UC-NRLF 
 
 63D 
 
 PERSONAL JOURNAL 
 
 GAPTAOI E, P, A-HDEBS 
 
 O^T'T 
 
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 Cvmrnartdiay a?- ' 
 
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I 
 
A PERSONAL JOURNAL 
 
 SIEGE OF LUCKNOW 
 
 BY CAPTAIN E. P. ANDEESON, 
 
 2$tli Regt., N.L, 
 
 COMMANDING AN OUTPOST, 
 
 AUTHOR or THE "TRANSLATION OF THE GOOL-I-BAKAWLI,' 
 &c., &c, 
 
 EDITED, "TCSril A PBE^ACS A.71D INTRODUCTION, 
 
 , BY T. CAKNEGY ANDEESON, 
 LIEUT. \Wi Regt. NJ. 
 
 LONDON: 
 W. THACKEE AND Co., 87, NEWGATE STEEET, 
 
 CALCUTTA : THACKEE, SPINK AND Co. 
 BOMBAY : THACKEK AND Co. 
 
 1858. 
 
" Ne cede mails, 
 Sed contra audentior ito." VIRGIL. 
 
 (Do not yield to misfortunes, but advance to meet them with 
 greater fortitude.) 
 
 NENfcY MORSE STEPHENS 
 
Extract from BRIGADIER INGLIS'S Despatch, dated 
 Lucknow, September 26, 1857 : 
 
 " At Captain Anderson's post they also came boldly forward 
 with scaling ladders, which they planted against the wall; but 
 here, as elsewhere, they were met with the most indomitable reso- 
 lution, and theteaders being slain, the rest fled, leaving the ladders, 
 and retreated to their batteries and loopholed defences, from whence 
 they kept up, for the rest of the day, an unusually heavy cannonade 
 and musketry fire." 
 
 511493 
 
DEDICATION. 
 
 TO THE MEMORY 
 
 OF THE LATE 
 
 SIB HENBY HAVELOCK, K.C.B. 
 
 I FEEL sure I consult the wish of my brother 
 in dedicating the records of this memorable siege 
 to the memory of the gallant and lamented Sir 
 Henry Havelock, the Tutor of the garrison, and 
 the TJltor of our murdered friends and relatives. 
 It was to his energy and dauntless bravery that 
 the first news of relief was brought, on the 25th 
 September, 1857 ; and though the removal of the 
 sick, wounded, &c., &c., was not accomplished ti]l 
 the 22nd of November, still all the praise was due to 
 the first gallant band of 2,500 men under Havelock, 
 which, notwithstanding the armed hosts opposed 
 to it, fought its way through them to our suffer- 
 ing countrymen's relief. 
 
 G-eneral Sir Henry Havelock, K.C.B. , lived not 
 
VI 
 
 to hear that his country had rewarded him. His 
 spirit passed to a higher tribunal, to be judged for 
 all that the man had done during an eventful life. 
 He breathed his last on the 24th November, 1857. 
 To his memory the following pages are dedicated. 
 
 The author thus wrote, in mentioning the news 
 of their first relief: ""We were very glad, I 
 assure you, to see the first relieving force under 
 Havelock and Outram. They saved us, as we were 
 getting very weak in numbers ; but their force 
 was small ; and after fighting its way into Luck- 
 now, it could not get out with us, as we had so 
 many ladies, children, and treasure in cash." 
 
 THE EDITOE. 
 
n tfje Beatfj of Sir ^enrg f^abekrcfe, 
 
 Who died at Lucknow of dysentery, brought on from over 
 
 fatigue and anxiety, November 24, 1857. 
 
 " O let the sorrowful sighing of the prisoners come before thee : accord- 
 ing to the greatness of thy power, preserve thou those that are appointed to 
 die." Psa. Ixxix., ver. 12. 
 
 The funeral rite is over, 
 
 The mighty spirit's fled ; 
 A nation mourns in sadness, 
 
 Brave Havelock is dead. 
 The vital spark is extinct, 
 
 We shall see his face no more ; 
 And we, who lately worshipped him, 
 
 His great loss now deplore! 
 Oh! speak the word but softly, 
 
 For our bosoms sore have bled; 
 A nation's woes are outpour'd, 
 
 Great Havelock is dead. 
 The Hero of so many fights 
 
 Is dead, and great's our grief, 
 'Twas he who earned the laurel, 
 
 And to Lucknow brought relief. 
 When those we lov'd were struggling 
 
 With foes, and worse, with death ; 
 'Twas he who saved them to us 
 
 Now he's breath'd his latest breath. 
 But we'll reverence his memory, 
 
 Say how gallantly he led ; 
 The foremost in a dozen fights 
 
 Brave Havelock is dead. 
 Oh ! speak the word but softly, 
 
 For our grief is new and great; 
 We shall hear no more of Havelock, 
 
 Whose deeds our hearts elate. 
 We have lost him at a moment 
 
 When he'd gained the hope of years 
 Distinction hard-fought, dearly-earn'd, 
 
 And now we mourn in tears 
 The loss of one, whose very name, 
 
 Like Gilead's soothing balm, 
 Brought comfort to the heart of all, 
 
 And direst pain could calm. 
 Oh! speak the word but softly, 
 
 That mighty spirit's fled : 
 A nation mourns in sadness 
 
 Great Havelock is dead! 
 
 T. C. ANDERSON, 
 (Lieut. 12th Regt. Bengal Army.) 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 THE Editor deems it necessary to make a few 
 remarks by way of introduction to this narra- 
 tive of the Siege of Lucknow, in order to the 
 right understanding of it. Captain Anderson 
 was placed in command of an outj>ost, which 
 was situated in his own house ; and had under 
 his command eighteen men and one subaltern 
 officer, making his force consist of twenty men, 
 including himself; and yet, with this little 
 Band, he held his place for five months, not- 
 withstanding there were nine (9-pounder) guns 
 playing on his house day and night. 
 
 There never was such a siege as that of 
 Lucknow ; nor can history furnish anything 
 approaching a parallel to it, either in the ex- 
 traordinary circumstances of its siege, or the 
 bravery of its garrison, including that of the 
 
INTRODUCTION. ix 
 
 ladies and women shut up there. The Spartan 
 women of old were celebrated in having cut off 
 their hair to make bow-strings for their hus- 
 bands, but the heroism of our sisters at Luck- 
 now surpasses any of their deeds. 
 
 When we reflect on the privations and hor- 
 rors to which they were subjected, one can 
 hardly believe that it is not from a long dream 
 that we have awakened. Hope was so long de- 
 ferred, that we had truly almost numbered the 
 heroic little garrison with the dead. Let Britons 
 feel proud of their countrymen and women, 
 and remember, whenever dangers threaten 
 them, that the same God, who watched over 
 our relatives at Lucknow, ever watches over 
 us, and nerves the weak heart in the hour of 
 trial, and always defends the right. Too much 
 credit cannot be awarded them for their endur- 
 ance during all the trials of those five months. 
 Each member of that garrison should receive 
 the Victoria Cross, as a memorial of Her Ma- 
 jesty's favour, and in recognition of their 
 bravery. 
 
X INTRODUCTION. 
 
 I commit these pages to the Public, ear- 
 nestly trusting that they may receive a fa- 
 vourable reception, and that any faults may 
 be attributed to me, and not to the Author, 
 whose time was very limited for writing, besides 
 being much harassed by sickness and grief. 
 
 T. C. ANDERSON. 
 
 Feb. 22nd, 1858. 
 
PEEFACE. 
 
 THE incidents related in the following pages 
 are from the commencement of the siege to its 
 termination, on the relief of the garrison by 
 the force under Sir Colin Campbell. Captain 
 Anderson was subsequently appointed to the 
 Commissariat charge of the Division, under 
 Colonel Grant, sent to Bithoor ; but ill health 
 has so shaken his constitution, that he pur- 
 poses visiting England immediately. Colonel 
 Grant, in his despatch, attests to the value of 
 the services of Captain Anderson, which were 
 " very arduous/' In order to give the Public 
 the earliest benefit of his notes, I have deemed 
 it right to publish them in their present form, 
 
xii PREFACE. 
 
 though the style might have been improved, 
 had there been sufficient time to re-write the 
 journal 
 
 LONDON, 
 February, 1858. 
 
 P.S. Additional copies of Captain Ander- 
 son's Journal of the Siege of Lucknow being 
 required, I have taken the opportunity of 
 correcting a few errors which escaped obser- 
 vation during the rapid printing of the earlier 
 copies. 
 
 March, 1858. 
 
 
A PERSONAL JOURNAL 
 
 SIEGE OF LUCKNOW. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 FOR many months before affairs had reached 
 that fearful state, to which this narrative al- 
 ludes, most people might have observed the 
 surly and "sinister glances of the natives of 
 Lucknow, as well as those of our Sepoys, who 
 were on duty at the Residency, in the city. 
 For my own part, I felt satisfied that some- 
 thing was about to occur, and I did not hesi- 
 tate to state my opinion openly ; moreover, at 
 a later period, I urged the necessity of some 
 , steps being taken to collect our Oude Pension- 
 ers, so as to have a body of men able to oppose 
 our Sepoys, should they attempt to give trouble ; 
 but, as to the extent to which the Bengal mu- 
 tiny finally reached, I imagine few individuals 
 had formed any opinion. Whilst affairs were 
 B 
 
in this state, and during the time that various 
 daily occurrences seemed to prognosticate evil, 
 the mind of a great and generous man was at 
 work that man was Sir Henry Lawrence, 
 the Chief Commissioner at Lucknow, by whose 
 wonderful foresight the little garrison of the 
 said place was eventually saved from total an- 
 nihilation ; when I say annihilation, I mean 
 that such would most probably have been the 
 awful result, had Sir Henry not laid up a vast 
 supply of grain. If we had run short before 
 relief arrived, we should have had to retreat on 
 Cawnpore ; and with our sick, wounded, ladies 
 and children, I think any reasonable person 
 will admit such would have been totally im- 
 possible. 
 
 Although almost every thinking European 
 in the place must have, more or less, observed 
 the signs of the times, few, I imagine, ever 
 supposed that what they then saw was but 
 one symptom of that great Mutiny, which ex- 
 tended from Calcutta to the Punjab, and finally 
 shook the foundation of our immense Indian 
 empire to its very base. At this critical con- 
 juncture, Sir Henry Lawrence proved himself 
 a man of consummate wisdom, and an indivi- 
 
3 
 
 dual ably fitted for the emergency : he acted 
 with caution, and without creating the least 
 alarm, he calmly prepared for the coming strug- 
 gle. Business was regularly carried on in the 
 public offices up to the latest moment ; but. at 
 the same time, great warlike preparations were 
 in progress at the Residency, the spot chosen to 
 be the place where the European inhabitants 
 were to make their "grand stand/' Earth- 
 works and defences were thrown up, and, as 
 far as time and circumstances would permit, 
 the whole position was strengthened by bat- 
 teries, ditches, and stockades'; besides this, 
 ammunition w^as collected, guns were brought 
 in, and last, not least, grain in vast abundance 
 was stored within our intrenchments. Not- 
 withstanding all these ample arrangements, I 
 am sorry to add, that some individuals have 
 hinted that " more might have been done ;" 
 however, had their opinions been taken before 
 the curtain of futurity was drawn up, I have 
 no doubt that their foresight would have been 
 found about on a par with that of a certain 
 personage of notoriety, who said that an intel- 
 ligent young civilian was "beside himself," 
 when the individual alluded to wrote in to say 
 B 2 
 
4 
 
 that he had good reason to suppose that his 
 district would be soon up in arms ! ! I differ 
 entirely with such ungrateful people ; and I 
 feel proud to acknowledge that I believe Sir 
 Henry Lawrence (by the aid of a merciful 
 God) was the mortal chosen to be the means 
 of saving the little garrison of Lucknow ; and 
 I thank Providence we had such a man at 
 such a fearful time. Long may the memory of 
 this great man rest in the minds of all true 
 Britons. Alas ! that he was not spared to re- 
 visit his country at the close of such a glorious 
 career. 
 
CHAPTER II. 
 
 AT nine o'clock, p.m., of the 30th May, 1857, 
 the Sepoys at the cantonment four miles from 
 Lucknow broke into open mutiny. The native 
 troops consisted of the 13th, 48th, and 71st 
 regiments of Native Infantry, the 7th Native 
 Cavalry was at Modkeepore, some miles off. 
 
 The firing first commenced at the lines of the 
 71st N. I. The Europeans were lying under 
 the guns, which opened with grape on the mu- 
 tineers ; but as the rebels were partially hidden 
 by the huts, few of them were killed. Briga- 
 dier Handscomb, although advised not to do so, 
 approached too close to the lines, and was im- 
 mediately shot. All this took place just as the 
 evening gun fired. Poor Grant of the 71st, 
 who was on duty, was shot at his post ; one 
 man of the guard tried to conceal this officer 
 under a soldier's cot, but to>no purpose, he was 
 killed by the rest who came up to the spot. 
 Lieut. Chambers of the 13th N. I. had two 
 very narrow escapes, he first of all received a 
 
shot- wound, and fell flat on his face, upon which 
 a heavy fire of musketry was opened on him, 
 but most fortunately not a single bullet hit him. 
 With great difficulty Chambers managed to 
 reach his own house, where his servants washed 
 and dressed his wound, and he then imme- 
 diately mounted his horse, and galloped to the 
 part of the cantonment where the Europeans 
 were located When doing so, he came upon a 
 body of fifty of the rebels, and he had to charge 
 right through them ; here, again, he was fortu- 
 nate, he rode through them without receiving 
 a single wound, of course the darkness alone 
 favoured his escape, as the whole body fired a 
 volley right at him as he passed. After this, 
 the Sepoys went about setting fire to the 
 officers' houses, and all was noise and uproar. 
 
 At the Residency, in the city, we were all 
 very anxious ; all that we could see were bright 
 flames rising up from the cantonments, and 
 every now and then we heard the report of a 
 gun, followed by rather sharp musketry fire. 
 Early the next morning I rode up to can- 
 tonments, and on the road I met an unfortu- 
 nate European merchant and his wife. The 
 poor man had an infant in his arms, and his 
 
wife was walking beside him ; he told me that- 
 some villagers entered his house, and after in- 
 sulting both him and his wife, they plundered 
 all his property. These unfortunate people had 
 been in the fields all night, expecting every 
 moment that the villagers would follow up and 
 murder them ; they appeared tired and dirty ; 
 the man had escaped with only his trousers, 
 and he had a rough cloth thrown over his 
 shoulders, but no shirt, shoes, or hat 
 
 On reaching cantonments I found the few 
 men of the native corps (who had remained 
 faithful) all drawn up on their respective pa- 
 rades. The Europeans, with the cavalry and 
 guns, were in advance, and a fire was being 
 kept up on the mutineers, who were in rapid 
 retreat across an open plain. The cavalry did 
 nothing, and were like the rest, in a state of 
 mutiny ; the greater part, I understand, then 
 and there galloped over to the mutineers. At 
 the lines I saw the bodies of a few of the 
 Sepoys, who had been killed the previous night 
 by grape ; the wounds were frightful one 
 man had a hole of four inches diameter through 
 his chest, his face was cut open, and he had a 
 broken leg ; all seemed to have died in fearful 
 
8 
 
 agonies. The grain merchants in the Bazar 
 were rushing about, and saying that during 
 the night the mutineers had broken into their 
 shops and plundered all their property ; their 
 mat doors were lying on the ground, here and 
 there were bags for grain, and numerous broken 
 earthenware pots, &c., all proving that their 
 account was but too true. At a well I observed 
 marks of blood, and a bystander told me that 
 a wounded mutineer had crawled there, and 
 being overcome by thirst, and having no cord 
 to draw water, the wretched creature could re- 
 sist the temptation no longer, so he terminated 
 his miserable existence by throwing himself 
 into the well. 
 
 During the confusion, and whilst all the 
 military men were at their posts, an officer's 
 wife, with five little children, remained in her 
 house (i. e., whilst the mutineers were setting 
 fire to most of the buildings in the place). She 
 would most certainly have been murdered, had 
 not a noble Seik protected her ; he made 
 her leave the house, and he hid her in the 
 vicinity till he got an opportunity of making 
 her safe over to her husband, who had been 
 absent on duty, having been suddenly called 
 
away when the alarm was given in canton- 
 ments. Here, again, we have to thank Sir 
 Henry, as he had previously insisted on all 
 ladies leaving the cantonment, and this person, 
 who now escaped so fortunately, was the only 
 one who remained, thinking that nothing 
 would really occur. If Sir Henry's directions 
 had not been attended to by all the other 
 ladies, the loss of life would have been some- 
 thing very awful. 
 
 Just about this period, I was struck with 
 something rather extraordinary that I saw in 
 the city. One evening I was passing through 
 a gateway near the King's palace, and I there 
 observed the head of a half-grown buffalo. It 
 seemed but lately killed ; and it was placed 
 with the horns downwards, and over the lower 
 jaw, and through the horns, was a garland of 
 small white flowers. I mentioned this to some 
 of the residents at Lucknow, but no one 
 seemed to think it was a matter of any impor- 
 tance ; but I cannot help thinking that it was 
 one of the many ways in which the fanatic 
 Mussulmen endeavoured to make us detested 
 by the Hindoos. I fancy it was as much as to 
 
10 
 
 say, "See, the Europeans kill buffaloes in 
 your very streets ! " 
 
 After all these occurrences, a general rise in 
 the city was fully expected. Men were seen, 
 here and there, with figures dressed up as 
 European children ; and, much to the amuse- 
 ment of the mob, the heads of these dolls were 
 struck off with sword cuts. I was told this by 
 two or three men who actually saw what I 
 now describe. Seditious placards were found 
 stuck up in all the principal streets, calling 
 upon all good Mussulmen and Hindoos to rise 
 and kill the Christians. An unfortunate per- 
 son, named " Mendes," went to his house in 
 the city, and thinking that all was quiet, he 
 fell asleep in an upper room. He had not been 
 there long, when several armed men (supposed 
 to have been some of our police) rushed in 
 and killed him with sword cuts. The body was 
 brought in, and it was indeed fearful to see 
 the way in which it had been cut about 
 Another old man, who had formerly been in 
 the King of Oude's service, also got a sword 
 cut, but escaped into the Residency. The body 
 of a female (supposed to be a native Christian) 
 
11 
 
 was brought in, literally cut into four pieces. 
 Reports now spread that the Rajas were col- 
 lecting all their forces to attack Lucknow ; 
 and the general belief amongst the natives in 
 the garrison was, that the Mussulmen had 
 determined on killing every Christian in Oude 
 before the end of the feast of Ramazan. 
 
 As a sort of proof of the intentions of the Mus- 
 sulman population, it is as well to state that 
 they now assembled in immense numbers at 
 all the mosques, and afterwards paraded about 
 the city, to let us see, I imagine, that they 
 mustered very strong. Men were also seized 
 with letters directed to our Sepoys ; and our 
 private servants began to complain that the 
 grain merchants and shopkeepers would not 
 supply them with food without getting ready 
 money; and as these people always before 
 trusted our servants for months, it was direct 
 proof that the shopkeepers knew what was 
 going to occur. Government paper was sel- 
 ling as low as thirty-seven rupees for 
 the hundred, and even less ! One day, a 
 Fakir came up to a European sentry, and 
 after giving him abuse (which the man did not 
 understand), he drew his hand across his own 
 
12 
 
 throat, as much as to say that the sentry and 
 the rest of the Europeans would soon be 
 slaughtered. This rascal got 150 lashes for 
 his pains, and was placed in irons at once. 
 Other individuals were seized within our in- 
 trenchments, in the very act of altering the 
 elevating screws of our guns. They were also 
 duly punished. Preparations were now made 
 for public executions ; the mutineers who were 
 caught were hung at the Muchee Bawan, a 
 native fort, which Sir Henry Lawrence had 
 strengthened, and which it was intended to 
 hold ; but subsequently it was blown up, after 
 the retreat from Chinhut. The city police 
 were drawn up in a line, three or four deep, 
 opposite the gate of the Muchee Bawan ; the 
 troops inside the fort were all ready at the 
 loopholes, and at every commanding spot. 
 
 On the day I allude to, nine wretched men 
 were marched out of the fort gate, and their 
 countenances told plainly that they were muti- 
 neers. Most of them were fine stout men, and 
 they walked up to the gallows with a firm and 
 determined step. They did not, however, re- 
 main calm. When the fatal noose was being 
 adjusted, some begged most humbly for 
 
13 
 
 pardon; others called out to the mob, and 
 asked if there were not any good Mussulmen 
 or Hindoos present, to save them from the 
 cursed Feringees, or Christians ? A wretched 
 Hindoo, when about to die, called out, " Alas ! 
 alas ! you Mussulmen caused all this ! " An- 
 other poor wretch said, " Save me ! save me ! 
 I have a wife and some little children, who 
 must starve I" The sentence had been passed, 
 and there was now no hope for pardon ; at a 
 given signal five men were launched into 
 eternity, and it was a melancholy sight to 
 see the shudder that came over the four other 
 men, who were on the gallows immediately 
 opposite, as they saw the drop fall, and then 
 observed five men dangling in the air before 
 them : an instant or so more, and they were 
 themselves in a similar position, their drop 
 having fallen. 
 
CHAPTER III. 
 
 FOR a considerable time after the occurrences 
 mentioned in the preceding chapter, every day 
 was sadly marked, either by the news of 
 Europeans having been cut up, or by the 
 arrival of parties from the various districts 
 around Lucknow, who came dropping in, one 
 after another, and all looking most miserable 
 and care-worn. The persons I allude to had, 
 in most instances, lost all they possessed, and 
 had managed only to escape with the clothes 
 they had on their backs. A young civilian 
 had a fortnight of the most intense anxiety ; 
 he dare not remain in his house, as he well 
 knew that there were people about him who 
 wanted to take his life, and yet, as he had 
 received no orders, he dare not leave his dis- 
 trict to come into Lucknow. Many of the 
 district officers were kept at their posts, as 
 their withdrawal would have created alarm, 
 and made matters worse than ever ; and under 
 these circumstances, it rested with each man to 
 
15 
 
 make the best arrangements he could ; and to 
 prepare, if possible, to secure a retreat at the 
 last moment. The gentleman I allude to 
 managed most cleverly. He pitched several 
 tents, and kept perpetually moving from one to 
 another ; and as they were at some distance 
 apart, he did not create suspicion by saying, 
 when he left one, that he would return probably 
 in a couple of hours or so. Thus, by a well 
 arranged plan, this young civilian escaped with 
 his life, after having remained at his post till 
 the last moment ; and, moreover, being often 
 for two whole weeks without any settled 
 abode, deprived of rest and proper food, and 
 on several occasions actually surrounded by 
 mutineers, amongst whom he rode during the 
 night without being recognized. 
 
 It was during these days of intense anxiety 
 (i.e., for us at Lucknow) that I was suddenly 
 called one afternoon to join a party of volunteers, 
 about to proceed into the district to escort a 
 party of European fugitives from Seetapore. I 
 was told by the person who came to me, that Sir 
 Henry Lawrence wanted some volunteers to 
 accompany a party of Seiks who were going out 
 under a Captain Forbes, I did not lose a single 
 
16 
 
 moment. I ordered my horse, and being joined 
 by a Frenchman named Geoffroi, I rode up 
 the cantonments to the Residency. It would 
 seem that Captain Forbes did not expect 
 volunteers, as he proposed to me that I should 
 take charge of some elephants that were going 
 out for the fugitives ; however, I declined the 
 honour, stating that I had come to form part 
 of an escort for the Seetapore refugees, and 
 not for elephants. Upon this Captain Forbes 
 politely permitted me to join his party, or 
 else I should most certainly have returned 
 to Lucknow, as I had no idea of being made 
 an elephant driver, although I was fully pre- 
 pared to assist in escorting the unfortunates 
 we were expecting. 
 
 We had not gone far from the cavalry 
 station of Modkeepore (which is just beyond 
 the cantonment), when we observed a body of 
 men in a clump of trees ; and on advancing 
 further we found that we had fortunately 
 come upon the Seetapore people, who were half 
 inclined to think we were enemies, instead 
 of friends, as we appeared so suddenly. There 
 were ladies on horseback, and in various kinds 
 of vehicles, both European and native. Buggies 
 
17 
 
 were filled with children, and all the party 
 looked tired and careworn. We were not 
 long in escorting them to the city, where they 
 all were put up for a day or so at the Re- 
 sidency, till arrangements could be made for 
 their proper accommodation. I will now de- 
 scribe the Seetapore mutiny, as related to me 
 by an officer of the 41st Regiment N. I. 
 
 " We were all very anxious about Lucknow, 
 having heard of the Barrackpore, Delhi, and 
 Meerut affairs. One Sunday afternoon (i.e., 
 31st May, 1857), I saw a man mounted on 
 a camel coming into Seetapore from the Luck- 
 now direction. He appeared very tired, and 
 he looked at me, and passed on ; he then came 
 back, and wanted to know if I was an officer. 
 I said, I was ; he then added, ' The troops at 
 Lucknow have risen, and have been chased out 
 of the station by the Europeans ; when I left, 
 bullets and round shot were flying about/ 
 &c., &c. After this, the man asked for Mr. 
 Christian's house; and having pointed out the 
 direction, I hastened to inform our colonel, who 
 said it was a matter of little importance; in 
 fact, he did not entirely believe the report. 
 
 "I had not been home an hour, when I 
 
18 
 
 got an order to be ready to march with a wing 
 of the corps towards Peer Nuggar ; and when 
 we reached the bridge there, we found that 
 the passage had been blocked up with empty 
 carts, by orders of Captain Sanders, who had 
 this done to stop the mutineers advancing from 
 the Lucknow direction. We remained there 
 that day and the next, and returned on the 
 3rd to Seetapore, having heard of the mutiny 
 of the 1 Oth Oude Infantry. The men were, as 
 usual, dismissed on the parade ground as soon 
 as we came in, but I remarked that they gave 
 a very unusual shout as they broke off. I 
 never remember their having been guilty of 
 making any such unusual noise at any former 
 time when dismissed from an ordinary parade, 
 and I felt rather suspicious as to what this 
 really meant. About an hour or two after this 
 the whole corps 'was up/ and I went and 
 brought over my children to Major Apthorp's. 
 The Major determined on asking Christian's 
 advice, but poor Christian said that he did not 
 care if all the regiments did mutiny ; that 
 he had 300 police and a number of armed 
 servants and Chuprassies on whom he could 
 depend!! and that he would, with these, 
 
19 
 
 make f a stand' to the last. I now thought it 
 was better to ask our colonel if I could be 
 of any use in the lines ; but he replied, that he 
 was himself going with some companies to the 
 Treasury, and that there was really nothing in 
 all this to be the least alarmed about, 
 
 " All the officers and ladies were now assem- 
 bled at the colonel's house, and in the verandah 
 some officers were standing with guns, &c., in 
 their hands. Just then, a soldier rushed up 
 from one of the streets in the lines, and made 
 a signal to us not to move ; he then ran to the 
 rear-guard, said something, and again rushed 
 back. The men of the rear-guard and others 
 (some seventy in number) now assembled, and 
 said, they would remain with us. In the mean- 
 time, the colonel rode off to the Treasury with 
 four companies, and on the way, the Sepoys 
 were beating their breasts > and saying, that they 
 would fight to the last for their colonel, and 
 would not permit the rascals of the 10th to- 
 do any harm. The poor old colonel, on hear- 
 ing all this, turned to his adjutant, and said, 
 1 Is it not affecting to see the devotion of the 
 men?' 
 
 " Our colonel now formed up the companies 
 c 2 
 
20 
 
 at the Treasury, but as there appeared no symp- 
 tom of any disturbance, he was about to 
 return ; upon this, the adjutant, Lieutenant 
 Graves, said, that he did not like the looks of 
 the men ; that, in fact, he did not think they 
 would obey the order to march back from the 
 Treasury. Just then, the colonel gave the order, 
 'Threes, left shoulders forward/ and at that 
 moment, a Sepoy of the Treasury guard stepped 
 forward, and shot him dead, and he fell from 
 his horse. The adjutant, on seeyig this, turned 
 his horse's head towards cantonments, but had 
 hardly done so, when a volley was fired at 
 him. He received a bullet- wound in the temple, 
 and his horse was shot under him ; he then 
 ran on foot for a few paces, when he fortunately 
 met the havildar major of the 41st N.I., who 
 gave him his pony, and thus he managed to 
 reach the lines.* 
 
 " We now heard a constant musketry fire ; 
 and of the seventy men who were first with 
 us, only twenty or so remained ; they had 
 dropped off one by one, on various pretences, 
 
 * Lieut. Sm alley and the Sergeant-Major have not been heard 
 of since; we suppose they were killed on the spot, when the colonel 
 fell. 
 
21 
 
 and Major Apthorp now offered those re- 
 maining a sum of 8,000 rupees (in the name 
 of the officers), if they would accompany us to 
 Lucknow ; they agreed, and we started off 
 forthwith, as there was no time to lose : as 
 we went off, we saw the bungalows in our lines 
 on fire, and we all were rather alarmed (when 
 we had only got two miles), by hearing a cry 
 raised, that armed men were following us up. 
 We found that this was a party of nineteen 
 men, who said they had come to protect us ; 
 we were afraid to trust them, however, so they 
 were made to keep behind till we reached Peer 
 Nuggar. Here we consulted as to whether they 
 should be allowed to join us or not, and as we 
 could not well reach Lucknow without their aid, 
 and also as we felt ourselves a match for them, 
 in case of any treachery on their part, we de- 
 termined to let them accompany our party. 
 
 " In the distance, the whole horizon seemed 
 to be lit up by the fires in the cantonments we 
 had left, and we were thankful that we had 
 escaped at least so far. Some villagers on the 
 road, on seeing our Christian drummers, said, 
 ' If we had only some horsemen here, we would 
 cut up every one of you/ Well, we reached 
 
22 
 
 Baree, and there we managed to send in a 
 scrap of paper to Sir Henry Lawrence, to ask 
 for a party to be sent out to escort us into 
 Lucknow." 
 
 As far as I have since been able to glean 
 (from people who came in), it would appear, 
 that poor Mr. Christian was finally obliged to 
 retreat, when too late, and he had managed to 
 get across a river (i. e. y the one on the banks 
 of which the bungalows in the civil lines were 
 built), when he was shot down. It is reported 
 that Mrs. Christian, on seeing her husband fall, 
 threw herself on his body, and was cut down 
 immediately after. 
 
 Another account I heard was, that the ladies 
 were seen rushing from Mr. Christian's house, 
 and that rounds of musketry were fired upon 
 them as they ran screaming towards the river. 
 A report also got abroad, that Mr. Christian 
 was only wounded, and was alive up to the 
 8th of June, 1857. The person who told me 
 said that he himself had escaped with his wife 
 into the jungle, where he was chased by the 
 villagers, and he had to pay four men one 
 rupee each, for every coss, or two miles, to 
 show him the road. This person also said, 
 
23 
 
 that the mutineers were holding auctions in 
 the villages to sell off the plundered pro- 
 perty of officers, and that at these sales the 
 rascals danced wildly about, and cried out, " See 
 the nice things that the officers have brought 
 for us from England!" 
 
 At one of the out-stations a horse was seen 
 to gallop in, at full speed, with his flanks all 
 bespattered with blood, and without a rider ; 
 it would seem, that some poor fellow had rid- 
 den to save his life, and had been shot some 
 distance from his house ; and that the horse, on 
 finding that he had lost his rider, at once made 
 off for his stable, where he arrived, snorting 
 and terrified, and stood quite still, till seized 
 by some natives. 
 
 When all these dreadful murders were going 
 on in the districts around, a poor little child, of 
 only two years of age, had escaped, while its 
 father and mother had been killed. It would 
 appear that the poor little creature wandered for 
 a day or two about a large house, from room 
 to room, calling out "Mamma," and not a 
 soul amongst the servants would come near it ; 
 and there it might have died of starvation, had 
 it not met a worse fate. A Sepoy recruit was 
 
24 
 
 passing this spot, and on hearing the cries of 
 the child, he entered the bungalow ; but no 
 sooner did he observe that it was the child of 
 a vile CHRISTIAN, than he at once dashed 
 its brains out with the butt of his musket. 
 
 News of every sort now began to come in 
 from every quarter ; and on the 26th of June 
 a salute was actually fired at Lucknow, for the 
 fall of Delhi, which event did not occur till the 
 19th of September, 1857. Besides this, it was 
 said, that an attack on Lucknow was inevitable ; 
 and amongst the thousand rumours that spread 
 over the garrison, one was, that the enemy 
 intended to enter Lucknow, carrying setars or 
 harps, and arrayed in marriage garments. It 
 was stated, that they would make their ap- 
 pearance during the night, in palkees, at a 
 time when such processions are mostly seen in 
 native cities. Such reports as these were very 
 easily believed by all the CROAKERS* of the 
 garrison, and vivid comparisons were imme- 
 diately drawn between Troy and Lucknow ; 
 and it was said, if the former city was lost by 
 a horse, why should we not fall by a palkee ! ! 
 
 * A name given to individuals, who spoke in a gloomy way 
 during the siege. 
 
25 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 WHEN matters began, day by day, to assume 
 a still more serious appearance even than be- 
 fore, and murders were even more frequent, 
 Sir Henry Lawrence deemed it expedient to 
 enrol all the European and Eurasian writers in 
 the public offices as volunteers, and he directed 
 arms and ammunition to be served out to 
 them. Some of these men were taken into 
 the volunteer cavalry (which was also com- 
 posed of officers, civil and military), and the re- 
 mainder were drilled as infantry. 
 
 At the commencement, when these men 
 were first brought together (to be regularly 
 drilled by sergeants from Her Majesty's 32nd 
 Regiment), the chance of ever making them 
 act in a body seemed almost a hopeless task. 
 There were men of all ages, sizes, and figures. 
 Here stood a tall, athletic Englishman there 
 came a fat and heavy Eurasian, with more 
 width across the waist than about the chest. 
 Next to the Eurasian came another of the 
 
26 
 
 same class, who looked like a porter barrel 
 (i. e., short and squat), and the belt round his 
 waist very closely resembled a hoop. Not far 
 off you observed an old, bent-double man, who 
 seemed too weak to support the weight of his 
 musket and pouch. 
 
 Such, dear reader, to a casual observer was 
 the general appearance of our volunteers ; but 
 we must not always judge by appearances. 
 Amongst this awkward-looking body there 
 sprung up, during the siege, bold, intrepid, and 
 daring men ; and I may say, in fact, that the 
 whole of them, more or less, did excellent ser- 
 vice ; and, had it not been for our volunteers, 
 we should never have been able to garrison 
 the place. It was very creditable to these men 
 that they so soon fell into military ways, and 
 finally became a willing and obedient body, 
 and fit for most ordinary duties required of a 
 soldier. Of course there were some instances 
 where, for marked bad conduct, punishments 
 were absolutely necessary to keep up disci- 
 pline, but such was not to be wondered at, 
 when we remembered that most of these men 
 had never been subject to any kind of re- 
 straint ; their only duties had been to attend 
 
27 
 
 office regularly, and write during the time they 
 remained there, and, consequently, they had 
 the mornings and nights all to themselves ; but 
 now they were suddenly in a very altered po- 
 sition, and were obliged to be present at their 
 respective posts or guards, between stated 
 hours, both by day and night ; and, besides, 
 they had to do sentry duty, with firelock and 
 belts, &c., &c. 
 
 At first some of these men did not quite 
 approve of this sort of work ; they thought it 
 was rather degrading to carry a musket, and 
 they did not see why they should obey a ]ieu- 
 tenant, or why they were not in every respect 
 just as good men as even the Brigadier him- 
 self ! A few went so far as to forget them- 
 selves, and the punishment they promptly met 
 with just quietly intimated to the others that 
 martial law was the order of the day, and that, 
 for whatever they now did, they were respon- 
 sible to the military authorities. 
 
 However ludicrous these volunteers appeared 
 when simply r"rawn up in line, it was posi- 
 tively nothing to the figure they cut when 
 put into motion by the words of command, 
 "March!" and "Mark time!" from the drill 
 
28 
 
 sergeant. All the spectator could observe 
 were some dozen pairs of very indifferent legs, 
 simultaneously jerked out to their full stretch 
 and then as quietly dragged back again, as if 
 the owners of these said legs had all made a 
 terrific kick at some very dangerous reptiles, 
 and then thought better of it. It was, in fact, 
 painful to observe the constrained attitudes of 
 certain individuals, and amongst the number 
 was a little man, very prim, and " stuck up," 
 who really appeared to have led himself 
 to suppose that the fate of all Oude de- 
 pended on his placing his left foot as far 
 as possible from his right ; and it seemed that 
 he was urged to attempt this difficult feat 
 simply because a tall grenadier fellow beside 
 him had succeeded in stretching his compass- 
 like legs over some yard- and a quarter of 
 ground. Not long after the word "March!" 
 came the order to " Charge ! " and I verily be- 
 lieve that the most morose or grave person on 
 earth could not have refrained from laughter ; 
 for whilst the little prim man was doing his 
 utmost to dislocate both his hip joints for the 
 good of the Honourable Company, another, 
 with the rotundity of a beer barrel, was vainly 
 
29 
 
 trying to make himself into a light infantry 
 soldier, and had succeeded in getting up a very 
 puffed appearance, and had bathed himself in 
 perspiration by endeavouring to "double" a 
 distance of some twenty yards. He looked 
 exactly what one might fancy a " walrus" 
 would appear in his last expiring throes ! 
 
 Notwithstanding all these little absurdities, 
 I must admit that the drill-sergeants eventu- 
 ally succeeded in making these recruits load 
 and fire pretty well; and, after all, this was 
 indeed the main object, and not such an easy 
 matter to accomplish, as very many of the 
 volunteers had never before handled a musket, 
 and had probably never seen a balled cartridge. 
 Amongst them, however, there were some 
 Europeans who had good guns and rifles of 
 their own, and so had some of the Eurasians, 
 and these individuals did good work with them 
 in all the attacks. You might often see a man 
 run out during an alarm, with a musket in one 
 hand and a double-barrelled gun in the other, 
 and the latter was generally reserved for " close 
 quarters/' i. e., when the enemy came up rather 
 close to our works. These volunteers were 
 now appointed to different outposts and garri- 
 
30 
 
 sons, and from this time they commenced to 
 do regular sentry duty. They had strict or- 
 ders to challenge all persons approaching their 
 posts, and were constantly reminded of the 
 necessity of being " particularly on the alert," 
 a phrase which at last became so common, that 
 the staff officers, who came round, were always 
 laughed at when they made use of it. 
 
 As to the further peculiarities of our volun- 
 teers, and the anecdotes connected with their 
 first attempts at soldiering, I must refer the 
 reader to the next chapter. 
 
CHAPTER V. 
 
 THE house I lived in at Lucknow was the 
 one I had occupied ever since the annexation 
 of Oude, in which province I was an Assistant 
 Commissioner. When the buildings about the 
 Residency were being put into a state of de- 
 fence, my house was one of those chosen to 
 become an outpost. The wall of the enclosure 
 round it was thrown down, and a stockade 
 was put in its place. Within this stockade 
 was a ditch ; then a mound of about five feet ; 
 then another deep ditch, with pointed bam- 
 boos placed at the bottom. 
 
 This little outpost was situated on the 
 Cawnpore road ; and as we had the enemy 
 (throughout the siege) only forty yards dis- 
 tant from us on the left, and some seventy to 
 eighty yards to our front, it was one of the 
 most exposed outworks in the place. Besides 
 this, we were always under a very heavy fire 
 from the enemy's guns no less than nine can- 
 non of sizes (from six to eighteen and twenty- 
 
32 
 
 four pounders) were in positions so as to keep 
 up an incessant fire by day and night ; and when 
 it is remembered how dose the enemy's artil- 
 lery was planted, some idea may be formed as 
 to the effect of their shot and shell on this 
 building. Amongst the heavy ordnance there 
 \va< a Company's eight-inch howitzer, which 
 had fallen into the enemy's hands during the 
 retreat from CHINHUT. This immense piece 
 used to throw eight-inch shells clean through 
 two walls of the house, and right into the only 
 room where the volunteers and myself had to 
 sleep. 
 
 From the above, it will be seen that this 
 outpost was one of the most advanced out- 
 works of the whole Residency position, it being 
 the outer house of our left flank, facing the 
 Cawnpore road. To our right was the Cawn- 
 pore battery ; and immediately in our rear 
 were four other little garrisons, called "The 
 Post Office/' " The Judicial Commissioner's/' 
 " Mrs. Sago's" (formerly a girls' school, called 
 after the head mistress), and "The Financial 
 Commissioner's;" these were respectively to 
 our right, centre, and left rear. During attacks, 
 shell were thrown over our house from the 
 
33 
 
 "Post Office/' and a musketry fire from 
 " Sago's," and " The Judicial Commissioners/' 
 swept our left face most completely/' 
 
 Being thus situated, we had to commence 
 our work of "keeping a sharp lookout" for 
 some considerable time before we were actually 
 besieged. Field officers now began to go their 
 rounds at night, and the volunteer sentries 
 regularly challenged people passing on the 
 Oawnpore road. Attached to this garrison, 
 which was placed under my command, were 
 eight volunteers, and amongst them were two 
 foreigners, one an Italian, and the other a 
 Frenchman. The former was a Signor Bar 
 sotelli, and the latter a Monsieur Geoffroi. 
 Both of these gentlemen behaved most admi- 
 rably during the siege, and shot several of the 
 enemy ; and their conduct, in every way, was 
 highly praiseworthy. Later in the siege, I had 
 nine Europeans and a sergeant of Her Majesty's 
 32nd Foot placed under my orders ; and thus, 
 with a subaltern officer and myself, we mus- 
 tered, in all, only twenty men ! 
 
 Before any fighting commenced, Mr. W. 
 Capper, of the Bengal Civil Service, volunteered 
 D 
 
34 
 
 to become one of my little garrison ; and he 
 is also included in this number. 
 
 Before proceeding further, I cannot praise 
 too much the conduct of this young civilian, 
 whose energy, coolness, and bravery, were 
 alike conspicuous during our weary and ha- 
 rassing siege. First of all, Mr. Capper went 
 manly to work, with firelock and pouch, and 
 did regular sentry duty as a common soldier ; 
 and a precious good and attentive one he 
 was. After this, at my request, he assisted me 
 in my duties in the capacity of an officer, and 
 was accordingly relieved from sentry duty, 
 although we both, of course, " turned out " 
 during every attack, with our musket and pouch. 
 He is an instance of a gentleman putting aside 
 all pride, and subjecting himself (for the good 
 of the State), to all manner of exposure, danger, 
 and fatigue, and acting under the orders of a 
 military officer whose rank, in a civil capacity, 
 was under his own. I am also happy to add 
 that we never had a difference of opinion in 
 duty matters throughout the siege. Mr. 
 Capper was a Deputy Commissioner, at a 
 salary of 1,000 rupees ; he had the entire 
 
35 
 
 charge of a district; and he is the person 
 mentioned in Chapter III., who managed so 
 cleverly to elude the vigilance of a set of 
 ruffians who were watching a favourable op- 
 portunity to take his life. I have thus far 
 been particular to mention these three gen- 
 tlemen volunteers by name, so that there may 
 be no mistake as to whom I allude when I 
 introduce any anecdote connected with the 
 other volunteers. Whenever any of these 
 three gentlemen, therefore, may be the subject 
 of my future remarks, I shall mention them 
 by name. As regards the other volunteers, of 
 either my own or other garrisons, I reserve to 
 myself the right of speaking of them generally; 
 my object being simply to describe laughable 
 occurrences, without the most remote wish to 
 hurt the feelings of any individual. And now, 
 having said so much, I shall proceed with my 
 narrative. 
 
 It must be remembered that, at the com- 
 mencement of the siege, volunteers kept chang- 
 ing from post to post, as they met friends or 
 relatives. We, therefore, had an opportunity 
 of seeing all sorts of odd characters. One of the 
 very first persons who gave trouble was an 
 
36 
 
 European, who had formerly been in the Com- 
 pany's army. I had been out dining, and on 
 my return, I found all my servants in a great 
 state of alarm. They told me that the " sahib," 
 or gentleman (who had introduced himself only 
 the same day), had been threatening all of 
 them ; and, moreover, that he had beaten a 
 couple of the Eurasian volunteers, and was then 
 marching up and down in the verandah, with 
 a drawn sword, and behaving altogether like a 
 madman. 
 
 On learning this, I walked upstairs, and 
 found the gentleman, as described I knew 
 my best plan was to go up to him at once ; 
 and, in doing so, I took the precaution of 
 edging up to his sword arm. To my great 
 astonishment, he said nothing; but looked 
 bewildered. He had, evidently, been drunk, 
 and was now " coming round" I said, "I 
 understand you have been threatening my 
 servants, and ill-treating two Eurasian volun- 
 teers." He replied, "IVe done nothing of 
 the sort. I have been doing sentry duty, as 
 these niggers wanted to kill me. I saw what 
 they were about, the devils! Ha! ha!" 
 " Well," I added, " before saying any more, be 
 
37 
 
 good enough to give me up that sword/' He 
 laughed, and said, "Well, I've no sort of 
 objection to do that/' and forthwith he handed 
 it over to me. 
 
 I now called the two volunteers, and my 
 servants, and investigated the case ; and I 
 found that the drunkard was in the wrong. 
 I now told this man that I should report the 
 whole affair, and he began to speak in rather a 
 loud tone of voice ; and this brought over a 
 couple of stout Europeans from another gar- 
 rison. As soon as they saw the man's state, 
 they asked permission to take charge of him 
 till morning. I accepted their offer, and 'off 
 went the drunkard. 
 
 The guard where he was taken to was a 
 pretty strong one, so there were more sentries 
 than at my post. The prisoner was put under 
 a sentry, and his bed was taken over to him. 
 He remained perfectly quiet for some time, and 
 then suddenly raised himself on the bed, and 
 was about to make a rush at a sickly-looking 
 Eurasian who was sentry over him. Just then, 
 a strong hand was placed on his throat, and 
 when the drunkard looked round, he saw a 
 stout Englishman standing over him. The 
 
38 
 
 prisoner now began to kick and swear ; but 
 another European came up, and whilst the 
 drunkard swore he would kill every one about 
 him, his arms and legs were fastened down to 
 the cot, and a rope, doubled, was passed be- 
 tween his teeth, as the noise he made was 
 enough to alarm the whole garrison. After 
 this, the prisoner was carried, on the cot, to 
 the main guard of Her Majesty's 32nd Kegi- 
 ment, and I never saw him afterwards. I 
 heard, however, that he had become a steady 
 man, and that the poor fellow lost his life 
 whilst doing duty at our guns during an 
 attack 
 
 One evening, on account of some noise in 
 the street, I had to "turn out" the volun- 
 teers, and whilst under arms, I observed that 
 one man was absent. I went to hunt him up, 
 and found him dancing madly about the room, 
 in a bewildered state. He could not find his 
 musket ; and then he had upset all his percus- 
 sion-caps ; and, moreover, could not find his 
 cartridges. I never saw such terror depicted 
 in any man's countenance ; and as a sort of 
 punishment for his carelessness, I hinted that 
 it was just possible (if people did not keep 
 
39 
 
 their arms, &c., all ready), that the enemy 
 would rush in and cut them to pieces. 
 
 Another volunteer of the same class came up 
 to me one day, and said, in the gravest manner 
 possible, " What are we to do, sir, if we are 
 charged by elephants ?" I could hardly answer 
 the man for laughing; but when I recovered 
 my gravity, I told him that such was a difficult 
 question to answer properly ; but, at all events, 
 whether able to keep off such huge animals or 
 not, Government would expect each individual 
 to make the attempt. The little man seemed 
 satisfied, but his expression plainly told that he 
 had considerable doubts in his own mind as to 
 the ultimate chance of his ever escaping with 
 life if exposed to such a fearful encounter ! ! 
 
 One fine evening before dark I had to pass 
 the spot where a volunteer sentry was placed ; 
 he was a tall, slim, and girlish-looking youth, 
 with an uncommonly black face. As I ap- 
 proached him, he shouted out, " Who comes 
 there V although he saw who I was, and, more- 
 over, he knew my name. This was done, of course, 
 to show how attentive he was to orders. I gave 
 the usual reply, and was about to proceed, when 
 this warlike man brought his musket down to 
 
40 
 
 the charge, and said, " I'm sorry I cannot let 
 you pass, sir, till I call the sergeant of the 
 guard/' Now, all this might have spoken very 
 well of the volunteer had he then and there ex- 
 pired on the spot after such a noble deed, and 
 nothing more been heard of him ; but, alas ! 
 time often tells some tales that are not always 
 very pleasant. On a very dark night, not long 
 after this, the same individual was on sentry 
 when a person approached his post. Now, 
 whether from fear, or otherwise, I cannot say, 
 but this is certain, viz., that he never halted 
 the person as he did me, nor did he recollect 
 that his duty was to stand firm and call the 
 sergeant ; but, putting his musket over his 
 shoulder, he trotted off to the guard ! ! Whilst 
 conducting the stranger, by keeping well in 
 front, he also kept a careful glance to the rear, 
 to see that he did not lay himself open to an 
 attack, and thus he led the way, and finally 
 called out, as he reached the guard-room, " Ser- 
 geant, somebody 's come/' The sergeant re- 
 plied he was very happy to hear so, and warned 
 the brave man not to bring such intelligence for 
 the future, and led him to understand that a 
 sentry should not leave his post till properly 
 relieved. 
 
41 
 
 At the beginning of the siege drunkenness 
 was, I am sorry to say, rather common amongst 
 the volunteers, and several got into rows ; one 
 man shook his fist in the face of an European 
 sentry whilst in a state of intoxication, 
 another beat a native severely, and so on, day 
 after day, till they were punished with severity. 
 On one occasion a lot of these Eurasians met 
 at the quarters of a very quiet individual of 
 their own class, and there commenced to drink 
 very hard. After they had expended all their 
 grog, they called upon the master of the house 
 to provide them with money to purchase more ; 
 this he positively refused to do, and it ended 
 in these drunkards upsetting all his chairs and 
 tables, and then leaving the place, calling him 
 a horrid miser. 
 
 It was often amusing to listen to the remarks 
 of these volunteers during the nights we were 
 visited by grand rounds. On one of these oc- 
 casions a young fellow was in a great state of 
 anxiety as to how he was to present arms. 
 Signor Barsotelli, however, consoled him by 
 saying, " Never mind, sir, make a leetle noise ; 
 who's to see in the dark?" Another night, 
 when our good Italian was suddenly called up 
 
42 
 
 from a sound sleep, he exclaimed, "I think 
 these grand round officers do this for their 
 own amusement/' However, nothing on earth 
 could keep Signor from the steady performance 
 of his duty. In another moment there he stood, 
 with a musket in one hand and a double-bar- 
 relled rifle in the other, at his side was a huge 
 cavalry sword, and pendant over his breast 
 hung his ammunition pouch, resembling very 
 much an Italian hand-organ. This latter part 
 of Signor 's military equipment was rather in 
 his way than otherwise, but he did not exactly 
 know where else to put it ; and he was not a 
 little pleased when told that the pouch of the 
 English soldier is worn at the back. What 
 with a gun in both hands, and a huge sword 
 constantly getting between his legs, he had 
 quite enough to do without the extra anxiety 
 about the horrid cartridge pouch, which con- 
 tained some sixty rounds of balled ammunition 
 into the bargain. 
 
 Before closing this chapter, it may not be out 
 of place to mention what I heard said one 
 evening by some men of Her Majesty's 32nd 
 Foot. They were talking about the sad death 
 of a cavalry officer, who was killed at Modkee- 
 
43 
 
 pore( on the night of the mutiny in canton- 
 ments. One soldier said, " Poor young fellow ! 
 he was hardly seventeen years of age, so I 
 hear." His comrade added, " I wouldn't care 
 so much about his age ; but fancy, the rascals 
 would not let the poor fellow put on his boots 
 he had only one boot on when we found him/' 
 This gives a good idea of a soldier's notion as 
 to how a person should be killed it speaks 
 volumes as to the true Englishman's idea of 
 " fair play/' The fact was, this honest fellow 
 could not bear to think that the poor young 
 officer had been surprised ; had he heard that 
 he had been killed in fair fight, he would have 
 certainly thought nothing of it. One of this 
 party, whilst speaking of the siege, said, "I'm 
 sure there'll be some wet eyes for me at home 
 by this time, I was such a pet at OUT house." 
 A comrade said, " What, Bill ! you a pet ? 
 queer folks, I think, as would make a pet of 
 you." This last remark struck me as rather 
 laughable, as Bill was certainly a very rough- 
 looking individual, and not one that a lady 
 would be likely to fall in love with at first 
 sight. 
 
CHAPTER VI. 
 
 MATTERS now began to get worse and worse, 
 each day, and even the men who had re- 
 mained faithful to us up to this time began 
 to be very anxious; so much so that one 
 evening a Sepoy sentry suddenly threw down 
 his musket at his post, and bolted away as fast 
 as possible. He was observed by an European 
 sentry, who fired at him, but missed him. On 
 the 12th June, 1857, the Police Battalion 
 stationed in the city broke into open mutiny, 
 and marched away towards the Dil-Kusha 
 Park. Some little delay occurred before in- 
 telligence reached the authorities at the Re- 
 sidency, so that the mutineers got off some 
 considerable distance. 
 
 A party of about 200 of Her Majesty's 32nd 
 Foot, some Seik cavalry, and a few mounted 
 volunteers, with a couple of guns, went in 
 pursuit. I joined this expedition, having 
 nothing better to do. We came up with the 
 mutineers when they had almost crossed the 
 
45 
 
 Dil-Kusha Park, and found them retreating 
 in tolerable order, but rapidly, towards a 
 large village. The Seiks and the mounted 
 volunteers charged over the plain ; the former 
 in a compact mass, and the latter galloped here 
 and there after the stragglers. I daresay some 
 twelve or fourteen men were cut down in this 
 manner ; and on our side we lost only two 
 Seiks ; and a civilian, named Thornhill, was 
 severely wounded in the arm and breast. 
 
 The mutineer who wounded Mr. Thornhill 
 defended himself uncommonly well for some 
 time. He was charged by five of the volun- 
 teers one after another, but by keeping his 
 bayonet right before his body, he managed to 
 make each horse shy just as the rider had got 
 to almost the proper distance to make a cut. 
 At last, up came an able-bodied gentleman, 
 named MacRae, who cut the fellow right over 
 the forehead, and as he was falling, another 
 volunteer, at the same instant, galloped past, 
 and ran the mutineer through the ribs with 
 his sword. Our guns opened on the retiring 
 body with grape, but with little effect, as 
 the distance was too great ; however, soon 
 followed round shot and shrapnell, and the 
 
46 
 
 deep gaps which appeared now and then 
 midst the mass as it moved off, told plainly 
 that a good many had bitten the dust. It 
 now began to get late, and the order was 
 given for the party to return. I suppose that 
 the loss of the mutineers in this retreat could 
 not have been less than forty killed. 
 
 As we approached the town of Lucknow, we 
 lost our way, and I firmly believe that the 
 city watchmen tried to lead us into an ambus- 
 cade, as they pointed to us to take a road to 
 our front, and when we advanced, a sharp fire 
 of musketry opened from a lot of gardens in 
 the immediate vicinity. The men were now 
 halted, and most fortunately an officer of the 
 party knew the proper road, and we at once 
 diverged to our right, and thus entirely avoided 
 the other route. 
 
 Soon after this, the Muchee Bawan proved 
 to be not so strong as it was expected, and all 
 the Government treasure was removed to the 
 Residency. News arrived of the party under 
 Captain Hayes being massacred. It was re- 
 ported that Captain Hayes was run through 
 the body by his own men ; that a young gen- 
 tleman, named Fayrer, had his head cut ofi 
 
47 
 
 as he was quietly drinking at a well ; that 
 Lieutenant Barbor cut down one and wounded 
 two mutineers before he fell ; and that Captain 
 Carey only saved his life by the speed of his 
 horse. Here is another instance of the fidelity 
 of our native soldiers. Fancy men turning 
 upon a few officers in this cowardly manner, 
 and then murdering them in cold blood, with- 
 out any cause whatever ! But let us not dwell 
 over what might tempt us to call down a curse 
 on such ruffians. Let us calmly await the 
 pleasure of Him who hath said, " Vengeance 
 is mine, I will repay." And in doing so, let 
 us rest assured that He can send a balm to 
 heal the many, many fond hearts that have 
 suffered by all these horrid events, which it 
 now becomes the duty of the narrator to de- 
 scribe to the best of his ability. 
 
 As we were at Lucknow, we had to trust 
 of course to the reports that were brought in 
 of these murders, and amongst them we heard 
 also of a party having left Shahjehanpore for 
 Seetapore, as the latter place was considered 
 safer ; also, it would appear that they were 
 escorted by men of the 28th Regiment N.I. 
 As this little party approached Seetapore, 
 
48 
 
 a Sepoy came running up to them, and called 
 out "Victory! victory!" meaning, I sup- 
 pose, that all the Seetapore folks had been 
 killed, or driven away. Whereupon the 28th 
 set to work, and deliberately murdered almost 
 all the party. It is said that they all met 
 death in the calmest manner possible, that 
 most of the ladies and gentlemen were on their 
 knees, with their arms across their breasts, 
 and their eyes fixed towards heaven. 
 
 On the 16th June, several rich men of the 
 city were seized on suspicion. We heard that 
 amongst them were some fat, portly old crea- 
 tures, who got into such a horrid state of 
 alarm, at the idea of being hung, that they 
 humbly prostrated themselves on the ground, 
 and vowed they were quite innocent. After 
 this, when some of them got off, it was said 
 by the natives that they had attempted to 
 leave the city with all their wealth, but were 
 followed out by some of the Lucknow rascals, 
 and killed on the road. We heard also that 
 the Nana/s men at Cawnpore had an idea that 
 the whole of the European intrenchment was 
 mined; and it was said by the natives that 
 the Bithoor Raja (i.e., the Nana) intended to 
 
49 
 
 drive a couple of hundred asses towards the 
 intrenchment at night, and that he fully be- 
 lieved the Europeans would consider it an 
 attack, and blow up their mines, after which 
 he fancied he could safely rush in and take 
 the place. Some of our private servants now 
 became alarmed, and most of them began to 
 run away, and we were put to great incon- 
 venience. On the 28th June, at 2 o'clock a.m., 
 the rains regularly set in, and the change was 
 pleasant. 
 
 On the 30th June, a party consisting of 
 some 300 of Her Majesty's 32nd Regiment, 
 some 24 volunteer cavalry, 150 Seiks and 
 Hindostanees, with an 8-inch howitzer, and 
 eleven field guns, moved out to attack a large 
 body of the mutineers at a place called Chin- 
 hut. Our force went up the road in column, 
 with the howitzer and other guns in advance. 
 The mutineers had taken up a very strong 
 position; their centre formed a sort of semi- 
 circle across the road, and their right rested on 
 a grove, and their left on an intrenched village, 
 in which they had some guns ; there were also 
 a couple of guns right in the enemy's centre, 
 and pointing down the road our troops went 
 
50 
 
 up. The intrenched village to the right was 
 full of men; the body in the centre was un- 
 doubtedly very strong; and the grove to the 
 left was filled with skirmishers. 
 
 As our attacking party approached the 
 enemy's position, the Europeans were formed 
 into a sort of line on both sides of the road. 
 The enemy at once opened fire with their 
 guns, situated on the road, and our 8-inch 
 howitzer immediately returned the compliment. 
 The first two shots from the enemy's guns 
 killed a havildar of artillery and a horse. On 
 this, the native artillerymen took our guns 
 down a slope into very bad ground, and they 
 were got out with much difficulty: and dur- 
 ing the fight some of our native artillerymen, 
 with their guns, also went straight over to the 
 enemy, and this, of course, caused much alarm 
 and confusion. 
 
 After a little delay, however, these guns 
 were got out of the broken ground, and brought 
 to bear on the intrenched village to the enemy's 
 left, from which the enemy also returned a 
 sharp fire. For about twenty minutes a con- 
 stant discharge of musketry was kept up from 
 both sides; and in the meantime an officer 
 
51 
 
 rode up with orders for the troops to the left of 
 the road to move up to the grove. This was 
 done, and the Europeans kept up a sharp lire 
 on the enemy's skirmishers, who were posted 
 there. From some unaccountable cause, our 
 troops to the right were seen to retire; those 
 on the left, at the grove, now commenced to 
 fall back, and on reaching the road, they found 
 all the rest had gone. This seemed the signal 
 for a regular retreat, and such it really became. 
 The volunteer cavalry faced about, and fronted 
 the enemy several times, and did good service ; 
 the Seiks and Sepoys with the party both 
 behaved very well indeed, and kept up a fire, 
 as they retreated, on the enemy. The splendid 
 8-inch howitzer and three guns fell into the 
 hands of the enemy, who rapidly followed up 
 our retreating force. This sad affair cost us no 
 less than the lives of 112 men of Her Majesty's 
 32nd Regiment, and five officers ; and had 
 the cavalry of the enemy done their duty, 
 very probably not a single man would have 
 returned, as the distance they retreated was 
 between seven and eight miles. 
 
 This disaster was caused by Sir H. Lawrence 
 having been deceived by his spies. He had no 
 E2 
 
52 
 
 idea that the enemy mustered so strong ; and, 
 moreover, he was urged to send out this party 
 by people at Lucknow. I understand that he 
 regretted this step up to the day of his death ; 
 and there is no doubt the thoughts of this sad 
 disaster affected his general health. Gentle- 
 men who were out say that the mutineers 
 mustered between six and seven thousand 
 men. Some even went so far as to say that 
 their force amounted to nearly double this 
 number. But, notwithstanding such fearful 
 odds, and the fact of our native artillery hav- 
 ing deserted us, some officers seem to think 
 that the enemy were in retreat themselves 
 when our force retired ; and many now believe 
 that, if we had only taken out European gun- 
 ners, we should at least have been able to re- 
 tire without much loss. The men of Her 
 Majesty's 32nd Foot did all they could ; but I 
 fancy the force they had to fight was far too 
 strong for them, even under the most favour- 
 able circumstances ; and, as for the enemy 
 being in retreat, such is most unlikely, as they 
 followed our men very close, and the greater 
 part of the soldiers who fell had not a single 
 wound, but were completely exhausted, and 
 
53 
 
 deliberately laid down on the road to be killed, 
 as they positively were dying of thirst and 
 over-fatigue. Alas ! alas ! that such good, brave 
 souls should have perished in this manner ! 
 
 So soon as our troops reached the Iron 
 Bridge, one party went off to the Muchee 
 Bawan, and the remainder came into the Resi- 
 dency : all the men were completely knocked 
 up, and looked most miserable. The enemy 
 kept up the pursuit, and we were now really 
 and truly besieged at Lucknow. The gates 
 were shut, and our guns opened. The muti- 
 neers soon filled the streets, and came howling 
 up close to the outposts, where we were all 
 ready for them ; they also forthwith com- 
 menced getting guns into position. 
 
 At my garrison a sharp fire was kept up 
 from our loopholes ; but the enemy brought a 
 gun to bear on the pillars of our verandah, and 
 soon brought it down with a terrible crash. 
 Mr. Capper happened to be in the verandah, 
 and was firing out of a loophole, when a shot 
 struck one of the pillars, and down it came. 
 This gentleman was buried under some three 
 or four feet of masonry, and, wonderful to say, 
 he came out almost unhurt. There was, I 
 
54 
 
 fancy, no other such wonderful escape during 
 the whole siege as this, and Mr. Capper has 
 every reason to thank Providence for having 
 his life spared in such an extraordinary man- 
 ner. As the immense beams of the verandah 
 were falling, they were suddenly checked by a 
 single stout beam (which had been raised about 
 two feet from the floor of the said verandah, 
 and formed a step for the volunteers to fire 
 off), and in the interim Mr. Capper's head, 
 most fortunately, got under the space between 
 this beam and the verandah floor, so that the 
 other beams came down at a slant, instead of 
 flat. When we heard that he was buried, we 
 all rushed to his assistance, and heard only a 
 low voice, saying, " I'm alive ! Get me out ! 
 Give me air, for God's sake I" 
 
 Some one remarked, " It's impossible to save 
 him ;" upon which Mr. Capper's voice was 
 heard to proceed, as if from a vault, saying, 
 " It is possible, if you try." 
 
 We set to work at once, and a long and 
 tedious affair it was. First we had to displace 
 huge pieces of masonry, and, as we did this, 
 the broken bricks and lime kept filling up the 
 little air-holes, and poor Mr. Capper was con- 
 
55 
 
 stantly obliged to call out for "more air/' 
 During this time, be it remembered, the enemy 
 kept up an incessant fire of round shot and 
 musketry on the spot, knowing that we were 
 working there ; and all we had to protect us 
 was about six inches of the wall, that just 
 covered our bodies, as we lay flat on our sto- 
 machs, and worked away with both hands. 
 After labouring for three-quarters of an hour, 
 and when we were all quite exhausted, we 
 managed to get the whole of Mr. Capper's 
 body pretty free ; whereupon we set to work 
 to get his legs out, and it was some little time 
 before we could enable him to move his lower 
 limbs. Throughout all this, a corporal, named 
 Oxenham, of Her Majesty's 32nd Kegiment, 
 behaved most nobly, and exposed himself con- 
 siderably, so as to expedite the work of dig- 
 ging out our unfortunate volunteer, whose ap- 
 pearance amongst us seemed like as if one had 
 risen from the grave ; we fully expected, at 
 least, to have found that all his limbs had been 
 broken ; whereas, on the contrary, he had 
 merely a few bruises, and felt faint. 
 
 On the 1st July, the whole force at the 
 Muchee Bawan was withdrawn into the Resi- 
 
56 
 
 dency, and this affair was arranged uncom- 
 monly well. The ammunition was all collected 
 in one place ; the guns were spiked and dam- 
 aged as much as circumstances would permit ; 
 and at a given signal (at midnight), the force 
 marched out, whilst a slow match, attached to 
 a train leading to the magazine, was lighted. 
 Just as our men reached the Eesidency, a 
 magnificent explosion took place, and Muchee 
 Bawan was instantly in ruins. Strange to say, 
 not a single man was wounded when this 
 movement took place, although the mutineers 
 were in possession of the whole city, and had 
 been firing on the Residency and the Muchee 
 Bawan throughout the day. The officers and 
 soldiers lost all their property, as no baggage 
 could be removed ; and the best proof that 
 this movement must have been managed well, 
 is, that the enemy were not aware of what 
 was being done. 
 
 After our troops had retired down the 
 road, the enemy seemed to have gained an 
 inkling of what had occurred, as they brought 
 some guns, but it was too late ; two round 
 shot came screaming down the street, and 
 hurt none, as our men had now reached 
 
57 
 
 the Eesidency gate. Some little excitement 
 took place, as the gate was locked, and the 
 person who had the key could not be found 
 for a little while ; and during this trying 
 period, the troops outside fancied themselves in 
 rather an awkward position ; and so they might 
 have been, had cavalry been in pursuit ! 
 
 As our men were leaving, a soldier of Her 
 Majesty's 32nd Foot was lying intoxicated at 
 the Muchee Bawan. A sergeant tried to get 
 the man to accompany him, but to no purpose ; 
 all he got were harsh and angry words. He 
 therefore told the man that if he would not 
 come away, that he could not wait to be 
 blown up or killed by the enemy, and then 
 he left him. Strange to say, the next morning, 
 the drunken man came into the Residency. 
 He was quite naked ! and when asked how he 
 had escaped, he replied, " Sure I didn't see 
 e'er a man in the place/' How the poor creature 
 ever managed to get in, is a perfect miracle ; 
 the streets must have been lined with men ; 
 but, perhaps, in the darkness, and as he was 
 naked, they may have mistaken him for a 
 mendicant, as some of this class do wander 
 about in this indecent manner, when not 
 checked by our police. 
 
58 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 WE were now, to use a slang expression, 
 " fairly box'd up" at Lucknow. A man could 
 not show his nose without hearing the whiz, 
 whiz of bullets close to his head. The shots, 
 too, came from every direction ; and when a 
 poor fellow had nearly jerked his head off his 
 shoulders in making humble salutations to 
 passing bullets, he would have his penance dis- 
 agreeably changed into a sudden and severe 
 contortion of the whole body, to avoid a round 
 shot or shell. So soon as a man left his post, 
 he had no time for meditation, his only plan 
 was to proceed rapidly, in fact, to walk slow, 
 at some places, was very, very dangerous, and 
 many a poor fellow was shot, who was too proud 
 to run past places where bullets danced on the 
 walls like a handful of peas in a frying-pan. 
 
 I had no less than five horses shot in the 
 enclosure about my house : two of them were 
 my own. The servants who attended them 
 all ran off so soon as they saw that matters 
 
59 
 
 had reached this fearful state, so the poor 
 animals were left without any person to give 
 them water or food. Some were wounded, and 
 others were almost dead. To go near them was 
 impossible by day, and at night it could only 
 be managed with difficulty. At last some of 
 the horses died, and the stench was so fearful, 
 that, to prevent a pestilence, we were obliged 
 to drag them away, and throw them into a 
 well. Those that were wounded, we had to 
 get out as well as we could, and let them loose 
 into the city. One poor horse of mine had his 
 leg broken; I had, therefore, to creep upon my 
 hands and knees to cut the rope he was fas- 
 tened by, and then I found the poor brute 
 could not walk. However, no time was to be 
 lost ; so I got a person to prick him up in the 
 rear, whilst another pulled at the head-rope ; 
 thus, on three legs, and actually hopping 
 along, this poor horse was driven out of the 
 place. All we dreaded was their dying, and 
 our having no means of removing them. My 
 poor little pet dog, whilst playing about the 
 place, was shot through the bowels, and came 
 running up, yelping most piteously, with the 
 blood gushing from the wound. A tame pigeon, 
 
60 
 
 too, as it hopped about at the doorway, had its 
 head shot off. I have merely mentioned these 
 little circumstances to show how dangerous it 
 was to go much about, as bullets came from all 
 sides. 
 
 Soon after the falling of the verandah upon 
 Mr. Capper, the cannonade on the whole 
 upper part of the house became so severe 
 that we were forced to leave the upper de- 
 fences for want of cover, and retire on the 
 lower story. Just before this, I was firing 
 from a loophole on the stall's, when a round 
 shot came and carried away a large piece of 
 masonry about a foot above my head. The 
 bricks flew all about me, but I was not hurt. 
 At about the same moment, another shot 
 carried away the greater part of our parapet, 
 and went clean through the body of one of our 
 Seiks, who was also in the act of firing. The 
 poor fellow never moved ; the shot had made 
 a hole of four inches in diameter in his chest, 
 and had passed through his back. It was now 
 high time to look to the lower defences, as we had 
 no place where we could fire from in the upper 
 part, as round shot and shell began to sweep 
 the whole of the top rooms from end to end. 
 
61 
 
 Now the only room in the lower story, 
 which was fit for us, was occupied by a huge 
 Eurasian and his wife ; but rather than put 
 these folks to any inconvenience, I remained 
 in a passage with the volunteers and some 
 Seiks, as uncomfortable as any one could be. 
 Our miseries had now, indeed, begun in real 
 earnest ; we had no place to either bathe or 
 dress ; and to cook food was impossible, as we 
 had no servants. We therefore subsisted, for 
 some little time, on biscuits, sardines, &c., &c. 
 Both of these individuals were fond of the 
 bottle, and when "in their cups/' they were 
 like cat and dog. The man used generally to 
 get sleepy, and retire to his couch, whilst his 
 wife became dreadfully loquacious. This lady, 
 I beg to state, did not address me ; her con- 
 versation was with the Eurasian volunteers ; 
 but T had the benefit of it all, having no place 
 to sit in but the passage, where this horrid 
 female persisted in coming, much to my disgust. 
 First of all, she would give all the dark gentry 
 about her a full and true account of her pa- 
 rentage ; and though we well could see that 
 she had never been out of India, she used to 
 talk of her " dear Ireland/' Then came a long 
 
62 
 
 description of all the gentlemen who had made 
 love to her before she had reached the shady 
 side of forty ; and, finally, we had the inte- 
 resting description of all the difficulties that 
 her fond husband had to surmount before he 
 was honoured with her hand and heart. She 
 would tell us, too, that her husband was not 
 dark, oh no, he was only sunburnt ; but if 
 we did not believe her, all we had to do was 
 to bare his arm up to the elbow, and we should 
 find it like snow. 
 
 But this was not the only way in which this 
 horrid woman was disagreeable ; she used some- 
 times to get the real "blue devils/' and then 
 she would beat her bosom, and tell the Seiks 
 on guard that we should all be cut up; 
 that no troops could come to our assistance, 
 &c., &c. At last, she got so bad, and was such 
 a perfect nuisance, that I reported her conduct, 
 and got both her and her husband removed 
 from our garrison. Had she remained, she 
 would probably have made every Seik desert 
 from us, by reason of all her gloomy con- 
 versations. I had, I found, been rather con- 
 siderate at first to this class of people, who do 
 aot appreciate the principle of " suaviter in 
 
63 
 
 modo," they require also the "fortiter in re," 
 to keep them in some sort of awe of the per- 
 sons they are supposed to be placed under. 
 
 We were now surrounded, night and day, 
 by all the city blackguards, as well as the 
 mutineers, and they must have been very 
 numerous, if we may judge by the uproar they 
 made. On one occasion, as we were turned 
 out on account of some alarm at night, I 
 heard a soldier say to another, " I say, Bill, 
 I'm blow'd if these here Budmashes* don't yell 
 like so many cats/' Bill replied, " Yes, they 
 do, and I only wishes I was behind them with a 
 tin pot of biling water as they opens their 
 d d mouths/' Another European, who was 
 close at hand, and had been quite distracted by 
 the incessant noise of one of their war clarions, 
 remarked, " I only wish I had a holt of the 
 black rascal as plays that ; I'd not kill the 
 vagabond, I'd only break that infernal hin- 
 strument over the bridge of his nose/' 
 
 Having the enemy always so close to us, we 
 were obliged to be constantly on the alert, and 
 it became absolutely necessary to visit the sen- 
 tries several times in every hour throughout 
 
 * Rascals, men of bad reputation. 
 
64 
 
 the night. Our poor men were very hard 
 worked, and had often to go on sentry duty 
 after, perhaps, digging in the batteries, &c., &c., 
 for a couple of hours before ; on this account 
 we had to make every allowance for their being 
 both tired and sleepy ; but, nevertheless, as the 
 lives of the whole garrison depended on the 
 vigilance of the outposts, it became an officer's 
 bounden duty to keep the men at their work. 
 One night I observed a sentry who certainly 
 seemed asleep ; he had his head bent down on 
 his breast, and he did not challenge me as I 
 came up to his post. I watched him for a little, 
 and then, to give him a chance, I called out, 
 <c Sentry/' in an under tone ; the man started ; 
 but so soon as he observed me, he quickly 
 recovered his self-possession, and said, quite 
 calmly, " I was just thinking, sir, how sad it is 
 that one half of the world does not know how 
 much the other half suffer." I must admit I 
 was not prepared for such a philosophical re- 
 mark from a sentry ; and as he was a good, 
 steady soldier, I did not press the matter 
 further ; more particularly as the attitude I 
 found him in did admit of his having been in 
 a state of deep thought ! ! I remained, and had 
 
65 
 
 a little talk with this man, and I found he was 
 a "character/' He told me that he had previ- 
 ously been called by his comrades " a man of a 
 pleasant temper ;" but that grief had made him 
 surly and morose. He had lost his wife and a 
 little girl, and when these were taken from him, 
 he said he began to hate all mankind, and be- 
 came a cross-tempered individual. "Ah/' he 
 exclaimed, " you never saw such a queer, old- 
 fashioned, wee thing as my little daughter was, 
 sir, it was just like me, and that's why I 
 liked it so much ; the poor little creature usecl 
 to know me so well, and run after me, calling 
 out " Papa ;" and the soldiers used to say she 
 was the very image of me. I used to love that 
 child, sir, and when it died, I became a wretched 
 man, and cared for nothing." Another night I 
 caught another sentry asleep, and I told him 
 that he would be reported; the poor fellow 
 was in a great state of alarm, and after making 
 all kinds of excuses, he said, loud enough for 
 
 me to hear, ' D n that great coat, it was it 
 
 as caused all this/' The fact was, he had made 
 himself rather too comfortable, and thus had 
 fallen asleep. I really felt very much for the 
 men of Her Majesty's 32nd Foot ; they cer- 
 P 
 
66 
 
 tainly had hard work, and much exposure ; 
 besides this, the men were not strong, and 
 many of them, rather than remain in hospital 
 (when really ill), used to come on duty when 
 they could hardly stand. I once or twice 
 actually insisted on poor fellows returning to 
 hospital ; all they used to say was, " Well, sir, 
 in these times every man must do his best/' 
 Some poor creatures looked more like ghosts 
 than men, so much were they reduced by dy- 
 sentery, fever, &c., &c. 
 
67 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 ON the 1st of July, 1857, Sir Henry Law- 
 rence was mortally wounded by the explosion 
 of a shell, and that great man lingered till the 
 4th, and then died. His death cast a sad gloom 
 over the whole garrison, and many a stout 
 heart began to feel anxious as to how matters 
 would be conducted after the demise of one in 
 whom all had trusted. From this till the 10th 
 of August I have little to say, each day was 
 marked by the usual occurrences, and the fire 
 of the enemy was as usual. On the 10th of 
 August, 1857, however, the enemy, in immense 
 numbers, made a general assault on our posi- 
 tion, and we fought them till two o'clock, p.m. 
 The attack was made with greater determina- 
 tion than any before, and upon all sides at the 
 same moment. To describe every paltry attack 
 would be impossible ; all I attempt to give is a 
 fair and honest description of what took place 
 at our post, leaving the description of other 
 attacks and assaults on other places to those 
 who had to defend them. 
 F 2 
 
68 
 
 The enemy, after collecting in immense num- 
 bers, advanced upon the Cawnpore Battery and 
 our post ; they came on with a rush, and nine 
 men actually pushed through our stockade, and 
 reached the mound in front of our inner ditch. 
 They had fixed bayonets and trailed arms, and 
 ran with their backs bent to avoid our fire as 
 much as possible. No sooner did these men 
 make their appearance, than they were met by 
 a tremendous fire from the men of my outpost 
 and the Cawnpore Batteiy, as also by a flank 
 fire from the " Judicial Commissioner's," which 
 was commanded by a brave officer (Capt. Ger- 
 mon, of the 13th N. I.) who commanded Seiks 
 and also volunteers of the Uncovenanted ser- 
 vice. I think I may safely say, that not one 
 man of these nine escaped. During all this, a 
 heavy cannonade was kept up on both sides, 
 and I never saw such a musketry fire in any 
 of the battles in the Punjab. 
 
 After these had been knocked over, the 
 leaders tried to urge on their men. Again and 
 again they made the attempt, but back they 
 had to go by a steady fire. Their chiefs came 
 to the front, and shouted out, "Come on, come 
 on, the place is ours, it is taken! 3 And the 
 
69 
 
 Sepoys would then rush forward, then hesi- 
 tate, and finally get under cover of the stockade, 
 and keep up a fearful fire. Some hundred of 
 them got under the Cawnpore Battery, but found 
 the hand-grenades rather disagreeable, and had 
 to bolt rather sharp. Poor Major Banks came 
 up, and cheered us during the hottest fire, and 
 we were glad to see him. Our shell now began 
 to fall amongst the enemy, and this still further 
 roused their indignation ; you could hear addi- 
 tional yells, and horrid imprecations on the 
 heads of all CHRISTIANS. No less than three 
 times were we assaulted by enormous odds 
 against us, and each attack was, thank God r 
 successfully repulsed. There we were, a little 
 body, probably not eighty men in all (i. e., 
 Cawnpore Battery our post, and Capt. Ger- 
 mon's) opposed to several thousands of merciless, 
 blood-thirsty fanatics. We well knew what 
 we had to expect if we were defeated, and, 
 therefore, each individual fought, as it were, 
 for his very life ; each loophole displayed a 
 steady flash of musketry, as defeat would have 
 been certain death to every soul in the garrison. 
 Had the outposts fallen, they were in such im- 
 mense numbers that we could never have turned 
 
70 
 
 the enemy out, and then not a man, woman, or 
 child, would have been spared. It was, indeed, 
 a most anxious time, and the more so as we 
 did not know how matters were progressing 
 at other points. We dreaded that the others 
 might have been even further pressed than we 
 were. At intervals I heard the cry of " More 
 men this way," and off would rush two or three 
 (all we could possibly spare) here and there; 
 and then the same cry was repeated in an op- 
 posite direction, and again the men had to rush 
 to support their comrades who were more hotly 
 pressed, and so on ; as the pressure became 
 greater at particular places, men rushed to those 
 spots to give assistance. 
 
 During this trying time even the poor 
 wounded men ran out of the hospitals, and 
 those who had wounds in the legs threw away 
 their crutches, and deliberately knelt down and 
 fired as fast as they could out of the loopholes ; 
 others, who could do little else, loaded the 
 muskets, whilst the able-bodied soldiers fired ; 
 and in this odd manner these brave men of 
 Her Majesty's 32nd upheld the honour of their 
 nation, and strained every nerve to repel the 
 furious attacks of the enemy. 
 
71 
 
 Two very determined rascals came up close 
 to the wall of the battery, whereupon Capt. 
 Green, of the 48th N. I., shot them both in 
 the face with two discharges of little bullets, 
 and they went off howling fearfully. A 
 standard-bearer was very conspicuous, and he 
 was fired at by at least a dozen individuals, 
 some say he was blown up almost at the same 
 moment by the explosion of a shell, whilst 
 others assert that, when he fell mortally 
 wounded, another mutineer seized him by the 
 belt, and threw himself, with the body of the 
 wounded standard-bearer, over our stockade. 
 
 During all this I was commanding six men 
 of Her Majesty's 32nd Foot on the outside of 
 my house, at the place between the Cawnpore 
 Battery and my post ; and as my presence was 
 required, I went in and out of the battery, and 
 fired my musket whenever I had the best 
 chance of hitting the enemy. It was thus that 
 I saw the whole of what I have now attempted 
 to describe. 
 
 In the interior of my garrison the truly brave 
 and heroic Mr. Capper and a subaltern officer 
 kept the volunteers at their loopholes, and 
 every man did good service during the attacks 
 
72 
 
 by keeping up a constant and rapid fire on the 
 enemy. Monsieur Geofiroi heard one of the 
 chiefs say, " Come on, brothers, there's nobody 
 here ;" upon which he replied in a loud voice, 
 " There are plenty of us here, you rascal." And 
 as a further proof of his assertion, he shot the 
 leader dead, and followed up by sending a bullet 
 into another man, who was close behind him. 
 Our good old friend, Signor Barsotelli, got very 
 excited as the enemy rushed past the stockade. 
 He said to the Frenchman, " Son dentro per 
 
 Dio," in Italian "They are in, by G " 
 
 However, he did as he had always done before, 
 he placed himself in a good commanding posi- 
 tion, and then asked the officer in command if 
 he should fire, his expression generally was, 
 " Here we dominate, shall I strike ?" All this 
 time he was, probably, standing at a loophole, 
 with his eye fixed on the sight of his musket, 
 and his body in such an attitude that any one 
 could see he was full of determination. 
 
 On this memorable 10th of August both 
 Signor Barsotelli and Monsieur Geoffroi killed 
 several men, and did good service ; in fact, I 
 knew not any one in these garrisons who did 
 not behave well ; and in such a fight as this, the 
 
73 
 
 difficulty only would be, to find the man who 
 had NOT shot down at least one or two of the 
 enemy. A pretty good idea may be formed as 
 to how our fire told on the mutineers, when it 
 is stated by the natives, that their loss on the 
 10th of August was 470 men killed ; out of 
 this, they say, that full 100 fell opposite the 
 flank we defended. It was also stated that 
 the standard-bearer was pierced by seven bul- 
 lets, and that a Moulvie,* who urged on the 
 mutineers, was shot through the hand. As a 
 general rule, more than double the number of 
 men are wounded to those that are killed ; .so 
 the loss of fighting men on the enemy's side 
 must have have been very, very great on this 
 occasion ; and they learned such a severe les- 
 son, that they did not try another attack tifl 
 some time after. 
 
 It is quite impossible to form any idea of the 
 exact number of the enemy ; some say 20,000, 
 and others 40,000 menf were around us on the 
 10th August ; all I can say is, that I saw quite 
 enough soldiers to convince me that a kind and 
 merciful Providence alone saved us on that 
 
 * A learned man. 
 
 f I heard after, 100,000 men, and 107 guns. 
 
74 
 
 fearful day ; we were but as a drop in the ocean, 
 when compared with the enemy, and we only 
 held the place by a perfect miracle. 
 
 I have omitted before to state, that on the 
 afternoon of the 29th July we heard guns 
 close to the outskirts of the city, and every one 
 expected to see our troops come in ; but, alas ! 
 we were doomed to be disappointed. On the 
 30th, a beautiful peacock came and perched on 
 our ramparts, and there plumed its feathers ; 
 it remained a little while, and then flew across 
 our position. Some of the soldiers wanted to 
 shoot it, but I told them not to destroy a bird 
 of good omen ; had I not spoken, the bird would 
 have been made into a mess in less than ten 
 minutes, so anxious were the men for some 
 change of food. 
 
 From this time, every day became more and 
 more tedious, and good old faces began to dis- 
 appear gradually and gradually each day ; here, 
 a week before, you saw fourteen men laughing 
 together ; to-day, the number had dwindled 
 down to ten ; a day or so more, and you 
 remarked one less ; then another, and an- 
 other, till you were positively afraid to ask 
 for a friend. I have seen men in hospital, and 
 
75 
 
 have left them doing exceedingly well. I have 
 sent them books to read, &c., &c., and on going 
 a day or so after, I have found another sick or 
 wounded man in my friend's cot, and have been 
 told by a patient, " that the gentleman, who 
 laid there, was buried last night/' 
 
 Sad, sad indeed is the feeling one experiences 
 on such occasions ; each man, as he parts for the 
 night, has considerable doubts as to his seeing 
 his friend in the morning. A friend comes in, 
 and says, " Have you heard the news ?" You say 
 No, and he continues "Poor So-and-so was 
 looking out of a loophole, and was shot through 
 the head ; young So-and-so was hit last night 
 by a round shot, which carried away both his 
 legs, and there is no hope for him ; but the 
 worst of all is, that So-and-so was hit by a 
 round shot, and the whole of the back of his 
 head was carried away, the skull was quite 
 empty, and the poor fellow's brains were dashed 
 all about a gun, close to which he was stand- 
 ing." Now all this is very fearful for a man 
 to hear at every hour of the day, besides see- 
 ing every now and then the body of some poor 
 fellow carried away to hospital, who has, per- 
 haps, been conversing with you a few minutes 
 
76 
 
 before. A great many men were killed by 
 standing incautiously at the loopholes ; some 
 would fire, and then look out to see if their 
 shot had taken effect, when a return bullet 
 would kill them on the spot. I saw one poor 
 fellow, of Her Majesty's 32nd, who was killed 
 in this way, but he was not the only man ; I 
 was close beside him at the time, and warned 
 him to be careful, and not to stand opposite the 
 loophole after firing ; however, he forgot what 
 I said, and in a few seconds after, he fell back, 
 with a groan, quite dead a musket ball had 
 entered his eye, and passed through his brain ; 
 poor fellow ! we soon picked him up, only to find 
 that the pool of blood under his head plainly 
 indicated that his life had left him, and horrid 
 to relate, we saw bits of brain amidst the gory 
 flood, about the spot where he fell 
 
77 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 WE are now in the month of August, and no 
 signs of relief; the heat, too, is intense, and 
 we have no servants to pull our punkahs. Dead 
 bodies are decomposing in all directions outside 
 the entrenchments, and the graves in our church- 
 yards are so shallow, that the whole air is 
 tainted with putrid smells ; now our torments 
 commence in real earnest. We are pestered to 
 death by swarms of great, cold, clammy flies, 
 which have probably been feeding off festering 
 corpses in the vicinity ; we cannot read, sleep, 
 or eat our food, with any degree of comfort. 
 We had only one Madras boy between five of 
 us to do all the work, and he fell ill with fever ; 
 we had, therefore, to chop our own wood, pre- 
 pare the fire, cook the food, &c., &c. ; besides 
 this, we had to wash our own clothes, and per- 
 form (each in our turn), the lowest menial duties. 
 A nice state of affairs for folks who are gene- 
 rally termed officers and gentlemen ? but so it 
 was, and there was no help for it ; our little 
 
78 
 
 garrison was so exposed, that not a servant 
 would stay there, whilst other people in the 
 place had as many as six and seven servants 
 throughout the siege ! ! 
 
 In the midst of all these miseries (when, 
 perhaps, in the very act of cooking !) you would 
 hear the cry of " Turn out ! " and then you had 
 to seize your musket, and rush to your post. 
 Then there was a constant state of anxiety as 
 to whether we were mined or not ; and we 
 were not quite sure, whilst we were at a loop- 
 hole, that we might not suddenly see the ground 
 open, or observe the whole materials of the 
 house fly into the air by the explosion of a 
 mine ! ! Shells came smashing right into our 
 rooms, and dashed our property to pieces ; then 
 followed round shot, and down tumbled huge 
 pieces of masonry, and bits of wood and bricks 
 flew in all directions. I have seen beds literally 
 blown to atoms, and trunks and boxes were 
 completely smashed into little bits. When an 
 8-inch shell exploded in the room, you could not 
 see anything for several minutes, and all we 
 heard after was the cry of individuals, asking 
 each other from opposite directions, if it was 
 " all right ?" and now and then a poor fellow 
 
79 
 
 would be seen to creep out of a heap of lime 
 and bricks, and say, "I'm not hurt, thank 
 God." 
 
 I recollect, one day, after the bursting of a 
 shell, Signor Barsotelli looked for his trunk, 
 and found that it had been blown up com- 
 pletely. He now wished to have a little fun, 
 so he called his Madras boy, and said, " Where 
 is my trunk?" The boy went off, and looked 
 in the corner, where the trunk always stood, 
 but found it not ; he could not understand this, 
 so he came with a face of astonishment to his 
 master, and said, " Trunk not got, sir." Signor 
 pretended to be angry, and said, " Not got a 
 trunk, you rascal, where is it ?" In the mean- 
 time, some one drew the lad's attention to some 
 bits of wood in the corner, which were all that 
 remained of Signer's trunk, and the boy's face 
 brightened up, as he said to his master, "Before, 
 trunk got, sir now, not got shell break 
 him." 
 
 Signor Barsotelli was both a clever and polite 
 man. On one occasion, he had an opportunity 
 of examining a person's head, having been re- 
 quested to do so, as he had studied phrenology ; 
 now, whether he observed that there was some- 
 
80 
 
 thing rather mild in the person's temperament 
 or not, I cannot say, but he calmly said, " I 
 observe by your head, sir, that the organ of 
 combativeness is not largely developed. I think 
 you would be well suited for a " Justice of the 
 Peace." Whether Signor had his doubts as to 
 the bravery of the individual, from what he 
 observed in his manner, or whether he really 
 judged by his head, it is, of course, difficult to 
 determine ; however, this is true, that the 
 unfortunate was a soldier, and as such, he must 
 have felt a little disappointed to find he wanted 
 what a soldier most requires. 
 
 Again, as regards Signer's politeness, he 
 had been terribly annoyed for some time by 
 a person spitting a perfect puddle close to where 
 le sat. Signor was very, very uneasy for a 
 nttle, at last he got up, and brought a spade 
 full of earth, and as he threw the contents on 
 the pool of saliva, he said, " Excuse me, sir, I 
 vomit." If this little act, and these few im- 
 pressive words, had not the desired effect, I 
 know not what would have better tended to 
 prevent a repetition of the filthy trick which 
 had quite upset the Signer's equanimity. 
 
 These are simply the day occurrences, which 
 
81 
 
 were followed by the long, dreary nights. We 
 would sit for hours, expecting every mo- 
 ment to be attacked. Officers would come 
 round, and say, in a solemn manner, "The Bri- 
 gadier requests you will be particularly on 
 the alert/' Here and there, by the glimmer 
 of a miserable lamp, you observed the pale, care- 
 worn faces of half a dozen volunteers. One 
 man loading his musket, another looking at 
 his pistol, and a third filling his cartridge-box. 
 One of the party would presently shoulder his 
 musket, and go off to stand on sentry, whilst 
 another dived down into our mine, to see 
 that the enemy were not getting under our 
 house. Presently you would hear the sudden 
 cry of a sentry calling out, " that the enemy 
 were advancing." Then came the rattle of 
 musketry, followed by the cry of " Turn out \" 
 on all sides. Now, you hear the grape strike 
 against our batteries and earthworks ; the 
 musket bullets fly over in showers ; round shot 
 come through our walls ; and loud above all you 
 distinguish the sound of the enemy's clarions/' 
 and numberless bugles blowing the " advance/' 
 Now and then, midst the roar of artillery, you 
 could hear elephants trumpeting as they were 
 G 
 
82 
 
 made to drag heavy guns from position to 
 position, and the change of direction of a 
 shot immediately after told plainly that the 
 enemy had moved a gun. We remained per- 
 fectly quiet too, generally, so that they might 
 not know how many we mustered. We let 
 them fire away, and waited patiently to listen 
 if they were creeping through the long grass 
 that grew all around our intrenchments, and 
 strained our eyes to see in the darkness. Every 
 now and then we fancied we saw the figure 
 of a man, and then it seemed as suddenly to 
 disappear. Sometimes the moon, shining on 
 the leaves of the castor-oil tree, used to look 
 like men's turbans, and more than once we 
 were induced to fire at them. Every now 
 and then you heard orders given to load the 
 guns with "grape" over the "round shot/' 
 and our men would be seen running for hand- 
 grenades, &c., to be all ready in case of a rush 
 at our position. In the meantime you would 
 see little streaks of fire passing rapidly over 
 your head, and some seemed as if they were 
 coming right down upon you. Then you sud- 
 denly heard a loud report, and the cry that 
 followed told you our shells were bursting 
 
83 
 
 amongst the enemy. Soon you heard a sharp 
 whiz over your head again, and you would 
 see a huge splinter of a shell bury itself in a 
 wall close to you, or probably plough up a foot 
 of the earth close to where you stood, so that 
 often we were in as much danger of being 
 killed by our own shells as by the enemy's 
 shot these splinters often come back some 
 hundred yards. 
 
 Sometimes, in the dark nights, single men 
 used to creep up to see what we were about, 
 or else, probably, to try and spike our guns 
 the sentries, therefore, had always to keep a 
 sharp lookout. Now and then a dog got on 
 the top of our mound, in front of the inner 
 ditch, and the sentry would fire, whereupon 
 the yelping of the wounded animal used to 
 astonish the whole of the guard, and set all 
 the dogs in the garrison barking ; they would 
 collect from all the houses in the vicinity, and 
 rush down upon the unfortunate one, and try 
 to worry him to death, and so soon as the 
 strange dog bolted off from whence he came, 
 all the others followed him ; and what with 
 the growling, barking, and noise (as they 
 rushed through the outer stockade), they com- 
 G 2 
 
84 
 
 pletely confounded the enemy, who thought, 
 of course, that the vile infidels or Christians 
 were upon them ; and starting wildly from 
 their sleep, they commenced to abuse each 
 other, and then to fire off their muskets in 
 every direction. It was perfectly wonderful 
 to hear the jabber they set up. One would 
 say, " Don't you see they are coming ? Look 
 out/' Another would reply, "Who are you, 
 to give me orders ?" The first speaker would 
 then say, rather mildly, " Well, do as you like, 
 the c Sahib log' (i. e., gentlemen) will soon 
 come and cut your head off. " The other would 
 reply, " Well, do you think they are likely to 
 spare you more than me ?" This conversation 
 would last a little while, till the man who had 
 got the order to be on the alert lost all pa- 
 tience, and would then say, " Come, come, if 
 you are going to threaten me, I shall run off 
 to the hills/' The other then would say 
 sharply, " Do you think you'll be safer in the 
 hills than anywhere else? Why, they will 
 chase you all over the face of the earth/' One 
 rascal would cry out, " You go on, brave man 
 that you are." The other would say, " No, 
 good brother, you go first." The first would 
 
85 
 
 say, " There are hardly any of them left ;" and 
 his comrade would add, "Well, you try it 
 first go on/' Such little talks generally con- 
 cluded by both rascals getting into a rage, and 
 calling each other cowards ; and then they 
 would keep quiet for perhaps the remainder of 
 the night, but not before the noise of a few 
 dogs barking had really frightened them out of 
 their senses. 
 
 Before our first reinforcement arrived, our 
 Sepoys in the inside had constant conversations 
 with the mutineers. Our men would say, 
 " What have you got now for being so unfaith- 
 ful? You had much better disperse/' The 
 mutineers would reply, "What can we do? 
 If we go to our homes, the Feringees (Eu- 
 ropeans) will hunt us to death ; it is better to 
 remain here and die/' Then they would say 
 to our men, " Leave the infidels, and come out ; 
 we'll give you good food, and plenty of it." 
 Our Sepoys would say, " We have eaten the 
 Company's salt, we cannot break faith with 
 our masters, like you have." This answer 
 exasperated the mutineers, who would say, 
 " You are as bad as they are ; you have be- 
 come vile Christians ; but, never mind, we 
 
86 
 
 are off to kill all the men of your reinforce- 
 ment ; and when we return we will pay you 
 off ; we will not spare a single man." 
 
 Very often, when these conversations were 
 going on, our Seiks used to call to their officers 
 just to listen to the manner in which they 
 were "drawing out" the enemy. Once, at an 
 outpost, a fellow came up and tried to make 
 our Sepoys go over to the enemy ; there was a 
 sharp young sentry on duty, and he quietly 
 kept the man in talk whilst he called another 
 of his guard, and said, in a low voice, " Knock 
 that chap over;" which was no sooner said 
 than done, thus putting an end to the con- 
 versation in rather an abrupt manner. 
 
 Throughout the siege the mutineers lost no 
 opportunity to try and make our Sepoys desert, 
 by telling them that they would starve us all 
 to death, if they could not take the place ; and 
 they tried to make them believe that the Eng- 
 lish were beaten all over India, and that there 
 was not the least hope of our obtaining any 
 relief. And there was so much delay in our 
 reinforcement arriving, that many began to 
 believe what they said ; and had the relieving 
 force been much longer in coming to our 
 
87 
 
 assistance, I am afraid that even the fidelity of 
 our brave native troops might have been 
 shaken. I feel sure that every man felt fearfully 
 disappointed at the delay in obtaining relief, 
 and the poor natives would have probably 
 been more tortured than the Europeans, and 
 the enemy carried our position. It was splen- 
 did to see how very willingly the Seiks worked 
 at our mines, and to observe their alacrity in 
 turning out during every attack. 
 
88 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 IN addition to all I have endeavoured to 
 describe in the preceding pages, we had to 
 endure the melancholy sight of seeing the 
 clothes, frc., of dead men sold by public auction. 
 The property of deceased officers was also sold 
 off in this manner; and it was sad, indeed, to 
 observe so much appearance of actual mirth 
 and jollity displayed by many who were pre- 
 sent. How very little we all seemed to reflect 
 on the truth of the words, " In the midst of 
 life we are in death." Here you saw the coat 
 of your friend " put up" and tried on by one 
 and then another ; now and then, too, you 
 heard the passing joke of the crowd as to its 
 being a "good Jit" &c., &c. How little did 
 many there think that probably the next auc- 
 tion would be over their own clothes, and that, 
 too, within the space of only a few days. 
 
 In the army strong affections must naturally 
 exist ; and yet men, in such circumstances, 
 appear to act very oddly it would seem that 
 
89 
 
 the dearest friends were forgotten the instant 
 that the link of friendship is broken by death. 
 To-day you see two men walking together, as 
 fond of each other as mortals can be, and in a 
 day or two after you hear that one has 
 been shot dead ; and should you happen to at- 
 tend the first sale that takes place, you may 
 perhaps see the remaining one bidding hard for 
 his friend's boots ! ! Yet, for all this, there is, 
 in reality, no want of affection. If you take 
 the same man quietly aside, and mention his 
 friend's name, it is more than probable that you 
 will see his eyes fill with tears : why, then, this 
 sudden change ? The fact is, that men in such 
 positions do in reality look forward to the final 
 separation by death as very near and probable. 
 Their comrades fall on all sides, and day after 
 day the same rites are performed, and the corpse 
 is speedily conveyed to the grave ; and whilst 
 the mourner is at the height of his grief, he 
 hears that another person has just lost as dear 
 a friend as himself. If a man, therefore, has 
 any real affection, no one of the crowd can pos- 
 sibly know his grief all are supposed to be 
 suffering as well as himself (who have lost 
 friends), and the world is the last place to turn 
 
90 
 
 to when consolation is wanted to do so, is to 
 parade one's own sorrows, and to be called a 
 hypocrite. When a man in a siege, therefore, 
 purchases any portion of another's dress, he is 
 supposed to do so from necessity alone. For 
 instance, a round shot dashes out a man's 
 brains, and bespatters all his clothes with 
 blood ; yet men are, from necessity, obliged to 
 buy these very articles, having perhaps hardly 
 any warm clothes ; and at the same time, poor 
 fellows, they are quite prepared to part with 
 them on the same terms. Men seem to pur- 
 chase such clothing to form their own winding- 
 sheets ; for you may often see the same articles 
 exposed for sale before the last purchaser has 
 had time to get them washed. At such periods 
 there is little time for cool and calm reflection ; 
 all is anxiety of the worst description ; there is 
 a sort of constant pressure to the front, a dis- 
 inclination to dwell for a moment on the 
 thoughts of the present, and an irresistible de- 
 sire to fathom futurity. Your dearest and best 
 friend has no coffin a mere coverlet alone pro- 
 bably forms the wrapper in which the dear 
 body is committed to the earth. Death places 
 his cold hand in the morning, and the remains 
 
91 
 
 of your beloved are hurried away for burial by 
 sunset the same day. As you approach the 
 graveyard, you observe probably half a dozen 
 other unhappy individuals, all waiting with 
 their dead for burial. The clergyman now has 
 completed the service, and the bodies are laid 
 in rows,* and soon follow the awful words, 
 "Ashes to ashes, dust to dust/' "Alas! alas!" 
 you exclaim " Am I thus to leave all I loved 
 on earth ?" " Am I now to be for ever sepa- 
 rated from one I loved so fondly?" Dear 
 reader, it may be a wife, a sister, a brother, or 
 a friend, for whom you mourn. Far, far away 
 from all the dear one loved separated from 
 parents, sisters, and brothers, and doomed, alas ! 
 to be buried in this manner. Oh ! could the 
 fond mother have seen her child at such a time, 
 it would have broken her heart. Could she 
 have seen that pale, pale face become thinner 
 and thinner each day ; could she have known 
 that the child she nursed so tenderly was now 
 alone amongst strangers ; or, if not alone, per- 
 
 * The churchyard was such a dangerous spot, that graves had 
 to be dug at night. It was entirely commanded by the enemy's 
 fire, and men had to work very quietly : for this reason it was 
 impossible to get separate graves for each corpse. 
 
92 
 
 haps only watched by one quite distracted by 
 sorrow. There was no kind sister or mother 
 either to soothe the poor sufferer or the 
 mourner; none, probably, but strangers to 
 watch the calm patience and endurance of the 
 dying person. Whilst others of the same fa- 
 mily were laughing over a fire in dear Eng- 
 land, there was one of that very circle who was 
 lying in a most helpless state on the bed of 
 death ! 
 
 The poor dying exile ! What a hard fate ! 
 With no servants, no comforts, and hardly any 
 food suited for a sick person. There lay a dear 
 wife, trying to the last to console her husband. 
 She probably says, "I am better to-day;" and in 
 a few seconds after, the head falls back, the 
 eyes close, and death has snatched away his 
 victim. You follow the corpse to the grave, 
 and you listen attentively to the clergyman 
 giving some consolation to the distracted hus- 
 band. Suddenly you hear a rushing sound, 
 and find that a heavy charge of grape-shot 
 has just swept across your path ; the enemy 
 are on the alert, and have fired a cannon, on 
 hearing the sound of voices in the churchyard. 
 You return with the husband only to see 
 
93 
 
 deeper into his misery : here are two little 
 children, crying for their mother ; one is dy- 
 ing for want of nourishment. The mother 
 being no more, the child must die, as no nurse 
 can be procured. Something must be done ; 
 but yet there is a want of the proper food, 
 and you see the poor little infant decline, day 
 after day. Now, you see the poor little crea- 
 ture gasp for breath ; it has become a perfect 
 little skeleton ! What is to be done ? You 
 rush for the doctor, and the poor father looks dis- 
 tracted. Where is the fond mother's hand to 
 soothe the babe ? What is this in such and 
 such a box ? Good God ! it is the poor mo- 
 ther's dress ! The husband wants some little 
 piece of clothing, and knows not where it is 
 to be found. Some kind lady now assists 
 him, and with tears in his eyes he searches all 
 the boxes. Alas ! this is indeed a sad, sad 
 sight. How neatly the poor man finds every- 
 thing packed away. How many little things 
 remind' him of his good, fond wife. A few 
 days more, and the baby is dead also ; and 
 then you proceed a second time to the grave- 
 yard ; you see the poor husband turn to drop 
 a tear on the fresh grave of his wife, and at 
 
94 
 
 the same moment a bullet hits the ground at 
 his feet. You are warned that there is, in- 
 deed, little difference between the dead and 
 the living; you feel there is no security in 
 life. The passage to the grave is really like 
 passing from one room of a house to another. 
 We are hid from each other by a mere parti- 
 tion for a time, and we have the power to 
 meet again if we like. All that you wonder 
 at is, why some people should have to suffer so 
 much more than others in this world ? and if 
 these trials are sent as a punishment for sin, 
 how is it that those who are the most inno- 
 cent are the first to suffer ? babes, and mothers 
 too, who seem so pure and so gentle. 
 
 Those who have seen what I have described, 
 will ever after be the more charitable in judg- 
 ing of those around them. There is no rule 
 by which to form any correct idea of the affec- 
 tions of men ; our whole life is a perpetual 
 series of changes ; and love, in all its phases, is 
 continually being acted upon by the various 
 incidents of time, place, or position. 
 
 How apt we are to take dislikes to men 
 without any just reason ! How fond we are 
 of urging ourselves to keep up some old ill- 
 
95 
 
 feeling ! We are not inclined to make any 
 allowances for our fellow-creatures, although 
 we see what they have to suffer ; but death 
 comes to us all, and if we do not now forgive, 
 the day may come when we may regret. We 
 say to ourselves to-day "Ah! they escape 
 the wrath of God they enjoy themselves 
 and we alone suffer bitter anguish/' But do 
 we feel the least sorrow when others are suf- 
 fering ? and do we ever consider that when 
 some have enjoyed a few days of happiness, 
 that they are doomed to undergo years of 
 misery ? 
 
96 
 
 CHAPTER XL 
 
 MATTERS now were just as usual ; there was 
 never a single day or night without firing (can- 
 non and muskets), and when we expected rest 
 after real attacks, we were kept under arms 
 from constant false alarms ; an order would 
 come round to be "all prepared," as a large 
 body of the enemy had been seen on the move ; 
 we remained belted and ready for hours, but 
 no new enemy came in sight ; all we saw were 
 the rascals at their batteries, as usual, and 
 every now and then we heard the " Advance " 
 or "Assembly" sounded ; after standing to our 
 arms for several hours, we got the order to 
 take off belts. This was most harassing to the 
 men, as they had quite enough work without 
 having to attend to false alarms. 
 
 Even the little children in Lucknow now 
 began to think like soldiers, and they became, 
 as it were, fond of the " game of war/' I heard 
 one urchin, of four or five years, say to another, 
 "You fire round shot, and I'LL return shell 
 
97 
 
 from my battery." Another, getting into a rage 
 with his playmates, said, " I hope you may be 
 shot by the enemy/' Others (playing with 
 grape-shot, instead of marbles) would be heard 
 tosay, " That's clean through his lungs;" or 
 " That wants more elevation!' These young 
 scamps picked up all the expressions of the 
 artillery, and made use of them at their games. 
 
 In these days the Roman Catholic priest 
 and Signor Barsotelli used to have most 
 earnest conversations as to the manner in 
 which we were ever to get out of Lucknow. 
 Signor would say, " Well, Father, if you have 
 to retire down a mile or two of road, with 
 loopholed houses on both sides, you must drop 
 that gown, or the enemy will catch you." The 
 priest would laugh, and say, "We will see." 
 Signor would add, " But you must take a mus- 
 ket, and fight the ivhole way with us" The 
 priest did not seem quite to understand the 
 necessity for this, but added again, " Well, we 
 shall see." 
 
 A happy time has now arrived, so we will 
 
 leave the Padre, and state, that on the 25th 
 
 September, 1857, General Havelock arrived 
 
 with reinforcements, and it was with anxious 
 
 H 
 
hearts that we listened to the reports of > 
 
 guns. Tin- advanee was slow and steady, till 
 
 jn i -i H wa ;MI i ii,.. ,1,-n-k, when in r\\ -hed a 
 l"ly of Europeans into the Bailie Guard gate, 
 midst the din of shouts and cheers from tin- 
 \\hole of (he garrison. Oh, what a joyful day 
 lor us; we were saved! 
 
 TheEunp, .-,1 hold of all the m-w 
 
 comers, and eml.raeed them, and the night 
 passed in askijig repeated (ju< :U>ut 
 
 what had taken plan* in the "outer world' 
 since we were beseigecL 
 
 Tlu'iv was. .Inulitlrss, many a prayrr otl'nvd 
 
 up in secret for our merciful and wonderful 
 
 <lrliv<T\ ; an.l many :i ln-aiM was ivli. \,M! .,f a 
 
 sad burden of anxiety on that memorable 
 night. I recollect hearing Monsieur Geoffroi 
 say (so like a Frenchman), that if he could he 
 would kiss the very first man of the relieving 
 ion -c who came in his way. How some of our 
 
 rou-'h old soldiers would have appreciated this, 
 
 it is difficult to say ! 1 God, in his mercy, had 
 brought relief wheh we were almost without 
 
 hope; and I trust thai all of n were ^iiieeiely 
 thankful for sueh a very wonderful delivery. 
 To understand what we felt, it i necessary to 
 
alter the state of affairs. If the enemy had 
 entered, every man, woman, and child would 
 have been put to death, We were ordered 
 never to surrender, and we were, one and all, de- 
 termined to die sword or musket in hand. After 
 the Cawnpore massacre, no man would have 
 agreed to treat with the rebels on any ac- 
 count. 
 
 On the 1st October a force, consisting of 
 some 500 men of various European corps, was 
 ordered out to attack some guns in a garden to 
 the left of my outpost I was directed to 
 place myself under the orders of Colonel 
 Napier, to act as a guide, and to point out 
 to the men where our outposts were. A Mr. 
 Phillips, a brave old volunteer, took our force 
 out into the main street; and when we got 
 to the place leading to the garden, he ac- 
 companied one part to the left, and I took the 
 remainder up through the houses to the right. 
 After running up a very narrow lane (whilst a 
 few of the enemy fired down upon us from the 
 tops of the houses), we reached a doorway, which 
 I felt sure led into the line of houses we wanted 
 to drive the enemy out of I felt convinced of 
 this, as the place was one from which I had, 
 H2 
 
100 
 
 throughout the siege, observed the enemy pass 
 towards the garden. We had a private, of 
 the name of Hunter, with a pickaxe, and 
 vseveral others of the 32nd and other corps 
 with us. Dawson, a private of the 32nd, with 
 Hunter of the same corps, were not long in 
 smashing in the first door. Dawson and the 
 rest of us immediately rushed up some steps 
 inside the house, and then came upon another 
 door fastened in a similar manner. We broke 
 it open in a few seconds, and then found a 
 clear road through the houses. 
 
 The enemy never waited to cross bayonets, 
 but retreated on the garden, closely followed 
 by our party. We found their water-skins 
 (niussuks) full, just as they had been using 
 them, and fires lit, &c., &c. Dawson had the 
 activity of a lamplighter, with the boldness of 
 a lion. He dashed on, although I called re- 
 peatedly to him to wait till the other men got 
 up, as I had heard orders distinctly given for 
 no advance to be made by the assaulting party 
 till the reserve had occupied the houses in our 
 rear, as they were taken. Dawson, however, was 
 not to be stopped ; and I did not wish to see the 
 man go alone, so I went also, although I felt it 
 
was imprudent. I was not commanding, but 
 merely a guide. 
 
 Well, when we got up together to a narrow 
 passage, we found the enemy in great force, 
 and they beat the charge, shouted, and tried 
 to form up to drive us back. At this moment 
 there were only five men, including myself, 
 up ; the rest were all pretty close, but thread- 
 ing their way through the houses. I at once 
 made all present bring their firelocks to the 
 charging position, and cover the narrow pas- 
 sage. The rascals on the enemy's side dare 
 not advance a single step, though the yells 
 they gave were horrible. We waited for some 
 time, and were soon joined by the rest of our 
 men, who were close on our heels, and then it 
 was all right. That brave fellow, Dawson, of 
 the 32nd, again rushed off, unobserved by me, 
 and presently he came running up, breathless, 
 and said, " Come here, sir, and I'll show yotf 
 one of them." I followed him, and, sure 
 enough, there was a fat Pandy (a slang name 
 given to the Sepoys who mutinied), lying dead, 
 with his heels towards us. He had advanced, 
 unknown to us, with some twenty others, to 
 our left, to try and get round our party ; but 
 
302 
 
 brave Dawson alone stood in a gap of a broken 
 wall of a house, and drove them all back by 
 his steadiness in shooting down the foremost 
 man amongst them. Had I been placed in 
 command, I might have had to check, even 
 further, a man who had no fault but being too 
 anxious to get on, without seeing how he was 
 supported ; and I am glad I had not to do so. 
 
 After this I went back to look for the rest 
 of our party, and I came upon Colonel Napier, 
 of our left party, and took him up to the spot 
 we had first got up to. The Colonel advanced, 
 and we came right under the enemy's guns. 
 They fired grape, but as the guns were high 
 above us, they did us no harm whatever. 
 Seeing that they could not dislodge us, they 
 commenced a heavy fire of bricks and clods of 
 earth ; one of these struck me on the forehead, 
 and cut my nose, and brought me to the 
 "ground. I was soon surrounded by a lot of 
 the Europeans, and after getting a little water, 
 I was all right. Colonel Napier and the officer 
 commanding the Highlanders came to the de- 
 cision that to assault the batteries at that spot 
 was utterly impracticable ; so these officers con- 
 tented themselves with planting strong guards, 
 
103 
 
 and holding the position during the night. 
 The next day, as will be seen hereafter, the 
 garden was taken. General Outram had told 
 Colonel Napier that the men were to get 
 10,000 rupees if the place were taken that 
 day, but there was no order to advance further ; 
 had there been, Dawson would have been one 
 of the first into the batteries, as he was 
 Triad to get on. I really cannot speak too 
 highly of this noble 32nd man. I was struck 
 with his cool determination ; and really as he 
 rushed through the houses, I more than once 
 dreaded that some of the rascals might hide, as 
 they generally do, and then fire at us as we 
 passed. I fancied, too, that they would not 
 have left such a place, from whence they might 
 have been driven at any time, from its prox- 
 imity to our outposts, without having it all 
 mined, and ready to blow up at a minute's 
 notice. 
 
104 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 ON the 2nd of October, 1857, the garden, in 
 which the guns were, was taken, but the 
 enemy had carried off the 8-inch howitzer. A 
 drummer of Her Majesty's 32nd, named Con- 
 way, a mere boy, presented his musket at a 
 huge Sepoy, and the man then fell on his 
 knees, and begged for his life. The boy said 
 in an authoritative voice, " Come along with 
 me/' and then placed his hands on the pri- 
 soner, and marched him off, and, on meeting 
 an officer, he said, " Here, sir, is a prisoner I 
 have taken/' 
 
 On the 3rd of October, General Outram in- 
 spected my outpost, and said he was much 
 pleased with our work during the siege. In 
 the part of the city occupied by our reinforce- 
 ments, a sentry was placed over a house to 
 prevent plundering. An officer was walking 
 off with some china cups, whereupon the 
 sentry said, " I cannot allow you to pass here, 
 sir." The officer was about to put the articles 
 
105 
 
 down, when the sentry said, " There is no ne- 
 cessity to do that, sir, if you step just to the 
 right, there is a door without a panel. I am 
 not over IT. One fellow said to another, " I 
 say, Jem, I am blow'd if these here Bud- 
 mashes havn't gone and brought back two of 
 their d d guns. I'm blessed if they wont 
 have this here old bungalow down upon us 
 this time/' The other coolly replied, " Well, 
 let 'em bring them only the more for us to 
 take, that's all" This was just after a sortie, 
 and when these guns had been supposed to 
 have been spiked or destroyed. 
 
 On the 6th of October a lot of new rebels 
 joined the enemy. A guard of the 41st 
 N. I., under a havildar, came quietly into a 
 room close to where our guards were ; they 
 piled arms, and were taking it very comfort- 
 ably, whereupon the Europeans rushed upon 
 them, and killed every man. They had, in 
 fact, no idea that our outpost was so close. In 
 fact, the room was our guard-room, that had 
 only just been taken, and the Sepoys fancied it 
 was, as usual, occupied by their own side. 
 
 Private Cooney, of Her Majesty's 32nd, and 
 another man went into a battery, and spiked 
 
106 
 
 some guns. As they rushed up, they called 
 out, " Eight and left extend ;" and the Sepoys 
 hearing this, fancied there was a strong body, 
 and bolted off. A man, being asked what he 
 got as plunder, said, " Devil the happerth we 
 got, sir, but an ould cock and a hen oh yes/' 
 he added, " we did get a Sepoy or two/' 
 
 A Sepoy, when caught, tried hard to be 
 spared, but a European said to him, "You 
 black rascal, do you think we are going to 
 carry your ugly face all over the face of the 
 blessed earth?" Saying this, he ran him 
 through with his bayonet. 
 
 18th October, the enemy made a feeble night 
 attack. Twenty men advanced to our stockade. 
 Capper killed a man, I think, on this occasion. 
 He fired four times. 
 
 14th November. Commander-in-Chief ad- 
 vanced from Alam Baugh. 
 
 16th November. The Commander-in-Chief 
 had got possession of the city. We were driven 
 from the very gates of the Khizer Baugh, or 
 " palace/' A person was most conspicuous on 
 this day, as we looked from our intrenchments. 
 He was mounted on a "white horse/' and was 
 everywhere. We all felt very anxious for this 
 
107 
 
 man he was in the hottest fire. We found 
 out afterwards it was the Commander-in-Chief. 
 We left Lucknow on the night of the 22nd 
 November, 1857, at midnight, in silence; and 
 as we left our outposts, the rascals were firing 
 on our outer walls. We got safe out, without 
 the loss of a single man. The whole thing was 
 most splendidly arranged by the Commander- 
 in-Chief. 
 
 I have throughout this narrative endea- 
 voured to give as many little incidents as 
 possible, so that the Public may be able to 
 judge as to what did really occur in the gar- 
 rison. I am much indebted to Brigadier 
 Inglis for what he has been pleased to say as 
 regards my little post and its defenders ; but, 
 nevertheless, there are many little matters 
 which, in justice to the men of Her Majesty's 
 32nd, and the volunteers of the post under my 
 command, I felt I ought to publish. It was 
 utterly impossible for the Brigadier to know 
 all that happened at the outposts, during each 
 day of such a long siege ; but still the relations 
 of those concerned may wish to know some of 
 the particulars. It may even be some little 
 
108 
 
 consolation to those who have lost their dearest 
 friends or relatives to know that the hardships 
 were such that they can see what the chances 
 of escape were, and they will have the satisfac- 
 tion of knowing that the names of those who 
 fell will ever be remembered with respect. 
 
 I have omitted many names, as the actual 
 particulars are not necessary; it is painful 
 enough for relations to know that those dear 
 to them fell doing their duty, without being 
 told how or where the fatal shot or bullet took 
 effect. 
 
 There are many brave men, too, whose 
 names I shall ever remember. Colonel Palmer, 
 who visited us so regularly, and cheered us up 
 with his conversations. No man in the gar- 
 rison was more active than the Colonel, or did 
 more to find out everything that was done. 
 Poor, good Fulton, assisted us on every occa- 
 sion, and did his best to help us to prevent the 
 enemy blowing up our post. There are, also, 
 the names of Innes and Anderson, of the 
 Engineers, whom we must ever remember with 
 sincere respect and feelings of gratitude ; both 
 of them were ever ready to assist us, and did 
 their utmost to keep our mines in proper 
 
109 
 
 order. I more than once recollect Innes sitting 
 at the mouth of our mine, all ready to light 
 the train, should the enemy press us too hard. 
 Then the names of Tulloch and Ward are very 
 familiar to us ; they often came to do what 
 was required, and to see that we were all right. 
 How often have I had to ask Ward " to get a 
 shell thrown I" and many a time I have had 
 to send messages, through Tulloch, to both 
 Anderson and Innes, when anything was re- 
 quired of the Engineers, i. e. y just as he came 
 to see us, and inspect the works of the enemy. 
 Poor M'Cabe of the 32nd, how often that man 
 assisted us ! He used to come both by day 
 and night ; and he more than once threw 
 hand-grenades from our upper rooms upon the 
 enemy, who were working not twelve yards off 
 by our ditch. 
 
 Captain Etchhill also used often to come and 
 see us, and many a pleasant conversation, I 
 have had with him when he was in command 
 of the Cawnpore Battery. He is, indeed, both 
 a kind and a brave officer, and was always cool 
 and determined. I could mention many, many 
 more, but what is the necessity? All the 
 people of Luckaow well know who did their 
 
110 
 
 duty, without any feeble efforts of mine to help 
 in saying so. I trust the officers I have men- 
 tioned will pardon the liberty I have taken in 
 entering their names ; and I feel sure, if they 
 are annoyed, they will see that I have only 
 done so with the best motives, namely, of sin- 
 cere friendship and regard. It is impossible to 
 be in such a siege and not feel respect for 
 those who fought side by side with you. I 
 commenced with the desire to hurt the feelings 
 of not a single individual. If I have failed, I 
 am exceedingly sorry. 
 
 J. & W. RIDER, Printers, 14, Bartholomew Close, London, E.G. 
 
NOTICES BY THE PRESS. 
 
 A PERSONAL JOURNAL OF THE SIEGE OF LUCKNOW. By 
 Capt. R. P. Anderson. Edited by T. Carnegy Anderson. (Thacker 
 and Co.) Captain Anderson was among the most distinguished 
 officers who defended Lucknow against the rebel army. He is 
 mentioned with brilliant commendation in the despatch of Brigadier 
 Inglis. This brief narrative is picturesque, and contains accounts 
 of some remarkable incidents not elsewhere described. It may be 
 read with interest as a supplement to the volumes of " A Staff 
 Officer " and Mr. Rees. The Leader, March 6, 1858. 
 
 Captain Anderson, 25th Regiment Native Infantry. This officer 
 was assistant commissioner at Lucknow when the outbreak took 
 place. His house was within the Residency enclosure, and was 
 formed by Sir H. Lawrence into an outpost, defended by a stockade, 
 ditch, and mound. Here this officer, with ten men of Her Majesty's 
 32nd and ten volunteers in all twenty men successfully defended 
 this small fortification from the daily and nightly attacks of the 
 enemy, whose position was only forty yards to the left, and about 
 ninety to the front, with nine guns, varying from an 8-inch 
 howitzer down to 24, 18, and 6-pounders, during the whole siege 
 viz., from June 30 to Nov. 22 ; on one occasion during a day attack 
 the enemy penetrated the stockade of this gallant little force, but 
 were every one shot down before they could get out. Foremost 
 amongst them was their standard bearer. Captain Anderson lost 
 his wife and one child, entirely from the want of the necessaries of 
 life. One little boy, however, survives, three years old; and this 
 interesting little hero got so used to the blazing away of the guns, 
 that during the voyage home, when the ship's guns were fired, and 
 all the other children were frightened, this little fellow clapped his 
 hands and hurrahed. The only wonder is that any one of this band 
 of heroes survived the attack, riddled as their castle was by the 
 continued fire of the enemy, and many of them were killed and 
 buried beneath the floor of the house they so long and so faithfully 
 defended. After the relief of Lucknow, Captain Anderson volun- 
 teered and joined General Grant's force, in pursuit of the Gwalior 
 rebels, after their retreat from Cawnpore, and served with General 
 Grant till sent home on sick certificate. After General Havelock 
 entered Lucknow, Captain Anderson was engaged in a sortie under 
 Colonel Haliburton, 78th, and in taking five guns was knocked over 
 and hit, but not severely. The Standard, March 6, 1858. 
 
NOTICES BY THE PRESS. 
 
 Captain Anderson, of the 25th Bengal Native Infantry, was as- 
 sistant commissioner at Lucknow. When the outbreak took place, 
 his house was within the Residency enclosure, and was formed by 
 Sir H. Lawrence into an outpost, defended by a stockade, ditch, 
 and mound. Here this officer, with twenty men, successfully de- 
 fended this small fortification from the daily and nightly attacks of 
 the enemy, whose position was only forty yards to the left, and 
 ninety to the front, with nine guns, varying from an 8-inch howitzer 
 down to 24, 1 8, and 6-pounders, during the whole siege, from June 
 20 to the 22nd November. On one occasion, during a day attack, 
 the enemy penetrated the stockade of this gallant little force, but 
 were every one shot down before they could get out. Foremost among 
 them was their standard bearer. Captain Anderson lost his wife and 
 one child, entirely owing to the want of the necessaries of life; one 
 little boy, however, about three years old, survived. This in- 
 teresting little hero got so used to the firing of the guns, that 
 during the voyage home, when the ship's guns were fired, and all the 
 other children were frightened, he clapped his hands and hurrahed. 
 The Morning Star, March 6, 1858. 
 
 Captain Anderson's volume is a pleasant gossiping affair; and 
 the story of the siege is not complete without it. We have already 
 culled from iU graphic pages. Morning Star, March 8, 1858. 
 
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