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1857-1858. THE JOUNPORE FIELD FORCE
The 10th ordered on
service-.----The start—More defeats of rebels—The Jounpore field
force—Preparing for work—Action at Chanda - Hummeerpore -Forced marches—Sooltanpore----Captured
relics—Reinforcements—Rebel messengers— An attack—A wounded
officer—Arrive at Lucknow.
ORDERS to take the field
had been expected, and preparations made accordingly in the 10th, so
that when they did arrive all was in readiness to carry them out
immediately. Uncertainty for some time prevailed with respect to the
73rd N.I., professedly and somewhat demonstratively "loyal," but known
to be in a dangerous state of disaffection, ready to sweep over the
indigo-yielding places in Tirhoot, some of the planters from which,
abandoning houses and factories, had betaken themselves to Dinapore for
safety. A report spread that a body of rebels had crossed the river
Gogra and threatened the "Pearl" Brigade at Sewan; a steamer accordingly
started to Benares, conveying detachments of the 10th and 37th
Regiments, to be in readiness to act from that base as circumstances
might require. Reports at the same time told that the 11th Irregulars
had broken away from Berhampore; that they had been severely handled by
the 5th Fusiliers, but that they were making their way towards Tirhoot.
By daylight on December
23, a detachment of our men and officers was in progress of embarking on
board a steamer for conveyance towards Chuprah, at and from which place
they were intended to act in concert with bodies of Ghoorka troops for
the assistance of threatened stations in Tirhoot. Equally early on the
24th our headquarters marched away from barracks. Arriving in due time
at the point where the Ganges was to be crossed, much delay resulted
from the incompleteness of arrangements made for the purpose. Evening
had far advanced when we arrived on our camping-ground; tents were far
behind; so were the messing arrangements. From such "reserves" as our
haversacks supplied our first meal was taken, after which we bivouacked
"on the cold ground," under shelter of a mango grove. Next day being
Christmas Day, equipment and arrangements were got into working order
and ready for eventualities. On the 26th the sound of firing, as if at
Sewan, indicated that the arrival of the ioth was none too soon, and
shortly thereafter news came in that an attack, not determined in
character, by the mutineers had been repulsed. In the course of the next
few days the Nepaulese contingent captured a considerable number of
mutineers belonging to the 11th Irregulars, but those of the 5th
Irregulars succeeded in joining the body of rebels assembled under Koer
Singh. New Year's
Day brought the welcome news that the rebels had been severely beaten at
Alumbagh by Sir James Outram, great loss inflicted upon them, and four
of their guns captured; also that Colonel Seton had defeated a body of
mutineers at Futtyghur. Having moved our camp to a position
north-westward of the town, we discovered a saltpetre manufactory for
the use of the rebels. Firing was again heard in our near vicinity,
indicative, as we soon learned, that our Nepaulese allies had attacked a
rebel village, which they captured and destroyed.
The ioth were ordered to advance towards
Azimghur, to be joined en route by other regiments, the combined force
to be named the Jounpore Field Force, commanded by Brigadier-General
Franks. On the second day of our progress, at a place called Muttyala,
the first active signs of disaffection were shown by some of the
villagers; it was quickly suppressed, however, by the simple method of
handing over to the Provost Marshal those who had so acted, and having
them flogged. No further trouble with natives was experienced; and so,
without adventure, on the fourth day of our march we crossed the river
Gogra, and entered the district of Azimghur. Thence to the provincial
city our progress was cautious and wary; villages through which our
route lay were seen to be deserted by their ordinary inhabitants, except
the old and very young, by women and the infirm.
At Azimghur—once a pretty and otherwise
favoured station—the public buildings, including the church, had been
reduced to charred and roofless walls, gardens wasted and disfigured; a
series of huts in course of being erected for the faithless sepoys at
the time, when on June 3 the 17th N.I. broke into mutiny, left standing
as they then were; the gaol strongly fortified, everything destructible
bearing an aspect of ruin. Within the intrenched position at the gaol a
small force of Ghoorkas kept at defiance the rebel sepoys who had
already made two unsuccessful attacks, with considerable loss in life
and of two of their guns. Resuming our progress, the 10th reached Aroul
on January 26. There the various portions' of the force of which we were
to form a part united, and was organized for its prospective duties. A
halt of three days sufficed. On the 29th a march of twenty- three miles
was performed by our little army, the minimum quantity of equipment and
transport accompanying it. Several houses in ruins, belonging to
planters, were passed in our progress to the river Goomtee; that river
was crossed, and about midnight we bivouacked on Oude territory. By
break of day our force was again in motion towards its objective point,
now known to be Lucknow. That day's march was uneventful, except that
the water in the roadside wells was rendered unpalatable by branches of
neem tree (Afelia Azadircichia) thrown into them by the rebels.
A short halt was made at Singramow, during
which preparation was made for eventualities. Intimation was there
received that the rebels were collecting their forces at Chanda, about a
dozen miles in front of us, and that their pickets had advanced to
within four or five miles of our camp. On February 19 our force was
under arms at daylight, and then began its advance towards the enemy.
About nine o'clock a halt was ordered; men and officers partook of such
"breakfast" as under the circumstances they could get, while staff
officers rode to the front to reconnoitre. A long line of rebels was
seen to occupy a somewhat elevated position at a little distance from
us. Our guns immediately advanced, opened fire upon them, their fire
being for a short time returned. The 10th—Colonel Fenwick at their head—
threw out their skirmishers, and thus covered, advanced at steady pace
towards the point where the rebels seemed thickest. They, however, did
not long stand their ground; before our men came within striking
distance the sepoys gave way and took to flight. Pursuit was impossible,
by reason of want of cavalry; but the small band of mounted infantry,
recently extemporised from the 10th, managed to come up, with some of
the enemy, of whom, in the language of the day, they "gave a good
account." We subsequently learned that the forces against whom we had
been engaged comprised 8,000 men, commanded by Bunda Hussun, a
lieutenant of Mendhee Hussun.
It was intended that our force should encamp
on the field whence the rebels had lied. While halting for that purpose,
it was found that a second engagement was to take place; that the enemy
had taken up a position at Hummeerpore, a little distance from their
former, and under shelter of a wood. From there their guns soon opened
fire upon us. Ours quickly replied; a few casualties in our ranks were
the result, when darkness having put an end to the duel we bivouacked on
our ground. When morning dawned, it was seen that the position they had
occupied was abandoned; our camp was accordingly pitched, and so we
remained, prepared for the next move.
Resuming our advance towards Lucknow, two
successive marches of great length, and consequently fatiguing, were
performed, considerable numbers of our transport animals completely
breaking down, and so being the cause of much inconvenience to our
force. On the 23rd,
about 10 a.m., our skirmishers drew upon them fire from a position taken
up by the rebels at Sooltanpore. That position was attacked, and from a
direction unexpected by them; thus disconcerted, their fire was
comparatively little destructive in our ranks, nor was it long
before—having discharged upon us a volley of grape— they abandoned their
artillery and fled, leaving fourteen guns, besides stores and a large
quantity of equipment, in our possession, also much ammunition and loot.
Again the mounted men of the 10th did good service in pursuit of the
fugitives; some of our artillery followed, and it was said destroyed
large numbers of them, the loss to our troops engaged being again
comparatively small. Thus were the forces of Mendhee Hussun defeated,
though numbering 6,000 regular sepoys and 6,000 matchlock men; the
station of Sooltanpore recovered after being held by the rebels since
the previous month of June.
After some delay our camp was pitched on the
ground our men had won, and we halted for a day. A party dispatched to
destroy a manufactory of gun carriages deserted by the rebels came upon
various relics, with which doubtless were connected sad and painful
associations; these included what had been an elegant barouche, a palkee
garree, and a metal toy—the whole pertaining to victims of the first
outburst of mutiny among the troops there stationed. Near our camp the
artillery were occupied in bursting the guns deserted by the enemy.
On the 25th our force resumed its march at
daylight, and so continued till late in the afternoon, making one short
halt to allow the troops to draw water from some village wells, a second
to cook and distribute food. Shortly after we had started a very hideous
object presented itself to view; it was the body of a native suspended
by the feet from a branch of a tree, his arms dangling in mid-air, and
so doubtless indicating the cruel manner of his death. Arrived at
Mosufferkhan, where it was arranged that our camp should be pitched we
found awaiting to join us a reinforcement of Sikh and Pathai Horse,
together with some mounted men comprising half-castes an Christians who
had belonged to mutinied or disbanded regiments all of whom had been
sent by forced marches to our aid. Some stray mutineers were discovered
in near proximity to camp by our scouts and by them duly "disposed of"
A long and arduous march through difficult
country; the village along our route deserted by their inhabitants, the
fields destitute o labourers. On arrival at our camping ground near
Jugdispore, it wa ascertained that our advance guard had fallen in with
and captured two messengers conveying a purwana, or order, from the
Ranee Lucknow to the zemindars of the district just traversed by us,
intimating to them the advance of a small body of English, and calling
upon then to destroy the intruders at Sooltanpore; also to send without
delay provisions for the rebel troops holding Lucknow. A day's halt and
much-needed rest for man and animal. On 28th a long march, it the course
of which we passed through some villages strongly fortified and
loopholed, but deserted by inhabitants. Reinforced as we now were by
cavalry, they scoured the vicinity of our route, in the course of their
proceedings coming upon seventeen rebels, some wearing the uniform of
their former regiments, all of whom they killed.
With rain and boisterous weather the month
of March began; it was therefore somewhat late in the morning of the 1st
when our advance was resumed. As we proceeded, the discovery was made by
our scouts that a considerable body of rebels occupied a point at some
little distance on our flank. The main body of our force was accordingly
halted, while a portion was sent against the mutineers, the result being
that in the attack upon them the latter had sixty of their numbers
killed or wounded, and lost two of their guns. Resuming progress, we
traversed a number of towns and villages, all strongly fortified, but
sparsely occupied. Night had closed in when we reached our
halting-place. While tents were being pitched, lurid flames at intervals
in our near vicinity told the fate of villages and isolated houses.
During the attack just mentioned several
hand-to-hand conflicts took place between the Sikh troopers and the
rebels. In one of these an officer received a tulwar cut which severed
an artery. By-and-by I came upon him, prostrate on the ground, alone,
and bleeding to death. A ligature was applied to the divided vessel; he
was placed in a dooly, and so carried to my tent, where he remained
during the following night. While there he was visited by some of his
men, who laid before him various articles of loot—some valuable—of which
they had possessed themselves, and now presented to him. In contrast
with an incident shortly to be related, and also in its way
characteristic of a class, the fact made an impression upon me that
under the particular circumstances of time and place, the officer
alluded to [For his gallantry in the attack mentioned he was awarded the
Victoria Cross.] offered to me—who in all likelihood had been the means
of saving his life—not one thing of the many laid out for display on the
floor rug of my tent.
Early on March 3 the sound of heavy guns
from the direction of Lucknow told that active work was in progress
there. Later in the day a staff officer, escorted by a squadron of the
9th Lancers and two Horse Artillery guns, arrived in camp as bearer of
dispatches. These contained orders that on the morrow our force should
advance and take up the position assigned to it in relation to the
contemplated attack on that capital. They informed us that already the
Dilkhosha had been captured. On the following day our force was
accordingly in motion towards Lucknow. It had not proceeded far when
information was received that a small body of rebels occupied the
inconsiderable fort of Dowraha, situated at the distance of a mile or so
from our line of route. A body, unfortunately, as events proved, too
small for its intended purpose, was detached with the object of
effecting its capture; but with the loss of one officer killed and
several casualties among the rank and file, the position had to be left
untaken, while our force continued its march. In the afternoon we took
up the position assigned to us on an extensive plain between Dilkhosha
and Bebeepore, and so merged into the general force under the
Commander-in-Chief. |
