The Secundrabagh.—The storming of the Secundrabagh is full of heroic deeds. "There never was a bolder feat of arms," stated Sir Colin Campbell in his dispatch. There seven companies of the 93rd, as the 4th Punjabis halted for a moment when their British officers were shot down, raced ahead of their Sikh comrades, and Lance-Corporal Dunlay gained his V.C. for being one of the first through the breaches and supporting Captain Burroughs, who had been wounded, against superior numbers of the enemy. There also Lieutenant Kirke Ffrench and Private Irwin of the 53rd, and Private J. Smith of the 1st Madras Fusiliers, gained the V.C. for being among the first to enter the Secundrabagh by the gateway. When the roll of the 93rd was called after the storming, it was found that 8 officers had been wounded, 28 non-commissioned officers and men killed, and 71 wounded. At the Shah Nujeef, a domed mosque, the enemy withstood a heavy cannonade by Captain Peel's naval siege train, and the field battery with some mortars for three hours, when "it was stormed in the boldest possible manner by the 93rd Highlanders under Brigadier Hope," while Captain Peel took his guns forward with such daring that had it not been for the withering fire of the Highlanders the naval brigade would have suffered considerable loss. As Sir Colin Campbell stated in his dispatch, it should not be forgotten that the heroes of the relief of Lucknow had made the longest forced marches, some from Agra, some from Allahabad, and had undergone great fatigues and privations in pressing forward for the attainment of this great object.
No Bar for Cawnpore.—On the afternoon of November 20th Sir Colin Campbell, with his great convoy, arrived at the Alambagh, and encamped on the open space his force had occupied before advancing on Lucknow. Three days after the march was resumed, and as he advanced towards Cawnpore the sounds of firing were heard, and he learned that the Gwalior contingent, 10,000 strong, under Tantia Topi—the only leader the mutiny produced—had joined with the force of the Náná Sáhib in attacking Major-General Windham (Redan Windham). Leaving the convoy in charge of the rear-guard, Sir Colin hurried forward with the main column, which, despite its fatigued condition, footsore and hungry, pressed onward to the assistance of their comrades at Cawnpore, fighting their way forward until on December 6th the city was taken, the rebel armies split in twain, and the portion under Tantia Topi driven across the Jumna, and that with the Náná across the Ganges. This was a general's battle. With a force of about 5,000 men, Sir Colin Campbell had not only defeated an army of 25,000 well-trained men, but had captured all their baggage and 32 guns. It is noteworthy that in order to take part in this battle the 42nd, Black Watch, marched 80 miles in fifty-six hours, no mean feat in a tropical climate. Actions were fought at Kâla Muddee, and Futteghur—where the 53rd spontaneously charged the enemy and captured several guns—and having occupied the latter place Sir Colin made arrangements for the retaking of Lucknow.
Lucknow.—To retake Lucknow, which Sir Colin Campbell had evacuated on relieving the city, a splendidly equipped army was organised to march upon the place under the Commander-in-Chief. On March 2nd, 1858, he advanced with about 18,700 men, to be later strengthened by Brigadier Frank's column and the Nepaulese under Jung Bahadoor. Approaching Lucknow by the Dilkoosha Park, the rebel pickets retired before the 42nd and 93rd Highlanders, who swept the rebels from their works in front of the Martinière, and the British troops took possession of the palace and the Mahomed Bagh. On the morning of March 9th the Martinière was assaulted. The Punjabis, with the 42nd Highlanders, took the rebels in flank, the 93rd Highlanders in skirmishing order advanced at the double, supported by the 90th, and as they approached the Martinière the mutineers bolted, and took refuge in their entrenchments across the canal.
On the 11th the Begum's palace (Begum Kotee), sheltering 5,000 sepoys, was stormed, the regiments rushing forward under "a perfect storm of musketry," but "not a man wavered." The rebels had cunningly devised "every obstacle that could be opposed to the stormers," but the 93rd and the 4th Punjab Rifles were not deterred, and they fired their muskets and plied their bayonets for two hours, until, with the aid of a party of the 42nd, the enemy was forced to disperse, and the Begum Kotee, the key of the position, was won after the most sanguinary fight in the siege of Lucknow, nearly 1,000 rebels being killed. In this fight Adjutant (later Lieutenant-Colonel) McBean, an Inverness ploughman who rose from the ranks to the command of the 93rd, gained the V.C. for his intrepid conduct in forcing his way through the breach and killing eleven of the enemy with his own hands. Here the 93rd lost a captain, a lieutenant, and 13 men killed, and 45 men wounded, several dying afterwards of their wounds. Here, also, the dauntless Major Hodson, of Hodson's Horse, met his death. Some of the flying sepoys had taken refuge in the rooms abutting on a narrow lane, and Sergeant Forbes Mitchell, of the 93rd Highlanders, records that Hodson, sabre in hand, demanded of him "Where are the rebels?" The sergeant pointed to the door of a room, and Hodson, shouting "Come on!" heedless of Mitchell's entreaties to wait, made a step forward and was shot through the body.
The Secundrabagh (Alexander's Garden) was again taken, this time with comparatively little opposition, two companies of Highlanders being conspicuous by the alacrity with which, on being faced by a wall, they obeyed Sir Colin Campbell's command to "Tear off the tiles, and in at the roof!" The Imambarrah was next stormed, and Brasyer's Sikhs rushed the Kaiser Bagh, or King's palace; the different smaller points of defence were carried, the mutineers scattered in all directions, and the outworks of the city were soon in the possession of the besiegers. It only remained to take the city itself, and this was effected by a combined effort on the part of Sir James Outram, Sir James Hope Grant and Brigadier Campbell, and after a stiff fight on March 21st Lucknow was again under the British flag. The defeat of the retreating mutineers by Sir Hope Grant about 12 miles out of the city removed all fears for its safety.
Central India.—Between January and June 1858 a number of engagements were fought, for which the clasp inscribed Central India was awarded. The troops under Sir Hugh Rose (afterwards Lord Straithnairn) had cannonaded the fort of Rathghur for a couple of days, and then on January 28th, after a section of the mutineers had made an attack on the rear of the British camp, took the place by storm. Three days after they thrashed a force near Baroda, and then pressed on to the relief of Saugor, where a number of Europeans with their wives and families had been besieged for six months. Sir Hugh's force relieved the fort on February 3rd, 1858. Major-General Whitlock, with the Madras column, had started on the same errand, and in pushing his way onward to the goal had cleared the Jubbulpore district. On March 17th Brigadier Stuart took the fort of Chandairee with the 86th Queen's and 26th Bombay Native Infantry, and then with Sir Hugh Rose proceeded to the investment of Jhansi, where the mutineers had shot down some of their officers in cold blood, and treacherously murdered others. On March 21st the army appeared before the place, but had hardly done so when it was discovered that the remnants of the Gwalior contingent, under Tantia Topi, which had retreated from Cawnpore, and had gathered strength in its march, were advancing upon Jhansi from Kalpee. Sir Hugh Rose gave the enemy no time to think, but turning his troops about charged the rebel hordes with such vigour that it is estimated 2,000 of them were killed. The effect of this punishment so impressed the Ranee, and the garrison of 12,000 men in Jhansi, that the bulk of them fled during the night, and next day, after a considerable amount of opposition, the British troops occupied the place. In the pursuit of the rebels about 1,500 were killed, their guns, ammunition, and baggage falling into the victors' hands. In this affair, in which Lieutenant Leith won the V.C., were engaged the 14th Dragoons (who lost, out of 243, 5 killed and 24 wounded); 207 Native Cavalry; 208 of the 86th Queen's; 226 3rd Bombay Fusiliers; 298 of the 14th, and 400 of the 25th Bombay Native Infantry.
MEDAL FOR MATABELELAND, 1893, WITH BAR FOR RHODESIA, 1896.