fusiliers to draw them from their positions, and, after a brief resistance, they fell back upon the wood where they had spent the night. The road, as we have already mentioned, lay directly through the middle of this wood, and Major Eyre concentrated his fire upon it with the view of forcing a passage. The enemy dispersed themselves right and left, leaving the road clear, the baggage and guns were moved forward under cover of the Enfield rifles, and our gallant little army pushed through the wood before the enemy had time to close their divided wings or renew the attack.

Having failed in this their first attempt to intercept the army of rescue, the mutineers fell back upon a village about two miles ahead, where they destroyed a bridge, and took up a strong position among the houses. Our men continued to advance along the road, which was a sort of elevated causeway with partially inundated paddy-fields on either side, till they were within a short distance of the bridge, when Major Eyre halted for refreshment, and sent out scouts to search for a ford across the river. During the engagement in the wood, the four elephants sent by Dumraon Rajah, after disembarrassing themselves of the soldiers’ great coats and bedding with which they were loaded, went over to the enemy; it seemed almost as if they were possessed with the same spirit of disaffection as their master. The scouts returned without having discovered a ford, and Major Eyre diverged from his line of march toward the nearest point of the railway, which was only about a mile from the village. While the infantry and baggage pushed forward in this direction, the guns opened fire on the enemy, for the purpose of distracting their attention from this movement. This ruse succeeded for a time, but as soon as the enemy discovered that our men had changed their line of march, they advanced in great strength to intercept them at the angle of a wood close to the railway. The two armies pursued a parallel course on the opposite sides of the stream till they reached the railway, when Major Eyre attempted to dislodge the enemy from their position in the wood. Greatly superior in numbers, and sheltered by the cover of the wood, the mutineers fought with every advantage on their side; twice they rushed forward to seize our guns, which, in the heat of combat, were almost deserted; twice they were driven back by showers of grape. Pressed by superior numbers, and encircled by a wall of fire, the brave Fusiliers began to lose ground; it was one of those critical moments when all depends on the decision of one man. If Major Eyre had hesitated for a moment, the garrison at Arrah would have resisted in vain, and another disaster overtaken our arms; but he proved himself equal to the occasion. He knew that the British bayonet, wielded by manly British arms, has often turned back the tide of victory, and retrieved the honours of the day; when he gave the word “Charge!” the Fusiliers cleared the stream with a ringing cheer; at a single bound they were in the midst of the enemy, dealing death on every side. The mutineers were twenty times their number; but though they had been a thousand times stronger the result would have been the same: they have never been able to sustain a hand-to-hand combat with the fierce Feringees. Panic-struck by the sudden attack, they broke and fell back in the greatest confusion, while long lines were opened through the retreating mass by the crushing fire of our artillery. In a few moments all was over; the victory was complete; the ground was strewn with dead and dying; but not one of the five thousand, who an hour before threatened our little army with destruction, now stood up to oppose their passage. Our soldiers obtained the victory, but they fought for something more; they thought of the beleaguered garrison at Arrah, of their gallant and long-protracted resistance, of the fearful fate that awaited them if they suffered a repulse; all their hearts throbbed with such thoughts as they bounded across the stream with levelled bayonets, and carried everything before them. After these defeats at the railway the mutineers fled precipitately to Arrah, where they had barely time to remove part of their plunder to the jungle when the victorious little army marched into the town.

They did not arrive a moment too soon; the house, so gallantly defended for seven days and nights by sixteen Europeans and fifty Sikhs against three regiments of mutineers and Koer Singh’s levies, was found to be so effectually ruined, that a few hours’ delay must have completed its destruction. The deliverance of the little garrison from the worst of fates was little short of miraculous, and we can trace the working of a Higher Power in arranging the different steps by which that deliverance was effected. A leader less resolute and energetic than Major Eyre would have quailed before the difficulties and dangers that opposed his progress; nothing but their own unflinching fortitude could have enabled the little garrison to hold out so long. For more than a week they were harassed by the fire of the enemy, which was so close and continuous that not a loophole could be approached with safety, and yet they inflicted far more loss on their assailants than they suffered themselves. Only one of them was severely wounded, while no less than fifty or sixty of the enemy are believed to have fallen. This result is to be attributed to the precautions they used for their own protection, and their superior skill in the use of the rifle: the unerring aim of Mr. Littledale, a civilian, inspired the mutineers with a salutary dread, and drove them to seek shelter behind every available corner. The defence of Arrah must ever occupy a conspicuous place in the annals of the Indian mutiny.

A week was spent in restoring the country around Arrah to order; martial law was proclaimed; the people were disarmed; about thirty wounded Sepoys, and several native officials who had aided the mutineers, were hanged. Meanwhile Major Eyre had applied to the authorities at Dinapoor for some reinforcements to enable him to follow up his victory, and on the 8th of August a detachment of two hundred men of the 10th Regiment, under the command of Captain Patterson, arrived at Arrah. This regiment had suffered severely on the occasion when Mr. Mangles so greatly distinguished himself, and the men were burning with the desire to avenge their comrades, and obliterate the remembrance of that disaster. Major Eyre was not the man to balk them in their purpose; he resolved to lead them at once against Judgespoor, the stronghold of Koer Singh, where he and the mutineers had taken shelter. He was joined by eight of the garrison of Arrah, and the fifty Sikhs who had shared in the defence under the command of Mr. Wake, and by a further reinforcement of one hundred of Rattray’s Sikhs, under Lieutenants Roberts and Powers. The attack on Judgespoor was generally considered to be a dangerous, if not a desperate undertaking, but at two P.M. on the 11th of August, Major Eyre marched forth from Arrah with the certainty of victory.

After a march of eight miles they reached an open plain, where they bivouacked for the night. The following morning they resumed their march, and found the road more difficult as they advanced. At ten o’clock they halted an hour for refreshment. Two miles farther on they came in sight of the enemy, who had taken up a strong position in the belt of jungle surrounding Judgespoor, with a river in their front. In their centre was the town of Dulloor, before which some breastworks had been raised; between it and our army was a native village, occupied by an advanced picket, which soon retired before the fire of our skirmishers. The mutineers lay so close in the jungle and broken ground as to be almost invisible; but a few discharges of grape made them shift their position more to the right. Now was the time for the 10th to wipe out the remembrance of the ambuscade, and such was their impatience that almost before the order to charge could reach them they rushed forward with a cheer, and charged to within sixty yards of the enemy, who broke and fled for refuge to the town of Dulloor, and the adjacent jungle. Meanwhile their left and centre had been repulsed by the detachment of the 5th Fusiliers under Captains L’Estrange and Scott, who now took part in the pursuit.