7. The Commander-in-Chief offers his sincere thanks to Major-General Sir James Outram, G.C.B., for the happy manner in which he planned and carried out his arrangements for the evacuation of the Residency of Lucknow.
By order of his Excellency the Commander-in-Chief,
W. Mayhew, Major,
Deputy Adjutant-General of the Army.
Thus were achieved the relief and evacuation of the Residency of Lucknow.[26] The enemy did not discover that the Residency was deserted till noon on the 23rd, and about the time the above general order was being read to us they fired a salute of one hundred and one guns, but did not attempt to follow us or to cut off our retreat. That night we bivouacked in the Dilkooshá park, and retired on the Alumbâgh on the 25th, the day on which the brave and gallant Havelock died. But that is a well-known part of the history of the relief of Lucknow, and I will turn to other matters.
FOOTNOTES:
[25] It may be necessary to remind civilians that the rifles of 1857 were muzzle-loading.
[26] It must always be recollected that this was the second relief of Lucknow. The first was effected by the force under Havelock and Outram on the 25th September, 1857, and was in fact more of a reinforcement than a relief.