On the 27th, having effected the object of their expedition, they began their return, and marched eight miles. On the next day they marched the same distance to Hureeha, having recrossed the Gogra at a different point, where the water was deeper and the current very strong. Some men narrowly escaped drowning, and a bugler (Horton) saved the lives of three men. It was a difficult and dangerous ford, and a rifle and two swords were lost.
On the 29th they marched ten miles to Doobra; on the 30th fourteen miles; on May 1 twelve miles; and on the next day, after a march of sixteen miles, arrived at Nanparah.
Here they halted during the 3rd. And on the following day one company, accompanying the Brigadier and the cavalry, returned to Baraitch. The remaining two companies remained at Nanparah until June 6, when they started on their return to Baraitch.
I have now to return to the movements of Sotheby’s company, which, as I have said, started from Baraitch on the 21st to relieve Captain Fremantle. On that day they marched twelve miles to Bamparah, and on the next seventeen miles to Gunespore. On the 28th they turned out at night, the picquets having been fired upon. From the 4th to the 10th May they patrolled about the neighbourhood. On the 4th they crossed the Raptee, and marched eight miles; on the 5th marched nine miles to Pepree Ghât; on the next day thirteen miles to Akouna, where they halted one day; and returned on the 8th to Pepree Ghât; and on the 10th marched back to their camp at Gunespore. On the 27th half the company proceeded to Bhinga, but finding no rebels there, returned to their camp the same evening. On June 2 the force under Captain Cleveland was broken up, and Sotheby, with the company under his command, marched for Baraitch, where they arrived on the 3rd, and joined Head-quarters of the Battalion.
The Mutiny was now virtually at an end. No enemy remained in the field, and only a few scattered fugitives skulked in the jungle, and these not in numbers sufficient to give uneasiness to our posts, or to necessitate keeping an army on the frontier or in the field. The 2nd Battalion, therefore, received on June 13 an order to march towards Lucknow, halting at Byram Ghât for Captain Singer’s detachment of two companies, which was still watching the fords of the Raptee. On the 15th they left Baraitch at three in the morning, arriving at Puckerpore at half-past eight. The next day they were detained in the morning by heavy rains, but started at half-past four in the afternoon: the heat was intense, and it was like marching in a vapour bath, so that the men were much knocked up. The baggage, too, went astray, and on their arrival at their halting-place about nine at night, there were neither tents, rations, nor grog. The men lay down on the damp ground till two in the morning; and at three resumed their march without refreshment, and at daylight reached Hissampore; but no baggage appearing, they were obliged to set out in search of it, and at half-past eight arrived at a place where they halted, and sent for the baggage, having made a twenty-mile march. But no sooner was their camp pitched than a violent storm came on, blowing some of the tents clean away from the ropes, and leaving their inmates exposed to the full violence of the weather. On the 18th they started again at two in the morning, and arrived at Byram Ghât at seven. The river was much swollen, and there was no bridge. Two companies embarked at half-past seven, and attempted to cross; but the boats missed stays, and did not succeed in getting over. And as in consequence of the wind it was only practicable to cross in the morning or evening, they could not make a fresh attempt till six in the evening, when these two companies got across and landed at 6.20. The Regiment continued crossing on the 20th; and all got across on the 21st, Captain Singer’s two companies from Bankee, which had arrived on the previous day, bringing up the rear. On the 22nd they marched at half-past four, and encamped beyond Ramnaghur, a march of six miles, soon after seven. On the next day they proceeded seven miles. On the 24th seven more, and encamped at Nawabgunge. On the 25th they were unable to continue their march on account of the violence of the rain; but on the next day they made a march of ten miles in the morning, and were ordered to march again at four in the afternoon; but rain poured down steadily, and continued all the evening. On the 27th they marched at half-past four in the morning, and arrived at the Yellow Bungalow at Lucknow at a quarter after eight. Here they encamped, but were ordered to parade again at four. It was so hot, however, that this was postponed till five, when they moved near the Dilkoosha. It had rained every day for some time, the country they had marched through was very wet, and the ground on which they now encamped was a perfect swamp.
Here they remained, furnishing a detachment of three companies to the Imaumbarah, till early in July, when the men were placed in barracks: a comfort few if any of them had enjoyed since they left Dublin two years before. The officers, however, continued in tents. The men now suffered much from their long exposure to the climate, and it is said that in August there were 200 men in hospital. But not till their work was over had they succumbed to fatigue, exposure, or climate. For twenty months they had been in the field; often bivouacked in the open; never once in quarters. They had marched 1,745 miles in 161 marches (not including often shifting their camp to distances less than four miles), and every company-officer—save one who was lame—had accompanied his men on foot in these marches. They were, I believe, the only battalion which, from their landing in November 1857 to their cantonment at Lucknow in July 1859, had not at some time been in quarters; but had kept the field from the date of their arrival till the last day of the Mutiny.
Their casualties in that time may now be summed up.
Of officers, 2 had been killed in action; 4 had been severely wounded; 2 had died of their wounds; and 2 had died of disease. A total of 10 officers.
Of the Riflemen in the ranks there were
| Sergeants | Buglers | Privates | Total | |
| Killed in action | 10 | 10 | ||
| Wounded severely | 6 | 1 | 24 | 31 |
| ” slightly | 29 | 29 | ||
| Died of wounds | 7 | 7 | ||
| ” disease | 11 | 3 | 118 | 132 |
| Invalided, and not included in the above | 3 | 34 | 37 | |
| Grand total | 20 | 4 | 222 | 246 |