This short and pointed address was received by the regiment with such a burst of enthusiasm that the gallant old chieftain must have felt assured of its loyalty and devotion, and confident that wherever he led, the 93rd would follow, and if need be, die with him to the last man. The 93rd was the first regiment on that occasion that made any outward display of confidence in their leader, but as the veteran commander returned along the line, the example was taken up by others, and cheer upon cheer from every corps followed him as he rode back to the camp.
All the sick and wounded having been sent into the Alum Bagh on the 13th, preparations were made for the advance, which commenced next day. The army marched in three columns, viz., the advance, the main column, and the rear guard. The 93rd, along with the 53rd, 84th, 90th, 1st Madras Fusiliers, and 4th Punjab Rifles, constituted the 4th Infantry Brigade forming part of the main column, and was under command of Brigadier Adrian Hope. The regiment had already lost, of sick, wounded, and killed, about 140 men, so that its strength as it entered the desperate struggle was 934 men. A detachment of 200 men of the 93rd formed part of the rear guard, which also contained 200 of the 5th Brigade under Lt.-Col. Ewart of the 93d.[573]
Instead of approaching by the direct Cawnpoor road to Lucknow, Sir Colin determined to make a flank march to the right, get possession of the Dilkoosha and Martinière, on south side of the city, which the enemy occupied as outposts, push on thence to attack the large fortified buildings Secunder Bagh, Shah Nujeef, &c., lying between the former and the Residency, and thus clear a path by which the beleaguered garrison might retire.
As the narrative of the advance and succeeding operations is so well told in the Record Book of the regiment, we shall transcribe it almost verbatim, space, however, compelling us to cut it down somewhat.[574]
At nine o’clock A.M. of November 14, 1857, the flank march commenced. As the head of the advance column neared the Dilkoosha, a heavy musketry fire was opened on it from the left, and the enemy made some attempt to dispute the advance, but were soon driven over the crest of the hill sloping down to the Martinière, from the enclosures of which a heavy fire of artillery and musketry opened upon the advancing force. This was soon silenced, and the infantry skirmishers rushed down the hill, supported by the 4th Infantry Brigade, and drove the enemy beyond the line of the canal.
During the early part of the day two companies of the 93rd were detached, viz., the Grenadiers, under Capt. Middleton, close to the Cawnpoor road, to command it, while the baggage, ammunition, &c., were filing past; and No. 1, under Capt. Somerset Clarke, was pushed on to the left to seize and keep possession of a village so as to prevent the enemy from annoying the column in that quarter.
While the leading brigade, in skirmishing order, was gradually pushing the enemy beyond the Dilkoosha, the 4th Brigade followed in support, at first in open column, and while doing so, the 93rd lost 1 man killed and 7 wounded. After the enemy had been driven down the hill towards the Martinière, the 93rd was allowed to rest under cover of some old mud walls to the left rear of the Dilkoosha, until the order was given for the brigade to advance upon the Martinière itself. Then the 4th Punjab Rifles moved first in skirmishing order, supported by the 93rd, the Naval Brigade keeping up a heavy fire on the left, the result being that the enemy were driven back upon their supports beyond the canal. The Punjab Rifles pushed on and occupied part of a village on the other side of the canal, while the 93rd, with the Madras Fusiliers occupied the wood and enclosures between the Martinière and the canal. Immediately on taking up this position, three companies of the regiment under Capt. Cornwall were sent to an open space on the left of the Martinière, close to the Cawnpoor road, for the purpose of protecting the Naval Brigade guns, while the headquarters, reduced to three companies under Col. Hay, remained within the enclosure. Towards evening the enemy from the other side of the canal opened a sharp artillery and musketry fire on the whole position, part of it coming from Banks’s Bungalow. This continued till nearly seven P.M., when the Commander-in-Chief rode up and called out the Light Company and part of No. 8, and desired them to endeavour to seize Banks’s Bungalow. As soon as the Naval Brigade guns were fired, this party under Col. Hay, in skirmishing order, made a rush towards the canal, which, however, was found too deep to ford. As the night was closing in, the Light Company remained extended in skirmishing order behind the bank of the canal, while Col. Hay with the remainder returned to the Martinière compound. Capt. Cornwall with the three detached companies also returned; but the Grenadiers and No. 1 company remained, holding detached positions to the left of the army.
During the day the rear-guard (of which 200 of the 93rd formed part), under Lt.-Col. Ewart, was several times hotly engaged with the enemy, but drove them back on each occasion, with no loss and few casualties on our side. The casualties of the regiment throughout the day’s operations amounted to 1 man killed and 11 men wounded.
On the 15th, the 93rd was not actively engaged; but in its position behind the Martinière compound was exposed to a constant fire, by which only 1 man was killed and 2 men were wounded. By this time headquarters was joined by the 200 who formed part of the rearguard. Late in the evening all the detached parties were called in, and the regiment bivouacked for the night in a position close under the Martinière.
At six o’clock A.M. on the 16th the force was under arms, and formed in the dry bed of the canal en masse, at quarter-distance column, and about nine o’clock advanced, close along the western bank of the Goomtee, for about two miles, when the head of the column encountered the enemy in a wood, close to a large village, on the southern outskirts of the city, and drove them in on their own supports. The 93rd—nearly every available officer and man being present—was the leading regiment of the main column, and, in consequence of the press in the narrow lanes, it was some time before it could be got up to support the skirmishers of the 53rd that were struggling with the enemy among the enclosures. Having driven the enemy back in this quarter, the 93rd emerged from the tortuous lanes of the village into an open space, directly opposite the Secunder Bagh, a high-walled enclosure, about 100 yards square, with towers at the angles, and loopholed all round. Here the regiment deployed into line, exposed to a biting musketry fire from the loopholed building, to avoid which Col. Hay was ordered to move the regiment under cover of a low mud wall about 30 yards from the southern face of the Secunder Bagh, while some guns were being placed in position in an open space between the Secunder Bagh and another building opposite on the west side, for the purpose of breaching the south-western angle of the former.